Okay I give up! How are they getting/Holding these clocks?

[Tallencor]

I have had a Sapphire 7870 xt with boost for....... I dunno, two or three years. From the get go, reading reviews for clock settings and over @ overclock.net
http://www.overclock.net/t/1373543/official-7870-tahiti-le-xt-owners-club
Most people are hovering around the same clocks I am 1200/1500. Most reviews state that any mem clock past 1520 slows performance as opposed to helping. I have had no such experience. Mind you, Using Trixx, the best I seem to get is my current 1220/1560 without driver crash on upping the core, and black screen on upping the mem. Totally fine as that's better than before. Trixx custom fan, +20 power limit and Vddc left alone.
Now I did try 1200/1600 and I noticed a massive improvement in Inquisition (camera stutter gone) but it would hold for 5-10 mins and black screen on me.
So since it's review date 09/13 over at Hardware Havenhttp://www.hardwareheaven.com/conte...t-with-boost-tahiti-le-graphics-card-review/4
They were able to hold 1285/1760!!!???? It can't just be lottery? I don't even really care about the core tbh but better mem clocks(Hynix) would be nice. What did they do that I'm not? 850w psu so not that. Cool core clock at load of 69c and 80-83@1600 mem on vrm's which is no diff than 1560 or 1500 stock temps.
Any ideas? No money for new card (290x) yet but "soon". Just want to see if I can push this card a bit more before binning it.

 

[eidairaman1]

Gpu/cpu/ram/pcbs are like a box of chocolates. You don't know what you gonna get.

Might need to remove cooler and put better tim on it all and maybe add ramsinks/vrmsinks, or wc the cards

Could be diff ram/timings and diff pcb/sku/bios used.

 

[Tallencor]

Hmmmmm. I would understand if it were a diff in mem clock of 50mhz but that's a pretty big gap.

 

[sneekypeet]

All the hardware has to do is run the stated clocks reliably, anything more is bonus!
Things to consider....
House power to the PSU, maybe you could use a line conditioner.
PSU power to the GPU, again, if there is ripple, like in the house power, it can cause issues.
TIM may help core clocks, but it wont do squat for memory clocking.
Also, look in that thread for some screenshots with GPU tuning software open. My guess is they may be adding volts to the memory to get it to run those speeds.

 

[Ebo]

try at use gpu-z and see what kind of ram thats on your GFX, if its epidia(I think the name is) then it wont OC a lot. If you have Hynix ram on it, you can get a good boost of juice out if it.

 

[eidairaman1]

Elpedia

 

[vega22]

well reviewers get cherry picked kit for a start so their "luck" in the ic lotto aint so much luck.

but ram clocking can really help depending on your res and if the core and use the data.

 

[T-Bob]

I'm not sure if this applies to AMD cards? I do know that it's necessary with modern Nvidia card.

They could be using a modified afterburner configuration. One that allows them to adjust voltage for ram and core independent of each other. Also this allows you to set the power limit much higher.

 

[eidairaman1]

Afterburner is broken

 

[Tallencor]

try at use gpu-z and see what kind of ram thats on your GFX, if its epidia(I think the name is) then it wont OC a lot. If you have Hynix ram on it, you can get a good boost of juice out if it.

Elpedia

It's Hynix. Made sure of that prior to creating the thread. Also read that this card is voltage locked as well. Headed to look for screen's as @sneekypeet suggested. Seems that when I adjust my vddc the card locks up with even a small boost. Looks like my 2 6 pins are on the proper rails as well. House current? Never really thought of that. good idea.