Sapphire ATI HD 3870 ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW (OC'ing)!!!

[slugzkea]

I've spent the last 72 hours with barely any sleep figuring out how to overclock this puppy properly, and with high stability. First, here are my recommended requirements:

POWER: at least 520w with at least 30amps on the +12v for single cards. CF required at least 38amps. Single rail PSU's always overclock better.

WARNING!! REMOVING THE STOCK HEATSINK VOIDS WARRANTY! SO DOES FLASHING THE BIOS! Do so at own risk...

COOLING: If you want lower temps, re paste the core with AS5. Leave the gummy thermal pads on the RAM sinks and the PCB. Force GPU fan to AT LEAST 70% via RivaTuner (will get to that later in this post). And the most important part, room temperature and case/air flow! That is crucial! I have the antec nine hundred case + window is open + Canadian winter temps and in the summer, air conditioning is on 24/7.

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FLASHING BIOS: Don't use any of the voltage modded bios's. They don't work.
Flash Bios to the updated version released by ATI (HD3870_PLLVCO_v010.071). Use ATI Flash 3.49

SOFTWARE: Remove any old drivers using Driver Cleaner Pro. Best results are to use driver cleaner pro in safe mode. Clean all ATI.

Make sure you have the latest version of DirectX installed (November release 2007).

Install catalyst 7.11, then reboot.
Install RivaTuner 2.06 and adjust fan speeds to FORCE at LEAST 70%.
Install GPU-Z.

OC'ing:

I've tried using Catalyst overdrive, and the auto tuning. Both have failed. Low -level overclocking seems to be the most stable method for now via RivaTuner.

CORE: Using RivaTuner, Set the core to 877mhz. Only 13.5mhz increments work on the core. Default core frequency is 777mhz. (13.5x65=877) If you set the core to 877mhz and GPU-Z reads 864, set the core to 878mhz, then GPU-Z will read the core as 877mhz. Try setting 877mhz first.

MEM: This is the tricky part.
The Ram Chips are labeled "Samsung K4U52324QE-BC08". The default frequency is 1126 however, These modules are rated 1250mhz and usually, you can push close to 100mhz OC on the GFX mem with stock cooler, and equivalent or a little more than 100mhz with proper airflow/cooling.
I'm not sure what increments the mem uses yet, So use GPU-Z to match the clocks (Set your mem clock to whatever in rivatuner, then check GPU-Z to see if they match. If they don't, set the frequency displayed in GPU-Z in rivatuner).
My mem is currently clocked at 1304mhz, so try that.

Keep an eye on temps. My idle temps varry 45-48 and my load varry 54-58.

PCI-E Frequency: Depends on your chipset and motherboard. If you're using SATA drives, don't go over 120mhz. Mine is set to 110mhz. I do NOT recommend 120mhz if you have an older motherboard chipset.

Good luck! Post Results!

UPDATE 11/29/07: GPU clock 877 unstable on latest games possibly due to lack of voltage. Use 864 for Core.

UPDATE: 12/08/07: Use 864 for core with ATI's initial bios relase, but if you use sapphire's bios relase, 877 seems stable.
The mem is rated 1250mhz at 0.8ms latency at default.

[Solarfall]

show us some screenies of your overclocks man

[jedimindtriks]

show us some screenies of your overclocks man

this is strange ,i have the duorb fan on both my cards, and they never hit above 56 celcius, but i still cant overclock past 860/1236

the coolers im using cool the ram alot better now btw

[tbone8ty]

how loud are the du orbs?

what rpm do they spin at?

[msgclb]

EDIT: Sorry I ment to put 3870. Not 3970. I don't know how to change the Topic, Doh! anyways...

slugzkea, You can at least change the Title if not the Thread by clicking the Edit button and then the Go Advance button.

How about some benchmarks showing your default compared to the overclocked 3970, oops 3870!

[xanvincent]

Yes, I'd like to see a before-and-after deal too

[jedimindtriks]

how loud are the du orbs?

what rpm do they spin at?

they spin fast, but dont know how fast because of no fan control or monitor on them, but they make the same noise as the stock cooler at 30-35%

[fcry64]

this is strange ,i have the duorb fan on both my cards, and they never hit above 56 celcius, but i still cant overclock past 860/1236

the coolers im using cool the ram alot better now btw

try the new bios w/ the ppl div.(?) fix

[zanzabar]

this is strange ,i have the duorb fan on both my cards, and they never hit above 56 celcius, but i still cant overclock past 860/1236

the coolers im using cool the ram alot better now btw

u have to dload the unlocked bios

[jedimindtriks]

u have to dload the unlocked bios

that was the first thing i did actually :P

still no help

[Jupiler]

Changed the typo in the title to "3870".

[Kasparz]

POWER: at least 520w with at least 30amps on the +12v for single cards. CF required at least 38amps. Single rail PSU's always overclock better.

WARNING!! REMOVING THE STOCK HEATSINK VOIDS WARRANTY! SO DOES FLASHING THE BIOS! Do so at own risk...

This card can run with qx9650, one harddrive and intel chipset motherboard on 400w power supply. Single rail PSU's are not always better.
Removing stock heatsink does NOT void warranty if there's no sticker or you don't break card/cooling. Bios flashing voids.

[Norway]

Just ordered a couple of Sapphire 3870
Time to throw away my old R600 cards :P

[AliG]

I'll be taking those off your hands

Man, I want to see 900mhz core, 1ghz has been accomplished on the r600, you'd think 55nm would allow use to hit 900mhz core with some watercooling no sweat, stupid bios and drivers holding back the card

[Norway]

I'll be runing mines under H2O with duble dual heatercores with Deltas

Just find a volt mod and it should be easy i hope

[slugzkea]

Sorry for the late response guys.

I'll post benchies once i find the most stable clocks for old and new games.

Currently running at 864/1233 (877 gpu clock speed was unstable for later games such as COD4).

[slugzkea]

Here is the result of 3dmark06 basic test:

[The Legend]

Looking good. When mine arrives Monday I'll have a bit of fun.

[Gunslinger]

Here is what I got by using ATI overdrive utility.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=3966796

[Clint]

This card can run with qx9650, one harddrive and intel chipset motherboard on 400w power supply. Single rail PSU's are not always better.
Removing stock heatsink does NOT void warranty if there's no sticker or you don't break card/cooling. Bios flashing voids.

I run my 3870 @ 891/1350 and a E6600 @ 3200 + 4 SATA drives with a 300W SFX PSU.

...no problem as long as good airflow is catered for.

[slugzkea]

Thanks for the poll results everyone, I'm glad that I could help all you 3870 owners.

Just to draw attention, volt mods are out. I've heard of people achieving 1gig clocks on the GPU. Given some time I shall attempt this mod and keep everybody posted.

In the mean time, here are my final results of 3dmark06 full tests repeated 3 times.

[Clint]

@ slugzkea Do you also get (vsync related?) glitches in 3Dmark 06?

It appears for me when there are fireburst and other flames in Proxycon test, especially at the scene with the big guy doing the machine gun spray.
It appears for me at any clock actually, and some said it's 3Dmark related...but I thought I should ask.

[slugzkea]

@ slugzkea Do you also get (vsync related?) glitches in 3Dmark 06?

It appears for me when there are fireburst and other flames in Proxycon test, especially at the scene with the big guy doing the machine gun spray.
It appears for me at any clock actually, and some said it's 3Dmark related...but I thought I should ask.

Not really, i catch very very few glitches and they're catalyst A.I. related, or your card is heating up past 60C.

From my experience, if the card is going past 60'esh you'll get more artifacts. Mainly because of the memory, the cooling for the memory is crap. the goop they put between the heatsinks for the memory and the PCB is a joke.

It could be your core too, I've heard a lot of people exceeding 864 core without any voltage mods and i don't believe that it's stable for one split second.

Just because it can play one game with stability doesn't mean it can play others.

The best way to test for stability is to run 3dmark06 all tests repeated 3 times, and to play NFS carbon. why NFS carbon? because no matter what you do in that game, as long as it's running, it forces your GPU to 99%.

That is why it crashes to easily, because it's super sensitive to overclocked and faulty hardware.

Oh, and I don't use vsync :P

[Crazykooter]

Ive been able to get my gpu to 877 divider but no higher. Not sure if its the lack of power or lack of pci-e mhz. Cpu is oced pretty high but my ram isnt that good so cpu score is awful. Anyways heres a link to my highest 06 score.
3Dmark06

[xMrBunglex]

what am i doing wrong? i'm trying to use RivaTuner to control my fan speed automatically and it isn't working. i have two cards for CrossFire. is there a guide somewhere?