7970m...how high can it overclock?

Hi everyone! Sorry, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I didn't want to start a new thread since it's probably an easy fix. I'm new to overclocking my gpu (7970M), and I've done by best to follow instructions, but have been unable to overclock it in the slightest. As soon as I increase the memory clock (at all past its original 1200 MHz setting) my screen kind of goes crazy. It begins to flicker slightly, and shake a lot. I think, from looking for a solution, that this is the memory clock speed changing, and it is all over the place. How would I set it to stay at the value I set it to?
Thanks for the help!

Edit: Even if I don't modify the values, and just leave them at 850/1200, the problem still occurs. It doesn't occur until I've opened MSI Afterburner, then it begins. My memory clock seems to switch between the value I have set (1200 default) and 150 extremely fast. Especially when I'm playing any games.

 

In the configuration file for Afterburner, if you set the value "UnofficialOverclockingMode" to 2, the artifacts you are experiencing should disappear. This will disable PowerPlay, a power-saving feature of the GPU that regulates core and memory clocks depending on load to 3D or 2D levels. Keep in mind that your core and memory clock rates will stay at whatever you have them set at in Afterburner if you do this (the card will not downclock the core and memory to power saving levels required for only desktop and 2D rendering) when PowerPlay is disabled in this way.

 

Hello Everyone,

This is my first time on the Forum and I'd like to start off and say that I will create a new thread if no one responds, but I figured this thread has covered so many topics that maybe someone might be able to answer this question I have.
Here's my dilemma: I have a Clevo P150EM with an i7 3610QM and a 7970m. I just figured out today that HotKey caused a Turbo issue and I promptly removed it, all was well until I realized something rather odd. You see, when I overclock my 7970m (normally around 1000/1525) at stock voltages, the CPU is not Turbo boosting up to 3.1 GHz like it should, instead it appears to be throttled down to 2.2-2.3GHz. If I run the 7970m at stock speeds, or with a very mild overclock (the VRAM can overclock around 1500MHz, but I can't touch the core clock really or I get throttled) then the CPU boosts right up to 3.1-3.3GHz no problem.

I was wondering, is the stock Clevo power brick not strong enough to push the overclocked 7970m as well as the boosted 3610QM? If so, is there a different, more powerful one I could purchase that may remove this throttling issue? I only ask because I seem to get worse performance in BF3 when I overclock the GPU than when the CPU can boost and the GPU is left at stock speeds.

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.
c
*A quick note, temperature is not an issue, I just repasted both the CPU and GPU and I have foil over the heatsinks, that combined with benchmarking over an A/C vent kept the GPU under 60 degrees when using Unigine Valley and 3DMark 11, the CPU was around the 30's at Idle, and around 50 ish under load.

 

what is the wattage of the brick? (doubt that is the issue) Also ucle web throttlestop should be able to help. google "throttlestop nbr" it'll pop up. BTW nice clocks best i can get is 900 1400 :/ throttle stop should fix it from my best guess

 

Thanks a ton for making this comment! You inadvertently solved a major annoyance for me.

Yes. This is what (I believe) has been happening for me. I overvolted my GPU and have been running it at 1.1V for a couple weeks. I've since reinstalled Skyrim and started playing again, and have been getting major slowdowns in CPU intensive parts of the game. I just thought it was because I had too many mods, and dealt with it. I saw your post, reinstalled the stock VBIOS (1.0V), and the problem is solved. I'm assuming that what you said is the case: the power brick can't handle 1.1V on the GPU and turbo OC on the CPU, so the CPU hasn't been turboing up.

So I think you're spot on, unless reinstalling the stock vbios did something else to fix it. I'm not sure what that would be though, since the 1.1V vbios I used was the same stock vbios with the voltage modified.

 

i still doubt it is the power brick...it should just crash if the power brick isn't enough (called bricking the PSU where it auto shuts off to prevent damage). Try using Throttle stop by turning off prochot if that doesn't work post in TS guide and i am sure uncle webb can help.

 

I have mine clocked at 1000/1500, temps aren't getting any higher, 99% usage and 72c, stock settings is 65-69c.

Should i be worried? i have a feeling that the readings are incorrect, if not how far can i OC?

I have a Alienware M17x R4 3610QM 3,3ghz turbo on.

 

nah your fine those seem about right. I am at 1.075v and i get to 65C and than fans turn on and drop temps. Nice clocks BTW. I can't even touch those :/

What voltage are you rocking? If it locks or crashes try upping the voltage....1.075v is considered safe. Standatd is 1.05v max anyone has tried to push as far as i know is 1.1v but it isn't recommended.

 

Max clocks I've hit at stock voltage are in my signature. if your having problems seeing even clocse to 1000 on the core, make sure your card is even running at 1.05 v. For whatever reason I found out mine originally had a vbios running it at 0,975. I saw a huge performance increase at 1.05.

 

i have mine at 1.075 and i just can barely get 900/1400. i got a crap card :/ i couldn't even maintain 900/1400 on stock voltage 1.05 -_-

 

Have you used something like HWInfo to confirm it is indeed running at 1.075 and not just assuming its running there? That seems really low for those voltages. ULPS turned off and all that jazz? My "asic quality" (yes I know its not that great of a test, but its generally shown some direction in oc ability between cards) is not very good (80.2%) and my card over clocks quite well as you can see. Unless your is in the 60's, I would venture to guess there is something up somewhere in your settings that you might be able to fix.

Or like you said you do indeed have a bum card, I just haven't seen one quite that bad before.

 

followed what everyone else told me to do ages ago. I have vbios flashed to my current settings. I just got a bad card. So have some other members here. Most people that got the 7970m when it came out got crap cards. I have one of the first 7970m i bet (several people have cards that can only real 900-950/1400-1450. I think i can hit 950/1450 in SOME games...others it crashes. tried 1.1v too did nothing so i lowered the voltage. I can not run 900/1400 without 1.075v. 1.05v it crashes in some/almost all tests. (IIRC....i haven't tinkered with it in like a year. Way back in this thread it has the details but what i have said is relatively close.)

 

Exactly same for me. I can't get over 910/1450 @0.975. If i raise my voltage even for 0.01v, blue screen/crash ( i have 240w psu ). At first, i could go at 935mhz. But found out that new games ( batman/bf4/shadow warrior) couldn't support this frequencies.
Well, i have to deal with it now Still so sad.

 

stock voltage is 1.05 isn't it?

 

Dumb topic. Its whatever your card can handle, stable it. Will vary from card to card. If your card can't handle it, tough, get over it. Buy a new one and random binning will be kind to you

Sent from my Optimus G using Tapatalk

 

how about you dont troll?

 

That's what i thought. Seems like 0.975 is stock on mine.

 

You can flash a different vbios and get to 1.05 like I did. Mine was "stock" at 0.975 for the longest time. Getting to real stock voltage really helped my OC and performance

 

Sorry for replying so late, BF4 seems to crash my whole system after 10min in-game, i had to pull back to like 900/1200.

I haven't touched the voltage, how do i do that?

 

i dont remember the thread or site but google around for svl7 7970m vbios. It might be a thread on TI forum that has vbios and the editor and a tutorial. I did it months or a year ago or something. I honestly can;t remember and it is quite a lot of work for a first time thing. You have to create a bootable win 98 thumb drive. You can do it in windows if i recall but it isn't recommended due to higher chance of bricking if i recall.

 

Already did. Didn't change anything, unstable. Had to go back to 0.975vbios. Moreover i can change voltage with gpu tweak or ccc profiles ( checked with gpu shark and hwinfo ). At least, i have a really really cold gpu...
I still wonder if this could come from my motherboard or my ec controller...

 

That's correct. Look up '7970m vbios patcher slv7'. The download is available for members of TI

 

for 7970m cards running on a m17x r2, i recomend using nospheratu's vbios.

Modified CLEVO 7970M vBIOS Pack (Non-Enduro)

im using the .975v vbios.

 

Yeah, way to be an *sshole!

 

I doubt that You probably just got a bad one. You could always try to offload it on ebay and get yourself another one. Its not like you have a non-working card so its not entirely unethical. Just depends what you say I on it and if someone asks about its OCing abilities. Its not like you can be held accountable for how well a card OC's.

Especially if you bought a new one - you'd be hard pressed to get screwed twice with bad cards I guess it all depends on how happy you are with current performance. I'll say I was so so about it before. Now that I can game at 1000/1350, I'm loving this thing and will keep it for another year at minimum. Probably going to toss an mSATA and a better CPU in it at some point and call it done till something dies or the next generation of games brings fps to low at high/ultra settings.

But that said - even if you ask the right questions, plus just luck in general - if you bought a used card you'd probably end up in a better place then you are now.

 

Huh. Edyr, are you having the same instability problem with clock drops and frozen 2d clocks when trying to use a voltage other than 0.975V? That's the issue I've been having for a while now.

 

my 7970m is at 950/1400 at stock voltages. for some reason though im getting random reboots while gaming. no errors or bsod. just reboots by itself, so not sure whats going on.

 

There are a handful of games that simply don't like OCing with 7970m. Deadspace 3 and Darksiders 2 are a couple of the top of my head. Chances are your OC isn't stable though.

 

up voltage a little bit

 

@ 1.075 v I can game at 1000/1400 stable as heck. Temps with my U3 cooler are b-e-a-utiful.

 

i took HopelesslyFaithful's advice and uped the voltage a bit. now im running 1000/1500 @1.1v its kinda stable. i just bsod few minutes ago. its kinda wierd. i would be playing a game for a few hours. all temps are ok. then suddenly i get a bsod. maybe my psu is inadequate.

 

i personally wouldn't go above 1.075v...also somewhat stable isn't stable. I would see how stable you can get with 1.075v like 950/1400

 

When I had my 7970m's I would test stablily by first running 3D Mark 11, then a gaming benchmark like Resident Evil/Final Fantasty. Sometimes it could pass 3D Mark and not the gaming benchmark without a crash. If that was the case I'd take it down abit. Sometimes the less aggressive OC would perform better anyway.

I feel some of you are missing the point of overclocking and getting too caught up in numbers that don't translate to performance. Sometimes a higher clock doesn't equate to better real world performance. Pinky_92 are you measuring actual performance increasing while you're chasing these numbers? Eg. If 975/1450 might actual give better results than an unstable 1000/1500 anyway. But you'll never know unless you take a more formulated approach.

 

Crysis/Bf3/bf4 pick one for stability test.

 

I had the worse problems with Planet side 2.....when i would fly a plan it would crash every time. so if you don't own those download that free game and fly in a mosquito and see if it works.

 

it was my cpu that was crashing my system. i turned off the oc on the cpu, as well as, the over volt. no crashes with 1000/1500 @ 1.1v on my 7970m.

 

Running my 8970M at 950/1300 and temps get up to 86C while playing BF4.

Sent from my baked potato

 

What voltage is that at?

 

Stock voltages.


Sent from my baked potato

 

overclocking destroy hardware!


up to 1.1GHz





1150 I had no time to check stability but round of Valley can do the trick , no longer test the stability of the HD7th model , thanks for HawkForce for Hardware ,

 

should up the memory...that tends to be the big limiter in games. I can rock out 900 1400 but thats it. and thats with boosted voltage :/ stock can be unstable for me at stock voltage lol

 

Just upped it to 1000/1350, will see if it's stable. Btw those pics don't show anything, you should click the Graphics Card tab as it shows default and current clocks.

Sent from my baked potato

 

Video stuff (MediaMarkt) :thumbsup:

 

How did you get the temp to stay at 69C??

 

new project for the MASTER GPU
LINK

 

Cool.

Too much messing around for me though.

 

I have no problems with this , fun of turning the clock is awesome :thumbsup: , 1.1V present and ready , 1.125V present and ready , 1.150V present and ready , 1.175V present and ready I feel almost like in space , as it falls BSOD overclock 0.025 V more and fire ,

 

What program did you use to change voltages mate?

Nothing I've tried works on my 8970M, and I don't want to flash any vBIOS or anything.

 

I use Profile Editor :hi2:

 

Can you share the program please and some instruction on how to use it effectively?

Thanks.