7990 Custom Bios - Remove Throttling

[jupiter_man]

Good to hear. BSOD will be nothing to do with the bios though, all the bios does is increase the cards low TDP and remove the boost part of the bios. Nothing else is changed so any system instability will be as a result of something else.

I see, probably it is the XMP mode / I have changed the ram setting from 'auto' to 'ddr3 800mhz'.

I will try to change it back to 'auto' and keep xmp setting and see what happen.

Regarding fan setting, should I keep it to auto or there is a good guide to follow?

 

[LtMatt]

I see, probably it is the XMP mode / I have changed the ram setting from 'auto' to 'ddr3 800mhz'.

I will try to change it back to 'auto' and keep xmp setting and see what happen.

Regarding fan setting, should I keep it to auto or there is a good guide to follow?

If you run stock id experiment with lowering the voltage, to help keep temps down. Try lowering to 1.175v and play games for a couple of hours. No crashes, lower to 1.150v. Keep going if needs be until about 1.1000v. My 7990 (sold now for 2x290 cards) needed 1.140v to be fully stable at 1000/1500. If you run stock and under volt and have good case airflow ( a side exhaust fan helps loads with the 7990) then you can keep with the auto fan as its very quiet. 7990 should be kept at or below 90c. Mine used to operate on BF4 in the 80-85c range on auto fan.

 

[gpuerrilla]

Mine used to operate on BF4 in the 8085c range on auto fan.

The sun!!

 

[Neil79]

ahaha

Amazing how hot those crossfires get

 

[LtMatt]

The sun!!

ahaha

Amazing how hot those crossfires get

Lol. Thanks for spotting my mistake.

 

[gpuerrilla]

"Today in Norwich but nowhere else in Anglia.. 38 degrees dependant on how far away from Matt's you live.."

 

[LtMatt]

"Today in Norwich but nowhere else in Anglia.. 38 degrees dependant on how far away from Matt's you live.."

38C sounds nice. Pretty sure that's the temp it will be in my room come summer time with 2x290's putting out some heat.

 

[jupiter_man]

If you run stock id experiment with lowering the voltage, to help keep temps down. Try lowering to 1.175v and play games for a couple of hours. No crashes, lower to 1.150v. Keep going if needs be until about 1.1000v. My 7990 (sold now for 2x290 cards) needed 1.140v to be fully stable at 1000/1500. If you run stock and under volt and have good case airflow ( a side exhaust fan helps loads with the 7990) then you can keep with the auto fan as its very quiet. 7990 should be kept at or below 90c. Mine used to operate on BF4 in the 80-85c range on auto fan.

Thanks for the info and yes I have a side fan to keep my foot warm

I saw you have OC it to core 1200mhz memory 1700mhz
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/1708968?
Sorry I know it has been a while but do you still remember how much improvement compared to stock?

 

[LtMatt]

Thanks for the info and yes I have a side fan to keep my foot warm

I saw you have OC it to core 1200mhz memory 1700mhz
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/1708968?
Sorry I know it has been a while but do you still remember how much improvement compared to stock?

Erm not really. I probably posted stock scores in the firststrike thread before i posted overclock scores so you could no doubt dig it up if required. Getting a large overclock on a 7990 is not really possible unless you have it under water. 1100/1600 should be possible. I ran mine at stock when gaming and only clocked it when posting in the bench threads.

 

[CryptoPro]

delete

 

[big_bad_lynx]

I think my Hd7990 died - if I manage to boot up it stays on only for few minutes. I borrowed another card (on which pc runs fine) but before I RMA it I want to flash back original bios however I didn't save it. the problem is that I can save only master bios. GPU-Z can't recognise and won't save the slave one. any idea how I can do it?
never mind - I found solution

 

[F3r4_N3n3m]

Questions

Hi LtMatt,

I want to give your Bios a try, but first I was hoping you could help me clarify some questions I have. Thx!

- You always mention your "master 7990" and your "slave 7990". It isn't very clear to me whether you have 2x 7990 (4 GPUs) or are you talking about the "master GPU" and "slave GPU" on your 1x 7990!?
I have 2x 7990 and don't want to get this mixed up.

- I was also trying to read your .ROM Flash files in order to check the voltage Levels you use. I was hoping I could compare those to the one in my Cards. However I couldn't understand much in the files. I was using Frhed. What did you use to edit the .ROM files?

- The reason I want to try your Bios is because I have Major utilization Problems with my Cards. I Play mostly BF4 and I get utilization of arround 40-50% on all my 4 GPUs and like 60% on my CPU. The whole Thing is water cooled and I am not reaching 60°C at any time. I do get low FPS when using Resolution scale 200%, but the utilization is all over the same.

 

[Woodsta888]

Hi F3r4,

I'm sure Lt Matt had only one 7990, the BIOS he wrote is for both GPU's on one card. How you do this with both cards plugged in I don't know. I'd prolly do one card at a time.

LtMAtt used VBE7 to modify/read BIOS.

Matts bios does nothing more than increade the TDP (power to the card) to stop it throttling back to 950hz.

Check which cards you have as some 7990's run 925hz - 950hz instead of 950-1000hz.

You say you get low fps @200% resolutin scale. You saying lower than your native or other resolution scales? What is your resolution?


Woodsta

 

[F3r4_N3n3m]

Hi Woodsta,

Thank you very much for you answer.

I was able to use VBE7 and I have checked the Bios from LtMatt... and I have some more questions on it
- I see he increased TDP and the Limits on core and Memory clock for afterburner. But I didn't see him changing the normal/boost clocks. Shouldn't he have changed Position #6 and made it the same as #0???
- Are positions #4 and #5 on Powerplay those when ULPS is active and the Card stays idle?
- Since there are some Infos in the bios, shouldn't I take my own and do the changes on it?
- Is there any Problem in using atiWINflash? It would be a Little easier for me.

I Play on 1080p, Ultra, Resolution Scale@150% and I lock fpsmax@99. But I do see throttling and usage issues.

Cheers!

 

[LtMatt]

Hi,

I didn't change the clock states as after doing that it voltage locked the cards for some people, including me. Not all though, so your mileage may vary. I found that increasing the TDP nullified the boost part of the bios anyway as it removed the throttling issue. As a result the card is always in its highest clock state.

What cpu have you got? Will need a beefy one to stop 2x7990's from bottlenecking.

 

[F3r4_N3n3m]

Ok... now I get it.
I am going to try doing the same. I hope this helps at least with the stability.

You just placed a tricky question there
I was a Little stubborn on my CPU choice. I have a [email protected]. I got also a bad chip and I can't get it passed this clock. It is running with 1.295V as is.
In my defense tough , the processor curve on BF4 is pretty good. And it is running on 60% utilization only.
I already went way over Budget on this pc and I am going to stick to this cpu for some while. I just want to get the best Performance and the most stable fps on BF4 possible.

Ps.: Pointing fingers at my cpu and saying it is bottlenecking does not solve the Problem. That is Kind of given...

 

[LtMatt]

Ok... now I get it.
I am going to try doing the same. I hope this helps at least with the stability.

You just placed a tricky question there
I was a Little stubborn on my CPU choice. I have a [email protected]. I got also a bad chip and I can't get it passed this clock. It is running with 1.295V as is.
In my defense tough , the processor curve on BF4 is pretty good. And it is running on 60% utilization only.
I already went way over Budget on this pc and I am going to stick to this cpu for some while. I just want to get the best Performance and the most stable fps on BF4 possible.

Ps.: Pointing fingers at my cpu and saying it is bottlenecking does not solve the Problem. That is Kind of given...

It will defo bottleneck a four gpu setup on bf4. However Mantle should help greatly with that. Have you tried Mantle? As you're on Tahiti you may need to change a couple of BF4 settings via a user.cfg file, but i can help you with that. Mantle also uses more vram, so you may need to lower your settings a tad. However you will get much better gpu scaling and cpu performance. You really need an i7 minimum for four gpu's.

 

[F3r4_N3n3m]

I amm going to Spill out my config as well so maybe someone spots another bottleneck:

CPU: [email protected]
GPU: 2x 7990 XT2 Malta
MOBO: MSI Z87-GD65
PSU: Corsair AX1200i
COOLING: Aquaduct 720 XT mark V
RAM: 2x 8GB Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3 1600MHz

To be honest this was my first new rig in a very Long time. So I did the best I could with the Information I had.
And the 7990 I got them for under 500€ each

Cheers!

 

[F3r4_N3n3m]

It will defo bottleneck a four gpu setup on bf4. However Mantle should help greatly with that. Have you tried Mantle? As you're on Tahiti you may need to change a couple of BF4 settings via a user.cfg file, but i can help you with that. Mantle also uses more vram, so you may need to lower your settings a tad. However you will get much better gpu scaling and cpu performance. You really need an i7 minimum for four gpu's.

Mantle does absolutely no difference for me as is.
But i didn't know there is more to adjust on configs and user.cfg.

I'd appreciate the help! Thx!

 

[LtMatt]

I amm going to Spill out my config as well so maybe someone spots another bottleneck:

CPU: [email protected]
GPU: 2x 7990 XT2 Malta
MOBO: MSI Z87-GD65
PSU: Corsair AX1200i
COOLING: Aquaduct 720 XT mark V
RAM: 2x 8GB Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3 1600MHz

To be honest this was my first new rig in a very Long time. So I did the best I could with the Information I had.
And the 7990 I got them for under 500€ each

Cheers!

You'd get a performance increase with faster ram as well. 2133mhz ram with tight seconds would net you a nice fps boost over slow 1600mhz ram, especially as your cpu limited and its only at 4.4ghz. Funny you're running that clock, i tested dirt showdown and these are the differences ram speed can make in that game at 4.4ghz. I'd wager your gains could potentially be bigger as you have an extra two gpu's than i do. (YMMV)

2700k 4.4ghz

1600mhz 9-9-9-27-2T - stock seconds

290 crossfire @975/1250 stock





2700k 4.4ghz

2133mhz 9-10-10-21-1T - tight seconds

290 crossfire @975/1250 stock





2700k 5.27ghz

2133mhz 9-10-10-21-1T - tight seconds - BCLK 102.5

290 Crossfire 975/1250 stock

Spoiler