HD5850 core and mem clock not showing as specified?

u should be able to put it up at 775/1125 (max in overdrive) without any problems.

I don't want to overclock it, Im just not sure what the actual clock rates are. I'd like it to read 735/1050 (toxic edition rates) not 725/1000(normal 5850 rates). Shouldn't the readings co-incide with the toxic rates and not the default rates out of the box? I shouldn't have to manually overclock it.

it should be set to 735/1050 by itself yes.

my non factory overclocked card is at 725/1000 when i press default and my BE one is set to 765/1100 or something like that (cant remember right now  )

So hitting default in ATI overdrive should automatically set my clock speeds to 735/1050? Or will hitting default push them down to 725/1000?

I hit default in ati overdrive and now the clock readings are set to what they are supposed to, but one thing that's conrfusing is that under the current readings at the bottom of that window, it reads 157mhz for GPU and 300Mhz for mem clock. Does it stay this way or does it adjust itself under stress sort of like turbo boost does for CPU's?

Its supposed to be like that and as u say it will adjust itself under stress  

Yep, that is power saving mode. It kicks in when in 2-D (desktop) low usage. If you want to see it clock up, use GPU-Z set to record while in background and log to a file. Then start your favorite game and view the log file when done.