Looking to OC my Sapphire 6850

[Forde3654Eire]

Hi all,

I am looking to overclock my Sapphire Radeon 6850. The GPU is currently paired with an i3-2100 and 1x4GB RAM DDR3 1333Mhz. I mainly use racing simulators: iRacing, rFactor, GSC 2012. All these are running at 1080p and give me a minimum of 45 - 50 FPS when maxed out with a full grid of cars. I'm looking to get at least 60 FPS maxed out, as anything below 60 FPS is very noticeable to me due to the nature of the sims.

Now I have absolutely no experience in overclocking. Is it recommended? Is there a high risk of damaging my 6850? Can you please give me a step-by-step guide as to how its done? What are the recommended overclock settings for the Sapphire 6850? How should I know when I have reached my overclocking limit?

It may be worth mentioning that I currently have Catalyst 12.04... and the latest version for my 6850 as stated by CCC is 12.10... should I update the drivers? I'm afraid of doing something wrong by updating...

Help would be much appreciated,
Thanks

 

[thequn]

Na sounds more like a CPU issue then GPU issue. In my experiance GPU overclocking of 2/3hundrad mhz is like 2 fps. and 10-20 degree more heat- unless watercooled

 

[Forde3654Eire]

Na sounds more like a CPU issue then GPU issue. In my experiance GPU overclocking of 2/3hundrad mhz is like 2 fps. and 10-20 degree more heat- unless watercooled

I'm not exactly sure how to spot a CPU bottleneck... but I think I know 2 things:

1) If I decrease graphical settings / resolution, and I don't get an increase in FPS, then there is a CPU bottleneck.
2) In MSI Afterburner, if GPU usage % is fluctuating and not staying at a consistent 99% or 100%, then there is a CPU bottleneck.

As for me, I am not experiencing the above problems. I do get an increase in FPS by reducing graphical settings and my GPU usage is at a consistent 99%... are the above theories correct?

If not, and I really am experiencing CPU bottle-necking, how much of a performance increase will I get by upgrading to an IvyBridge i5? My board is a B75 chipset, I doubt that will allow me to take advantage of the K-series CPUs...