Help overclocking reference 7970

kissenger · 10 Nov 2012 at 00:26

So I've just installed a reference 7970 (MSI OC edition) and I want to make sure I get the most out of it so I just want to run this check list by you lot. This is the plan.

1. Bump core clock by 15MHz.
2. Do a couple loops of Unigine Heaven.
3. No artifacts, repeat step 1. When I start getting artifacts or crashes, bump voltage by 5mV.
4. When I've reached my max core overclock either because of temps or because I've reached 1.3v, start bumping memory in 15MHz increments until I start getting artifacts or crashes.

Sound about right?

psychodil · 10 Nov 2012 at 00:33

Bump the memory straight up to 1500, that's at least a semi-sensible place to start. Start at 1050 for the core as well.

Try a bench a at 1050/1500 right off the bat, I'm sure it will be fine and will save you a lot of time.

Rusty0611 · 10 Nov 2012 at 00:33

Mmm no real need to be that cautious. Pick your voltage and then just see what the max you can get is.

kissenger · 10 Nov 2012 at 00:37

I read that you can get a better OC by doing it in small increments though. Is that wrong then?

BTW, just did a quick Heaven bench and this was the result. Not bad, especially the minimums. This is at 1010/1375 btw:

psychodil · 10 Nov 2012 at 00:40

Yes you get a better result by fine tuning at the end. Try your memory at 1500mhz though, if it fails I will post a YouTube video of me punching myself

Rusty0611 · 10 Nov 2012 at 00:40

Yes it is wrong.

Going in increments just helps you to identify your chips limit more accurately. The overflying ability of it is down to the silicon lottery.

kissenger · 10 Nov 2012 at 03:00

So I think I got a pretty good chip. I've managed to push it to 1100/1525 so far in Heaven at stock voltages and I'm not getting any problems. I'll try to push it to 1200/1600 tomorrow.

The main thing with this card seems to be keeping the temps down. The fan is noisey, but if you can live with it, it does keep the card cool.

Edit: couple of questions:

Is there 'good OC' I should aim for? I.e. what are people maxing out at with this GPU? From what I've seen it's around 1250/1750.

I noticed that the limits in AB are 1175/1575. How do I unlock this limit?

tommybhoy · 10 Nov 2012 at 14:27

Matt's thread will unlock the AB limits:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18431335

What's your Asic quality kissenger?

Some don't rate it, but personally, I think there is a general indication on how high you can clock on air at a given voltage on AMD.

Get yourself http://www.hwinfo.com/, it can show the vrm temps in the AB osd screen, which can be handy as with mine(the same as yours) doesn't like the vrms getting hot.

Goto sensors> pick vrm 1 and vrm 2 and configure it to show in Riva Tuner.

The only downside to the app is, you need to press 'sensors'>'minimise all' for it to kick in on every startup-although I haven't spent much time looking if it can start as default.

You should get 1150/1600 roughly, after that it's fine tuning time with voltage and extra fan speed, but personally, I go for 1100/1600 for general gaming, it's fast enough for me.

I can get to 1200/1800+ with voltage for BM's, I imagine it will go further still, but I'm not into leaving case panels off and throwing loads of fans doing suicide runs just for an increase in scores.

faginrs500 · 10 Nov 2012 at 14:38

Thought I would add my 2p's worth with regard to this specific card and my experiences of overclocking it.

First off you must follow the correct procedure to unlock the card and it's voltages - follow the thread by another member (it's very useful) http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...php?t=18431335 I was getting all sorts of issues until I did this.

This card will overclock quite nicely. I have managed a stable set-up with the following:

Core Voltage= 1.3v
Power Limit= +20%
Core Clock=1200
Memory Clock=1600
Balanced Fan Speed profile used

Max temp seen is 71degs under full loading.

Personally I don't think "Heaven" is a definitive stress tester. I had no issues in "Heaven" but would get issues in proper gaming, so don't take "Heaven" as gospel. Anyway, these settings and results are under loading on games like BF3 with no stability issues.

My ASIC quality is 66.1% so not that great.

Hope this information is of help.

kissenger · 10 Nov 2012 at 15:12

My ASIC quality according to GPU-Z is 73%. Is that any good?

So far I am super impressed by this card. 1175/1575 at stock volts. Temps staying below 70C (albeit with a fairly aggressive fan profile).

Litmoose · 10 Nov 2012 at 15:23

What is this ASIC quality and where is it in gpu-z?

kissenger · 10 Nov 2012 at 15:25

Litmoose said:
What is this ASIC quality and where is it in gpu-z?

Open GPU-Z, click the top left, select 'Determine ASIC quality' from drop down menu.

LtMatt · 10 Nov 2012 at 15:46

kissenger said:
My ASIC quality according to GPU-Z is 73%. Is that any good?

So far I am super impressed by this card. 1175/1575 at stock volts. Temps staying below 70C (albeit with a fairly aggressive fan profile).

Looks you have a good one, i can only go to about 1125 on stock volts using the same card.

faginrs500 · 10 Nov 2012 at 16:03

IMO the ASIC quality is irrelevant. What's relevant is the clock you can achieve, the temps and any caveats like fan noise. The ultimate important factor is any appreciable difference all this makes to your gaming experience. Numbers aren't everything.

kissenger · 10 Nov 2012 at 21:43

If I'm not messing with the memory voltage do I need to worry about VRM temperatures?

The memory on my card seems to have a lot of headroom. Don't want to push it too far though. Got this rock solid stable at 1162/1700.

LtMatt · 10 Nov 2012 at 21:45

kissenger said:
If I'm not messing with the memory voltage do I need to worry about VRM temperatures?

The memory on my card seems to have a lot of headroom. Don't want to push it too far though. Got this rock solid stable at 1162/1700.

I can push my memory up to 1719+ before i need to start thinking about voltage increases.

I'd leave the memory at stock though until you find your max core.

kissenger · 11 Nov 2012 at 00:34

So I think I hit a bit of a wall with this chip.

Having tested more, my best at stock is 1125 core. A little bump upto 1181mV gets me to 1150 core. However, I can't seem to get upto 1170 core no matter what I do. I've been all the way up to 1250mV in increments and no luck.

I know voltage control is working because temperatures do increase if I bump the voltage in Afterburner. I'm also keeping temps very low. 65C is the highest it's been and returning the memory to stock doesn't help either.

Have I just ran up against the limits of the chip?

psychodil · 11 Nov 2012 at 08:27

Sounds like its near the brick wall. Have you tried benching with the fan on full whack just to rule out temperatures? Try a run at 1.3v and the fan on full whack just to find out.

LtMatt · 11 Nov 2012 at 08:34

kissenger said:
So I think I hit a bit of a wall with this chip.

Having tested more, my best at stock is 1125 core. A little bump upto 1181mV gets me to 1150 core. However, I can't seem to get upto 1170 core no matter what I do. I've been all the way up to 1250mV in increments and no luck.

I know voltage control is working because temperatures do increase if I bump the voltage in Afterburner. I'm also keeping temps very low. 65C is the highest it's been and returning the memory to stock doesn't help either.

Have I just ran up against the limits of the chip?

That sounds very similar to mine but i can get up to 1250 core though i cant keep it cool enough at this speed without the fan at silly speeds.

When you encounter problems, black screen, driver reset, artifacts etc restart your pc before doing any more tweaking. Otherwise it stays broken until a reset.

I originally thought my card wouldn't go past a certain limit until i realised i needed a restart, then a voltage bump and i found more stability.

faginrs500 · 11 Nov 2012 at 09:38

kissenger said:
I've been all the way up to 1250mV in increments and no luck.

As already suggested why haven't you taken it to 1.3v's? I had the same problem and needed the extra voltage to achieve a higher core clock (i.e. 1200). Voltage shouldn't be an issue (i.e. increasing it) if your temps are under control imo.

What's your aim with all of this..... higher benchmarks or increased playability?

I had no difference in gaming framerates going from 1600 to 1700 memory. The biggest single difference imo is clocking the core and it appears that once you get to around 1200, that's the sweat spot with regards to real world payback vs temps and fan profile. However.... I actually found that running the card at 1125/1575 only achieved around up to 5% less gaming fps than running 1200/1600. IMO it's not worth going over 1200/1600 (for gaming) and 1125/1575 is a great performance setting, without having to push the card imo.

I am however only on a PCIE 2.0 MB, so don't know if any bottlenecks against a v3.0 MB are being experienced to skew my results.