Overvolting a 7970m without flashing vBIOS - May work with other GPU's also.

Hey guys, got a how to here about how I managed to overvolt my GPU without CCC or VBIOS mods.

Tested and works with my M18x R2 with a 7970m, may also work with other GPU's but not sure.

Pretty much there seems to be some confusion with some 7970m's being 1.05v and some being 1.00v, it seems as though the 1.05v cards are the better overclockers and the 1.00v seems to struggle. My card was one of the 1.00v cards and I couldn't get my Core MHz over 900 no matter what I did, nor my Memory MHz over 1450. I assumed it must have had something to do with the lesser voltage, so this is the way I overvolted mine. I dont have any pictures or anything but its pretty straight forward, if you need any help feel free to PM me or anyone else thats an expert on the subject.

1. First thing you need to do is get all the new AMD drivers, I used Catalyst 13.5

2. Download MSI Afterburner, I had trouble with different copies of it causing my screen to flicker and shake due to 2D clocking speeds, the version I use is 3.0.0 Beta 9

3. Download Sapphire Trixx, I use V 4.6.0 . You will notice at this time Trixx only lets you change the Core and Memory clocks, not voltage. You can also use it to play around with your fans and stuff if you so desire.

4. Next step is to find your MSI Afterburner shortcut on your desktop, right click it and go to properties. After the target address you want to add a space, then -xcl. So it will look like this:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\MSI Afterburner\MSIAfterburner.exe" -xcl

5. Click apply, then OK. A pop-up will warn you that you have increased the limits and you must restart. So restart.

6. After a restart, a overvolting option will now be open in Trixx so you can overvolt until your hearts content. I can run at 950/1500 stable now with the overvolting no worries.

This is the way I did it, not sure if this is mentioned on here or somewhere, I think I got it from a different website. Mods feel free to move this somewhere if its in the wrong spot or add your own bits and pieces.

I will also add if like me, your CCC didnt have a "Performance" Tab beforehand to allow official overclocking through CCC, then it should be there now after doing this process. Even though its pretty useless now.

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Moderator Edit - moved to main Alienware forum, as it seems to work best for single-GPU systems.

STANDARD WARNING

Third party modifications and other system level tweaks can potentially cause damage to your system. Be aware of this before blindly flashing/installing or tweaking your machine to improve performance.

If your actions result in damage, chances are very high that your warranty will be useless. Know what you are doing, as you are responsible for your actions, not Alienware.

 

I guess MSI AB triggers same setting strings after that as I have done it earlier modifying CCC setting files with specific voltage and clocks settings, just this seem way more easier!

Great stuff!

 

Not sure how it works but it did haha. Pretty stoked with it so far, now for some more testing

 

When I used the -xcl option to enable Overdrive, it was broken as Overdrive would not synchronise the two cards to the same clock settings. I'll give this AB + Trixx method a try later though. Sounds promising

 

Do you have crossfire? if so can you overvolt both gpus?

btw last beta version of AB allow official overclocking without using -xcl, you can find the option in settings.

 

will overvolt the 1st card fine but not the second card.

 

Ah the same problem with Overdrive then. It was a nice thought..

GOOD NEWS: works with crossfire!! Just have to set the voltage for each card individually. Awesome find there, lif3t4k3r!! +rep

 

Much appreciated. I've been looking to OV my 7970m for some time.

 

Well I've played around with voltages using vBIOS patcher from TechInferno but it is only compatible with the oldest version of vBIOS which I find to be less stable than the newest one I'm using. Finally with the AB+Trixx magic we can have all the fun at the same time

 

I only have one 7970m currently because I bought a stock M18x on the cheap with a single 660m to start, good to hear it is working for others with Crossfire set ups

Would love another 7970m but seeming as I can run most games at 60fps on ultra I think I'm just gonna hang out until I see what you boys can do with the new line of GPU's

The lastest beta of AB caused my screen to flicker and shudder in 2D clocks, so unless I was gaming and using the 3D clocks the shudder was so bad I couldnt do anything else on the computer. The listed beta and process works fine and there is no shudder on the 2D clocks.

 

When I select the second card there is no option to overvolt it?

 

You will have to ask sponge_gto how he did it but there must be a way to do it so don't panic.

 

Tell me how u got it to work with crossfire? I must know! Lol

 

I have been playing around with the settings today and have found some details out.

1st if there really are cards with two different voltages the cards at 1.05v have a ridiculous advantage, I managed to push mine to around 970/1550 before it crashed in games which is unheard of with my standard 1.00v card, would crash at anything over 900/1400 so there are gains to be had there.

2nd pushing the voltage even higher to 1.075v didn't see a huge increase in temp but i could overclock to 1000/1600 stable while gaming which is even better I guess, although the difference in the Sleeping Dogs and Bioshock Infinite benchmarks was only a few extra frames.

Feel free to rep me guys if this has helped you finally figure out what your 7970m is such a bad overclocker, or if its helped you push your 7970m to the limits... its not often I figure stuff out that's of use to the NBR community

 

You said voltage control only works with one card for you..? That's strange.. Do you mean that the VDDC option exists for one card but when you select the other it disappears?

In any case I'll show you my settings in Trixx.. Hope that helps..

 

I'm curious. What exactly has to be done with CCC settings files in order to accomplish this manually? Is there a guide for it somewhere, by any chance?

 

Just remembered that when you use -xcl and restart, Crossfire will become disabled so you need to enable it in CCC first.. At least that's what happened to me.

 

I tried to figure it out but it seemed like too much of a hassle. Definitely not as easy as the way I have posted.

 

I did what the OP instructed and following happened.

MSI Afterburner does not open anymore after the short cut change. It keep tells me clock limits have been extended, and PC need to be rebooted-I've rebooted numerous times and it gives me same info.

Trixx settings - I just left everything unchecked except for "synchronize cards in Multi GPU config" I tried Disable ULPS, but it just doesn't work for me. It tears my screens when I disable it. It may be something to do with the fact that I'm using an external monitor? Don't know, but I stopped trying.

Good thing that came out of this whole thing - AMD Overdrive lets me go high as 930 GPU clock, and 1170 memory, but I'm only able to go up around 820/1090 just to run the 3dmark06.
Anything higher will lead 3dmark to crash losing display driver to crash.

As other member posted, I have to open up CCC after a reboot for the system to apply the OC settings I applied in previous boot.

Thanks!

 

Delete the -xcl from the shortcut command line for Afterburner and you can use it again. Tricky wasn't it

So you have 6990M's.. Does voltage control work for you? From what I know, Trixx alone is enough to overclock 6990M so not sure what else you plan to achieve with this AB+Trixx glitch.

 

I wasn't able to use trixx for some reason

My screen would tear when I check the ulp thing in trixx so I gave up on it

Tnx for the afterburner tip. It now works

It doesn't seem like I can over volt tho

 

You can only overvolt in trixx, AB will not let you.

 

I don't even see OV option in Trixx. Sorry, I'm bit new to all this stuff.

 

Hmm. Not sure if it just doesn't work on 6990M's? Seems to work fine with 7970M's.

Are you simply trying to overclock the cards or overvolt them? There is a fairly simple way to extend the limits in AB past 930/1170 but I don't think it will be much help if you are crashing in 3DMark.

Out of curiousity what GPU voltage do you have now and temps? Also can the notebook game fine at the higher clocks or does it crash there also.... I get crashing in 3Dmark all the time for no apperent reasons, not always due to the GPU.

 

I've been using ASUS GPU tweak 2.3.5 on my 6770M.

 

I'm happy where I'm at now at the moment. GPU temps never go above 80. Thanks!

 

As long as your happy. If the bug bites I am sure there are ways to overvolt even if you have to flash the BIOS.

I have noticed that with the overvolt gaming temps have barely changed but idle temps have gone up maybe 5 degrees.

 

No option for vddc on second card

 

Did you tick the Sync Multiple GPU box?

 

Yes ofcourse

 

Not sure what the go is then, have you checked that they aren't automatically running at the same voltage?

I have found a few games don't like the overvolting and will run at the 2D clock speed and voltage and flicker between the two, RE6 is one. Turning VSync on fixed the issue but kind of defeats the purpose.

 

Gpu shark shows as primary gpu at correct clocks and second at stock clocks.

 

Surely you can apply the clocks individually to both cards? I played quite comfortably at 900/1250/1.075 on Metro LL to the point where.. something rather climatic was about to take place.. then bzzzzzz black screen crash I guess my cards just weren't meant to be OC'd..

 

That's a bit high of an overvolt for that clock... 1.075 is enough for 1000/1600 etc. I would rock it back to 1.05v

The problem I was having with RE6 rocking back to 2D clocks was because with Vsync off the game ran at 120fps which is too high for the GPU and it was hitting 78 degrees and downclocking itself to avoid overheating. Other games I play (AC3, Tomb Raider) all run at 50-60fps so I didn't have the same issue.

Got some more fiddling around to find the sweet spot.

I have been having intense problems with Trixx all morning. First games started to randomly change between 2D and 3D clocks, regardless of the overclocking settings (even on stock clocks) which frustrates me so much, plus Trixx gives me a "Could not install driver - Program marked for deletion" warning every time I try to open it, only workaround I have found is to open the task manager and manually shut down Trixx's Overclocking features and then reopen Trixx.

 

All I can say is.. I wouldn't mind switching cards with you

 

Haha. And I wouldn't mind switching cards with a 780m... funny that

 

I aint possible for me to increase voltage for the second card aswell, i have sync on but still a no go

 

Have you tried ticking the sync box in AB as well as any other OC'ing programs you are using? They may be conflicting it

 

lif3t4k3r tnx for the guide, tried it on my m18x + single 7970m and it worked flawlessly! default vddc was 0.975v for my 7970m and now i'm able to run at 1000/1500 with 1.05v

 

I OC'ed using ATI Overdrive and second card shows the default clock as well.

 

Yeah just tried that, suppose i just aint the lucky one when it comes to OC: ^^

 

Let me know how it goes at that clock, I have started to experience some really odd things with trixx, the worst being games kicking down to 2D clocks for no apparent reason while gaming

 

Changing the voltage on the second card doesn't work for me either.

 

There must be something you guys aren't doing that sponge_gto did do

Maybe this thread would be of more use in the M17x section for owners with only one graphics card as it doesn't seem to like crossfire?

 

this method also works perfect on m17x so I am guessing it will work on all the alienware systems. This thread should also be on main alienware subforum because I know lots of people want to overvolt their cards but they dont because vbios flash is only way to do it.

+1 for awesomeness and every alienware owner must see this

 

I was one of them, hence me delving a bit deeper into an easier way to achieve it, seems to be only good for single card set-ups though.

I agree it probably needs to move though, I just kind of chucked it here as I have an M18x haha.

 

If you want to over volt you really should know how to bios flash, you perhaps need to read up and not proceed if you don't.

 

i have read lots of guides on flashing bios/vbios although i havent done it myself yet. But the fact that i had to reflash it again to find perfect voltage just seemed too much to me.
btw. You have a point though. Overvolting should only be done by people with some hardware awareness/experience.

 

For permanent hardcore day to day gaming and benching to the limits VBIOS flash is the best option but prior that you got to do all the research you can without flashing your VBIOS to wrong setting one, so surface Voltage adjustments as are advised here are good training mode to learn, and once you're settle and confident this is what your hardware can take - you can get modified VBIOS and do it permanently.

 

Didnt someone on here have an issue with their warranty not being honoured because they flashed their vBios... Not arguing against it just saying some of us like easier way to do things