7950 MSI TFIII Locked Voltage?

[LakesideWiseman]

I just purchased a 7950 MSI TFIII from Amazon, and I can't seem to get the voltage control unlocked in Afterburner or Trixxx.

The reviews on the Amazon page indicate that this is the new version of the Twin Frozr with the 7970 PCB and that they had successfully overvolted and overclocked their cards with ease.

Can anyone shed some light on the situation or give me some sort of troubleshooting to try? I will be very disappointed if I am unable to take the core to over 1050. That is a decent overclock but I bought this card with intentions of going closer to 1250.

Thanks in advance!

 

[tweakboy]

For time being raise the memory. That is what is gonna get you FPS plus you dont have to touch voltage for VRAM OC. Soo take it as high as you can,, play games without artifacts,,,,,, then lets worry about overvolting to get 50mhz more in core. IMO you payed to much for that card. Leave it alone,, just OC the memory the core is fine,,, sheeez its one of the fastest single cards out there... enjoy it dont abuse it.. gl

 

[LakesideWiseman]

I agree, I payed too much. But as far as I can tell, the Sapphire and the Gigabyte cards are all voltage locked now. Amazon was the cheapest place I could find the MSI TFIII in stock, and the reviews talking about the new PCB and unlocked voltage sold me then and there.

Currently I am running the card at 1020 core and 1575 memory with the power limit at +20%. If I bring the core any higher I get artifacts.

I'm considering trying to return the card if it is indeed actually voltage locked. Anyone that may have more info on this please let me know.

 

[stylez777]

I have seen others saying that the new MSI TF3 7950's with the 7970 PCB can be overvolted.

Some steps to try:

Make sure the option to unlock voltage is checked in the settings
Make sure you are using the latest release of amd drivers and the latest afterburner version
I know you used to have to place the missing .dll files into the afterburner directory not sure if you still have to or not
I know in a past search there was a way to use GPUtweak in combintation with Afterburner to unlock the slider. I am sorry I don't remember off hand but you can try google searching for that.

I'm sorry I cannot remember exact directions but if you do a few google searches there are a few guides of things you can try. The card shouldn't be locked but who knows other manufacturers have been doing it with recent revisions. As for the gigabyte WF3 7950 that shouldn;t be locked either, the 7970 OC version is but not the 7950. Sapphire Vapor X versions are locked but not the boost or OC versions.

 

[Plimogz]

My TF3 7950 (with 7970 PCB and 6+8 connectors) overvolts just fine. It's very probably just something you missed when setting up the software.

If you haven't already, check out the Radeon HD 7950 Owner's Thread when you have some time -- it is 20+ pages long and contains loads of information regarding the 7950 in general and often the TF3 in particular.

 

[Rvenger]

For time being raise the memory. That is what is gonna get you FPS plus you dont have to touch voltage for VRAM OC.

Wrong, Core speed matters for higher frames, not so much memory.

IMO you payed to much for that card.

$314 is not a bad price for a TF3.




OP, You probably need to run Asus GPU Tweak to unlock voltage change. Uninstall then install MSI afterburner. That's what I had to do with my TF3.


EDIT: Here's a better guide I found that RS posted in the 7950 Thread - http://www.overclock.net/t/641299/guide-to-enabling-unofficial-overclocking-in-msi-afterburner

 

[LakesideWiseman]

OP, You probably need to run Asus GPU Tweak to unlock voltage change. Uninstall then install MSI afterburner. That's what I had to do with my TF3.


EDIT: Here's a better guide I found that RS posted in the 7950 Thread - http://www.overclock.net/t/641299/guide-to-enabling-unofficial-overclocking-in-msi-afterburner

Well I was having issues getting Asus GPU Tweak to run at all. It kept throwing errors at me when I would try to open it. I just uninstalled everything and followed your directions (I left Gpu Tweak installed), and it worked perfectly.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[zaydq]

For time being raise the memory. That is what is gonna get you FPS plus you dont have to touch voltage for VRAM OC. Soo take it as high as you can,, play games without artifacts,,,,,, then lets worry about overvolting to get 50mhz more in core. IMO you payed to much for that card. Leave it alone,, just OC the memory the core is fine,,, sheeez its one of the fastest single cards out there... enjoy it dont abuse it.. gl

Nvidia cards tend to get better performance out of memory overclocks, but the AMD cards aren't memory bottlenecked, their core clocks tend to gain them the performance you'd expect from overclocking.

Again more spew from tweakboy :whiste:


Also, I have a guide on the owner's thread on how to unlock range enhancement and all that jazz, it may work for you.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2259333

EDIT: Didn't realize you figured it out, good going!

 

[tweakboy]

I agree, I payed too much. But as far as I can tell, the Sapphire and the Gigabyte cards are all voltage locked now. Amazon was the cheapest place I could find the MSI TFIII in stock, and the reviews talking about the new PCB and unlocked voltage sold me then and there.

Currently I am running the card at 1020 core and 1575 memory with the power limit at +20%. If I bring the core any higher I get artifacts.

I'm considering trying to return the card if it is indeed actually voltage locked. Anyone that may have more info on this please let me know.

That core is fine. Plus trust me core OC wont get you faster FPS ,, memory will.

OC that memory even more... but your gonna have to put the fan to 100 percent when you game, and not let ATI handle it. But Im guessing that memory will go to 1700 easy but 100 percent fan. gl Once again your core is fine dont worry about it as long as you got it to 1k. The rest of your FPS is bandwidth,, and OCing the memory will give you that. Take it up to 1600 and 100 percent fan and keep testing and take it higher and higher. You cant damage the card.

With a voltage tweak and OC you can damage card. Your on the right path, just take up that VRAM OC and your set. If your fps falls below 60fps in any game at high def then I will change my name to Zeus.

 

[zaydq]

That core is fine. Plus trust me core OC wont get you faster FPS ,, memory will.

OC that memory even more... but your gonna have to put the fan to 100 percent when you game, and not let ATI handle it. But Im guessing that memory will go to 1700 easy but 100 percent fan. gl Once again your core is fine dont worry about it as long as you got it to 1k. The rest of your FPS is bandwidth,, and OCing the memory will give you that. Take it up to 1600 and 100 percent fan and keep testing and take it higher and higher. You cant damage the card.

With a voltage tweak and OC you can damage card. Your on the right path, just take up that VRAM OC and your set. If your fps falls below 60fps in any game at high def then I will change my name to Zeus.

Can you please stop talking! This card is not memory bottlenecked with 3GB of Vram and a 384bit memory bus. AMD HD 79xx series cards will gain the most performance out of the core clock. You absolutely don't know anything about overclocking, putting the fan to 100% is not a "successful" overclock by anyone but a deaf man's standards.

The HD 79xx series cards are rated for a safe operating voltage of 1.25v, you will most definitely hit your maximum overclock before even getting that high, let alone being able to acceptably cool a 7950 with the stock cooler at 1.25v.

Please OP, do not listen to this fool. He has absolutely 0 knowledge when it comes to overclocking what so ever, whether it be nVidia or AMD.

 

[tweakboy]

Nvidia cards tend to get better performance out of memory overclocks, but the AMD cards aren't memory bottlenecked, their core clocks tend to gain them the performance you'd expect from overclocking.

Again more spew from tweakboy :whiste:
Also, I have a guide on the owner's thread on how to unlock range enhancement and all that jazz, it may work for you.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2259333

EDIT: Didn't realize you figured it out, good going!

Sorry I don't own a ATI card like you so I didn't know that. Mr. spewboy

If you have nothing to contribute, please don't post
-ViRGE

 

[tweakboy]

I didn't say CORE clock wont help. Im just saying in my years with nVidia ,, Ive noticed memory OC does more then a core OC ... much more.

ATI is different, you didnt have to insult me,,

 

[zaydq]

Sorry I don't own a ATI card like you so I didn't know that. Mr. spewboy

Well then don't preach what you don't know. All you're doing is misinforming board members that don't know any better and essentially you're causing confusion and you're simply wasting their time.

Yes, Spewboy. You're constantly going through threads and offering very poor/wrong advice to unknowing members. I would highly advise you do some reading and studying before you bother piping up in threads like these, because its seriously brutal when on a daily basis people like myself have to convince the OP to ignore your poor advice and to listen to the other 30+ productive board members.

 

[zaydq]

I didn't say CORE clock wont help. Im just saying in my years with nVidia ,, Ive noticed memory OC does more then a core OC ... much more.

ATI is different, you didnt have to insult me,,

I insulted you because this is not the first time I, or other members, have told you that you are wrong and you are unsure of what you're talking about. You would be sort of right with nVidia, though a core offset does provide a decent gain to them as well, or else why would we have Kepler boost?

From now on, if you don't have successful first hand experience, or any experience what so over on the topic, don't post on the topic.

 

[Goresplattered]

lol op don't listen to tweak boy


I own the card in question. I'm oc'd to 1510/1750 and completely stable at 1.168v at 58% fan.

100% fan? lol no thanks.


make sure you have overdrive disabled ccc. this can allow allow you to tweak voltages in other programs if you've followed other steps and are still voltage locked.


Posted from Anandtech.com App for Android

 

[zaydq]

lol op don't listen to tweak boy


I own the card in question. I'm oc'd to 1510/1750 and completely stable at 1.168v at 58% fan.

100% fan? lol no thanks.


make sure you have overdrive disabled ccc. this can allow allow you to tweak voltages in other programs if you've followed other steps and are still voltage locked.



Posted from Anandtech.com App for Android

Lol you mean 1210 i was about to say "That is completely impossible"

 

[Goresplattered]

yes 1210. typo fail.


Posted from Anandtech.com App for Android

 

[LakesideWiseman]

Thanks for the tips guys. I have had hit and miss results trying to go beyond 1250. I'm pretty happy staying at 1200-1250/1750 @ 1.174v. My temps peak at 70C when I run the GPU burn in test in Kombustor.

 

[zaydq]

Wow you got a great card!! Mine doesn't even run that cool. I'd blame my case for that.

 

[LakesideWiseman]

I've got a Cooler Master HAF 922m with a 3rd 200mm fan on the side, and a Corsair A50 for my CPU. I've also got a 2600k at @ 4.6 24/7, 8GB 1600 RAM, and a 30gb OCZ Vertex III SSD used as cache with Intel Smart Response.

This card was just the final piece to this rig. I use it mostly for electronic music production, but I've been dying to play BF3 on PC for a while now. Being able to Max every setting in CCC and every setting in BF3 and still stay above 50 fps is really more than I could have asked for, especially for $300.