Actually, it looks like RBE officially supports 5870, but not 5850 yet:
Added preliminary support for Radeon 5870. Note that I'm still not sure about 5850's DeviceID and that signature saving and loading will most likely not work properly on 5xx0s with this version. Furthermore, VT1165 programming is not functioning yet.
Might be able to pull the BIOS with GPU-Z, and then edit with RBE. Worth a shot; worst case is you have to recover from a bad flash.
Next question. What's a safe overvolt for one of these things?
Running @ 1.162v is giving me significantly more headway over 1.088v, and I calculate that to be a 6.8% increase over AMD's maximum VID setting. Is this likely to be safe in the long term?
Edit - update relevant to this question.
I believe I've accomplished Furmark stability with core 900MHz. Running 1.187vcore, load temp 75C with fan set to max out @ 66% duty cycle. It sounds like a jet engine, though. Is 1.187 usable as a 24/7 setting?
Hmm. Assuming I can keep the temps down, maybe I'll try to push it for a little more speed. It might sound like a goddamn jet engine, but if I can get it stable @ 1GHz without too much voltage, it might start to be worth considering an aftermarket cooler...
@mas0n: if and when you discover how to BIOS mod your HD5850, please let me know. I believe my card is ready to have 900 core / 1200 mem written as a permanent setting.
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Might be able to pull the BIOS with GPU-Z, and then edit with RBE. Worth a shot; worst case is you have to recover from a bad flash.
The max I seem to be able to set my card at is 1.088v, which is the normal full-blast 3D voltage.
Edit - never mind, I think I found the problem. My MSI Afterburner is v1.1.0.
Running @ 1.162v is giving me significantly more headway over 1.088v, and I calculate that to be a 6.8% increase over AMD's maximum VID setting. Is this likely to be safe in the long term?
Edit - update relevant to this question.
I believe I've accomplished Furmark stability with core 900MHz. Running 1.187vcore, load temp 75C with fan set to max out @ 66% duty cycle. It sounds like a jet engine, though. Is 1.187 usable as a 24/7 setting?
1.187v should definitely be safe, the stock 3D voltage for the 5870 is 1.162v
The forthcoming ASUS EAH5870 and EAH5850 ship with tools that allow voltage tweaks up to 1.35v and the MSI Afterburner tool ships with MSI cards.
The HD5850 is incredible value for your money, with the amount of room it has to overclock.
You get a much more powerful graphics card than you purchased, one which is arguably on par with a stock HD5870.