Asus Direct CU 2 7970 Voltage issue

[Meowws]

sorry to disturb again. your HD 7970 is Direct CU II "TOP" edition right? not the Direct CU 2 Edition only?

After i installed trixx, I set "Load on windows + Disable ulps" right?

[crazyeyesreaper]

didnt both with any of those, two options yes mine is a TOP edition, i just set it load at start up, but using trixx it fixed my hard limit of 1070mhz my GPU wouldnt clock any further then that period i was stuck, Trixx let me push to 1125 without issue gone as high as 1160 stable so far.

[SonDa5]

Run HWinfo64 and monitor your card temps. I suspect heat to be the problem.

If not heat look into flashing another brand BIOS.

[crazyeyesreaper]

Originally Posted by SonDa5

Run HWinfo64 and monitor your card temps. I suspect heat to be the problem.

If not heat look into flashing another brand BIOS.

so your suggesting flashing another brands bios to a non reference card from asus or heat issues on a triple slot cooled card lol,

[SonDa5]

Originally Posted by crazyeyesreaper

so your suggesting flashing another brands bios to a non reference card from asus or heat issues on a triple slot cooled card lol,

yeah. I've tried asus top HD7950 bios on my sapphire 7950. Didn't work as stable as stock but it was possible.

Hwinfo64 will identify a heat problem if there is one.

[crazyeyesreaper]

well thats well and good but from what i remember ASUS 7970 DCII Top uses a different PCB different VRM and not sure but i do believe a different voltage controller which if flashing another brands bios to the asus card could cause some serious problems i wouldnt voluntarily try it and brick a $450-550 gpu

[SonDa5]

By all means before flashing check to see if key hardware is compatible.

I have flashed all types of different cards on my HD7950 and so far it hasn't bricked. Not all of the BIOS worked great but the card didn't brick.

In any case if you are going to be flashing BIOS make sure you know what you are doing. I use ATI flash which has some features to modify BIOS to be more compatible to stock BIOS.


Running HWinfo64 couldn't hurt just to see how the temps are.

This card has many phases and lots of power and not alot of cooling on the VRMs.

[loc]

Story of my voltage locked 7970 DCII TOP.
I've tried many different versions of radeon drivers, asus gpu tweak, sapphire trixx, msi afterburner and even did clean install of windows 7 and windows 8 consumer preview but with no affect. I also tried with exactly with the same versions of drivers and gpu tweak as fellow 7970 DCII TOP card owner just to see my voltage still being locked and other card was not. Also one little interesting thing: The cards which are not being voltage locked seem to be able to use msi afterburner to read and tweak the voltage. Afterburner cant even read the gpu voltage on cards which are voltage locked let alone change the voltage. For non voltage locked cards afterburner works just fine. So clearly there is something different between the cards. It might be only the bios but I guess cards could use even different components. Also seems that there is a lot of different bios versions in the cards based on gpu-z screenshots. I am not familiar with those bios markings so I cant say based on just bios version which cards are locked or not.

Also card doesn't need to be "hot wired" to be voltage tweaked. That is only needed if you want to really over volt the card (over 1.25v), change pll voltage or mem voltage.

I've looked answer to this from many different forums but no one seems to have solution for this. I am thinking of returning my card for refund and wait for coming "Tahiti XT 2" chips because of this voltage locking which is a bummer as I like the card otherwise. ps. My chips ASIC quality is 65,2% with default voltage of 1.175v. Stable overclock being 1130MHz for the core and 1660MHz for the mem.

[SonDa5]

Bummer on the locked voltage. That card looks like it was made to be over clocked and locking the voltage adjustments makes it a big waste IMO. I would return it and go for Tahiti XT 2 if you can wait that long.

[razaron]

Originally Posted by loc

I am thinking of returning my card for refund and wait for coming "Tahiti XT 2" chips because of this voltage locking which is a bummer as I like the card otherwise.

This is what I'm about to do. Hopefully I'll be able to return the (unused) waterblock I got for it.

[Iactus]

unfortunately i used my water block so I'm stuck with my card.

You need to Hotwire the DC2 that is V locked on a Maximus mono to use more voltage...

Unless we can find a Bios Editor we are kinda screwed. Hopefully Asus will release a bios to fix this....


As i have said before using a TOP bios with a higher Vcore at default has increased my Vcore from 1.030 to 1.085

[Random Murderer]

Originally Posted by loc

Also card doesn't need to be "hot wired" to be voltage tweaked. That is only needed if you want to really over volt the card (over 1.25v), change pll voltage or mem voltage.

VGA HotWire is a feature of the Rampage IV Extreme motherboard and upcoming Maximus V Extreme that allows you to wire certain parts of the card directly to the motherboard giving you full control in BIOS and Windows of VGA core voltage, VGA memory voltage, and PLL voltage, from extremely low voltages to extremely high(i believe 1.6v is the VGA Core limit). I have not used it(yet) but for voltage-locked cards it's a godsend. It's not necessarily only for "extreme" overvolting, just better control of the voltages. VDroop is also supposedly accounted for by the motherboard so that your voltages stay pretty stable under full load, kind of like LoadLine Calibration for your CPU.

EDIT: Here's the guide for the reference 7970, along with some BIOS screenshots from Shamino showing some of the adjustment steps.
Guide

[Iactus]

Its just not clear which motherboards have this on them.

I was hopeing the Maximus GeneV Would but i cant tell

[razaron]

To my knowledge, only the Rampage IV Extreme motherboard and Maximus V Extreme have VGA Hotwire.
Also, what clocks are you getting under water and what clocks were you getting on air? I'm currently running 1100/6300. I can easily get the memory higher, I'm just not bothered.

[Random Murderer]

Originally Posted by Iactus

Its just not clear which motherboards have this on them.

I was hopeing the Maximus GeneV Would but i cant tell

Originally Posted by razaron

To my knowledge, only the Rampage IV Extreme motherboard and Maximus V Extreme have VGA Hotwire.
Also, what clocks are you getting under water and what clocks were you getting on air? I'm currently running 1100/6300. I can easily get the memory higher, I'm just not bothered.

The only motherboard on the market now is the Rampage IV Extreme, but the Maximus V Extreme should be released very shortly and it will have VGA HotWire.
Here's a ROG Press Release for the Max V Extreme:
http://rog.asus.com/114332012/maximu...to-its-limits/

Near the bottom it shows the OC Key and VGA HotWire features, and even shows a 7970 DCU II hotwired.

[Iactus]

Originally Posted by razaron

To my knowledge, only the Rampage IV Extreme motherboard and Maximus V Extreme have VGA Hotwire.
Also, what clocks are you getting under water and what clocks were you getting on air? I'm currently running 1100/6300. I can easily get the memory higher, I'm just not bothered.

i can get 1125/6300 fine @ 1.066v (vdrop in effect)

I want 1200Mhz+ though

I never tried it on air, was first used under water

[erocker]

Originally Posted by Iactus

i can get 1125/6300 fine @ 1.066v (vdrop in effect)

I want 1200Mhz+ though

I never tried it on air, was first used under water

Unless you can replace the weak VRM's on your card, you're stuck. I have the same issue. I can use Sapphire Trixx, set it to 1.25v and get 1225Mhz.

[Iactus]

Weak VRMs?

I'm sorry but you do know that the Asus DirectCu2 has the BEST vrms on any 7970 card dont you?

[Random Murderer]

Originally Posted by Iactus

Weak VRMs?

I'm sorry but you do know that the Asus DirectCu2 has the BEST vrms on any 7970 card dont you?

A) erocker knows his stuff, and even if he weren't a moderator you shouldn't be so disrespectful to the people that are trying to help you.
B) that's a matter of opinion and luck. while the Asus DCII cards come with better VRMs, they are not necessarily the best and you can still end up with a dud of a card.

My Asus reference card does 1205 on stock voltage with my "inferior" VRMs. VRMs aren't the only factor in clocking these or any video card. You also have to take into account things like the quality of the GPU die, power supply, and (in this case) the user.
Sounds to me like your card just doesn't want to clock that high.

[erocker]

Originally Posted by Iactus

Weak VRMs?

I'm sorry but you do know that the Asus DirectCu2 has the BEST vrms on any 7970 card dont you?

Your Vdroop says otherwise. If I bought the Direct Cu2, I would find it unacceptable and ask Asus for an RMA. Not sure if RMA'ing the card would be legit though.

[Random Murderer]

Originally Posted by erocker

Your Vdroop says otherwise. If I bought the Direct Cu2, I would find it unacceptable and ask Asus for an RMA. Not sure if RMA'ing the card would be legit though.

Agreed. If your card is such a poor overclocker and overclocking it means that much to you, RMA it.

[Iactus]

My cards voltage is 1.084v idle... Ref cards are 1.175.
I can do 1150mhz at moment.

1.060v load... That around 0.1v less than ref cards!!!

How is my card poor?

Plus i dont care who is a mod or not i was not being rude in anyway.

[erocker]

Originally Posted by Iactus

My cards voltage is 1.084v idle... Ref cards are 1.175.
I can do 1150mhz at moment.

1.060v load... That around 0.1v less than ref cards!!!

How is my card poor?

Plus i dont care who is a mod or not i was not being rude in anyway.

Do you mean you card is supposed to be 1.084v stock? Idle, mine is .85v

If that is so, that isn't bad vdroop at all. So if you want 1200+Mhz, you need to use a utility to bump up your voltage a little.

[Iactus]

Yea stock 1.084v

Unfortunatly the directcu2 cards are voltage locked ;(

Come to the conclusion i need the maximus v mobo to hotwire my card

[erocker]

Personally, I'd rather get a different card that isn't voltage locked. That's ridiculous.