overclocking the 6990

I rather not make a new threat as i think its already been discussed n stuff however the search option says it cant find anything regarding overclocking the 6990m

i understand u need to flash the vbios before u can properly overclock ?
i tried just to overclock with trixx but it doesnt seem to like that too much lol

can anybody point me in the right direction ?

thanks

 

What clock rates were you using in Trixx?

I have used both Trixx and Overdrive and there really isn't any difference between the two in what you can do. You only need to flash the vbios if using Overdrive.

 

800 for the gpu and 1000 for the memory

i believe u where able to push it a tad further ?
my temps stay around 60-65 odd.

once i go past that it just crashes.

 

Are you using the most recent drivers? Might be worth downloading the full package from AMD and letting it install to see if you are missing anything.

Also, make sure your computer is on A/C power and plugged in.

Lastly, what are you using to test it? A benchmark program or a game?

 

currently the 11.8 drivers although havnt actualy tried overclocking on them yet.

ofc its plugged in, this thing is like a vampire regarding power ;p

was actualy doing some test on arma II for that guy tempted to get an m17x r3 if arma II ran properly on it lol

just as soon i push the memory a tad further it just crashes.


basicly all the bios thingy does is just unlock overdrive yeh ?

 

Yeah,you better not make a new THREAT
BTW,I don't think you need to flash vbios in order to overclock you card "properly".The reason behind flashing vbios really is to increase the voltage so that your card can be pushed a little bit further(at least I don't think graphics cards nowadays need flashing in order to be overclockable)

 

Strange.

So with Trixx you don't need any mods. I was able to get fairly high, around 830/1130 with just Trixx. It's strange that you can't.

For Overdrive, you first need to unlock it in the registry so it even displays the performance tab in CCC. Then you need to flash the vbios in order to raise the overlocking limits on the card so Overdrive can actually do useful overclocking (defaults are barely above stock). There's threads on how to tweak the registry and how to flash the vbios in this forum if you dig a bit.

I'm actually doing some benches and overclocking using Overdrive right now. I've been able to get slightly better clock speeds than I was with Trixx, for whatever reason. I'm walking the memory up in 5 MHz increments right now, and am testing in Vantage at 1175 currently.

It is worth noting that I am still using the 11.7 drivers though. I have not yet upgraded to 11.8, though I doubt that's your issue.

 

Not quite. You actually can't increase the voltage on the 6990M. It won't let you, even in the vBIOS (though you can decrease it).

The reason for the flashing is because while Trixx is just a software mod which lets you play with the clock settings, Overdrive actually interfaces with the card at the vBIOS level. And in the vBIOS there is a value set that determines how much you are allowed to overclock for both core and memory. Trixx is not limited by this since it doesn't look there.

A third way to overclock is to do a pure hardware overclock by updating the default clock rates in the vBIOS and flashing it. Only recommended for advanced users since you can potentially mess up your card if you don't know what you're doing.

 

I'm having the same problem with the 6990M in my replacement M17x-R3. The 6990M in the original unit would o/c to 840-850/1200 without issue, but this one bombs at 800+/-. I've complained to Alienware tech support and asked for a replacement card, so far without success.

 

Wow, that's strange. Perhaps a different hardware batch.

Have you peeked at the vBIOS on the off chance that something is different in there?

 

i only used the 11.7 drivers to clock tho.

i'll try on 11.8 but heh cant be that in all fairness, it would suck that we be screwed with a fail batch. Technicaly they wont have to replace if your card cant be overclocked properly, still sucks tho

 

Try leaving the core clock at 715 and stepping the memory up by itself. I suspect that the 800 core clock is your limiting factor and you should be able to go higher than 1000 on the memory.

In all honesty, 800 isn't super low for the core clock. I've seen anywhere in the range from 810-860+.

 

prolly try 775/1000 see if thats stable for ya. the memory can prolly go much higher, but performance gain vs heat is not really worth it to oc that high.

 

i'll give it another go later on, its not realy needed as whatever i play runs at max settings at 80+ odd fps so its not like i need the extra power but its fun to play with it.

after all thats what we gamers do push our shizzle to the limits and kick it over the limits ;p

 

i got it to run fine on 800/1000 tho

but if i push the memory past 1000 it crashes and i have to unplug the laptop n pull the battery out to get it to boot again

 

hahah your my kind of guy. i really hate how they locked down the voltages this time around.

so the memory wouldn't go pass 1000??? strange mine could pull 1200 easily. i run my memory at 1250 for benching.

 

P13114 3DMarks @ stock

tried a lil overclock

750/1000 drivers crash fairly quickly into the benchmark

using vantage seemed to still have a license for that lol

wonder if the fact i got a 2nd screen hooked up affects things


oh 3dmark sees the card as 6970 is that normal ?

 

overclocked with msi afterburner wich seems to work a tad better for some reason

740/1000 ( cant seem to get higher as it doesnt let me -.- )

P13655 was the score this time

3DMark Score
13655.28 13114.1 3DMarks
Graphics Score
12360.0 11845.51
CPU Score
19916.93 19321.91

funny enough the cpu score went up even tho nothing changed on that end

so in order to get more overclocking out of msi afterburner im gonna have to change the max in the bios then yeh ?

 

WOW memory at 1250 ey that is pretty darn awesome man!
Highest I've seen and been able to get it to go is to 1210mhz. Whats your highest core setting?
You have some amazing Mutant GPU

Cheers.

 

I'm running mine at 845/1200 right now. Higher than 845 core doesn't seem stable in Vantage to me, and I still need to run some more tests to convince myself that 845 is fully stable. I also need to go reflash my BIOS and bump my max memory clock above 1200.

I get about 16150 in Vantage in this config. CPU score about 20400 and GPU score about 15130.

 

Yes I would suggest enabling and using AMD Overdrive and raising the overclock limits in your vBIOS.

 

is there a nice guide for flashin the vBios just incase i overlook something

its funny that the exact same settings i used on trixx actualy work in msi afterburner

as trixx makes the whole thing crash lol

 

Nice nice that is pretty awesome clocks man! These GPUs are awesome on stock cooling ey! Try and run those clocks for both Vantage and 3d mark 11. See what awesome numbers you get ole!

Also to test for overall stability I would try running your favourite games that you play.
I say that because most of the time the super high OC settings that we can use for running benchmarks won't work very well for when running games.

You will most likely have to lower the clocks for when wanting to run your games at OC settings.

My max so far has been 850mhz core clock and 1210mhz memory clock.
However I only use them for short periods during benchmark testing. Chasing the numbers in Vantage and 3d mark 11 LOL!

Enjoy!

Cheers.