Sapphire HD 7970 Ghz Edition OC help?

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16 Jan 2012
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Hello! I've had this card for a good while now, but never felt the need to OC it past its stock, but now I want to see what it can do. This is the card:

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1157&pid=1679&lid=1#

I don't want to fry my card by doing something wrong with regards to voltage control, so I'm here for guidance. The stock Core Clock is at 1050MHz, while the memory clock sits at 1500MHz. I'm unsure on what the stock voltage is, but when "Voltage Reference Design" is selected in MSI Afterburer, it displays 1200mV.

My current plan, is as follows:

1. Start with the core clock, and slowly ramp it up in increments of 25MHz until I reach a crash, then back down to the previously stable speed with acceptable temps.

2. From here, increase the voltage (This is where I need help, increase by something like 5?) and continue testing until I shouldn't push the volts any more, which is again, where I need guidance.

3. Once I've reached my highest stable core clock with acceptable mV and temps, start increasing the memory clock in the same manner, 25MHz at a time until I find the stable mark.

Not sure if that plan is good or bad. I would like advice on how to properly test each new speed, I have Heaven installed and ready, but does it need more than a single pass in Heaven to truly test it?

As for the OC program, I plan to use MSI Afterburner. I know Sapphire have their own program, but I'm unsure if it would make a difference.

Thanks for any help!
 
Your method seems sound to start with.

I would use your games to test rather than synthetic stuff though as its a more real world use of the GPU.

I also often do Core on its own, mem on its own, then reach a good balance between the two. As often high core and memory on the same card are not possible. But if you dont raise memory real world aplications are effectively slower. For this you can use heaven to get the correct balance. Use it as a bench to ensure the best performance.
 
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