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i get 905/1305 on my PowerColor HD 5870 PCS+
frankly i am somewhat disappointed .. how much of a voltage increase is "safe" ?
= + 0.1 V ?
i know there is not any safe voltage boost; but what is reasonable?
NOOOO!
Tell me it isn't so
Are settings sometimes locked in the BIOS? MSI Afterburner will not let me overclock my Diamond any further than 900/1300. Anything higher resets and will not stick
What now ? Flash the bios or be resigned to a half-fast HD 5870 at 900/1300 to compete with GTX 480 (826/1100). i already know how the story ends.
Switch on the "non-reference AMD overclocking" option or whatever it's called, see if that works for you. If not, use AMD GPU Clock Tool, that works well too. If it was me, I would just flash to an unlocked BIOS, takes 30 seconds.Yes, it is still grayed out for the PowerColor PCS+ Non-reference HD 5870
i simply switch the Diamond reference back in and the voltage options are back
- but now the Clocks are *locked* to no more than 900/1300 (and if i use ATT to set it to 901, my PC crashes)
it is very frustrating.
Really quiet. If you want a quiet card, i like it a lot.
- i simply do not hear it .. but then i do have 5 case fans
Of course, even the reference Diamond is quiet enough at idle not to be heard from my case. You need to remember that the PCS+ version is non-reference (shorter and wider) and it does not have any means to adjust the voltage if you choose to O/C.
i am one of those who is not really bothered by noise unless it gets extreme. i have a v400 Klipsch speaker system. Only occasionally was i surprised to hear the GTX 480 while gaming; it is by no means as attention-getting as the 2900XT.
I just put an order on that card then. Noise matters to me, but only when I am not gaming. When I game, it doesn't bother me that much, unless its excessive (like some DVD readers that have that annoying spin sound). However, when I am not gaming, I prefer it as silent as possible. I was very pleased with the 5870, though it was the noisiest part in my system. It was not to intrusive at 2D, though a bit annoying when the fan was spinning up. From the [H] review, it seems that the PCS+ is silent even when the fan is at higher levels. Needed a final confirmation before buy though. The Vapor-x seemed to have better cooling for overclocking, but the larger fan on the PCS+ seemed better for silence, which was my goal.Thanks!
I'm not going to overclock, but the PCS+ and the Vapor-X second edition both needs to be flashed with a new bios if they are to be volt modded for overclocking stability at higher MHZ. As they metioned for you, its pretty painless to flash with a new bios. I needed to use the force switch (I think it was -f, but you should google it), when I flashed the Asus bios to a generic one. Voids warranty though here in Norway.
what have you done exactly to bring out voltage control ?UPDATE before my bedtime
Many reviews are dead wrong about the supposed lack of voltage adjustment on the PowerColor HD 5870 PCS+
- there is indeed an adjustment accessible from Afterburner if you edit the configuration file.
thx for reply i already did that thought there was some other way
seems custom sapphire pcbs don't have voltage regulators what a cheapo company I love the expressions "dead silent" and "absolutely inaudiable"! Like music to my ears. Now I just have to wait until the card arrives. Thats the one thing I hate about purchasing online. Due to easter, I would probably have to wait until Wednesday or Thursday. 
