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Average overclock for unlocked 6950 + bf 3

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simviatoR

Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2009
The card is a Sapphire dirt3 edition 6950, unlocked to 6970 thru the bios switch:

I seem to be stable at 940/1400 at 1.175v after a few runs through 3dmark vantage, 15-20 minutes of stability testing on furmark with max temp of 82c.

However, playing battlefield 3 for a few minutes - the game freezes then ctd's or i get a BSOD. Some other times I can play for hours without issues.

I tried lowering to 900/1400 and will not experience any crashes. I've heard of battlefield 3 having issues with locking up and crashing though.. How else can I truly tell my OC is stable?

also would like to add - what is the max safe voltage for the 6950? I am considering getting a universal EK block for it to add to my loop, but if I am already near the voltage limit I won't bother.
 
I would not base your stability on BF3, especially since you are able to run furmark and other benches without problems. BF3 has been a royal PIA with graphics issues especially, I think it's just bad coding on their part. Hope they come out with a patch/update soon.
 
For my 6970 there games where they were perfectly stable while another game crashed. Every game stresses your card differently, especially memory. If it isn't stable in BF3 then it isn't truly stable. If it runs fine at 900mhz and crashes at 940mhz then your card needs more voltage. Furmark isn't that great because it doesn't stress memory that much.

Any voltage really is safe as long as temperatures are within reason. I wouldn't go over 1.25v.

The best game to test stability in my opinion is Crysis 2 with DX 11 and textures and Metro 2033. Something that attacks the GPU at all angles. Also run some 3d Mark Vantage loops.
 
For my 6970 there games where they were perfectly stable while another game crashed. Every game stresses your card differently, especially memory. If it isn't stable in BF3 then it isn't truly stable. If it runs fine at 900mhz and crashes at 940mhz then your card needs more voltage. Furmark isn't that great because it doesn't stress memory that much.

Any voltage really is safe as long as temperatures are within reason. I wouldn't go over 1.25v.

The best game to test stability in my opinion is Crysis 2 with DX 11 and textures and Metro 2033. Something that attacks the GPU at all angles. Also run some 3d Mark Vantage loops.

Um no offense or anything, but the part where you said if it "isn't stable in bf3 it isn't stable" is completely untrue. You obviously have not read the tons of threads where people are having problems with that game. Also if you read his post above he said he did multiple 3dmark vantage runs. Not trying to stir an argument because it's not the place for it, but get your bf3 comment is completely unfounded
 
I should be clear, the game crashes even at 900/1400, 900/1300 sometimes.. it's just random. happens a bit more often when above 915mhz though.
 
Just out of curiosity which drivers are you running?From my own experience the 11.9 cats seem to be the most stable drivers right now
 
Good question. I will check when I get on my computer sometime later in the day.
 
Your temps are incredibly high also..are you using a custom fan profile?

Edit: We have the same card, and I have mine @ 940/1400 @ 1.18v so maybe bump up the voltage just a hair and see if your instability problems continue. I was able to stress test my card at these settings for about 2 hours in FurMark and not pass 70c on a custom fan profile. I get occasional intsability and, oddly enough, crashing when NOT playing games (youtube, wtf?). I move it down to 920/1375 @ 1.175 when this happens and I haven't had problems since.

Also, I wonder if the TDP Power Management in CCC has anything to do with your random instability in BF3? Often times I notice more instability when Power management throttles my card to within AMD's 'acceptable limits'
 
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Try pushing the voltage up a bit. I heard the max V for the 6950 is 1.3V. Also, from what I've heard the 6970 Bios Flash might cause problems because it sets different voltages for the RAM and the other components inside. A better suggestion, if it's possible, is to just flash your bios to a modded 6950 bios, and then work your clocks from there. When did you get your card? (I got mine a few weeks ago, curious to see if you got yours recently, and if you did, if the flash worked).

Right now I'm having trouble getting a good OC for the 6950 as well, although mine didn't get a bios flash to unlock the shaders.
 
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It's more likely that your issue is related to your Realtek onboard sound drivers assuming you use onboard sound. Problem is remedied by some with a driver update, but disabling onboard sound through the BIOS and picking up a $30 sound card will definitely fix it for good.

Video depicting what I just described.

I picked up one of these myself, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132020

Disable Realtek sound through device manager and play the game first to make sure this is your problem, this along with the volume muted should confirm
 
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It's more likely that your issue is related to your Realtek onboard sound drivers assuming you use onboard sound. Problem is remedied by some with a driver update, but disabling onboard sound through the BIOS and picking up a $30 sound card will definitely fix it for good.

Video depicting what I just described.

I picked up one of these myself, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132020

Disable Realtek sound through device manager and play the game first to make sure this is your problem, this along with the volume muted should confirm

Wait before doing anything; at 2 AM EST they're putting in a patch, servers will be online @ 4 AM EST. it's a big one, so just wait it out
 
Here is my experience with 6950 overclocks. Mine is shader unlocked, but left as a 6950. My memory is 100% solid at 1350, but artifacts every now in then at 1350 only in Heaven, so a nice round 1300 it is. The core is a whole different story though. These cards are way more responsive to better/stable temps than they are volts. If your unstable and start packing volts on you will quickly realize it's getting you nowhere without better temps.

I ran 850/1300 for the longest time, was quiet/cool/stable at stock v. Anyways, I could do 880 @ 60C with stock volts before requiring more voltage. No matter how much I gave it it was not stable over 880, from 1.1 to 1.25vgpu. I turned the fan to 100%, waited a few minutes then with 1.2vGPU I was perfectly stable at 980mhz, about 45C. Played bf3 for a few hours like this then went to the hospital because I was deaf (kidding).

ANYWAYS, now that she is under water, keeping the card inbetween 40 ~ 50C I was able to achieve 1ghz at 1.22vGPU perfectly stable, turned the fans off to watch what happened and once it started climbing into the 50's it went unstable FAST.

In short, as a general variable in OCing, heat is your enemy here.
 
Can you help with my OC? For some reason, I've got the core set at 980, the mem at 1400 (it's been there [the memory OC, that is] in stable OC's, so I'm thinking its gotta be core or voltage issues). The max temp I've hit in furmark is 90c and it didn't crash, yet when I try running at 980 it crashes. I've tried throwing voltages between 1.220 and 1.287 V, and yet there's been no difference in the results (it hangs in Kombustor every time). The temperatures haven't gone above 70c either in those tests.

I've got a 650w PSU from antec, so I don't think it's that, although I'm pretty confused by what's happening. It's definitely not a temperature issue, and you said yourself that its running at 1ghz stable.

Also, if you don't mind me asking, how did you get 1Ghz to run at 1.22? I had to use 1.22 for a 960mhz, and even then I doubt that's enough. My CPU OC needs more voltage than normal too, anyone know what's up with that? (i.e. motherboard, PSU, i'm just unlucky, etc.)
 
Wait before doing anything; at 2 AM EST they're putting in a patch, servers will be online @ 4 AM EST. it's a big one, so just wait it out

The problem is with Realtek drivers and Punkbuster, it has been around since Battlefield 2.. you can wait and see if the patch fixes it, but I wouldn't have high hopes for that.
 
I will test again when i get my EK gpu block to throw into my current loop, as well as new tubing, a reservoir, etc..
 
I got mine (not unlocked) stable at 995 core and 1400 RAM. Didn't push the RAM anymore, though I started having 3DM03 bugged runs at 1000 core. Temps were very good, mostly 50s and 60s with 100% fan.
 
For my 6970 there games where they were perfectly stable while another game crashed. Every game stresses your card differently, especially memory. If it isn't stable in BF3 then it isn't truly stable. If it runs fine at 900mhz and crashes at 940mhz then your card needs more voltage. Furmark isn't that great because it doesn't stress memory that much.

Any voltage really is safe as long as temperatures are within reason. I wouldn't go over 1.25v.

The best game to test stability in my opinion is Crysis 2 with DX 11 and textures and Metro 2033. Something that attacks the GPU at all angles. Also run some 3d Mark Vantage loops.

This guy is right on.

If the game runs fine on stock clocks and volts and then craps out on you when you overclock, then your overclock is not stable.

You need to test on a whole suite of games and benchmarks to be called stable. At a minimum you need to at least run 10 demanding games/benchmarks to know. Crysis 2 is also right on. I was stable on 3dmark06, crysis 1, metro 2033, furmark and about 20 other games until Crysis 2 found a slight instability related to white flashes every minute or so.


Um no offense or anything, but the part where you said if it "isn't stable in bf3 it isn't stable" is completely untrue. You obviously have not read the tons of threads where people are having problems with that game. Also if you read his post above he said he did multiple 3dmark vantage runs. Not trying to stir an argument because it's not the place for it, but get your bf3 comment is completely unfounded

Multiple vantage runs would hardly be called stable. Vantage runs and furmark would be the teaser for my overclock. If everybody is having problems with bf3 with stock clocks that is 1 thing. When you downclock to stock and your bf3 problems go away, then that is obviously a gpu problem.
 
Well after the latest patch there are now no issues with crashing at even higher clocks.. can you explain that?
 
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