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Overclocking Radeon HD7970

Martines91
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Heya,

 

so I've got this card: Gigabyte Radeon HD7970 with an aftermarket cooler: Arctic Accelero Xtreme IV 280(x), which cools very good, @ idle 34-42°C depending on room temp, and it doesn't go above 54°C at full load @ stock clock. So I've tried to overclock it a bit, first I tried with what I found on the internet and went straight to GPU 1175MHz and Memory 1575MHz, bad idea, I immediately got a black screen, so I've restarted and went down, GPU 1125MHz, MEM: 1525MHz, black screen -> GPU: 1100, MEM: 1500MHz, started WoW.. logged in, all seem'd good, 2 minutes and BLACK SCREEN, so now I'm @ GPU: 1075MHz, MEM: 1475MHz, and going to try, does anyone have any idea what is the ideal OC for my card or why am I getting the black screens? Thanks

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Most 7970s aren't going to overclock past or even to 1200 MHz. That's why the GHz edition was a bit of a big deal. Start low and move up testing for stability. I won't be surprised if you'll get stuck at 1050. Also, OC the core or memory one at a time, not at the same time.

.

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When you're overclocking a card BE SURE to give it plenty of power.  If you have a PSU that is barely capable of running that card to begin with, don't be surprised that it cant deliver the extra 20 watts or so to overclock that GPU.

 

post-4855-0-33617800-1436787091_thumb.pn

 

This is what my overclock currently looks like.  (I have a R9-290, and mine has quite a bit more room left to go.)

post-4855-0-33617800-1436787091_thumb.pn

Please spend as much time writing your question, as you want me to spend responding to it.  Take some time, and explain your issue, please!

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My current specs are:

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xJDtyc
 
CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Western Digital RE4 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card 
Case: Zalman Z11 Plus HF1 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: FSP Group 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply 
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer   
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 OEM (64-bit) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm  Fan  
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm  Fan  
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm  Fan 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm  Fan  
Case Fan: Noctua NF-P12 PWM 120mm  Fan 
Other: Arctic Accelero Xtreme IV 280(x)
 
Edit: I have no idea what HD7970 is categorized as, I mean if it is somewhere between the R9 series, or it's better or worse than that, or what the HD series even are, for my knowledge I think R9's are for gaming but the HD I have no idea
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I see, this sucks, just now after 10 mins of gameplay and PC just froze at GPU: 1075MHz MEM: 1475MHz, and the AMD CATALYST CONTROL CENTER just reverted everything back :/ either I have to start all over again or I won't get anything out of it

I was never able to squeeze any extra out of my 7970. That sucker drove me up the wall.

The New Machine: Intel 11700K / Strix Z590-A WIFI II / Patriot Viper Steel 4400MHz 2x8GB / Gigabyte RTX 3080 Gaming OC w/ Bykski WB / x4 1TB SSDs (x2 M.2, x2 2.5) / Corsair 5000D Airflow White / EVGA G6 1000W / Custom Loop CPU & GPU

 

The Rainbow X58: i7 975 Extreme Edition @4.2GHz, Asus Sabertooth X58, 6x2GB Mushkin Redline DDR3-1600 @2000MHz, SP 256GB Gen3 M.2 w/ Sabrent M.2 to PCI-E, Inno3D GTX 580 x2 SLI w/ Heatkiller waterblocks, Custom loop in NZXT Phantom White, Corsair XR7 360 rad hanging off the rear end, 360 slim rad up top. RGB everywhere.

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My current specs are:

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xJDtyc
 
CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Western Digital RE4 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card 
Case: Zalman Z11 Plus HF1 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: FSP Group 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply 
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer   
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 OEM (64-bit) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm  Fan  
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm  Fan  
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm  Fan   
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm  Fan  
Case Fan: Noctua NF-P12 PWM 120mm  Fan 
Other: Arctic Accelero Xtreme IV 280(x)
 
Edit: I have no idea what HD7970 is categorized as, I mean if it is somewhere between the R9 series, or it's better or worse than that, or what the HD series even are, for my knowledge I think R9's are for gaming but the HD I have no idea

 

 

 

The HD 7970 is basically the same card as the R9 280X. The 7970 runs @ 925Mhz on the core and 5.5GHz MHz on the memory, while the 280X runs at a base clock of 850MHz, but boosts to 1000MHz. It's memory is also slightly faster @ 6GHz.

 

You may want to install MSI Afterburner and unlock voltage control so you can add voltage if needed. Your card should have no issues hitting 1150MHz with a little bit of voltage, also you memory should do 6.2-6.5Ghz.

 

I have a 7970 GHz edition with a reference cooler and it will hit 1300Mhz+ @ 1.3v, but it's very loud and hot when doing it.

5820K - ASUS X99-A - 16GB Corsair LPX - HD 7970 GHz - Qnix 1440p @ 96Hz - Waiting for Polaris/Pascal

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I have a 7970 GHz edition with a reference cooler and it will hit 1300Mhz+ @ 1.3v, but it's very loud and hot when doing it.

NZXT G10 + Kraken X31?

Current setup

Images of setup: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/183-show-off-your-setup/?p=5872590

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well I'm not worried about temperatures as I said before, since I've mounted an aftermarket cooler, however the cooler came with a 4PIN PWM fan header and the card has only 3 PIN so I had to connect it to a 12V permanent 100% load via molex adapter, the good part is, that even at 100% it's quiet, I mean I can hear it, but it's a deep more like a refrigerator sound rather than what I had with gigabyte's "3 fan" turbine engine. When gaming, the card won't go above 54°C, however, I tried some "bitcoin mining" today just to see how it stresses my GPU and it instantly rose to 58°C but didn't go higher, so yeah, cooling is very good. Back to the point, won't the afterburner interfere with the Catalyst control center?

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