7950 Underperforming

[Termie]

Graphics Score 7211
Physics Score 6954
Combined Score 7280

It does seem that your Graphics Score is a bit low. It should probably be somewhere around 8500.

This is what I would recommend - install and run MSI Afterburner, and run 3dMark11 while Afterburner is logging GPU usage and clock speed. In the first four test scenes in 3dMark11, you should find that your GPU usage is near 99% and that your clock speed is at betwen 850 and 925.

I just ran 3dmark 11 again with +20% at stock. It seems to have fixed it.

Graphics Score 8507
Physics Score 7303
Combined Score 7283

Thanks guys for all the help and educating me on power tune. I thought it was a new buzzword for voltage boosting haha.

Man, I'm good. 🙂 Props to MTDEW for the power tune suggestion.

The reason the combined score didn't change is simple. It's a separate test, not an average of the others. In that test, the GPU is not pushed to full load. Under such circumstances, power tune would not throttle clocks, and you'd already be at maximum performance.

 

[MTDEW]

I just ran 3dmark 11 again with +20% at stock. It seems to have fixed it.

Graphics Score 8507
Physics Score 7303
Combined Score 7283

Thanks guys for all the help and educating me on power tune. I thought it was a new buzzword for voltage boosting haha.

Lean L,
Glad to hear that. :thumbsup:
I just just keep mine at +20% since i use Afterburners OSD and i personally hate seeing the clock speeds jump all around.

EDIT: Since you keep asking about voltage with pwr tune at +20% here is a quick and dirty explanation in "plain English". (ie : how i see it.. LOL)
With PWR Tune at +20% the card consumes 25w-30w more during 3d usage @ 925/1250.
With PWR Tune at 0% (stock), the card consumes 25w - 30w less but decreases ONLY the core clock speed "on the fly" to keep within TDP specs. (i think its 225w from the anandtech writeup)
The throttled core speed is dynamic because it depends on the total load % on the card.
And benchmarks are designed to load the card as much as possible thus requiring more core "throttling" to maintain TDP tolerances.

At stock, the card seems to adjust(throttle) core clock speeds ONLY to maintain TDP tolerance.
The memory speed and voltages stay constant.
The voltages at 3d clocks are still 1.250 core and 1.6v memory regardless of PWR Tune settings.

Of course this is all assuming AB's onscreen display is correctly reading my voltages, and my Kill A Watt meter is accurate. 😛
But looking at all the info available online, my readings seem pretty accurate.

 

[Rhezuss]

Dumb question: Is Power Tune in Afterburner the same thing as Power control in CCC? Should I have both at +20% or just CCC is ok?

 

[RussianSensation]

Dumb question: Is Power Tune in Afterburner the same thing as Power control in CCC? Should I have both at +20% or just CCC is ok?

IIRC, Adjusting it in MSI AB should automatically apply it in CCC. I have AB loading up at startup with all OC settings and PT at 20%. No throttling even at 1235mhz at 1.25V.

 

[EXCellR8]

Last time I updated drivers the clocks got messed up on my 7970 and I couldn't change them with MSI AB. I had to use CCC to correct them for whatever reason. I didn't notice until I started playing a game and it was chugging hard. Checked the clocks on my G510 LCD and sure enough they were way too low. Not sure what happened but it's fine now.

 

[zephyrprime]

That's sad. The sapphire looks like it has a good cooler so I do not know why it would do this :/

 

[RussianSensation]

That's sad. The sapphire looks like it has a good cooler so I do not know why it would do this :/

This is not a Sapphire issue but ALL 7950 V2. To get full Boost you have 2 options on all 7950 V2 cards: either enable 20% power tune or switch to Bios 2 that is called the performance bios.

Even 10% PT forces nearly full boost function.

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2012/test-amd-radeon-hd-7950-mit-925-mhz/11/

This is NOT to be confused with real world power consumption. A fully boosted 7950 uses less than 185w, not related to 225W TDP.
http://www.techpowerup.com/mobile/reviews/HIS/HD_7950_X2_Boost/26.html