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MSI 7870 Overclocking Isues

J

JTC428

n00b
Joined
Jun 25, 2012
Messages
34
I have a MSI TFIII 7870 and I've been trying to overclock it. It'll play through games just fine but during random internet browsing it just freezes and my screen will become tan with grey lines down it or red with black lines down it. I've tried just about everything I could think of and couldn't find a solution. :(

Any ideas?
 
Does it do it at the factory clock speeds or only when overclocked? If its only when its overclocked, the you're pushing your overclock too far and its not stable. If its doing it at stock speeds, then you either have a driver issue or possibly a bad card.
 
Did you add voltage when you overclocked it? VERY doubtful you'll hit 1200MHz without more voltage, even 1150 is about the limit of what you can expect at default voltage. What does Afterburner show as your default voltage?

My MSI Twin Frozr 7850 did 1140/6000MHz at the stock voltage, but I never could adjust the voltage using Afterburner and was told by Wizzard(creator of AB) that voltage support wouldn't be added for that card, only the 7850 Power Edition. I was able to adjust voltage with Asus Tweak, but I just don't care for that tool and it wasn't very stable at the time and would cause random screen freezes, they may have fixed it now with a more recent Asus Tweak updated version.
 
Some people can barely get their 7970 stock at 1000Mhz. If it is fine at factory settings and your artifacting with a slight increase your likely screwed. What volts are you pushing through it?
 
Yeah I've bumped up the voltage before, same issue. But, the thing is I can run Unigine Heaven maxed out all day long to stress it out and their will be no problems, but when I'm doing stuff like browsing the internet or watch youtube it'll just freeze up and do what was said above.
 
Default Voltage (As displayed by AB) : 1168 mV

I try to push for 1200 mV or higher depending on the clocks and I put the power limit on +20.

I've only found one other person on a different forum with this problem and they found the solution of not messing with the voltages and trying to get the most out of it with the stock.

I tried this played BF3 for 2 hours or so, as soon as I closed the game, it did it :/
 
Some of the BETA drivers online are buggy. Also AMD drivers are very touchy, a proper clean uninstall is mandatory before doing clean install IMO. REGEDIT, DRIVER SWEEPER, Crap Cleaner, FOLDER searching "AMD", "AMD", "ACE", reboot and repeat till all clean, user setting folders,,,.ect. Sucks but the end result is a clean install that works decent.


Monitor your temps to see if your gpu is heating up. If it is hotter than other similar cards may need to look at thermal pads or reapply thermal paste. Contact manufacturer to see if you can apply TP or themal pads to improve any heat problems.

RMA if necessary.
 
Im running catalyst 12.6, and no I've actually never heard of HWinfo64. Is it a free download?

UPDATE: I've downloaded it and its running but where do you find VRM temperatures?
 
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Certainly sounds strange, especially if you can pass 30 minutes of Heaven at max settings, but if its still not stable at the desktop, I would have to assume you have an issue with the 2D clock speeds and voltage. The clock speeds and voltages are supposed to drop in 2D mode to save on power since its not neded for web browsing, but it sounds like maybe your card isn't stable at 2D clock speeds which is not normal. I have to ask again, does it do this when its not overclocked too? It shouldn't matter since the 2D clock speeds should be the same but I have to ask for the sake of troubleshooting methodology.
 
I have to ask again, does it do this when its not overclocked too?
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Nope, it runs perfectly fine at factory speeds...

I overclocked it for testing sake to:

Voltage: 1200 mV
Core: 1175 MHz
Memory Clock: 1325 MHz

Then played an hour long session of BF3 Multiplayer did Ultra averaged about 50+ FPS
And so far it hasn't freaked on me yet. ;)

Maybe the voltages I've been doing weren't good enough or were too much. :confused:

2D Speeds: 300/150
 
Too much voltage can cause issues also, as well too little. 2D clocks sound correct, but I don't know what voltage its using in 2D mode, you would have to check with GPU-Z.
 
Well I thank you all for your suggestions but, I think I'm just gonna give up on overclocking it. Its a good card and all I just thought I could get more out of it :/
 
did you try selecting force constant voltage in Afterburner?
 
JTC428 said:
Im running catalyst 12.6, and no I've actually never heard of HWinfo64. Is it a free download?

UPDATE: I've downloaded it and its running but where do you find VRM temperatures?
Click to expand...



When it starts up select run sensors only and the scroll all the way down for GPU speeds, voltage, and heat readings. You can also see if you are having a voltage problem.



Check "force constant" voltage in the settings in AB to force the voltage to remain at settings.


Might also want to look into running ATIFlash and try a compatible different BIOS that has a good reputation for over clocking.
 
JTC428 said:
I put force constant on, but I haven't been able to play any games yet :/
Click to expand...



Sounds like you got a dud.

I'd return to seller and get your money back and buy a MSI Power Edition HD7850 which looks a much better card for the money.
 
Sounds like you got a dud.

I'd return to seller and get your money back and buy a MSI Power Edition HD7850 which looks a much better card for the money.
Today 09:55 PM
Click to expand...

Oh no, like I haven't had the time :eek: , and a 7850 world be a down grade anyway... there's nothing wrong with my card I just couldn't get it to overclock. Maybe the force constant was the answer :confused: only time will tell....

I just did one more BF3 session for the night with it OC'd, if it blows again while searching the forums/on youtube its back to stock clocks once again.
 
Well, I've been doing random tasks continuously for the past 4 and a half hours and everything is still running strong :D knock on wood.
 
JTC428 said:
Well, I've been doing random tasks continuously for the past 4 and a half hours and everything is still running strong :D knock on wood.
Click to expand...


MSI is my favorite card builder. Hope that card works out for you.
 
Good to know that constant voltage works. Have you tried using overdrive/trixx to OC? I think trixx is slightly more stable than AB when overclocking.
 
JTC428 said:
Yeah,
Click to expand...

I believe it has to do with hardware accelerated Flash in Firefox with Flash enabled websites would cause screen freezes. I don't know the specifics because I don't use Firefox. I can't recall if the issue was Firefox itself or an AMD driver issue.
 
Blkout said:
I believe it has to do with hardware accelerated Flash in Firefox with Flash enabled websites would cause screen freezes. I don't know the specifics because I don't use Firefox. I can't recall if the issue was Firefox itself or an AMD driver issue.
Click to expand...

This.

I had to disable GPU acceleration. Google it, thats probably the issue.
 
Have you tried using overdrive/trixx to OC? I think trixx is slightly more stable than AB when overclocking.
Click to expand...

No, I'm most familiar with AB, and I prefer to use it. Maybe in the future though.

I believe it has to do with hardware accelerated Flash in Firefox with Flash enabled websites would cause screen freezes. I don't know the specifics because I don't use Firefox. I can't recall if the issue was Firefox itself or an AMD driver issue.
Click to expand...

Why would it only happen when overclocked though? I think SonDa5 was right with the "force constant" , I'm just gonna leave everything as is unless something happens, then I'll mess with that. I wont be able to tell whats making it blow, if I have two things changed.

MSI is my favorite card builder. Hope that card works out for you.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I appreciate the help.
 
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I realize the option is there to force constant voltage which I'm guessing simply means the voltage doesn't drop in non-3D applications, but that really shouldn't be necessary for stability. Its great if you determine that was the issue, that your 2D clocks aren't stable due to a low voltage issue but I would still send the card back if that's the actual issue rather than using a work-around permanently. I'm still surprised if that's the issue because it just isn't common.
 
It says in the description "May help stability in some systems". And sending it back would be a waste of time, because as I've said before NOTHING is wrong with my card. Whatever I was doing before while overclocking was not the correct way to go about it.
 
I'm glad you know everything, not sure why you registered here since everytime someone tries to help you, you snap at them. I'll just state this one more time since you failed to read what I said, ITS NOT NECESSARY to force constant voltage for your card to be stable in 2D mode. If this is the case, YOU DO have a defective card. I don't care if you want to keep the card or not, just stating it as is.
 
I apologize :eek:, but yes I will be keeping the card, I'm just gonna use a permanent work-around like you said.
 
Fair enough, just no need to get hostile when people are trying to help you. Some of the things asked may seem beneath your level of knowledge or may even seem redundant but people are simply trying to nail down the source of your issue and in the process some things have to be ruled out methodically.
 
I have the same issue with my card, AMD based drivers. I just attributed it to low ram issue as I cannot run high graphic settings in some games such as Oblivion or Fallen Earth. What helped was lowering the cards' default clock speed. I use chrome, not firefox.
 
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