Simviation Forum - Over-clocking an HD3870

Jan 24^th, 2008 at 6:02pm

kagazi Offline
Colonel
I Fly Sim!

Gender:
Posts: 90

I just purchased the Sapphire single slot version and I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with over-clocking this card. If so, what program is best to use.

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #1 - Jan 24^th, 2008 at 8:42pm

Mermaid Man Offline
Colonel

Gender:
Posts: 221

ATI's with stock cooler don't overclock that well. Just use the built-in overclocker in ATI's CCC. I'd do the auto overclock mode, it'll test core/memory and reach it's limits.

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #2 - Jan 24^th, 2008 at 11:32pm

kagazi Offline
Colonel
I Fly Sim!

Gender:
Posts: 90

thank you!

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #3 - Feb 3^rd, 2008 at 4:56am

waspiflab Ex Member

Overdrive is rubbish on my 3870 crashed every time Tongue

Try Riva Tuner:
http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?page=rivatuner

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #4 - Feb 3^rd, 2008 at 7:10pm

kagazi Offline
Colonel
I Fly Sim!

Gender:
Posts: 90

What are your experiences with using Riva Turner 2.06 on the HD3870? When I opened the program it gave a warning that version 2.06 has not been tested with the display driver that I'm using.

I'm a little hesitant to use it for this reason, but if you've been successful then I'll give it a try.

I was able to over-clock the gpu clock using the overdrive from 775 to 791. The memory clock didn't budge.

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #5 - Feb 4^th, 2008 at 8:12am

Fozzer Offline
Colonel
An elderly FS 2004 addict!
Hereford. England. EGBS.

Posts: 24861

In my honest opinion... Wink

....

If anyone has just purchased a new Graphics Card and are thinking of over clocking it to increase its performance, to my mind, they have suddenly realised they have just purchased a Graphics Card which does not meet their present requirements!

They are now heading for....
a: Infringing their Warrantee.
b: Destroying the Card.

The reliability is now quickly going down the Toilet!

The same reasoning applies to Central Processors... Wink

..!

Paul....Get a faster Graphics Card/Processor to meet your requirements...and leave it Standard!... Wink

...!

Dell Dimension 5000 BTX Tower. Win7 Home Edition, 32 Bit. Intel Pentium 4, dual 2.8 GHz. 2.5GB RAM, nVidia GF 9500GT 1GB. SATA 500GB + 80GB. Philips 17" LCD Monitor. Micronet ADSL Modem only. Saitek Cyborg Evo Force. FS 2004 + FSX. Briggs and Stratton Petrol Lawn Mower...Motor Bikes. Gas Cooker... and lots of musical instruments!.... ...!
Yamaha MO6,MM6,DX7,DX11,DX21,DX100,MK100,EMT10,PSR400,PSS780,Roland GW-8L v2,TR505,Casio MT-205,Korg CX3v2 dual manual,+ Leslie 760,M-Audio Prokeys88,KeyRig,Cubase,Keyfax4,Guitars,Orchestral,Baroque,Renaissance,Medieval Instruments.

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #6 - Feb 5^th, 2008 at 1:52pm

Brett_Henderson Offline
Colonel
EVERY OUTER MARKER SHOULD
BE AN NDB

Gender:
Posts: 3593

Fozzer wrote on Feb 4^th, 2008 at 8:12am:

In my honest opinion... Wink

....

If anyone has just purchased a new Graphics Card and are thinking of over clocking it to increase its performance, to my mind, they have suddenly realised they have just purchased a Graphics Card which does not meet their present requirements!

They are now heading for....
a: Infringing their Warrantee.
b: Destroying the Card.

The reliability is now quickly going down the Toilet!

The same reasoning applies to Central Processors... Wink

..!

Paul....Get a faster Graphics Card/Processor to meet your requirements...and leave it Standard!... Wink

...!

As long as you take your time.. learn what you're doing.. and use a little common sense.. overclocking is fine. If you're that concerened about performance, you'll outgrow the device before you wear it out.. Like if you overclock a $500 CPU and shorten it's life from 4 years down to 2 1/2 years; you'd be replacing it by then anyway. It's no different than puting a slightly larger carb, or better exhaust system on a motorcycle, to squeeze a few more RPM anf HP out of it. Wink

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #7 - Feb 6^th, 2008 at 9:09am

Fozzer Offline
Colonel
An elderly FS 2004 addict!
Hereford. England. EGBS.

Posts: 24861

Brett_Henderson wrote on Feb 5^th, 2008 at 1:52pm:

As long as you take your time.. learn what you're doing.. and use a little common sense.. overclocking is fine. If you're that concerened about performance, you'll outgrow the device before you wear it out.. Like if you overclock a $500 CPU and shorten it's life from 4 years down to 2 1/2 years; you'd be replacing it by then anyway. It's no different than puting a slightly larger carb, or better exhaust system on a motorcycle, to squeeze a few more RPM anf HP out of it. Wink

..talking abut Motor Bikes....

As a keen Motorcyclist, I have lost count of the number of times I have seen Youngsters spend loadsa-money, tinkering with their brand spanking new, fully fared, multi-coloured, super-dooper, 125cc, 2-stroke Racer....

...then spend even more money getting the cylinders bored out, fitted with high compression pistons, advanced the ignition timing, weakened the mixture, etc, etc, to make it go FASTER...

...only to find that after a couple of miles down the road, the engine has seized solid, with the piston rings welded to the cylinder bores, and the whole engine a write-off... Cry

...!

...and the Bike worthless...!

It nearly always ends in tears... Cry

...!

...when what they should have done was to have thought about it a bit more and purchased a 500cc Motor Bike, and had the benefit of greater speed and reliability, without any modifications... Wink

...!

Sorted!... Smiley

...!

Paul....125+ MPH is plenty fast enough for me, with a standard Bike... Cool

...!

...anyone fancy a home modified, supercharged, bored out, Continental 0-200 engine fitted with oversized pistons, for their Cessna 150.... Wink

...!
...going cheap!...(don't mention it to the FAA).... Wink

..!

....

....!

Dell Dimension 5000 BTX Tower. Win7 Home Edition, 32 Bit. Intel Pentium 4, dual 2.8 GHz. 2.5GB RAM, nVidia GF 9500GT 1GB. SATA 500GB + 80GB. Philips 17" LCD Monitor. Micronet ADSL Modem only. Saitek Cyborg Evo Force. FS 2004 + FSX. Briggs and Stratton Petrol Lawn Mower...Motor Bikes. Gas Cooker... and lots of musical instruments!.... ...!
Yamaha MO6,MM6,DX7,DX11,DX21,DX100,MK100,EMT10,PSR400,PSS780,Roland GW-8L v2,TR505,Casio MT-205,Korg CX3v2 dual manual,+ Leslie 760,M-Audio Prokeys88,KeyRig,Cubase,Keyfax4,Guitars,Orchestral,Baroque,Renaissance,Medieval Instruments.

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #8 - Feb 6^th, 2008 at 9:46am

Brett_Henderson Offline
Colonel
EVERY OUTER MARKER SHOULD
BE AN NDB

Gender:
Posts: 3593

Yup... if you get carried away, and aren't careful, you'll ruin it all Roll Eyes

.. and you gotta know that going in.

"Overclocking" airplane engines is bad for its own reasons. Mainly, the FAA doesn't want a C712 parked out on a ramp, that will perform other than expected, when C172 pilot climbs into it. That would put others at risk, and require "EXPERIMENTAL" decals be placed conspicuously Cool

There are plenty of safe, well documented, over-clocking settings for CPUs and GPUs.

For example:.. You can get $540 worth of performance out of a $280 CPU (Q6700 vs Q6600 OC'd). Even if you cut it's life in half (and didn't plan on upgrading again by then), you could replce it at a much lower price and STILL be ahead, money-wise.

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #9 - Feb 6^th, 2008 at 5:46pm

NickN Offline
Colonel
FSX runs fine... the problem
is you or your system

Posts: 6317

O/c on a CPU/GPU when done correctly can reduce their life by up to 50% assuming that clock is maxed out and a maintained duty cycle of past 60% all the time.

First of all the theroretical life of a CPU/GPU is now 7-10 years assuming correct cooling is applied so worst case is a max of 3.5-5 years

Second, no one is running a max clock at 60% duty+ so that 3.5-5 years is more like 4.5-7 years

Third, anyone on the same CPU/GPU you were on 4-7 years ago?

LOL

So, the issue is not that clocking is bad.. its only bad for those who do not know what they are doing. When done correctly it can and will in fact put money in your pocket because you have clocked anywhere from 500-1000+ dollars instead of spending that.

And then again, even with the hardware I use, I could not run FSX the way I do without the system clocked up... to the tune of about 35-40% over what it is rated to do.

So that means I am abput a year ahead of anyone with FSX performance who is running brand-new hardware at default speeds.

Back to top

IP Logged

	Search the archive: