7970 Overclocking Woes

[Faksnima]

My reference Sapphire unit wont overclock past 1075/1500 - it artifacts heavily on higher temperatures when oc'd past these numbers. Voltage changes, via TriXX, do nothing. I've been testing using HeavenEngine, 3dmark, bf3, and GPUTOOL (which is proving to be a very sensitive to artifacting). To top it off my case is currently open. My ASIC quality is 76.4%. I think I may have gotten a dud oc wise. Any thoughts? I may return this one and go for another unit. And before people start bashing about returning for sub par OC: let me remind you of a few things.

These cards have been marketed for the overclocking enthusiast. The units supplied to most major reviewers have all overclocked with significant gains. There has been almost a unanimous positive media output regarding the potential of these cards. Unfortunately this has not been the case for many consumers. With the culture of enthusiast platforms, being the way the way it is, overclocking is now more of a bullet point on a check list when we're shopping rather than a nice little surprise. When cards like these are placed in the market segment catered for for the enthusiast, then there are certain expectations - especially when manufacturers, along with third party vendors supply review chains with cards that are supposed to represent the typical, consumer bought units. My expectations were 1125/1575 on stock cooling should be easily reached, this was however far from the case.

Any help would be nice. Thanks!

 

[silent-circuit]

Lots of people get well over 1Ghz with 6950s, neither of mine will go that high without massive over-volting... but not once did I consider returning them. You got what you paid for.

 

[Faksnima]

Lots of people get well over 1Ghz with 6950s, neither of mine will go that high without massive over-volting... but not once did I consider returning them. You got what you paid for.

You're obviously entitled to your opinion, I've already stated why I hold mine. Can anyone share with me the relative importance of ASIC value?

 

[SKL1]

You cant return a card because it doesn't OC to your expectations...yes it was marketed that way...but with out any guarantees.

 

[Faksnima]

Any advice on what is potentially the issue? I just closed my case, which has a side fan and am running GPU tool while modifying core/mem clocks. I just set it at 1100/1500, looks like those are working fine...with the case closed as opposed to open. It's at 83C, 99% load. Btw, does GPUTool harm gpus?

 

[Maboroshi Daikon]

I've got a Powercolor 7970 that has just about the same OC limits. I think mine were 1025 and 1500, though. Download the latest beta of MSI Afterburner (I'm using v2.2.0 Beta 11) and use that instead. You'll have to jump through some hoops before you can enable the Core Voltage setting, but once you do, you should be able to adjust it. I can get mine stable at 1.275v and 1100Mhz. I think it might go to 1125Mhz with 1.3v, but I backed things down to 1.25v and 1075Mhz.

 

[Faksnima]

Does anyone use GPUtool to measure stability?

 

[x3sphere]

my gigabyte 7970 only hits 1075, as well. No amount of voltage helps, and I have temps at 65-70C under load.

I'm still happy with the performance. Going from 1075 to 1125 isn't a noticeable jump.

 

[KaptainKhaos]

buy another card until you find one that overclocks well and sell of the other unit or get one that is binned for high overclocking - RMAing a card because it can't reach a certain clock is probably not looked on to kindly around here.

 

[SKL1]

- RMAing a card because it can't reach a certain clock is probably not looked on to kindly around here.

No its not...If you RMA it, you'll take a 15%...were as if you sell it you could even make $

 

[Faksnima]

No its not...If you RMA it, you'll take a 15%...were as if you sell it you could even make $

It wouldn't be an RMA. I am still within my 30 day policy. It seems stable..seems...at 1100/1500. GPU tool detected one artifact in 20 minutes early, then nothing after. I have the fan control set to auto, so I am assuming it artifacted during the early ramp up time.

 

[jrcbandit]

Keeping the cooler at a decent noise level, I can only get 1090/1550 without any artifacting, although it goes higher if I am willing to go 60%+ fan speed. But to make it bearable, I am sticking to 45% fan at load ;p. I was initially disappointed with this, but the real world performance difference b/w my max overclock and what I settled on is pretty much negligible. That is the luck of the draw when buying video cards, there is no guarantee you will get super overclocking potential.

As for returning the card, the card isn't defective so you wont get free shipping back (it wasn't sold with any type of overclocking guarantee, that was just your expectation). Also, the restocking fee depends on the store - Amazon has no fee and I believe Newegg has no restocking fee when the policy is VGA Standard, but you will have to call to make sure it gets waived as the automated returns adds in the restocking fee initially. Also, there is no guarantee you will be getting a better card, you may be better off returning it and waiting on the custom cooler/designed 7970s.

One thing I do wonder about, does Newegg try to sell returned 7970s as brand new? My MSI box was not sealed in any manner, other than the video card itself with some tape ;p. However, the shipping container was sealed with MSI tape, which could mean that it came straight from MSI (or does Newegg bother to seal shipping boxes with manufacturer tape, lol).

 

[Faksnima]

I should mention that I would not feel too bad returning this card as 1.) My first Sapphire 7970 was DOA, and 2.) the one that I received was poorly packaged and open.

 

[ApeXiTT]

My reference Sapphire unit wont overclock past 1075/1500 - it artifacts heavily on higher temperatures when oc'd past these numbers. Voltage changes, via TriXX, do nothing. I've been testing using HeavenEngine, 3dmark, bf3, and GPUTOOL (which is proving to be a very sensitive to artifacting). To top it off my case is currently open. My ASIC quality is 76.4%. I think I may have gotten a dud oc wise. Any thoughts? I may return this one and go for another unit. And before people start bashing about returning for sub par OC: let me remind you of a few things.

These cards have been marketed for the overclocking enthusiast. The units supplied to most major reviewers have all overclocked with significant gains. There has been almost a unanimous positive media output regarding the potential of these cards. Unfortunately this has not been the case for many consumers. With the culture of enthusiast platforms, being the way the way it is, overclocking is now more of a bullet point on a check list when we're shopping rather than a nice little surprise. When cards like these are placed in the market segment catered for for the enthusiast, then there are certain expectations - especially when manufacturers, along with third party vendors supply review chains with cards that are supposed to represent the typical, consumer bought units. My expectations were 1125/1575 on stock cooling should be easily reached, this was however far from the case.

Any help would be nice. Thanks!

I have a MSI 7970 and I could not get passed 1080mhz on the GPU core... It would artifact like crazy.. even though my temps never left 51c on load. So I decided to take the Cooler off and to make sure all of the Memory chips were making contact and reapplied thermal paste on the GPU.. but now I can overclock the GPU to 1100mhz with 1.175 volts 1680 on the memory.. I'm still testing. Hopefully I can overclock it even more, I'll update.

 

[jrcbandit]

I have a MSI 7970 and I could not get passed 1080mhz on the GPU core... It would artifact like crazy.. even though my temps never left 51c on load. So I decided to take the Cooler off and to make sure all of the Memory chips were making contact and reapplied thermal paste on the GPU.. but now I can overclock the GPU to 1100mhz with 1.175 volts 1680 on the memory.. I'm still testing. Hopefully I can overclock it even more, I'll update.

Ah good info. So if I want to do the same, what should I be checking regarding the memory chips? I have MX-4 thermal compound I used on my CPU, I assume that will work fine for the GPU?

 

[ApeXiTT]

Ah good info. So if I want to do the same, what should I be checking regarding the memory chips? I have MX-4 thermal compound I used on my CPU, I assume that will work fine for the GPU?

Ok.. best Overclock I can gt is 1150mhz @ 1.250v 1.670mhz on the Memory... I'm up from the 1080 on the core though which is great

On the memory chips, some of mine weren't making contact to the heatsink. They are thermal pads just make sure that they line up properly. Yes you can use MX-4 thermal compound on your GPU.

 

[icanseeu1985]

I should mention that I would not feel too bad returning this card as 1.) My first Sapphire 7970 was DOA, and 2.) the one that I received was poorly packaged and open.

what are the odds? wow. Out of all the customers who got a sapphire 7970 (me included). It had to be you, who got the shitty package/doa.

 

[badb0y]

Mine does 1200 core with 1.182 vcore lol. I am waiting to setup my water cooling setup to get here before I really push the card.

 

[ApeXiTT]

Mine does 1200 core with 1.182 vcore lol. I am waiting to setup my water cooling setup to get here before I really push the card.

Are you bragging?? yeah.. I'm not happy about mine. With 1.18 all I can get is 1150mhz. I'm usually always lucky with silcon but not this time. Like i said though I wasn't even able to do 1080mhz on this card without taking the damn thing apart.

 

[badb0y]

Are you bragging?? yeah.. I'm not happy about mine. With 1.18 all I can get is 1150mhz. I'm usually always lucky with silcon but not this time. Like i said though I wasn't even able to do 1080mhz on this card without taking the damn thing apart.

Haha, yea I was stroking my e-peen just a little bit . I have been lucky with my graphics cards for the past 2 purchases. My HD 6950 hit 1000 on core with 1.3v and now this Sapphire 7970 *might* hit 1300 by the time I reach 1.3v.

It's all about the luck of the draw. My 2500k didn't clock as well as I wanted to so I sold it and bought a binned 2600k lol.

 

[ApeXiTT]

Haha, yea I was stroking my e-peen just a little bit . I have been lucky with my graphics cards for the past 2 purchases. My HD 6950 hit 1000 on core with 1.3v and now this Sapphire 7970 *might* hit 1300 by the time I reach 1.3v.

It's all about the luck of the draw. My 2500k didn't clock as well as I wanted to so I sold it and bought a binned 2600k lol.

LOL, nice. I just sold my 6970s and I was able to overclock all 3 of those easily.. I must say I'm a little disappointed this time.

 

[Faksnima]

So I'm having them ship me a replacement unit, due tomorrow. Now I am having second thoughts on keeping it. I am strongly thinking about selling it and buying something that may tide me over a while - like a 6950/70 or 560ti 448.

 

[fury]

So I'm having them ship me a replacement unit, due tomorrow. Now I am having second thoughts on keeping it. I am strongly thinking about selling it and buying something that may tide me over a while - like a 6950/70 or 560ti 448.

Maybe the third time will be the charm. Hope you get a good one this time

 

[blade52x]

Lots of people get well over 1Ghz with 6950s, neither of mine will go that high without massive over-volting... but not once did I consider returning them. You got what you paid for.

Same here. I'm not exactly overvolting my unlocked 6950 though ( running 6970 stock voltage) and I can hit 905-910 / 1375-1400 stable. Some of it may have to do with the power control setting in CCC. I leave mine at 0% as opposed to 20% because I can't be bothered to change it every single it resets itself for whatever reason. To the OP, try 20% and see if you get any boost.

 

[Faksnima]

Ok so I got another 7970. Here is the issue with this one.

When OC'd to 1125/1575 in CCC it will hang up immediately when starting a stress test/game and the display driver will stop working. If I set 1125/1575 in Trixx it will run fine without the display drive has stopped working issue. I believe the reason for this is that the card has a low base voltage. Without Trixx or AB, I noticed the base volts were 1024 and with it's 1170. While still annoying, Using trixx corrects the problem. The other major problem is 10 minutes into a game of League of Legends, the screen will go black, the card's fan will slow down to ~10%, and I need to hard reboot. Any thoughts on what this problem is?

ASIC Quality is 89.1%. I have used 3 different drivers and ATIMan to clean up.

 

[rivaltr]

Ok so I got another 7970. Here is the issue with this one.

When OC'd to 1125/1575 in CCC it will hang up immediately when starting a stress test/game and the display driver will stop working. If I set 1125/1575 in Trixx it will run fine without the display drive has stopped working issue. I believe the reason for this is that the card has a low base voltage. Without Trixx or AB, I noticed the base volts were 1024 and with it's 1170. While still annoying, Using trixx corrects the problem. The other major problem is 10 minutes into a game of League of Legends, the screen will go black, the card's fan will slow down to ~10%, and I need to hard reboot. Any thoughts on what this problem is?

ASIC Quality is 89.1%. I have used 3 different drivers and ATIMan to clean up.

I would use gpu-z to monitor real voltage.
There is high chance that also your gpu doesnt get enough voltage. I experienced that whenever i oc to high ( can also be stock it depends every chip is different) that it will just crash. And when it crashes it goes to 2d modus so maybe that is the reason your fanspeed will be lower. I would advise you to check with new hwmonitor because it can check vrm temps. Also i would advise you again to use gpu-z monitor idle voltage and monitor voltage using 3dmark. Just try to bump voltage up a bit maybe youll get stability with games i feel this is just to low voltage.

 

[notarat]

I should mention that I would not feel too bad returning this card as 1.) My first Sapphire 7970 was DOA, and 2.) the one that I received was poorly packaged and open.

So you have no concience to speak of... Okay.

 

[Faksnima]

So you have no concience to speak of... Okay.

I do very much have a conscience. I've had now a total of 3 cards shipped by Amazon. One was DOA, the other two have had broken seals on the packaging indicating they were opened. I am paying good money to make sure I am getting what I bought - a brand new, not used (by anyone other than the people at Sapphire/AMD) video card. I am perfectly within my rights to return equipment should I not be happy. The lack of overclock ability was just enough of a reason to go through w/ the hastle.

 

[Faksnima]

Well I tried something else. I had Trixx boot up with a 1181 voltage, marginally higher than 'stock'...I still continue to believe that my particular card is undervolted and that the transition between 2d to 3d when oc'd at stock (which is below normal) was causing issues. It's booting up fine at 1181 volts @ 1150/1575. GPUTool is yet to notice an artifact. I am not happy that Trixx is in charge of this, as I would expect that card to have 'proper' volts detected as opposed to undervolting. But it's a very minor issue should this card work out.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in general, ASIC value is correlated with higher OC's? If that's the case w/ an 89.1% on this card, I may've hit gold...once I work out these kinks. Has anyone had similar issues that they fixed, perhaps through a bios flash?

 

[manofthem]

I do very much have a conscience. I've had now a total of 3 cards shipped by Amazon. One was DOA, the other two have had broken seals on the packaging indicating they were opened. I am paying good money to make sure I am getting what I bought - a brand new, not used (by anyone other than the people at Sapphire/AMD) video card. I am perfectly within my rights to return equipment should I not be happy. The lack of overclock ability was just enough of a reason to go through w/ the hastle.

Agreed. I swear my box had been opened also. I don't know by whom, and I didn't get it too long after it came out. My card seems to OC well, so I'm not worried there, though it does heat up like woah.

But still, for $560+s/h, I should receive a perfectly brand new, unopened video card.

I understand some people thinking it might be wrong, like when everyone returned/RMA'd their 6950 when they tried to flash a bios, lol fail. That was just lame!

 

[xSystemFailurex]

I do very much have a conscience. I've had now a total of 3 cards shipped by Amazon. One was DOA, the other two have had broken seals on the packaging indicating they were opened. I am paying good money to make sure I am getting what I bought - a brand new, not used (by anyone other than the people at Sapphire/AMD) video card. I am perfectly within my rights to return equipment should I not be happy. The lack of overclock ability was just enough of a reason to go through w/ the hastle.

And where exactly do you think the sellers got cards that were defiled by other people's hands? Oh that's right, people who returned them because they didn't get exactly what they wanted. You're perpetuating the very cycle you complain about.

 

[Faksnima]

And where exactly do you think the sellers got cards that were defiled by other people's hands? Oh that's right, people who returned them because they didn't get exactly what they wanted. You're perpetuating the very cycle you complain about.

I wasn't complaining in the least. I was stating my reasons, as a consumer, on why I would return a product. This is a very large investment for a piece of computer equipment and I believe in high standards, solid quality control and professionalism. Having an item shipped to me 3 times in a defective and/or open condition, is not acceptable by my standards as a consumer. If your expectations are more flexible or if you are just not as stringent a buyer, then kudos to you, I'm sure you are happier with your purchases, generally, than I am. I, however, demand a certain level of quality when I use my hard earned money to purchase something.

 

[IAMEVIL]

Reading this thread gives me the feeling alot of the 7970 overclocking hype are based on cherry picked review units. Real world results does not look good at all.

 

[NKD]

So I'm having them ship me a replacement unit, due tomorrow. Now I am having second thoughts on keeping it. I am strongly thinking about selling it and buying something that may tide me over a while - like a 6950/70 or 560ti 448.

So you would rather have a slower card than a card that overclocked 150mhz+ on the core and wait for something better? It looks like you are just trying to justify getting rid of the card. I will take 150mhz oc on a gpu any f'in day.

 

[NKD]

Reading this thread gives me the feeling alot of the 7970 overclocking hype are based on cherry picked review units. Real world results does not look good at all.

How is it not good at all? How is 150mhz oc on the core not good enough? People seem to be expecting too much, ofcourse not every card is going to hit 1125.

I dont even have the damn card and I would take 150mhz OC on the stock clocks anyday. That is hell of a performance increase regardless. If a card OC's 100mhz on the core that is a damn good overclock.

 

[shansoft]

How is it not good at all? How is 150mhz oc on the core not good enough? People seem to be expecting too much, ofcourse not every card is going to hit 1125.

I dont even have the damn card and I would take 150mhz OC on the stock clocks anyday. That is hell of a performance increase regardless. If a card OC's 100mhz on the core that is a damn good overclock.

My old GTX 480 does 880Mhz out of box on stock cooling

 

[Flopper]

Ok so I got another 7970. Here is the issue with this one.

When OC'd to 1125/1575 in CCC it will hang up immediately when starting a stress test/game and the display driver will stop working. If I set 1125/1575 in Trixx it will run fine without the display drive has stopped working issue. I believe the reason for this is that the card has a low base voltage. Without Trixx or AB, I noticed the base volts were 1024 and with it's 1170. While still annoying, Using trixx corrects the problem. The other major problem is 10 minutes into a game of League of Legends, the screen will go black, the card's fan will slow down to ~10%, and I need to hard reboot. Any thoughts on what this problem is?

ASIC Quality is 89.1%. I have used 3 different drivers and ATIMan to clean up.

temp and fan speed?
use 100% fan speed to eliminate heat issues.
if that works, then better cooling or higher fan speed is needed.

 

[Faksnima]

Here's a new dilemma....at my previous settings on Trixx (set on boot) of 1175 voltage, 1140/1580 - everything was running fine. However, about 2 hours into a BF3 gaming session my displays went black, fan slowed down and the comp needed a hard restart. I encountered this same problem earlier with league of legends. I am not sure what the cause is. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Falkentyne]

At this point I'm clueless. I've played League of Legends with ram speeds as high as 1750 mhz (i know 1725 is stable after testing in 3dmark '11 and Vantage, although scores stop increasing in '11 after 1700, although Vantage shows improvements up to 1725) without any problems at all. (1150 core, 1725 memory at stock (1.17v), and 1175 core 1700 memory at 1.2v. (both are fully game stable).

Try running the card at stock, or 1000 mhz and 1575 memory and see if it happens there?