4870 Overclocking Thread

[gurusan]

frequency will not kill memory....temps/voltage will.

[GAR]

Your GDDR5 didn't degrade and we've already discussed this in another thread. And for what it's worth, I fail to see how you can call it garbage as long as it's running the default clock speed without any issues. It wasn't selected by the ATI engineers so that you could overclock it to 1100MHz, that's overhead for the stock speed of 900MHz.

Qimonda dies, its been proven many times, with the 8800GT and now the 4800 cards, my memory is ok, at 1075 its fine, im going t leave it here and see if it gets any worse or not, well see in 2 weeks lol

[junkmonk]

As for the poster above with all the questions you can mod the stock heatsink for the backside of the card. I run all day at 825/1050 and the vrm doesnt break 100c even with furmark. The HR mod is great but not needed unless you want too.

pretty nice overclock

I read about modding the backside somewhere else as well. Basically you add an aftermarket cooler for the GPU only (such as HR-03GT or Accelero S1) but cut/modify the stock heatsink to still cover the VRMs? Any pictures of this?

Also, right now NCIX has a good deal on the Accelero S1 R2... $19.99
I'd like to save on shipping and buy it with the card. Is it possible to mod the stock heatsink as per above to cover the VRMs while leaving the Acclero to do its job? I know the Accelero S1 is a little weaker than the HR-03GT, but with the turbo module (or without) is it still worth it? I think I also read its necessary to do something to the VRMs as otherwise they are not covered by Accelero S1. So whats a better idea 4870 stock mod, or aftermarket sinks? Also FINAL question - does the Accelero S1 cover the memory modules? Or do they need aftermarket sinks for SURE? I know I'm such a damn noob with all these questions... sorry. I love overclocking and have only just started to get into it last year. Hopefully someday I'll be the one answering all the questions.

[Budwise]

what is "GPU Temp (MEMIO)" in GPU-Z? Mine is reading 107C at idle? I just tried some Company of Heroes while GPUZ was running on my 2nd monitor and it crashed twice in a row within seconds but when i dont have GPUZ open its solid. Sounds like GPUZ has a few bugs to work out. I have a fan pointed directly at the VRM and memory along with ramsinks on everything so I dont really believe that 107C. This is with the latest GPUZ version 0.2.7. Would someone else give this a try for them and see if they get 100C + for that reading too?

[Blkout]

Qimonda dies, its been proven many times, with the 8800GT and now the 4800 cards, my memory is ok, at 1075 its fine, im going t leave it here and see if it gets any worse or not, well see in 2 weeks lol

I have 3 friends with 8800GT's all overclocked for over one year now and none of them have had issues. I really think your opinion about Qimonda is FUD. The fact that the memory is only required to run at 900MHz and is able to run FAR above that proves that there's no quality issue.

[dejanh]

I have 3 friends with 8800GT's all overclocked for over one year now and none of them have had issues. I really think your opinion about Qimonda is FUD. The fact that the memory is only required to run at 900MHz and is able to run FAR above that proves that there's no quality issue.

Do you even have a 4870? What bases are you speaking on that the memory can run "far" above the stock specs? As for memory frequency not having an effect, well it does because just like any chip more speed + more volts = more heat, which means that there is more risk to kill your ram. 10% OC is a big OC, and quite likely stable OC on the ram combined with a core OC will not be achieved using stock voltages on either. Just under 1100, possibly, over that no way.

Oh as an FYI, so far I have worked with about 4-5 4870s.

[Caveman787]

Umm overclocking doesn't volt mod your card....it uses a slight bit more power as someone in other 4870 overclocking thread her proved. Like .003 volts change both idle and load from 750/3600-790/4400.

Proper cooling/ fan speed fix to keep things cool as you overclock is needed to avoid overheating causeing degredation however. Granted thats just my take on it.

[dejanh]

Umm overclocking doesn't volt mod your card....it uses a slight bit more power as someone in other 4870 overclocking thread her proved. Like .003 volts change both idle and load from 750/3600-790/4400.

Proper cooling/ fan speed fix to keep things cool as you overclock is needed to avoid overheating causeing degredation however. Granted thats just my take on it.

Ah forget it...

4870 OCs with no voltmods that go past 825/1075 are not going to be 100% stable in almost any case. That has been my experience so far with 5 cards, various brands. I think this qualifies as a pretty good sample of cards so I'm fairly confident in what I am saying. Hence the reason why I said more speed + more volts = more heat. I know that for every single OC I did on the 4870 past those figures I stated above some sort of volt mod was required to achieve rock solid stability in every tool.

[0ut0fstep]

The memory dying from "OC" conversation has died lets move on to something a bit more interesting.

[xMrBunglex]

The memory dying from "OC" conversation has died lets move on to something a bit more interesting.

okay. GAR also claims ATI cards suffer from bad build quality and their AA sucks. let's discuss that now!

[dejanh]

Let's get back to OC discussion...

Anybody got their hands on a PowerColor 4870 PCS+ yet? They seem to have modified the power supply system on the card by using 4+2 VRMs as opposed to stock 3+2. Do these play nice? I heard that the initial tested version was blowing up in FurMark just like it siblings do...apparently the VRMs were getting too toasty.

[Xcel]

Currently running mine at 800/1000, nice even numbers. I haven't bothered finding the max stable oc that works for every game

[Blkout]

Do you even have a 4870? What bases are you speaking on that the memory can run "far" above the stock specs? As for memory frequency not having an effect, well it does because just like any chip more speed + more volts = more heat, which means that there is more risk to kill your ram. 10% OC is a big OC, and quite likely stable OC on the ram combined with a core OC will not be achieved using stock voltages on either. Just under 1100, possibly, over that no way.

Oh as an FYI, so far I have worked with about 4-5 4870s.

No, I sold my 4870 about two weeks ago to buy a 4870x2 which I have now. I had my 4870 for just over 2 weeks with no issues running 790/1100MHz. That was looping some benchmarks overnight as well.

FYI, stock specs are 900MHz for the 4870, if it can run anything above that, it's just a bonus, not a requirement.

Also FYI, when memory can't handle a certain speed, you get artifacts or lock-ups, either way, you'll bump the speed down to retain stability so no damage can be done regardless. It's VERY dfficult to kill memory unless you're increasing voltage considerably.

[Blkout]

Ah forget it...

4870 OCs with no voltmods that go past 825/1075 are not going to be 100% stable in almost any case. That has been my experience so far with 5 cards, various brands. I think this qualifies as a pretty good sample of cards so I'm fairly confident in what I am saying. Hence the reason why I said more speed + more volts = more heat. I know that for every single OC I did on the 4870 past those figures I stated above some sort of volt mod was required to achieve rock solid stability in every tool.

Why are you speaking of volt mods? This most recent discussion was in regards to memory degradation at stock voltage, which there is none.

[xMrBunglex]

No, I sold my 4870 about two weeks ago to buy a 4870x2 which I have now. I had my 4870 for just over 2 weeks with no issues running 790/1100MHz. That was looping some benchmarks overnight as well.

FYI, stock specs are 900MHz for the 4870, if it can run anything above that, it's just a bonus, not a requirement.

Also FYI, when memory can't handle a certain speed, you get artifacts or lock-ups, either way, you'll bump the speed down to retain stability so no damage can be done regardless. It's VERY dfficult to kill memory unless you're increasing voltage considerably.

how does your X2 clock? can you clock the cores independently with Overdrive? is the second core a bad overclocker because of the extra heat?

[Blkout]

how does your X2 clock? can you clock the cores independently with Overdrive? is the second core a bad overclocker because of the extra heat?

Haven't tried to be honest. From a few reviews I've seen on the 4870x2 overclocked, it doesn't overclock all that far, usually around 780 core and about 1000 memory. The framerate gain is so minimal that's it doesn't seem worth it for the increased the heat output. Since one core obviously runs hotter than the other, I'm going to hold off overclocking until I get my EK FC water block in the next week or so.

[L-MoS]

Some morons have said in numerous threads including this one that 1100 give or take a little on the ram is degrading it, First of all there is absolutely no data to support those claims and anyone singing that song should be taken outside and shot "Dejanh!". Secondly experience shows that overclocking ram's frequency would become grossly unstable and probably fail before you can physically damage it, I wouldn't know tho since I've never done that. anyway personally I would only worry if you had dangerous temperature levels or had the voltage too high... But that's just my opinion, GDDR5 is so new and until long term overclocking effects are known, No one can truly be 100% besides the engineers that designed it so far. "In my opinion of course" I must stress the opinion part, I hate it when these "experts" make statements like Dejanh did as if it is a tested, confirmed and known fact. When my card bricks from running at 1100 I will be sure to personally apologize. Until then just emphasis that it's merely your "OPINION" and stop saying it like its a fact. just to those who are reading this thread and wouldn't know any better.

[dejanh]

^ lol, look at this guy. I thought XS filtered kids out of their forums. Reported. Moderator, can you please remove that post?

Thanks.

[jaredpace]

You want to get the most out of the GDDR5 first, IMO.

[mega_slayer82]

okay. GAR also claims ATI cards suffer from bad build quality and their AA sucks. let's discuss that now!

That's flamebaiting, my friend. He didn't say the 4870 build quality sucks, just that the 280 was better. And in his opinion the AA was better on the 280, but in no way did he imply that the ATI AA sucks. You're taking things out of context and spreading lies. For the record, I actually think that ATI has better AA, but I do agree with his comment on the build quality....at the end of the day though, those things don't really matter. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion....let it go.

[Blkout]

Some morons have said in numerous threads including this one that 1100 give or take a little on the ram is degrading it, First of all there is absolutely no data to support those claims and anyone singing that song should be taken outside and shot "Dejanh!". Secondly experience shows that overclocking ram's frequency would become grossly unstable and probably fail before you can physically damage it, I wouldn't know tho since I've never done that. anyway personally I would only worry if you had dangerous temperature levels or had the voltage too high... But that's just my opinion, GDDR5 is so new and until long term overclocking effects are known, No one can truly be 100% besides the engineers that designed it so far. "In my opinion of course" I must stress the opinion part, I hate it when these "experts" make statements like Dejanh did as if it is a tested, confirmed and known fact. When my card bricks from running at 1100 I will be sure to personally apologize. Until then just emphasis that it's merely your "OPINION" and stop saying it like its a fact. just to those who are reading this thread and wouldn't know any better.

While I do agree with you, you can't call the guy a moron even if you want to. Got to be nice on the forums. At least it's obvious you know what you're talking about though when it comes to memory.

[Blkout]

That's flamebaiting, my friend. He didn't say the 4870 build quality sucks, just that the 280 was better. And in his opinion the AA was better on the 280, but in no way did he imply that the ATI AA sucks. You're taking things out of context and spreading lies. For the record, I actually think that ATI has better AA, but I do agree with his comment on the build quality....at the end of the day though, those things don't really matter. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion....let it go.

Since GAR is MIA, maybe you would like to take his place and back up your claim as Nvidia having better build quality considering it's a well known fact that there are numerous GTX 200 series cards overheating and/or dying. While everyone has an opinion, it's pretty obvious when someone is posting non-factual data because they have an agenda.

[dejanh]

While I do agree with you, you can't call the guy a moron even if you want to. Got to be nice on the forums. At least it's obvious you know what you're talking about though when it comes to memory.

Blkout, let me make something clear because I want to put this memory discussion to rest...

Running the memory higher than its maximum specifications will NOT pose a risk to the memory unless you happen to be feeding the memory more voltage as well. However, with increased frequencies you need to up the voltages too to achieve 100% stability in most cases which means that you are now both pushing the memory over specifications in terms of speed AND you are feeding it more volts as a result. Now, it is the "more volts" part that will kill your memory, and depending on how much voltage you are feeding this can happen sooner than later. What I was getting to before is that for 100% stability in every tool you will not be able to simply OC the memory to 1100. You will have to up the voltages as well, which then brings us back to what I was saying about voltages killing the ram.

Here are the Qimonda specs...

http://www.qimonda.com/download.jsp?...rev100_www.pdf

Critical voltage is 2.00V, maximum frequency 4GHz, but you cannot run the ram even close to this without it failing very fast (speaking of volts specifically, read the specs). Probably the maximum safe voltage is 1.75V - 1.8V, but I would not be comfortable running it at even this voltage if I am hoping to have the use of my card for more than 1-2 years.

Is this clear now or am I going to have to repeat myself again? I think people misunderstood what I was saying before but I am pretty sure that even my original post stated speed + more voltage = more heat...implicitly this was supposed to state that such a combination may and likely will result in broken ram. This is XS after all, and most people that post here in overclock and voltmod threads will be posting results and clocks of volt modded cards. This is not a "mellow-systems" forum with a "let's see what our stock card can do" motto. The first thing I did after I got my cards was solder VRs on them so I can adjust voltages

Since GAR is MIA, maybe you would like to take his place and back up your claim as Nvidia having better build quality considering it's a well known fact that there are numerous GTX 200 series cards overheating and/or dying. While everyone has an opinion, it's pretty obvious when someone is posting non-factual data because they have an agenda.

In relation to this, I do not think that NVIDIA has better build quality per-say. However, they do have better partners like EVGA and XFX. This has probably been beaten to death before in so many discussions. I think what makes the NVIDIA guys better is the CS, warranty backing their cards, and looser restrictions on what voids your warranty. They are just more enthusiast friendly basically. That's all. I've had my share of faulty NV cards as well.

[mega_slayer82]

Since GAR is MIA, maybe you would like to take his place and back up your claim as Nvidia having better build quality considering it's a well known fact that there are numerous GTX 200 series cards overheating and/or dying. While everyone has an opinion, it's pretty obvious when someone is posting non-factual data because they have an agenda.

Yeah buddy, I have an agenda. That's why I had the 4870 in my hands at Fry's ready to buy before finally deciding on the 260. The 4870 is a great card....I may go for a crossfire setup some day. Like I said in the other thread, an overheating card would be defective, which is a QC issue. That's different than comparing two cards that are known to be manufactured properly. Nvidia, like ATI are always quick to fix their QC issues. Get your logic straight.

[Blkout]

Blkout, let me make something clear because I want to put this memory discussion to rest...

Running the memory higher than its maximum specifications will NOT pose a risk to the memory unless you happen to be feeding the memory more voltage as well. However, with increased frequencies you need to up the voltages too to achieve 100% stability in most cases which means that you are now both pushing the memory over specifications in terms of speed AND you are feeding it more volts as a result. Now, it is the "more volts" part that will kill your memory, and depending on how much voltage you are feeding this can happen sooner than later. What I was getting to before is that for 100% stability in every tool you will not be able to simply OC the memory to 1100. You will have to up the voltages as well, which then brings us back to what I was saying about voltages killing the ram.

Here are the Qimonda specs...

http://www.qimonda.com/download.jsp?...rev100_www.pdf

Critical voltage is 2.00V, maximum frequency 4GHz, but you cannot run the ram even close to this without it failing very fast (speaking of volts specifically, read the specs). Probably the maximum safe voltage is 1.75V - 1.8V, but I would not be comfortable running it at even this voltage if I am hoping to have the use of my card for more than 1-2 years.

Is this clear now or am I going to have to repeat myself again? I think people misunderstood what I was saying before but I am pretty sure that even my original post stated speed + more voltage = more heat...implicitly this was supposed to state that such a combination may and likely will result in broken ram. This is XS after all, and most people that post here in overclock and voltmod threads will be posting results and clocks of volt modded cards. This is not a "mellow-systems" forum with a "let's see what our stock card can do" motto. The first thing I did after I got my cards was solder VRs on them so I can adjust voltages



In relation to this, I do not think that NVIDIA has better build quality per-say. However, they do have better partners like EVGA and XFX. This has probably been beaten to death before in so many discussions. I think what makes the NVIDIA guys better is the CS, warranty backing their cards, and looser restrictions on what voids your warranty. They are just more enthusiast friendly basically. That's all. I've had my share of faulty NV cards as well.

My 4870 ran at 1100MHz on stock voltage and stock cooling, looping various benchmarks overnight. Never once had an issue with it the 2 weeks that I owned it. As I stated before, the only way to kill memory is to either cause it to overheat or by increasing the voltage, thus causing it to overheat. Either way, it's not happening without modding the video card which is my point all along. It was GAR and a few other that clearly know nothing about memory that claimed the memory degraded simply by overclocking it. It was BS and I was simply pointing it out.

And for what it's worth, EVGA and XFX are rumored to be leaving Nvidia.