XFX 7970 Core Edition OC'ing

M

Mr. Stryker

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Mar 15, 2005
Messages
5,221
I bought an used 7970 off an user on here, and all he did was render text. So maybe 3D-wise it hasn't broken in yet, like stretch its arms and legs breaking a sweat running a 3D-intensive application. I'm a little drunk right now.

I've been trying to overclock this video card, I'm using MSI Afterburner because the ATI control panel doesn't seem to be doing anything once I hit apply. The hottest my video card has gotten to was 75°C, That was with +20 extra power, 1100 Mhz core and a measly 1400 mem. The stock mem speed is 1375, and 1400 isn't very far from it before MSI Kombustor freezes & the monitors flick back to normal due to the Display driver has stopped responding error. Is my problem related to temperatures? I don't know how hot the memory gets when I overclock them. Would an Accelero heatsink allow me to overclock further? I was hoping to push the memory a bit further without seeing artifacts in games like Guild Wars 2.
 
isn't the xfx 'core edition' just the reference AMD card. if so a aftermarket cooler will probably drop temps dramatically. you'll need to consider case airflow if you go aftermarket as the gpu will dump heat inside the case.

also check the 'ASIC' quality of the chip (gpu-z). only gives a rough idea card overclockability.

perhaps before considering a new cooler, crack open the case and position a floor-fan directly at case. also turn the GPU fan up to 100% and see how much extra OC headroom it gives.
 
At what settings? I'm using one of the original Rocketfish-branded Lian-li cases. I have a Corsair H80, and it's sucking the airflow IN the case, so maybe the video card is also getting the heat from the CPU inside the case. And then when I play games, the video card dumps hot air, which probably goes up to the H80's fans and.. yeah, I think they both warm up together. lol


aphasia said:
perhaps before considering a new cooler, crack open the case and position a floor-fan directly at case. also turn the GPU fan up to 100% and see how much extra OC headroom it gives.
Click to expand...

I'm actually already at 100% fan, because I'm deaf.
 
Picked DX11, Tessellation: Normal, Shaders: High, Anisotropy: 4x, no AA, and at 2560x1600 I got a score of 1441. No artifacts at 1050MHz core and 1450MHz memory. Got up to 64°C.

Edit #2: Ran the test again with the same settings at 1075MHz core, 1500Mhz memory (no artifacts yet or driver crashing) peaked 65°C. 1482 score.

Guess it's the OpenGL thingy that Furmark and Kombuster uses that doesn't agree with this? If it ran through Unigine fine, does that mean it's game stable?
 
Last edited:
For starters, just loop Heaven for 30 minutes @ max settings using your default resolution. Use MSI AB graph to log event.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us
 
Seems like an okay OC. No such thing, really, as breaking a card in. It will either perform at clockspeed+voltage or not. 64C is definitely not a cooling limited OC.
 
Ran Unigine at the max settings for half hour, saw no artifacts except for one weird light ray flashing 15 minutes in but didn't do that again.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us
 
Everything looks pretty-good to me except for the one downward spike. Heaven can be flaky at times.

Time to increase your gpu-core incrementally 25-50Mhz and retest w/ 3 loops of heaven for each bump until it crashes. Leave the memory @1400 for now. Once you find a stable core o/c then do the same for the memory o/c.
 
Got to 1100/1500 as stable gaming clocks, BUT artifacts still appear in all games I play about every 15 minutes. Even in WoW. Mostly Guild Wars 2. SWTOR, almost never see it. Thinking it depends on the shaders. That's only if I overclock the memory. Otherwise, I can run at 1.1GHz core and leave memory at stock (1375). :rolleyes:
 
I feel bad for you man. What's your voltage at? I'm running 1200/1600 (1190mV) on my windforce.
 
Well, looks like your card is a lil lame on the memory side. You may have to leave the memory @ 1375/1400 and just max the core o/c at this point and call it a day.
 
I don't get artifacts in any other games but Guild Wars 2, I get mild artifacts and I'm not sure if it's the game or the card. I didn't have this problem when I had the GTX 670.

My roommate tested my card for me on his computer for about several hours. He found that the most stable clocks were 1075 MHz core, and 1575 memory with stock volts using the CC to overclock. Tested 1 hour of FurMark and the highest he got was 70c, but it's warmer for me since my room is much more warm compared to his. This thing is sensitive to temperatures I guess.
 
The core editions are essentially the vanilla 7970s. But I don't use ATI anymore, after having numerous issues with them. YMMV. I'd probably recommend Sapphire for ATI.
 
Drunk overclocking rules:

#1: If your overclock isn't high enough, you haven't drank enough.
#2: More VCore for hardware, more Vodka for humans.
 
First, realize that Heaven isn't the best way to test for overclocks, because it's glitchy as hell. There's a lot of rays/blackspots/flickers that goes on. If you watch it at stock speeds long enough you can start memorizing all the glitches like I did, or you can try something glitch free, like your favorite level of your favorite game.

Secondly, the 7970 is voltage locked by default. 1100 Mhz on the core sounds about right for stock. Those 1200 Mhz on stock voltage are usually on highly binned chips with custom boards. The memory should be able to reach higher but you're also running a reference board, with stock power and cooling requirements.
 
Eureka! said:
First, realize that Heaven isn't the best way to test for overclocks, because it's glitchy as hell. There's a lot of rays/blackspots/flickers that goes on. If you watch it at stock speeds long enough you can start memorizing all the glitches like I did, or you can try something glitch free, like your favorite level of your favorite game.
Click to expand...

It actually has the ability to damage a card due to the unrealistic way that it uses it. It is also a poor indicator of stability - you've got to play a variety of games to confirm the OC is stable - just one game isn't enough as each game will use the card differently as well.

I've had times doing reviews where I'll gather ALL the data for 4 of the 5 games at a particular OC point, just to have the 5th one crash to the desktop at those speeds, sending me back to game one at a slightly lower speed....
 
Interesting, didn't know that Unigine can potentially damage video cards. Thought that FurMark was the only one that could do that. I'd better avoid it then. FarCry 3 seems pretty stressful so I could probably use that as my stability tester and use BF3 too. And you're right Eureka, I actually do have some of the glitches memorized, after 2-3 years of using Unigine lol. Especially with the clouds flickering.
 
I have 3 GIGABYTE Reference cards from Lauch day and they have been at 1150/1600 the whole time with Zero problems. If i want to do some benching ive had all 3 at 1215/1750 with a small voltage bump, I think these have been the best cards i have ever owned and i will miss them when AMD or NVidia bring their new monsters to the party.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top