HD 3850

[Lynx]

I was offered an overclocked 512mb one for £81 brand new, and i had to accept, i couldnt pass up such an offer. I can get it to 830mhz core and 2100 ram before it tops out, but thats not stable, if i was really really wanting to get the most i would do a volt mod, i am too scared of getting a bios mod done to it because i fear I will overclock too much or volt it too much. It runs at about 35 degrees in normal windows environment and doesnt go over 60 under load overclocked at 800 core and 2100 ram.

Any suggestions?

[jOHNG]

serve with a side salad?

[mac124]

What does it not do that you want it too? Sounds like decent clocks there mate.

[Lynx]

For the money, a deal and a half, if only aria sold it that cheap... A deal on the agp version would be nice, im upgrading an archaic system atm.

[Mul.]

830/2100 sounds pretty good minus a few MHz to get it 24/7 stable. Nothing to frown upon there. If temperatures are fine (and to me, they seem fine), it's a Voltage issue. You won't get any further without a voltmod. Once we get into voltmod territory, better cooling will be required and retaining warranty will be a problem. If you're desperate for extra 3dmarks go for it but globally, the extra MHz you'd gain from a voltmod won't bring home an awful lot more.

As for AGP HD 3850's, this other "archaic" machine better have a not so archaic CPU or else a HD 3850 will result in a VERY unbalanced machine.

[Lynx]

Im gonna step the old machine up, this month an AGP HD 3850, then in a few months a core dual motherboard, so i can add the agp, and ram with just a new cpu, then later on, i have scope to upgrade it.

[Mul.]

Personally, for a system like that the route I'd take would be to get a decent motherboard, ram and cpu sorted first. DDR2's dirt cheap, a reasonable CPU doesn't cost much, nor does a motherboard. You don't want to be messing around with new AGP cards and combi boards.

[Lynx]

The problem being, i will only get my brother to upgrade slowly, and he wants to see results from an upgrade tbh. He is tight on the money being a student, so i am lucky to persuade him to buy any upgrade. The combi board is the only answer to swap him over cheaply atm, unless i fund him in the upgrade.