Overclocking questions for my 5770

[Darren]

Well I've got my new computer up an running and I have a few questions about my Sapphire Radeon HD 5770.

Specifically this one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102873

Right now it runs great but the only really taxing games I've played are TF2 and Shogun 2. I get about 32 fps average maxed out (used the Benchmark tool on the game) for Shogun 2. I don't need to OC my card right now and I don't really want to if it's going to decrease the life of my card. Onto the questions.

1. Should I OC my card now? I don't really need it right now but would it still be good to have?

2. How much should I be able to OC it with stock cooling on the card and 3 case fans?

3. What OC program should I use and also what Temp monitor should I use? It would be good if the temp monitor could also track my CPU speed.

Thanks!

PS Upgrading the card is out of the question as I just bought it. So don't even try.

 

[salvage-this]

1. Should I OC my card now? I don't really need it right now but would it still be good to have?

That is really up to you. I OCed my 6950 even though it kills stuff out of the box. I just love tweaking my system.

2. How much should I be able to OC it with stock cooling on the card and 3 case fans?

That depends from card to card. I would guess that on stock voltages you could get close to the limits of CCC. That seems to be the case with a lot of cards. With voltage tweaking you can probably go higher.

3. What OC program should I use and also what Temp monitor should I use? It would be good if the temp monitor could also track my CPU speed.

MSI Afterburner is my personal favorite, but it is GPU only. It has monitoring for your GPU temps, voltages, clocks, usage, fan speed and FPS.

 

[Darren]

Ok thanks! I'll probably OC it when I feel it's necessary using MSI afterburner.

What's CCC?

How much performance increase should I be seeing?

 

[salvage-this]

Ok thanks! I'll probably OC it when I feel it's necessary using MSI afterburner.

Good idea. With MSI Afterburner you can get a stable oc and only apply it when you are playing more demanding games. So if you want to OC now does not mean that you need to be rocking the highest that it can go all the time

What's CCC?

Catalyst Control Center. I forgot that the newer version is called AMD Vision Control Center. My bad.

How much performance increase should I be seeing?

That depends on how far you go. Don't look for massive performance upgrade but you should be able to notice.

For example:

I opened up heaven 2.1 ran benchmark with everything set to maxed except the tessellation, that was on normal.

800/1250 (default 6950)
Score: 878
Min FPS: 16.1
Max FPS: 65.5
Average FPS: 34.9

940/1400 (OC @ 1.250v)
Score: 1006
Min FPS: 17.7
Max FPS: 75.5
Average FPS: 39.9

so 5 FPS gain in that benchmark. From what I looked at I OCed my 6950 to what a 6970 is and a bit beyond. Granted, I am at the max for the card. Any higher and i get artifacts. You will most likely be under that threshold. Hope that explains it better.