Afterburner 2.1.0 Beta 6 out. (Voltage tweak for 69** non modded.)

kitch9 · 14 Jan 2011 at 07:16

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=336682

New MSI afterburner is out with voltage tweak enabled for non flashed 69** cards. (6950 flashed to 6970 cards don't work.)

No sure if limits have been lifted as I can't try it out until later.

mmj_uk · 14 Jan 2011 at 10:52

Unwinder on flashed 6950:

Becasue Afterburner's voltage control layer on such modded cards won't work. Original and native VGA BIOS is strict requiremen for proper voltage control on most of cards with Volterra VRMs since the beginning and it won't magically change now, sorry. The cards having 6950 PCI IDs but using 6970 voltage controller config won't be recogninzed properly and won't be supported by Afterburner out of box.

I can understand that you don't intend to support 6970 BIOS on 6950 hardware. But why would a 6950 BIOS with only shaders unlocked be a problem? Nothing regarding voltages should be changed...

Unwinder: Such systems shouldn't be a problem. Native voltage controller configuration in VGA BIOS is the only requirement.

Ezyryder · 14 Jan 2011 at 11:23

Just to let you know my first impressions.

I am running a 6950 with unlocked shaders and I have the voltage tweak options enabled.

I am stuck to 840 Core overclock unless I enable unofficial overclocking in the .cfg file.

RavenXXX2 · 14 Jan 2011 at 11:31

Really glad to see thinking users in the forum. Yes, it is possible to override the database to make Afterburner voltage control working with 6950 flashed with 6970 BIOS. 6970 voltage calbiration info should be added to 6950 configuration file in this case:

VDDC_VT1556_Defaults = 9A 5C 9B 80

Have not seen any impressive clocks on the 69** cards of yet, poor clockers?

Ezyryder · 14 Jan 2011 at 11:51

RavenXXX2 said:
Have not seen any impressive clocks on the 69** cards of yet, poor clockers?

Well, there is some people doing 1000 (from 800) on Core on 6950s (and some even over that). There is also some people that have managed to go to 1100 on core but I think they were on water and of course not default volts.

Mine manages to do 880 (from 800) on default voltage - 30 min Furmark loop and 20 min Heaven loop. Temps are a bit wild unless you crank the fan up.

gareth170 · 14 Jan 2011 at 11:56

works fine with the the asus 6950 unlocked shaders bios.

RavenXXX2 · 14 Jan 2011 at 11:59

Ezyryder said:
Well, there is some people doing 1000 (from 800) on Core on 6950s (and some even over that). There is also some people that have managed to go to 1100 on core but I think they were on water and of course not default volts.

Mine manages to do 880 (from 800) on default voltage - 30 min Furmark loop and 20 min Heaven loop. Temps are a bit wild unless you crank the fan up.

You got any links? I'll take a look. Not seen anyone on here with a 1000 core 6950/70

Ezyryder · 14 Jan 2011 at 12:25

RavenXXX2 said:
You got any links? I'll take a look. Not seen anyone on here with a 1000 core 6950/70

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=261317&page=12

Some guy there with a 6950@ 1092/1375 on water.

There is another guy doing 1010 core on air.

As I said before though the fans are at ridiculous speeds (70%) which for me are unplayable.

I have read that there is an Arctic Cooling GPU fan that can be installed in the 6950/70 cards so I might get one of those or might just get a loop installed!

RavenXXX2 · 14 Jan 2011 at 12:29

lol 70% is loud. For a decent clock water cooling is the way to go it seems or an aftermarket air cooler.

gareth170 · 14 Jan 2011 at 12:29

deleted

Ezyryder · 14 Jan 2011 at 12:33

RavenXXX2 said:
lol 70% is loud. For a decent clock water cooling is the way to go it seems or an aftermarket air cooler.

Exactly.

I am quite happy with mine now, does 880 (which is default 6970 core) at 40% fan at load (after 1 hour on load) and temps never go above 80-82c.

I can probably do 950 but I will need a more silent cooler as for me noise is an issue.

gareth170 · 14 Jan 2011 at 12:37

mines at 890/1450 1.175v fan at 47%, load temp is 58c ~

Durzel · 14 Jan 2011 at 12:52

Is 1.175v higher than stock?

Is there any practical difference from running a "6950 flashed to 6970" BIOS, or just the "6950 with unlocked shaders" BIOS? Are there different timings & voltages that would make one better or worse than the other? (assuming identical clock speeds).

Both my 6950s (currently flashed to 6970) appear to run fine at 950/1450, not really fussed about going higher, but would rather run a BIOS that apps (e.g. SmartDoctor) etc don't spaz over..

Ezyryder · 14 Jan 2011 at 13:10

Durzel said:
Is 1.175v higher than stock?

Is there any practical difference from running a "6950 flashed to 6970" BIOS, or just the "6950 with unlocked shaders" BIOS? Are there different timings & voltages that would make one better or worse than the other? (assuming identical clock speeds).

Both my 6950s (currently flashed to 6970) appear to run fine at 950/1450, not really fussed about going higher, but would rather run a BIOS that apps (e.g. SmartDoctor) etc don't spaz over..

So, yes.

1.175v is the stock 6970 voltage. The 6950 defaults to 1.100v

There are a few differences, main one is that the memory on the 6950s are only rated for 1250Mhz so you are running them well over-spec if you are doing either 1375Mhz of the 6970 or 1450Mhz in your case. There have been a few cases of borked memory if you look around.

In any case it seems that clocking the memory is pointless as it gives no extra performance increase (or so it seems) so I have only bothered clocking the core.

As I said my 6950 with unlocked shaders can run at 880 core at stock 6950 volts (1.100v) so I am going to leave it at that for a while.

gareth170 · 14 Jan 2011 at 13:19

clocking the memory does give 3-4 extra fps...

my 6950 with the unlocked shaders can run at 880 core at stock 6950 volts (1.100v) but as long as the temp stays under 62c.

Ezyryder · 14 Jan 2011 at 13:23

gareth170 said:
clocking the memory does give 3-4 extra fps...

my 6950 with the unlocked shaders can run at 880 core at stock 6950 volts (1.100v) but as long as the temp stays under 62c.

Are you sure? (not saying you are lying!) Have you tried both? I haven't.

What happens if the temps go above 62c? Does it crash?

gareth170 · 14 Jan 2011 at 13:36

Ezyryder said:
Are you sure? (not saying you are lying!) Have you tried both? I haven't.

What happens if the temps go above 62c? Does it crash?

yes from 1250 to 1375...

yes above 62c it crashs with stock volts

iB CoMpL3XiTy · 14 Jan 2011 at 13:42

gareth170 said:
clocking the memory does give 3-4 extra fps...

my 6950 with the unlocked shaders can run at 880 core at stock 6950 volts (1.100v) but as long as the temp stays under 62c.

3-4FPS? You can't say you gain a certain amount of performance with out giving an example...
It doesn't make any sense, is that 3-4FPS increase in 3DMark03 or Crysis?

You can't even say a %, for example 3.4% FPS increase... as different games/benchmarks will react differently to the increase memory speed, so you have to give an example.

Sorry to call you out, but it just annoys me when people say XXX overclock gives XX performance increase without giving an example to back it up.

Ezyryder · 14 Jan 2011 at 13:42

gareth170 said:
yes from 1250 to 1375...

yes above 62c it crashs with stock volts

interesting ... I shall try!

gareth170 · 14 Jan 2011 at 14:22

800/1250

800/1375

ok!!!