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Some Asus 7970 DirectCUII questions.

ken0y

ken0y

ken0y

Associate
Joined
11 Dec 2012
Posts
78
Location
Glasgow, Scotland
Hey everyone, here is my OC settings:

GPU clock: 1125
Memory clock: 6000
Fan speed: Auto (10)
Power Target: 120%

HAF 932 Case.

MY idle temps range from around 38 at startup and average about 48 doing normal computer stuff. It reaches about 55-60 under load (gaming). Are these temps normal? I only ask because I was checking around and people seem to get 29-30 idle.

Plus, do I need to have the power target up that high in order to guarantee consistant OC in game? Im not actually sure what Power Target does.

Thanks guys, K
 
Just for reference, my idle/desktop temperatures are 40-45c with the Matrix Platinum, because i have 3 screens.
 
I have 2 screens but I only use one screen for gaming. Im not sure what my ambient temp is but it will be pretty low as I live in Scotland and I am in a large room.

I understand that the OC temps will be higher than stock, I think I have a pretty significant OC so its understandable. The GPU runs the OC settings all the time (I dont switch back and forth to power saver mode). Idle temp is about 41 with gputweak power save mode.

GPU voltage is 1125 (locked to GPU Clock). I havent had any problems with the card, I play Max Payne 3 and Farcry 3 on high. I just wanted to double check because im paranoid that way :P

thanks, K
 
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ken0y said:
I have 2 screens but I only use one screen for gaming. Im not sure what my ambient temp is but it will be pretty low as I live in Scotland and I am in a large room.

I understand that the OC temps will be higher than stock, I think I have a pretty significant OC so its understandable. The GPU runs the OC settings all the time (I dont switch back and forth to power saver mode). Idle temp is about 41 with gputweak power save mode.

GPU voltage is 1125 (locked to GPU Clock). I havent had any problems with the card, I play Max Payne 3 and Farcry 3 on high. I just wanted to double check because im paranoid that way :P

thanks, K
Click to expand...

You'll find if you unplug your secondary monitor you'll notice lower idle temps. With multiple monitors the graphics card doesn't down clock/volt as much.
Your idle temps are fine :)
 
^^
My card before it went under water idled at 60c. (30ish with one monitor)

Having more than one monitor means you card runs at a much higher core clock and runs on full memory clocks.
Disable your second monitor and watch your temps drop.
 
Wow, I just disabled my second monitor and watched the temp drop all the way to 28C. That is quite amazing, I had no idea a second monitor had that much impact upon the GPU resources!

I noticed that before the monitor was disabled the memory clock was staying up at 6000 but now it has downclocked to 600. Core has downclocked to 300 as opposed to the 500 before. Does that mean having another monitor disables memory downclock or is it merely a software deficiency? I cant imagine one extra monitor requires a pushing the full memory overclock.

Thanks guys, this has turned out to be very informative :)

K
 
It's a limitation of the GCN architecture I imagine. It was a similar situation with my gtx 580. The gtx 680s however clock down to idle clocks with 3 displays.
 
Yeh, I had a look around the net and it seems the high memory clock rates are normal, just AMD and Nvidia's way of ensuring multiple monitors perform optimally.

Great temperature decrease though on my single monitor, around 40C playing Max Payne 3 on max for an hour.

Cheers, K
 
ken0y said:
Yeh, I had a look around the net and it seems the high memory clock rates are normal, just AMD and Nvidia's way of ensuring multiple monitors perform optimally.

Great temperature decrease though on my single monitor, around 40C playing Max Payne 3 on max for an hour.

Cheers, K
Click to expand...
I'm guessing you have VSync enabled?
 
ken0y said:
Great temperature decrease though on my single monitor, around 40C playing Max Payne 3 on max for an hour.

Cheers, K
Click to expand...

If you want to keep the temps down and still go multimonitor, you could put a second card in. I've got a cheap £20 gf210 for my second monitor so my 7970 can down clock correctly.
 
@yasamoka
I dont have Vsync enabled in CCC, I only have it enabled via RadeonPro for when a game starts up. Unless you mean Vsync from somewhere else?

@tribz
That sounds like a great idea, I have my old 5770 lying around but I think that may be a tad overkill for the second monitor? Not sure how much case heat it would produce. I may pick up a dirt cheap ultra basic card though.

Also, will the 210 draw a significant amount from the PSU? I have a 700w PSU, I dont want to make the system unstable.

P.s. Out of interest, which 210 did you buy?

Cheers, K
 
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ken0y said:
@Tribz
That sounds like a great idea, I have my old 5770 lying around but I think that may be a tad overkill for the second monitor? Not sure how much case heat it would produce. I may pick up a dirt cheap ultra basic card though.

Also, will the 210 draw a significant amount from the PSU? I have a 700w PSU, I dont want to make the system unstable.

P.s. Out of interest, which 210 did you buy?

Cheers, K
Click to expand...

I've got an EVGA 210 in mine and it comes with a passive heat sink on it so no noise. Not aware of it generating a significant amount of heat or power usage, I've got a 875w PSU in my system .. I'd say a 700w would be fine as its only doing 2D stuff.
 
Cool, that was the model I had been looking at so I think I will go ahead and order it.

Thanks for the help guys, K
 
ken0y said:
@Yasamoka
I dont have Vsync enabled in CCC, I only have it enabled via RadeonPro for when a game starts up. Unless you mean Vsync from somewhere else?
Click to expand...
Hmmm. I guessed that's why you're getting load temperatures of 40C on air cooling. The GPU is not stressed to the max.

Also, about a low-power card driving another monitor. Great idea, but you might find there are newer gen low power cards if they are not rebranded and actually have new cores. They will consume less or the same power and might have the same price. Just a tip.
 
Sorry, im not sure what you mean Yasamoka? Does Vsync lower GPU usage because it is limiting FPS and therefore not working the GPU so much? Is that what you mean by 'The GPU is not stressed to the max'?.

cheers, K
 
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