What is the best way to overclock the ATI 5850?

Hey guys, I've been browsing through this forum for a while now to look for all my troubleshooting and decided to make an account. I have owned my m15x since February and so far it's so so. I originally had the 920xm paired with the infamous 260m, and I suffered horribly from the throttling issues. So I finally ditched it and got a 5850m.

However I am having a little bit of a problem now: Every other game I play, usually NFS: Shift, or any fast action game there is a minor throttling issue. The computer will go from an amazing 55fps to a astonishing 19fps, but then shoot back up in 10 seconds. I've read the computer thinks it can idle, when the load takes a break, but how can I force the clocks, maybe a little higher than the stock 625/1000?

I've tried a ton of tools so far but nothing seems to be working, and if anything I just keep getting a ton of BSOD's

I've tried RivaTuner, ATI Tray Tools, and others, but no luck. I'm just looking for a simple walk through.

Thanks for any help.

 

Try AMD gpu clock tool
techPowerUp! :: Download AMD GPU Clock Tool v0.9.8

after getting your desired settings, you can make a vbios flash to retain the settings.

 

Awesome, I'll try it.

Also, another thing I forgot to add: My 3dMark06 score was about 8,500... is this normal for this setup?

920xm
5850
4GB RAM

 

Your score should be above 13000. Check the stealth mode! At the same time, you may want to update your graphics card drivers to the latest one.

P.S for overclocking, your card should be able to reach the stock HD5870 card (700/1000) without any problems.

 

The version of AMD Clock Tools that works with the 5850 is this one. Right church, wrong pew.

techPowerUp! :: Download AMD GPU Clock Tool v0.9.26.0 For HD 5870

However, a word of caution, AMD Clock Tool has been crashing on some M15x's using the new Dell beta video drivers and the A07 BIOS. So, you might also try MSI Afterburner v1.6.1, available here: MSI Afterburner. In order to use Afterburner with AMD/ATI cards, after installing the program, go to the program folder, open MSIAfterburner.cfg with notepad, go to the [ATIADLHAL] section and change the line EnableUnofficialOverclocking = 0 to EnableUnofficialOverclocking = 1, save and exit.

With the 5850 o/c'ed to 700/1000 (stock 5870 levels and a mild o/c for this card) and coupled with a 920XM processor, you should get 3dMark06 scores well over 14,000. A lot of the 5850's are stable with clocks at 900/1100, some even higher, so you're not really pushing the limits at 700/1000.

 

man what church is this, i want to join, heheheh. like rev said 9.26 works well for the 5850.

my personal favorite is flashing + amd clock tools.

 

Inap! Making any progress with that new fire-breather?

Flashing is my personal favorite too, but this seems a little more low key.

 

well just did some minor testing with a new 5850 dell sent me. they wouldn't let me swap it out of the old laptop, for some reason. strange same oc limit as old card. but 940 is throttling, can't even top my 920 score right now. waiting for a08.

 

i prefer AGCT for a more "temporary" solution. if things heat up or are not working properly, a reboot fixes all... with flashing... eugghhh!

once i find a nice stable overclock, then flashing is fine, prior to this... no way.

oh and fire breather? i think that's what he had before... this one's spewing molten lava!

 

haha when i had the 5870 i flashed it to 200/300 and used amd clock tools to oc when gaming, really helped with maintaining temps.

but with my 5850 i just flashed to 750/1000 and raised the volts 1.15, temps been real good, so i'm not that worried. plus having warranty on the card is sweet too.

 

He's right.

 

be carefull when looking at benchmarks, i think you will find your score is ok if you leave the deafult settings on ATI CCC 3D , i.e. what you would actually use.

if you want high numbers you have to turn all the features off or set to high/perfance.

i had simular issues when i started. for me the problem was i had unticked "enable powerplay".

run gpu-z, click sensors tab, look at your gpu and memory clocks.
leave it running and play your game, see what happens, you may not be getting 625.

dont think overclocking etc is the answer for your problem atm.

Read this post for what settings to put ATI, CCC, 3D on.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ati-5850-ccc-best-settings-2.html#post6600795

PS thanks to other posts for the interesting OC bits as they will come in handy for me and others.

 

lol What magic did you guys use to make a 5850m DDR5 runs at 900/1100?
I tried it and it's an instant freeze to me when I run 3DMarks06.

 

One question ive not seen answered if you use the tool and or bios is does it down clock still i.e. when ide or is it fixed at 700 etc?

 

which way you guys flashing the 5850? same way as the 260m by creating a rom with nibitor?

I told myself I'm not flashing it till another half year of running at stock clocks, but I'm a little tempted

 

I am also interested to know this answer. I will probably clock mine to 700/1000 using the methods decribed to see how it works out at first. I am assuming that I can go to 700/1000 on the stock voltage setting?

Thanks

 

If you use software overclocking (AMD Clock Tool or MSI Afterburner), then the settings will override the bios settings, so you lose the benefits of PowerPLay. The new clocks remain fixed until you (a) reboot, (b) click on Restore Default Clocks in Clock Tool or (c) click on Reset in Afterburner. One of the several advantages of reflashing is that you can set boot/3d clocks to the higher setting (i.e. 700/1000) while retaining the benefits of PowerPlay, reducing clocks to 100/150 at idle. It's the best of both worlds, but not without some risk.

The card can easily handle a 700/1000 o/c at stock voltage (1.0v for the Dell 5850). I urge you to go slowly and ask questions if you're new to overclocking. There are lots of folks here with considerable experience that can help you avoid problems.

 

In my experience, you need to increase the voltage to 1.10v or 1.15v to handle 900/1100 clocks, but it varies between cards. 3dMark06 is more sensitive, and more unstable, with highly o/c'ed cards than 3dMarkVantage. My 5850 does fine with 900/1100 (at 1.10v) running 3dMark06, but you just have to experiment. On the other hand, my 5870 limits out at 850/1100, and is sometimes not happy at those levels. The only way to increase voltage is using Radeon Bios Editor (RBE) to modify the voltage setting(s) and flashing with the modified vbios.

Edit: You want to proceed in stages. For example, if you want to try 900/1100 at 1.10v or 1.15v, don't go whole hog from the outset. Modify the vbios to something like 700/1000/1.10v or 750/1050/1.15v, then use AMD or Aferburner to increase the clocks in stages up to the desired level (or the card's limits) using the higher voltage.

 

Ok, I'm looking forward to trying out these methods... Just have to do a clean install of Windows 7... the 260 drivers messed up the registry pretty bad and I couldn't fix it.

 

And once again, Revelator, thank you so much for the information!

 

You're entirely welcome. my friend. I hope is proves useful.

 

this guide should have everything you need.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/6482227-post1731.html


btw the revelator you ROCK!!!!

 

So I got my 5850m flashed and now its running at 900/1100 @ 1.15v
passed 3Dmark06 but honestly, the score didn't boosts much from 780mhz lol.

 

900 is way too much for everyday use, back it down. i would stay around 750/1050 to be safe. 900 and above is just for benchmarking. plus i only go 1.15v for when i go above 950 core.

 

Still, I don't see much of improvement comparing 900mhz and 780mhz with 3Dmark06.

 

That's why you test. Higher clocks don't always translate to better performance. Each card seems to have a sweet spot where clocks and power use and temps find the best combination to deliver the best performance that card in that computer with that processor and using those drivers can deliver. Change any variable, and the calculus changes. It's part of the challenge and the fun that grabs real overclockers and benchmarkers, which fortunately I have thus far avoided. Having said that, I would nevertheless expect a pretty decent boost for a 900 core over 780 on a 5850 in an M15x.

 

are you running ThrottleStop? it should give you a performance difference.

 

Update: OK, all the drivers are installed and I just put my 3dMark Vantage on and ran it. I OC'd the car to 800/1050, which setup perfectly. I saw a significant difference in the Vantage from stock 625/1000 to the 800/1050. However, I'm still getting a low score.. I think the i7 is messing with me.


My 3DMARK score is P7799

GPU Score = 7909

CPU Score = 7487

 

Tried that but hmm..Not much of boost.
Maybe I don't know how to use it. Any quick guide?

 

make sure

Clock Modulation (100%)
Chipset Clock Mod (100%)
Set Multiplier (max you can set)

is checked on. Then press on the Turn ON button and let it run in the background

 

Quick question that is not entirely related but, for someone who is not technically savvy is it worth the effort to overclock the 5850 for gaming, all benchmarking and everything aside?

 

Hmm yup, that's what I did..
So..I get :
13707 from 900/1100
13399 from 800/1050

PS: Oh uhh, just thought I should include this as well.
12517 on stock, everything others than updated driver 10.8. (No throttlestop, no overclocking, no bios flashing)

Normal? Well I'm not sure but heck I still get some funny lag and slow down in Starcraft 2. (30-50 FPS, its playable but the screen scroll lag are just unbearable :/)

 

OK, fixed the processor issue. Ran 3DMark again...

3DMARK SCORE: 9,267

GPU Score 8,455

CPU Score 13,019

Not sure why the GPU is a little low... Right now it is clocked at 800/1050

 

can you quickly post your laptop specs?

 

Ops, sorry about that.

i7 740QM
5850m
8GB RAM
128GB SSD

 

your scores are fine. You can probably achieve some more by stopping some background processes etc.

Look at this score

Benchmark Found in the benchmark thread. Its a bit higher than yours, but that has the 20QM.

The problem with 3d Mark 06 is that it is highly CPU dependent, therefore you dont see that huge jump.

 

I set back my clocks to stock and ran bench again, and I've heard that the target would be around 12k, but I'm only getting 6.1k with the 5850... The processor though it ripping through at 15k

 

I see.
guess playing SC2 in ultra setting isn't ideal at all then. (I mean..I could live with 30FPS but the scroll lag is just /facepalm)
Hope there is a fix for it :/
EDIT:- Oh there is a fix for the scroll lag actually (Reduce mouse lag), but in return it will bring the FPS down by 7-10 frames. Still, I was enjoying the game at 30FPS-40FPS. Happy now lol.

EDIT:-
Just tried out the Vantage too.
At 800/1050

P9296

CPU Score
11555
Graphics Score
8727

 

OK, I got my setup and it looks good.

3dMark06 STOCK 5850m (w/ i7 920xm) = 12900

3dMark06 800/1050 5850m (w/ i7 920xm) = 14500

3dMark Vantage STOCK 5850m (w/ i7 920xm) = GPU 6.2K/ CPU 14.5K | Combined Total 7.5K

3dMark Vantage 800/1050 5850m (w/ i7 920xm) = GPU 7.2K/ CPU 13.1K | Combined Total 8.2K

Does this look normal? Thanks.

 

i'm also thinking of giving this a try. but before i oc the vidcard, is it a requirement to re-paste the gpu (and also the cpu)? or do i risk frying my laptop? (sorry for the newbie-type question)

thanks!

 

its recommended but not required, it mostly depends on your existing temps. but closely monitor your temps, if they get too high then repaste or lower your clocks.

 

Before I tried OC'ing I put down a nice smooth layer of Arctic Silver 5. At 800/1050 I'm running at 60c

 

alright, thanks!
now to figure out where to get thermal paste here in Singapore

 

ebay

/10char

 

VR Zone i will post the link once i get home.

 

So this is my first shot at using amd tools to overclock a item and I am a nub at it. when you guys state 700/1000, do you mean 700 engine and 1000 memory clock lol? thx for educating the nub.

 

yes that is what we mean. its a simple oc tool, so if anything happpens you can use reboot and all will be fine.

 

Your scores are still a little below expectations, particularly the Vantage scores, with the primary culprit being the 5850, but the CPU score is also being pulled down significantly where the 5850 is overclocked to 800/1050. There is no legitimate reason for that. Unfortunately, based upon the information, I don't see any obvious cause for the under-performance. Attached is a Vantage screenshot at 800/1075 (closest I had), but with only an 820QM. Clearly you should be a couple of hundred points higher than this with your setup.

 

im using msi afterburn 2.0.0 is it best if i oc the graphics card just when i am gaming and reset to stock or just leave it at oced clock ( doesnt downclock when idel during oc mode). thanks

 

I've read everything in this and the mentioned threads, and would like to clarify some points to avoid any mistakes...

I own 5850 mobility on my HP envy 17. The stock is 500/900. and 3dmark score is about 11000. Trying to overclock by software, when i go more + 50/50 points (core/memory) it crashes the test. So, i got 11500 max in 3dmark on 550/950. Then i downgrade my bios (i found that previous bios had +100 memory core), so i get 500/1000 in stock!!! its stable!!

According to M15x + ATI 5870 (MOD) thread i can change my bios for bigger core/memory, but IT RECOMMENDED to do it only if i have stable overcklock by software... SO, why I can't go more then 50 in software overcklock, but official bios did it.. is it mean HP BIOS restrict any overclock possibilities?

2 questions,
- is it safe to change HP bios and make flashing?
- is it good idea to flash bios by other company?

p.s. sorry, but i spent so many time to find something about HP envy overclock, nothing..... and for my bad English...