7970 Overclocking with voltage control :o)

[Arkadrel]

I can't believe they are not holding something back for a new revision once team green launches their cards.

Appopin was the one saying AMD might do a revision before next Nvidia cards...
with this much potential still left on the table, Im starting to think he might be right.

so....
480 --> 580
7970 --> 8970 ? only time will tell.

 

[Dark Shroud]

It will be interesting to see if anyone comes out with an HD7970 prefitted with a water block (various manufacturers did for the GTX580).

Powercolor did that with the 5970 & 6990 so I wouldn't put it past them for the 7970.

 

[ddarko]

I can't wait to see if these things really can hit 1200 out the box, or if the review cards that hit 1125 were cherry picked.

A Greek forum member at HardOCP received his Sapphire 7970 and he overclocked it to 1125/1575 out of the box:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1662199

He posted a pic of his Sapphire card, it's the reference design with a Sapphire label stuck on it.

 

[Arkadrel]

here:

1 x 7970 overclocked to run @ 1700mhz core, 1980mhz memory:

and:

 

[DarkKnightDude]

That's impressive. Wowzers. On air too?

 

[Arkadrel]

@DarkKnightDude

Nope thats sub-zero overclocking, still... 15k+ 3Dmark11 P score is pretty nuts.
Most people with SLI 590 (2x 590 = 4x 580 gpus) dont even have that.

I know, doesnt matter if not on air/water.... we ll have to wait until people start doing those.

 

[wahdangun]

here:

1 x 7970 overclocked to run @ 1700mhz core, 1980mhz memory:

and:

holly cow, wth, wtf . its really impressive.

to be honest i never expect the card to pass 1,3 Ghz, but this 1,7 Ghz on graphic card really mind blowing.

 

[ArchAngel777]

A Greek forum member at HardOCP received his Sapphire 7970 and he overclocked it to 1125/1575 out of the box:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1662199

He posted a pic of his Sapphire card, it's the reference design with a Sapphire label stuck on it.

Nice will wait a bit to see how others respond... If this true, my guess is AMD will do a respin just as Apop predicted.

The one thing that Kepler does NOT have going for it is predictability. We know that going from 512 to 768 cores is probably going to net a static 50% increase in performance (give or take 5%) and since it is using the same arch, it will be predictable as to what we can expect. That means, if AMD can respin the 7970 into an 8970 in the next three months and clock this monster at 1.2Ghz range, it should compete with Kepler quite easily. It will dominate in some games like Shogun 2, Skyrim, etc.. and be slightly behind on games like BF3 and so on.

These are fun times!

 

[badb0y]

I think I am going to watercool this card....those OCs look beastly and it seems like AMD could have upped the stock clocks a little bit.

 

[Joseph F]

Finally, AMD has a significant lead in single-GPU performance.

 

[Nirreln]

And I though I was cool when I could get my 5850 to go over 1 ghz. :$

 

[AnandThenMan]

That means, if AMD can respin the 7970 into an 8970 in the next three months and clock this monster at 1.2Ghz range, it should compete with Kepler quite easily. It will dominate in some games like Shogun 2, Skyrim, etc.. and be slightly behind on games like BF3 and so on.

These are fun times!

A re-spin is not coming in 3 months. But AMD looks to have clocked the 7970 very conservatively, with process improvements a 1.2Ghz card seems quite plausible. Time table for that, not sure.

BTW, I am using the term "re-spin" to mean a new stepping.

 

[Idontcare]

I wonder what kind of power-consumption such an OC'ed beast must pull?

I have to imagine this made a few sphincters pucker a tad over at 2701 San Tomas Expy, lots of potential for AMD to do some extreme clocking SKU's if they need to.

 

[Arkadrel]

from: http://kingpincooling.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1559&page=3

ME4ME
How's the heat from the core Peter?
Like 580, or easier to handle?

Shammy
heat is a walk in the park, maybe 1/2 of fermi easy splashin jobs on KPC tek 9 slim

I have no doubt that a card this overclocked pulls alot of juice though.

 

[ddarko]

I wonder what kind of power-consumption such an OC'ed beast must pull?

According to guru3d's measurement, the power draw under load went from 195 to 229 watts when overclocked to 1125/1575, a 17% increase:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7970-overclock-guide/3

 

[Arkadrel]

According to guru3d's measurement, the power draw under load went from 195 to 229 watts when overclocked to 1125/1575, a 17% increase:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7970-overclock-guide/3

^ if it scales by around (229-195) = 34watts pr 200mhz overclock (925->1125mhz), that means the 13xx mhz core cards will use like ~264watts when their running at performance levels of the 6990/590.

Factory overclocked 1350mhz core cards gonna be pretty nuts.

 

[3DVagabond]

^ if it scales by around (229-195) = 34watts pr 200mhz overclock (925->1125mhz), that means the 13xx mhz core cards will use like ~264watts when their running at performance levels of the 6990/590.

Factory overclocked 1350mhz core cards gonna be pretty nuts.

They'll need more voltage, don't you think?

 

[Grooveriding]

They'll need more voltage, don't you think?

Yeah for sure. For a card 30% faster than the 7970 already is, could care less myself. 300W is fine by me as long as it is smoking fast and doesn't get obscenely hot or loud in the process.

 

[Ares1214]

expected oc.
should be able to break 1700 and even 1800mhz on a good sample.

:hmm: Troll harder? Expected? You gotta be joking me...

 

[HurleyBird]

Where can I download AMD gpu clock tool 10.12.0 that Shamino is using? All I can find is ancient versions that don't work anymore.

 

[Kippa]

When the reviews first came out for the 7970 they were good but not earth shattering. Do you think the standard clock rate was undervalued conservatiley and was a rush job to get the cards out as soon as possible? Maybe if they had a bit more time the standard values could have been tweaked a little higher. Perhaps this card is better than expected.

 

[3DVagabond]

When the reviews first came out for the 7970 they were good but not earth shattering. Do you think the standard clock rate was undervalued conservatiley and was a rush job to get the cards out as soon as possible? Maybe if they had a bit more time the standard values could have been tweaked a little higher. Perhaps this card is better than expected.

I think clocks are set as high as needed to reach O/C'd 580 plus a bit. Gives them the fastest card and the highest yields. Down the road as the process matures they can increase clocks. nVidia did the same thing with the 460 (likely for different reasons). Conservative clocks to start with, down the road we have the 560.

 

[blackened23]

When the reviews first came out for the 7970 they were good but not earth shattering. Do you think the standard clock rate was undervalued conservatiley and was a rush job to get the cards out as soon as possible? Maybe if they had a bit more time the standard values could have been tweaked a little higher. Perhaps this card is better than expected.

Yep, it sounds like they are indeed doing this. Another rumor indicates that part of the die isn't fully in use yet (GTX 460 was the same way) in order to get it to market faster. I'd be awfully surprised if tahiti pro wasn't refreshed with dramatically higher clock speeds and additional CU's.

 

[Kenmitch]

Although most people aren't gonna be using LN2 it's nice to see the overclocking potential of GCN.

If yields are good we should see some nice factory overclocked versions if they can manage to keep temps inline.

I'd think that a full water block would tame one of these beasts!

Damn....Too bad they are pricey and I don't have any need for one of them

 

[Arkadrel]

@Ken

If yields are good we should see some nice factory overclocked versions if they can manage to keep temps inline.

Sapphire is doing a 1335mhz air cooled version, factory overclocked (thats a 44% increase in clock speed).
And I dont think even factory overclocked cards, will be pushing the headroom avalable, so Im pretty sure buy one of these, you probably be able to push them abit higher on air (say 1400-1500).

Also they ll be faster than the 6990 or 590 is.