7970 Overclocking results thread.

[AdamK47]

Tried 1075MHz core to see if I would get display corruption. Didn't see any after a couple hours of looping Unigine demos. I think I'll settle with 1075MHz core and 1650MHz memory for the clock speeds of the three cards.

Performed another run with 3DMark11. Broke 21K. This is with all full stable clock speeds for CPU/memory and video that I use for 24/7 use. It's the way I always benchmark my system. I don't like benchmarking at unstable speeds just to get a higher score. It wouldn't be the way I would use the system, so there's really no point in me benchmarking at higher speeds.

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2605966

 

[blackened23]

Sick dude! Overclocking in crossfire is tricky Its a lot more sensitive than a single card for sure. I can't get mine past 1125 for both. Whereas single card mode, 1250 np

 

[badb0y]

I hit 1200 core with 1.182 vCore today. I am happy.

 

[gramboh]

man, over 21k in 3dmark11, amazing, about 5x the result I get on my old setup.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

I'm seriously tempted to put my 7970 under water. I think I could do it for around $250 maybe less.

 

[blackened23]

HECK YEAH!

I just found a way to extend clocks past 1125 on GPU2! Previously I was only able to extend clocks on GPU1, but GPU2 was stuck at 1125 on 7970 xfire.

I just found out that asus GPU tweak for 7970 extends clocks and voltages on both GPUs! WOOHOO!

I just ran some stability testing at 1175 on both GPUs! TIME TO SET WORLD RECORDS ! :biggrin:

 

[VulgarDisplay]

What are you guys using for stability testing your GPU's? Kombuster is grayed out on the new afterburner beta I'm using.

 

[AdamK47]

HECK YEAH!

I just found a way to extend clocks past 1125 on GPU2! Previously I was only able to extend clocks on GPU1, but GPU2 was stuck at 1125 on 7970 xfire.

I just found out that asus GPU tweak for 7970 extends clocks and voltages on both GPUs! WOOHOO!

I just ran some stability testing at 1175 on both GPUs! TIME TO SET WORLD RECORDS ! :biggrin:

Doesn't Afterburner do the same thing though? I have to disable ULPS using Sapphire TRIXX, but after a reboot I can set voltage and clock speeds to whatever I want on all cards with MSI Afterburner. Have to also set UnofficialOverclockingMode to 1 in the MSIAfterburner.cfg to get the maximum clocks past 1125/1575.

 

[MrK6]

AdamK47 inspired me to do a run in 3DMark11 at max clocks, got 10402 @ 1340/1775MHz. These cards are just beastly.

I'm seriously tempted to put my 7970 under water. I think I could do it for around $250 maybe less.

$250 would be difficult unless you bought used. New, you could do something like this:

-Grab a CPU kit like the XSPC Rasa 750 that has a beefy radiator (RX360 in this case): http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/xsra750rxwak1.html

-Add a GPU block and RAM and MOSFET Heatsinks: http://jab-tech.com/Swiftech-MCW-82-VGA-Cooler-pr-4853.html , http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/enbmfocobgar.html , and http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/enmofocomohe.html (need two of the last, unless you want buy these and saw them in half: http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/enmofocomu10.html )

- Finally add tubing: http://jab-tech.com/Masterkleer-Tubing-7-16-ID-5-8-OD-pr-3079.html (10 feet = $4.90)

That's $185 + $50 + $13 + $20 + $5 = $273 + ~$25 shipping = ~$300

This kit isn't ideal, the pump will be louder than something you could isolate from the case, but it's more than capable. The RX 360 can handle close to 700W with the included fans (http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=986&page=6), and your setup won't dump more than 500W in the loop, so your temps will be excellent.

 

[blackened23]

Doesn't Afterburner do the same thing though? I have to disable ULPS using Sapphire TRIXX, but after a reboot I can set voltage and clock speeds to whatever I want on all cards with MSI Afterburner. Have to also set UnofficialOverclockingMode to 1 in the MSIAfterburner.cfg to get the maximum clocks past 1125/1575.

Unofficial overclocking mode it only extends clocks on GPU1 for me. GPU2 is still stuck at 1125. For me anyway, unless I did something wrong. Asus GPU tweak extended gpu1 and gpu2 clocks past 1125, so i'm happy now. Tweaking voltage in crossfire is a PITA, ugh.

 

[AdamK47]

Hmmm... I get unlocked clocks on all three of my GPUs. It has a max of 1665 for all three.

 

[blackened23]

Hmmm... I get unlocked clocks on all three of my GPUs. It has a max of 1665 for all three.

Hmm, I used beta 10 originally, maybe that has something to do with it.

I really want to get these bad boys under water, hopefully someone who has put their 7970 under water can share what parts they used for their custom loop

 

[MrK6]

I really want to get these bad boys under water, hopefully someone who has put their 7970 under water can share what parts they used for their custom loop

Read above. I also replied to you here: http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=32877670&postcount=185

Either of these setups will handle a 7970 + CPU with ease, but please, post or PM questions if you have them.

 

[blackened23]

Read above. I also replied to you here: http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=32877670&postcount=185

Either of these setups will handle a 7970 + CPU with ease, but please, post or PM questions if you have them.

Oh man, I missed that earlier reply. Thanks Will check that out now.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

AdamK47 inspired me to do a run in 3DMark11 at max clocks, got 10402 @ 1340/1775MHz. These cards are just beastly.


$250 would be difficult unless you bought used. New, you could do something like this:

-Grab a CPU kit like the XSPC Rasa 750 that has a beefy radiator (RX360 in this case): http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/xsra750rxwak1.html

-Add a GPU block and RAM and MOSFET Heatsinks: http://jab-tech.com/Swiftech-MCW-82-VGA-Cooler-pr-4853.html , http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/enbmfocobgar.html , and http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/enmofocomohe.html (need two of the last, unless you want buy these and saw them in half: http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/enmofocomu10.html )

- Finally add tubing: http://jab-tech.com/Masterkleer-Tubing-7-16-ID-5-8-OD-pr-3079.html (10 feet = $4.90)

That's $185 + $50 + $13 + $20 + $5 = $273 + ~$25 shipping = ~$300

This kit isn't ideal, the pump will be louder than something you could isolate from the case, but it's more than capable. The RX 360 can handle close to 700W with the included fans (http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=986&page=6), and your setup won't dump more than 500W in the loop, so your temps will be excellent.

I'm on a corsair 650D and I think it would be possible to move the hard drive cage down by the PSU and then get a 200mm rad on the front opening of the case. That's as far as I got in planning. I could just come back to my senses also because I play at 1080p.

 

[suklee]

What's the most accurate way to set and monitor gpu voltage? I'm getting different readings in afterburner and gpu-z.

 

[MrK6]

I'm on a corsair 650D and I think it would be possible to move the hard drive cage down by the PSU and then get a 200mm rad on the front opening of the case. That's as far as I got in planning. I could just come back to my senses also because I play at 1080p.

You're making perfect sense. You have room to spare there, why isn't there a radiator in it? :biggrin:

The 650D I believe has mounts right at the top for a 240 rad, so I would use what you already have. If you got a dual pass rad like the XSPC RX240, you could cool both your CPU and 7970 with decent temps. If you wanted stellar temps, you could do something like this (I just googled "650D water cooling" and this came up, google is awesome): http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=94403

I think that's sick, something to think about.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

That's what I wanted to do. I have an h100 cooling my i5 2500k at 4.5ghz. It never goes about 50C load I have the fans down low. I think I could put something together for my GPU for around $250 pretty easy. MrK any reason why you run a closed loop with no reservoir?

 

[MrK6]

That's what I wanted to do. I have an h100 cooling my i5 2500k at 4.5ghz. It never goes about 50C load I have the fans down low. I think I could put something together for my GPU for around $250 pretty easy. MrK any reason why you run a closed loop with no reservoir?

Personally I'd put everything in one loop. Selling the H100 will almost pay for a CPU block and 240 rad. I run a closed loop because there wasn't any good space in my mid-tower to put a reservoir, and the closed loop works just as well. You could also argue that it increases flow since the water ends up being pushed back into the pump, haven't really tested in though. Reservoirs do make it much easier to fill and bleed the loop though.

 

[tweakboy]

Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Cards in 3-Way CrossFireX

 

[blackened23]

Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Cards in 3-Way CrossFireX

tweakboy, tweaktown, I like! (note this a harmless tongue in cheek comment)

 

[chimaxi83]

Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Cards in 3-Way CrossFireX

Sadly, there is no overclocking done in that review, not that any of those games (besides maybe Metro) really needed it.

tweakboy, tweaktown, I like! (note this a harmless tongue in cheek comment)

lol this is the exact same review you posted two or three days ago Blackened

 

[Elfear]

Found some interesting info from AMD's own Dave Bauman regarding 7970 binning. With GPU-Z's new ASIC test you can see where your 7970 was binned. If I'm understanding the comments correctly, higher leakage parts require less volts to hit the same speeds as low leakage parts. So AMD lowered the voltage on high leakage chips to narrow the TDP variation amongst all 7970 cards. For low leakage chips they raised the voltage to be able to hit the stock clocks.

Reading through the main thread over at B3D it also looks like there may be a 125mV OVP on the 7970 cards. So the cards with a stock voltage of 1.05V will not be able to run as high a voltage as the cards with 1.175V stock. Makes sense in light of some of the variation we're seeing in overclocking results. Generally the 1.175V cards have no problem running 1.3V while the cards with 1.0250-1.1125V crash at the higher voltage levels (1.25-1.3V).

You can check your ASIC value using GPU-Z 0.5.8. Hopefully we'll see some software tools come out that bypass the OVP.

"Originally Posted by Dave Baumann
Actually, it does the opposite! We scale the voltage based on leakage, so the higher leakage parts use lower voltage and the lower leakage parts use a higher voltage - what this is does narrow the entire TDP range of the product.

Everything is qualified at worst case anyway; all the TDP calcs and the fan settings are completed on the wors case for the product range."

Source


"Originally Posted by Dave Baumann
No, the nominal voltage is 1.165V, however the higher leakage parts do not need as much voltage to run at those speeds."

Source

"AMD uses the following table to select VID depending on ASIC quality:

up to 2F90 (up to 75% quality) - 1.1750V
up to 34D0 (up to 80% quality) - 1.1125V
up to 3820 (up to 85% quality) - 1.0500V
up to 3A90 (up to 90% quality) - 1.0250V"

Source

 

[AdamK47]

I tried it last night. Can't remember the exact values. One of my cards has a default voltage of 1.1125V and the other two have 1.1750V. GPU-Z shows around 76% for the 1.1125V card. 72% and 70% for the 1.1750V cards.

Edit: The exact values are 76.7%, 72.3%, and 70.1%.

 

[Elfear]

I tried it last night. Can't remember the exact values. One of my cards has a default voltage of 1.1125V and the other two have 1.1750V. GPU-Z shows around 76% for the 1.1125V card. 72% and 70% for the 1.1750V cards.

Have you tried overclocking each card individually to see how they do? I'd be curious to see whether the ASIC value is a good predictor of overclocking ability. I'd assume at the same voltage set in AB (1.175V for example), it would be.