Maximum PC

Got a 5850 Black edition, it artifacts and crashes after 30 seconds of Furmark. Exchanged it at NCIX for another XFX 5850 Black edition, the same thing happens. If you look at the recent feedback on Newegg, its been happening to other people as well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

That really sucks.

On the plus side, you did buy from the manufacturer with the best warranty in the business. If you have to put them to the test, please let us know how it works out for you.

I returned it NCIX last night. Didn't want to ship it to XFX since I had a $50 rebate on it.

That makes sense .. NCIX has always been good to me about returns and exchanges. Great store.

I've heard that XFX design uses a non-reference PCB and cheaper parts.
It does not support voltage overclocking using programs like MSI Afterburner
Don't take my word for it, as I could be wrong.

Yeah, when I had the 5850, I think I could only overclock by 10MHz for the core clock as well as the memory with the MSI Afterburner which is the same as the CCC. The voltages could not be adjusted.

Reference PCB vs non reference

Reference: Blower style fan, 9.5" long, supports voltage OC, hot air blows out of the vents
non ref: central axial fan, 10.5" same length as HD5870 with power sticking at the end, not at the top, no volt. OC and hot air blows in both directions.
Some models may have this type of design, but supports volt. OC.
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php? ... acture=XFX

I've got myself a HIS HD5850 with a blower fan, and support volt.OC as seen in that image in my previous post.
In after burner after unlocking it, the sliders turns on allowing me to adjust the settings. Non ref parts even when it's unlock that slider
is still grey out.