Regular vs GHz edition 7970

[creiner]

Are there any differences between a normal 7970 and a GHz edition aside from the overclock? Reviews I've read don't seem to mention any.

If there aren't any actual benefits to getting a GHz edition, I figure I will save money and buy a regular one and overclock it myself. But I have read that some 7970's are locked and cannot be overclocked. How do I tell which cards are unlocked?

 

[Yuriman]

I want to say I think the GHz edition has a higher stock voltage, but you can flash a GHz edition bios on any normal 7970 and end up with the same card.

 

[RussianSensation]

But I have read that some 7970's are locked and cannot be overclocked. How do I tell which cards are unlocked?

HD7970s ship with 1.174/1.175V BIOS most of the time while 7970GEs ship with 1.25V one. Generally speaking it's the same chip. I am not sure about HD7970's being locked as most people keep reinstalling MSI Afterburner/ AMD drivers. If you install drivers past Catalyst 12.6 and MSI Afterburner past 2.2.1, almost all HD7970s are automatically locked. You have to manually do the Unofficial MSI Afterburner unlock, but most people are noobs and they start claiming their card is locked because they lost the 2 dll files that came with MSI Afterburner 2.2.1.

To unlock MSI Afterburner, this is what you need to do:

Step 1: Download the latest AMD drivers from the website, not the CD.

Step 2: Download MSI AfterBurner version 2.2.1 or earlier. Versions 2.2.2 or after are missing 2 important .dll files that you need (atipdl64.dll and atipdlxx.dll) for voltage control to work with MSI Afterburner.

Step 3: Go to C:\Program Files\MSI Afterburner directory and find a file called "MSIAfterburner.cfg". Right click mouse button, Open With Notepad.

Under the heading [ATIADLHAL] paste these 2 lines:
UnofficialOverclockingMode = 1
UnofficialOverclockingEULA = I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it

Now click File --> Save As "MSIAfterburner.cfg" as a Text Document and override existing .cfg file. Or you could cut the MSIAfterburner.cfg file and paste it onto the desktop; drop those 2 lines and repaste it back into the MSIAfterburner folder.

Now if you open MSI AB, you should see voltage control slider enabled. The next step is extending GPU/memory clock limits.

Step 4: Close MSI Afterburner. Download Asus GPU Tweak. It should be easy to find by Searching for it on Asus.com website. Open it. Go to Settings, Tuning --> Tuning Setting. Check mark "Overclocking range enhancement". Press Apply. Your screen should flash black. Now you can close Asus GPU Tweak and never need to force running it on Windows Boot up. This is a one time adjustment.

Step 5: Open MSI AB and you should be able to move GPU clock to 1710 depending and GPU memory to 2565 (or similar values).

If you then later want to download the latest version of MSI Afterburner you MUST save those 2 dll files and the MSIAfterburner.cfg configuration file you edited and import BOTH of them into your C:\ProgramFiles\MSI Afterburner directory. If you do not do this and reinstall new MSI Afterburner over version 2.2.1, your videocard will be automatically locked again and you'd need to follow all the steps above.

Key note - the GPU voltage value you set in MSI AB is target voltage and actual voltage is in GPU-Z (under Sensor Tab --> VDDC --> "Show Highest Reading"). You can select Log to File to monitor VDDC from GPU-Z during games.

or in HwInfo64 (as "GPU VRM Voltage Out (VOUT/VID)) under CHL8228.

If you do all of the above and it doesn't work, got to Step 3 and replace 1 with 2 in the first line and override the MSIAfterburner.cfg file. However, using 2 is likely going to disable 2D clock power saving features. This is the more hardcore override.

Note: on Sapphire cards, or otherwise, you could try Sapphire Trixx 4.3.0. Voltage control should work natively.

HIS IceQ X or Gigabyte Windforce 3x cards look good for $380 without rebate.

Here is a recent review on the HIS and and older one Gigabyte.

 

[Fx1]

i want to say i think the ghz edition has a higher stock voltage, but you can flash a ghz edition bios on any normal 7970 and end up with the same card.

no you cant!

 

[Fx1]

HD7970s ship with 1.174/1.175V BIOS most of the time while 7970GEs ship with 1.25V one. Generally speaking it's the same chip. I am not sure about HD7970's being locked as most people keep reinstalling MSI Afterburner/ AMD drivers. If you install drivers past Catalyst 12.6 and MSI Afterburner past 2.2.1, almost all HD7970s are automatically locked. You have to manually do the Unofficial MSI Afterburner unlock, but most people are noobs and they start claiming their card is locked because they lost the 2 dll files that came with MSI Afterburner 2.2.1.

To unlock MSI Afterburner, this is what you need to do:

Step 1: Download the latest AMD drivers from the website, not the CD.

Step 2: Download MSI AfterBurner version 2.2.1 or earlier. Versions 2.2.2 or after are missing 2 important .dll files that you need (atipdl64.dll and atipdlxx.dll) for voltage control to work with MSI Afterburner.

Step 3: Go to C:\Program Files\MSI Afterburner directory and find a file called "MSIAfterburner.cfg". Right click mouse button, Open With Notepad.

Under the heading [ATIADLHAL] paste these 2 lines:
UnofficialOverclockingMode = 1
UnofficialOverclockingEULA = I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it

Now click File --> Save As "MSIAfterburner.cfg" as a Text Document and override existing .cfg file. Or you could cut the MSIAfterburner.cfg file and paste it onto the desktop; drop those 2 lines and repaste it back into the MSIAfterburner folder.

Now if you open MSI AB, you should see voltage control slider enabled. The next step is extending GPU/memory clock limits.

Step 4: Close MSI Afterburner. Download Asus GPU Tweak. It should be easy to find by Searching for it on Asus.com website. Open it. Go to Settings, Tuning --> Tuning Setting. Check mark "Overclocking range enhancement". Press Apply. Your screen should flash black. Now you can close Asus GPU Tweak and never need to force running it on Windows Boot up. This is a one time adjustment.

Step 5: Open MSI AB and you should be able to move GPU clock to 1710 depending and GPU memory to 2565 (or similar values).

If you then later want to download the latest version of MSI Afterburner you MUST save those 2 dll files and the MSIAfterburner.cfg configuration file you edited and import BOTH of them into your C:\ProgramFiles\MSI Afterburner directory. If you do not do this and reinstall new MSI Afterburner over version 2.2.1, your videocard will be automatically locked again and you'd need to follow all the steps above.

Key note - the GPU voltage value you set in MSI AB is target voltage and actual voltage is in GPU-Z (under Sensor Tab --> VDDC --> "Show Highest Reading"). You can select Log to File to monitor VDDC from GPU-Z during games.

or in HwInfo64 (as "GPU VRM Voltage Out (VOUT/VID)) under CHL8228.

If you do all of the above and it doesn't work, got to Step 3 and replace 1 with 2 in the first line and override the MSIAfterburner.cfg file. However, using 2 is likely going to disable 2D clock power saving features. This is the more hardcore override.

Note: on Sapphire cards, or otherwise, you could try Sapphire Trixx 4.3.0. Voltage control should work natively.

HIS IceQ X or Gigabyte Windforce 3x cards look good for $380 without rebate.

Here is a recent review on the HIS and and older one Gigabyte.

1 sec!

DONT DO THIS.

DOESNT WORK AND Will Screw up your visuals.

You need to do the /xcl trick with the shortcut target in properties.

Also there are only a HANDFULL of 7970's you can increase the voltage on now. Most have been locked.

MSI cards you can but im pretty sure shapphire have started locking theirs and so do Gigabyte.

 

[Fx1]

Are there any differences between a normal 7970 and a GHz edition aside from the overclock? Reviews I've read don't seem to mention any.

If there aren't any actual benefits to getting a GHz edition, I figure I will save money and buy a regular one and overclock it myself. But I have read that some 7970's are locked and cannot be overclocked. How do I tell which cards are unlocked?

MSI Lightning and MSI reference are 2 cards which i know are still unlocked.

My Reference MSI is running at 1125/1800 on 1.174v and the unlocked voltage wont get me any higher so unlocking the volts doest always help but it beats my Gigabyte 1050/1400 max clock on same voltage

 

[hjalti8]

I think we need to make a list of locked and unlocked cards. Its going to be tricky because new batches of some cards(gigabyte?) are voltage locked.
Even asus locked some of their dc2 cards.
I think MSI is one of the few(if not the only one) that have not locked any card, props to them

 

[ICDP]

For those in the UK the VTX X-Edition 7970 is voltage unlocked.
ASUS Matrix Platinum edition is unlocked (but at a massive premium).

All new Gigabyte WF models ARE voltage locked at hardware level. No amount of messing with DLLs wil unlock them.

 

[CakeMonster]

I might as well ask in this thread:

Is it feasible to permanently OC a 7970 in the BIOS? So that I don't have to overclock in CCC everytime I update the driver (or in AB to get the full potential on memory). This could involve updating to a 7970GE BIOS (or not). And if I do so, will the CCC make any trouble regarding clock speeds (especially if memory is above 1575).

Any ideas?

 

[raghu78]

I might as well ask in this thread:

Is it feasible to permanently OC a 7970 in the BIOS? So that I don't have to overclock in CCC everytime I update the driver (or in AB to get the full potential on memory). This could involve updating to a 7970GE BIOS (or not). And if I do so, will the CCC make any trouble regarding clock speeds (especially if memory is above 1575).

Any ideas?

Flashing the HD 7970 Ghz bios on any reference HD 7970 should mostly work. But its not guaranteed to work. you could face stability issues.

the best option would be to manually tweak voltage and find max stable overclocks. save those oc settings in msi ab or sapphire trixx . load them when you want to play games and set back to stock settings once you have finished playing.

 

[Fx1]

Flashing the HD 7970 Ghz bios on any reference HD 7970 should mostly work. But its not guaranteed to work. you could face stability issues.

the best option would be to manually tweak voltage and find max stable overclocks. save those oc settings in msi ab or sapphire trixx . load them when you want to play games and set back to stock settings once you have finished playing.

Ghz Bios doesnt work. 9/10 cant make it work and the 1/10 cant explain why his does.

Also just save the profile in AB and use it 24/7 doesnt need changing. im at 1125/1800 every time i boot and i have zero problems

 

[Despoiler]

Ghz Bios doesnt work. 9/10 cant make it work and the 1/10 cant explain why his does.

Also just save the profile in AB and use it 24/7 doesnt need changing. im at 1125/1800 every time i boot and i have zero problems

I've flashed the GHZ BIOS on 2 reference Sapphire 7970s and it worked both times. If you expect to use the Window exe file to make the flash it may or may not work. If you flash in a DOS prompt, which is how you should always flash, it will work.

 

[RussianSensation]

DONT DO THIS.
DOESNT WORK AND Will Screw up your visuals.
You need to do the /xcl trick with the shortcut target in properties.

Of course it works. It works perfectly on my card. The /xcl trick is just another way of reaching the same spot but I am pretty sure you still need the 2 dll files or the card still won't unlock.

Also, your sweeping generalization that 9/10 HD7970 cards cannot be flashed to HD7970GE safely needs some hard data to back that up.

I can tell you that my HD7970 was locked from day 1 and I bought it all the way last summer. I know someone else who bought a 7970 in December and we also unlocked it using the same method. I knew right away you have to do the unlock yourself on the HD7970 to have voltage control in MSI Afterburner unless you pay more for MSI Lightning or Asus Matrix Platinum. So are most HD7970 physically hardware/BIOS locked now or people buying them are simply ignorant that you have to perform the Unofficial MSI Afterburner unlock to get the voltage unlock to work, and ignoring that you need the 2 .dll files?

Keep in mind that with older MSI Afterburner versions and older Catalyst drivers, the 2 .dll files that are required to have the voltage unlock working in MSIAB were present. That means if you installed MSI AB versions 2.2.1 and earlier and had some way older Catalyst drivers on your system (even if you installed new ones, the dll files would remain in Windows registry), then most HD7000 cards were automatically unlocked (except for Asus DirectCUII which shipped with a locked BIOS). My guess is the people who are getting new HD7000 cards now may be installing it on fresh OSes, coming from an NV card, or are getting much later MSI AB/Cats drivers and are missing those 2 key dll files. As such, almost all HD7970 cards should be software locked. This is how it worked anyway but a confusion seems to have occurred due to the .dll files being removed from subsequent MSI AB/Catalyst drivers.

 

[Fx1]

Of course it works. It works perfectly on my card. The /xcl trick is just another way of reaching the same spot but I am pretty sure you still need the 2 dll files or the card still won't unlock.

Also, your sweeping generalization that 9/10 HD7970 cards cannot be flashed to HD7970GE safely needs some hard data to back that up.

I can tell you that my HD7970 was locked from day 1 and I bought it all the way last summer. I know someone else who bought a 7970 in December and we also unlocked it using the same method. I knew right away you have to do the unlock yourself on the HD7970 to have voltage control in MSI Afterburner unless you pay more for MSI Lightning or Asus Matrix Platinum. So are most HD7970 physically hardware/BIOS locked now or people buying them are simply ignorant that you have to perform the Unofficial MSI Afterburner unlock to get the voltage unlock to work, and ignoring that you need the 2 .dll files?

Keep in mind that with older MSI Afterburner versions and older Catalyst drivers, the 2 .dll files that are required to have the voltage unlock working in MSIAB were present. That means if you installed MSI AB versions 2.2.1 and earlier and had some way older Catalyst drivers on your system (even if you installed new ones, the dll files would remain in Windows registry), then most HD7000 cards were automatically unlocked (except for Asus DirectCUII which shipped with a locked BIOS). My guess is the people who are getting new HD7000 cards now may be installing it on fresh OSes, coming from an NV card, or are getting much later MSI AB/Cats drivers and are missing those 2 key dll files. As such, almost all HD7970 cards should be software locked. This is how it worked anyway but a confusion seems to have occurred due to the .dll files being removed from subsequent MSI AB/Catalyst drivers.

You info is way out of date.

That AB method isnt supported and causes serious problems, when i did it it screwed 30% of my screen and i had to remove it before the whole thing started to go awol. This wasnt even clocked this was as soon as i did the unlock in AB.

the /xcl doesnt need any dll files at all.

Also the card makers have made it their business to lock voltage at a hardware level and bios flashes BSOD now.

I dont need to back anything up i spent a load of time researching because the first card i got was perm locked.

Now i have an MSI Reference card which isnt locked.

 

[RussianSensation]

That AB method isnt supported and causes serious problems, when i did it it screwed 30% of my screen and i had to remove it before the whole thing started to go awol. This wasnt even clocked this was as soon as i did the unlock in AB.

Also the card makers have made it their business to lock voltage at a hardware level and bios flashes BSOD now.

When you say "Now" do you mean last month? The December card my friend got unlocked using the method I described.

I dont need to back anything up i spent a load of time researching because the first card i got was perm locked.

Which card was that? Some cards like XFX dual fan and Asus DirectCUII either shipped had locked BIOSes for a long time now. XFX is notorious for using AMD's reference PCB and then switching to a cheaper version later in the generation that doesn't support voltage control. They have been doing this for years with HD4890/5870 revision 2 cards too.

If you want voltage unlock guarantee with non-MSI Lightning, etc, you need to get a card with letters "AMD" on the PCB. That's been the same for HD6950/6970 too. It's not that AIBs are making cards and purposely locking them. It's that they are no longer making cards on reference PCBs to cut costs which basically removes voltage control as has been the case with HD4000 and beyond, unless the AIB specifically supports it (like Sapphire Trixx or HIS tune software).

Now i have an MSI Reference card which isnt locked.

Obviously. Reference AMD PCB is guaranteed to unlock. Same was true for reference HD6950s and non-reference ones.

 

[Fx1]

When you say "Now" do you mean last month? The December card my friend got unlocked using the method I described.



Which card was that? Some cards like XFX dual fan and Asus DirectCUII either shipped had locked BIOSes for a long time now. XFX is notorious for using AMD's reference PCB and then switching to a cheaper version later in the generation that doesn't support voltage control. They have been doing this for years with HD4890/5870 revision 2 cards too.

If you want voltage unlock guarantee with non-MSI Lightning, etc, you need to get a card with letters "AMD" on the PCB. That's been the same for HD6950/6970 too. It's not that AIBs are making cards and purposely locking them. It's that they are no longer making cards on reference PCBs to cut costs which basically removes voltage control as has been the case with HD4000 and beyond, unless the AIB specifically supports it (like Sapphire Trixx or HIS tune software).

Obviously. Reference AMD PCB is guaranteed to unlock. Same was true for reference HD6950s and non-reference ones.

Now as in 2 weeks ago.

Even Saphire reference cards are coming in without voltage control apparently.

The card i had was a Windforce X3 and was locked at 1.174 and was also a dog. This MSI i have now clocks 1125/1800 and volts ironically wont let me get any higher but im happy with this clock for £300 card.

There are lots of new revisions on the market now which because of the GHZ cards have voltage control completely locked out. How they do it im not sure but the bios from a GHZ card wont take without BSOD.

If somehow it does then its likely old stock of an older revision where it works.

 

[ICDP]

I can confirm the Gigabyte Windforce GHz Edition 7970 is perma locked. It simply has no voltage controller hardware, so no amount of messing with AB or BIOS updates work. It also had fan set to 50% on idle by default which was not acceptable. I sent it back for a refund due to teh high idle fans noise and got a XFX X-Edition 7970 (non GE). The XFX card does have voltage control and was quieter and clocked higher at a lower voltage.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Can we get a list going? I was looking at the $300 TF3 /w game bundle (7950) but I'm hearing it's voltage locked.

I'd rather not go by the AMD logo, as Newegg doesn't always update their images for new batches.

 

[raghu78]

Can we get a list going? I was looking at the $300 TF3 /w game bundle (7950) but I'm hearing it's voltage locked.

I'd rather not go by the AMD logo, as Newegg doesn't always update their images for new batches.

the msi hd 7950 twin frozr is not voltage locked. the sapphire hd 7950 boost, his hd 7950 iceq x2 boost and his hd 7950 iceq boost also have unlocked voltage.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202006
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161420
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161429

 

[Fx1]

the msi hd 7950 twin frozr is not voltage locked. the sapphire hd 7950 boost, his hd 7950 iceq x2 boost and his hd 7950 iceq boost also have unlocked voltage.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202006
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161420
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161429

Im pretty sure some of those saphires are locked. the IceQ ones specifically

 

[RussianSensation]

I can confirm the Gigabyte Windforce GHz Edition 7970 is perma locked. It simply has no voltage controller hardware, so no amount of messing with AB or BIOS updates work. It also had fan set to 50% on idle by default which was not acceptable. I sent it back for a refund due to teh high idle fans noise and got a XFX X-Edition 7970 (non GE). The XFX card does have voltage control and was quieter and clocked higher at a lower voltage.

You checked and the CHIL 8228 chip was completely missing on the PCB? You should have taken a picture of that!

 

[RussianSensation]

Im pretty sure some of those saphires are locked. the IceQ ones specifically

I don't think so. All Sapphires should be unlocked. The Sapphire HD7950 on the Egg even has AMD letters on the PCB and reviews says it's unlocked.

I tested the Blue and Brown PCB versions of the Sapphire 7970 and they both unlocked. I've never heard of a locked 7950/7970 Sapphire card that didn't work with the Unofficial MSI Afterburner unlock or Sapphire Trixx. Also the Sapphire Vapor-X 7950/7970 should allow voltage control to 1.256V at least.

Also the HIS IceQ should be unlocked as well. It has the CHIL 8228 and the 7950 version ships with 6+8 pin PCB. The cooler is decent but most HIS 7950-7970 cards have lower binned ASIC (around 60% range).

Xbitlabs had no problem raising GPU voltage to 1.236V on the 7950 IceQ2. You don't want to go much above that anyway on the 7950. The card was just recently tested.

Can we get a list going? I was looking at the $300 TF3 /w game bundle (7950) but I'm hearing it's voltage locked.

The MSI TF3 7950 with 6+8 pin connectors on HD7970 PCB was an amazing overclocker. Browsing quick reviews on Newegg, it seems Newegg is shipping 960mhz HD7950 TF3 card with 6+6 pin connectors. The 6+6 TF3 7950 was never known to be an amazing overclocker. In your case I wouldn't upgrade from your cards. Just wait more. You'd have to buy 2 7950s to make it a worthwhile upgrade.

 

[Fx1]

I don't think so. All Sapphires should be unlocked. The Sapphire HD7950 on the Egg even has AMD letters on the PCB and reviews says it's unlocked.

I tested the Blue and Brown PCB versions of the Sapphire 7970 and they both unlocked. I've never heard of a locked 7950/7970 Sapphire card that didn't work with the Unofficial MSI Afterburner unlock or Sapphire Trixx. Also the Sapphire Vapor-X 7950/7970 should allow voltage control to 1.256V at least.

Also the HIS IceQ should be unlocked as well. It has the CHIL 8228 and the 7950 version ships with 6+8 pin PCB. The cooler is decent but most HIS 7950-7970 cards have lower binned ASIC (around 60% range).

Xbitlabs had no problem raising GPU voltage to 1.236V on the 7950 IceQ2. You don't want to go much above that anyway on the 7950. The card was just recently tested.



The MSI TF3 7950 with 6+8 pin connectors on HD7970 PCB was an amazing overclocker. Browsing quick reviews on Newegg, it seems Newegg is shipping 960mhz HD7950 TF3 card with 6+6 pin connectors. The 6+6 TF3 7950 was never known to be an amazing overclocker. In your case I wouldn't upgrade from your cards. Just wait more. You'd have to buy 2 7950s to make it a worthwhile upgrade.

You are confusing BOOST cards and GHZ cards with standard 7970's

My point is that nearly all 7970 cards now have locked voltages because the GHZ models come with the unlocked voltages.

The non ghz 7970 ICE Q is definitely locked. I found a forum thread dedicated to someone who bought it and couldnt change their voltage and ended up sending it back.

ALSO this isnt about the 7950 its a totally different card. Look at the thread title. Dont confuse the subject here. this is 7970 vs 7970 GHZ

Also a 7950 you claims is unlocked is reported to be locked http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/en/forum/threadview/2832654489958091828/

 

[peonyu]

1 sec!

DONT DO THIS.

DOESNT WORK AND Will Screw up your visuals.

You need to do the /xcl trick with the shortcut target in properties.

Also there are only a HANDFULL of 7970's you can increase the voltage on now. Most have been locked.

MSI cards you can but im pretty sure shapphire have started locking theirs and so do Gigabyte.

Yup you are correct. It makes your card go wonky in Windows especially.

 

[Eureka]

I'd have to agree I tried it on my visiontek 7970 ghz in November... Didn't work. Turns out something happened when I turned off the voltage override and gpu-z would report higher voltages but stability wasn't really better. If I had it on it would give me crazy windows artifacts.