6870 doesnt overclock well. Help!!!

[Akhilcool]

Hi I'm new to this forum and I was wondering if I could get some help plz. The problem is quite simple, my 6870 is not oc'ing well. I can get it stable at 945mhz core clock and 1150mhz memory clock. And this isn't even with stock voltages. I actually have to bump it all the way to 1.195 V before it runs stable. I use OCCT as a stability tester as it's pretty good at finding all possible errors. Not only that but if increase the clocks any higher without changing the voltages, not only are my temps high but I end up with artifacts. SOO my question to you guys is:

A) Is this normal?
B) What am i doing wrong?
C) Is the card defective?

I even changed the fan profile to amp up the cooling of the GPU, yet the temps are still reaching 82*C on OCCT with the clock speeds and volts mentioned above. Why can't I overclock any higher even though a lot of other people are able to get to 1000mhz core clock and 1200mhz memory clock on STOCK VOLTAGES!?!?! And the other minority can at least reach around 970mhz on stock voltage. I have to increase my core voltage just to OC my core clock to 945mhz. I'm not quite sure what on earth is going on. My computer seems to be well cooled as my CPU doesn't even reach 50*C on full load.

My specs:
-CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 @ 3.9GHz OC'ed using CCC CPU Overdrive
-Case and Fans: CM HAF 912 w/ two 120mm CM sickleflow fan intakes in front, stock 120mm intake on side case, 200mm CM megaflow exhaust on top and stock 120mm exhaust on back. Seems to me as cooling is sufficient
-CPU Cooler: Corsair A50
-GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD6870 w/ Dual fans (DiRT 3 version)
-PSU: iCAN 600W which I'm pretty sure is more than enough even for Crossfire
-M/B: ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO
-OS: Windows 7 64-Bit
-RAM: 2x4GB DDR3 in dual channel

I've used 4 different ATI CCC drivers, no difference from any of them including latest 12.1.

So, I think I've put plenty of info and detail. This is my first time using a PC forum and I really need help. Hope you guys have any advice or suggestions. THANKSSSS

 

[Vettedude]

Overclocking is not a guarantee on any part. If you can get it to OC, that's just an added bonus. You just have a chip that can't clock very high, but it doesn't matter because if its stable on the stock speeds, that's all it has to be.

 

[Akhilcool]

Overclocking is not a guarantee on any part. If you can get it to OC, that's just an added bonus. You just have a chip that can't clock very high, but it doesn't matter because if its stable on the stock speeds, that's all it has to be.

Thanks for the quick response! Do you think I should change my fan configuration in my case? I was wondering if it was good for cooling as my GPU still seems to heat up quite a bit.

 

[17seconds]

The 6870's in general are well known to have very little headroom for overclocking.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-review/22

 

[Akhilcool]

The 6870's in general are well known to have very little headroom for overclocking.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-review/22

Thank you for giving me some piece of mind I guess I'm going to stick with my current OC and not worry about it. Though I'm still concerned about the GPU temp It's way too high for my taste, anything I can do to improve that without having to drastically decrease the OC settings? I was wondering if my PC fans configuration could be adjusted to improve temperatures?

 

[17seconds]

After I wrote that, I found this review where they got a higher overclock and said the Sapphire 6870 Dirt 3 was the highest overclocking 6870 they have ever had.
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/sapphire_6870_dirt_3/4.htm

Each GPU is different, so you likely just have a GPU that doesn't want to go much higher. Even a more extreme OC won't improve your performance/gaming experience by much if at all. As for your temperatures, I'd say 82c fully stressed on an overclocked card is pretty good.

 

[Akhilcool]

The thing is that even if I decrease the OC back to stock settings, the temperatures will still stay at around 75-80*C which is still ridiculously high for a dual fan card that I was told to have "a very amped-up cooling system."

 

[Vettedude]

82 isn't horrible for a GPU and you can't compare that to your 50C CPU as they have different heat tolerance. Panic when the GPU is at 90C. But yeah, for a dual-fan card, its pretty warm.

 

[Akhilcool]

After I wrote that, I found this review where they got a higher overclock and said the Sapphire 6870 Dirt 3 was the highest overclocking 6870 they have ever had.
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/sapphire_6870_dirt_3/4.htm

Each GPU is different, so you likely just have a GPU that doesn't want to go much higher. Even a more extreme OC won't improve your performance/gaming experience by much if at all. As for your temperatures, I'd say 82c fully stressed on an overclocked card is pretty good.

WOW really?? That makes me a little happier. I guess I'll have to settle than. I think it should run quite a bit cooler when playing most graphically-intensive games as they don't stress the GPU as much. Thank you for your help!

 

[17seconds]

Each card is designed to seek out a particular operating temperature while adjusting the Auto fan to compensate. On my GTX 580, I seem to always be at 86-88c when gaming with the only difference being how fast (and loud) the fan runs. Sometimes the fan is running at 60%, other times at 70%, but that temperature stays just about the same. That is the way it was designed to run at that target temperature.

 

[Akhilcool]

82 isn't horrible for a GPU and you can't compare that to your 50C CPU as they have different heat tolerance. Panic when the GPU is at 90C. But yeah, for a dual-fan card, its pretty warm.

Mhmm I don't know whether the cooling around the GPU is insufficient ( which it shouldn't be because of the fact that the card is getting direct cool air from the side fan and cool air from the front two case fans ) yet I'm trying to look for some adjustments.

 

[Akhilcool]

Each card is designed to seek out a particular operating temperature while adjusting the Auto fan to compensate. On my GTX 580, I seem to always be at 86-88c when gaming with the only difference being how fast (and loud) the fan runs. Sometimes the fan is running at 60%, other times at 70%, but that temperature stays just about the same. That is the way it was designed to run at that target temperature.

That it is very true but I'm actually using a custom fan profile that I created on Sapphire Trixx and even with those amped fan speeds, it is still running at 80*C + on 100% load. I can only imagine how high the temps would get if I let the fans run on auto I can probably expect 90*C!! And that is definately way to high.

 

[Akhilcool]

I think I tried the stability tester with these OC settings before. That time I used the auto fan profile from ATI CCC, and I got temperatures between 85*C and 90*C so that means I'm definitely running my GPU on the hot side.

 

[Vettedude]

Your cooling sounds pretty good. But do you have a lot of cables all messed around in the case? That can cause turbulence and really hurt the cooling.

 

[17seconds]

If you really want to tweak things, some suggestions:

- Move the video card into a different PCIe slot (higher or lower) to see if it can get better airflow. Don't move it from a PCIe x16 into a PCIe x8 or x4 slot, though.

- Try to play around with a custom fan setting (I'm not really big on changing the Auto fan setting, but others are). Since your are already running a fan profile, maybe, try setting it on Auto and see what happens. The engineers who designed your card might just know what they are doing.

-Remove the heatsink and replace the thermal paste. Not something for beginners, but usually not too hard to do.

 

[Akhilcool]

Your cooling sounds pretty good. But do you have a lot of cables all messed around in the case? That can cause turbulence and really hurt the cooling.

I thought that too before so I re-did the entire wiring and practically all power cables behind the case. I have one single case fan sticking out and it is clear out of the way from everything so I don't have a problem with that.

 

[Akhilcool]

If you really want to tweak things, some suggestions:

- Move the video card into a different PCIe slot (higher or lower) to see if it can get better airflow. Don't move it from a PCIe x16 into a PCIe x8 or x4 slot, though.

- Try to play around with a custom fan setting (I'm not really big on changing the Auto fan setting, but others are). Since your are already running a fan profile, maybe, try setting it on Auto and see what happens. The engineers who designed your card might just know what they are doing.

-Remove the heatsink and replace the thermal paste. Not something for beginners, but usually not too hard to do.

Haha I did try it with auto fan before and I got higher temps And yes I wanted to try replacing the thermal paste but it seems very hard since this card has screws in the most difficult-to-reach locations. Not only that but I don't wanna lose my warranty.

 

[Vettedude]

Well me saying it could be cables is hypocritical haha. You should see my case right now My 6850 will be in tomorrow though so I'll do some organizing. But I have a side window on my case so every time I use my computer I see my horrible cable management

 

[Akhilcool]

Well me saying it could be cables is hypocritical haha. You should see my case right now My 6850 will be in tomorrow though so I'll do some organizing. But I have a side window on my case so every time I use my computer I see my horrible cable management

LOL thats why they have another side of the case Some plastic zip ties and a little creativity should help you make your system really clean looking!

 

[Akhilcool]

Damn I should've paid like $30 more for the GTX 560 Ti It is a lot better than my garbage 80*C card

 

[Akhilcool]

If you really want to tweak things, some suggestions:

- Move the video card into a different PCIe slot (higher or lower) to see if it can get better airflow. Don't move it from a PCIe x16 into a PCIe x8 or x4 slot, though.

- Try to play around with a custom fan setting (I'm not really big on changing the Auto fan setting, but others are). Since your are already running a fan profile, maybe, try setting it on Auto and see what happens. The engineers who designed your card might just know what they are doing.

-Remove the heatsink and replace the thermal paste. Not something for beginners, but usually not too hard to do.

Oh ya, and my next available PCIe x16 slot is 2mm shy of my PSU Not good.

 

[Vettedude]

LOL thats why they have another side of the case Some plastic zip ties and a little creativity should help you make your system really clean looking!

My mobo risers are only like 1/8 inch, no way I can fit cables except maybe some of the fan connectors under it haha. I do have a plan to stuff them in a spare 5.25in drive bay though and zip tie them in there

 

[17seconds]

I do have to say, unfortunately, as I look at this review, your temps do seem to be high. The cooler on the Dirt 3 edition seems to keep the card pretty cool, 65c at 1040 mhz on the core. Just out of curiosity, is returning the card for a replacement an option? If not, I would say to just get on with gaming and quit checking the temps.
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/sapphire_6870_dirt_3/15.htm

 

[Akhilcool]

My mobo risers are only like 1/8 inch, no way I can fit cables except maybe some of the fan connectors under it haha. I do have a plan to stuff them in a spare 5.25in drive bay though and zip tie them in there

Heehee that is exactly what I did before I realized my case had another side. As long as they are out of the way it will be good. Though it might have looked better if it had bigger risers so you could push the wires on the other side.

 

[Akhilcool]

I do have to say, unfortunately, as I look at this review, your temps do seem to be high. The cooler on the Dirt 3 edition seems to keep the card pretty cool, 65c at 1040 mhz on the core. Just out of curiosity, is returning the card for a replacement an option? If not, I would say to just get on with gaming and quit checking the temps.
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/sapphire_6870_dirt_3/15.htm

Unfortunately I can't, my replacement time ended last month. The only reason I'm worried is because the computer runs like an airplane when the GPU fans go high At the same time, the temps are unreasonably high. Very unlucky!