The Radeon 7850 is an overclocking beast

[Arzachel]

I am helping a friend who just built a new pc and we cant get his 7850 stable at anything but stock, just curious what program your using?

What kind of brand/model is it? Do you have powertune set to +20%? What kind of temps are you getting under load? What voltage is the card running on?

That's not true. Most 7850s use a custom PCB with one 6-pin connector vs 2 on the 7870.

Iirc, there are two kinds of reference 7850s. One on the 7770 PCB and one on the 7870 PCB with a single 6-pin connector. Most custom cards are using the beefier reference PCB with custom cooling.

 

[lautaro91]

Hi, i just bought a sapphire 7850 oc edition, im trying to overclock it but it just give me black screens or some weird screens with vertical blue bars, i tried mis afterburner, catalyst control center and the asus one.
although, i found something kinda strange, the stock voltage of the gpu is 1.21 V, did this happened to anyone else?

here is a pic i took from the asus tweak tool, this are the stock values of the card.

Also. im really new in overclocking stuff, tried to read some guides but didnt helped..

 

[bl00tdi]

Iirc, there are two kinds of reference 7850s. One on the 7770 PCB and one on the 7870 PCB with a single 6-pin connector. Most custom cards are using the beefier reference PCB with custom cooling.

Isn't the 7870 PCB ~10.5"? Most 7850's are around 8".

Edit: Good observation on your part though re: using 7870 PCB's. I had noticed that the XFX 7850's were longer than the others with 2 power connectors and this explains why. Any other manufacturers that you know of doing this?

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

 

[therealtoe]

That's interesting. I just registered to ask about a problem similar to the one lautaro91 spoke of above here.

I too just got a Sapphire 7850 OC Edition, and I'm really rather disappointed with its overclocking performance. I can max the core in CCC ( to 1050 MHz), but it doesn't seem to go an awful lot further than that. 1200 wasn't stable even with 1.25V. Worse, however, is the fact that I can barely touch the memory at all without crashing. The screen just gets covered by a random color with slightly differently tinted stripes. Of course, I realize that OCs are not guaranteed, but there's so much talk of the incredible potential of this card, and this is a good version of it as well. I even paid a little extra for the OC Edition, assuming that Sapphire would probably pick the better components for these (although I know the design is the same as the standard edition).

Now, what I'm wondering is whether this is actually caused by the GPU itself. You see, my old Powercolor Radeon 4770 behaved exactly the same way. Sometimes, I would even get that colored screen while at stock settings! I did return the card for a replacement, but the testers were unable to reproduce the error, so I got it back with a bill. Time will tell how things work out with my new one. I don't know much about how PC components interact, but could this problem be rooted somewhere else? In the motherboard or the PSU, perhaps? I have a Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P rev 1.0 (with the latest BIOS) and a Corsair VX450W, if that means something.

I would greatly appreciate any aid in this matter. All this GPU trouble has been an annoyance to me for too long.

 

[blastingcap]

That's interesting. I just registered to ask about a problem similar to the one lautaro91 spoke of above here.

I too just got a Sapphire 7850 OC Edition, and I'm really rather disappointed with its overclocking performance. I can max the core in CCC ( to 1050 MHz), but it doesn't seem to go an awful lot further than that. 1200 wasn't stable even with 1.25V. Worse, however, is the fact that I can barely touch the memory at all without crashing. The screen just gets covered by a random color with slightly differently tinted stripes. Of course, I realize that OCs are not guaranteed, but there's so much talk of the incredible potential of this card, and this is a good version of it as well. I even paid a little extra for the OC Edition, assuming that Sapphire would probably pick the better components for these (although I know the design is the same as the standard edition).

Now, what I'm wondering is whether this is actually caused by the GPU itself. You see, my old Powercolor Radeon 4770 behaved exactly the same way. Sometimes, I would even get that colored screen while at stock settings! I did return the card for a replacement, but the testers were unable to reproduce the error, so I got it back with a bill. Time will tell how things work out with my new one. I don't know much about how PC components interact, but could this problem be rooted somewhere else? In the motherboard or the PSU, perhaps? I have a Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P rev 1.0 (with the latest BIOS) and a Corsair VX450W, if that means something.

I would greatly appreciate any aid in this matter. All this GPU trouble has been an annoyance to me for too long.

If another card did the same thing, perhaps your motherboard's PCI-e traces are damaged, or your power supply is not giving consistent and clean and enough voltage/amps to your card. What is your mobo? What is your PSU? Did you run memtest on your system RAM? What result?

Btw Sapphire OC stock voltage I have found is less than other brands which is part of why they don't oc well on stock voltage. Pump it up to 1.2V like other brands sometimes do, and it can probably get 1150+ MHz.

 

[Don Karnage]

Hi, i just bought a sapphire 7850 oc edition, im trying to overclock it but it just give me black screens or some weird screens with vertical blue bars, i tried mis afterburner, catalyst control center and the asus one.
although, i found something kinda strange, the stock voltage of the gpu is 1.21 V, did this happened to anyone else?

here is a pic i took from the asus tweak tool, this are the stock values of the card.

Also. im really new in overclocking stuff, tried to read some guides but didnt helped..

Way too much voltage. Bring default voltage down to stock, make sure that lock is clicked so the voltage doesnt rise when you change the core frequency. Set the core on 1100, click apply and test on your favorite game

 

[therealtoe]

If another card did the same thing, perhaps your motherboard's PCI-e traces are damaged, or your power supply is not giving consistent and clean and enough voltage/amps to your card. What is your mobo? What is your PSU? Did you run memtest on your system RAM? What result?

Btw Sapphire OC stock voltage I have found is less than other brands which is part of why they don't oc well on stock voltage. Pump it up to 1.2V like other brands sometimes do, and it can probably get 1150+ MHz.

Like I said: Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P rev 1.0 (with the latest BIOS) and Corsair VX450.

I haven't run Memtest, but I did run the memory intensive test in Prime95 for one hour and 45 minutes the previous afternoon. No errors, no warnings.

Stock voltage on my card is 1.138V, and I might add that ASIC quality is 79.1%. Don't know how good/bad those numbers are. And like I mentioned, 1200 MHz on 1.25V was not stable. Far from it. I'm sure I could get more than 1050, but the performance gains would not likely be great.

Edit: And thank you very much for the quick reply!

 

[blastingcap]

Like I said: Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P rev 1.0 (with the latest BIOS) and Corsair VX450.

I haven't run Memtest, but I did run the memory intensive test in Prime95 for one hour and 45 minutes the previous afternoon. No errors, no warnings.

Stock voltage on my card is 1.138V, and I might add that ASIC quality is 79.1%. Don't know how good/bad those numbers are. And like I mentioned, 1200 MHz on 1.25V was not stable. Far from it. I'm sure I could get more than 1050, but the performance gains would not likely be great.

Edit: And thank you very much for the quick reply!

Oops sorry I didn't see the specs. A Vx450 should be enough, unless your CPU is hogging a lot of power or something. Could be a motherboard issue. What makes it suspicious is that this is the 2nd card that has done the same thing which makes me suspect that something other than your video card is the culprit.

1.138v and ASIC 79 are both fine and about average for the GPU.

 

[SickBeast]

Hi, i just bought a sapphire 7850 oc edition, im trying to overclock it but it just give me black screens or some weird screens with vertical blue bars, i tried mis afterburner, catalyst control center and the asus one.
although, i found something kinda strange, the stock voltage of the gpu is 1.21 V, did this happened to anyone else?

here is a pic i took from the asus tweak tool, this are the stock values of the card.

Also. im really new in overclocking stuff, tried to read some guides but didnt helped..

Your voltage looks like it's locked at 1.21v like my card was. You will top out at around 1150mhz at that voltage.

You can flash to the Asus bios but it's a little risky. That's what I did and I can hit 1240mhz now.

 

[therealtoe]

Oops sorry I didn't see the specs. A Vx450 should be enough, unless your CPU is hogging a lot of power or something. Could be a motherboard issue. What makes it suspicious is that this is the 2nd card that has done the same thing which makes me suspect that something other than your video card is the culprit.

1.138v and ASIC 79 are both fine and about average for the GPU.

My CPU is very heavily overclocked (it's a Phenom II X2 550 unlocked to a quad core @ 3.7 Ghz (and don't worry, it's well cooled )), so I just tried turning it back to stock settings. It didn't help in the slightest, I'm afraid.

 

[MisterMac]

My CPU is very heavily overclocked (it's a Phenom II X2 550 unlocked to a quad core @ 3.7 Ghz (and don't worry, it's well cooled )), so I just tried turning it back to stock settings. It didn't help in the slightest, I'm afraid.

Whats your stock voltage for the card?

Use TRIXX, if you have a sapphire card, go with the manufactors program first.


VX450 is imho, not the best option, especially if it's old.
This might be the route of your issues, along with PCI-E lanes.
30A should be enough - but VX is the entrylevel corsair brand - even if Seasonic it could just be torn from your heavy OC usage.


Im also confused how the hell you with Sapphire can go above 1225 mV.
Maybe OC Sapphire bios, unlocks voltage to 1.3mV?

Mine is not a OC version, but is locked @ 1225 mV.
And i'm too pussy to flash to Asus since the other guy's experiments killed his.


I'm doing 1250 stable benchmark @ 1225mv
But need to back down to 1220, for game stable.

 

[therealtoe]

As previously stated, stock voltage is 1.138V. And you're right, max voltage is indeed 1.225V, not 1.25V. Sorry, my bad.

Sapphire Trixx was the first program I used. Tried Asus GPU Tweak and MSI Afterburner later, but none of them allowed me to overclock beyond the CCC limits.

My VX450 is just about exactly three years old. Is that a lot? Anyway, I doubt that its age is the problem, as I bought my previous GPU at the same time, and this started happening very early on.

Btw: "... even if Seasonic it could just be torn from your heavy OC usage." I can't quite follow you here.

 

[hcra]

Guys, I need to choose from MSI TwinFrozr III OC (most expensive), Asus DirectCU II and regular TF III non-OC (cheapest). Which one do you suggest?

 

[blastingcap]

Guys, I need to choose from MSI TwinFrozr III OC (most expensive), Asus DirectCU II and regular TF III non-OC (cheapest). Which one do you suggest?

They are all good so I would go with the cheapest... maybe. If the ASUS is within $10 of the cheaper MSI card and will fit in your case, I would go for the ASUS instead, as it is a better-known quantity and apparently you get better voltage control with SmartDoctor right now than with MSI Afterburner.

 

[3DVagabond]

Guys, I need to choose from MSI TwinFrozr III OC (most expensive), Asus DirectCU II and regular TF III non-OC (cheapest). Which one do you suggest?

I'd go with the Asus DCII. I haven't seen where anything O/C's or performs any better. The DCII is very quiet as well. It is longer. So, you need more room in your case.

 

[Mezzanine]

Can anyone here with the Gigabyte twin fan 7850 comment on how noisy it is? I'm trying to decide between the Sapphire and the Gigabyte but noise is a big issue for me.

 

[zijin_cheng]

I'd go with the Asus DCII. I haven't seen where anything O/C's or performs any better. The DCII is very quiet as well. It is longer. So, you need more room in your case.

I got an Asus DCII, however I heard that twinfrozrs were higher binned, barely had enough space in my case, had to move my hard drive down to make space for my 7850, power connectors to mobo hardly reached.

I was actually wondering whether AMD overdrive would be good enough for mild over locking.

I'm using AMD CCC as asus CCC wouldn't install properly. I basically want to OC to max on stock voltage, however I want the option to increase voltage as well, will overdrive do it?

 

[MisterMac]

As previously stated, stock voltage is 1.138V. And you're right, max voltage is indeed 1.225V, not 1.25V. Sorry, my bad.

Sapphire Trixx was the first program I used. Tried Asus GPU Tweak and MSI Afterburner later, but none of them allowed me to overclock beyond the CCC limits.

My VX450 is just about exactly three years old. Is that a lot? Anyway, I doubt that its age is the problem, as I bought my previous GPU at the same time, and this started happening very early on.

Btw: "... even if Seasonic it could just be torn from your heavy OC usage." I can't quite follow you here.

VX450 is a Seasonic PSU.
They're generally known to be the best of the bunch in terms of PSU manufacturing.

HOWEVER - 33a on the 12v rail - with a 3 year old psu, that's been pushed by OC's could cause your problems.

When you OC, you've raised powerlimits with whatever tool your using right?

Id test with a stronger PSU if possible - just to eliminate that it's not the powerdraw you've been unlucky with.


EDIT:

PowerDraw for a total system on most reviews sites put a 7850 @ 300w +\-

Add OC from a powerhungry older CPU ad your new 7850.
it'll sneak up fast to 400w your 12v rail has.

If you add the fact it might be torn a bit from wear - it looks the most likely culprit.

 

[therealtoe]

A little late here, but anyway.

Yes, I did raise the power limit, up to the maximum of 50%.

I'm really not so sure about the PSU being the culprit. This started happening shortly after I first got it, and that was long before I so much as attempted to overclock or unlock cores on my CPU. And as I said earlier, I did try reverting to stock settings, and it made no difference. Still, it turns out I might be able to borrow a better PSU from a friend of a friend, so hopefully I'll find out for sure soon enough.

 

[robbrechter]

I just purchased a new machine, which included a Sapphire 7850 (non OC). I've tried Asus GPU Tweak, Sapphire Trixx, MSI Afterburner, and CCC. No matter what tool I use, I can't get the GPU Mem over 1000. Anything higher than that, the screen goes blank and I have to reboot my machine. Current settings are 975 GPU / 1475 Mem Clock / and 1165 VDCC in Trixx. I've tried multiple combinations including lower and higher voltage and mem clock settings, but 1000 GPU seems to be the sweet spot for crashing.

Do I just have a weak board or am I missing something obvious?

This is such a headache that I'm strongly considering just returning the card and buying something different.

 

[SickBeast]

I just purchased a new machine, which included a Sapphire 7850 (non OC). I've tried Asus GPU Tweak, Sapphire Trixx, MSI Afterburner, and CCC. No matter what tool I use, I can't get the GPU Mem over 1000. Anything higher than that, the screen goes blank and I have to reboot my machine. Current settings are 975 GPU / 1475 Mem Clock / and 1165 VDCC in Trixx. I've tried multiple combinations including lower and higher voltage and mem clock settings, but 1000 GPU seems to be the sweet spot for crashing.

Do I just have a weak board or am I missing something obvious?

This is such a headache that I'm strongly considering just returning the card and buying something different.

My card hits 1200mhz at 1.25v and that seems to be the sweet spot for a lot of people.

Your stock voltage is probably too low. On most cards it's 1.2v but on others it's less and that's probably why you're hitting a wall.

 

[robbrechter]

Yeah, I can't get anywhere near that. I have a 750W PSU and I've maxed out voltage slider in Asus, but still anything 1000 or more and system just crashes.

 

[SickBeast]

Yeah, I can't get anywhere near that. I have a 750W PSU and I've maxed out voltage slider in Asus, but still anything 1000 or more and system just crashes.

It doesn't make any sense. Are you pushing the memory too far maybe? Mine is at 5500mhz and your card should do that speed as well.

I know there are duds but that card seems especially bad. There must be something else going on here. You should be able to hit at least 1150mhz if not 1200mhz+.

 

[robbrechter]

If I load anything graphics intensive (Skyrim, Diablo 3, Heaven benchmark tool), the app will open and then in anywhere from 5-15 seconds later, the screen goes black. I still hear audio, but the machine is completely unresponsive until I hard reboot.

Antec 300 Illusion running 4 fans / Asrock Z77 mobo / Intel IB i5 3570k / XFX 750W PSU / 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 RAM / Coolermaster 212 EVO CPU fan / Sapphire 7850 non OC

That's my setup right now. Just built it two days ago. Problem is, it runs just fine at stock settings. But I bought this card to OC, not to run on stock. Feel like if I'm going stock, I should spring for a better card.

 

[SickBeast]

What drivers are you running?

What are your temps like? If you're hitting 80C or above your heatsink might not be mounted properly.

What kind of cooling is on your card?