So we're back to this just being an abysmal chip then. :/ Well, that or the VRMs overheated, but I really doubt that.
Would testing 1075 be worth it?
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6+6 or 6+8 it's doesn't matter. Most users have 6+6 and can hit 1100 or more. Look at Balla's 6+6, it does 1200Mhz + and I believes consumes less power vs. his 6+8 at the same clocks. That said, most 7950's I have seen hit 1300Mhz or more are on a reference 7970 board 6+8.
So we're back to this just being an abysmal chip then. :/ Well, that or the VRMs overheated, but I really doubt that.
vrms will typically become unstable after gaming for awhile if not kept cool. If you are climbing to the 120c mark on your vrms, then that can cause instability and your card to shutdown. If you have no passive heatsink on your vrms and want to OC to 1100, then I would suggest getting some heatsinks to help dissipate the heat. You will have to see what kind of clearance you have between your HSF and your vrms before you order.
I doubt that they've been hitting anywhere near 120C. At 1050 after 2 hours of playing, they topped out at 76C. Could 50MHz really cause a 50% increase in temps? I highly doubt it. Either GPU-Z is wrong, or it's something other than temps.
Yeah your temps are more than likely fine if you are only hitting 76c @ 1050Mhz on your vrms. It's probably just not core stable @ 1100. I would stick with 1050 if it's been good for you.
By any chance, could you check your ASIC quality score? I think you use GPU-Z and right-click on the top part of its window and choose one the option there. I wonder if your CPU will show in the 60s? But keep in mind the score is not perfectly determined, it's just inferred by CPU-Z based on the hard-coded voltages used by your card. I'm just curious what your ASIC score is.
Just read the thread.
Don't feel blue dude. A 7950 at 1000+ Mhz isn't bad at all. Plus, you got it while it was at $180. I'm stuck with GTX 660s and HD 7870s now because I didn't buy early..
/sobs
I for one think you should keep tinkering. Who knows? Maybe you'll find a sweet clock.
Ooops, yes, I meant GPU not CPU. OK so your ASIC is in the 70s, that's good, hmmm, now I wonder, are you into tinkering/hobbyist modding, where you play around with things just for the fun of playing around? Maybe it could be fun to track down some way to cool the VRMs just as a fun way to mod the card. Seeing how your ASIC score is above 70, that gives hope that maybe the chip itself is capable of a higher overclock than you've achieved so far, which might point toward the hope that other things are limiting, like VRM cooling or something?
The ASIC score might give you an idea of the kinds of overclocks you may be capable of, see: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2225474
See how the chips are segregated and binned based on their electrical characteristics, where the video card will be designed to treat the chip accordingly. So it's not exact, but over the years we've seen how some vendors (e.g., MSI, Sapphire) will use chips in the higher binned ASIC scores to get higher overclocks. Your Powercolor seems to be middle-of-the-road score.
I had an HIS card that has a score in the low 60s. But I liked the beefy construction of the HIS card, it had great cooling on the VRMs and a beefy cooling system, and I could hit 1100 core speed at 1.25 v when I maxed the fan speed to 100%. But if I left the fan at auto, the card would artifact. So I was able to tell that cooling definitely played a role in stability for that card with a lower ASIC score than yours. I used Unigine Heaven and the artifacts would take a while to show, perhaps about mid-way through the 2nd run (letting the demo loop).
So maybe before you tinker with trying to buy any temperature lowering mods for your card, could you try manually cooling the card with anything you might have handy? I have no idea, maybe you have a spare fan to just hold over the VRMs, or blow a vacuum cleaner stream of air directly at the card? Who knows, if you could somehow cool down the card (both the GPU core and the other components like the VRMs), maybe your card will behave like mine did, and become stable?
Also there is a perception about low ASIC scores, how they would somehow be better for water cooling systems, compared to high ASIC scores, that are better for air cooling? So I think even with a low score the chip can perform, but it depends on how you can cool it.