The majority don't visit forums like this though, so they will be unaware.
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Poll: Voltage locking the future?
- Thread starter Gregster
- Start date
The majority don't visit forums like this though, so they will be unaware.
Maybe it has something to do with that 'High-End Graphics Cards Could Die Out Because of the EU' article posted a while back. Then of course as said above theres that MalX effect 
I wont buy a voltage locked card as im another one of those that like to tinker around with settings. Overclocking my 7950 and getting it faster than a stock 7970/680 makes me feel 'Epic'!
If it gets that bad then OverclockersUK will have to have a name change to VoltagelockersUK
I wont buy a voltage locked card as im another one of those that like to tinker around with settings. Overclocking my 7950 and getting it faster than a stock 7970/680 makes me feel 'Epic'!
If it gets that bad then OverclockersUK will have to have a name change to VoltagelockersUK
I agree Thomas. As a wild guess, I would point to 90% of users don't care about overclocking or want to bother with the hassle. Forums are for problems and decisions for the most part.
And
@ VoltageLockersUK.
Yeah voltage tweaking on cards hasn't been the norm - it was hacked in with the ability to change it on some cards through things like firmware flashing with an edited BIOS in niBitor, rivatuner, MSI Afterburner, etc. but even then it was hit and miss what cards supported it.
Its nice to have it tho if your into overclocking and can afford to treat cards as disposable - tho going as far as to deliberately block voltage tweaking is a bit of a step too far imo.
Its nice to have it tho if your into overclocking and can afford to treat cards as disposable - tho going as far as to deliberately block voltage tweaking is a bit of a step too far imo.
That is strange tommy, I've not seen that on my card. If you can keep the core under control ive seen my vrm temps as high as 97c and been perfectly stable while running an extreme overclock with a lowish fan profile on sleeping dogs.
Although the VRM's are rated for 120c the AMD rep advised me to keep them under 90c for 24/7 use. Typically they're around 70c for battlefield 3 and 80-90c for sleeping dogs depending on the overclock i use.
In theory, I disagree with voltage locking, even at a discount. It just opens the door for overpriced "super duper OC" editions. If it was a lot cheaper though, then I'd consider it if performance/pound was good. But if they could provide it cheaply then they could do that with current unlocked cards, so I'd still feel cheated.
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increasing volts decrease life of the product.
i guess they are getting too many people trying to RMA cards which were excessively overclocked.
tbh i don't personally have a problem with them setting a maximum safe voltage, but i can imagine more hardcore overclocking enthusiasts having issues with it.
i guess they are getting too many people trying to RMA cards which were excessively overclocked.
tbh i don't personally have a problem with them setting a maximum safe voltage, but i can imagine more hardcore overclocking enthusiasts having issues with it.
I reckon most of the volt locked 7970s I've seen are locked at levels which are significantly below the maximum safe levels.
I wonder if anyone has the GIGABYTE GV-R797TO-3GD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition ?
It's default volts is 1.25v, would be nice if you could at least decrease the voltage, I bet not all need that much volts, even when it's overclocked a lot more.
It's default volts is 1.25v, would be nice if you could at least decrease the voltage, I bet not all need that much volts, even when it's overclocked a lot more.
It is a very smart move to lock volts because of the less RMAs and I can't blame AIBs for doing it however for a premium price they could/should give us the choice of what we want.
For an example, a 680/7970 @ £400 volt locked or a 680/7970 @ £450 unlocked volts. This would be a reasonable surcharge for that ability.
For an example, a 680/7970 @ £400 volt locked or a 680/7970 @ £450 unlocked volts. This would be a reasonable surcharge for that ability.
It may end up being a great deal of effort to do for the AIB's though.
Strictly speaking they would need to release two different cards, as in different VRM's, different BIOS to make it work. If they just cripple voltage regulation on the BIOS then its entirely possible someone could just flash a new BIOS and have a voltage unlocked card for £50 less then a 'standard' unlocked card.
The only way around this is the current Nvidia method in which all reference design cards are locked while 3rd party/aftermarket PCB's with custom VRM's have voltage control above the limit set by Nvidia.
As it is we already pay a premium for cards with higher/better voltage control anyways (Lightning, Matrix, SOC, Classified etc...) so I don't think we'd notice that much change if it were to happen from both sides.
Strictly speaking they would need to release two different cards, as in different VRM's, different BIOS to make it work. If they just cripple voltage regulation on the BIOS then its entirely possible someone could just flash a new BIOS and have a voltage unlocked card for £50 less then a 'standard' unlocked card.
The only way around this is the current Nvidia method in which all reference design cards are locked while 3rd party/aftermarket PCB's with custom VRM's have voltage control above the limit set by Nvidia.
As it is we already pay a premium for cards with higher/better voltage control anyways (Lightning, Matrix, SOC, Classified etc...) so I don't think we'd notice that much change if it were to happen from both sides.