Sapphire HD 6950 2gb overclock

[metilic]

Hey guys, just overclocked my card to 900/1375 with a voltage of 1.14v, no changes done to the memory voltage (ambient is around 25c). The max temp goes to 76c, and i think it's a little bit high (stock cooling, with the fan at 50%). I know a dude who OC'd to 950/1400 with 1.175 and got 65c max temp (also on stock cooling with 50% fan). What do you think could be the cause/any advice?

[cheetahkid]

don't know, is there intake system fan working close to GPU and the outlet fan working at full pelt?

[phanbuey]

76 is not high at all... many of these cards hit 85-90C like its going out of style. plus unless he has the same ambient temp as you, his 65C is not meaningful.

Turn your AC down 10 degrees and put your case fans on HIGH and you will load at 65C as well.

My advice is... don't worry about it and go play some games.

[LordJummy]

Yeah not everyone is going to get the same temps. Your friend probably has cooler air and a bigger/better cooled case. The antec 300 is not a high end performance case. It's actually quite small and cramped. These cards get hot too. It's just something you have to live with. Be happy you're not hitting 100c

[cheetahkid]

I have a vulcan case from NZXT, yes it is small and perform well, as long I set my fans at full speed and kept it just below 75C on the graphic card, so I see no problem. (4 fans on the case and running 2 monitors).

CPU 4.2GHz mem 1600MHz
GPU 975/1400 1.175V fan custom speed at 0% 20C/100% 75C

3Dmark11 P5788
CPU temp 45C
GPU Temp 52C
System Temp 40C

[manofthem]

Originally Posted by cheetahkid

GPU 975/1400 1.175V fan custom speed at 0% 20C/100% 75C

3Dmark11 P5788
CPU temp 45C
GPU Temp 52C
System Temp 40C

That's a handsome overclock to be sure!

[Darkleoco]

Unless you start breaking 90 I wouldn't worry at all

[metilic]

Ok guys new problem today started playing some RAGE and saw that fps was dropping...and by accident i watched the gpuz readings...the card does not go higher than 70% usage in any game i play; rage, sc2... if i try to run a msi kombustor or heaven 2.5 benchmark it goes to 100% constant usage...but in any game i play doesn't go more than 70%. i have no idea what is causing this, i reinstalled the video driver (11.10 preview 2 for rage and bf3 beta) and the result is the same. please help
p.s. it is not a temperature issue, the temps are specific to a 70% usage(around 60c)

[manofthem]

Maybe clock speed is throttling. Did you try +10-20% in CCC? A thought...

[metilic]

Tried going back to stock clocks and then stock bios (switch on 2) and same problem; I'm starting to freak out

[cadaveca]

if you had problems when overlcocking, crashes, etc while running 3d, then...

chances are either driver, directX, or something else, like C++ stuff may have become corrupted. If stock clocks fail, always try fresh OS install, as sometimes problems cannot be fixed by re-isntalltion of these runtimes/drivers.

If you re-install OS, retest, adn still ahve issues, then you can start freaking. Until then, please eliminate all probable sources of frustration.

[cheetahkid]

think... 70% is your screen, the other 30% is your scores and items that is use on lower part of your screen which doesn't run much, I don't know the games you play but that the theory. Don't think need to worry about.

[LordJummy]

At first I thought it might be downclocking due to power limitations, but then I thought - even if it's downclocking it should still be using all of the GPU regardless of frequency.

Hard to say for sure. You might wanna play with the voltage a bit as all cards are different. Make sure Power Control is bumped all the way up to 20% just in case. When I was OC'ing my 6950's I noticed they would downclock when I had them heavily OC'd and the power control was only at 0-10%. It needed full 20% to maintain the 1GHz+ overclocks.

I would listen to cadaveca though. He also has a lot of experience with this line of cards, and is really knowledgeable. I would think it would be a driver issue as Rage is brand new and the latest driver has just added Rage support. A clean OS install with fresh drivers is always a good way to go. Anytime I change hardware I re-image with a fresh install of win7. That + fresh drivers generally fixes most issues...

Good luck bro!