Just as a reference for you to perhaps feel better, I have 2 7970's one is an asus and the other is an xfx both are reference designs, one has an asic of 80% the asus one and the xfx one has an asic of 87%, the asus will do 1250 core with 1.2v, memory 1650 and it is occt and gaming stable at that the xfx will do 1175 at 1.175v, memory 1650 and that is stable, its just a lucky dip with ovcerclocking some cards wont go higher no matter how many volts you throw at them, I would be dissapointed to not get the ccc slider maxed with a 7970 though (1125/1575)
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7970 Artifacts on low OC?
- Thread starter pgi947
- Start date
What dose it look like when it happens? Is it like a white flashing.
I get that in Heaven on my 7970 and had it on my old 6970 aswell on the 12.3cats , But I think it could just be either a bug with Heaven or the drivers all my games run fine, BF3, Crysis, Crysis 2, Shogun 2, WoW.
I get that in Heaven on my 7970 and had it on my old 6970 aswell on the 12.3cats , But I think it could just be either a bug with Heaven or the drivers all my games run fine, BF3, Crysis, Crysis 2, Shogun 2, WoW.
Its kind of like tiny black flashing triangles, I don't get it in kombuster or games at the really low clocks but do at slightly higher clocks.
Will remove my chip oc tonight and try to take some screen grabs and videos too.
Thanks again for all the input so far.
Will remove my chip oc tonight and try to take some screen grabs and videos too.
Thanks again for all the input so far.
Hi Paul,
Sorry I havn't checked my emails in the past couple of days but just seen your post.
I ran the card at 1125/6600 with voltage set to 1.175 in Afterburner and the fan set to 55%. At stock the card would run at 1.112v which wasn't enough for a stable run at 1125. I did all my testing in BF3 & Heaven so it is possible that other tests may result in artifacting I didn't otherwise see.
I would suggest trying a different driver as I had nothing but trouble with the 12.4's.
Depending on temperatures, air flow etc you may want to bump the voltage to say 1.2v and they try testing from there (thus eliminiating voltage from the picture for a 1125 run).
Sorry I havn't checked my emails in the past couple of days but just seen your post.
I ran the card at 1125/6600 with voltage set to 1.175 in Afterburner and the fan set to 55%. At stock the card would run at 1.112v which wasn't enough for a stable run at 1125. I did all my testing in BF3 & Heaven so it is possible that other tests may result in artifacting I didn't otherwise see.
I would suggest trying a different driver as I had nothing but trouble with the 12.4's.
Depending on temperatures, air flow etc you may want to bump the voltage to say 1.2v and they try testing from there (thus eliminiating voltage from the picture for a 1125 run).
I have just responded with your email with additional information.
One thing to add - I found additional air flow around the VRM area of the card (directly above the 8 pin connector) helped in the overclocking process.
Also I would suggest leaving the memory at stock and just clock the core. Once you get that stable start to increase the memory clocks.
EDIT: Paul, I won't be online for an hour or so from 1PM. If you need any further help / information I will respond a bit later this afternoon.
One thing to add - I found additional air flow around the VRM area of the card (directly above the 8 pin connector) helped in the overclocking process.
Also I would suggest leaving the memory at stock and just clock the core. Once you get that stable start to increase the memory clocks.
EDIT: Paul, I won't be online for an hour or so from 1PM. If you need any further help / information I will respond a bit later this afternoon.
Last edited:
Got the email, a wealth of info
Will give it a whirl tonight starting with RC11 drivers.
Please let me know how you get on.
Are you using more than one monitor per chance? I had the same on my 7970 and noticed that my idle temps were pretty high. This seems to be because the memory clock is not going in to power saving mode. This only happened to me when using 2 monitors. Disconnect one and it dropped about 20 degrees.
I was having temperature issues under load also so out of curiosity, disconnected the second monitor and tried again and managed to run Unigine no problems at all, even at 1125/1575 whereas I was getting artifacts at much lower before.
I had a quick Google and it seems to be a fairly common problem but is very frustrating
I was having temperature issues under load also so out of curiosity, disconnected the second monitor and tried again and managed to run Unigine no problems at all, even at 1125/1575 whereas I was getting artifacts at much lower before.
I had a quick Google and it seems to be a fairly common problem but is very frustrating
Hmm, did your artifacts look like this?
http://i.imgur.com/fh6mC.jpg
Constant white flecks in this part?
and kinda choppy black lines at this part?
http://i.imgur.com/Dik8A.jpg
I'm now getting that at stock for some unknown reason. It was fine yesterday, ugh.
http://i.imgur.com/fh6mC.jpg
Constant white flecks in this part?
and kinda choppy black lines at this part?
http://i.imgur.com/Dik8A.jpg
I'm now getting that at stock for some unknown reason. It was fine yesterday, ugh.
Reboot actually fixed the artifacts, then CCC decided it didn't want to let me in to AOD. Ended up doing a system restore to go back to before I installed/uninstalled various drivers a million times.
I still get specky artifacts towards the end of the benchmark at anything over 1100MHz core though regardless of temperature. Definitely lost on the silicone lottery compared to others
I still get specky artifacts towards the end of the benchmark at anything over 1100MHz core though regardless of temperature. Definitely lost on the silicone lottery compared to others
The first link yes, kind of at least, I recall that part giving me kind of a white speckle/glitter effect over some of the grass.
Yup, well 12.3 WHQL at least anyway.
Just home now and drawing up a list of things to do/try
To try tonight:
Missing anything?
- RC11 Drivers (on disc).
- Clear out of drivers, check for hidden devices as advised by tropiclightning
- Remove CPU OC
- Set display output to 60Hz
- Clock core only, leaving memory at stock
- Increase voltage to 1.2v with a high fan profile
- Take some screens/videos of artifacts
- All else fails, source out another machine to test in
Missing anything?
Well so far, some gains at least:
Removed 12.4, once removed I ran driversweeper, then installed RC11 (25th Jan). Also realised I had both unigine 2.5 and 3.0 installed, removed both, reboot, reinstall of 3.0. Checking for hidden display adaptors didn't show anything btw.
Benched so far with the following results, all with Power at +20%, stock voltage is 1.112v, getting vdroop down from 1.2v to around 1170mv :
Heaven 3.0
1050/1325 - Stock volts, ccc OC, no artifacts
1100/1325 - Stock volts, ccc OC, no artifacts
1105/1325 - Stock volts, ccc OC - artifacting from early on ~stage 10+
925/1500 - Stock volts, ccc OC - no artifacts
925/1325 - 1.2v, AB no OC - no artifacts
1100/1325 - 1.2v, AB OC - no artifacts
1105/1325 - 1.2v, AB OC - no artifacts
1110/1325 - 1.2v, AB OC - artifacting on stage 21 of 26 onwards.
1100/1450 - 1.2v AB OC - no artifacts
1100/1500 - 1.2v, AB OC - no artifacts
Kombuster
1100/1500 - 1.2v, AB OC - no artifacts
1105/1500 - 1.2v, AB OC - no artifacts
1125/1575 - 1.2v, AB OC (ccc limits) - no artifacts, would almost instantly artifact on 12.3 & 4
Some definite improvements, still struggling to hit those CCC limits under heaven but its progress, I have to say my case probably isn't helping matters, the 800D is a stinker for air cooling.
I am now noticing some strange happenings in windows, purple line flashing across the width of the screen, I hear this may be down to ULPS kicking in though?
When I get home tomorrow I'm going to leave heaven running at stock speeds for an hour or two and see how everything is to double check the cards stock stability.
Removed 12.4, once removed I ran driversweeper, then installed RC11 (25th Jan). Also realised I had both unigine 2.5 and 3.0 installed, removed both, reboot, reinstall of 3.0. Checking for hidden display adaptors didn't show anything btw.
Benched so far with the following results, all with Power at +20%, stock voltage is 1.112v, getting vdroop down from 1.2v to around 1170mv :
Heaven 3.0
1050/1325 - Stock volts, ccc OC, no artifacts
1100/1325 - Stock volts, ccc OC, no artifacts
1105/1325 - Stock volts, ccc OC - artifacting from early on ~stage 10+
925/1500 - Stock volts, ccc OC - no artifacts
925/1325 - 1.2v, AB no OC - no artifacts
1100/1325 - 1.2v, AB OC - no artifacts
1105/1325 - 1.2v, AB OC - no artifacts
1110/1325 - 1.2v, AB OC - artifacting on stage 21 of 26 onwards.
1100/1450 - 1.2v AB OC - no artifacts
1100/1500 - 1.2v, AB OC - no artifacts
Kombuster
1100/1500 - 1.2v, AB OC - no artifacts
1105/1500 - 1.2v, AB OC - no artifacts
1125/1575 - 1.2v, AB OC (ccc limits) - no artifacts, would almost instantly artifact on 12.3 & 4
Some definite improvements, still struggling to hit those CCC limits under heaven but its progress, I have to say my case probably isn't helping matters, the 800D is a stinker for air cooling.
I am now noticing some strange happenings in windows, purple line flashing across the width of the screen, I hear this may be down to ULPS kicking in though?
When I get home tomorrow I'm going to leave heaven running at stock speeds for an hour or two and see how everything is to double check the cards stock stability.
