Ok, just in case anyone else is considering doing this I thought I'd note down my experiences. I took the plunge to write the Gigabyte 7970 bios that Virus2k posted about to my xfire HIS 7950 ICEQ Boost.
I was running them at 1020/1450, but I did find the boost bios was an utter pain, I kept having to reset stock clocks then reapply the oc to stop it bouncing between the 1020 and 825 in games or benches. And even with it throwing 1.25v at it when in 3D mode I still couldn't get near any 1100 or more clocks.
Initial impressions are that stock settings on the 7970 bios (1000/1375) it walks all over the overclocked boost bios!!
Heaven Benchmark
OC 7950 bios = 116.3 FPS
stock 7970 bios = 124.3 FPS
thats a fairly impressive difference for lower clocks! It also shows in BF3 as my FPS @ 6000x1200 on most things Ultra dips below 60fps much less.
I then added some oc:
1100c = 131.5 FPS
1100c/1450m = 137.6 FPS
1100c/1500m = 138.9 FPS
1150c = 135.8 FPS
I haven't got round to playing with the memory at 1150core yet.
I found that I can get Heaven stable with 1.150v with all the above. However BO2 crashes at 1150core at those volts, its ok on 1100core.
I appear to have quite hot running cards, but the 7970 bios helps as it has a more aggressive fan profile. Running stock Heaven/BF3 stays around 68 degrees max on the primary card with the fan about 56-60%. The boost bios fan would have been around 52% and temps around 71-73.
Problem I'm finding is with the oc on the 7970 bios to keep the temps below 75 degrees I've seen the fan run at 85% during a benchmark
Kind of makes me think that for 10-15fps over stock its not really worth it.
The 7970 bios is much more reliable with AB and OC's than the boost bios was.
I would like BF3 to stay over 60fps and drop below so an OC would be nice, but the issue I'm seeing here is that when I apply an OC it seems to have an effect of worse FPS in the game than left as standard. I'm guessing this is not enough volts?
But if I need more volts its going to get hotter and I don't really want them much over 70, and certainly not on the massive fan speed needed to keep it cool!
Happy for comments, and any advice on the OC working better in game?
Cheers
Neil
I was running them at 1020/1450, but I did find the boost bios was an utter pain, I kept having to reset stock clocks then reapply the oc to stop it bouncing between the 1020 and 825 in games or benches. And even with it throwing 1.25v at it when in 3D mode I still couldn't get near any 1100 or more clocks.
Initial impressions are that stock settings on the 7970 bios (1000/1375) it walks all over the overclocked boost bios!!
Heaven Benchmark
OC 7950 bios = 116.3 FPS
stock 7970 bios = 124.3 FPS
thats a fairly impressive difference for lower clocks! It also shows in BF3 as my FPS @ 6000x1200 on most things Ultra dips below 60fps much less.
I then added some oc:
1100c = 131.5 FPS
1100c/1450m = 137.6 FPS
1100c/1500m = 138.9 FPS
1150c = 135.8 FPS
I haven't got round to playing with the memory at 1150core yet.
I found that I can get Heaven stable with 1.150v with all the above. However BO2 crashes at 1150core at those volts, its ok on 1100core.
I appear to have quite hot running cards, but the 7970 bios helps as it has a more aggressive fan profile. Running stock Heaven/BF3 stays around 68 degrees max on the primary card with the fan about 56-60%. The boost bios fan would have been around 52% and temps around 71-73.
Problem I'm finding is with the oc on the 7970 bios to keep the temps below 75 degrees I've seen the fan run at 85% during a benchmark
Kind of makes me think that for 10-15fps over stock its not really worth it.
The 7970 bios is much more reliable with AB and OC's than the boost bios was.
I would like BF3 to stay over 60fps and drop below so an OC would be nice, but the issue I'm seeing here is that when I apply an OC it seems to have an effect of worse FPS in the game than left as standard. I'm guessing this is not enough volts?
But if I need more volts its going to get hotter and I don't really want them much over 70, and certainly not on the massive fan speed needed to keep it cool!
Happy for comments, and any advice on the OC working better in game?
Cheers
Neil