ASUS Radeon HD 5770 1GB Voltage Tweak Edition Review

Testing ASUS’ Voltage Tweak Feature

In the past, ASUS has always included a well-rounded software bundle with their cards. The HD 5770 gets the usual GamerOSD program but what really stands out with this product is the advertised Voltage Tweak ability that gives the user control over the GPU core voltage for increased overclocks.


The voltage adjustments are done within the ASUS SmartDoctor software right alongside sliders for core and memory clocks. The only problem with the Voltage Tweak feature is the fact that it goes hand in hand with this clunky, horribly slow program. The sliders themselves are straightforward but the graphics and overall layout look like they were done a decade ago and there is nothing user friendly about the controls. We feel that ASUS needs to upgrade this interface before we can take this software seriously.

That being said, we are here to talk about the Voltage Tweak feature and SmartDoctor allows the core to be pushed up to 1.4V which is more than we would be comfortable using on the stock cooler. But how well does this work? Quite well actually and to make matters even better, according to ASUS any voltage setting within the Smart Doctor’s voltage range is totally covered under their warranty.

Our original overclocking yielded extremely good results when it came to overclocking the memory but the core clocks never lived up to expectations.


We weren’t quite happy with a mere 60Mhz overclock on the core but decided not to push things too much with the stock cooler installed so we kept the voltage to 1.262V (stock voltage is about 1.124V) and saw if the boasts ASUS made about increased overclocking bore out.


So there you have it. A mere 0.14V increase eked some amazing clock speeds out of this little chip. How does 1.013Ghz on the core sound? Pretty damn good if you ask us.

However, I know this was said before but we may as well hammer it home once again: increasing the voltage can and will have an effect on the overall temperatures and the card will compensate with higher fan speeds. Additional voltage can also be detrimental to the life of your card and can even burn out the core if you are not careful.

Enough of why you shouldn’t do it. Here is an example of why it may be within your best interest to play around a bit with the tools that ASUS so graciously gives you: