Overclocking programme for HD6950

shawsy109 · 21 Apr 2012 at 16:16

Ok, As the title says, I am wishing to overclock my HIS HD6950 ICE Q 2gb but ccc is rather weak. I want to be able to up the clocks past 840/1325 which im limited to atm. All i want is to get some more grunt in BF3 as im getting some fps drops at certain pojnts during multilayer.

I dont want to brick it either by messing it up to much, so if anyone has a guide or advice id love that ty.

This is just for a few weeks until i get a 680 to go with my new BENQ XL2410T that i got today.

Surveyor · 21 Apr 2012 at 16:23

Give this a go:

MSI Afterburner 2.2.0 (2012-04-19) - Huge changes!

Download link in the OP.

You'll likely need to set Power Control to +20% in the CCC for serious overclocking.

BodgeITandRun · 21 Apr 2012 at 16:32

I think with that afterburner you should be able to get around 880-900/1325 IMO, on stock volts. Remember to do a custom fan profile too, it will help you balance the fan noise vs heat ratio.

shawsy109 · 21 Apr 2012 at 16:34

Surveyor said:
Give this a go:

MSI Afterburner 2.2.0 (2012-04-19) - Huge changes!

Download link in the OP.

You'll likely need to set Power Control to +20% in the CCC for serious overclocking.

Literally downloaded as i read this lol, i tried it before, but i dont know how to unlock the clcocks, its stuck at 840/1325 and no option to go further, also, no idea what voltage limit is safe, dont wanna fry it.

old gamer · 21 Apr 2012 at 16:37

afterburner or sapphire trixx

Surveyor · 21 Apr 2012 at 17:07

shawsy109 said:
Literally downloaded as i read this lol, i tried it before, but i dont know how to unlock the clcocks, its stuck at 840/1325 and no option to go further, also, no idea what voltage limit is safe, dont wanna fry it.

It depends how far you want to push it.

I have the Sapphire HD 6950 Toxic unlocked to HD 6970.

1.25V will get it up to 1GHz on the GPU core but I wouldn't use that long term.

1.175-1.2V gets it to 950MHz.

I'd see how far you can get on stock volts and keep an eye on the GPU temperature.

It it isn't getting too hot then up the volts a touch and see how far that gets you with clock speed and temperature.

Rinse and repeat until you can't get a stable overclock or until you reach the limit of a temperature you're comfortable with.

Concentrate on overclocking the GPU core.

Overclocking the VRAM gives the least gains and you reach a point where it appears to be OK but what's happening is that the error correction kicks in and although it seems to be running faster it's actually reducing performance.

As mentioned set up a custom fan profile.

shawsy109 · 21 Apr 2012 at 17:55

Surveyor said:
It depends how far you want to push it.

I have the Sapphire HD 6950 Toxic unlocked to HD 6970.

1.25V will get it up to 1GHz on the GPU core but I wouldn't use that long term.

1.175-1.2V gets it to 950MHz.

I'd see how far you can get on stock volts and keep an eye on the GPU temperature.

It it isn't getting too hot then up the volts a touch and see how far that gets you with clock speed and temperature.

Rinse and repeat until you can't get a stable overclock or until you reach the limit of a temperature you're comfortable with.

Concentrate on overclocking the GPU core.

Overclocking the VRAM gives the least gains and you reach a point where it appears to be OK but what's happening is that the error correction kicks in and although it seems to be running faster it's actually reducing performance.

As mentioned set up a custom fan profile.

I understand mate, thanks. But I have already asked this, but I will ask again, using trixx, after burner and just now tried ASUS gpu tweak, they let me change volts, but clocks are locked at 840 on the core, and 1325 on memory and will not let me up it.

Will someone give me a guide of how to unlock the clocks so i can go further! before i smash up my new screen lol

d_brennen · 21 Apr 2012 at 17:59

Your sig is all kinds of wrong shawsy

Have a read of the FAQ

shawsy109 · 21 Apr 2012 at 18:07

d_brennen said:
Your sig is all kinds of wrong shawsy Have a read of the FAQ

Really? im asking for advice id im getting called out for a signature. Whats wrong with it exactly? I dont get it.

d_brennen · 21 Apr 2012 at 18:09

Just a friendly heads up before a Don comes along and edits it for you

You may use a signature (commonly used in email messages) in your posts. You can specify in your profile a signature to use at the bottom of your posts. When you post, there is an option to use your signature. A signature may contain one or more images but they must fit within a box with maximum dimensions of 400 x 75 pixels (width x height) and with a maximum (combined) file size of 20k. Images containing mostly very large words or animated .gifs will not be permitted. You may also add 1 consecutive lines of normal or smaller text directly above or underneath the image with no spaces inbetween image and text. If no images are used then up to 4 consecutive lines of normal or smaller text is permitted. Do not pad out your text lines with blanks lines. A line of text is defined as having a maximum length of 400 pixels. If you want to turn the signature off in the future, you can come back and edit your post. If you have specified a signature in your profile, the box will be automatically ticked for you.
The forum Dons/Admins reserve the right to judge individual signatures, particularly those deemed to contain material of an adult or offensive nature. If the Dons/Admins think the signature is unsuitable for a family orientated forum, then it will be removed. If the user then replaces it without making changes, they will be suspended.

Rooster212 · 21 Apr 2012 at 18:55

I am in the same boat as the OP, I have an MSI Twin Frozr III 6950 and have the same issue, the clocks go up to 900 and 1325 for me in the latest Afterburner but I've heard that they can go higher.

Surveyor · 21 Apr 2012 at 19:07

shawsy109 said:
I understand mate, thanks. But I have already asked this, but I will ask again, using trixx, after burner and just now tried ASUS gpu tweak, they let me change volts, but clocks are locked at 840 on the core, and 1325 on memory and will not let me up it.

Will someone give me a guide of how to unlock the clocks so i can go further! before i smash up my new screen lol

I use Sapphire TriXX myself as it works with the Sapphire cards I have and everything is already unlocked.

I believe with Afterburner you have to edit the config file to enable "unofficial overclocking".

Googe for "MSI Afterburner unofficial overclocking" or hopefully someone who uses it can provide the information or a link.

d_brennen · 21 Apr 2012 at 19:11

My VTX stubbornly refused to do more than 900 via software. I unlocked it to 6970 shaders and upped the limit while I was there with RBE. To be honest though, the gains with these cards are barely worth bothering with IMO. I run stock 6950 settings (albeit with unlocked shaders). If a game was barely playable to the point where an extra ~5FPS would make a difference, it's hardly going to set the world on fire after you clock your card (with all the extra heat and noise that entails). I'd much rather drop some settings a bit

Then again maybe I am just getting old

shawsy109 · 21 Apr 2012 at 19:21

Im just going to give up and run it at the max ccc allows. Can not be bothered with the messing around with cfg files inside msi as lots of posts suggest. I will be getting a new card in 3 weeks anyway.

Snodge · 21 Apr 2012 at 19:57

Hiya guys I've got a 6950 HIS 1GB, non reference cooler which isn't the best I'm idling at 45 degrees currently, I'm not messing with voltage but what sort of core and memory clock might I be able to achieve? What's the heat limit with one of these cards?

Rooster212 · 22 Apr 2012 at 13:16

Surveyor said:
Googe for "MSI Afterburner unofficial overclocking" or hopefully someone who uses it can provide the information or a link.

Seems to work

It involves editing a .cfg file, and now i could (theoretically) shove my core and memory up to 2000MHz...

Instructions:

-Launch MSI Afterburner, then immediately close it!
-Navigate to the install directory, and locate MSIAfterburner.cfg (In my case for this guide, it will be C:\Program Files (x86)\MSI Afterburner\MSIAfterburner.cfg), and open in notepad.
-Change these values
-"Enable Unofficial Overclocking" to 1 (Omitted on newer versions/combined with the EULA)
-"Unofficial Overclocking Mode" to 2
-Then copy and paste the line below to "Unofficial Overclocking EULA"
I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it
-save and exit
-Re-launch MSI Afterburner Enjoy!

Surveyor · 22 Apr 2012 at 13:39

Rooster212 said:
Seems to work

Nice one.

I assume you Googled it rather than Googed it.

My typing is poor

Rooster212 said:
It involves editing a .cfg file, and now i could (theoretically) shove my core and memory up to 2000MHz...

Baby steps.

The upper limits are, as you say, theoretical for the 99.999% of us not using sub zero cooling.

shawsy109 · 22 Apr 2012 at 13:55

Rooster212 said:
Seems to work

It involves editing a .cfg file, and now i could (theoretically) shove my core and memory up to 2000MHz...

Instructions:

Worked!! thanks so much.

900/1350 @ 1.175v custom fan setting and its sitting at 53 degrees in bf3 and hits around 60 in kombustor until the fan settings take over and gets it back to 50 ish.

Anyone else wanna post there 6950 clocks and volts?

Surveyor · 22 Apr 2012 at 14:33

shawsy109 said:
Anyone else wanna post there 6950 clocks and volts?

Surveyor said:
I have the Sapphire HD 6950 Toxic unlocked to HD 6970.

1.25V will get it up to 1GHz on the GPU core but I wouldn't use that long term.

1.175-1.2V gets it to 950MHz.

And you'll find some in here: *** The Official ATI Radeon HD 6950 Overclocking Thread ***

shawsy109 · 22 Apr 2012 at 15:00

Surveyor said:
And you'll find some in here: *** The Official ATI Radeon HD 6950 Overclocking Thread ***

cheers mate, pretty old thread, il just oc my card and leave that thread alone. No one cares for little old 6950's anymore. Il be moving onto a 680 once i have cash saved anyway.