OC'ing Asus HD7850 2GB + Software to Use

[Virility]

Hello,

I would like to overclock the "Asus HD7850-DC2-2GD5 Radeon HD7850 Direct CU II 2GB GDDR5 pci-e3.0" arriving tomorrow hopefully.

I have done a lot of research but most of the documentation is old and I've been finding so many conflicting views and ideas that I'm still just lost - only in a different way of being lost!

Can someone give me a run down of a simple / safe way to OC my card without increasing the voltage?

This is what I intend to do plus my questions in certain areas, and please correct me:

1. Burn in the card - what software should I use; MSI kombustor? If so, what settings?
2. OC in 25mhz increments for core speed and memory speed, as far as I can without increasing the voltage or until artifacts appear - in which case I'd set back 50mhz and leave it - Still not sure what software I should use for (a) stress testing and (b) overclocking, but is MSI afterburner adequate or should I use some ATI software, if so, which?
2.1 What fan speed should I set it to?
2.2 What other settings do I need to change?


I will share my system specs where relevant:

i7 sandy-bridge 2600k CPU @ 3.4ghz (no OC)
Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H-B3 mobo
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance ram @ 1600mhz (no OC)
Corsair 600T Mid Tower

And finally

3. Should I increase voltage and go for a higher OC on this card? It seems more than capable but I'm worried because I can not afford to replace it.

I appreciate any help, please keep in mind I did research this but just got confused along the way, would like something set in stone particularly for my specific graphics card.

 

[redemptionse]

Use the asus gpu tweak and enable the enhance overclocking or whatever. they give you a safe voltage range, but the stock voltage is around 1.15 or so and theyre good to 1.3v so idk what youre worried about. I bought the same card from amazon and Im able to hit 1250/1600(think its 6200 in the gpu tweak) at 1.2v but I keep it at 1200/1500 1.18 just to be safe

 

[Virility]

Thanks for that - I suppose I can up the voltage a little then.

What software should I use for burn in + stress test? And what about the fan speed?

Furmark?

 

[redemptionse]

I used Furmark myself. I found setting my fan between 60-70% gave me a stable temperature at full load even overclocked but it gets loud after 70%, real loud

 

[Virility]

OC'ing the memory doesn't do anything much - sometimes lowers fps, increasing the voltage drastically drops fps + furmark score. Not sure what to do :/

 

[goombaxiv]

umm I have a msi 7850 and the stock voltage is 1.075 I run mine at 1.110 1180/1450. That is the max stable setting for me at that voltage. 1.2 might be high for 24/7 overclock.

 

[Virility]

Best answer selected by Virility.