Radeon HD 7950 Owner's Thread

[Smartazz]

hi,

would you recommend PSU for this card? Please.
In addition to 512Gb SSD my planned system will run 4 3T HDD in raid.
No, system will not be 24/7, something about 3-5 h/day.
It's HTPC with gaming ability ;-) to output to 1080P LCD TV through 7.1 receiver via HDMI.

Thanks.

I have a Seasonic 620W which is a really good power supply but with the 7950 heavily overclocked the PSU can get loud so I wouldn't shoot for below 600W.

 

[lehtv]

I have a Seasonic 620W which is a really good power supply but with the 7950 heavily overclocked the PSU can get loud so I wouldn't shoot for below 600W.

That's just because it's a Bronze unit. Any 500W+ Gold unit will be quieter, like Seasonic G550. I'm surprised though that the PSU is louder than your heavily overclocked 7950.

 

[Smartazz]

That's just because it's a Bronze unit. Any 500W+ Gold unit will be quieter, like Seasonic G550. I'm surprised though that the PSU is louder than your heavily overclocked 7950.

The 7950 is so quiet at 1.19v and 1100MHz. Beyond that it starts to get very loud. I have open headphones so I can hear the computer when I'm gaming.

 

[Nomercy1]

Hey everyone, So i have my Sapphire 7950 up to 1150mhz core and 1450mhz mem stable again. Temps are very reasonable and am on stock voltage. Now i cant adjust the voltage because its a boost card. The voltage under load in boost are 1.151 MAX and really sits at 1.130 under 100% load for hours. Now i cant find any info on voltage control on a boost card as MSI and Trixx only adjust the base voltage which is ... useless. So been searching the web and coming up empty. All i can think is flashing the bios to a non boost bios to control voltage and get some more performance out of it.


Let me know your thoughts please Thanks

 

[makken]

Hey everyone, So i have my Sapphire 7950 up to 1150mhz core and 1450mhz mem stable again. Temps are very reasonable and am on stock voltage. Now i cant adjust the voltage because its a boost card. The voltage under load in boost are 1.151 MAX and really sits at 1.130 under 100% load for hours. Now i cant find any info on voltage control on a boost card as MSI and Trixx only adjust the base voltage which is ... useless. So been searching the web and coming up empty. All i can think is flashing the bios to a non boost bios to control voltage and get some more performance out of it.


Let me know your thoughts please Thanks

I'm in the same boat. At 1150/1400 on boost but I'm running into thermal issues. Gpu-z is showing 80c for both core and vram temps in fur mark, and the card is throttling back to the non boosted state (which sucks since I'm trying to test for stability)

Looking for a way to lower the boost voltage for better thermals

 

[tommiyacht]

is it normal that current core voltage during arround 50% gpu load is as equal as in full load ? (core clock same as)

 

[Nomercy1]

I'm in the same boat. At 1150/1400 on boost but I'm running into thermal issues. Gpu-z is showing 80c for both core and vram temps in fur mark, and the card is throttling back to the non boosted state (which sucks since I'm trying to test for stability)

Looking for a way to lower the boost voltage for better thermals

Well the only way i have found to control voltage on the boost card is in MSI afterburner to force voltage. Now im not sure how low you want the voltage if this is a reasonable thing to do or not.

 

[lehtv]

I'm in the same boat. At 1150/1400 on boost but I'm running into thermal issues. Gpu-z is showing 80c for both core and vram temps in fur mark, and the card is throttling back to the non boosted state (which sucks since I'm trying to test for stability)

Looking for a way to lower the boost voltage for better thermals

How are the thermals in more realistic scenarios? Heaven 3.0, or any demanding game with vsync off?

 

[makken]

How are the thermals in more realistic scenarios? Heaven 3.0, or any demanding game with vsync off?

Here's what I get while running heaven. still bouncing between the 850Mhz non boost state and 1150 mhz boost state:

edit:
and the results:

 

[Nomercy1]

Here's what I get while running heaven. still bouncing between the 850Mhz non boost state and 1150 mhz boost state:

edit:
and the results:

My card throttles like that when i dont have the power turned up. Make sure your power slider is +20 to see if it goes away.

 

[makken]

My card throttles like that when i dont have the power turned up. Make sure your power slider is +20 to see if it goes away.

yeah, it is at 20 and still doing it

 

[szvwxcszxc]

Haha (your Heaven), here is my Heaven:

And now in 1080p:

 

[Rikard]

Hi again,

I realize that when I say that my card is cool and quiet that depends on each individuals definition of quiet. I have a dBA app on my phone but it is rubbish so I made a small video instead to illustrate it. I understand that people running their fans on max are complaining that the card is noisy, but I never need to go higher than 45% and still do not come close to 60 C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdifmfCrtrY

Cheers

 

[szvwxcszxc]

Hi again,

I realize that when I say that my card is cool and quiet that depends on each individuals definition of quiet. I have a dBA app on my phone but it is rubbish so I made a small video instead to illustrate it. I understand that people running their fans on max are complaining that the card is noisy, but I never need to go higher than 45% and still do not come close to 60 C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdifmfCrtrY

Cheers

My card is ZERO DB!!!

 

[litreofcola]

i've just bought a sapphire vapour x and it's coming tomorrow. i wish i'd read this thread before i changed my order of a gigabyte w3 to the vapour x!

if i get the 8 + 6 pin i think i'll be sending it back based on what's been discussed.

i've noticed that my psu only has 6 + 2 pin connectors. do these work the same as 8 pin ones or does the card require specifically 8 pin connectors?

 

[thilanliyan]

6+2 pin is fine to plug into the 8-pin. Just make sure it is plugged in correctly.

 

[Rikard]

i've just bought a sapphire vapour x and it's coming tomorrow. i wish i'd read this thread before i changed my order of a gigabyte w3 to the vapour x!

if i get the 8 + 6 pin i think i'll be sending it back based on what's been discussed.

Since you get it tomorrow try it before you send it back. We had one good 8+8 pin version and one bad 8+6 pin version, so it is not like we have a huge statistics sample to base any sort of conclusions of general quality.

 

[litreofcola]

that's true rikard but since i bought it all i've read are negative reviews from owners about the vapour-x.

i'll report back over the weekend on how it goes. it's this one that i bought:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-304-SP

 

[litreofcola]

card just got delivered this evening:

i'm happy for now - i hope it's a good one...

now i just need to hope my two 6+2 pin connectors will be up to the job

 

[Rikard]

card just got delivered this evening:

i'm happy for now - i hope it's a good one...

now i just need to hope my two 6+2 pin connectors will be up to the job

Great! Cola, you are in Europe right? I never heard of anybody in NA getting the 2x8 version. Time to send it through the test loops! Keep that bios button pushed for performance. Oh, and your connectors should be fine, but what is your PSU?

 

[Smartazz]

A highly overclocked 7950 would presumably draw more than 225W. How could 2x6 pin be enough?

 

[Rikard]

Cola has 2*(2+6) pin, not 2*6

 

[litreofcola]

yeah two 6+2 pins. it's an antec truepower 650w but i've also got a corsair tx650w with a single 8 pin and a 6+2 pin so i could use either supply.

i've not installed the card yet and probably wont tonight as it's getting late but i was looking at my motherboard details in speccy and i'm worried to see my +12v rating at <1v

 

[litreofcola]

should i be worried by this?

 

[3DVagabond]

A highly overclocked 7950 would presumably draw more than 225W. How could 2x6 pin be enough?

6pins are spec'd at 75W, but they will deliver far more if the card requires it.