5850 Crossfire overclocking issues

[gaximodo]

I've got my XFX5850XXX's today, did a fresh install of win7 coz I was using nv cards, downloaded msi afterburner, RBE, Atiwinflash, GPUZ, and these cards just won't let overclock.
1, for MSI afterburner, it won't go beyond the overdrive limit, if I set that enableunofficaloverclocking thingy, windows will crash straight away right after I change the value of any clocks(core/mem), not even values below the 775/1125 limit. Have to uninstall MSI afterburner to get back into windows.

2, for MSI afterburner and overdrive, the card comes with 755/1125, and the first card keeps reverting between Low 3D clock and High 3D clock (400/900 755/1125 respectively) every 2 seconds, but if I overclock core to 775, it will then reverting between 2D and high 3D,(167/300 something, not sure), and then desktop starts to flicker.

3, and then I tried Atiwinflash, crashes windows everytime while loading the program.

4, and at last I tried rivatuner, it allows me overclock the first card without any problems but any change to the second one will result BSOD/crashing.

Need help to first get rid of this OC limit, and that flickering problem, or make ATIwinflash to work under 64bit OS(or is the program doesn't support 5 series cards?)

Any reply will be much appreciated.

 

[jimmyz]

congratson the cards! I own a pair of XFX Black edition 5850s When I discovered the same problems I Immediately turned to RBE. I see you are not afraid of flashing so I will jump right to the fix.

Here is what I did.

1. Download this Bios http://cid-26aaa81850481d85.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/%e5%85%ac%e9%96%8b/MSI%5E_R5850%5E_unlock.A11
2. Get the latest RBE. http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=116427
3.Download ATIflash. http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1731/ATIFlash_3.79.html

Now the flashing needs to be done by booting to DOS and flashing. If you want to use a USB drive I can link you to pages that explain the easy procedure to make it work.
Basically the unlocked bios I linked to will flash just like a factory bios, it has the full signature etc. Allowing you to use CCC to adjust clocks ( the new limits wil be 1550 GPU and 2250 for Memory).

Now since this is a unlocked bios and you apparently want to overclock so here is why I asked you to get RBE's latest.

Open the Bios With RBE. go to the clock settings page and click on GPU registers. You will see one of them 0X17 Which has a voltage of 1.0875 you can enter the voltage you want here up to 2v+ The program will only use a predetermined number of voltages but there are alot of them. I watercool so I set my 3d volts at 1.35v. No need to make any other chabges in bios (and I suggest not making any more) save and flash.

I was easily able to OC after this and it has been as reliable as a factory set-up. I simple open CCC and set my desired clocks and game away!

 

[Asylum]

I also found if you dont want to risk flashing your cards you can run Cat 10.1 and use Afterburner and you can clock both cards just fine.

 

[BraveSoul]

all this crossfire talk makes me want to get another 5850,
as for OC limit, i sipmly use MSI Afterburner with limit removed in its config file
_____________________________

Antec1200 filter project

 

[Asylum]

all this crossfire talk makes me want to get another 5850,
as for OC limit, i sipmly use MSI Afterburner with limit removed in its config file
_____________________________
http://stats.free-dc.org/cpidtagb.php?cpid=59693a2ed1d0ab4f24e571d332537dfb&theme=9&cols=1
Antec1200 filter project

The problem is if your running Cat 10.3 and edit your config. file in Afterburner with 2 cards in crossfire.
You computer will lockup when you try to overclock them.

 

[digibucc]

The problem is if your running Cat 10.3 and edit your config. file in Afterburner with 2 cards in crossfire.
You computer will lockup when you try to overclock them.

i would have done this in 2 days time and been like

 

[BraveSoul]

The problem is if your running Cat 10.3 and edit your config. file in Afterburner with 2 cards in crossfire.
You computer will lockup when you try to overclock them.

is it only with Cat 10.3, do u know if Cat 10.2 did the same?
_____________________________

Antec1200 filter project

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

well i can confirm that afterburner locks up for me on release drivers 9.12 10.1 10.2 and 10.3a and 10.3b in crossfire if i try to overclock at ALL ive a few threads on this issue even flashing unlocked bios didnt give me any relief and uninstalling reinstalling drivers didnt cure it either.. maybe i am unlucky but afterburner just dosent do squat for me

 

[Asylum]

is it only with Cat 10.3, do u know if Cat 10.2 did the same?
_____________________________
http://stats.free-dc.org/cpidtagb.php?cpid=59693a2ed1d0ab4f24e571d332537dfb&theme=9&cols=1
Antec1200 filter project

10.1 is the only driver i got to work with Afterburner with the config file changed.
I did the bios flash on my 5870's to get it to work with 10.3 drivers.
And then dont edit your afterburner file or it will crash anyway.
With the unlocked bios flash the core and memory limits are higher so you dont have to edit Afterburner.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

eitherway afterburner dosent work at all for me even setting clocks to 735/1000 up just 10mhz on the core hardlocks the system so i pretty much stick to 775/1100 for my overclock using CCC and afterburner just handles my fan profile

 

[Asylum]

eitherway afterburner dosent work at all for me even setting clocks to 735/1000 up just 10mhz on the core hardlocks the system so i pretty much stick to 775/1100 for my overclock using CCC and afterburner just handles my fan profile

You have something wrong with your drivers or a bad card then.
If you will uninstall your drivers and run 10.1 and afterburner they should work fine.
You may need to reformat to get it straightend out.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

yea thing is i tried with win7 64bit fresh install still hardlocks the system but i can easily reinstall win7 on that hdd and test it later but yea its a driver issue i believe cause even with the gpus flashed to asus bios im still capped at 775 1125

i just really cant be bothered to reinstall 700 gigs of games and applications that i fiddle with daily to gain a few fps on games where i already average 60+ only games overclocking would benefit are metro 2033 and Crysis

 

[BraveSoul]

yea thing is i tried with win7 64bit fresh install still hardlocks the system but i can easily reinstall win7 on that hdd and test it later but yea its a driver issue i believe cause even with the gpus flashed to asus bios im still capped at 775 1125

i just really cant be bothered to reinstall 700 gigs of games and applications that i fiddle with daily to gain a few fps on games where i already average 60+ only games overclocking would benefit are metro 2033 and Crysis

man, with 5850 crossfired i wouldn't bother with overclocking at all, at least for now
i want a second one badly
_____________________________

Antec1200 filter project

 

[digibucc]

man, with 5850 crossfired i wouldn't bother with overclocking at all, at least for now i want a second one badly

yeah i'm selling off stuff for mine

 

[alexsubri]

This is what you do that I've DONE with no problems...

1.) Get MSI Afterburner (Mind you almost all overclockers have this)
1a.) Bump your voltage 1.3v
2.) Get AMD GPU tool --Can't remember if it was the 5870 one or the previous
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/Tweaking/

2a) Try running 1000/1300 -That's what I did for my benchmarks and bump your fan speed 55-60%

 

[alexsubri]

man, with 5850 crossfired i wouldn't bother with overclocking at all, at least for now
i want a second one badly
_____________________________
http://stats.free-dc.org/cpidtagb.php?cpid=59693a2ed1d0ab4f24e571d332537dfb&theme=9&cols=1
Antec1200 filter project

I'm running Crossfire, work's like a charm that's why I'm not too concerened with overclocking my GPU no mores, I don't want them to die too soon

 

[gaximodo]

Thanks for the replies guys, I'm pretty sure it's the ULPS crossfire profile thing kicking in caused the locking up, I'll try a registry editing see if I can disable it and use afterburner to overclock, will get back in around 2 hours.

Edit: Yeah afterburner worked with the registry editing, now I'm clocked at 855/1200, cards getting too hot and I don't wanna touch that voltage controlling thing