AMD: A fix for users with high "Boost" voltages

[Chrisoldinho]

Hi,

Thought it would be helpful to show what I am currently doing to workaround the ridiculous 1.25v boost issue on my pair of 7950 HIS IceQ's. Hopefully this works for users with other cards as well.

1. Download the latest MSI Afterburner BETA (3.0 BETA 7 at the time of writing)
2. Disable ULPS if you are a CF user in 'Settings', 'General' tab. In the same tab also unlock voltage control, voltage monitoring and enable Force constant voltage (you may need to reboot at this point).



3. Create your first profile with your 2D core voltage settings. This is my setup, I also lowered the core clock down to 800.



4. Create a second overclocked profile settings, like so:-



5. Go back into settings, under the 'Profiles' tab, select your 2D profile as the first one you created, and the 3D profile as your overclocked profile, you could also get advanced with hot keys if you are so inclined.



Problem fixed.

Now my cards will run at 800 at 0.906v when required in the desktop and boost to 1050/1350 at 1.125v when gaming.

I haven't done an extensive amount of testing, but from this morning's gaming it seems to be working a treat

Chris.

 

[Chrisoldinho]

Good guide Chris.

Question for you to save me the bother, is the new AB actually applying voltage to both gpu's core/vram?

As the only tool so far to enable both core/vram voltage adjustment on both of them is His iTool.

I'm not too fussed about the stock voltage, but if the above works, then there probably is a benefit(don't care about the extra power usage) for lower 2D clocks in terms of lifespan on the gpu's.

Yes it does, according to AB and GPU-Z

 

[Chrisoldinho]

IM still trying to find a workable gigabyte rom replacment for my 2 his cards that does not break HDMI lol

Doesn't exist i'm afraid, I tried the Gigabyte BIOS but the fan on one of my cards continually spins at 100% irrespective of what I tried to do to fix it.

 

[Chrisoldinho]

It isn't the perfect fix but nothing apart from a decent BIOS is.

The only issue I have identified so far is the millisecond screen flicker that occurs when changing profile.

This for me anyway is better than the HIS iTool fix, as every time even with restore clocks it would default to 1.125v at boot so I had to manually apply the lower voltage, with AB it works correctly on boot.

Another option which also works but requires manual configuration to a degree is to use AB to set your voltage on boot for your base profile e.g. 800/1250 @ 0.905 (as shown above), then use RadeonPro to load a second profile for selected games which runs at your over clocked settings, it will automatically revert back after, or if the game doesn't demand it then just use your base profile and benefit from lower temps.

 

[Chrisoldinho]

I have and unfortunately this didn't work either, specifically I tried the HIS varient, but I believe this is the same as the others.

My understanding is that the VRAM modules are the cause no other BIOS works with the exception of the Gigabyte 7970 one as that also uses the same VRAM.