• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Overclocking the HD4870 1GB beyond 790MHz!

Gunny

New Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2009
Messages
4 (0.00/day)
Hey guys. Glad to be a part of this community. :)

I've a HIS HD4870 1GB. This one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161269

Right now, I've it clocked at 790MHz (the maximum permissible using the Catalyst Control Center).




I've seen lot of the users having the HD 4870 1GB cards with the reference coolers clocked at 850 odd MHz.

How do I go about achieving the same with the card that I've? I believe I've to use the Radeon Bios Editor. (v1.19 downloaded already :p)

I dont've a remote idea about the ideal memory clocks, although 850MHz for the GPU clock should be quite good I guess.

PS: I also have a HD 4850 running in the crossfire mode.
 
Joined
May 5, 2008
Messages
3,318 (0.57/day)
Location
Dallas, Tx
Processor Intel i5-3570K @ 3.4Ghz
Motherboard Asrock LGA1155 Z77 Extreme 4
Cooling Cooler Master Evo 212
Memory 16GB (4X4) G.Skill Ripjaw 2 DDR3-1600
Video Card(s) Nvidia gForce GTX 660ti
Storage 1x Samsung 840 EVO 256GB 6Gb/s, 1x WD 500GB 6Gb/s, 1x WD 80GB 3Gb/s
Display(s) ASUS VH242H Black + 2 HP 2311x 23" LED
Case Fractal Design R4
Audio Device(s) Realtek OnBoard Both
Power Supply Cooler Master 850w
Software Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
Welcome:toast:

And nice clocks.
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
5,739 (1.00/day)
Location
Wakefield, UK
Welcome,

I'd use Rivatuner to test clocks, then when you've found some good ones, use the bios editor.
 

KBD

New Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2007
Messages
2,477 (0.40/day)
Location
The Rotten Big Apple
Processor Intel e8600 @ 4.9 Ghz
Motherboard DFI Lanparty DK X48-T2RSB Plus
Cooling Water
Memory 2GB (2 x 1GB) of Buffalo Firestix DDR2-1066
Video Card(s) MSI Radeon HD 4870 1GB OC (820/950) & tweaking
Storage 2x 74GB Velociraptors in RAID 0; 320 GB Barracuda 7200.10
Display(s) 22" Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2070SB
Case Silverstone TJ09-BW
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Profesional
Power Supply Ultra X3 800W
Software Windows XP Pro w/ SP3
850Mhz on the core is extremely optimistic. Most 4870s cant get there and even with a voltage bump it may be difficult. Also, you'll have to lower your mem clocks to raise the GPU clocks, especially since you have a 1GB version which is not a great clocker on memory.


I say start from stock clocks and start bumping your core and mem by 5Mhz at a time, that will give you a balanced core/memory overclock. Then keep testing for stability with ATI Tool & Furmark. Once you hit a wall and are brave enough to increase voltage via hardmods (solder or pencil) look in the Articles section for guides. Alternatively, you may be able to flash the BIOS with a higher voltage thus allowing you to overclock further. Sadly, there are no voltage softmods since you have a non-refence card.
 

Gunny

New Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2009
Messages
4 (0.00/day)
Guys, thanx a lot for the replies. Much appreciated. :)

I've ditched the 4850 and the display is running off the HD 4870 1GB.

I've ordered the Accelero S1 rev. 2 and planning to slap 2 120mm fans (yeah slightly an overkill but the additional one could help for cooling the VRMs as well!). :)

I'm thinking of flashing the BIOS with a slightly bumped voltage. Can you guys suggest me on how to go about with the same? I've no clue as to what volts should be entered.

A screenshot could really help.

TIA guys.
 

SpeedEuphoria

New Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2008
Messages
42 (0.01/day)
Try ATT(Ati Tray Tool), if your on Vista you need 1.6.9.1374 or newer to get past the unsigned driver, right click and install as admin.

It will allows the 1 step up voltage adjustment that bios flashing will allow, no need to waste time flashing and being nervous about it.
 

Gunny

New Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2009
Messages
4 (0.00/day)
^Guess I'll first find the walls when the clocks seem to be unstable without notching up the volts. :)

Right now, I could do an 800/1000 without breaking a sweat. I just hope the memory chips're not the hynix ones.

Wont RBE 1.19 work with Vista? :)

BTW this HIS card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161269 has a very bad heatsink design. People should stay away from this one IMO. I dont understand how HIS makes a top-notch cooler (IceQ4 series) for some cards and a very bad one for the others!

The fan stopped spinning one day, the card overheated and shut down itself. TWICE! Removed the card off the slot and found that the heatsink was extremely hot! The fan was in a bad shape. Removed it and slapped an NMB 60mm fan (after cutting the shroud around it!) and sticked the fan to the sink using the double-sided 3M tape. Now for the time being it idles at 52'C and loads to 58'C. Not very bad. :)
 

KBD

New Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2007
Messages
2,477 (0.40/day)
Location
The Rotten Big Apple
Processor Intel e8600 @ 4.9 Ghz
Motherboard DFI Lanparty DK X48-T2RSB Plus
Cooling Water
Memory 2GB (2 x 1GB) of Buffalo Firestix DDR2-1066
Video Card(s) MSI Radeon HD 4870 1GB OC (820/950) & tweaking
Storage 2x 74GB Velociraptors in RAID 0; 320 GB Barracuda 7200.10
Display(s) 22" Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2070SB
Case Silverstone TJ09-BW
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Profesional
Power Supply Ultra X3 800W
Software Windows XP Pro w/ SP3
Yea, you should first find your limits with stock voltage and only consider a BIOS flash after you hit a wall. Though your memory is still high and will prevent you from going much higher on the core. Accelero S1 Rev2 w/ 2 fans is an excellent choice for a 4870. I think that you'll be able to push your card further once you remove that crappy HIS cooler and install the Accelero. I'd also consider installing some copper ramsinks on the memory and the VRMs before installing the Accelero if you can find something long enough for the latter. The current VRM sink doesnt look bad due to its size but i'm betting its aluminum and wont conduct heat as well as copper. Dont forget to keep an eye on your VRM temps especially now when they are not actively cooled. When you are ready to flash the BIOS read these articles, you'll find out exactly how it needs to be done:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=11

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=69114

Dont know if RBE will work in Vista, you may want to look up the readme file that comes with it, look up system requirrements or ask in the RBE section.

It will allows the 1 step up voltage adjustment that bios flashing will allow, no need to waste time flashing and being nervous about it.

ATT is a great utility however it cannot adjust voltage as you say. Being new to Radeon cards i used to think that too until someone explained to me that ATT simply lets you adjust the voltages that are already programmed into the BIOS. One cannot go higher than 1.263v programmed into most BIOSes as the 3D voltage (there is an exception for some cards that run at 1.276v in 3D). So one can only select from the 4 voltages programmed into the BIOS (at least its 4 on my refence card) and no more. The OP will have to flash if he wants to go above stock 3D voltage.
 
Last edited:

AsRock

TPU addict
Joined
Jun 23, 2007
Messages
18,851 (3.08/day)
Location
UK\USA
Processor AMD 3900X \ AMD 7700X
Motherboard ASRock AM4 X570 Pro 4 \ ASUS X670Xe TUF
Cooling D15
Memory Patriot 2x16GB PVS432G320C6K \ G.Skill Flare X5 F5-6000J3238F 2x16GB
Video Card(s) eVga GTX1060 SSC \ XFX RX 6950XT RX-695XATBD9
Storage Sammy 860, MX500, Sabrent Rocket 4 Sammy Evo 980 \ 1xSabrent Rocket 4+, Sammy 2x990 Pro
Display(s) Samsung 1080P \ LG 43UN700
Case Fractal Design Pop Air 2x140mm fans from Torrent \ Fractal Design Torrent 2 SilverStone FHP141x2
Audio Device(s) Yamaha RX-V677 \ Yamaha CX-830+Yamaha MX-630 Infinity RS4000\Paradigm P Studio 20, Blue Yeti
Power Supply Seasonic Prime TX-750 \ Corsair RM1000X Shift
Mouse Steelseries Sensei wireless \ Steelseries Sensei wireless
Keyboard Logitech K120 \ Wooting Two HE
Benchmark Scores Meh benchmarks.
^Guess I'll first find the walls when the clocks seem to be unstable without notching up the volts. :)

Right now, I could do an 800/1000 without breaking a sweat. I just hope the memory chips're not the hynix ones.

Wont RBE 1.19 work with Vista? :)

BTW this HIS card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161269 has a very bad heatsink design. People should stay away from this one IMO. I dont understand how HIS makes a top-notch cooler (IceQ4 series) for some cards and a very bad one for the others!

The fan stopped spinning one day, the card overheated and shut down itself. TWICE! Removed the card off the slot and found that the heatsink was extremely hot! The fan was in a bad shape. Removed it and slapped an NMB 60mm fan (after cutting the shroud around it!) and sticked the fan to the sink using the double-sided 3M tape. Now for the time being it idles at 52'C and loads to 58'C. Not very bad. :)

Mine runs 70c on VDDC and 70c on GPU after 2-3 hours of playing at full load ( 101% :p ). Sounds to me you just had a faulty fan.

I got a Musashi here and cannot see the point in using it lol.. Although i will keep a eye on that fan though :).


EDITED due to wrong image. Things been on all day played a few games now and thats the highest i have seen it yet.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Feb 8, 2009
Messages
71 (0.01/day)
Location
Solihull, England, UK
When I run GPUZ on my PC I do not get the last few sensors...

Mines a Sapphire 4870 1GB non-reference board.

 

Gunny

New Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2009
Messages
4 (0.00/day)
Got the newer revision of the AC Accelero S1 :p



Although I was able to do a stable 860/1100 in the beginning for ~6 mins w/o Furmark yielding artifacts, later on it started showing up. Could do only 820/1050 later on. God knows why. :(

The VRMs have changed this time and sucks as usual. Tried the newer VRMs and the card heavily artifacted. Changed back to stock HIS VRMs. :|



Can somebody figure out how I was able to do a stable initial OC of 860/1100 but not later on? :(
 

KBD

New Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2007
Messages
2,477 (0.40/day)
Location
The Rotten Big Apple
Processor Intel e8600 @ 4.9 Ghz
Motherboard DFI Lanparty DK X48-T2RSB Plus
Cooling Water
Memory 2GB (2 x 1GB) of Buffalo Firestix DDR2-1066
Video Card(s) MSI Radeon HD 4870 1GB OC (820/950) & tweaking
Storage 2x 74GB Velociraptors in RAID 0; 320 GB Barracuda 7200.10
Display(s) 22" Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2070SB
Case Silverstone TJ09-BW
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Profesional
Power Supply Ultra X3 800W
Software Windows XP Pro w/ SP3
Got the newer revision of the AC Accelero S1 :p


Although I was able to do a stable 860/1100 in the beginning for ~6 mins w/o Furmark yielding artifacts, later on it started showing up. Could do only 820/1050 later on. God knows why. :(

The VRMs have changed this time and sucks as usual. Tried the newer VRMs and the card heavily artifacted. Changed back to stock HIS VRMs. :|

Can somebody figure out how I was able to do a stable initial OC of 860/1100 but not later on? :(


Congrats on the cooler, its a good one :toast:

Your 860/1100 overclock wasnt stable thats why Furmark crashed after 6min.

Let me give you some advice. First, to test the stability of the card you have to stress it for a while. I, for instance, let ATI Tool run for 2Hrs to check for artifacts, if there are none i move on the next test after the card had a chance to cool down a bit. Next i test with 3DMark06 and let it run 3 times and then Furmark stress test. I let latter run for about 2 hours also, if no crashes the card is considered stable. Sometimes i also do additional testing with game benchmarks like Crysis. Second, you have to overclock you card in small 5Mhz increments and dont jump to 860/1100 right away. I think i already told you this, start at around 800Mhz or stock and increase core and mem by 5Mhz at a time.

820/1050 is actually very good for a 1GB 4870, if its indeed stable. If you havent mounted fans on that cooler id do so, it will help you greatly, like 2 120mm or 2 92mm. Lastly, get some copper sinks for mem and VRMs, they'll be better than what came with the cooler.
 
Last edited:

aCid888*

New Member
Joined
May 19, 2008
Messages
2,754 (0.48/day)
Location
In a state of flux...
I'll be testing my 4870 1GB later...only difference is mine has a Koolance waterblock on it so heat isn't an issue. :)
 
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
2,886 (0.52/day)
Location
Riverside, California
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard AsRock X670E Phantom Gaming Lightning
Cooling Be Quiet! Dark Rock 4
Memory G.SKILL Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6000 32GB (2 x 16GB)
Video Card(s) Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX
Storage Samsung 980 PRO Series 1TB, Samsung 980 PRO Series 1TB, Crucial P3 NVMe M.2 2TB
Display(s) LG OLED55G2PUA
Case Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL ROG Certified
Audio Device(s) Digital out to high end dac and amps.
Power Supply EVGA GQ 1000W
Mouse Logitech G600
Keyboard Logitech G413 Carbon
VR HMD Oculus Rift CV1, Oculus Rift S, Quest 2, Quest 3
Software Windows 10 Pro
I was able to run my 4870 1GB at 840/1000 no problem until I installed a second 4870 1GB and now I have to keep both cards at 800/1000. anything over 800 and the cards aren't stable.

I'm totally ok with that though.
 
Top