Hi Guys,

Anyone here tend to share their experience while overclocking the new beast from AMD? We can use this thread as main platform for AMD R9-200 series and HD7xxx's owner to share and discuss anything about overclocking and benchmarking these cards to the Max.
Anyone to share? Benchmark, Overclock, Gaming experience, FPS etc...we can share everything in this thread

AMD Radeon HD7970 - the previous KING of RED


AMD Radeon R9-290x - The New KING of RED is emerged now

Image courtesy of Google Images

Overclocking Tools(Use at your own risk):
1. MSI Afterburner 3.0.0 Beta 16(Latest)
Download Link
2. Sapphire Trixx 4.6.0 (Latest)
Download Link
3. Asus GPU Tweak 2.4.7 (Latest)
Download Link


AMD Radeon HD7970 Driver:
Catalyst 13.9 WHQL & Catalyst 13.11 Beta8
AMD Radeon HD7970's Driver page

Monitoring Utilities:
GPU-Z 0.7.3 (Latest)
HWiNFO64 v4.26 (Latest)


OC stability checking utilities (Use this at your own risk):
1. OCCT 4.4.0
Download Link
2. Furmark 1.10.6
Download Link
3. MSI Kombustor 2.5.2
Download Link



HD7970 ref OC Results:

gpu-z (1300/1685):




MSI Afterburner (1300/1685MHz @ 1.3v):




Benchmark at stock clock(925/1375):
3DMark Vantage (P32383):
http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3832180



VANTAGE SCORE with single HD7970
HD7970 @ 1300MHz/1750MHz - P40058 Wow!!
CPU 2600k @ 4.85GHz
http://3dmark.com/3dmv/4035482





3DMark11 stock (925/1375) - P8003
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2592460


3DMark11 - HD7970@ (1300/1685) - P10636
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3239426


This post has been edited by shepard: Oct 31 2013, 06:13 AM

bro, when you play latest games with all eye candy sets to the maxed possible, you'll know that even the most powerful single GPU also struggling to maintain a playable fps especially when you play at 1080p or higher res. That's where GPU OC taking its part to produce more fps = smooth gameplay. You're right about the life span, but to me as long as we monitor the temps and control it wisely everything should be fine, believe me.. I may not an expert when it comes to overclocking CPU/GPU but from what I read and learnt from OC old timers all over the net, and with some experience in overclocking GTX8800s, HD5850s, 6970s before..i believe as long as we know what we did, the GC should be fine.

Most importantly, we didn't use highest achieved OC for 24/7 but instead just for benching purpose and try to get a highest score possible. same goes with those who OC'ed their CPU using subzero/LN2 etc...they didn't do that for 24/7 usage but just for the score and to exceed the limit+ for fun...just my 10cents though .

---

Added on January 10, 2012, 7:43 pmsorry bro, i dont have a decent camera so i didn't capture any photo. maybe tonight I'll capture some and upload it. This is a MUST HAVE card for all 'extreme pc gamers' .
1. fan really silent
2. the design is superb
3. this card is really cold
4. easy to OC, can OC up to 300MHz+ on core and up to 250MHz on memory easily, just need a small bump on voltage.
5. very stable OC

This post has been edited by shepard: Jan 10 2012, 07:50 PM

3DMark11 score:

stock: 7885
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2518044

1125/1575: 9109
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2518097

1285/1615: 9938
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2518309

will try to up some more since I am now at 1.25v with 1285clock...maybe can get past 1300MHz with 1.3v, hopefully can get a 10k+ score . Btw, the temps never exceed 75degC with 70% fan speed.

Unigine heaven 2.5 all settings maxed out @ 1920x1080.



not quite impressive as i imagine since min fps still below 30fps.

This post has been edited by shepard: Jan 11 2012, 02:45 AM

successfully get a bit more juice from this lovely beast .

HD7970 @ 1300/1650, voltage 1.275v.
3DMark11 score: 10055
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2522568

3DMark Vantage score: 37129
http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3805782



This post has been edited by shepard: Jan 11 2012, 11:26 AM

I'll do some game benches and update here later on. at 65% fan speed, this card is quite noisy but still acceptable if compared to HD6970...temps are up to 75degC but in a/c'ed (24degC) room.

yes, definitely but as long as you manage it with fan speed etc everything should be under control .

no wonder he got 11700 only at 1230..he's using a top end cpu/mobo/ram with very high physics score and this will affect graphics score as well. Nice score & nice system over there.

forgive me but that's not quite true if base on my OC'ed results. Even if I upped my cpu clock to 100MHz, the final result in 3dmark11 increased for about 120points. So to me, cpu play its own important part in contributing a best final score for 3dmark11 and vantage. But really its just a number..if let say we run it 5x at 4.0GHz and 5x at 4.3GHz then we may have different POV on the final score .

GPU - 1300/1650, CPU 4.4GHz - 3dmark11 score 9938 , Graphics score 10106
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2518309

GPU - 1300/1650, CPU 4.5GHz - 3dmark11 score 10055, Graphics score 10216
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2522568

---

Added on January 11, 2012, 10:38 pmAlien Vs Predator HD7970@1225/1600:

AvP D3D11 Benchmark Report
==========================

**************************************************
* Report Created: 2012-01-11 @ 22:35:22
**************************************************
* Executable Build: V1.03, Apr 19 2010
**************************************************

*DX11 Hardware Detected*

Using Default Video Settings:

Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Texture Quality: 2
Shadow Quality: 3
Anisotropic Filtering: 16
SSAO: ON
Vertical Sync: OFF
DX11 Tessellation: ON
DX11 Advanced Shadows: ON
DX11 MSAA Samples: 1

Benchmark Summary:

Number of frames: 11869
Average Frame Time: 8.8ms
Average FPS: 113.1

This post has been edited by shepard: Jan 11 2012, 10:38 PM

Not even close. AMD card's physics definitely cannot compared to NVIDIA physX no matter how powerful its raw power performance. I hope this is what you mean..

Yes master Kevin, i need to do some googling to find out whether this card already supported with physX card to play latest games like batman arkham city etc..but i guess it'll take some time for the work around .

haha ya lorr, cannot resist anymore as I found those reviews on this card was sooooo charming hahaha ..if got more money sure will grab another one, then I'll sit tight for maybe 1-2years enjoying new games

hopefully by time, AMD driver support team are working hard to satisfy their 7970's customer after what they've paid. I believe there's much more potential in this card, only time will tell . thanks for drop by..


This post has been edited by shepard: Jan 13 2012, 01:01 PM

That's good to hear, I will no longer doing OC'ing and Benching alone here then .

I take leave today just to play around with this card haha , got some scores to be shared and to compare 3xhd5850s performance with single hd7970 in some games/benchmarks.
Now for a start Unigine Heaven 2.5 with everything maxed out...hd7970@ 1225/1625 stable for 24/7 usage on air




ok now i7 920@4.3GHz with 3xhd5850s @ 950/1200 scores with unigine heaven 2.0 all settings maxed out:


i7 2600k@4.5GHz with HD7970 @ 1225/1625 - scored even higher than 3x5850s OC'ed above..great tessellation power INDEED!!


Since I've kept some benchmark scores of my old 3x5850s system, I can at least compare those results with 7970 scores in a chart later and share with you guys here... hope to see a good score.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3DMark Vantage comparison ( 3x5850s vs 7970)
3x5850s OC'ed @ 1025/1200 + i7 920@4.4GHz




hd7970 OC'ed @ 1300/1650 + i7 2600k@4.5GHz



HD7970 is a true winner against mighty 3x5850s


This post has been edited by shepard: Jan 13 2012, 02:18 PM

haha..true bro alvin, what i mean is their support, and also possible if the new driver will make this card even more stable in OC that'll be great as well. Actually the improve in FPS is subjective and only applied to some games/ apps upon new driver release..we dont get an overall 10fps for all games..new driver means better games optimization but not for all games. Right now I'm playing Skyrim with hd7970 and microstutter is there all the times, this won't happen with nvidia cards though..this is where we need AMD support to improve on their driver in games etc, in terms of FPS...this card serve me more than I need already..no complaints at all .

Update: After ran through a couple of benchmarks and games tests...I dare to declare that HD7970 is even more powerful than 3x5850s in terms of overall raw power(fps) and of course tessellation power. However, I just compared my HD7970 with my old Trifire setup that use an old driver. But as bro Alvin mentioned, new driver wont produce an extra 10-20fps so there's no doubt already. I believe this card also able to beat 2xHD5870 when it comes to OC'ed vs OC'ed. IF at stock, maybe those Trifire and CFx is better. Thanks to HD7970's huge OC headrooms .

This post has been edited by shepard: Jan 14 2012, 03:43 AM

This is how Hd5850s scales, just for sharing .




This post has been edited by shepard: Jan 14 2012, 07:15 PM

Great, hope we can see your OC results for both cards. dont forget to update us on 7970s CF & TF performance as I am looking forward to add 1 or 2 more of this beast and then watercooled them...haha I'm so excited!

btw bro Kevin, do we have any reviews on those 7970s WB in the net? so far couldn't find them.

Alright,

here's some update on the 7970's OC potential and performance gain OVER STOCK that we could get in some of the latest/old games once we OC'ed this card.
Resolution:1920x1080
AA: 4x MSAA
Anisotropic: 16x
Graphics Details: All Maxed out except for unigine 2.5 with Normal tessellation.



FPS gain plotted in pareto:


Another chart for Vantage and 3DMark11 results:


Performance gain(%) pareto:


So I would say that we can easily achieve 20% more performance out of this card ONLY IF we are lucky enough to get a good 7970 chip. I'd say this because I read a lot of complaints from 7970's users in the net on how their card cannot OC'ed beyond 1100/1150 and heck, some cannot even past 1070MHz neither at stock nor higher voltage. It's like a lucky draw I guess, and maybe this is the reason why AMD set their 7970's stock core clock as low as 925MHz even though most chips can go beyond 1250MHz stable on air.

By watercooled this beast, i think we can even get a 30+% performance gain out of this beast, amazing!!

This post has been edited by shepard: Jan 19 2012, 08:44 PM

Thanks bro Alvin, I love to spend time play around with GC . max temps when I play crysis 2 and metro 2033 at 1275/1675 is 71degC but I am in A/C'ed room(22degC). I set the fan profile to inrease the speed in linear from 40deg=25% to 70Deg=60% but 7970 stock fan was less audible compared to my previous 6970. furthermore I always play games with loud speaker or headphone so the fan's sound is not a concern here .

Anyway bro Alvin, got any plan going Red again? or waiting for GTX680/780?


Definitely! no doubt about that

This post has been edited by shepard: Jan 18 2012, 10:22 PM

Bro, hope you can share your 7970s Trifire experiences with us soon. If it scales well, I might need to consider for Trifire as well. Last time when using Trifire 5850s it scales very2 nice with performance gain about 2.6x-2.9x over a single 5850. If this card does scale around 2.5x above in games/benches then without hesitation it is a MUST BUILD setup

Welcome my friend 7970's owner . if you going to water cool this card first, kindly share your OC experience later ya? I might need to wait until march to build a fully WC setup due to budget constraint now haha...

btw, there's no need to set the fan up to 65% speed lol...are you doing benching with those fan setting? but yeah, at 60% above the fan start to annoys me.

This post has been edited by shepard: Jan 22 2012, 02:42 AM

Yes, you cannot manually set the settings or you'll get 0 3DMark score. Just go to option tab and select one preset setting either "Entry, Performance, High, or Extreme" but normally people will use "performance" preset to compare the scores. Try do this first and see how much you can get. Thanks for sharing .

Whoa!!..cant wait to see how those Trifire beasts perform in games/benches. It's even good to know how far it can go when you start to OC all of them. I dont prefer quad CFx tbh because to me it's too hassle and from what I read on QuadCfx of HD58xx last time it scales very bad but not sure how it perform on newer generation of AMD cards though. But yeah, I do need those killer combination of RIVE + 3930k/3960x LOL . You think better grab these or wait for ivy bridge later in Apr, any idea?

I wonder why you enable vsync when you're using 3 powerful cards for gaming/benching? . We wanted to see how powerful your Trifire setup performed so i guess it's good if you just turn off vsync on any games/benches or we might end up with constant 60fps all the time from your setup .. I'm saying this because my single 7970 can almost do a constant 60fps on ultra settings in BF3 as well maybe in heavy firefight it will drop to <60fps like when there's and explosions etc. I'm gaming at 1920x1080 btw, are you gaming with eyefinity setup? res?

I am not so sure about removing CFx bridge but from my experience with my Trifire 5850s. You just need to disable one of the card if you plan to run only 1 or 2 cards and no need to remove the CFx bridge. That's what I did last time when benching single and dual cards and it works that way. give it a try first and see, i dont really think you need to remove the bridge though.

This post has been edited by shepard: Jan 22 2012, 02:49 AM

Yeah I know vsync purpose, what i meant is that it is not needed if you want to benchmark your setup to see how powerful it is. Vsync is important if you're gaming though. So are you going to benchmark your trifire say for crysis2, metro2033, far cry 2, warhead, 3dmark11, 3dmark vantage etc?

cant wait to see those scores..thanks for your update

nice score right there m8! later will try to benchmark at EXTREME preset for both Vantage and 3DMark11.

Tried MSI Afterburner beta 11. Set the card core voltage to 1.3v with 1325,1320,1315,1310,1305MHz but all crash during benchmark. looks like this card really need a water block only then it can surpass 1.3GHz clock speed I guess.

Now looking for WB for this card and will update here my 7970 OC experience under water soon

This post has been edited by shepard: Jan 27 2012, 01:29 AM