The 7970 Thread. Post your overclocks and experiences here:

Well got something weird my 1200/1575 at 1.225 overclocked worked perfect in all my games including bf3 now a week after using it bf3 is starting to artifact with black triangles, backed it off to 1125 and its perfectly fine.

 

Your settings could have been on the edge.

Could even be Ambient temp change and higher heat.

Its also the chip lotto and not all going to clock the same.
Just like CPU's.

Later

 

Are the newer cards a bit better at getting higher clocks on lower voltages?

 

Irocing up the voltages maybe? was at 1.225

 

Good play on words.

1.187 here with my 1225/1650 and leaving it there.

Games go to 69c under load and Heaven and 3D Mark hit 74c.

Later

 

you it 74c thats high for those volts and you have the same card as me. is it cause of the arizona heat?

 

Thats correct,

Don't like AC and Ambient here is 85F.

Had to downclock my CPU to 4.2-4.3 to keep it cool.
Even though running 600.5 worth of water.
Its a summer thing or close to here.

But have to realize the BenchMark tools are going to load the cards heavier than the games so take that with a grain of salt.

But even at 74c BenchMarking, No Artifacting or problems.

Best card as to improvements have ever had and that goes back to the VooDoo and Radeon 9500 days.

Later

 

1200/1800 is still running nice and stable @ 1.243 in games. I've started only using the overclock when I play games though and when I'm doing other stuff I just set Trixx back to the default clocks and voltages. No need to overclock when browsing the web as GPU-Z still shows use while using the internet even with hardware acceleration off.

Does anybody else do that?

 

Might check and see if 1800 on the Memory is even helping you at all.

Why run it that high if you don't have to.
And if doesn't, Might run a little cooler and be able drop the voltage to do it.
Core clock is where its at, Not so much memory.

Might help with Eye-Infinity if thats your thing.

Later

 

I've always figured that s higher mem clock helps with heavy AA and AF/post processing and textures. Granted, probably more so with higher resolutions and eyefinity setups like you said.

It seemed to help out with my heavily modded skyrim w/ super sampling but at 1080 the difference isn't huge.

I had some free time tonight, so I lowered the mem clock to 1650 and voltage to 1225 as well as bumped the core to 1225.

I played skyrim for a few hours and diablo 3 for an hour after that. Ran stable using the automatic fan setting never passing 60%. Temps under 70c. Honestly not seeing a difference in fps as the increased core might have compensated a little.

I benchmarked Heaven @1920x1080, 4xAA, 16AF, normal tessellation, and everything else max and my score actually improved by .2 (83.8)

 

I think why I'm able to run a lower voltage at 1225/1650 without problems is
my 140 Side case fan aimed directly at the card.
Tried without it by turning it off, And card temp climbed about 3C.

Used it on my CF 5770's and helped also.

Later

 

Probably more to do with getting a decent chip. Mines on water, never exceeds 37 deg (also has a 140mm flan blowing on the card to cool anything not helped by the block) but cant do any more than 1150 stably at 1.25v

As with all overclocking , its a silicone lottery.

 

^What is your AISC?

 

58.3% from memory, its a wonder it runs at stock speeds, let alone any overclock.

 

I would think about RMA on it, Especially since its even on water.

Don't know if that would stand up though.
Can it run the (Default) voltage at the #2 switch position?? Stable!
1000/1450??

What Block are you using on it?
Thinking about water as I have enough for 850-1000 Watts.
But hate to waste a good air system that it features and one of the reasons for
buying it in the first place.

Later

 

This is where I'm going to stay at 1225/1650/1.187V unless
I go to water.

Maybe. LOL

Later

 

I can overclock to 1200/1650 @ 1.274v stable, but that is with the Gigabyte Windforce and gaming never exceeds 65 degrees, average 58-62 degrees. Should I be concerned with pushing this much voltage? Seems like everyone else is running quite a bit lower voltage at high overclocks.

 

If your temps are not to high for the volts your having to give it don't
think going to be a problem.

Just like CPU's, And some take more voltage to get the clock you want.

I guess I lucked out as to Voltage to Temp on my chip and also could
be in case cooling.
Run 9 fans and extra dedicated Side window card fan.

I have run into bad chips in the past for mine as to high voltage needed.:bang:
But 1000/1450 or 1225/1650 and reasonable temps still pretty good.
Chip Lotto does play a small part of it also.

Later

 

Thanks Irocing, I have a CM 690 II Advanced case with 5 AeroCool fans (120's), whichs included one on the side panel pointed right at the card with a fan controller. I have really good airflow which probably helps out my temps.

 

NA cant be bothered RMAing, its all in the loop, and I can run 1150 with 1.25v (in afterburner, I think from watching some other software, it only hits 1.23v)and there really isnt that much gain from 1150 - 1200.

But I have learn, next time overclock hard as possible on air to see the limits of the chip before blocking it up.

I am using the Heatkiller X3 with backplate.