First Time Overclocking Journal - HD7950

Omaeka

Omaeka

Omaeka

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10 Apr 2012
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Well after getting my new card I've decided to overclock it! I've took it to 1000 Core w/ 1525 Memory, no change in voltage or any power limiting as it didn't throttle on Heaven DX11, 1920x1200 max settings.

All data was recorded using MSI Afterburner OSD, as was the overclock itself.

Below I have the benchmarks, clock speeds, GPU temps and fan speeds, from the beginning of the overclock to the end:

OC0.png

OC1.png

OC2.png

OC3.png

OC4.png

OC5.png

OC6.png

OC7.png

OC8.png

OC9.png

Now as it's my first time and I really don't know that much about doing it, I have a few questions;

1. Is Heaven benchmark a good test of stability? The benchmark ran fine with a small performance increase each time. Does that mean that the card will be stable in any game that doesn't conflict with overclocks? GPU usage was always 99%.

2. After the 6th or 7th overclock (not too sure which one) there started to be small graphical glitches on the benchmark, they were the sun lense flares, they were strangely red and the occasional blue surface glare reflection, is that an issue with the benchmarks engine, or a sign of instability?

3. I noticed the temperates only went from 65c stock, to 68c with almost max overclock, is that normal for the card?

4. Despite 68c being a fairly safe temp, I've decided to custom define fan settings anyway:

Can anyone give me advice on this?

FanDefine.png


Thank you for your time. :)
 
Heaven is certainly a reasonable test of stability. For gaming over hours and hours you usually can use slightly less clocks and remain stable.

This is a good first time GPU overclock and you could certainly get more out of the cards by tweaking voltage slightly though.

The gliches you are seeing are artifacts, they are a sign of instability an its at this point you need to add core voltage. Only a slight bit and then play some games to test.

Load temps are what you should be worried about and yours are fine. After adding a touch of voltage check again.

That fan profile looks fine to me for gaming. For benching you could turn up the fans to full for the entire run. This will net you a better clock and better bench scores.
 
So I need more core voltage to maintain the clocks? I hear too much voltage can instantly destroy a card? :eek:

What should I bump it up to to be safe? My PSU is 650 OCZ.

9890.png


Thanks! :D
 
1150mv.

You dont have options on that version of AB to kill a card instantly they locked it down. You have to have special cooling and proven credentials to get the unlocked version so dont worry!!!
 
Set to 1149mv cause for some weird reason when I set it to 1150 it goes to 1149. :p gonna run it through Heaven a half a dozen times and monitor temps while looking out for artifacts, good idea? :)
 
At that voltage Heaven locked up and my system black screened, forcing me to do a hard reset. D:

Should I just drop the clocks a little?
 
You can't overvolt these without some solder work. The die has been laser cut to stop it.

The slider may move but it doesn't actually do anything. The pre-overclocked HD750s are the same GPU as the HD7970, hence the higher speeds. (just locked things out in the card's bios). 7950=Tahiti. 7950OC and 7970=Tahiti Pro

*edit* ignore me, was given bad advice elsewhere**
 
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Stock is 800 on mine, but at 1149 it locked up yeah, the temp was 40 before it locked up, didn't get around the first corner on Heaven. :p
 
nope within reason. you dont want to continually push voltages nad frequncys you know are not liked by the card.

Mine lock almost every bench when I push em hard. They all work fine though.
 
Good to know :p. I've dropped the core to 950 and memory to 1475 and ran Heaven for half an hour and it never went above 63 with the new fan profile and there wasn't a single artifact. :)

Bloody tiring watching that program float around them islands.
 
I know I hate that bench takes too long to pass.

Slowly raise core till its no longer stable then slowly raise voltage. Monitor temps and find sweet spot for perf where you dont need to add too much voltage but you get a good overclock. Do core first then mems.
 
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