6950 Overclocking !

[FTR.4500MHz]

Hey guys and gals

!

The last few days i was messing around with my gpu's to squeeze a bit more performance out of them , because upgrading to the 7900 serie is still a bit expensive for me .

I'm not an overcklocking expert so one particular question keeps crossing my mind : Safe or not ?

I actually managed to get my cards to run stable @ 1000/1375/1,29mV. ----> max temps : 53c top gpu , 51c on the 2nd .

So the question is : Is it safe for a 24/7 usage ?

I want to keep my cards Healthy so that i can sell them off when i upgrade and the new owner will have no issues with them !!!

Thanks for any help and anwser !

 

[kilobravo]

Nice stable oc on the hd6950

.Rams could run 1500mhz,but isnt a must.

 

[FTR.4500MHz]

Nice stable oc on the hd6950

.Rams could run 1500mhz,but isnt a must.

Yeah i like too ! 1500MHz on the memory sounds Nice , but before i try that out and bench it i would like to know if the VRM'S are able to handle this kind of voltage since my cards are reference PCB's ?

 

[Premchand]

im not to happy about going above 1250mV myself. note that its just a feeling, have no clue if going higher is save. Some say it is some don't i decided to play it save.

and given your running crossfire, do you really need to OC them ?

how do you keep your cards that cool ?

i have an TF3 model maxing 69C 45min max load @ 936/1525mhz.

Nice OC btw

EDIT: WC of course

 

[FTLN]

My sapphire 6950 had the voltage locked down... I managed 955 core / 1350 Memory @ 1180mV...

Little review of it here - http://forum.overclock3d.net/index.php?/topic/41318-gaming-on-a-budget/

Unless your benching I would keep your mV as low as you can if you want to keep the card until 79XX prices drop...

 

[FTR.4500MHz]

im not to happy about going above 1250mV myself. note that its just a feeling, have no clue if going higher is save. Some say it is some don't i decided to play it save.

and given your running crossfire, do you really need to OC them ?

how do you keep your cards that cool ?

i have an TF3 model maxing 69C 45min max load @ 936/1525mhz.

Nice OC btw

EDIT: WC of course

Thank you !

I'm not too worried about the core and voltage reg temps since i watercool . My worry is if the VRM's support delivering such high voltage (reference pcb).

I think your card can support more then mine since your card is a custom pcb (better components ???) . So i think im going to drop some MHz and some volts to stay on the safe side !!! By the way running your Vram that high did you notice major performance increase ???

 

[FTR.4500MHz]

My sapphire 6950 had the voltage locked down... I managed 955 core / 1350 Memory @ 1180mV...

Little review of it here - http://forum.overclock3d.net/index.php?/topic/41318-gaming-on-a-budget/

Unless your benching I would keep your mV as low as you can if you want to keep the card until 79XX prices drop...

Yes i think im going to run them a little lower to stay safe . I got enough performance with 2 cards running modded bios (shaders unlocked)

Since i saw the 7970 performance i wanted to squeeze more and more (OC syndrom)

So thank you for the advice and reply !!

 

[Premchand]

By the way running your Vram that high did you notice major performance increase ???

Nope, just run 3Dmark11 for you to give you an idea.

@936/1250mhz

P5628

@936/1525mhz

P5697

Not really worth it, other then having the fun of overclocking.

And being able to say your have it overclocked

tbh i really don't notice the core overclock either other then the the scores increase.

Its not like it makes a game that was stock unplayable playable

Glad to hear your playing it safe 5fps extra is not worth bricking your GPU

Imo overclocking a GPU is only worth it if your benching(i'm sure people will call me crazy now

)

 

[SmoulderingCircuits]

Whatever you do (especially in Afterburner) don't tick the 'apply on startup' checkbox or if it's unstable you've had it!! Happened to me on a MSI 6950 TF2 OC

Go easy on the memory, or you'll be seeing green

 

[madness777]

Whatever you do (especially in Afterburner) don't tick the 'apply on startup' checkbox or if it's unstable you've had it!! Happened to me on a MSI 6950 TF2 OC

If that happens to you (if you have it ticked) and can't start just press F8 after bios screen and start with Safe Mode. Then go to My Computer\Local Disk (C\Program Files(x86)\MSI Afterburner\Profiles

And delete the profile...

You will start normally @ Stock... =) Glad I could help

 

[FTLN]

Visible difference whilst gaming is null, even with the unlocked shaders the only difference is higher 3dmark scores...

Stay safe if your vrm's are not cooled,,,,, they will break at high temp... You can always buy some heat sinks for them though...

 

[FTR.4500MHz]

Visible difference whilst gaming is null, even with the unlocked shaders the only difference is higher 3dmark scores...

Stay safe if your vrm's are not cooled,,,,, they will break at high temp... You can always buy some heat sinks for them though...

Thats not the problem got fullcover blocks .

 

[FTR.4500MHz]

Nope, just run 3Dmark11 for you to give you an idea.

@936/1250mhz

P5628

@936/1525mhz

P5697

Not really worth it, other then having the fun of overclocking.

And being able to say your have it overclocked

tbh i really don't notice the core overclock either other then the the scores increase.

Its not like it makes a game that was stock unplayable playable

Glad to hear your playing it safe 5fps extra is not worth bricking your GPU

Imo overclocking a GPU is only worth it if your benching(i'm sure people will call me crazy now

)

Are you Crazy ???!

 

[madness777]

Nope, just run 3Dmark11 for you to give you an idea.

@936/1250mhz

P5628

@936/1525mhz

P5697

Not really worth it, other then having the fun of overclocking.

And being able to say your have it overclocked

tbh i really don't notice the core overclock either other then the the scores increase.

Its not like it makes a game that was stock unplayable playable

Glad to hear your playing it safe 5fps extra is not worth bricking your GPU

Imo overclocking a GPU is only worth it if your benching(i'm sure people will call me crazy now

)

Are you crazy?? LOLOL

Well yeah it's mostly for benching but with my 570 from stock to 1100MHz core (770stock) and 2450MHz ram (2000stock) in crysis was from 54.9FPS all max no AA to 71.2FPS OCed.

With 16QAA stock was from 39.2FPS to 52.2FPS OCed... Now what a big boost if you ask me. Not that I play at those clocks... just for fun... I play at it safe at 950/2250 =)

But the overclock is noticable. With 39FPS you can see microstuttering, with 52FPS you can't really notice a difference if it's stock no AA, or 16QAA OCed

 

[Premchand]

Well your overclock is massive, 330Mhz extra

you better notice

me being a silicon lottery loser

can only get 950 max core clock @ 1350mV (maxing the afterburner slider)

and even then i struggles finishing a benchmark.

I can play games at 936Mhz thats only a 86Mhz increase over the factory OC, giving me about 7fps more in Crysis 2

So yeah i do notice, just no massive difference

I mostly do it cause i can

 

[Premchand]

post doubled

 

[madness777]

Well your overclock is massive, 330Mhz extra

you better notice

me being a silicon lottery loser

can only get 950 max core clock @ 1350mV (maxing the afterburner slider)

and even then i struggles finishing a benchmark.

I can play games at 936Mhz thats only a 86Mhz increase over the factory OC, giving me about 7fps more in Crysis 2

So yeah i do notice, just no massive difference

I mostly do it cause i can

And your temps for your max OC are? Temps kill OCs quickly. Mine was stable at 35°C in F@H but just wasn't coping anymore at 37°C so I bench only at night.

Well I got WC so maybe that keeps my GPU stable at 1100... My max was 1130MHz @ 1.45v stable for 3dmark11. Temps were in the 30s

Getting caps for it =) gonna be good... and will try to squeeze some more from it! Hope it copes with those MHz!

 

[Premchand]

And your temps for your max OC are?

low-mid 70c

 

[madness777]

Open the sidepanel and set those fans to 100% wait like 5min so it cools a little and then try getting more from it! It must have 1000MHz in it! Just for fun

Getting off topic xD

 

[SmoulderingCircuits]

If that happens to you (if you have it ticked) and can't start just press F8 after bios screen and start with Safe Mode. Then go to My Computer\Local Disk (C\Program Files(x86)\MSI Afterburner\Profiles

And delete the profile...

You will start normally @ Stock... =) Glad I could help

I did that

and it still artifacted in normal Windows, so sent it back - this was months ago.