OVERCLOCKING 6950 DirectCU II 2GB

[alexwelcome]

Hello the team,

i've recently bought an ASUS 6950 DirectCU II 2GB,
and I try to overclock it, WITHOUT UNLOCKING the Shaders wich only gives 5% of performance more (too risky for so low).

I use these two softwares :
- Asus SmartDoctor (last version)
- ATI Catalyst CCC AMD Overdrive panel (last version 24Oct2011)

As i read here and there, i have to :
1. enable AMD OVERDRIVE in CCC and push PowerControlSettings to +20%
2. I did tests and I pushed overclocking to 900Mhz GPU and 1300MHz Memory, with CCC cursors and default voltage (1.1v).


My question is simple : do i really have to addd +20% in CCC PowerControlSettings to stabilize overclocking ?
Is it power in watts, or power in volts (I think watts, but not sure) ?
And of course : when I increase in the PowerControlSettings to +20% in CCC, does it add some voltage as smart doctor could do, or only watts ?

More of all : during the overclocking process, do you know how can I detect when my 6950 DirectCU II needs more voltage to work fine ? What are the signs that says "put some more voltage" ? Artifacts ? lags ? I do not know, and i do not want to do mistakes.

If my 6950 DirectCU II 2GB is stable at 900Mhz GPUand 5200 MHZ RAM (1300MHZ in CCC)
with no voltage increase (default to 1.10V), I think i do not have to use AsusSmart Doctor..but once again, I'm not sure : must i have to use SmartDoctor instead of CCC AMDpanel ?


Sorry for my english...not my first language.


Best regards,

Alex




I think i need expert answers.

 

[alexwelcome]

+1

 

[Focus182]

the 20% slider in CCC changes the wattage that the card is allowed to reach before throttling to lower clocks, its not the same as increasing the voltage. You will probably only need the CCC slider if you are running programs like occt, furmark and so on, in games it should be fine but its a good idea to use GPU-Z to check that it isn't throttling.

Signs that you may need more voltage are crashing/artifacting, with my 6950 i really only see crashing when it is unstable. Don't give it too much voltage though, raising the voltage by 0.005 till stable is a good idea.

900 on the core may be fine on stock volts, 880 is what most people get on stock volts if they do not have a binned 6970. Be aware that the voltage does not have an impact on the overclocking of your memory. The memory on the 6950 will not show artifacts but instead will decrease in performance instead as it will try to fix the errors when not stable, 1300mhz is a low and most likely problem free overclock though.

If your having problems or disliking SmartDoctor, a more widely used program is MSI Afterburner, it is considered by a lot of people to be one of the best overclocking/monitoring tools right now. It also gives the option to disable throttling completely i believe.

Hope this helps.

 

[alexwelcome]

thank you for answering.

So, I'll incerease:
- GPU from 810 to 880 Mhz
- Memory from 1250 to 1300 Mhz
- add + 20% more power in CCC.
- voltage go from 1.10 stock @ 1.15v through AsusSmartDoctor.

I'll post my battlefield 3 resulats and % FPS increasement with and without OC.

 

[Focus182]

NOOO, 1.15 is a bump of 0.05 not 0.005 like i said.. you do that a few times and you will have an expensive paperweight, an increase of 0.005 would give you 1.105

I would not bump it up to 880 right away.. little bumps each time (10-20mhz), testing each time to check if its stable, 880 on the core is not something everyone gets.

Check that its stable at 880/1300 before you increase the voltage, no need to increase the voltage when you don't need to.

 

[alexwelcome]

thank you dude.
I'll definitely follow your advice.

I'll come back to post my settings for overclocking asus 6950 DirectCU II 2GB.

 

[Focus182]

No problem, looking forward to hearing back.

 

[metallo93]

Im buying that vga too 2gb model well, what i need finally for oc?

Msi afterburner and furmark for stress test???..

 

[Focus182]

I'd say playing a lot of different gpu intensive games would be best. Some people use burn tests and also gaming though, Its up to you really. Just don't run an overclock on a burn test, assume its stable and then overclock some more without playing a game. You can run furmark for hours without a crash but crash within a 2-3 mins in a game.

As for using afterburner, well it seems like the majority find Afterburner more efficient than others but its down to what you want from an overclocking tool really.

 

[alexwelcome]

Ok folks!


I've overclocked STABLE this 6950 CUII 2GB to :
GPU : 810 => 900 Mhz
RAM : 1250 => 1275 MHZ (you don't need to go futher => bugs, and no performance boost)
AMD PowerTune +20%
Voltage : stock +0.015v (1.100Volts to 1.115V) <= at your peril for more...

Average Gain : +15% up to +21% depending games
Temp raisings : stock = 36°C Idle - 50°C Full to 45°C Idle to 61°C to Full load.
Ventilators in Automatic mode, never gone up to 21%.

I've downgade AMD PowerTune to +12%, and GPU to 880 MHZ and RAM to stock (1250 Mhz)for daily use, because i want this card to run perfectly for at least 5 years of daily use.


Good luck with your overclocking of this card, and remind this : You do not need to overclock RAM, because all you'll gain are bugs, artifacts and loss of durability/efficiency).


Tested stable under Battlefield3 (3 hours), Heaven unigine (3 passes loop), 3D MArk Vantage and '11 during 1 hour, Crysis 1 during 1 hour and Dirt3, during 2 hours.

 

[alexwelcome]

Finally,
i've obtained :
920 Mhz - 1.181v
+20% powertune in CCC

STABLE

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

nice oc ,i find saphire trixx works very well ocin amd cards , you thought about a waterblock?, the cooler running temps prolong the cards life

 

[Yo_Wattup]

Ok folks!


I've overclocked STABLE this 6950 CUII 2GB to :
GPU : 810 => 900 Mhz
RAM : 1250 => 1275 MHZ (you don't need to go futher => bugs, and no performance boost)
AMD PowerTune +20%
Voltage : stock +0.015v (1.100Volts to 1.115V) <= at your peril for more...

Average Gain : +15% up to +21% depending games
Temp raisings : stock = 36°C Idle - 50°C Full to 45°C Idle to 61°C to Full load.
Ventilators in Automatic mode, never gone up to 21%.

I've downgade AMD PowerTune to +12%, and GPU to 880 MHZ and RAM to stock (1250 Mhz)for daily use, because i want this card to run perfectly for at least 5 years of daily use.


Good luck with your overclocking of this card, and remind this : You do not need to overclock RAM, because all you'll gain are bugs, artifacts and loss of durability/efficiency).


Tested stable under Battlefield3 (3 hours), Heaven unigine (3 passes loop), 3D MArk Vantage and '11 during 1 hour, Crysis 1 during 1 hour and Dirt3, during 2 hours.

I have found that increasing the memory clock has more of an effect on performance than core clock. Im at 960/1500 with 1.160V. Keep in mind that the 6970 stock voltage is 1.175V and they are essentially the same card just the 6970 has more shaders so you shouldn't burn out your card at anything below that voltage, unless your cooler sucks of course.