Radeon HD 7950 Owner's Thread

[zaydq]

Never had such an issue before. Heaven is usually pretty good with reading what gpu is being used.

 

[sze5003]

That is strange as I have had it happen with the last 7970 I had. Could not figure out what was going on.

 

[KingFatty]

My personal experience was that Heaven incorrectly identified my hybrid crossfire setup (motherboard integrated GPU + discrete GPU), thinking I had a quadfire setup of 4 of the discrete GPUs.

So maybe they err on the side of optimism instead of caution, such that when Heaven doesn't know what kind of system you have, instead of cautiously saying [unknown] or blank, the optimistically pick something random to call your card, even if it's not quite right.

 

[sze5003]

Yeh I am shopping for another 7970 a GHz edition so maybe this time it will get it right. I've uninstalled everything and will reinstall all bench apps after I get the new card.

 

[Goresplattered]

Joined this club and forum thanks to this thread.

thanks!


-running 1200/1600 stable
-55% fan speed - not noticable over everything else in my case
-max temps 24H in furmark/OCCT are 75C. 28C idle. VRM hit 85C. (I have a Thor V2 case with stock fans - amazing airflow)
-ASIC is 86%.
-1.15V. havnt tried to lower it
-cranking the memory higher creates artifacts in heaven

-o/c'd i7 3820 @ 4.5gHz

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4494963

 

[zaydq]

Joined this club and forum thanks to this thread.

thanks!


-running 1200/1600 stable
-55% fan speed - not noticable over everything else in my case
-max temps 24H in furmark/OCCT are 75C. 28C idle. (I have a Thor V2 case with stock fans - amazing airflow)
-ASIC is 86%.
-11.15V. havnt tried to lower it
-cranking the memory higher creates artifacts in heaven

-o/c'd i7 3820 @ 4.5gHz

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4429440

Welcome to the forum! and welcome to this thread! Looks like we have another high overclocking 7950 I've lowered my 1200/1800 voltage down to 1.149v with full stability still. Able to post a heaven score?

 

[Goresplattered]

I never made any screens of heaven but it was 1200-1300 with everything completely maxed out. That was also with my cpu down @ 4ghz.

I'll run it for a good screen after work

thanks again for this thread. when I built my comp these reference cards were like $500 so I went with a xfx 6870 for ~$175 in order to keep costs down. adding this card now is such a massive improvement.


Posted from Anandtech.com App for Android

 

[Face2Face]

I was able to get my temps down in my case by adding another 120mm fan blowing directly over the card. I also installed some vented PCI covers in the back of the case to give the hot air somewhere to go. Now my card runs 10-11c cooler under load. .I can get 1050 core and 1575 stable on the memory with stock voltage. What is the max safe voltage for this card? 1.250?

Whats the elite score for the 7950 in 3DMark 11 ----- 10K or more?

 

[zaydq]

I'd say if you get 9500 gpu score or higher on a 7950 then you're pretty much in the elite. I've hit 10k on air which I think is pretty much as far as you can go before you look into costly cooling solutions.

Also, safe voltage is pretty much up to 1.25v considering amd's 7950 with the new bios that "boosts clocks up" automatically overvolts the card to 1.25v to ensure stability.

Let me tell ya though, on a TF3 you'll hit the max clock speeds the chip can go well before 1.25v.

 

[Face2Face]

I'd say if you get 9500 gpu score or higher on a 7950 then you're pretty much in the elite. I've hit 10k on air which I think is pretty much as far as you can go before you look into costly cooling solutions.

Also, safe voltage is pretty much up to 1.25v considering amd's 7950 with the new bios that "boosts clocks up" automatically overvolts the card to 1.25v to ensure stability.

Let me tell ya though, on a TF3 you'll hit the max clock speeds the chip can go well before 1.25v.

Cool, thanks for the info. I am going to play around with it some and see what I can do. Even at stock speeds this card plays all of the games I play maxed with ease.

Also, how about the voltage on the memory?

 

[L337Llama]

I am considering getting this card, and I was wondering about the 6+8 pcie power plugs. Is it a case that all new ones purchased are built with this, or is it more of a crap shoot?

 

[thilanliyan]

Most of the newer ones probably have the 6+8 design, but that's just my guess.

 

[Face2Face]

Pretty sure all of the new cards are the 7970 reference boards. 6+8 pin - Don't worry the card comes with a 6pin to 8pin adapter if you don't have an 8pin on your PSU.

 

[Face2Face]

zaydq

What are your VRM temps on your OC?

 

[Goresplattered]

just updated my first post to show the unigine score (1340) and a slightly better 3dmark score

 

[zaydq]

Cool, thanks for the info. I am going to play around with it some and see what I can do. Even at stock speeds this card plays all of the games I play maxed with ease.

Also, how about the voltage on the memory?

I didn't touch memory voltages.

I am considering getting this card, and I was wondering about the 6+8 pcie power plugs. Is it a case that all new ones purchased are built with this, or is it more of a crap shoot?

No where near a crap shoot, 6 + 8 pin 7950s use a 7970 PCB, if anything it'll be much better considering these cards come with low voltages and the 7970 is rated at a reference stock voltage of 1.175v, and can safely operate upwars of 1.25v. You're pretty much getting a safer bet at better overclocks, and less paranoia knowing that you're not overbearing the card with too much voltage.

zaydq

What are your VRM temps on your OC?

Idle is 32*C, Load in Heaven is, according to GPU-Z is VRM #1 @ 80*C VRM #2 is 65*C.

just updated my first post to show the unigine score (1340) and a slightly better 3dmark score

Very nice

 

[Goresplattered]

I got it stable @ 1215/1750 with 1.18v but vrm temps crossed 90C..and I had to run 70% fan.

core clocks simply refuse to go past 1215.

I'm happy with 1200/1600 especially since it runs at a fan speed a few notches lower than jetplane

Also I downloaded the new 12.9 drivers last night....Ive seen reports of bf3 running notably better which happens to be what I've been playing. ..I wonder if it'll bench better now too Posted from Anandtech.com App for Android

 

[Zargon]

nice!

I need to update drivers, I get some odd stuttering in borderlands 2 that I am hoping to resolve

 

[zaydq]

I got it stable @ 1215/1750 with 1.18v but vrm temps crossed 90C..and I had to run 70% fan.

core clocks simply refuse to go past 1215.

I'm happy with 1200/1600 especially since it runs at a fan speed a few notches lower than jetplane

Also I downloaded the new 12.9 drivers last night....Ive seen reports of bf3 running notably better which happens to be what I've been playing. ..I wonder if it'll bench better now too Posted from Anandtech.com App for Android

Wow you're pumping some voltage into your card. I may have to try and see if I can get my 1200/1800 stable at a lower temperature. Currently i've got a fan profile set up to keep the card under 80*C but it gets kind of loud. I noticed in Heaven it begins to artifact when temps on the gpu hit above 83-85*C. What are your load temperatures with 70% fan speed when running heaven at 1200/1600?

 

[Goresplattered]

that fan speed was only for the 1750 mem test 1600 runs 55%

I'll check 1200/1600 70% fan when I get home


Posted from Anandtech.com App for Android

 

[Face2Face]

I got it stable @ 1215/1750 with 1.18v but vrm temps crossed 90C..and I had to run 70% fan.

core clocks simply refuse to go past 1215.

I'm happy with 1200/1600 especially since it runs at a fan speed a few notches lower than jetplane

Also I downloaded the new 12.9 drivers last night....Ive seen reports of bf3 running notably better which happens to be what I've been playing. ..I wonder if it'll bench better now too Posted from Anandtech.com App for Android

Wicked Pissah!!

I have been looking at the ARCTIC COOLING ACCEL-X-7970 cooler and wondering if it would put these 7950's in the 1250-1300 Range with reasonable temps...? I assume you would need to install the supplied VRM/Memory heatsinks in order to get decent temps on your VRM's as well. Not sure even if 1250-1300 core is even possible with a 7950?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186064

 

[zaydq]

Wicked Pissah!!

I have been looking at the ARCTIC COOLING ACCEL-X-7970 cooler and wondering if it would put these 7950's in the 1250-1300 Range with reasonable temps...? I assume you would need to install the supplied VRM/Memory heatsinks in order to get decent temps on your VRM's as well. Not sure even if 1250-1300 core is even possible with a 7950?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835186064

I've seen 7950s on water cooling pushing 1300mhz on the core. Forget which forum I saw that one but it was quite impressive.

that fan speed was only for the 1750 mem test 1600 runs 55%

I'll check 1200/1600 70% fan when I get home

What temps do you have at 55% fan speed on 1200/1600? I can't seem to keep my card cool enough with those clocks and 55%.

 

[Goresplattered]

well unigine doesnt load up the gpu temp wise but i just ran a ton of different configs through it.

1200/1750 1.18V and 75% fan capped temps under 60C both gpu and vrms

1210/1800 1.17 and 65% fan 61/67 vrm temps and 66 gpu temp

1210/1800 1.16V 60% fan 66C/78C vrm temps and 69C gpu





before i just ran these tests today and last night the card would not run anything above 1600 memory clocks.....since then i did a little massaging of my cpu overclock the other day and now have 12.9 beta drivers.

im going to see what these configs do in 3dmark and see if they can take a burn in.



edit: heres the unigine score....not much higher than the 1200/1600 bench.

 

[Goresplattered]

YEAAAAAAAAH


http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4503803

1.16V/60%Fan(static)/1210/1750


1800 crashes 3dmark


lets see if this burns in

 

[zaydq]

YEAAAAAAAAH


http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4503803

1.16V/60%Fan(static)/1210/1750


1800 crashes 3dmark


lets see if this burns in

Wow good job man! How are your temps staying so low? at 60% van speed with 1.149v i'm pushing high 80*C on my gpu and vram. Whats your cooling situation like? I've only got 1 intake fan and 1 exhaust fan in my case.