The 7970 Thread. Post your overclocks and experiences here:

Pussy lol !!!

I never tested my card at stock if I think back, I just went straight for 1.25v (target) and saw what speeds i could hit from there.
Both my original Windforce and my current reference Sapphire did about 1250mhz at this voltage before any visual artifact appear.

Games like Metro2033 and BF3, love the extra juice

 

I run it at 1070/1575, but like i said, makes no difference clocked or not, as everything runs exactly the same, only way i know the frames are higher, is by running FRAPS

 

Well I recently purchases a Sapphire 7970 OC edition was very impressed with the card but not too happy about the coil buzz. I RMA'd it, is there a chance that I will get one without coil buzz? cause it sounds like they all have it.

And hopefully this one OC like the last at least to 1150.

 

Doing some more OCing atm, but have run into an issue.

My card now wont furmark at stock clocks/stock volts without me increasing the power tune limit to 10 % more.

this seems bad as I am pretty sure I didnt need to do this before.

Anyone got any ideas?

Might have to pull the card out of the loop (not looking forward to that) put the stock heatsink back on and RMA

 

If when using GPUTweak "Power Temperature" means VRM temps, my VRM temps are generally always lower then the core itself.



I have dual DCU2s in my main that sit at max CCC overclock 24/7. My other rig has a DCU2 and a reference and they both also sit as the same clocks. I have never seen temps on the Core/"Power Temperature" that would raise any alarm bells. Fans always set to auto i have never seen any of the cards go over 75c. To be honest the DCU2/Reference combo runs cooler/quieter than the dual Nvidia GTX460s they replaced

 

Hi all, anyone got some tips for overclocking these beasts 7970.

I can get 1050 stable on stock volts, anything above crashes randomly ingames.

I have raised the power tune to 20%, increased the voltage to 1.200 and increased clocks to 1060, but still get random crashes (drivers fail, recover, then my clocks max out at 500mhz)
And I have to restart the PC to try again. I then increased my volts in small increments all the way to 1.25 but still have random crashes.

Max temp @ 1050 on stock volts(1.175v) is 37deg (watercooled), when I went to 1.25v max temp I recorded was 41deg just before it crashed. , I would love to be able to hit 1100-1150 as currently the game I play, sits just under 60FPS constant at 1050.

 

you might have gotten a dud, some cards just dont OC well no matter what kind of cooling you have

 

yeah think this might be the case

 

I bought 2 Sapphire dual fan OCed cards because I read good reviews about the cooling and OC potential. Even with a small increase to core 1125 / mem 1575 I saw temperatures going to 75c, that was too much for me. I am a person with water setup for years so please understand...lol.

Today I finished setting up my cards on water. I have to say that I am really impressed with the results. Both cards hit 1300mhz @1.3v and 1800mhz on memory. Max temp I saw was 48c on the first core.

Very happy with this setup.

 

might want to RMA it.. my first GTX 580 lightning was a dud OCer and i returned it. not gonna spend money on a card i wanted to OC in the first place and not be able to.

just say something like it artifacts at the desktop, does the same in other PCs, etc.

 

Does anybody know what going on with the coil whine? Are they going to fix it or do I need to learn to live with it?

 

Yeah, I think I will have to. really dont want to pull my water cooling down though

 

Coil whines normal, some cards do it, some don't.

 

Thats the reason going to test my upcoming 7970 on Air before I even
think about blocking it.

A Pain,:bang: Plus might not have to block it if I get a good one on just air.

Later

 

Yeah first time watercooling, I will learn form this little misadventure

 

Think positive.:thumbup:

Been running water for about 4 years and sometimes a pain in the A--
but does the job.

Run 3 Rads at 600.5 and just may pull the 120 out of the set and run
just my #2- 240's for the CPU if this card runs cool enough Clocked.

If ever go to CF or SLI again to keep up can put it back in and block them
if a problem.
Two cards on air sounds good to me if stay cool.
Saves money also, And can put it to use on something else like IVY setup.

Later

 

Doh, got a Asus 7970 DirectCU II yesterday, and it seems a sucker...

I'll start with the positives, its cool and quiet

Thats it, it will not oc on the core, fails at the first hurdle @ 950, and at stock speeds its a very disappointing downgrade from 5870 XF (i was a expecting a side-grade (in XF freindly games) but a improvement in general, and of course hoping a OC would improve further, but so far, nope, those old girls were doing good)

Perhaps im being a noob...

 

Maybe a exaggeration on the 'downgrade', probably just annoyed... BF3 is considerably better than XF 5870's

I think its return time, anther problem, over DVI @ 2560 x 1600 i get a specked artifact noise (turns out thats a known problem with the DirectCU II cards)

And a bigger problem, it doesn't even like stock speeds which would explain the lack of a OC - edit, opps, left that mammoth OC of 950 on, stock seems stable

 

Finally, After over 4 years of CF cards going to see how well a single card
can do against them.
Know 680 slightly faster, But don't like waiting any longer, And the games Nvidias been playing as to the limited supply release to stop the bleeding
against the 7970.

Tired of playing around with heat and CF glitches in certain apps and games.
Although my XFX 5770's have been darn good OC and Volt modded cards.
Going to like the fan noise reduction also as have had to run the fans at 100%
under load to keep them cool:thumbdown

Here's the card I got and be here Tuesday.
Like the price and #3 free games along with it.
Never run Sapphire before so we shall see.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102982

Comments on Sapphire:question:

Later

 

Had several Sapphire cards in my time, all great. No failures or major issues. Your purchase looks great, should show your old gpu's a clean set of heels.