AMD - How To Overclock The Official Way Using Afterburner + Step By Step Overclocking Guide + Comple

[LtMatt]

I'm having some trouble getting my radeon 6950 to run at 6970 speeds on my new signature rig - I've got it unlocked and working but there is a lot of screen flicker due to a CCC/afterburner driver issue or some nonsense.

I'm very much over CCC and AMD drivers to be honest. So naturally I'm now looking around for what I could get on the green team.

So would this be a worthy upgrade over a stock HD 6970?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=GX-209-EA

EVGA GeForce GTX 660Ti FTW Signature 2 2048MB PCI-Express Graphics Card (02G-P4-3664-KR) with FREE Assassin's Creed III & FTP Currency

Or this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...14&subcat=2294

MSI GeForce GTX 670 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Assassin's Creed III & FTP Currency

Is the 670 actually faster than the 660ti given that it has a lower clock speed?

What sort of FPS gains would I be looking at for each over my current setup? Cheers all.

Regarding the issues you describe...

That is because you're using an un-supported third party application to unlock voltage control and overclocking using an API which AMD does not support. I know you're switching cards now but i will explain why this occurred. If you had followed this guide ( http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18431335 ) then you would have been able to overclock using AMD's official power play tables and hence you wouldn't have any 'flickering' or 'weird issues' as you describe them.

I've just tried this now LtMatt and it seems to have worked!

Everyone says it but an absolutely massive thank you from me! Finally got my 6970 speed back! YES!

Time for a gif in celebration.

Jokes aside happy to help mate. Would have been a shame to have to buy a new card for such a small issue.

 

[LtMatt]

Hey guys, i have a Gigabyte 7950 WF x3 and im looking to overclock . Ive read through this thread and i have a rough idea but im wondering is anyone has a guideline core/memory to try?

Atm my card is 1000/1250

Also is heaven benchmark the best to use for a stability test?

Best to start at stock and work your way up slowly increasing clocks 1-25mhz at a time until you find stability issues. You can then either lower the clocks a bit or add more voltage. I posted a brief guide for someone else in the last page or two. Best to follow that advice.

True that mate!

Now I just have to work out why Far Cry 3 keeps locking up! It must be a card issue because I've replaced my whole system bar that and the PSU and it still keeps crashing the whole machine at random intervals!

To be honest it could be the overclock or anything actually, I was OC on my last build too and it had the same exact issue though which makes me think card... or just the game being ludicrously buggy (it is).

What kind of crash is it? Any error? Black screen?

 

[LtMatt]

Hi Lt,

It's a total lock up, black or greenish screen with sort of faint horizontal lines, seems to stay for ever and have to do a hard reset.

Sounds like your gpu memory is overclocked too much. Put it back to stock and see if it still happens.

 

[LtMatt]

I'll give it a go!

I'm now using stock 6970 clocks and volts. Will reset to 6950 settings (unlocked shaders)

I had a pair of 6950 twin frozr ii's that i unlocked to 6970's. I managed to run them at 6970 clocks as well. Make sure you only focus on the core/memory one at a time so you can figure out which is causing the problem then add more voltage to either the core or memory as needed.

EDIT

Now i think about it im not sure if you can add voltage to the memory on Cayman cards. Its been a while since i had them.

 

[LtMatt]

How come my default core clock on the Gigabyte 7950 WF x3 is 1000mhz but i see most people with 900mhz?

@LtMatt

Is it possible to get a sneak at your User Define Fan Speed, im lost with it

Sounds like you have a boost or overclocked version. My fan speed curve is weird because i use an accelero and it makes almost no noise, even at 100% so it won't be any help to you. However here are some fan profiles you can try from the OP.

Silent - Stock

Quiet - Light overclock

Normal - Decent overclock

Balanced - Performance version of normal, no increase in sound level but better, quicker cooling.

Performance - For Large Overclocks

Performance Extreme - Extreme version of performance with no increase in sound level but better, quicker cooling.

Benchmark - For extreme overclocks to bench

Benchmark Extreme - Extreme version of benchmark with no increase in sound level but better, quicker cooling.

 

[LtMatt]

Always good work Lt. every month or so I tinker with my fan profile with this as my guide.

You can't beat a good tinker. I'm a 20 a day man myself.

I created those profiles using a reference fan for my 7970 and we know how rubbish those things are so it should work pretty well for any half decent cooler id imagine.

 

[LtMatt]

Thanks for posting all the pictures, if i'm aiming for around 1200MHz is that classed as a large OC

Yes that's a good overclock to aim for that should be plenty for most games out there.

 

[LtMatt]

Should i try overclocking on Auto fan setup first before using a user defined setup?

Best to leave the fan at 100% while testing higher clocks as if the card gets too hot it will hold you back. Once you have it set and stable you can experiment by lowering the fan speed.

 

[LtMatt]

Ok, im trying not to be annoying here with constant questions but im looking for a 24/7 OC for gaming

Is 1200 on the core to much to be looking for and 1550 on memory?

1172/1563 is what i use for gaming so aim for that. That gives you 150gig texel rate performance and 300gb of memory bandwidth.

 

[LtMatt]

Ok, what Voltage are you using (just for reference). Is it safe to have this OC start when my pc starts and be on all the time

I'm using 1.138v core voltage for that but yours might be different depending on what your asic rating is.

 

[LtMatt]

ASIC 60.3%

Download gpu-z, run it then right click in the title bar and select read asic.

 

[LtMatt]

Is higher or lower better? mines 66%

It doesn't mean better, it just means how much voltage your card requires to be stable at stock speed. Higher asic = lower voltage.

 

[LtMatt]

I just tried 1170/1550 on 1138v and it froze on 26/26.. Damn

Tried to goto 1140v but resets to 1138v (same with lowering it), cannot seem to get it to stick. Tryed everything on the first page also

Is there new files i need?

-------------------------------------

1150/1500 at 1138v (max temps 67c in Heaven)

The voltage increases in several notches. If you don't go up far enough then it will reset. Go back to 1172 @1.138V and bump it up to 1.150 and run the test again.

I've clocked it right back which seems to have helped. Also turned some of the bells and whistles off in the settings. Unfortunately now I've got a sound bug! Joy. I feel like the universe is telling me that I shouldn't play this game

Glad its working.

Can't help with the other issue though im afraid.

 

[LtMatt]

God damn LtMatt your a genius

I take it that worked then.

Don't be telling him that

I should make that my new sig. Both quotes that is.

 

[LtMatt]

Yeah, as soon a i put 1150v it stuck. No idea why i didn't try this in the first place.. Lol

Nay bother someone had the same issue a page or two back. The voltage will increase in notches of 7 just so you know.

 

[LtMatt]

Whats a safe temp? under 70c? or under 80c?

------------------------

Core Voltage (mV) 1156 <-- Had to increase from 1150 for stability in Crysis 3

Power Limit (%) +20

Core Clock (MHz) 1165

Memory Clock (MHz) 1550

Max temp = 70c

Score = 1370

(when i pressed quit on unigine i got a high pitched noise until the program closed)

70c is fine, try to keep it below 75c. Once you get to a certain core speed you will see artifacts if the card gets too hot. It varies for every card. Once i get to around 1225 i need to keep my card below 70c.

That high pitched noise is nothing to worry about, i get that as well.

How do you test a GPU overclocks stability and how long for?

Unigine 4.0 to test core. 3DMark 2011 for memory. Intensive Directx11 games for the final stability test. Crysis 3, Farcry 3, Battlefield 3, Sleeping Dogs etc.

 

[LtMatt]

Question:

I'm going to follow 'the procedure' (as I'm going to refer to the guide in the first post from now on) for the MSI 7950 Twin Frozr Boost I've just ordered, as soon as it arrives.

I was just wondering if anyone knows whether it'd be a good idea to update the cards bios pre- 'the procedure'. Also, you can't just download the bios from MSI you have to use their live updater tool thingy which also handles MSI drivers and afterburner and such but I want to use 'the procedure' not their stupid tool.

Is it possible to get latest MSI 7950 bios for my card version any other way, and is it worth bothering with?

Haha procedure. I like to call it 'the routine', although that does kind of make it sound like a dance off.

Don't bother I think that refers to motherboard bios rather than gpu. I've tried it many times, it just doesn't work. Leave the stock bios alone would be my advice.

 

[LtMatt]

Advice received and gratefully accepted Lt!

Maybe you should consider an Accelero for your 7950. I know you said you wanted a quiet card, well you'd have a hard time finding a quieter and more efficient gpu cooler than an Accelero. Excluding water of course.

 

[LtMatt]

Anybody know why voltage isn't unlocking for my 7870 LE? Works fine in Sapphire Trixx

I will ask for you.

What version of afterburner are you using?

 

[LtMatt]

I've had a Twin Frozr before (5770 Hawk) and I was quite happy with the noise levels. It's going to be practically silent compared the the reference 6950 hoover I've currently got anyway!

Furry muff its not a bad cooler but if you want silence then there's only one way to go.