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Overclocking Radeon 6950 - what's the best you can get?

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If you already found a stable overclock, why need to change anything? If MSI AB gives a bsod when you apply an overclock, uninstall MSI AB fully, reboot, and reinstall.

Because I want it to stay OC'ed 24/7, and wont have to change the clocks manually every time I want to play a game or bench. I tried reinstalling MSI AB, but no luck :shadedshu
 
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Yah, you should be able to OC with MSI AB... Worst case scenario... don't set it to start the OC at startup...

Did you disable Ulps?
 

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Because I want it to stay OC'ed 24/7, and wont have to change the clocks manually every time I want to play a game or bench. I tried reinstalling MSI AB, but no luck :shadedshu

You can tell AB to set a profile on startup.

AFAIR with the new 69xx cards it is not possible to change clock speed and fan profile in AB.
- The clock speed is verified by the driver and bootup stops if the driver detects a manipulation.
- The fan is controlled by the driver, so changes here are not kept (see here).

Regarding your screenshot:
- blue rectange - fan control - no effect as described above
- yellow rectange - clock control - boot lock as described above
- red rectangle - voltage control - the voltages of the 69xx are NOT controlled by the select box here but are changed by the button "GPU registers" in the box "Voltage registers" on the bottom of the screen. Here you enter the four voltages for the four power states
 
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You can tell AB to set a profile on startup.

AFAIR with the new 69xx cards it is not possible to change clock speed and fan profile in AB.
- The clock speed is verified by the driver and bootup stops if the driver detects a manipulation.
- The fan is controlled by the driver, so changes here are not kept (see here).

Regarding your screenshot:
- blue rectange - fan control - no effect as described above
- yellow rectange - clock control - boot lock as described above
- red rectangle - voltage control - the voltages of the 69xx are NOT controlled by the select box here but are changed by the button "GPU registers" in the box "Voltage registers" on the bottom of the screen. Here you enter the four voltages for the four power states

The new release of AB allows you to change such settings now. I will try to find the best configuration of software OC since I heard that the new CCC [11.] will give you a BSOD due to modded BIOS.
 

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The new release of AB allows you to change such settings now. I will try to find the best configuration of software OC since I heard that the new CCC [11.] will give you a BSOD due to modded BIOS.

Ah, dammit. I meant the BIOS changes with RBE are useless because of driver checks. With AB you can change core/mem/voltage after boot with a profile, so the driver doesn't complain. I'm sorry, I mixed the abbreviations while typing. :D
 
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Ah, dammit. I meant the BIOS changes with RBE are useless because of driver checks. With AB you can change core/mem/voltage after boot with a profile, so the driver doesn't complain. I'm sorry, I mixed the abbreviations while typing. :D

No prob bud, I just noticed that I've been using AB while overdrive in CCC was disabled, which might be the source of the BSOD's. I going to try this again later on today as I' am at work now.
 

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No prob bud, I just noticed that I've been using AB while overdrive in CCC was disabled, which might be the source of the BSOD's. I going to try this again later on today as I' am at work now.

MSI AB will disable what you choose in CCC. If you are getting bsod's using MSIAB after a reinstall, try what jonathon1107 suggested and disable ulps in the registry. Since you are running 2x6950's, that should take away the bsod when applying any change in MSiAB.
 
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How do you disable Ulps? some of the sites that explain it, are currently blocked at my work place. ><
 
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How do you disable Ulps? some of the sites that explain it, are currently blocked at my work place. ><

Using the Run command type in: regedit

Ctrl+F and type in ULPS.

Change value from 1 to 0 for all instances of ULPS.

Restart.

Done. :)
 

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To mod original 6950 BIOS to have unlocked shaders, look here: How to enable additional shaders on Radeon HD 695...
To bypass CCC limits look here: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141858
To get MSI AB that works with 6950, look here: http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm

There are many concerns that the 6970 BIOS may be risky. You can take the risk, or simply unlock the shaders which seems to most to be more risk free.
Smart Doctor is mainly to remove Catalyst Limits, which the RacerX tool will do, I'd recommend A/Burner to OC after bumping limits with RacerX tool.
I personally don't like tampering with voltage because of lifespan concerns, so if you look at my specs, you will see my OC so far on stock 6950 voltage (1.1V). Some are getting better, some worse.

Hope that helps.

Or just use Sapphire Trixx. I'm sick of jumping through hoops with afterburner.
 
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Or just use Sapphire Trixx. I'm sick of jumping through hoops with afterburner.

Does Trixx work okay with AMD overdrive in CCC? Meaning can I have Overdrive unlocked in CCC and it won't mess up with using Trixx?
 

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Does Trixx work okay with AMD overdrive in CCC? Meaning can I have Overdrive unlocked in CCC and it won't mess up with using Trixx?

It seems to work fine. If you go over the official limits the core and memory clock sliders disappear like they do with afterburner. They will show up again in CCC when you reset everything to default settings. Powertune also still works in CCC.

The only thing that doesn't work properly in Trixx is the fan profile. I still use Afterburner for that and the OSD.
 
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Using MSI AB, what's the fastest The 6950 can go? I mean... is there a limit? It looks like you can input any voltage, and get the card up to 1000/1600 mhz if you wanted to...

Let me know what you think (don't worry... I'm not about to fry my cards :O)
 
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Alright guys, This is what I plan to do:

  • -Use reg fix in CCC to raise OC limits
  • -Mod the voltage on my BIOS trough RBE
  • -Use either Trixx or AB for fan profiles

Someone said earlier that I was choosing the wrong option on the pic that i posted. So to be sure, in RBE should i go to:

*Clock Settings*
-Voltage Registers
>GPU registers
VID4 [1065 -> 1250]?

EDIT:
I just did the reg mod, disabled ULPS & raised the the OC limit, but after restart. I saw that the sliders that control the clock speed has dissapeared, although the fan control still present.
 
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Using MSI AB, what's the fastest The 6950 can go? I mean... is there a limit? It looks like you can input any voltage, and get the card up to 1000/1600 mhz if you wanted to...

Let me know what you think (don't worry... I'm not about to fry my cards :O)

i am running my 6950 at 1000mhz core 1.35VGPU with 1300mhz ram on watercooling 40C at max doing F@H or furmark.

i've seen ppl go higher but .. i don't know its stable!

btw im using AB with a modified EXE's to pass 1.3 volts limits on core. cause at 1.3 1000mhz is not stable,.
 
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the only disappointing thing about Overclocking the 6950 is it doesn't give you much of an FPS increase @ max settings in games... I've tested 840/1325, 925/1350, 975,1475... for mhz/mhz speeds... and honestly, it only yields about 1-4 extra FPS... Altho it does help making your higher FPS moments steady (like if you had 55 and kept dropping to 50, it will stabelize it... but nothing more...)

Oh... and btw the numbers I just gave are for 2 "unlocked shaders" 6950 in crossfire... so you get the picture now...

Maybe if it was possible and stable to OC the 6950 to 1250/1800 mhz, then we'd be talking...
Oh and I have one more question regarding the GTX 580 from nvidia...

I've heard so much people say it's better than a 6950... but doesn't it have lower speeds? why is it sold 200$ more than the 6950?

Let me know what you think about the difference between the gtx 580 vs the radeon 6950...

And Lastly, what is your point of view about NVIDIA vs ATI video cards???
 
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Oh and I have one more question regarding the GTX 580 from nvidia...

I've heard so much people say it's better than a 6950... but doesn't it have lower speeds? why is it sold 200$ more than the 6950?

Let me know what you think about the difference between the gtx 580 vs the radeon 6950...

And Lastly, what is your point of view about NVIDIA vs ATI video cards???

well nvidia does push more perfromance per raw clock speed its either software or hardware related.. they make better card for now..

but 1 thing i know is that nvidia always ad the best drivers with all my ati/nvidia card.

like now im thinkin i am gona sell my unlocked 6950 and get an nvidia, tired of CCC not opening and overscan/underscan problem (some game are smaller then actual screen).
 
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