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

[LtMatt]

That's a strange one, maybe its just afterburner, for whatever reason doesn't like your cards.

I presume you restarted your pc as prompted before running it?

As one last throw of the dice you could try ticking force constant voltage, just to see if that changes anything.

Other than that, no idea im afraid.

One or two others had a similar problem in this thread if you scroll back a few pages, not sure if they ever solved it tbh.

 

[LtMatt]

Yeah restarted and tried constant but still no go. It seems weird I can only force 1.130v with any software. Although I can reach 1250/1700 with this I would like to go to 1.2v.

So even other progs won't let you fully over volt? You should be able to go up to 1.3v no?

What's the exact make and model number of your card?

True mate, just so used to AB over the years so thought i'd ask. The devil you know and all that.

Yeah i hear you. Been using it for ages, no way i can change now. Plus i love the OSD.

 

[LtMatt]

XFX 7950 DD FX-795A-TDJC

Max I can get anywhere is 1.130v

Looks like your card has a limited voltage range.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1039258796

 

[LtMatt]

Oh well I can reach pretty high clocks anyway so I'm not going to flash the bios. Hopefully the screen flicker will stop with this fix.

Its worked for everyone else so should work for you as well, let us know.

 

[LtMatt]

Matt i can't seem to get rid of the flicker using msi afterburner mate.

I've tried doing what you originally posted to no avail.

I must be doing something wrong but i don't know what.

I have two WF 7970's.

Please help a middle aged man!

Were you using the un-official method before hand?

If so you might be better off un-installing afterburner and not keeping your user settings and starting again.

If that doesn't work i have one other method you could try, but that would mean a complete driver reinstall + a sweep with driver sweeper 3.2 (http://www.techspot.com/downloads/4266-driver-sweeper.html), followed by a reinstall of afterburner.

If you try the latter, rather than running that AMD catalyst patch exe as i instructed in the OP, you can now just put this file (http://www.sendspace.com/file/8ubt3w) in the msi afterburner folder to enable the /xcl command to work. The old method involved putting two old ATI files in a windows folder to make the /xcl command work but this new method is easier to manage and does the same thing.

I really need to update the OP. Will get round to that and add pictures as well.

 

[LtMatt]

I have a complete fresh install of the 12.11s (after driversweeper).

I installed afterburner after that, added the xcl command as instructed.

And also the file you linked to mate.

And you still get flickering when applying overclock profiles to afterburner?

 

[LtMatt]

Yes mate.

Ahh i just noticed you have two 7970's, that might have something to do with it. I think until you do it for both cards you will still have flicker. Maybe you can remove one card and test? I appreciate that might be a pain in the butt.

Here is how to unlock the second card, this is not a method i have tried myself so i can't really help you with it.

If you do it the first way it will be easier.


AB xcl method above will only unlock the Overdrive limits for the active card. If you have other cards in a crossfire, technically you will have to disable crossfire and plug a monitor into each card and run the xcl unlock process to unlock each card. This can be quite the hassle. Luckily there's an easier way.

Anyways, I extracted the powerplay tables allowing one to edit and not do the song and dance.

*Open notepad, copy paste this in there save it as a *.reg file or rename .reg then merge that into your reg. Edit the "0000" for each card you have. Simply paste/create the key below and label each corresponding key 0000/0001/002/etc for as many entries or cards as you have in the registry. Also with this key, you don't have to create the shortcut sd with Part 1.



Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000]


"PP_PhmSoftPowerPlayTable"=hex:f3,01,06,01,00,00,00,10,18,58,00,6b,00,dd,00,e8,\
03,e8,03,58,00,00,80,03,00,10,00,00,02,07,3b,00,00,6d,00,df,00,00,3f,01,0a,\
00,3f,01,4f,01,4e,02,00,00,27,10,00,00,5b,01,75,01,8f,01,00,00,c2,01,00,00,\
04,01,00,00,af,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00,a9,01,52,03,00,00,14,00,40,00,04,01,00,\
00,03,01,04,05,00,03,02,05,05,00,03,03,06,06,06,07,10,54,69,01,1c,19,02,01,\
ff,6b,03,02,00,00,00,00,00,50,c3,00,80,38,01,20,03,5c,03,01,00,00,00,00,00,\
30,75,00,80,38,01,20,03,5c,03,01,00,00,00,00,00,40,9c,00,80,38,01,20,03,5c,\
03,02,00,00,00,00,00,30,75,00,98,3a,00,52,03,6b,03,00,00,00,00,00,00,b4,c3,\
00,1c,19,02,b6,03,6b,03,01,00,00,00,00,00,30,75,00,98,3a,00,20,03,6b,03,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,04,18,08,00,00,00,78,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,05,00,00,00,78,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,04,00,00,7a,00,00,00,00,00,00,40,19,01,00,c0,da,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,78,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,02,06,7c,15,8c,23,48,26,d0,07,7c,15,58,1b,48,26,0c,00,20,bf,02,00,\
f4,e9,03,00,cb,01,05,30,75,00,20,03,50,c3,00,52,03,60,ea,00,84,03,70,11,01,\
b6,03,54,69,01,01,ff,05,98,3a,00,5c,03,30,75,00,61,03,80,38,01,66,03,1c,19,\
02,6b,03,80,19,02,6c,03,05,98,3a,00,20,03,30,75,00,52,03,80,38,01,84,03,1c,\
19,02,b6,03,80,19,02,01,ff,04,20,03,00,00,00,00,52,03,00,00,00,00,b6,03,00,\
00,00,00,92,04,00,00,00,00,01,e8,03,98,3a,00,a8,61,00,00,03,d8,d6,00,d8,d6,\
00,70,11,01,70,11,01,30,75,00,30,75,00,02,b6,03,00,1a,04,01,06,01,01,00,01,\
02,02,00,01,02,03,00,03

**If for some reason it's not working for you, you can simply open up your registry, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E968. Easy way is Local, System, CurrentControlSet, Control, Class, then scroll down to "4D36E9" set then hit the "68" at the end. Inside you find "0000" files, and each folder represents a physical card per slot. So if you moved card 1 that was in slot 1, into slot 4, that will create a new folder. Try not to move cards around too much because it will create a lot of folders, making it confusing. Also, if you followed my manual uninstall method, your registry should be cleaned up nicely.

Ok, now scroll down to the 4D36E968 folder and extract that folder to some place. Open up some place, and edit the reg file. Basically you just delete everything except the table and header from above. And then simply create more entries as instructed above.

 

[LtMatt]

Thanks for taking the time to post that Matt.

I will try this tomorrow when i've got a bit more time.

One thing i have noticed is when i have set a mild overclock in afterburner CCC is reporting that my second card has a minimum core clock of what i set in AB.

I can't lower it to stock clocks i.e my stock is 1000 but it is stuck at 1100 and can't lower it unless i uninstall both the driver and AB.

If that makes sense?

Yeah it sounds like the powerplay tables are not quite working as expected.

Unfortunately i dont have two 7970 cards myself so i cant really test it out.

Maybe the idle clock bug is affecting your setup?

Either way a fix is coming for that soon, could be today or tomorrow so maybe that will help clear up your issue.

 

[LtMatt]

Sounds like it mate, i think i will just run them at 1100 for now using CCC and wait for the fix.

21.11s are running sterlingly aren't they

Edit.

I have just noticed that my cards have a stock voltage of 1112mv according AB, seems a bit low?

What's your asic? Between 75-80% would be my bet. 1.112mv is a typical 7970 voltage for that asic. My 7970 runs on that voltage.

 

[LtMatt]

One is 80.1 the other 79.1.

My knowledge of Asic continues to work well.

 

[LtMatt]

Well done you're a credit to the forum.

 

[LtMatt]

Hmm, I didn't know about this ASIC quality stuff. I'll have to check mine when I get home. I'll have to give this fix a go as well, that flicker has been a niggle for ages.

Asic doesn't define how well a card will clock, but it can be an important factor depending on what type of card and cooling solution you have.

 

[LtMatt]

For anyone still wanting to use/try this method. I have updated the OP and will post the info here as well.


A short guide oh how to overclock the Official way using AMD's powerplay tables but without the restricted clock limits you encounter with CCC whilst using msi afterburner.

This method also eliminates screen flicker problems that are associated with un-official overclocking methods such as those used by other apps and afterburner's ulterior overclock method which involves editing a config and placing two old Ati files in a windows folder.

1. Download the Latest AMD Drivers+Caps.
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonaiw_vista64.aspx

2. Download the latest version of afterburner.
http://download1.msi.com/files/downloads/uti_exe/vga/MSIAfterburnerSetup225.zip

3. Download & install driver sweeper. Start up driver sweeper, disable backup.
http://www.techspot.com/downloads/4266-driver-sweeper.html

4. Download this file & keep it safe. atipdlxx.dll is the file name.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/tqui4i

6. Un-install any other versions of Afterburner, Trixxx, GPU Tweak etc. Don't want other apps interfering. Do not keep user settings, delete everything.

7. Un-install AMD Drivers + Caps.


8. Restart into safe mode. Once in safe mode run driver sweeper, analyse, then clean all AMD entries.


9. Restart your pc, boot into windows as normal. Install the latest drivers, before you restart and after you finished installing the new drivers, install the caps as well. Restart.

10. Once booted back into windows, install afterburner. Once its installed run it, it will prompt you to restart, restart.

11. Once back in windows place atipdlxx.dll into the root afterburner folder like so.


12. Create a shortcut to msi afterburner and place it on your desktop. Right click the shortcut, properties and add /xcl to the target box. Click ok+apply, then run the shortcut like so. Delete /xcl once you get the clock limits message.


13. Restart your pc. Once back into windows open afterburner, go to options and enable voltage control and monitoring like so.


14. Do not unlock overdrive in CCC. You should now be able to overclock the official way without the clock limits imposed by AMD. You should be flicker free when changing clock speeds. If you're not then its likely something else that is causing the problem. I'm able to replicate the flicker by switching back to un-official overclock methods.

Here are some suggested fan profiles which you can use with afterburners manual fan control for 79xx users.

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]

Great work there again Matt, bored by any chance

Always.

Its 1pm though so its time for my afternoon nap.

 

[LtMatt]

Cheers for the updated version of your guide!

My memory clock won't drop below 600 though when idle, is this normal?

Thanks for that update Matt, it prompted me to stop being lazy and switch back to AB from GPU Tweak, was really starting to miss the OSD.

You forgot to mention removing the /xcl from the shortcut after you run it. Had to google to make sure and came across your old guide elsewhere

Edit - hmm, voltage doesn't unlock and the clock speed is locked at 1120 :/

Kralnor did you follow the guide from 1 to the end? Maybe you should try that just to rule out any old conflict.

Are you both using the latest AMD beta, beta 6 which fixes the idle clock bug?

AMD display driver version 9.01.8
http://www2.ati.com/drivers/beta/AMD_Catalyst_12.11_Beta6_dotNET4.exe

I added the part to remove /xcl, cheers. Knew id miss something out.

NZB, what card are you using? Did afterburner always work for you with this card?

 

[LtMatt]

Matt you've only edited the OP, don't forget the one above #243

Thanks mum.

 

[LtMatt]

Thanks for this guide, gonna give it a go when I get home, I was overclocking via CCC, I see you wrote not to enable it? Can I just disable CCC and swap to the MSI utility?

You can, or should be able to.

If i was you id start from begging of the guide and go right through to the end. Better to be safe than sorry imo.

I let afterburner take care of everything and keep CCC locked.

 

[LtMatt]

I followed your guide to the letter, except I used Driver Fusion rather than Driver Sweeper. As I understand it, Driver Fusion is simply a continuation of Driver Sweeper, which seems to no longer be maintained.

Yeah i heard Driver Fusion leaves a few files behind as opposed to driver sweeper which removes them all, but i doubt thats your problem.

Are you 100% sure you're using the beta 6 driver? Sorry, its all i can think of lol.

 

[LtMatt]

Yup, I'm completely positive.

Well i guess you can't get it right for everyone, sorry my friend going to have to let you slip through.

 

[LtMatt]

IceQ 2GB 7850 and nah afterburner didn't work with it before either (hadn't read up on tweaking it the first time). It's a new card last week so i just switched to GPU Tweak straight away when i saw AB wasn't giving control, today was the first time trying afterburner properly on this card.

Followed your guide multiple times earlier and no joy, it's a single card but even tried with and without CAPS. I've settled for going back to GPU Tweak for the OC and Afterburner for the OSD for now but would have been nice to get rid of GPU Tweak.

Thinking of sending this card back anyway as the fan rattle is back.

For some reason there are a few type of cards that afterburner won't allow voltage control for, sadly yours is one of them i fear. Trixxx or gpu tweak should work for you, but you might have to put up with the flicker problem for now.