Problem with GPU voltage

[HarvesterOfSorrow]

Hi!
I have sapphire Hd7970 dual x (non oc) the one with blue pcb and 2x 8 pin connectors.
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b24/sapphire-hd-7970-dual-x

I cant seem to get any control to voltage, i checked unlock voltage control from msi afterburner and i can change voltage from stock 1,175v. hwmonitor and gpu z reports voltages as stock voltages, msi afterburner shows voltages as i set them.
I tried also sapphire trixx latest version and voltage slider is greyed n/a

 

[FR@NK]

You might try modding the bios to get increased voltages.

 

[HarvesterOfSorrow]

Yeah i thought so, can you link me vBios for this card that can actually modify voltage.

 

[Thimblewad]

You should use GPU-Z to extract the GPU BIOS that is currently in use (MAKE SURE YOU BACKUP THE ORIGINAL BIOS!!!), then use VBE7(clikety-click) to edit your BIOS and finally use ATI WinFLash (clickety-click again) to flash the BIOS to the card. It is by my opinion the easiest way to do it and I flahed my 270X more than 10 times with this procedure.

If you run into problems, I'm here to help.

 

[HarvesterOfSorrow]

You should use GPU-Z to extract the GPU BIOS that is currently in use (MAKE SURE YOU BACKUP THE ORIGINAL BIOS!!!), then use VBE7(clikety-click) to edit your BIOS and finally use ATI WinFLash (clickety-click again) to flash the BIOS to the card. It is by my opinion the easiest way to do it and I flahed my 270X more than 10 times with this procedure.

If you run into problems, I'm here to help.

Thanks i try that! What voltage i should put on that? What is safe voltage for HD 7970? Will 1.25V be fine ? Or should i put higher/lower than 1.25V? Also the card have dual BIOS switch so does it matter if i flash new bios to 1 or 2 bios

 

[FR@NK]

What is safe voltage for HD 7970? Will 1.25V be fine ?

Depends on how hot your cards are running. If stock is 1.175v then maybe start at 1.2v.

 

[Thimblewad]

The correct BIOS stiwch position is described in the VBE post I linked to you. You should know that temperatures will rise with voltage and at a certain point you will have to up the voltage a lot but the performance difference will be minimal. You can freely try going up to 1.225 volts, but check the temperatures as well, try to keep them < 80 °C.

 

[HarvesterOfSorrow]

The correct BIOS stiwch position is described in the VBE post I linked to you. You should know that temperatures will rise with voltage and at a certain point you will have to up the voltage a lot but the performance difference will be minimal. You can freely try going up to 1.225 volts, but check the temperatures as well, try to keep them < 80 °C.

OMG i'm so embrassed, i'm so blind that i can't see anything about bios switch.

edit: did you mean this ?

• Modifications only affect the legacy BIOS, and after saving, UEFI image will be disabled (in case you have UEFI vBIOS)

 

[Thimblewad]

Don't worry about it m8. Do you have a BIOS switch on your card or is it just dual-bios? If you have a switch, put it on position 1 (main BIOS) and then you're ok to flash. Do you know what your temperatures are when gaming?

 

[HarvesterOfSorrow]

Don't worry about it m8. Do you have a BIOS switch on your card or is it just dual-bios? If you have a switch, put it on position 1 (main BIOS) and then you're ok to flash. Do you know what your temperatures are when gaming?

Yes i have little switch near crossfire bridge slots (can switch 1 or 2). Yes i use MSI Afterburner on screen display to see my temps, usages, clocks etc. always when gaming or benchmarking. And GPU Z for VRM and Voltage readings.

I have final questions. Can i leave TDP untouchable, and for clocks and voltages what is this UVD?
http://imgur.com/a/ONyOh


edit: i answer to my own question: when i change voltage to 1200mV it changes it on all states.
Can i put same voltage on all states what are marked as 1.175V? By states i mean boot, perfomance and UVD, is it okay to put 1.200V on all of these?
http://imgur.com/a/TR1Q6


Thanks for help so far!

 

[Thimblewad]

You should only change the highest clock under "performance". Also, I see your TDP is 20%. First, try putting TDP to 50%, then in MSI Afterburner put "Power Limit" to 50% and test again. If you still can't overclock more, then change the performance voltage to 1.225 V and try again.

Do not change voltage in other states, they are set like that for a reason.

 

[HarvesterOfSorrow]

You should only change the highest clock under "performance". Also, I see your TDP is 20%. First, try putting TDP to 50%, then in MSI Afterburner put "Power Limit" to 50% and test again. If you still can't overclock more, then change the performance voltage to 1.225 V and try again.

Do not change voltage in other states, they are set like that for a reason.

Thanks, it seems that other states voltages are synced with wherever i change voltage. Do i have to raise power limit from 20% to 50%? I really don't want (i only want to change voltage).

 

[Thimblewad]

If you change the voltage, the power limit should also be increased since your GPU will want to draw more power. If the power limit is set too low, then the GPU will throttle.

Changing your TDP just means that the BIOS allows the GPU to use more electricity if needed. You can try going with the voltage first but your GPU will probably throttle.

 

[HarvesterOfSorrow]

If you change the voltage, the power limit should also be increased since your GPU will want to draw more power. If the power limit is set too low, then the GPU will throttle.

Changing your TDP just means that the BIOS allows the GPU to use more electricity if needed. You can try going with the voltage first but your GPU will probably throttle.

Ok i see, so 50% is enough?

 

[Thimblewad]

50% is definetly enough and you will not need more even if you overclock the card to it's maximum potential.

 

[Thimblewad]

Did you get it to work?

 

[HarvesterOfSorrow]

Did you get it to work?

Yes Currently running +20% power limit, 1,225V and 925MHz->1150MHz. Right now im doing stability tests. GPU Z still shows slightly incorrect voltage, but im sure its 1.225V now because all other programs say its that voltage. And at BIOS 2, stability test crashes instantly with 1150MHz,on the otherhand with BIOS 1 its have been stable for 20 minutes now.
Temps are sitting at 65 c

 

[Thimblewad]

Your temps are good. What are you using to stress test?

Edit: Glad you got this to work, try increasing the power limit all the way to 50% and check if you get higher FPS.

 

[HarvesterOfSorrow]

Your temps are good. What are you using to stress test?

Edit: Glad you got this to work, try increasing the power limit all the way to 50% and check if you get higher FPS.

Yep will do. I use unigine heaven 4.0 with max settings about 15-30 minutes then rise core clock if stable and finally i run it about an hour. And then i game normally bf3 etc. This way of testing have worked for my brothers HD 7950 and my previous R7 260x.

Edit: VRM temps were 72 and 67 after 30 minutes. Pretty good.

 

[Thimblewad]

Add me on Origin: Thimblewad69 That's pretty good. After you get a stable OC, you can go and overwrite the basic clock in the BIOS and not bother with overclocking software anymore, I did that with my R9 270X.

Edit: VRM temps seem okay too, just make sure they stay < 80 °C

Edit 2: I got my 270X from 1050/5600 to 1250/6200 with just +0.050 V so I think that speaks for itself really (stock voltage was 1.206, now I'm at 1.256)

 

[HarvesterOfSorrow]

Add me on Origin: Thimblewad69 That's pretty good. After you get a stable OC, you can go and overwrite the basic clock in the BIOS and not bother with overclocking software anymore, I did that with my R9 270X.

Edit: VRM temps seem okay too, just make sure they stay < 80 °C

Edit 2: I got my 270X from 1050/5600 to 1250/6200 with just +0.050 V so I think that speaks for itself really (stock voltage was 1.206, now I'm at 1.256)

Is that 1.256V max voltage for R9 and HD 7900 series, i see lot of people running that voltage?
You got nice 200MHz increase (20%), my brothers HD 7950 clocked from 940 to 1050 without touching voltage.

 

[Thimblewad]

Actually, I don't think so, but it's pretty close. The VRM that is on my GPU (CHL822x) shouldn't be over 1.3 V. If I put it on 1.3 V, my GPU starts making odd artifacts and weird dots start appearing on my screen, I don't like that, haha. I will test 1.281 now tho, and let you know what I get. Of course keep in mind that every chip is different (even two HD 7950s, one can overclock to 1.2 GHz, one maybe all the way to 1.3 GHz, chip lottery).

 

[HarvesterOfSorrow]

Actually, I don't think so, but it's pretty close. The VRM that is on my GPU (CHL822x) shouldn't be over 1.3 V. If I put it on 1.3 V, my GPU starts making odd artifacts and weird dots start appearing on my screen, I don't like that, haha. I will test 1.281 now tho, and let you know what I get. Of course keep in mind that every chip is different (even two HD 7950s, one can overclock to 1.2 GHz, one maybe all the way to 1.3 GHz, chip lottery).

Yup i also have Gigabyte HD 7970 WF and its default clock is 1000MHz and it doesn't clock to 1050MHz with stock voltage.
When my oc is ready. Depending of temperature i might bumb voltage to 1.250V but noy going over that.

 

[HarvesterOfSorrow]

Actually, I don't think so, but it's pretty close. The VRM that is on my GPU (CHL822x) shouldn't be over 1.3 V. If I put it on 1.3 V, my GPU starts making odd artifacts and weird dots start appearing on my screen, I don't like that, haha. I will test 1.281 now tho, and let you know what I get. Of course keep in mind that every chip is different (even two HD 7950s, one can overclock to 1.2 GHz, one maybe all the way to 1.3 GHz, chip lottery).

I just noticed that my cards VRM is same as yours ( CHL822x), I did crash at 1200MHz with 1.225V, gonna go for 1.250V.

 

[HarvesterOfSorrow]

@Thimblewad
Can you say what is voltage thats not safe to exceed on HD 7970 cards (and withCHL822x VRM overall)
It seems that my 1200MHz did crash with 1.250V My target was 1200MHz-1225MHz.