4850 Won't overclock with CCC or RivaTuner

So I just bought a Visiontek 4850 from Best Buy today for $99 and it WILL NOT overclock. Under CCC, when I try to move the sliders and click apply, they both go back to their default values. Then, when I try RivaTuner, the Overclock tab disappears! This is pissing me off. Is it possible the firmware on the card is not allowing me to overclock?

Idle temp is 36c btw. The cooler is some aftermarket design. This card has a DVI connector as well as HDMI and some other one.

Is "Enable ATi Overdrive" checked under the ATi Overdrive tab?

Have you run the "Test Custom Clocks" on the same page?

aubsxc said:

Is "Enable ATi Overdrive" checked under the ATi Overdrive tab?

Have you run the "Test Custom Clocks" on the same page?

Click to expand...

Yes. I run overdrive on my other comp which has a 4870x2. Test custom clocks just freezes. I have to CtrlAltDel CCC in order to get out of it. Its an unusual looking 4850 with a non reference cooler and a built in HDMI rather than two DVI's. I dunno. Under the expert settings in RivaTuner, I've disabled the clock locks. Every reboot I'm allowed to see the Overclock tab in rivatuner once. When I move either of the sliders even one tick, they both immediately slide to the left and and you see two exclamation marks on the side. When I close that window and open it again, only the Fan tab remains when at first it had both Fan and Overclock. I really hope this isn't some stupid firmware overclock lock. If it is, I will have to reflash it.

gah. a videocard that doesnt overclock feels like crutches. i may have to return it. i have never heard of this issue.

wow. that is incredibly odd. after playing fallout 3 for about an hour, suddenly I was able to overclock the card. Is there a burn-in period of some sort?

Spoke too soon. This card is totally screwed up. I'll be returning it tomorrow.

If you haven't returned it yet, try running "AtiCimUn.exe" from the ATI folder off your C: drive and removing all graphic drivers, then install the new cat 9.6 from the website, if you already had 9.6, over-write the previous unzipped raw setup folders and install fresh. Then try OC.

I'd just return it and be done with it.