The Radeon VII Owners Thread

Illuminist · 5 May 2019 at 13:52

That's some crazy mining

eeii · 5 May 2019 at 15:01

I thought mining was dead. :eek:

JediFragger · 5 May 2019 at 21:04

Poneros said:
Also, the MSI rep he brokered the deal with said they're not making any more VIIs either.

Not surprised, that much HBM must be costing a ****load :eek:

Carclis · 6 May 2019 at 07:29

Chud_Jenny said:
In a word yes. BUT with having the system down for so long I decided to change the RAM. I'm currently in the middle of playing the 8 day game with a private seller on ebay, so all fun and games! Doesn't post in 3 motherboards on its 3200Mhz profile, all of which do 3200mhz all day long. The even worse part is this is B-Die too! (BLE2K16G4D32AEEA kit) So I've got a set of G.Skill on order.

A bit on the alphacool block, it's ok and looks nice. BUT it needs fast flow or the temps are poor. So my D5 has gone from speed 2 to 5!

I just got the Radeon VII up and running with that Alphacool block myself and I'm also seeing mediocre results. I also noticed that there was no film covering the contact plate despite the manual saying to remove it. That was my initial suspicion for poor temps until you mentioned it wasn't there either. Did you manage to get yours to perform well in the end?

Also thinking that maybe the issue regarding compatibility with the RGB mounting might be causing poor contact?

MeddlE · 6 May 2019 at 11:26

Carclis said:
I just got the Radeon VII up and running with that Alphacool block myself and I'm also seeing mediocre results. I also noticed that there was no film covering the contact plate despite the manual saying to remove it. That was my initial suspicion for poor temps until you mentioned it wasn't there either. Did you manage to get yours to perform well in the end?

Also thinking that maybe the issue regarding compatibility with the RGB mounting might be causing poor contact?

I hope you removed the RGB strip and it's mounting screws!

I'm happy with the Alphacool block on my VII, performance is fine. D5 pump and 2 rads plus cpu block. I think part of @Chud_Jenny problem was too many rads.

Carclis · 6 May 2019 at 12:53

MeddlE said:
I hope you removed the RGB strip and it's mounting screws!

I'm happy with the Alphacool block on my VII, performance is fine. D5 pump and 2 rads plus cpu block. I think part of @Chud_Jenny problem was too many rads.

I haven't removed them which is why I'm concerned. I also have a similar setup to you I think but my CPU is a Threadripper 2950X and one of my radiators is 60mm thick as opposed to my other 40mm one. Last night when I had just finished assembling the loop I saw a bit over 60C on the GPU core and 110C on the junction. Today I got these results after one run of Unigine Superposition:

Do note that today is quite cold and my Radeon VII is set to 1100mV for 2050MHz core, 1200MHz memory. How is yours comparing at 1100mV?

MeddlE · 6 May 2019 at 19:08

Carclis said:
I haven't removed them which is why I'm concerned. I also have a similar setup to you I think but my CPU is a Threadripper 2950X and one of my radiators is 60mm thick as opposed to my other 40mm one. Last night when I had just finished assembling the loop I saw a bit over 60C on the GPU core and 110C on the junction. Today I got these results after one run of Unigine Superposition:
Do note that today is quite cold and my Radeon VII is set to 1100mV for 2050MHz core, 1200MHz memory. How is yours comparing at 1100mV?

Mine is set at 1150mv with 2000 core and 1150 mem. i5-4690k @ 4.5GHz, 120x60mm and 240x60mm rads, push/pull on both rads.

Just downloaded Superposition and did one run at 1440, shaders extreme, textures high. Max tJunction of 83, gpu core 47.

Strip yours down, remove the RGB strip and the two black mounting screws. Check the contact patch of your thermal paste to make sure it was making full contact.

Carclis · 7 May 2019 at 06:36

MeddlE said:
Mine is set at 1150mv with 2000 core and 1150 mem. i5-4690k @ 4.5GHz, 120x60mm and 240x60mm rads, push/pull on both rads.

Just downloaded Superposition and did one run at 1440, shaders extreme, textures high. Max tJunction of 83, gpu core 47.

Strip yours down, remove the RGB strip and the two black mounting screws. Check the contact patch of your thermal paste to make sure it was making full contact.

Thanks for testing. Under the same settings as you I saw 109C junction temperature. I'll have to take a look when I get the chance. I'm kinda wishing I went with the EK block at this point.

Chud_Jenny · 7 May 2019 at 13:00

Carclis said:
Thanks for testing. Under the same settings as you I saw 109C junction temperature. I'll have to take a look when I get the chance. I'm kinda wishing I went with the EK block at this point.

Only just seen the messages you've been having regarding the Alphacool block. My RGB strip is removed as the screw heads where sitting on the 2 chokes and that in turn stops the screws from bottoming and getting the pressure. Now removed and a new D5 res to stop the air been dragged back through the loop (poor xspc dual bay design) all is good.
So what you need to do is undo all the screws, carefully remove just the block side so you don't mess the pads up under the backplate. (Careful as the block may need a wiggle as the paste will make it difficult to remove)
The screws can be removed for the rgb strip with a straight driver if you don't have the correct driver.
After that, spread the paste and don't hold pack. I used the whole tube having to do the refit.
Check all the pads are correct and sit the block back on.
The screws should get to the stage where the standoffs are flat against the PCB (check it before taking it apart they'll be a grab!)

Carclis · 7 May 2019 at 13:58

Chud_Jenny said:
Only just seen the messages you've been having regarding the Alphacool block. My RGB strip is removed as the screw heads where sitting on the 2 chokes and that in turn stops the screws from bottoming and getting the pressure. Now removed and a new D5 res to stop the air been dragged back through the loop (poor xspc dual bay design) all is good.
So what you need to do is undo all the screws, carefully remove just the block side so you don't mess the pads up under the backplate. (Careful as the block may need a wiggle as the paste will make it difficult to remove)
The screws can be removed for the rgb strip with a straight driver if you don't have the correct driver.
After that, spread the paste and don't hold pack. I used the whole tube having to do the refit.
Check all the pads are correct and sit the block back on.
The screws should get to the stage where the standoffs are flat against the PCB (check it before taking it apart they'll be a grab!)

So I spent the past couple of hours remounting the block and checking the paste application. It looks fine to me though, if perhaps a little too thick on the edges.

I also removed the RGB LEDs from the card and observed the concerning screw. It was clearly bumping up against one of the chokes as you can see from the markings the screw made on R47. So after reassembling the block without the RGB LED I'm getting similar performance which is significantly worse than what MeddlE was seeing. I also previously had a 1080ti in the loop which rarely ever hit 50C so these results are kinda perplexing.

Also as a side note the backplate gets quite warm which to me suggests that the block isn't picking up heat off the GPU die as it should. It's not quite painful to the touch but it's not comfortable either.

Chud_Jenny · 7 May 2019 at 15:46

Carclis said:
So I spent the past couple of hours remounting the block and checking the paste application. It looks fine to me though, if perhaps a little too thick on the edges.

I also removed the RGB LEDs from the card and observed the concerning screw. It was clearly bumping up against one of the chokes as you can see from the markings the screw made on R47. So after reassembling the block without the RGB LED I'm getting similar performance which is significantly worse than what MeddlE was seeing. I also previously had a 1080ti in the loop which rarely ever hit 50C so these results are kinda perplexing.

Also as a side note the backplate gets quite warm which to me suggests that the block isn't picking up heat off the GPU die as it should. It's not quite painful to the touch but it's not comfortable either.

The 4 standoffs around the gpu die, are they all touching the pcb? When you have screwed it back together? Looking at your hwinfo your peak power draw is very high at 344w and the 1156mv I wouldn't go near. What is your cards stock MV out of the box? Mines 1060mv and I can run 951mv for stock clocks!

Carclis · 7 May 2019 at 16:06

Chud_Jenny said:
The 4 standoffs around the gpu die, are they all touching the pcb? When you have screwed it back together? Looking at your hwinfo your peak power draw is very high at 344w and the 1156mv I wouldn't go near. What is your cards stock MV out of the box? Mines 1060mv and I can run 951mv for stock clocks!

They appeared to all be touching the PCB. I tightened the four screws as much as possible. But yeah I understand that 1150mV is quite high and I wouldn't run it for daily use. I was just testing to see how my cooling compared to MeddlE's. Given that I have a 360mm radiator that is 40mm thick and a 240mm radiator that is 60mm thick as well as a threadripper 2950X (stock) in the loop I would have expected better performance, not 33C higher junction than MeddlE and 14C higher average GPU temp.

Anyways my stock voltage was 1077mV which I believe still has me hitting 110 C junction over an extended period. I can however maintain stock speeds at 960mV.

Chud_Jenny · 7 May 2019 at 16:10

Carclis said:
They appeared to all be touching the PCB. I tightened the four screws as much as possible. But yeah I understand that 1150mV is quite high and I wouldn't run it for daily use. I was just testing to see how my cooling compared to MeddlE's. Given that I have a 360mm radiator that is 40mm thick and a 240mm radiator that is 60mm thick as well as a threadripper 2950X (stock) in the loop I would have expected better performance, not 33C higher junction than MeddlE and 14C higher average GPU temp.

Anyways my stock voltage was 1077mV which I believe still has me hitting 110 C junction over an extended period. I can however maintain stock speeds at 960mV.

Just to get an idea of best case then, what temps does 960mv give you?
Another thought is what pump are you using at what speed?

Carclis · 7 May 2019 at 16:26

Chud_Jenny said:
Just to get an idea of best case then, what temps does 960mv give you?
Another thought is what pump are you using at what speed?

I'm using a D5 at speed 5 which was bought as a pump res combo. This is the motor I believe: https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-d5-vario-motor-d5-vario-motor

So I tried two Unigine Superposition runs under the conditions set above; 1440p, extreme shaders and high textures. My first run was at stock voltage and within the single run I reached 108C junction and it's quite cold here. The second run I undervolted to 960mV instead of 1077mV and got these results:

MeddlE · 7 May 2019 at 16:53

@Carclis you have got the flow direction on the block correct? They are labelled in and out. Just asking.

Also do you have a water temp sensor at all in your loop?

Chud_Jenny · 7 May 2019 at 16:59

MeddlE said:
@Carclis you have got the flow direction on the block correct? They are labelled in and out. Just asking.

Also do you have a water temp sensor at all in your loop?

I was thinking that too.
Another thing to cover is did you remove all the graphite pad upon fitting? This is my card before and after cleaning.

Carclis · 7 May 2019 at 17:10

MeddlE said:
@Carclis you have got the flow direction on the block correct? They are labelled in and out. Just asking.

Also do you have a water temp sensor at all in your loop?

Yes, the water flows in through in through the port market IN and out through the other. I double-checked this myself =)
I don't have a temp sensor though but I will say that the tubing doesn't seem to warm up that much. It really feels like there is poor contact.

@Chudd Jenny Yeah I polished it till it was squeaky clean (literally). If I pull it apart again I'll take a photo.

Chud_Jenny · 7 May 2019 at 17:39

Carclis said:
Yes, the water flows in through in through the port market IN and out through the other. I double-checked this myself =)
I don't have a temp sensor though but I will say that the tubing doesn't seem to warm up that much. It really feels like there is poor contact.

@Chudd Jenny Yeah I polished it till it was squeaky clean (literally). If I pull it apart again I'll take a photo.

The 3mm backplate pads will loosen, as the manual says the screws need checking after 12 hours.

Have you got all the air out of the block too, my card to vertical so wasn't too bad.

vapor matt · 7 May 2019 at 17:47

I don't think the alphacool block is as good as the bykski block, with my VII on its own loop with 1 RX480 rad, 1 D5 pump, 4 X 120mm push fans gives a max junction temp of 65c it makes me wonder if alphacool have a good cooling design on there block. and my standard back plate never got hot.
very slightly warm is how I would describe it. it looks like you have contact, but seems a lot of paste hasn't been squeezed out and remains quite thick between cold plate on block and GPU. as a test I would put a tiny spot center and each corner of gpu and HBM2 fit cooler, then remove and see
how much of a gap there is between cold plate on block and GPU as a guide something like a pin head of thermal paste center and each corner and see what spread you have when squeezed tight.

Chud_Jenny · 7 May 2019 at 17:56

vapor matt said:
I don't think the alphacool block is as good as the bykski block, with my VII on its own loop with 1 RX480 rad, 1 D5 pump, 4 X 120mm push fans gives a max junction temp of 65c it makes me wonder if alphacool have a good cooling design on there block. and my standard back plate never got hot.
very slightly warm is how I would describe it. it looks like you have contact, but seems a lot of paste hasn't been squeezed out and remains quite thick between cold plate on block and GPU. as a test I would put a tiny spot center and each corner of gpu and HBM2 fit cooler, then remove and see
how much of a gap there is between cold plate on block and GPU as a guide something like a pin head of thermal paste center and each corner and see what spread you have when squeezed tight.

I've just fitted my brother a EK block onto a VII last week and I'd say it does perform better than my alphacool block. It's all about not going over the top with voltage too regardless. I've got Stock happy @ 951mv and 1900mhz with 1150hbm @ 999mv. That's the sweet spot over 2000mhz its time to build a power station in the back garden lol.