Gigabyte 7950 WindForce 3x

Hi.

I just bought Gigabyte 7950 WF3. It come with stock 1000/1250 clocks.

When I installed MSI Afterburner I saw that I cannot change voltage.

Can anyone confirm that with this card you cannot change voltage?

Thanks...

 

Did you tick "Constant Voltage"?

 

No. There is no difference if I check "Force Constant Voltage. There is no Core voltage slider present. In settings I checked "Unlock Voltage Control" and "Unlock Voltage Monitoring."

Got 13.6BETA drivers installed.

 

from what I understand, the Gigabyte 7950 are now hardware voltage locked. Mine wasn't, I bought that a few months ago. Seems like the latest revisions are locked though.

What voltage does it run under load? Check with gpuz.

 

Default speeds are 1000/1250, voltage under load is 1.250V (idle is 0.950V I think).


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I saw burned Gigabyte 7950 from a user who was running bitcoin mining a little over a month 24/7. One component (I'm developer not electrical engeneer) in front of the card (where are monitor outputs) died and it look burned from the pictures.

I know Gigabyte 7950 had originally 900MHz GPU core speed. So I have version 2.

Do you think this can happen to me too? Or did Gigabyte done a better job with this version of a card?

 

Was it the memory VRM that was fried? One of two flat chips next to the VRAM (to the left of the GPU)?

 

I really don't know. As I said, I do not know which electiral components is which. It was ~1cm from monitor outputs.

How could it happen? Just bad component on *that* card or it could happen to anyone after 1 month of 100% load use?

 

Nobody could tell for certain. There is a defect rate for everything technology, and it's a probability rather than a certainty.

I had that VRM burn on a 7970, but also I was not sure if there was sufficient airflow reaching that spot. Temps for VRM #2, supposedly this VRM, were fine.

After stress testing on and off for two days, pop goes the weasel. Didn't bother claiming warranty as I had used glue (on the sides) for VRAM heatsinks and had some scratches in some places (non-critical).

As it stands, I'd avoid Gigabyte 79xx cards due to their voltage locking and arriving with very high stock voltages.

 

>here is a defect rate for everything technology, and it's a probability rather than a certainty.

Yeah I know, Math - knowing (calculating) probability and statistics, is part of my job description as a developer. I am just in the middle of the very interesting data mining project and there is a lot of math involved.


I just thought If Gigabyte had any known faults in version 1... Google didn't reveal anything except specifics problems to each user.


As for me, I gotta knock on the wood, All my graphics cards were runing fine and not single one died. From Voodoo 1,3,..66GT,79GS,88GTS512,...5870,670. and now 7950.



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>As it stands, I'd avoid Gigabyte 79xx cards due to their voltage locking and arriving with very high stock voltages.

Well, I got this card new in the box with warranty 2 years for just 200EUR. I was dissapointed with Asus 670 DCU II TOP and my friend had one and I asked him if he would go SLI so I got 200EUR from him + (he already owned me a favor from last year - I gave him PSU) he is in automobile mechanics businesses and said he would service my Audi. (when computer in car tells me "GO TO SERVICE YOU IDIOT!*")

* I really do not know anything about cars, except how to drive. And offcouse how internal combustion works. In theory anyway. I am deep in informations technology, developing,... so I don't need to know sh*t about cars. I do as on board computer tells me to do. Like pump your tires, go fill your tank,... ))


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I played a little of Crysis 3 with 7950 and I gotta tell that so far I like 7950 more than previous 670. AVG FPS is lower but there is not so much FPS jumping min-max.

 

Just found voltages for 7950:

Default Voltage is: 1.093V. Mine is 1.250V. I think it is a little too much. (Highest temp was 61C.)

This Windforce 3x with 3x75mm fans is pretty loud playing games (default GPU speed settings) compared with my previous graphics card Asus DCUII TOP 670 which was quiet even when OCed.

 

That's the high voltage I was talking about. It's causing those high temps too. Perhaps you would like to try Th3Guardian's instructions for flashing a Gigabyte 7950 BIOS and see if it can actually change voltages after the flash?

 

Yeah, here you go: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=4503953#post4503953
Try that out and see if it works.

 

Another thing I noticed.

GPU Speed is 1000MHz. But in some games sometimes GPU works at 900 or jump from 900 to 1000 and back... It is not throttling because of high temp. (Got pretty good ventilated case.)

Another thing. Card not OCed, but these 3 75mm vents are actually loud! Asus Direct CU II was quieter, a lot quieter!

So I'm looking for a solution to replace these 3 vents with something (better and) quieter. Then I will OC the card.

I have 3770K OCed at 4.5 and got almost silent PC. Previously when I played games with Asus 670 DCU II TOP, only the card was being heard (you heard the flow of air) - if you actually listened to PC instead of sound from speakers).

However I like 7950 more then 670, loudness of vents aside. Games (primarily FPS) are running more "stable" in terms of frames per second.


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Question: anyone saw or have an idea with what should I replace those 3 vents on GPU?




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[edit]Thanks for links about flashing. My card have dual bios with a switch, so I can tinkering with BIOSes without worrying to fscked up flashing.

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[/edit]

 

Congrats for the new card. Yeah, about the more stable FPS, I've heard that before as well.

Look at the Alpenfohn Peter and the Arctic Accelero Xtreme III. The latter comes with terrible VRM cooling, so look into getting Alpenfohn VRM heatsinks.

 

You need the power slider at +20% to maintain your clocks when gaming.
My windforce is a tad loud also when gaming, not disturbingly though. Usually goes between 70% and 80%, rather quick. Setting 100% doesn't seem to make a difference either so I let it run at default.
60°C full load is not hot. It's quite normal for a 7950/7970.
I can get my card to 70°C with furmark without throttling, only for one benchmark loop though . I can keep it at lower temps with the same benchmark and still experience the same throttling at roughly the same time.

I can confirm that my card is also voltage locked. At 1.256v though.
Having your card locked at 1.250v is probably because your chip needs more voltage for the given clocks.
Gigabyte cards in particular appear locked nowadays, with barely any overclocking potential.
And that's sad because my card really improves if I can set 1200Mhz on the gpu.
Unfortunately I can only get 1135 stable.

 

What about Low Level Hardware Access?

 

Playing Black Ops 2, FPS well over 100 and GPU clock is constantly jumping from 900 to 1000. (like 10 times in a second) (GPU usage is rather low, temps too.) It doesn't happening in all games I tried.

About OC potential for my card:

I tried 1150 / 1375 playing Crysis 3 for about 30 minutes but I decided those vents are too loud for me. I tried 1200/1400 3D mark run and had no problem. I guess I got lucky wit a chip with potential. Only if the card had better cooling.


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Even though I'm getting service for my Audi for free (except for parts), I miss Asus 670 DCU II TOP and it's silence (even when mildly OC). I have to come up with some replacement for those 3 "turbine" vents. I don't wanna spend a lot of money so I don't need whole cooling solution. I took 7950 because I got it really REALLY cheap. I plan to buy something better but Titan and 770 just got out. I hope for an answer from AMD, because now buying another card after just when I switched from 670 to 7950... seems irrational.

First I'll try flashing BIOS.

Is there a tool for editing BIOS? RBE doesn't list 7900 as supported. Strange because Gigabyte have dual bios and a switch on the card: one for stock and one writable.

 

Here's the screenshot of playing Black Ops 2 for about 40 min:



As you see, 65C, fan around 80%. I'll get angry over something bizzare and as impulsive buyer as I am, I'm gonna get really angry and buy Titan... or two.
(my woman's gonna not like it if it happens but she'll get over with)

I'm software developer with good job so money is not a problem for me. But I always look for P/P at the high end. On the other hand I cannot throw money on computer, there is "cost of living," hobbies (mine gaming and bicycling) going to the movies, shopping,...

 

Why are you bringing your car into this? Are you trying to prove something? Also, if you can afford 2x Titan without a problem, why did you buy a single hd 7950?

Also, you know I always say "do your research before you buy". You would have known that the recent Gigabite hd 7950 WF3 are voltage locked, on hardware level. You have to do your own research. nobody else will do it for you. it's your money, treat it with respect. WF3 is far from a loud cooler btw, it's incredibly quiet. if I was you, I would just take the card back to the shop and get something else. you're clearly not happy with it.

Also, you have to supply us with more detailed information about your MSIA settings, only then we can help you determine what's causing the core clock fluctuation.

 

It definitely looks like a power limiter issue. You need to provide us with more details about what you're doing, we can't help this way.