Overclocking the HD 5850 on the Envy 17

UPDATE AS OF 1/30/2011 Please see post #23 on page 3 of this thread for the new update! Thanks to Nkd.
Ok, I know here and there we talked about it, but has anyone discovered a way to "safely" overclock their HD 5850?

I found a link to a page which tells you all the components you need to make it happen, but I'm scared to try it. Anyone here planning on doing this? Also, on the bottom they even explain about flashing the BIOS... Link below.

Overclocking the Radeon HD 5850 Icrontic Tech



KJ

 

That is for desktop 5850's. Doesn't apply to Mobility models.

 

the card is soldered, can't do anything to it so don't bother trying to open it up or download software or anything, stroke of bad luck there mate.

Puzzles me as to why you can OC the 14, but not the 17.

 

You can OC the 5850 in an E17, it is just that it won't go far because HP BIOS locked the Voltage at .9 when other 5850M's are at 1.0-1.2 V. He wants to try to BIOS mod the Voltage to hit 1.00 V+ but so far no one is able to crack Insyde's EFI.

 

Ah I see, sorry my mistake just being lazy again I am.

If he cracks the EFI I think everybody should mail him cookies.

 

I was following their instructions last night. I started off with the AMD GPU Clock Tool. I took thier suggestion to bring the the clock to 1150MHz...I clicked save/or apply ...and my laptop display turned gray!!!! Needless to say, I sort of freaked! I thought I just burned up my GPU and or CPU... I had to unplug and take the battery out. I put the battery in and booted up. I told the computer to bring me to normal booting...and thank God the windows screen came up and all was good.

Needless to say I won't be touching those tweaking tools until or if ever someone finds a safe and true way to overclock the GPU. Anyway, since this baby is going back to HP on Monday, I do hope we have better luck overclocking the HD 6850... I am happy with the design and most features of the Envy 17 3D so I intend to stick with the next one....I'm not shelling out uber thousands just for a gaming machine. I need a sleek looking professional system like the Envy to let me do my daily work also with style.

KJ

 

6850 may be clocked higher, maybe even to (gasp) standard clock speeds since the sandy bridge cpu will generate less heat. less heat from the cpu will accomodate more heat from the gpu. since the notebook uses only one big fan for both.

 

Where's Stonewall89? Apparently, he overclocked the 5850 in his Envy 17 3-D quite a bit. Curious about the matter, I asked him what program he used that worked for him.

That was quite some time ago, and he hasn't replied since.

I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I just don't see any way you could overcome the undervoltage hurdle. I suspect one way may be to use the Radeon Bios Editor program, but I haven't messed with that yet.

 

i overclocked it using clocktool, or at least according to the tool the overclock was applied and everything, only increased by 10 points on clock and memory, got a lower 3dmark score doing so. i think maybe when the gpu heats up to a certain temp, the cpu slows down. could be wrong.

 

and there you go! LOL, may be being the key word. johnnobts, of course I realy hope you are right and HP does not do the foolish thing again of underclocking our GPUs. I would rather they at least left it at stock speeds which I believe the HD 5850 is supposed to be around 775MHz or 725MHz something like that?


KJ

 

As an owner of HP's since 2004, I can tell you that your optimism is too high. HP has never gotten GPU's right in their consumer lineup for nearly a decade. The Envy 15 in my honest opinion is the only one they ever have gotten the versatility of a GPU correct. All their Pavilions right now are running on 6850's while the competition is on 6730's. The Envy 14's 5650 is a low binned version that is pisspoor in overclocking to even match the Pavilion's 5650 stock clocks and the Envy 17 as you mention, got the hardware right but they totally screwed over the potential due to inadequate and yes inadequate cooling and EFI restrictions. Many other corporations seems to have gotten the message on balancing good cooling designs with powerful and potential GPU's in its class with limited sacrifice. HP's on the hand for the last good number of years, keep failing in finding the right zen so to speak. I hope HP can get it right with Sandy Bridge, but based on past experiences, I doubt they will ever learn.

So, if you want a powerful notebook, but with all the professionalism. Sadly, ditch the Envy in my honest opinion and go for an Elitebook. HP's Corporate Division is much better at catering to powerful and professional users, albeit you will have to pretty penny for it, but at least they will build you an uber laptop with professional and durable looks that will last quite some time.

I brought the Envy 15 over the Elitebook was due to price and at the time I hoped they managed to find their zen with the 1100 revision. To be honest with you they kinda did but it still had many faults that to this day I still live with (poor build quality for instance), but seeing how the Envy 14 and the Envy 17, I am losing hope of getting another Envy in the future and instead save up for an Alienware or go corporate.

 

StikeSaber47, I thought the Envy line was their top line...are you saying their Elite line is actually higher on the food chain than Envy??? If so, I might have to take a look at the Elite..I'm gonna check it out on their website now..

Anyway call me optimistic, or even foolish, but I think I may just go and write HP an email to let them know we are expecting high standards in their refresh Envy 17 3D and DO NOT WANT an underclocked GPU. Hope they won't laugh, lol.

Edit: Just went to HP.com and here is what I found:
http://h71016.www7.hp.com/dstore/Mi...=3192&BaseId=34175&oi=E9CED&BEID=19701&SBLID=

You mean this HP Elitebook 8740w Mobile Workstation is supposed to be the top of the line for HP? I don't see how. At $3,699 it doesn't look like the components are better then the Envy 17 3D except for the Display at 1920x1200. Even the processor is weaker...so how is this even justified? the body isn't even as sexy as the Envy...so...unless I'm missing something, please let me know or link me better yet to the ultimate HP laptop with great looks, super GPU, etc..... and their graphics is NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800M graphics with 1 GB dedicated GDDR3 video memory GDDR3 is worse off than GDDR5, so what is going on here?
KJ

 

Elitebook is considered HP Corporate Line (For Small Businesses, Corporations, Industry). However, you can as a personal customer, can buy one and they won't reject you. They are expensive and they use Quadros/FireGL GPU's (GPU's that are almost or exactly copies of Radeons and GeForces we use in the consumer line, but they use different drivers to suit more for 3D CAD over gaming) *** However, don't fret since if you know the Radeon or GeForce equivalent of the card you are specing on the Elitebook, most of them can still game just as well as their equivalent.*** and North American Premium Corporate Support and Warranty (Std. 3 YEARS!). So yeah check them out for sure.

The one you might be interested in the Elitebook 8740w (if you wait, it might be upgraded to SB as the 8750w).

Also, I have complained to them many times. Sadly, they still take profits first, consumer 2nd. In this case, I would just move on to their corporate lineup and pay the premium for their premium laptops.

EDIT: The Quadros FX3800M is equivalent to a GeForce 280M. It uses 256-bit GDDR 3. Just as good. Try to look for a FireGL M7820 option. It is $$$ but it is literally, yes LITERALLY, a Mobility Radeon 5870. Also, they are meant to have a corporate look, which is often a bit tacky but I prefer over them than the gaudy, flashy Alienwares and ASUS ROG's.

EDIT 2:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF06a/321957-321957-64295-3740645-4307559-4138087.

Yeah they got i7-920XM's and the M7820 and the 5000M

 

It's sad, I would've thought by know that consumers as a whole want machines that last and are built good. Sure we like a good bargain, but we are prepared to spend more if we know its a quality machine. They need to stop skimping on computer specs, and just nail it down.

Its not hard to have the clock at 550mhz but why HP pulled it down to 450 is beyond me.

Were gone from the days of buying a cheap laptop and then having to discard it, we want products that we could say "hey, I could drop this and it won't kill itself".

The problem is, they only care about profits and they will NEVER care about the consumer. I have not found one computer company that puts the consumer first, its always PROFIT PROFIT PROFIT. It's to please the share holders.

Lets just all pool our life savings together start up our own company called NBR or NBC or whatever, and just rain on their parade.

I can only dream haha!

 

Ok, I configured one, see if the link works since the print screen I took did not include it all. Here is link.

Basket

Came out to $7,912.00 Lol, thanks but no thanks. I'll stick with my Envy 17 3D SB edition, sexy, and still can play on medium settings. I'll live. If it turns out we will be able to OC the HD 6850 that would icing on the cake. If not, oh well. Thanks again for the help/input/advice much appreciated.

KJ

 

That move on the Envy 14 was pretty sneaky of them and to this day I still don't know why would they do that to a premium consumer laptop.

Yeah, it is expensive quite literally but I am just pointing out that don't expect HP to give you what you really want out of the GPU. I was honestly surprised that they even gave the current Envy 17 the GDDR 5 version of the 5850M and not cheapskate like they usually do with the GDDR 3 lol.

 

If my work supported HP, I would totally go for an Elitebook. My friend's University where he works is a Dell affiliate. He gets a laptop for free every 2-3 years, built to his exact specs. Needless to say, he got a beefy Alienware last year (4870x2... that thing's a beast!).

I think the Envy is a great value, but the substantial underclock (450/900 instead of 625/1000) is ridiculous. CoolSense and an improved cooling design in general should allow the clocks to be at least stock in the next refresh, imo. There's no telling with HP though, and I'm still not holding out for any overclockability... It will be possible as long as the voltage is stock at least...

 

I have no faith with CoolSense. It is probably just another marketing scam. If they failed so badly on getting the E14 and E17 cool, how do you think they managed to master cooling like they say so quickly (assuming you want the optical drive integrated still).

 

Has anybody emailed HP to ask them as to why the 5850 is voltage limited? I'm really curious as to what their response will be. If enough people express concern about the performance loss (it sure as hell isn't helping the heat), then it might lead to a future BIOS update that restores the voltage to normal. It's really a shame that we're losing out. The 5850 is a champ overclocker. Even stock clocks would yield a noticeable performance increase. A slight overclock from there (to say 675/1050), compared to our 450/900 would yield a significant increase in performance.

If you haven't yet, try out the Radeon Bios Editor. There's a tutorial there and on their forums.

http://www.techpowerup.com/rbe/

 

i remember having had an underclocked mobility hd2600 (256mb gddr3) on my 8510p right after i had got it, but then after doing a fresh OS install and flashing the most recent bios version, it reverted to the stock clocks. and theres no problem OCing the mobility 2600 using amd gpu clock tool... still can play most games @ mid-high details @ native 1680x1050 resolution, just without AA/AF (only because the 2000 series are very bad at it).

however, this is the praised hp business line.

i am getting my envy 17 3d now, first hp consumer product ever, and if it doesnt work well, first thing to do will be a new elitebook 8550w/8750w, as soon as they come out; hopefully in fall with amd northern islands gpu generation and intel ivy bridge cpu & 7-series chipset.

 

Those are nicer notebooks than the Envy for sure, but they definitely don't carry a nicer price tag, haha

Nobody's tried the RBE? or emailed HP?

 

Radeon BIOS Editor doesn't read any vBIOS that is integrated with the actual BIOS, so it won't detect it.

HP would probably ignore you or will get suspicious that you are doing something that would violate the warranty, so they will most likely not do anything. After all, it is under ATI reference ranges for a 5850M should operate, even though it is not pretty. That's their defense point.

 

Will now list recent posts from Nkd who seemed to find a "workaround" regarding this issue..... UPDATE 1/30/11: See below!

Thank you Nkd. +1 rep!

So there we go! Hope this helps people turbo charge their systems. I can't wait to try it out on the new Envy 17 3D SB edition, assuming the GPU will be locked again. If it is not due to Coolsense then we are lucky that we can really OC the system. Anyway, things are looking up.

KJ

 

would this manner be safer than regular overclocking?

 

My guess would be as good as yours. I think we have some more seasoned users here who will hopefully chime in and help with your question. Stay tuned....


KJ

 

Ofcourse. This is basically regular unofficial overclocking.

Here is how it works.

Lets say you buy a desktop 5850 card and throw it in your computer. Run afterburner and it will not go beyond limits in CCC, unless you buy one from asus or overclocked one with higher frequency limit set in the card's bios. Most cards by diamond, sapphire are just reference cards.

To overclock them further you would have to do the same that I am doing with afterburner on the envy. Go to the config file and tell it to let you overclock, basically telling it that you dont care what ati tells you, I am overclockign regardless.

Its is unofficial regular overclocking.

I will be the last person to recommend bumping voltage on an envy. Get another 100mhz from your graphics card. Stay within limits and watch your temps. Temps on gpu should not increase by much since you are not even touching the voltage.

 

Excellent and it sounds almost idiot proof!!

 

the temps under heavy use reaches 100c as is.... 90c if your lucky.
i7 envy 15 here , how much you guys are getting on the envy 17 to even think about overclocking ?? >.>

 

Excellent news! I never thought to do that, NKD. I just don't have much experience with MSI Afterburner myself. Has anybody done any before and after benchmarks? It'd be great to see exactly what kind of gains we can expect going from 400/900 to 600/950. It should definitely be noticeable.

 

with the cooling pad, and the overclock my envy 17 bearly hits 75c under load.

 

Can you tell me which driver version your using to overclock your system?

 

Any can. However, I like the latest 11.2 Catalyst for the job. I got my M7820 stable at 800/1100 with 11.2 (However the M7820 is related to the 5870M MXM, not exactly as limited or the same as your Integrated 5850M).

 

i already posted it as a side note in another thread, but my 5850m seems to be a bit higher-clocked resp. less down-clocked than the others i read about here...

take a look at the ccc & gpuz:

 

Mine is clocked higher too, the stock is 500/900. Is there anyway to reduce heat by underclocking as i dont mind sacrificing a few frames..as its really uncomfortable to use the keyboard. if so how much should i under clock to see a significant drop in heat? at 450/800 i still feel the heat is a bit too much on the keyboard not sure how much lower i should go?

 

It is going to be very hot regardless if you lowered to 450/800. The key reason why I point that out is because the Envy 17 has a terrible cooling system for the GPU. Unless you are not stressing the GPU, it will always get high temps unless you cripple it to like 400/600 or something like that. If the temperature is getting unbearable, I'd suggest whole heartily getting a cooling pad and play games on a cooling pad.

 

What you said. Cooling pad...ice pack lol, whatever it takes. Nielo please don't underclock the 5850 more than it already is. If you still can, just send it back and wait for the Envy 17 3D SB edition with built in Coolsense.

KJ

 

I will try to return the system and wait for the SB edition its been 3 days since the purchase. Will hp take it back for a refund? I am in india but does Hp's 21 day refund policy work world wide or only in the US.
The laptop is really good the only problem I have is the left side ..where the WASD is located gets uncomfortably hot. downclocking the cpu has helped a bit, I was avoiding the pad as I dint want much bulk as the envy is quite light for its size.

 

Are you even SURE CoolSense will work? To this day, I still stand it is a pathetic gimmick from HP like Beats Audio.

 

ohhhhhhhhh, if Coolsense is really like the Beats Audio....then we're in trouble! I don't know, for some odd reason I am playing along with HP hoping they are right about Coolsense actually doing its job...but I respect what you say. It could very likely be another marketing ploy. Guess we shall find out once the laptop is in our hands or laps.

P.S. All I can do now is just dream of what it will look like....

KJ

 

How are you guys measuring the HD 5850 Mobility GPU tempatures. Hwmonitor is not registering the HD 5850's thermal sensor (If it has one).

 

Use HWiNFO32 instead. Not all HP units has their sensors properly detected by HWMonitor (especially the Elitebooks).

 

I see. Well HWInfo32 seems to work perfect, thanks a bunch.