Radeon HD 7950 Owner's Thread

[Eureka]

If you don't touch the vcore or power target, an OC will be relatively safe, as it can only draw whatever power it was designed to draw. You just go into AMD control panel and slide up the clock slowly until it starts creating problems or strange effects in games (artifacts).

Generally it is a bit safer to turn up the power target than vcore, if you need a little more headroom. Higher vcore and higher power will allow you to clock higher, but you have to be careful. Do everything slowly. Turn up the clock 25-50 MHz, run a game or a benchmark, see if it's creating problems. Repeat. When you run into problems (little speckles of light, or missing textures), turn it back down 25 MHz and leave it there. Do the same for memory.

However, you do not need to overclock. The 7950 is a capable card at stock speeds. You should generally look into overclocking when it is no longer capable of running your games at your desired speeds, and the 7950 can overclock very well. It is safe to run it overnight, because when the GPU is not in use, it should automatically clock down anyway. However, running with higher vcore may cause the total lifetime of the card to degrade. It won't be fast, but you may find that the card will start suffering stability issues in say, 5 years versus 7 years, when you have higher voltages than stock.

 

[Marco St]

I'll be careful with the OC... no problem.

Thanks a lot! That was a great piece of information, truly apreciated.

I will tell you how it works in a few weeks. Thanks again.

 

[Eureka]

If you do OC, read up on the guides. Most cards nowadays are built to protect themselves from blowing up, but it can still happen if you're too gung-ho. When you are trying to find your good overclock level, be sure to turn up the fan to a higher level to keep temps down.

Generally, you should look at what people are getting as a baseline. Don't trust the highest numbers, those are either exaggerated or rare. For a 7950, a good target would be 1100/1500 (core and memory). If you stick with the average settings that people are getting for their overclocks, you should be safe.

 

[zaydq]

Just keep in mind that if the 7950 has a 6+8 pin connector, that its using a 7970pcb which is rated for 1.25v stock... so you've got ALOT of play room before being at risk of frying the card. You'll top out your oc potential before even being considered at dangerous levels.

 

[zaydq]

Lol that's not "instable" you're just luckier than me and got a more tolerant card.

I was simply implying you could very well do better... usually when I see 1.25v then the person just popped the voltage there and started popping in numbers.

Also, if you're having operating issues, its considered unstable.

 

[zaydq]

And a note to fellow overclockers, focus on your core clock speeds and less on the memory. The 7950 is already on steroids when it comes to memory, so don't get too down if your memory frequency doesn't get as high as you'd like to see, its nearly irrelevant.

 

[GrantMeThePower]

Here's a post I made over on Guru3D and some links on how to do all this.

FIRST: Here's how to flash the bios on your card if you don't have version F43 (015.026.000.000.000907). Check post #6 on this link: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=373744

Now how to unlock MSI Afterburner to overclock and adjust voltage:
If you have bios F43 (015.026.000.000.000907), keep it. It's the best bios the Gigabyte can have at the moment.

You have some steps to take in order to unlock the voltage in Afterburner.
Here's what I did yesterday:

1) Clean install of the latest AMD drivers. I installed 13.2 Beta 6.
- Uninstalled / reboot in safe mode / clean with Driver Sweeper / reboot / Manually clean the registry removing all AMD/ATI folders under Local Machine/Softwares / install drivers / reboot.

- DO NOT enable AMD Overdrive in CCC.

2) Install MSI Afterburner.
- After the installation is comlpete, start Afterburner. It'll prompt you to reboot, do it.
- After the reboot is complete, right click on the application icon on your desktop and go in Properties. In the Target box, add at the end /xcl just after the ". It should look like "xxxxxxx.exe" /xcl. Click Apply/Ok.
- Start Afterburner. A window will pop saying something like "You enabled high overclock". Click ok/close this window.
- After you got the message, go back in Properties and remove the /xcl in the Target box and click Apply/Ok.
- Reboot your PC.

3) Once rebooted go in Afterburner Settings and click "Enable voltage unlock" and "Enable voltage monitoring". You should enable "Start with Windows" and "Start minimized".

From there you should be good to go!

Here's the link where I found this method: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18431335

If you have any questions don't hesitate.

Thanks for posting this. I'm getting the gigabyte WF3 version of this card. Would i still use these instructions and the MSI software?

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Thanks for posting this. I'm getting the gigabyte WF3 version of this card. Would i still use these instructions and the MSI software?

Wf3 is voltage locked. Get this card supposedly its got unlocked voltage
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

I will know for sure here in a few days as i just ordered one.

 

[Eureka]

Wf3 is voltage locked. Get this card supposedly its got unlocked voltage
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

I will know for sure here in a few days as i just ordered one.

Only the January models were voltage locked. Newer models of WF3 are not voltage locked.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Only the January models were voltage locked. Newer models of WF3 are not voltage locked.

I've done significant research on the wf3 since I ordered one without knowing it was locked. Once a member here pointed out all the latest ones are locked I've read many forums where I confirmed they are indeed locked. A little google search should confirm it for you.

 

[Eureka]

I've done significant research on the wf3 since I ordered one without knowing it was locked. Once a member here pointed out all the latest ones are locked I've read many forums where I confirmed they are indeed locked. A little google search should confirm it for you.

Either way, F43 bios still works:

The FZ1 bios locked the voltage at 1.25v under load. You can't adjust that voltage anyway you'd want.

I flashed the position #1 on the switch with the latest F43 bios and now with Afterburner I can adjust the voltage the way I want it.

Some cards are locked, others are not.

Mine is the FZ1 bios. Haven't touched any settings and it runs at 1100/1500 without a problem. At stock (1000/1250), I got 41.4 fps in Heaven, at 1100/1500 I get 45.9 fps. Impressive... what my old 7970 Ghz was getting at stock.

 

[Rhezuss]

Models with Bios FZ1 are voltage locked. You can flash your card with F43 from the Gigabyte website and it'll unlock the voltage on the card.

 

[Eureka]

Models with Bios FZ1 are voltage locked. You can flash your card with F43 from the Gigabyte website and it'll unlock the voltage on the card.

Do you generally do this so you can raise the voltage higher or to run it lower? I'm pretty impressed with the performance as it is, got it to run at 1150/1550 without any problems on Heaven with no additional power.

I'm thinking of flashing it just so I can lower voltages (for long term use), but if it's fine at 1.25V, should I even bother?

 

[Rhezuss]

Thanks for posting this. I'm getting the gigabyte WF3 version of this card. Would i still use these instructions and the MSI software?

Yep, first check you bios version and flash if necessary.
Then install and steup MSI Afterburner and OC like mad!

 

[Rhezuss]

Do you generally do this so you can raise the voltage higher or to run it lower? I'm pretty impressed with the performance as it is, got it to run at 1150/1550 without any problems on Heaven with no additional power.

I'm thinking of flashing it just so I can lower voltages (for long term use), but if it's fine at 1.25V, should I even bother?

Well I did it because I can run 1150 with a bit less than 1.25v...depending on the card, some can do that from 1.22v. It's not much but it's a bit less on the card.

I have my card running at 1150/1500 with 1.25v/1.6v. The 1.6v is not adding any heat on the card and it is a lot more stable in games and becnhes.

The problem is F43, for those who don't overclock or those that are looking for less than 1150+ on the core is drawing a lot less power and reduce the heat significantly. 1100core can be achieved with 1.17v on most cards.

But FZ1, 1150, 1.25v is perfectly ok!

 

[Eureka]

Sounds good. Are you also getting crazy fan tach readings while idle? While running it's reporting the correct tach speed but I'm getting fan speeds of 100ks while idle.

Also there's a bit of coil whine, kind of hoped I wouldn't get any on this.

 

[Rhezuss]

Sounds good. Are you also getting crazy fan tach readings while idle? While running it's reporting the correct tach speed but I'm getting fan speeds of 100ks while idle.

Also there's a bit of coil whine, kind of hoped I wouldn't get any on this.

No weird fan reading but I have the coil whine stuff but only when FPS is over 60+. I can't hear it most of the time since I game with headphones or sound is louder than the whine.

 

[Eureka]

No weird fan reading but I have the coil whine stuff but only when FPS is over 60+. I can't hear it most of the time since I game with headphones or sound is louder than the whine.

It's over 9000...0000.

I've seem to hit a limit of 1175 MHz... it runs alright for a few minutes but crashes at 1175. I haven't played with power settings, but I'm happy with 1150/1550 anyway, it's already faster than my 7970 Ghz was at stock.

 

[Rhezuss]

It's over 9000...0000.

I've seem to hit a limit of 1175 MHz... it runs alright for a few minutes but crashes at 1175. I haven't played with power settings, but I'm happy with 1150/1550 anyway, it's already faster than my 7970 Ghz was at stock.

I'd still set Power limit to +20% anyways. I gives you constant power and your card will run at OC clocks in 3D mode instead of, with some cards it happens, adjust clocks depending on the need of the 3D program. So you could notice your card going to 1150/1550, then 1000/1250 when the game is in a less demanding zone then 1150/1550 again...

 

[Face2Face]

I always set my power limit to the max when I overclock. I thought that's what you are supposed to do? I was able to reach a stable 1225 core with 1.210 volts. I usually clock my memory at 1450 or 1500. Does anyone know the highest memory clocks you can get with stock voltage? (1.6v) Has anyone got 1300 core on the 7950 stable?

 

[sze5003]

I always set my power limit to the max when I overclock. I thought that's what you are supposed to do? I was able to reach a stable 1225 core with 1.210 volts. I usually clock my memory at 1450 or 1500. Does anyone know the highest memory clocks you can get with stock voltage? (1.6v) Has anyone got 1300 core on the 7950 stable?

Are the 7950s voltage unlocked. My vapor x is locked last time I checked. I haven't overclocked in so long. Just yesterday I had to in order to play crysis 3 without the out of memory issue.

 

[Face2Face]

Are the 7950s voltage unlocked. My vapor x is locked last time I checked. I haven't overclocked in so long. Just yesterday I had to in order to play crysis 3 without the out of memory issue.

I can adjust my slider for memory voltage in Afterburner. Pretty sure it's not a big deal though, since these cards are not memory bandwidth limited much @ 1500

Did some searching and found someone on water running these clocks. Very nice..

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1039360730&postcount=214

Sapphire HD7950 950mhz Edition
1325/1800
3770k 4.8GHZ

3Dmark 11
P12,113

 

[Stuka87]

Are the 7950s voltage unlocked. My vapor x is locked last time I checked. I haven't overclocked in so long. Just yesterday I had to in order to play crysis 3 without the out of memory issue.

Mine is unlocked, and I messed with upping it for a while. But increasing the memory didn't really show in improvement in performance. The 79x0's have great memory bandwidth so its not such as issue.

 

[Rhezuss]

After making some tests with Unigine Valley 1.0 I found that you have considerable and exponential gains OCing the memory from 1250 to 1500.

When I OCed the mem from 1400 to 1500 I got 75-85 points more but from 1500 to 1600 I only got 23-28 points more in Valley 1.0.

So I just left the mem at 1500MHz which is a lot more then one would really need and to be sure I set the mem voltage to 1.6v (from 1.5v) to eliminate any issues.

I think (others may disagree) that 1150/1500 is one sweet OC on a 7950, positioning it amongst the best single card out there.

 

[Face2Face]

I think (others may disagree) that 1150/1500 is one sweet OC on a 7950, positioning it amongst the best single card out there.

That Overclock should put it a little ahead of a 7970Ghz Edition right? I think at 1025 or 1050 core it should be equal to a little faster than a stock 7970.