Radeon HD 7950 Owner's Thread

[Rvenger]

What typical overclock can I reasonably expect from the 7950? I have had my Gigabyte WF3 since last year but only started upping the clocks in the last month.

Using AB, I have been gaming with XCom EU, Tropico 4 and Dishonored at 1100MHz Core (1125mV VCore, +20% power limit) and 1300MHz RAM with no issues, beside the weird tendency for the card to lower the VCore to 800mV but not the Core speed (resulting in horrible lags until I force the VCore back up via AB). Load temperatures are 60+ Celcius.

While 1200-1300MHz seems to be the ceiling for the core speed, I'm not sure how much higher I can bring the memory speed up to.

Thanks.

What is your ASIC score in GPU-Z?

 

[zaydq]

What typical overclock can I reasonably expect from the 7950? I have had my Gigabyte WF3 since last year but only started upping the clocks in the last month.

Using AB, I have been gaming with XCom EU, Tropico 4 and Dishonored at 1100MHz Core (1125mV VCore, +20% power limit) and 1300MHz RAM with no issues, beside the weird tendency for the card to lower the VCore to 800mV but not the Core speed (resulting in horrible lags until I force the VCore back up via AB). Load temperatures are 60+ Celcius.

While 1200-1300MHz seems to be the ceiling for the core speed, I'm not sure how much higher I can bring the memory speed up to.

Thanks.

I know my tf3 hits 1800mhz on the memory easy. The vrm temps stay in the high 80s which makes it plausible. Im not too familiar with the type of memory gigabyte uses though. You'd see more performance gain from the core since 3gb of memory even at 1300mhz will keep you cruising for quite a while.

 

[futurefields]

What FPS in Crysis 3 do you guys get?

I run "Very High" textures and "High" system spec @ 1080p with 2x SMAA in order to get a locked 40 fps.

If I try to run with "Very High" system spec @ 1080p with 2x SMAA I have to drop to 30 fps to keep it steady.

My card is clocked at 1050/1250.


Edit: Performance seems to improve a bit after the 1st level. I'm able to run 'Very High' with 2x SMAA at 40fps mostly locked.

 

[Zorander]

What is your ASIC score in GPU-Z?

81.9%. Is that an ok number?

 

[Bubbleawsome]

81.9%. Is that an ok number?

Pretty good actually. It seems that low ASIC means lower temps, higher voltage for the card, and they can't get as quite high as an OC. High ASIC means it doesn't need more voltage for the same oc but gets hotter because it is using the voltage more effectively. And this is all AFAIK, I'm new here.

 

[Face2Face]

What FPS in Crysis 3 do you guys get?

I run "Very High" textures and "High" system spec @ 1080p with 2x SMAA in order to get a locked 40 fps.

If I try to run with "Very High" system spec @ 1080p with 2x SMAA I have to drop to 30 fps to keep it steady.

My card is clocked at 1050/1250.


Edit: Performance seems to improve a bit after the 1st level. I'm able to run 'Very High' with 2x SMAA at 40fps mostly locked.

Clocked @ 1200/1650 Very High Textures and Very High system spec with 2XSMAA - I get on avg - 45-50 FPS in inside areas. I will test it out the first level, because that area is tough to run.

 

[Smartazz]

2nd 7950 is on the way. I can't wait to see what two of these cards can do.

 

[Face2Face]

2nd 7950 is on the way. I can't wait to see what two of these cards can do.

Yeah let us know. Depending on the price of the GTX 780, I may be going this route as well...?

 

[Smartazz]

Yeah let us know. Depending on the price of the GTX 780, I may be going this route as well...?

I was going to wait as well, but there's still some money to be saved by Bitcoin mining for a month and it comes with 3 games I wanted.

Edit: Don't you have that amazing 7950? I would keep that if possible. I'm hoping for 1100MHz from each card personally. I'm hoping an 850W Seasonic can do the job.

 

[Belkov]

Yeah let us know. Depending on the price of the GTX 780, I may be going this route as well...?

You are considering buying a 780? I thought you are the biggest AMD FAN ever...

 

[Face2Face]

I was going to wait as well, but there's still some money to be saved by Bitcoin mining for a month and it comes with 3 games I wanted.

Edit: Don't you have that amazing 7950? I would keep that if possible. I'm hoping for 1100MHz from each card personally. I'm hoping an 850W Seasonic can do the job.

I like the 7950 I have but am always looking ahead The 850W Seasonic is definitely up to the task, even with a healthy overclock.

You are considering buying a 780? I thought you are the biggest AMD FAN ever...

LOL I like them all the same. Come to think about it... I have owned more Nvidia cards vs. ATI/AMD - But more AMD cpu's vs. Intel.

If you can convince Zaydq to sell me his MSI TF3 7950 I might go crossfire with two capable cards.

 

[Belkov]

Well, usualy i prefer nvidia. I think about 770 because i like the number... :biggrin:

But for what for i'm using my card, the present one is just fine... And i started to mine a little, so for now the choice is clear - i'll stay with GB 7950 WF3...

 

[Face2Face]

I posted this over @ OCN - But figured I would share with you guys as well

Well I ended up making some time last night to do this vrm mod. I didn't get to take my time as much as I would have liked, but wanted to get this done.

I removed the cooler and then removed the vrm/memory plate. As you can see the vrm cooling for # 1 and # 2 is just a small cut of thermal material. I thought it was 1mm thick, turns out it's closer to 2mm.



MSI uses spacers for the plate to prevent the vrm/memory plate from touching the PCB. I couldn't really take a picture of it but the stock thermal pad over the vrms did not appear to make good contact at all. It looks as if the spacers have a little more than 2mm of clearance. I purchased 1mm Fujipoly Extreme pads to substitute for the stock thermal pad. I ended up having to triple up on the amount needed. I stacked 3mm worth of Fujipoly to ensure there was no gap or space between the plate and vrms. I had read prior to this mod, that Fujipoly did not have a lot of play and could not be compressed much. As it turns out it's not much different than Play-Doh and it can be compressed quite a bit. I installed the vrm/memory plate with the Fujipoly over vrm # 1 and # 2 and tightened everything down. I had to remove some excess Fujipoly from the sides. Here is a picture of how if looks.





I was worried that I used too much since you cannot see the vrms at all anymore.. Going to have to wait and see.

I then proceed to install the supplied heatsinks that came with the Accelero Xtreme 7970 over the vrm/memory plate. I used the thermal tape and cut small pieces for the heatsinks. I used alcohol wipes to clean each of the surfaces.

Here is a picture of the heatsinks installed over vrm # 1 and # 2. This will hopefully provide more heat dissipation and allow the fans to effectively cool the heatsinks vs. the vrm/memory plate.



There is just enough room for the heatsinks with the cooler installed. I installed the heatsinks dry to check



I will say, I was up late doing this so I didn't have a whole lot of time to test the temps. My card over the last couple weeks has been running hotter than I would like. At 1200/1650 I am seeing 63-65c for the core and 80-90c for the vrms while gaming. Not worried much about the core temps, while the vrms are still safe, they are a little hotter than I would like.

I did a full run of Heaven 4.0 completely maxed out @ 1080P and then played Tomb Raider for about 20 minutes. Tomb raider seems to heat up the vrms quicker than most games.

1200/1650 would put both vrms in the 80c-91c range while gaming originally. With the new configuration I am now seeing ---
56-71c !!! Now I have to do more testing, but that's a pretty incredible drop if I do say so myself. Maybe 1225 or 1250 core will be obtainable for gaming...?? I also changed the thermal paste and I am seeing a 5c reduction in the core temps. All in all it was worth the money and time. I will update this thread when I do some more testing.

Here are the links to the items I purchased .

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7..._Square_AK-TT12-80.html?id=DdMGfSIe&mv_pc=145

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...nductivity_110_WmK.html?id=DdMGfSIe&mv_pc=146

 

[hyrule4927]

@Face2Face

Looks like some solid results. I am interested in doing the same when I install a Corsair H60 on my 7950. How many orders of the thermal adhesive and thermal pads did you need in order to cover all of the memory and VRMs?

 

[Face2Face]

@Face2Face

Looks like some solid results. I am interested in doing the same when I install a Corsair H60 on my 7950. How many orders of the thermal adhesive and thermal pads did you need in order to cover all of the memory and VRMs?

You would just need one Fujipoly thermal pad for the vrms -You would need to cut it into three sections.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...nductivity_110_WmK.html?id=DdMGfSIe&mv_pc=468


I can't tell you for sure if the memory pads were .5mm or 1mm. But I am going to learn toward the 1mm size. I did not replace the memory pads but you may want to buy a sheet rather than a strip.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...nductivity_110_WmK.html?id=DdMGfSIe&mv_pc=450

One of these is more than enough for the heatsinks. I have plenty left over.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7..._Square_AK-TT12-80.html?id=DdMGfSIe&mv_pc=145

 

[hyrule4927]

Awesome. Thanks for the help!

 

[Face2Face]

Awesome. Thanks for the help!

No problem, good luck :thumbsup:

 

[Smartazz]

Anybody liquid cool their 7950s? What kind of clock speeds are these capable of under water? The ASIC on one of my 7950s is below 60% so it sounds like it might be a good watercooled card.

 

[radtechtips]

Anybody liquid cool their 7950s? What kind of clock speeds are these capable of under water? The ASIC on one of my 7950s is below 60% so it sounds like it might be a good watercooled card.

Havent done it yet but i want to once i can sell my gopro and other old parts

 

[Face2Face]

Anybody liquid cool their 7950s? What kind of clock speeds are these capable of under water? The ASIC on one of my 7950s is below 60% so it sounds like it might be a good watercooled card.

Hokies83 on here has them under water. His best card hits 1370 on the core. The Heatkiller's look to one of the best, because they actively cool the vrms as well.

 

[Smartazz]

I got my second 7950 and it's such overkill I'm leaning against water cooling them. However, I did notice that the second 7950 runs cooler than the first despite being almost identical. Is it worth reapplying the thermal paste on the original? By the way, temperature testing was done with one card at a time.

 

[Belkov]

Or just clean the fans and heatsink of the card - this lower my temps with almost 5 degrees...

 

[Zargon]

I posted this over @ OCN - But figured I would share with you guys as well

*SNIP*

I cant tell WTF you are talking about or where.....?

 

[chimaxi83]

I cant tell WTF you are talking about or where.....?

He installed heatinks on the stock heat spreader/plate of his card, right over the VRMs, to improve their cooling.

 

[Face2Face]

I cant tell WTF you are talking about or where.....?

OCN = Overclock.net I have a thread on their forums showing the same modifications I am doing here.

BTW playing crysis 3 for awhile @ 1200/1650 puts me at

VRM #1 71c
VRM #2 66c

Much better This mod was well worth it and successful in my eyes.