Overclocking MSI RX 480 ARMOR OC

[No.13]

Hello everyone,

I followed a few threads here about overclocking RX 480s (first and second thread) and decided to post my own findings on the MSI Radeon RX 480 ARMOR OC 4GB video card. I seem to find a safe spot (using MSI Afterburner instead of Radeon's Wattman) around 1340 MHz with +12 mV, 50% power limit, and memory clock of 1825.

Managed to hit and benchmark with Heaven at 1380 MHz and +75 mV, but I'm skeptical running with such high core volts. Any lower core volts and the benchmark crashes. Doesn't seem to be stable stress testing in Heaven though. The benchmark doesn't crash but my GPU seems to revert back to baseline (CC 1291 MHz and MC 1750 MHz), as reported within Heaven. I don't have any problems running Ghost Recon Wildlands at these specs though, albeit without trying to game for a prolonged duration.

Anyone want to chime in? I know the threads are for slightly different cards (XFX vs MSI) and memory amounts (8GB vs my 4GB), but I've already had a taste of 1380 MHz . I hate that my setup can't run faster than super safe and low 1340 MHz .

Will post benchmark results with Heaven and Ghost Recon Wildlands later today.

- - - Updated - - -

Forgot to mention that the card was part of a prebuilt rig I purchased that was advertised as VR Ready. I'd like to push the card hard since I turn up the supersampling rate in VR (and graphics for most VR and non-VR games) to high settings.

 

[No.13]

Interestingly enough, I did not reap as much benefit to any of the OC settings. I am running an aftermarket GPU heatsink and fan, with VR and RAM heatsinks as well. Temperatures are kept real low, and the fan is very quiet!

Here are my findings, all within Heaven benchmark:

1440x900 8xAA fullscreen
Quality: Ultra
Tessellation: Extreme
VSync disabled​

Baseline run

Core Clock: 1291 MHz
Core mV: +0 mV
Memory Clock: 1750 MHz
Power Limit: +0%

FPS
Min: 24
Avg: 67.6
Max: 92.1

Max Temp: 70C​

Second run

Core Clock: 1340 MHz
Core mV: +12 mV
Memory Clock: 1825 MHz
Power Limit: +50%

FPS
Min: 23.9
Avg: 68.6
Max: 92

Max Temp: 68C​

Third run

Core Clock: 1380 MHz
Core mV: +75 mV
Memory Clock: 1775 MHz
Power Limit: +50%

FPS
Min: 23.7
Avg: 71.9
Max: 156.5

Max Temp: 75C​

 

[No.13]

Surprised no one commented or contributed. Anyways, I've managed to hit my goal.

Final run:

Core Clock: 1380 MHz
Core mV: +0 mV
Memory Clock: 1775 MHz (works at 1800 MHz as well)
Power Limit: +50%

FPS
Min: 34.2
Avg: 75
Max: 161.6

Max temp: 54C
​

If anyone else stumbles upon this, I am not using factory fan.

Cheers

 

[Alaric]

I had one of the early RX 480 8GB cards from Visiontek. I don't think it was happy over 1325-1350 on the core clock either. It was a good card, though. It was at that point the best card I'd ever owned. At the original price of $250 it was a bargain. Nice work on yours!

 

[Nebulous]

I had a PowerColor Red Devil RX480 and it was a real dud in the overclocking department. I was lucky to even get 1400 on the core. Ran hot as hell too. AMD's Wattman was/is a cursed program that shouldn't have been thought of much less invented.