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7970 Lightning, worth the premium?
- Thread starter pgi947
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Soldato
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Good to know, thanks for the tips dave
Any other pointers? Not a complete newbie to GPU clocking, but a million miles away from competent
Np matey, when benching on extreme clocks, whack those fan speeds up manually, and I always use TRIXX for overclocking as I find AB is too much bloatware.
I'll have to try TRIXX, but unsure if it would give me all the options AB does, with the card being MSI and the extra little options etc..only one way to find out I suppose.
Usually if I'm testing something on air that I know might get a little toasty the fan is 80% constant minimum or running a 1:1 profile.
Whats a good clockspeed/memory to aim for? The little time I've had for testing has given me 1200/1550 so far.
Usually if I'm testing something on air that I know might get a little toasty the fan is 80% constant minimum or running a 1:1 profile.
Whats a good clockspeed/memory to aim for? The little time I've had for testing has given me 1200/1550 so far.
Soldato
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1275/1675 at 1.27v with fans on 60% should be attainable with TRIXX.
Soldato
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Does turning off ULPS help, dont know how to do it but believe it helps
Well tonight's efforts were a complete failure of the highest order.
Booted in LN2, ran trixx, no voltage control, ran AB, couldn't apply clocks but could adjust voltage. Rebooted, windows splash then black screen, power down, switch to default bios, windows splash then black screen, hard power down, reboot get to windows log in and I have two of everything (cursors, log in boxes etc..) and a huge pink stripe down the left side of the screen. Hard power down and reboot again and everythings back to normal.
In desperate need of reinstalling windows and trying some other drivers out.
Booted in LN2, ran trixx, no voltage control, ran AB, couldn't apply clocks but could adjust voltage. Rebooted, windows splash then black screen, power down, switch to default bios, windows splash then black screen, hard power down, reboot get to windows log in and I have two of everything (cursors, log in boxes etc..) and a huge pink stripe down the left side of the screen. Hard power down and reboot again and everythings back to normal.
In desperate need of reinstalling windows and trying some other drivers out.
afaik it kills the low power states of the card, you can either do it in Trixx or through windows registry editor.
Soldato
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Pgi947 see this thread.
http://www.sapphireforum.com/showthread.php?27620-Problem-with-7950-and-Trixx
http://www.sapphireforum.com/showthread.php?27620-Problem-with-7950-and-Trixx
Soldato
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When you had probs with AB did you press apply and clocks reverted to stock?
Yup
Set to 1200 (from 925) hit apply and it shoots back to 925, set to 930, click apply, shoots to 925.
Soldato
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Yep mine too(did not get all the same probs as you though) restarted and all ok. Flicked switch back to standard, gonna wait now until more info is available.
Soldato
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my conclusion of the lightning,
1206@1274 on ln2 bios, uninstalled CCC , so all down to AB to do the biz, core will not go any higher no mater the voltage(1274 all the way upto max of 1350, artifacts upto 1300 after it just freezes, this is with aux@+30mv) temps no higher than 61c
people are reporting temps at 69c and higher before instabillity
can get too 1300 mv without crashing but clocks still wont go past approx 1205
i always thought if clocks are unstable and temps good, you just add more volts to make stable(if temps allow)
7970 lightning can handle the volts and the temp(70c reported threshold, mine min 10c below this), and is unlocked to allow for LN2 so is it the software(AB) holding it back??????
Or has my chip hit its limit regardless of cooling used.
what else does afterburner extreme do besides upping voltage and clock levels, cos it must do something cos i have volts, clocks and temps to spare, or is my chip maxed and simply can't be arsed!!!!!!
1206@1274 on ln2 bios, uninstalled CCC , so all down to AB to do the biz, core will not go any higher no mater the voltage(1274 all the way upto max of 1350, artifacts upto 1300 after it just freezes, this is with aux@+30mv) temps no higher than 61c
people are reporting temps at 69c and higher before instabillity
can get too 1300 mv without crashing but clocks still wont go past approx 1205
i always thought if clocks are unstable and temps good, you just add more volts to make stable(if temps allow)
7970 lightning can handle the volts and the temp(70c reported threshold, mine min 10c below this), and is unlocked to allow for LN2 so is it the software(AB) holding it back??????
Or has my chip hit its limit regardless of cooling used.
what else does afterburner extreme do besides upping voltage and clock levels, cos it must do something cos i have volts, clocks and temps to spare, or is my chip maxed and simply can't be arsed!!!!!!
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Theres nothing to say while the card is unlocked that it doesn't have certain limitations with regards to temp vs voltage, for example the card may read 1.35v @ 60c and decide thats too much, it wants lower temps. Just a theory I'm not expert on the inner workings of a GPU.
AB Extreme (should only be available direct from MSI) gives near unlimited voltage (up to 1.8v).
I'm going to leave off an extreme overclocking until I have a waterblock which is due out mid-june now I think
Edit: I'm hopeful to catch someone on the MSI live help sometime this week, get some definitive answers about core/memory/vrm temp limits and ask kindly if they can send me a copy of AB extreme.
AB Extreme (should only be available direct from MSI) gives near unlimited voltage (up to 1.8v).
I'm going to leave off an extreme overclocking until I have a waterblock which is due out mid-june now I think
Edit: I'm hopeful to catch someone on the MSI live help sometime this week, get some definitive answers about core/memory/vrm temp limits and ask kindly if they can send me a copy of AB extreme.
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Soldato
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With gpu's nothing seems black and white these days, cpu's on the other hand appear to fine(temps ok, up the volts and increase the clock), same as always.
When people talk of the chip lottery are they taliking about the max core speed or/and temp too.
All incredibly fustrating, referance 7970 owners appear to be maxing there temps and volts, i dont know about you but these are not an issue with me.
Am i missing sometning besides a bottle of ln2!!??
Anyone got a universal water block just for core to do some tests??
When people talk of the chip lottery are they taliking about the max core speed or/and temp too.
All incredibly fustrating, referance 7970 owners appear to be maxing there temps and volts, i dont know about you but these are not an issue with me.
Am i missing sometning besides a bottle of ln2!!??
Anyone got a universal water block just for core to do some tests??
IF the full cover block was delayed any further than July (being told mid june now) then I would have tried out a universal block + PCI mounted fan, as its not far to go I'm going to hold out.
It is a lottery, but if ASIC means anything, then MSI have binned these chips with low ASIC for the lightning cards on purpose. With the intent of the cards going under exotic cooling. Again just theory.
Was reading earlier the Lightning can draw 475A while a standard ref can draw just 200A.
It is a lottery, but if ASIC means anything, then MSI have binned these chips with low ASIC for the lightning cards on purpose. With the intent of the cards going under exotic cooling. Again just theory.
Was reading earlier the Lightning can draw 475A while a standard ref can draw just 200A.
Soldato
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Low asic= big high volts+massive low temps = higher clocks
High asic= average volts+high temps(72+) = high clocks
^this about right???!^
High asic= average volts+high temps(72+) = high clocks
^this about right???!^
According to GPU-Z
Card with low ASIC = poor clocker on air, high temps, great clocker on water/ln2
Card with high ASIC = great clocker on air, probably no better/worse under water/ln2
Its due to current leakage (or something?) over the chip, lower ASIC = higher leakage, which can give higher temps, but also feeds the chip as a whole with more current giving it the legroom to handle higher voltages but exotic cooling to remove the excess heat
Thats the theory behind it anyway, personally I think its just the tip of the iceberg on how a good clocker is determined based on stats such as ASIC.
Card with low ASIC = poor clocker on air, high temps, great clocker on water/ln2
Card with high ASIC = great clocker on air, probably no better/worse under water/ln2
Its due to current leakage (or something?) over the chip, lower ASIC = higher leakage, which can give higher temps, but also feeds the chip as a whole with more current giving it the legroom to handle higher voltages but exotic cooling to remove the excess heat
Thats the theory behind it anyway, personally I think its just the tip of the iceberg on how a good clocker is determined based on stats such as ASIC.