7950 overclocking guide/tips?

[Face2Face]

So, if it's stable for all games except one, I have to keep it at the lower level for all of the games? If that's the case, this hardly seems worth it. What the point of saving OC profiles then? Just to account for ambient temperature? :/

I would, I mean if every game I played ran fine @ 1025Mhz and some crapped out at 1050Mhz , then I would just keep it at 1025hz all of the time. Of course some may argue, but I wouldn't want to keep multiple profiles for 25Mhz and maybe gain 1-2 FPS here and there. As of now I have two profiles set in afterburner -
One for 1000/1500 for most games and 1150/1650 for games like Crysis 3 which get a nice boost from the OC. I don't worry about fan profiles, since my cards are at 100% fan speed every time I play a game.

In your case, you don't have a lot of overclocking room, so overclocks may not be as effective. Either way, 1000mhz on the core should still give you a decent boost and temps should be in check also should be stable in all pf the games you play.

 

[Techhog]

Are you using the latest Beta 7 drivers?

No. Not gonna mess with that suff.

Fine, I'll just accept that I got a crap chip. I don't think I'm ever bothering with overclocking again. What if a game I get in the future doesn't work? Not worth the bother. I wish I had looked more into overclocking so I could have bought a 4570 and no aftermarket cooler to get a better stock GPU.

 

[Techhog]

So, let's say that I decide to buy an aftermarket cooler. What would be a good one that covers the VRM?

 

[Face2Face]

So, let's say that I decide to buy an aftermarket cooler. What would be a good one that covers the VRM?

I wouldn't waste your time. If you can't hit 1050Mhz stable with 1.25v, then buying an aftermarket cooler will probably allow you to run 1.3v and gain -- maybe 25-50Mhz.. Maybe.. Pretty much a waste of money if you ask me. You can either be happy with the card OR sell it on the forums or ebay and look for another card.

 

[Techhog]

I wound't waste your time. If you can't hit 1050Mhz stable with 1.25v, then buying an aftermarket cooler will probably allow you to run 1.3v and gain -- maybe 25-50Mhz.. Maybe.. Pretty much a waste of money if you ask me. You can either be happy with the card OR sell it on the forums or ebay and look for another card.

*sigh* I'll just sell the card in a year and avoid Powercolor at all costs. One damn game.........................

Hopefully it's just the memory clock that's the issue. I'm feeling heavy buyer's remorse right now because I could have bought a Sapphire for $10 more at the time. Selling it right now isn't an option because I'm not made of money like most people here. :/

I'll never get a computer that isn't full of problems it seems.

 

[Face2Face]

*sigh* I'll just sell the card in a year and avoid Powercolor at all costs. One damn game.........................

Hopefully it's just the memory clock that's the issue. I'm feeling heavy buyer's remorse right now because I could have bought a Sapphire for $10 more at the time. Selling it right now isn't an option because I'm not made of money like most people here. :/

I'll never get a computer that isn't full of problems it seems.

Cheer up bud ^_^, you still have a sweet rig. Great for 1080P gaming. I know plenty of people that are gaming on much worse rigs and still enjoy PC gaming, they just turn some settings down.

 

[IEC]

*sigh* I'll just sell the card in a year and avoid Powercolor at all costs. One damn game.........................

Hopefully it's just the memory clock that's the issue. I'm feeling heavy buyer's remorse right now because I could have bought a Sapphire for $10 more at the time. Selling it right now isn't an option because I'm not made of money like most people here. :/

I'll never get a computer that isn't full of problems it seems.

It's purely luck of the draw. I too purchased a Powercolor card and mine has no problem hitting 1150MHz (but hits a brick wall after that, despite liquid cooling). You'll get the same variation amongst most manufacturers and card lines - only the premium ones will specifically bin for the better chips.

That said if you can hit 1025MHz stable you will be golden for most games. I don't even run my overclock on a daily basis, as I haven't found a need for the extra performance yet since I'm resolution bound at 1200p.

 

[Techhog]

It's purely luck of the draw. I too purchased a Powercolor card and mine has no problem hitting 1150MHz (but hits a brick wall after that, despite liquid cooling). You'll get the same variation amongst most manufacturers and card lines - only the premium ones will specifically bin for the better chips.

That said if you can hit 1025MHz stable you will be golden for most games. I don't even run my overclock on a daily basis, as I haven't found a need for the extra performance yet since I'm resolution bound at 1200p.

Yeah, but then I'd at least have cool VRMs...

Also, the game that wouldn't start at 1050/1300 actually does start at 1050/1250. So, it might actually be my memory that doesn't like being overclocked. I need to test some other things, then if it all works I'll try 1075

 

[Techhog]

This....... This has to be glitch, right? This can't possibly have happened without it shutting off, right?

Uh..............................................................

._.

By the way, that average reading for that one is 41C, while the one that went up to 60C has an average of 42C. I think GPU-Z had one too many.

EDIT: Okay I don't even

 

[KingFatty]

... So, it might actually be my memory that doesn't like being overclocked. I need to test some other things, then if it all works I'll try 1075

Yes, it's a good strategy to isolate the overclocking to just the core speed first, and leave the memory stock speed.

So you will overclock the core and see how fast you can go, before you try for the memory overclocking.

Typically it's better to reduce the memory overclock, if that means you can achieve a higher core clock, because typically games will get better performance boost that way.

 

[Techhog]

Yes, it's a good strategy to isolate the overclocking to just the core speed first, and leave the memory stock speed.

So you will overclock the core and see how fast you can go, before you try for the memory overclocking.

Typically it's better to reduce the memory overclock, if that means you can achieve a higher core clock, because typically games will get better performance boost that way.

Yeah, that's why I don't care much about the memory clock. This is just 1080p after all.

 

[Techhog]

So, it seems to be stable at 1100/1250. It looks like the GPU overclocks well, but the VRAM... not so much.

1759 in Unigine Valley.

 

[Face2Face]

Glad you were able to jump the clocks up some, I find it very odd that you can't oc you ram at all? But these cards already have quite a bit of bandwidth, so it's not the end of the world. 1100Mhz for a 7950 is no slouch :thumbsup:

 

[Techhog]

Glad you were able to jump the clocks up some, I find it very odd that you can't oc you ram at all? But these cards already have quite a bit of bandwidth, so it's not the end of the world. 1100Mhz for a 7950 is no slouch :thumbsup:

It's even more strange than it seems. My Valley score is 130 points LOWER at 1100/1300 than it is at 1100/1250. I wonder if my VRAM is damaged

 

[Techhog]

Okay, this seems interesting.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2301435

I'm tempted to try a higher memory clock, looking at that. Considering the fact that only some applications crash and the video card or driver itself doesn't crash, this seems to make sense. I'm gonna try 1325 and 1350 I think. I'm concerned about temps if I try that though.

 

[schmuckley]

*sigh* I'll just sell the card in a year and avoid Powercolor at all costs. One damn game.........................

Hopefully it's just the memory clock that's the issue. I'm feeling heavy buyer's remorse right now because I could have bought a Sapphire for $10 more at the time. Selling it right now isn't an option because I'm not made of money like most people here. :/

I'll never get a computer that isn't full of problems it seems.

Not if you keep messing with them

Everybody has some fail sometimes

You learned not to get a Powercolor non-ref on that one.I learned not to get XFX a couple cards back

Sapphire is good for GPUs ..Mine has voltage control and all that..will do 1183/1678 ..but you have to play with the mem from the bottom up and when it quits scaling dial it back.I also noticed it starts getting unstable when past 50c...so keep that in mind,It IS AMD silicon after all

 

[Techhog]

Not if you keep messing with them

Everybody has some fail sometimes

You learned not to get a Powercolor non-ref on that one.I learned not to get XFX a couple cards back

Sapphire is good for GPUs ..Mine has voltage control and all that..will do 1183/1678 ..but you have to play with the mem from the bottom up and when it quits scaling dial it back.I also noticed it starts getting unstable when past 50c...so keep that in mind,It IS AMD silicon after all

I know, but it seems that some 7000 series cards don't like 1300MHz memory specifically, though, so how can I be sure if that really the limit and not just a bug? I might be nuts, but this really seems worth testing.

 

[Rvenger]

The VRMs are actively cooled through the fan with that card. If they are not exceeding 90c then you are fine for the long haul. Just don't go crazy on the overclocks and when overclocked, set your fan curve more aggressively so the circuitry stays cool.

TechHog, You must have Elpida VRAM chips on that 7950. They don't overclock very well to begin with.

 

[Techhog]

The VRMs are actively cooled through the fan with that card. If they are not exceeding 90c then you are fine for the long haul. Just don't go crazy on the overclocks and when overclocked, set your fan curve more aggressively so the circuitry stays cool.

TechHog, You must have Elpida VRAM chips on that 7950. They don't overclock very well to begin with.

I see. It also looks like a pretty aggressive overclock is necessary to get a significant boost when overclocking VRAM... Yeah, I'll keep it at 1100/1250. I should be performing around stock 7970 at 1100MHz core I think, so yeah. Seems pretty good for $180 AR.

 

[Techhog]

1100MHz on the core is not stable after all. The thing is that the graphics card shut off, which means that the VRMs probably gave out. Can the VRMs just not handle 1.25V? If so, I don't know how anyone can recommend such a terrible AIB.

 

[Rvenger]

1100 is pushing it on a 6+6pin 7950 anyways.

 

[Techhog]

1100 is pushing it on a 6+6pin 7950 anyways.

Is it? I had no idea. Hm... I hope 1050 is fine then. I had no issues other than one game crashing upon starting last time I tried it, though that was with the unstable 1300 memory clock.

 

[Techhog]

So, I think it's stable? I played BF3 for 2 hours at 1050 with no crash, though the framerate dropped really low very briefly (less than 10 seconds) at one point before returning to a constant v-synced 60FPS.

 

[24601]

As far as I know, only this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161420

and this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202030

Don't have a bunch of annoying issues.

 

[Face2Face]

1100 is pushing it on a 6+6pin 7950 anyways.

6+6 or 6+8 it's doesn't matter. Most users have 6+6 and can hit 1100 or more. Look at Balla's 6+6, it does 1200Mhz + and I believes consumes less power vs. his 6+8 at the same clocks. That said, most 7950's I have seen hit 1300Mhz or more are on a reference 7970 board 6+8.