*** Official AMD 7990 Owners Thread ***

[nicnik]

considering the free games and selling the 7950s, not too bad. draw less power no?

 

[TonyTurbo78]

Yeah you have a point Nic, I kinda overlooked the sell on and the free games ..How much you get for both your 7950's Matt if they have a home yet? I'm not knocking it or trying to find fault, please dont think that, I just would like to know the thought process behind it. If there are clear benefits the 7990 was going to be better in the future then I'd like to educate myself from others in case I need to do the same, that's the only reason for my interest.

 

[LtMatt]

that's an expensive boredom lol.

I just noticed your scores in the Sleeping Dogs Benchmark thread;

6. Score 108.9, GPU 7990 @1100/1700, CPU 2700k @4.9 LtMatt Link
7. Score 108.0, GPU 7950 @1208/1750, CPU 2700k @4.8 LtMatt Link 13.8 Beta 2 drivers

Was that improvement in frames worthy of £500 upgrade??? Damn dude, you got to much money lol. Actually, I just seen you hit 111fps now, I still couldn't justify spending that much money for something thats only 3fps better than what you had. You crazy fool you lmao. Fair play to you though.

All told i'll only be about £50 down in the end. I've already sold my 7950's for £140 a pop and ive got other bits and bobs to sell as well as 8 free games that came with the 7990.

The problem with my 7950's is they were not stable at those clocks, no way near. They were ok for a quick bench but that was it. The 7990 is stable at 1125/1700. The 7990 at stock is about as fast, if not slightly faster at stock than my 7950's at their 24/7 max overclock. My minimums have improved the most. The 7990 is as fast if not faster than stock 7970 ghz crossfire despite being 50mhz slower on the core. Its a brute of a card. It has some drawbacks, but as long as those don't bother you then its a superb piece of kit.

considering the free games and selling the 7950s, not too bad. draw less power no?

Yeah im drawing considerably less power with my 7990 at stock than my 7950's overclocked and my fps feel higher and smoother.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

interesting, cheers Matt. Bit of a no brainer matey considering you got such a nice price for the two of your 7950's. Enjoy it buddy.

I'm ecstatic with the performance of mine, I know I aint going to set the world alight at 1440p but I can thrown huge eye candy levels at 1080p and hold 60fps solid which is where im happy, the bang for buck was and is a no brainer. When the times come I'll prob do the same, sell both these and get 2 290X or better by that time. Couple that with Mantle, exciting times ahead.

 

[ikari1]

Hi Matt

I've go the Gigabyte card. Have the problems with this bios update been ironed out? Which do I use?

Thanks

 

[LtMatt]

Hi Matt

I've go the Gigabyte card. Have the problems with this bios update been ironed out? Which do I use?

Thanks

Yes, use this one.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=25321612&postcount=1151

 

[Blindeagle]

Question how on earth do u get the 8 games with the msi 7990? i heard people are getting them but i got no clue how 2

 

[maka12]

Question how on earth do u get the 8 games with the msi 7990? i heard people are getting them but i got no clue how 2

You should have had the voucher in the box did you buy it off ocuk?

 

[xelnaga]

Hi guys,

I hope someone can help me. I have the following BIOS version for my Sapphire 7990: 015.032.000.004.002984 (113-C47601M0-101).

My problem is that I use it without the case but I get high temps mining (over 85º in winter!!) and I'd like to undervolt the GPUs but when I configure it with the MSI Afterburner just works for one of the GPUs and the other one is locked (checked using GPU-Z and cgminer).

Is there anything I can do? Can I reflash it? Which version and how to do it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[jupiter_man]

Dude upload your master and slave bios using gpu-z and sendspace. Make sure you take the bios from switch 2 for both please. I will try and edit your bios and see if it works on our cards. It could be that XFX have some sort of bios lock in place, who knows.


As for now ive come up with a solution. I have not touched the clock states or stock clocks or voltages, as that seems to lock the XFX card. What i have done is increase the TDP to 240W with 20% power tune. Throttling and gpu usage drops will be a thing of the past now. I've also bumped up the core clock to 1250 and the memory to 1750. Testers needed.

Bios Download Link
http://www.sendspace.com/file/a9vg54

Make sure your card is on bios switch 1. Do not flash to bios switch 2, thats the backup fail safe bios!! IMPORTANT!!

I have included a bios for the master card (Malta1.rom) and the slave card (Malta2.rom) in the download link. Its important you flash the correct one. Read the flashing instructions carefully and it will go smoothly.

Spoiler

Bios Flashing Instructions

You might want to write this down...

You need to create a bootable usb stick.

1. Download and install the USB disk format tool here.

2. Download the Windows98 system files here.

3. Create a folder called Win98boot on your desktop, extract the files from step 2 into the folder.

4. Plug in your usb stick. Launch the USB disk format tool. Copy these settings, then click format. You need to select quick format, tick dos startup and select the Win98 folder, like ive done below.

5. Click start, then ok and it should do it.

6. Download atiflash. Extract it onto the usb stick.

7. Download my 7990 bios. Extract it and cut and paste it into the usb stick.

8. If you've done everything correctly your usb stick folder contents should look like this. (except the bios should say Malta1.rom and Malta2.rom instead of HIS7950.rom) Do not worry if you have more or less files than what appears in the screenshot. As long as you have the bios file and atiflash thats all that matters. Windows 8 users might have extra files like in my screenshot.

9. Make sure the 7990 in your pc is switched onto bios 1.

10. Uninstall gpu drivers and any overclocking apps. Do not keep settings delete everything.

11. Restart your pc. Before you hear the beep keep tapping F8. Boot from the usb stick.

12. You should be at dos prompt. Type atiflash -i to get the adapter number for both your gpu's. Typically it will be 0 and 1, unless you have a gpu in a third pci-e slot. You need the adapter number to tell it which gpu to flash.

13. To flash gpu 1 (master 7990) type atiflash -p -f 0 Malta1.rom and hit enter.

Wait for it to finish. It will prompt you to restart but before we do that we need to flash the second gpu as well.

Now do the second gpu (slave 7990)

Type atiflash -p -f 1 Malta2.rom

Once that has completed and you get a notification saying you can restart press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to restart your pc.

All going well you should get a display and boot back into windows. Now you can reinstall fresh new drivers etc. Boost voltage and boost clock is disabled, your card thinks its a non boost card from now on in and you have the option to select 50% power setting as standard with every driver install.

If something goes wrong and you get no display from the cards after flashing the bios. Turn the pc off and flick both cards bios switch to position 2 to use the stock backup bios. Turn the pc back on and all will be ok.

Good luck.

Hi, very stupid question, do I need to update my bios if I am NOT going to overclock it? Thanks.

 

[alex_123_fra]

Question how on earth do u get the 8 games with the msi 7990? i heard people are getting them but i got no clue how 2

It is one of the neversettle promos. It gives 8 games. I got one of those offers and also a gold radeon pro reward with mine. So in total 11 games. I sold them all for £80 so effectively my 7990 cost £300.

 

[alex_123_fra]

Hi, very stupid question, do I need to update my bios if I am NOT going to overclock it? Thanks.

Check your GPU utilisation while gaming and running benches. If you get throttle dips, then you would benefit from the bios. If not, and you aren't overclocking you don't really need it.

 

[jupiter_man]

Check your GPU utilisation while gaming and running benches. If you get throttle dips, then you would benefit from the bios. If not, and you aren't overclocking you don't really need it.

Cheers Alex

 

[maka12]

does anyone get coil whine when there scrolling down web pages? every time i move the mouse wheel i can hear something.

 

[Footyslayer]

Quick query...

MSI afterburner only gives me an option of seeing the temperature on GPU 1, there is no option to show a GPU 2 in the options either.

Any ideas?

 

[Blindeagle]

It is one of the neversettle promos. It gives 8 games. I got one of those offers and also a gold radeon pro reward with mine. So in total 11 games. I sold them all for £80 so effectively my 7990 cost £300.

Ah i see did u get the coes in the box? or did u have 2 contact msi? Thanks,Also just wanted to ask one more question when playing games do u guys turn on v sync or not?

 

[LtMatt]

Just completed BF4 single player for the other ending. Cpu at 4.8ghz, 7990 @1.130v 1000/1500, vsync off so silly high fps. Temps between 80-84c, fan speed auto so between 44-53% and complete silence. Very happy. Card kicks out a lot of heat though. It was pretty hot in the room as well so that probably didn't help.

 

[LtMatt]

Hi, very stupid question, do I need to update my bios if I am NOT going to overclock it? Thanks.

Alex nailed it below me.

Check your GPU utilisation while gaming and running benches. If you get throttle dips, then you would benefit from the bios. If not, and you aren't overclocking you don't really need it.

Spot on. That said i think its worth doing as the 7990 has such a low TDP the card tries to throttle even when running at stock and undervolted. However you need a demanding game to bring out this behaviour. Sleeping dogs extreme preset is a good example.

does anyone get coil whine when there scrolling down web pages? every time i move the mouse wheel i can hear something.

My first card did, the asus 7990 from ocuk. However even over the course of one day it got better.

My second XFX had no coil whine while browsing, but had a bit more during gaming. However its already started to fade and i believe it will vanish completely soon.

 

[alex_123_fra]

Ah i see did u get the coes in the box? or did u have 2 contact msi? Thanks,Also just wanted to ask one more question when playing games do u guys turn on v sync or not?

Yes they were in the box. My card is an XFX but not from OCUK.

I turn Vsync on but many find that the input lag that comes with is unacceptable. It doesn't bother me and the card works less hard. As Matt says though, it is almost silent anyway if you leave it on the auto fan profile.

 

[LtMatt]

After much fiddling around with my case, fan setups and the 7990 i believe it is essential (more so in smaller to medium size cases) to have a decent exhaust fan or two on the side of your case. Got to get the mass of heat kicked out by the 7990 out of your case asap.

Spoiler

1x200m front intake intake + 1x120mm front intake above the 200mm
2x120mm GT's h100i intake
1x120mm rear intake
4x120mm side exhaust

After much testing this setup works best for me. Tons of heat coming out the side of my case and keeps both gpu core temps identical or within 2c of each other. I'm actually thinking about moving the 7990 down from pci-e slot 1 to pci-e slot 2 (also x16) as my h100i in the roof does put a small amount of heat in the case. However if i move the 7990 further down i may need to turn my psu round the other way so it can suck in some of the 7990 heat as there is less space for the 7990 to breathe near pci-e slot 2.

I find myself wishing i had a full tower i have to admit.