Very good one Kevin! Nice apple to apple comparison with a nice score on both setup especially CFx 7970s . Now I cannot wait any longer for another 7970 . Those scores and Dirt 3 FPS is truly an Overkill, furthermore benched at 2560x1600!! Woww..Impressive!

Thanks for sharing.

Which brand of 7970 you r using right now, Gigabyte or Sapphire? could you please share with us which benchmark you're running above, is it 3dm11, Vantage or Furmark?

I wonder how come some 7970's cards cannot even past 1150MHz even after bumping the coreV..this is not a good news since I'm going to grab another 7970 soon...hopefully my 2nd card will be as good as my 1st card.

This post has been edited by shepard: Jan 31 2012, 09:13 PM

So Bro Kevin, are you going to share your CF/TF OC experience and benchmark results on those cards?

Just ran Lost Planet 2 DX11 benchmark this morning with HD7970 @ 1275/1685MHz:
Test B
1920x1080
DX11
AA: 8x
Everything Maxed out!




This post has been edited by shepard: Feb 2 2012, 11:47 AM

Great! let's see what it can do under water

Haha me too..I didn't play Lost planet tbh just ran the benchmark. Same like you enjoying skyrim, Batman AC and BF3 currently .

I stick with 11.12 RC11 since it performs well compared to 11.12_7970 and 12.1 WHQL...Other forumer compared the results between these drivers and help us to choose which driver performing better.. but I might lack some of the CCC new features.

Nice score on a single card bro! Mine cannot even past 11k even with 2600k clocked at 4.8GHz. Your 3930k SB-E at 4.5GHz got more juice than my SB @4.8GHz...but i doubt the FPS in games will be much differ compared to your system am I correct?



Edit: Wow!! I just saw your mem clock...it's 2000MHZ ?? are you running your card on air or under water?

This post has been edited by shepard: Feb 3 2012, 07:43 PM

Another 3D Benchmark at 1920x1080, cpu at 4.6GHz / HD7970 clocked to 1300/1685 at 1.3v. Average 195.05 FPS.

Download link:
http://www.iryoku.com/separable-sss-released




This post has been edited by shepard: Feb 4 2012, 10:12 PM

That will be something really disappointing as most of the reviews on 7970 can easily achieved 1125/1575 at stock volt. It appears purchasing this card and hoping to get a decent OC headroom is like a gamble thing, some outside forumers also stuck at your speed. Btw, which PSU brand u r using right now and wattage?

750W gold is plenty enough.hmmm...

I wonder what application you're using to OC your 7970? if MSI AB, then which version (beta 11 or 12?). Did you set your GPU chip default voltage in MSI AB?

Maybe you can share your system with us? I hope we can somehow get your card to achieve at least max OC in CCC overdrive..

Please download MSI Afterburner beta 12 first, install it and from there I will try to help you to set the default voltage of your chip using MSI AB. Do you know your GPU chip default voltage? I'm asking this because 7970 chip's default voltage are varies due to low leakage and high leakage chips used.

I'm not sure how this will help you in any way but can you check the ASIC score of your card using GPU-Z 0.5.8? just right click at the top bar of GPU-z and select ASIC score...let's see how your 7970 scored. Btw, have you OC'ed your CPU?

MSI AB beta 12 Link: http://downloads.guru3d.com/MSI-Afterburne...nload-2850.html
GPU-Z 0.5.8 Link: http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/

How come you cannot find the ASIC score? Just right click at the blue top bar of GPU-Z 0.5.8 and you can find it "Read ASIC quality.." at 2nd bottom before 'About..".
Anyway I'll reply you back once I return home tonight...I'd be really disappointed if my ~RM2000 HD7970 cannot even OC'ed at least to 1125MHz..Gud Luck bro!

Yeah, maybe need to RMA but no harm in trying first right?

This post has been edited by shepard: Feb 8 2012, 07:17 PM

make sure you didnt run any other OC apps(Asus/Trixx etc..) before installing MSI Afterburner beta 12. close all of them and better disable CCC Overdrive.

Install MSI AB, check at the look at the Core voltage(mV) value...let me know the value okay?

can you try to lower the value to 1050mv and run any graphic benchmark? let's see whether it's stable at 1050mV or not. you may use 3dmark11 or Vantage GPU test only to check..set to extreme test. and don't forget to monitor the max voltage either using GPU-Z or MSI AB after running the GPU test. Maybe Bro Kevin can help here? I'm also a beginner in Overclocking LOL

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Added on February 9, 2012, 12:22 am22k 3DMark11?? OMG I wish I have the $$ Now and grab an x79 system plus two more 7970s . Nice score bro Kevin . You running your system only with AX1200 alone? Btw, why you didn't OC your 7970s Mem? I assume all three cards are now utilized under water right? What's the temps reading on all three cards btw?

Nice sharing, thanks!

This post has been edited by shepard: Feb 9 2012, 12:23 AM

no problem bro, just run performance test and wait for the score... make sure you monitor the GPU temps and voltage and let me know max temps/voltage once completed the benchmark.

i think you should know where to look for current voltage and temps in MSI AB right?

score looks alright to me, I think you need to set the fan speed to custom profile using afterburner..click on the setting in MSI AB, once the settings window appear, click the 'Fan' Tab. Tick the "enable user defined.." Box. Set your profile like this:

set the fan to 35% for temps <45DegC. Then set another fan 'point' at 80% for temps <70degC. Set another fan "point' to 100 for temps >80degC. see below pictures as an example on how it looks like.



I guess you never set custom fan profile before Is it? try this first, apply it! Next thing to do is set the core voltage back to 1175mV and set the core clock to 1100Mhz. leave the ram clock at default first...run 3dmark11 again at 1100MHz with voltage set to 1175mV. If 3dmark11 freeze, and you have to hard reset..restart and try to manually set the fan constant at 70% with core at 1100MHz and voltage at deafault 1175mv..rerun the 3dmark11 once more.

tbh, overclocking and benchmarking is really time consuming and we have to be patient enough to find a stable OC with the lowest voltage possible to reduce heat and power consumption also k.a reducing TNB bills .

This post has been edited by shepard: Feb 9 2012, 01:36 AM

yeah great..that's why..i guess it could be becoz of your temps too high that cause a freeze. I suggest you to play games at high resolution first...maybe play crysis/crysis2 or battlefield 3 at those clock first maybe play for half an hour or longer first.

i you want to skip also can, just try to OC to 1125MHz at 1175mv voltage and you should be able to run the benchmark again without any issue....

for performance wise, it is core clock which is more important..however mem clock can also increase your GPU performance but not as significant as core clock. You can also OC both but i advice you to OC the Mem not more than 1650MHz since you're using stock cooler.

If your PC now stable at 1125MHz without any freeze in games/benches..you may try to OC even higher maybe 1175/1200Mhz at 1.2v but please keep in mind, once you upped the voltage, the temps will goes up as well so the most important thing in OC'ing is to ALWAYS WATCH & MONITOR YOUR TEMPS...we dont want to spoil our RM2k card don't we? haha...

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Added on February 9, 2012, 1:53 ambro,

i think ur stock volt is 1175 so keep that maintain while overclocking unless the OC is not stable/freeze. then you might need to up the voltage as well. I suggest not to let your card goes >80degC while gaming..watch the temp, run background monitoring apps like msi ab or gpu-z to regularly check the temps.

I think above you mean reduce back the core clock right? not voltage...because 1175mv is your stock voltage already bro .. btw, power limit wont help you much especially on mild OC. last time your PC freeze because of GPU overheating, that's what i believe since you're running 3dmark11 at only 1050mv and getting 79degC its really hot to me..I take a good care of my card to never surpass 70degC all the time either in gaming or benching...set the fan profile wisely...fan not too loud and GPU not too hot.

This post has been edited by shepard: Feb 9 2012, 01:56 AM

Haha sorry bro..i thought it was faith94 who'se asking me..got confuse already becoz I'm helping him right now..adoiii ..sure different card comes with different stock voltage. let me read again your question.

This post has been edited by shepard: Feb 9 2012, 02:00 AM

That's great Man, your score also sit tight in the 7970 league...now you can OC even higher but when your pc freeze or there's an artifact on the screen..try to increase the volt slowly and steady..be patient and pls do not rushing in overclocking...and watch your temp closely ..Happy overclocking, just let me know if you need my help again.

We'll from what i learnt..there's a low leakage and high leakage GPU chip manufactured and built in our GPU including our HD7970. Due to this reason, some GPU needs more volt to stable at certain clock while some other needs lower voltage at similar clock. So it is typical to have a GPU with 1175mV, 1125mV, 1050mV or even lower voltage at stock clock for 7970s card. Since you mentioned that your card stock voltage was at 1050mv then it shouldn't be a problem.

To me, as long as you can OC this card stable at 1200MHz+ with voltage <1.2v it is good enough . you can try google if you need more info on these so called 'low leakage' and 'high leakage' chips.

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Added on February 9, 2012, 2:13 amYes, try to OC to 1125/1600 at stock volt(1175mv)..run the benchmark again and your score should increase ..try it.

This post has been edited by shepard: Feb 9 2012, 02:13 AM

Interesting enough, my card stock volt was 1175mv...just now I ran furmark burn In test at 1080p at stock clock(925MHz) but I undervolt the voltage to 1000mv and the card can still pass furmark burn in test . I will try to lower it down a little bit and see what's the lowest core voltage value for my card in order to stable in games/stress test. this will help us in electricity and reduce the heat on the GPU.