7970m...how high can it overclock?

1300 wont damage the mem, nor will 1600 if you can run it.

 

what was your average on bf3? mines bounces around 30-60 and sometimes goes down to 20 fps. same performance when i overclock, same performance when i put to low settings and turn of AA.

my gtx 560m plays bf3 on low no AA at a stable 45-50 fps all the time! are amd cards performance always get unstable fps like this???

 

Well lets have a look at your gpu and cpu temps/utilisation graphs.

 

up your memory to 1400

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

 

But overvolt will, i was oved to 1.075v when at 1300 since i thought i couldnt overclock at all my card without ov, but now i guess its afterburner's problem, no my card is working well with the vbios setting it to a 900/1250 clock and the performance is really close to the 1300 one, pretty satisfied with it now

see my last post, im satisfied with it since my original thought is to overrun my friend's desktop 570 , after that, safty is my most concern since even a full spec 7870 cant outperform a 580 right?

 

When its "over volted" its still lower than a desktop card so given proper cooling i dont see the issue.

 

Are the quality of chips the same? i dont quite know how they pick a chip for laptop, isnt it supposed to be better that a desktop one since they will need to run on a lower voltage?

 

I find that the afterburner always make the 7970m active even not playing games or benchmarks and the fan kicks in frequently. any workaround?

 

AMD Radeon HD 7970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-820QM Processor ,Alienware score: P6173 3DMarks

 

Anyone on 12.7 BETA Modded drivers NOT able to overclock their card as high as before?

I could get 970/1500 pretty comfortably on 12.5 Modded but now can barely get 940/1400 without artefacts/glitches. Just wondering if anyone else has this and is there a workaround/will it be ironed out with future updates?

 

I think its that the new drivers have sorted out some of the loading issues and the cards are actually working at full pelt now so the overclocks are a little lower since thats what they are actually stable at.

I've gone from 1000/1450 to 980/1400.

 

on the 12.7's i'm still able to get to 995/1560 on 3dmark11 (stock voltage)

I concur with what Meaker stated...on the 12.7's, the gpu's are loading more...they are getting higher utilization. So your games are actually running better, but it will affect your OC.

Those wanting to get higher and stable will have to run 1.075v...but overvolting isn't something i recommend to most people. Perhaps my card is a frankencard

 

I made a post in the alienware forums, but haven't gotten much in response.

I'm having issues with OCing my 7970M and playing Crysis 2. For some reason, if I give it any type of OC, it'll just black screen. I can OC and play other games, but it seems it's just this game giving me issues. Is anyone else having OCing problems with Crysis 2?

Also, when I OC, then revert back to downclocks, my FPS will drop to less than 10 while gaming. It's like the card is in a powered down state. If I give it the smallest OC (like 855/1200) it shoots back up. This is happening on all games that I have tried. Anyone else having this happen?

I am running the official 12.7 beta drivers (although AB is showing Catalyst 12.6) and I am on MSI Afterburner 2.2.2. I have done all the required tweeks to get AB to OC (although in the registry I only had 1 numbered key: 0000). I just checked it, and it seems it keeps changing back to 1.

Any help will be much appreciated.

 

Finally it looks like AMD have released offical drivers for the HD7000 series. 12.6 it seems. About to install them! Head to the AMD website now and check them out.

 

Those have been out for about a week now. I've installed the official 12.7 beta drivers and haven't noticed too much of a difference between them. I might revert back and see if it'll help with my OCing issues I've been having.

 

Card still not recognised by gpuz properly......

 

Just for the record, I have OC issues as well with this set, and same happens to desktop users running 78xx - 79xx.
Amd reworked the VRAM management along with the power in this driver, since I'm not the only one we can consider this an issue.
Or not - these 12.7 have a clear advantage in performance compared to older 12.5/12.6 even at stock.

 

I had the exact same problem with the registry. However, when I set it back to 0 the second time, it did not change. This could be the difference in drivers beacause that is the only variable between you and me that is different. I am on stock. What I did was change the OC back to stock, set the registry correct and restarted. I did not OC after that and I have not had that problem since. Ok I DID OC but never actually played games. I ran benchmarks and what not. Benchmarks simulate the stress of a game so I do not know why mine did not go back to 2D clocks. I did not OC and game though because I don't have any games that I need OC'ing on.

 

MSI AB 2.2.2 doesn't like our 7970m at all, I posted this when it was released past week.
I advice to go back to 2.2.1.

 

I'll revert back, but I think it was giving me the same problems. 2.2.2 hasn't been any different though. I'll give it another go just to be 100% sure.

 

Kingpin i see the same issuues in fact sometimes it seems AB can cause our infamous blackscreen issue. (Not the only cause just one of them) so i been sticking to testkng and working on overclocks via vbios and seems much more stable for testing. Just an added step of restarting and flashing.

 

What software are you guys overclocking the 7970m with? I've never owned an AMD card before, so I'm lost =/.

 

AB stands for after burner. It is made by MSI

 

Cool, thanks.

 

That's good to know. Have you achieved a bit of stability by flashing clocks directly?
Which is your 24/7 OC right now?

 

24/7 overclock for me is lower than anyone else here but i do beleive i am holding these cards to a higher standard. To test i decided to use stock fans which the control is pitiful. I can hit nearly 78-80c before the fans kick to almost max speed. Thats a prob as thats too hot already. When im done ill use fans on max fulltime while i game to be preemptive against high temps.
Yes i have achieved more stability flashing clocks directly... but no leaps and bounds and mostly the same clocks were achieved but its more stable than using AB to clock up because i saw black screen more using AB (not the black screen from clocking to high the one that can happen even on stock). I am using AB as a monitor with the OSD and HWiNFO combo.
Sadly for full stability on stock volts ive only managed 880core and 1210mem. I can bench really high and even on a overvolt but sadly once i dtry to vame for a few hours i had to drop clocks to the mentioned ones.
I have no artifacts or crashes at these clocks but after trying Witcher 2 last night again i found an artifact or two i think i need to just run the core at 880 and drop the vram to stock. Sadly i have no idea why other cards like slick dudes can game so high... id be i terested in what games your stable in Slickdude and are you playing on vsync?
I tried 12.7 went back to 12.5 and now returned to 12.7. My conclusion is anything that shouldnt be happening in 12.7 happened to me in 12.5 so i belive 12.7 is completely a viable alternative to 12.5 bringing fixes and no new bugs that i didnt find in 12.5. Rarely i see load drop from 99% to 50% range and that happens no matter what in 12.5 or 12.7. It can be once a scene loads etc. Example Dirt3 i can play a few rounds and one round tthe gpus stay at full load and fps stay up. But another round loads and the gpus are nearly locked at close to half load and shows the expected lower fps due to that.
I now after trying all techniques stopped bothering disabling ulps, i no longer set crossfire autolink in registry none of that made a difference on my system. I am running them in crossfire to be clear.
I havent been playing many games yet but ill put more on to test. On 12.7 Diablo3, Dirt 3 are working great. Witcher 2 originally tested on all drivers in single card mode was stable. On 12.5 crossfire at stock clocks would lead to a freeze. Initially tested using vsync off 12.7 yielded same results. Now strangely last night i enabled vsync plus triple buffering for the Witcher 2 and it actually played hours this time on Witcher 2 in crossfire. It was on the 880-1210. So not only stable for a few hours this time but it did it on a overclock and on stock fans in an 80f room. So you can imagine it was getting 70-80c temp ranges thoughout use. Only reason that even is, is the options are set to Ultra so it includes Ubersampljng - every 4 frames are combined for a visual improvement over antialiasing and anistropic filtering capabilities at a loss of frames per second. In Single card use at that low overclock i saw peaks of 35 fps and in xfire 60. If vsync was off i belive into 70fps. Average of 50fps about in xfire and maybe 25 in single card as an estimated average.
Ill test more tonight on 12.7 and try to add more games. Ill try even linger xfire session on the Witcher 2. Last i tried though before last night no matter what Witcher 2 in xfire for me lead to a freeze (picture halts sound makes screech and eventually turns to black screen on stock clocks) which sems to have always been a driver issue from the get go.
How bout you Kingpin what clocks handle like for you while pushing them hard in games? Anything from experience you could add?

 

residual, i'm running 12.7 beta and i'm gaming at 950/1400. I can go higher but nothing really needs it.

For d3, i'm running stock cause i'm already getting 100+fps

What are your overclocks when you drop to single card? I wonder if Xfire is limiting your clocks

have to tried flashing to 1.075v? Some cards need a little more juice to run the higher clocks

 

Ive tried single card vs xfire and used 1.075v-1.115v no difference for me. I see higher overclocks on 1.075v for benching but my highest stable gaming clock ends up being on stock volts :/ on a side note 980core ran fine on dirt 3 in xfire on 1.075v yet i try that in Diablo 3 and its not stable until 880core and stock volt. Same in Witcher 2 handles like Diablo maybe Diablo puts quite a load on like Witcher 2. Im on 12.7 also. And no tweaks ie ulps enabled etc. Any advice Slickdude? I was really enjoying how Dirt 3 handles overclock but makes no sense why so many other games for me can only game at 880core... but that is allowing. Stock fans and in a hot room. But i will not change that method of testing because one never knows when temps may go up on a really hot summer day... i want always stable not stable only when cool.. thats probably why my overclock has had to inch lower and lower. I play for a few hours if eventually i get a lock up i lower the clock. For me vram takes too much power and hinders my core overclocks. Not for benching for gamjng. Thanks Slickdude maybe you have some additional thoughts. I want both of mine to handle like yours. Can you try gami g diablo 3 on your overclock no vsync ultra graphics? Maybe enable SSAA on diablo 3 instead of MLAA. Im thinking its not going tk handle the overclock but oi dont know and would appreciate if you do go bacm kn that game that you tey that out... that could be my prob maybe diablo just has a glitch and cant clock up good. Thanms either way.

 

Thanks for your input Mate, first of all.
About my experience, well I have those frame drops / random low performance as you described, but only if I don't use ThrottleStop.
However if I use ThrottleStop and try to push my gpu a bit, the laptop shuts down with a kernel power error (peak load shutdown).
This happene to Meaker as well with his old 16f2 afaik.
Currently im looking into the issue; im fine with 12.5 drivers but with newer ones my OC stability got a big hit.
However - I can game fine at 900/1500 for some reasons - leading me to think that core clockspeed is the culprit of the instability.
But today I had this 1 hour session in Bf3/metro map/64 man server at 930/1450 without TS running.
I had those random fps drops (althought tolerable, it last 5 seconds each time seems) but althought gpu was 99% all the time with 72-4c of temp I didn't had shutdowns at all.
Note that my CPU is also OCed as well.
I'm using MSI AB to set clocks, version 2.2.1.
That's all I can add, I tried to undervolt to gain stability and I was a bit more stable, only thing I didn't tried completely was overvolting but I don't want the card to run hotter at all.
That's all I can say now, I'm trying to understand if TS stresses the systems so much at a point where it creeps out and shutdowns.

 

Hmm that must be issue with TS on your model then since ive used TS on m17xR2 and on my current M18xR1 with no issues direct from TS perhaps its a mobo power issue like its not having enough to power all at once. How much power is the PSU our m18x uses 300watt psu. Very interesting on clocks. 900-1500 is on stock volts? Thats vey good ill try testing y vram again with stock core and see what ends up handling okay. Thanks for the input Kingpin. Ive had no issues with cpu overclocked while i do this but to keep my variables down i used stock bios settings and still only handle at what i mentioned.

 

I'm on 12.7 Modded beta atm... Completely changes my overclocks from what they were though.

Now, my card LOVES Core OC's yet it detests Mem OC's...

So now I currently have 980/1310. Not complaining, I just think it seems really odd - especially relative to my old clocks 950/1450 which were EASILY stable.

 

So DJ im assuming you got all that crap sorted out?

 

Yeah finally, it was the Super Saiyan team of SlickDude and Mr. Fox sorting out AMD's utter baloney - and I say that because I followed all of the guides and videos on AMD's own website.

From now on, I'm just Clean Installing ALL AMD drivers - utilising DriverSweeper, Safe Mode and CCleaner. Until I purchase a SLI Nvidia rig next year >.>

Still though, find my clocks really odd. No complaints, just odd.

 

the reason that you guys are seeing
different oc results with 12.7 is because amd reworked memory management. i was talking to a couple of friends who work at ATI, errr,, i mean AMD. so, you will see some weird oc results.

your games are going to love 12.7...but your oc may suffer

if you want better oc, go back to 12.5...but id stick with 12.7...and even 12.8 which will be even better

now that said, my card did 997/1560 lastnite running 3d mark11 and i'm running 12.7

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

 

How does the improved memory management work, dude? I cant push past 1320 without artefacts (even on the desktop with scratching liney patterns)... I know core is more important any way, just looking for more education.

 

Core is important within certain limits. An higher core clock is almost ok but it's a waste without a proper paired VRAM high clock.
This is a general rule, with 7970m I see that it benefits a lot from
Memory bandwidth (VRAM clock) above 1300mhz.
Giving it already runs at 850mhz, the stock 1200 isn't making core clock shining at all.
Let's say that with 900mhz and at least 1400mhz you'll be fine because core clock can feed VRAM and vice versa more optimally than stock clocks.
In other words you dont need to have an absurd core clock, it needs to be in a sweet spot along with VRAM.
VRAM is an important factor in this amd architecture.
Just grab a benchmark and try to bench with stock clock and VRAM bumped to 1500.
Then do the same at stock.
You'll see the difference instantly.

 

I see what you're saying. At stock on HeavenBench I get about 55fps - with 980/1310 I get 63fps avg.

 

Exactly. Try at 850/1500 if you can, see what kind of FPS u get and compare it to 980/1310, or to stock.
If my theory is correct, youll see some improvements, and its not 2-3fps.

 

it's way too hard to type that on the phone...essentially removed a bottleneck in memory controller so gpu can feed memory...leading to higher gpu utilization...and more fps

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

 

Sweet im sticking to 12.7. Yeah i noticed on stock volts games now hate even a slight vram overclock for me leaving me just rolm to clock up a ittle on core. I wonder if i should repaste and see if that helps my sad 880core. Id be happy at 925 :/ i did an xfire run last night in 3dmark11 on 1.075 and 995-1550 and got 12,700 ish gpu subscore so they bench fine just hate gamkng at ovrrclock for me :/

 

So far the highest OC I can push is 930/1525 on stock voltage (not messing with that), using 12.6 drivers. This gives me P6354 in 3dMark11. How are some people pushing into the realm of P6500-P6800? Max temps are 68C, 36C idle with 25C ambient. Does this sound about right?

I am getting some very strange behavior however when I change my clocks with MSI. Once I increase clocks beyond stock levels, I get screen tearing on my desktop when windows pop-up or move. There are no artifacts when doing a 3dMark run, and after the run is complete, the screen tearing on my deskop is gone. What gives?

Also, is there another way to get my hands on the 12.7 beta drivers? Any link I find is broken at the moment.

 

they are overvolting...

 

nope they aren't, users are getting to 1000\1500 in stock voltage.

not everyone of course, but it is safe to say that at least 950\1400 is doable to most users.

 

I can't push my core higher than 940 regardless of what my memory is at. Seems pretty low given what other users are posting. A bit disappointing, really. Is there something wrong with my card or was I just extremely unlucky?

 

940 core is not unlucky. Overclocking is a necessity born out of the fact that some games are unplayable at stock settings. It is not a requirement. If you can play your games at stock, your card is fine. It is doing what it was designed to do.

 

True, regardless I am loving the performance I am getting from this card in any of my games at stock clocks. I only was slightly disappointed by my overclocking headroom for situations down the road when there are more demanding games.

Can anyone explain why my desktop is tearing though when I increase my clocks, yet after a stable benchmark run the tearing stops? Very unusual behavior.

 

By the time you need to OC to 940 and are STILL are under 30 fps average or max, you will most probably need a new laptop.

Notice I did not use the words "I bet" but DID use the word "probably" so I am not sure about any of this but have gathered this from general info out there.

 

can anyone do a test like what notebookcheck.net did and get their scores in games at stock clocks now? Would be interesting to see how games perform with new drivers compared with old drivers

 

For the price of ALL the games NBC tested, you'd get a 7970m from Eurocom . I think it would be a while until someone does a test of every single game NBC has on there. Or am I wrong: I am waiting as much as Faithful to see these numbers!

 

a bunch of people could test what games they have...