Graphics Card, AMD 7950 or Nvidia 660Ti?

[zaydq]

It's all good, Temperatures won't go over 63C, VRM's over 70C.

Now, ... estimated graphics cards life? 😀

Just as good as stock. Your card will die after you're probably due for an upgrade.

I still think your voltages are too high, but considering your temps are doing okay, I wouldn't worry about lowering the voltage. Your temps are lower than mine are at a higher voltage... must be an awesome case with great air circulation or I must have a cooler that isn't seated on the GPU properly.



@Sickbeast

You're being a bit nitpicky, if anyone see's his clocks and wants to hit them, they better damn well ask what he's doing for cooling.

 

[Clorky]

Just as good as stock. Your card will die after you're probably due for an upgrade.

I still think your voltages are too high, but considering your temps are doing okay, I wouldn't worry about lowering the voltage. Your temps are lower than mine are at a higher voltage... must be an awesome case with great air circulation or I must have a cooler that isn't seated on the GPU properly.

I'll lower the voltage by a bit then.

I don't have any high-end case.
http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6692

 

[railven]

By listing your card at 1350mhz in your signature without mentioning water cooling, people are going to think that they can hit that speed as well. You're also giving people unrealistic expectations when it comes to the overclocking potential of the card.

Well this post made me chuckle, people not listing their cooling in signatures is misleading? Que? You yourself don't list your after market cooler, either.

Hell I'm not even sure I disclose it in my sig [EDIT: Actually I do 😀 I win!.] Instead of baiting (and openly admitting to it [http://alienbabeltech.com/abt/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=25644] why not just discuss the subject at hand.

 

[SickBeast]

Well this post made me chuckle, people not listing their cooling in signatures is misleading? Que? You yourself don't list your after market cooler, either.

Hell I'm not even sure I disclose it in my sig [EDIT: Actually I do 😀 I win!.] Instead of baiting (and openly admitting to it [http://alienbabeltech.com/abt/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=25644] why not just discuss the subject at hand.

I would tell him what I really think of him here but I can't. I'd actually rather discuss things at ABT where I'm free to speak my mind freely.

 

[railven]

I would tell him what I really think of him here but I can't. I'd actually rather discuss things at ABT where I'm free to speak my mind freely.

Always got PMs. Just a thought, why drag it out in public then gloat on another forum (which ironically, they didn't agree with your assessment based on this thread haha.)

 

[zaydq]

I would tell him what I really think of him here but I can't. I'd actually rather discuss things at ABT where I'm free to speak my mind freely.

I lol'd.

 

[chimaxi83]

Lol nerd raging at ABT is so cool, maybe I'll join the trolls and AT outcasts :awe:

 

[RussianSensation]

Now I've been through stress test at MSI Kombustor. First the 900/1250 clocks, for one minute and then all the others for like two minutes. When it came to 1100/1400, i let it for 8 minutes.

The 2nd picture you linked where you hit 1100mhz shows actual maximum GPU voltage of 1.170V. That's still safe. Even if you are putting in 1181mV in MSI Afterburner, your card seems to be slightly undervolting, coming in below 1.175V stock voltage. At the same time the Boost 7950/7970GE cards are rated up to 1.25V safely. Therefore, the main concerns tend to be around GPU/VRM temperatures and noise levels. All your parameters look excellent for air cooling and voltages are also safe at these levels since you are still under specifications for Tahiti XT chips. I would test actual games though, Metro 2033, Aliens vs. Predator, Crysis 1/2 or Unigine Heaven 3.0 with 8xMSAA and Extreme Tessellation looping for an hour. Use a wider variety of benchmarks to confirm your card is stable. Sometimes the card can pass 1 test but crash somewhere else.

What is your card's ASIC again? Generally speaking the 80-90% ASIC 7950s from Gigabyte 3x/ MSI TF3 7950 / Sapphire DX 950mhz seem to hit 1100-1200mhz mark depending on the voltage. You seem to be right in that area.

 

[Elfear]

Actually I assumed that you were on water cooling and 1.3v or something stupid and I realized that you weren't telling us. If you're going to tell someone that they should run their GPU at 1325mhz you should point out that it will require watercooling. To try to make me look bad after your own lack of communication is laughable and quite pathetic, honestly.

By saying you run your card at 1325mhz it implies that others can hit that speed also. You should be telling people that you run watercooling if you're going to do that. I find 1325mhz suspect even under water.

My first 7970 runs great at 1325Mhz under water. I ran Skyrim at 1325/1600 at somewhere around 1.225-1.25V.

Honestly the post you're railing against doesn't say what you're implying. I read it as MrK6 letting the OP know that 1100Mhz would be plenty for most games he will play and the he (MrK6) only needed more power for BF3 and Crysis 2 (probably because he games at 1600p). I didn't get at all that he was telling the OP he should be able to hit the same clocks. Why all the rage over at ABT?

 

[SickBeast]

I think that the rage at abt is due to the fact that apoppin was blacklisted by amd after he had some interactions with amd viral shills on this forum. Several members there have also had issues with these people. Honestly it's similar to when Rollo had people fraudulently banned from this forum.

 

[Clorky]

The 2nd picture you linked where you hit 1100mhz shows actual maximum GPU voltage of 1.170V. That's still safe. Even if you are putting in 1181mV in MSI Afterburner, your card seems to be slightly undervolting, coming in below 1.175V stock voltage. At the same time the Boost 7950/7970GE cards are rated up to 1.25V safely. Therefore, the main concerns tend to be around GPU/VRM temperatures and noise levels. All your parameters look excellent for air cooling and voltages are also safe at these levels since you are still under specifications for Tahiti XT chips. I would test actual games though, Metro 2033, Aliens vs. Predator, Crysis 1/2 or Unigine Heaven 3.0 with 8xMSAA and Extreme Tessellation looping for an hour. Use a wider variety of benchmarks to confirm your card is stable. Sometimes the card can pass 1 test but crash somewhere else.

What is your card's ASIC again? Generally speaking the 80-90% ASIC 7950s from Gigabyte 3x/ MSI TF3 7950 / Sapphire DX 950mhz seem to hit 1100-1200mhz mark depending on the voltage. You seem to be right in that area.

ASIC? What is that? 😀.
I'll try the Unigine Heaven on extreme preset.

 

[RussianSensation]

Open GPU-Z right click at the very top where it says "TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.6.4" or w/e you have and go to a line called "Read ASIC quality...". The higher that number is, the better overclocking 7950 tends to be on air cooling.

 

[Clorky]

ASIC? What is that? 😀.
I'll try the Unigine Heaven on extreme preset.

Allright, i won't, it's somehow bugged and wont start up. I'll go for the 3DMark.
EDIT: Now, this is just weird. I've got like 60,9%! What the hell? Now how is it i can run OC on 1100/1400 with temps max. 64C and 1.171V?
EDIT2: Is there any other tool like GPU-Z which can read my ASIC quality?
EDIT3: 3DMARK 11 on extreme result: http://www.uploadgeek.com/share-F60E_50689963.html Is it good? I expected better result.

 

[MrK6]

Allright, i won't, it's somehow bugged and wont start up. I'll go for the 3DMark.
EDIT: Now, this is just weird. I've got like 60,9%! What the hell? Now how is it i can run OC on 1100/1400 with temps max. 64C and 1.171V?
EDIT2: Is there any other tool like GPU-Z which can read my ASIC quality?
EDIT3: 3DMARK 11 on extreme result: http://www.uploadgeek.com/share-F60E_50689963.html Is it good? I expected better result.

Like I said, ASIC quality is a poor metric for overclockability. For some reason that rumor started somewhere and know-nots keep spreading it. Clearly you have a decent chip, ASIC quality means little next to that.

Well this post made me chuckle, people not listing their cooling in signatures is misleading? Que? You yourself don't list your after market cooler, either.

Hell I'm not even sure I disclose it in my sig [EDIT: Actually I do 😀 I win!.] Instead of baiting (and openly admitting to it [http://alienbabeltech.com/abt/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=25644] why not just discuss the subject at hand.

Lol, an entire forum of nvidia fanboys is gunning for me; some people really need to get outside.

 

[SickBeast]

Lol, an entire forum of nvidia fanboys is gunning for me; some people really need to get outside.

We will go outside when you stop spreading lies and misinformation.

Please elaborate on how you made $1400+ in 9 months of bitcoin mining. By my calculations the best you could have done is *maybe* $900 minus your electricity costs.

 

[chimaxi83]

Dang, that ABT circle jerk is pretty intense D:

 

[MrK6]

We will go outside when you stop spreading lies and misinformation.

Please elaborate on how you made $1400+ in 9 months of bitcoin mining. By my calculations the best you could have done is *maybe* $900 minus your electricity costs.

Already posted: http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=34035637&postcount=59

Also personal attacks aren't tolerated on this forum.

 

[SickBeast]

Already posted: http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=34035637&postcount=59

Also personal attacks aren't tolerated on this forum.

It's not a personal attack.

It's against the TOS to post false information. You're treading right on the borderline with your misleading nonsense. You probably know exactly what you're doing.

 

[Momar99]

I'd go 660ti, mainly because I like Nvidia's driver support.

 

[MrK6]

It's not a personal attack.

It's against the TOS to post false information. You're treading right on the borderline with your misleading nonsense. You probably know exactly what you're doing.

There's no false information. Stop derailing threads with your personal attacks.

 

[RussianSensation]

Please elaborate on how you made $1400+ in 9 months of bitcoin mining. By my calculations the best you could have done is *maybe* $900 minus your electricity costs.

It was not $1,400+ in 9 months, and I didn't see MrK6 mention the 9 months timeframe. He actually said that $1,400 was over 15 months and $800 was over the period of 7970 ownership which I already showed to you that it was mathematically possible if he held on to all the coins until today.

Nevermind making profit, even making $50-60 a month mining on the side would have made a 7970 free by now. I even told your boy Balla how to do it in a PM but he ignored my advice. Instead he went back to complaining about how expensive this generation of GPUs is. So instead of getting a nearly paid off or a free 7970 by now, he is still chugging on his 470 because he refused to listen, or just prefers NV cards more than half-price or nearly free AMD cards I guess.

EDIT3: 3DMARK 11 on extreme result: http://www.uploadgeek.com/share-F60E_50689963.html Is it good? I expected better result.

3dMark11 is not very useful for extrapolating real world gaming performance. I'll even go on to say that it's probably the worst of all the 3dMarks in the last 10 years for representing real world gameplay. Just compare the scores of GTX680 vs. 580 and you'll see how ridiculous 3dMark11 is.

Is GTX680 67% faster than a 580? Is a GTX660Ti faster in games than an HD7970? Ya.....useless benchmark. It's most useful feature is to test GPU instability.

The faster people stop using 3dMark11, the better it is except the firm that makes it. Test out real games. ^_^

 

[ViRGE]

I'm going to have to ask that you guys take the Bitcoin arguments to the Bitcoin thread. They're overshadowing the intended subject of this thread, so this is not the right time or place for such an in-depth discussion.

-Thanks
ViRGE

 

[Clorky]

It was not $1,400+ in 9 months, and I didn't see MrK6 mention the 9 months timeframe. He actually said that $1,400 was over 15 months and $800 was over the period of 7970 ownership which I already showed to you that it was mathematically possible if he held on to all the coins until today.

Nevermind making profit, even making $50-60 a month mining on the side would have made a 7970 free by now. I even told your boy Balla how to do it in a PM but he ignored my advice. Instead he went back to complaining about how expensive this generation of GPUs is. So instead of getting a nearly paid off or a free 7970 by now, he is still chugging on his 470 because he refused to listen, or just prefers NV cards more than half-price or nearly free AMD cards I guess.



3dMark11 is not very useful for extrapolating real world gaming performance. I'll even go on to say that it's probably the worst of all the 3dMarks in the last 10 years for representing real world gameplay. Just compare the scores of GTX680 vs. 580 and you'll see how ridiculous 3dMark11 is.

Is GTX680 67% faster than a 580? Is a GTX660Ti faster in games than an HD7970? Ya.....useless benchmark. It's most useful feature is to test GPU instability.

The faster people stop using 3dMark11, the better it is except the firm that makes it. Test out real games. ^_^

Allright, so what bench do you recommend?

 

[UNhooked]

Dumb question, is there an auto overclock for GPUs like CPUs? E.G Gigabyte Easy tuning Auto OC function?

 

[zaydq]

Allright, so what bench do you recommend?

Unigine Heaven is a great one, heres the link.

Run the program at 1080p with maxed settings and post up a score. Its a great way to stress the GPU and also a "fair" benchmark.