Max Speeds for radeon 6950 (shaders unlcock)

[jonathan1107]

Hey guys, I was wondering what's the max speed one should run his 6950 @ (with the shaders unlock only) using MSI AB...

I could bring my 6950 to 1000/1600 or even more if I wanted to... but I'd like to hear whether someone tested different 6950 speeds above the overdrive limits (840/1325) and if there are any benchmarks I could look at to find out if it's worth it...

From what I hear, even though the 6950 are big fat cards with crazy heatsinks and powerful fan... it seems they're fragile as heck... easy to kill and such...

I'd just like to know your opinion about Overclocking the 6950 because it sure ain't like OCing my CPU...

 

[meran]

well if u overclock it without increasing voltage then its fine ,once u up the voltage you will put more strain on the gpu power delivery my 5850 can go from 725 to 930 without any voltage bump
best efficient overclock is at stock volts

 

[LDNL]

Could run my 6950 (6970 bios) over 900 without increasing the voltage. But since I didn't want to put too much strain on the card I decided on having just the shaders unlock but this dropped the OC to about ~880.

 

[jonathan1107]

how do you find out whether the current voltage is enough for the current OC of the card??? You said you had to drop to 880... why is that? how did you find out the correct combination of speed and voltage???

 

[manofthem]

how do you find out whether the current voltage is enough for the current OC of the card??? You said you had to drop to 880... why is that? how did you find out the correct combination of speed and voltage???

How can you be asking these questions, and at the same time Claim you OCed to 1000/1600 and up?

 

[jonathan1107]

Lol, OMG... You guys... think for a second here:

I did OC both my cards to these crazy levels withtout stability issues because I had a bigger voltage going in... (about 1.2v) But the thing I'm trying to find out is this:

I've heard that video cards are not to be Over-estimated and that you can't OC them like crazy unless you don't mind killing the Vram or such... And so... it's not because you manage to OC the card to 1000/1600 that you actually gain FPS @ all... For some reasons, the radeon 6950 behaves a weird way when you OC it past it's "IDEAL OC LEVEL"...

In other words the card can become unstable and damaged past a certain point "even if you cool it properly" OR AT LEAST so I've heard...

So I'm askin around to find out what's the max speed people have been able to reach with their "unlocked shaders only 6950s"........

Does that make sense to you?... see my point?

 

[jayc]

Does that make sense to you?

No.


Seriously.
Where are you hearing this? Your neighbour's friend's friend?
Did you get all the facts?

Putting too much voltage into ANY PC component will kill it.
It's a blanket statement, which is true in general.

1.2v is ok.
1.3v is getting to the higher margin, unless you watercooled the card.
More than 1.3v is asking for trouble.


You've got your card to 1000/1600 ... awesome. Be happy. Why risk going higher? Does it really make a difference in your games/application that is noticeable?

 

[jonathan1107]

Here's what I'm trying to tell you guys:

Even with the right voltage... I've heard that certain speeds on the radeon 6950 just don't give you any "gain" in terms of performance... Something about the card built-in throttle, I think...

So what I'm trying to find out is not WHAT'S POSSIBLE in terms of 6950 OC... but @ WHICH POINT does increasing the card speed become irrelevant ?????????????????????????

 

[Flak]

Do some tests with your card at different speeds since it clocks so uber and let us know what you find.

 

[commission3r]

how do you find out whether the current voltage is enough for the current OC of the card??? You said you had to drop to 880... why is that? how did you find out the correct combination of speed and voltage???

i use unigen and leave it running till the system locks up - not benchmark - 1920x1080 default setting - 30 minutes
with stock cooling 840 on the core speed is no problem
replaced the cooling with zalman 3000 undervolted fans to 1300rpm ( i like silence)
max core 880 with shaders unlocked
this is all on stock volts
i have 2 in xfire
idles @ 35 load @ 60 degrees

 

[commission3r]

So what I'm trying to find out is not WHAT'S POSSIBLE in terms of 6950 OC... but @ WHICH POINT does increasing the card speed become irrelevant ?????????????????????????[/QUOTE]

i use toca 3, dirt 2 and grid
from stock to oc level, when does the car feel more responsive versus not

 

[jayc]

What you want to know is at what core/mem speeds does the performance shift from Video card limitations to CPU limitation. That is - when does the CPU become the bottle neck.

The reason no one is giving you an answer is because we all have different systems.

The answer to your own question can only be obtained by running benchmarks on your own system.
Keep increasing GPU speed until you see no benefit in game FPS. Here you have found the limits of your CPU.

If you cannot overclock the GPU high enough before you experience crashing in your programs/games, then again you have found the limit of the video card.

 

[jonathan1107]

So should I test with my games, or with something like uningine... or whatever that is called?

 

[commission3r]

So should I test with my games, or with something like uningine... or whatever that is called?

its called unigine heaven, use the latest build. its a good test for temp stability
if ur temps r fine in this then ur games sud have no problems regarding temps
when u oc dont like sum people go 4 the max keep testing @ different speeds till u find 1 that works 4 u
when i had a 5850 i cud oc 2 900/1200 on stock
but it worked better @ 760/1050 for my setup
good luck

 

[jonathan1107]

thx guys, thx commisionner for the unigine heaven tip... that's what I was looking for