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Help overclocking reference 7970

On a side note, as you said your OS has seen a lot of work, you can do a 'non destructive' W7 install over your current OS.

You uninstal all your gpu drivers/oc tools/AV and any other rubbish, then pop W7 install disc in and chose 'upgrade', it should give you a clean install.

Before you do it though download 'gamesave manager' and back up your game saves before you reinstall the OS just in case it scrubs your saves. :)
 
Sorry to jump in but I do know AB reads volts wrong with 680s when applying more than the +100. A volt meter proved this (wasn't me who did this) and maybe you are getting the same Kissenger?
 
I have no such issues with voltage changes and/or the reporting of them. I'm using the same card and software. :)

I've finished with overclocking now.... I need to spend more time playing flaming games! lol

Stable overclock settings are:

1200/1700 with GPU and VRM temps at sub 70degs (fans are profiled up to a max of 70%).

There appears to be brickwall on the core clock as the above is now at 1.25v, but it doesn't matter what you do about voltage increases and/or cooling, it won't budge above 1200 reliably.
 
My card could be the same.

Straight out of the box and stock voltage is 1162mv and got it to 1200 running benchmarks stable.

Doesn't seem to matter how much voltage I add via AB (tried 1.25v) but can't gte it stable over 1200Mhz.

Tempted not to bother fitting the waterblock as card is running so cool at 1200 and 1162mv and if extra voltage isn't going to get me past 1200 then it's a waste.
 
Regarding flashing to the GHz bios, can I not just use ATIWinflash? It looks so simple and the DOS flashing method you linked to, Tommy, looks so complex :eek:
 
It won't flash with ATIWinflash, although there is no harm trying.

It goes through the flashing process, but it always fails to finish flashing.:(

The dos bios flashing is safer than ATIWinflash and is the best way imo without a doubt to flash bios.

It isn't complex at all kiss, you make the startup usb stick with the tool I suggested.

Once finished you put the:

Tahiti.rom: http://www.overclock.net/attachments/6515

And atiflash
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2166/ATIFlash 3.99.html

Onto the startup usb, nothing else.

Write down the instructions:

Reboot your computer with the boot disk and type: atiflash -s 0 oldbios.bin>Enter(to save your old BIOS just in case you might need it at a later time.)

Wait until it finishes.

Type:atiflash -p 0 Tahiti.rom>Enter, wait for the prompts and when all done>reboot.


Done, Ghz clocks with locked 1.25v's

*Note: in the event of a powercut while flashing,or something goes wrong, DO NOT try it on the next bios-fix the original bios and start over!*
 
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Actually that looks fairly easy. Thanks. I think I'll try that. I've already saved a copy of my old bios with GPU-z though so can I skip that step?
 
kissenger said:
I've already saved a copy of my old bios with GPU-z though so can I skip that step?
Click to expand...

You could, but it would save straight onto the usb stick, if there was a problem, you could go straight back into do a reflash without going into windows.

Make sure you have tested that both bios positions work too, before you flash it as well.

Remember, in the unlikely event it goes **** up DO NOT flash the other bios, leave it be, as others have wrecked both, but they only have themselves to blame.
 
tommybhoy said:
It won't flash with ATIWinflash, although there is no harm trying.

It goes through the flashing process, but it always fails to finish flashing.:(

The dos bios flashing is safer than ATIWinflash and is the best way imo without a doubt to flash bios.

It isn't complex at all kiss, you make the startup usb stick with the tool I suggested.

Once finished you put the:

Tahiti.rom: http://www.overclock.net/attachments/6515

And atiflash
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2166/ATIFlash 3.99.html

Onto the startup usb, nothing else.

Write down the instructions:

Reboot your computer with the boot disk and type: atiflash -s 0 oldbios.bin>Enter(to save your old BIOS just in case you might need it at a later time.)

Wait until it finishes.

Type:atiflash -p 0 Tahiti.rom>Enter, wait for the prompts and when all done>reboot.


Done, Ghz clocks with locked 1.25v's

*Note: in the event of a powercut while flashing,or something goes wrong, DO NOT try it on the next bios-fix the original bios and start over!*
Click to expand...

Well flashed with the GHz bios, clocks read right for that bios. Only issues are that it's not locked at 1.25v (its actually 1.218v) so I can still change voltages.

% loading is locked at +20% though which is disppaointing.

My overclocking on this bios is worse than my original one so switch back to it for now,.
 
Greebo said:
Well flashed with the GHz bios, clocks read right for that bios. Only issues are that it's not locked at 1.25v (its actually 1.218v) so I can still change voltages.

% loading is locked at +20% though which is disppaointing.

My overclocking on this bios is worse than my original one so switch back to it for now,.
Click to expand...

I'm going to flash mine tonight. I've heard mixed accounts of whether or not the GHz bios gives a better overclock, but I suppose it's worth a shot.

What 7970 do you have, Greebo? MSI OC reference?
 
kissenger said:
I'm going to flash mine tonight. I've heard mixed accounts of whether or not the GHz bios gives a better overclock, but I suppose it's worth a shot.

What 7970 do you have, Greebo? MSI OC reference?
Click to expand...

Sapphire dual x with a non reference board :(
 
kissenger said:
I'm going to flash mine tonight. I've heard mixed accounts of whether or not the GHz bios gives a better overclock, but I suppose it's worth a shot.

What 7970 do you have, Greebo? MSI OC reference?
Click to expand...

As you know I have the same card, flashing a ghz edition restricted my overclocks. Seems like the default bios that comes with the MSI 7970 OC card is the best available. (ive tried a few)
 
Okay, just flashed. Everything seems fine. Only slight hiccup was I got an 0FL01 error the first time I tried to flash, but I just added -f to the command line and then it flashed fine.

Booted up and opened AB and my new clocks are 1050/1500. However, the voltage is at 1131mV by default, not 1250mV.

Edit: did a bit more testing and I'm still getting some weirdness with this voltage. I don't think my voltage control is working tbh. Like I say, new default in AB is 1131mV. However, HWI shows my voltage under load to be 1256mV, but GPU-z shows voltage to be a max of 1176mV under load!

The reason why I think my voltage control isn't working is because, even with this new BIOS, my overclock ability stays the same. I can pass Heaven easily at 1150/1600, but I can't pass at 1170/1600 no matter what I do to the voltage.

For now I'm just gonna play some games and forget about overclocking this card, but if anyone has any advice as to what I can do, I'd appreciate it. I think the next thing I'll try is a reinstall of Win7.
 
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You're probably right, Tommy, but I can't not get the voltage unlocked on this thing after having already returned one 7970 because of a hardware voltage lock :(
 
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