"HD7970 & HD7950 Results Thread - Torture Your Card, Post It Here!"

[hokiealumnus]

These things are going to become available in a under a week now and you know some people are going to just jump at the chance to see what their new card can do. (Heh, assuming there is enough availability for people to, you know, buy them.) So I'm starting a little early and showing what I could do with the card now that we have a little voltage to play with.

The Old.

If your card doesn't have voltage control to begin with, you'll need to finesse it a bit to get the most out of it.

• First, grab ASUS' new GPU Tweak software from here. (They're hoping to compete with MSI's afterburner with that piece of software. This is a beta.)
• Then, grab a replacement BIOS that will give you voltage control with that software.

The New.

Before Sapphire TRIXX & MSI Afterburner, we had to take the more circuitous route above. Now those two are out and can adjust voltage on any card - no BIOS flash necessary.

• You can get the latest version of MSI's Afterburner (2.2.0, beta 12, dated 2/2/12) at Guru3D
• Grab the latest version of TRIXX on Sapphire's page.

Now, some results! These are what I was able to get with a 3960X under water (with an impassable ambient 5.1GHz brick wall) and the AMD reference 7970 on stock cooling. These things are serious powerhouse cards. :attn:

HWBot Heaven Xtreme DX11: 2869.539 - currently the #2 highest score for a single GPU on the bot. It was #1 for just under 24 hours...easy come, easy go. It will surely fall as people put their new cards under extreme cooling.



3DMark 11 - 11724



3DMark Vantage - 44782



Also, just to be clear, this card is the AMD reference card from our review. The GPUz subvendor saying ASUS is simply a function of having an ASUS BIOS flashed to the card.

That's what I've been able to do so far. There are other insane results that trounce me across the web.

• Shamino of ASUS RoG fame got over 15K 3Dmark 11 and over 55K 3DMark Vangage using LN2 on just one of these cards.
• Andre of good LORD that guy's insane fame shows us just how astounding four-way 7970 results on LN2 can be.

Now show us what you've got (or get when you get your card). Hopefully in the not-too-distant future others can come up and whoop my behind, all in the name of ye holy boint (or just seeing what you can do for the heck of it)! There's nothing like a little rear-end stomping to motivate people for higher scores.

[Andi64]

Nice! Is much faster than my crossfire setup.

Look at the PCIe speed. GPU-Z reports 8x @ rev 1.1, is it correct?

[hokiealumnus]

Honestly, I'm not sure and never noticed that. I hope not! It's a Rampage IV Extreme with one GPU in the first slot. That's running the latest UEFI (well, latest non-sub-zero UEFI 1005).

[flesheatinvirus]

Dam that is some scary numbers right there, this card is no joke. Nice work and I want your 3960.

[emertX]

Great review indeed...

[OC Nub]

Very nice!

I hope to grab one of these as soon as they are released.

Any chance of you running 3dm06? I know they are strongest in vantage and 3dm11 but I really like benching 06.

[hokiealumnus]

This SNB-E chip isn't very strong for 3D06 with a max of 5.1 on ambient cooling. With the GPU at 1125/1575 for the review (max CCC clocks) & 3960X @ 5.075 it scored 37735 marks.

[jaredpace]

Reserved for next 2 weeks. Great thread Hokiealumnus!

[hokiealumnus]

Thanks! Looking forward to your results.

Andre hasn't rested on his laurels and has improved 3DMark 11 X and E scores (P lost a couple hundred) as well as Heaven Xtreme.

[G.Foyle]

Testing clocks on air with 1.25 V, performance is weak because of FX-8120 @ stock clocks

[hokiealumnus]

Good GPU clocks, but that CPU needs to be given a talking to! I'm surprised the GPU score is so affected by platform. Guess that part is more CPU bound than I thought.

[Gaul]

def 7970

[nuttcase21]

geesh, your vantage score with one 7970 is better than mine is with 3 unlocked 6950's with a 980x. amazing...

[aussie-revhead]

Guys, what are you using to get past the 1125 CCC gpu clock limit? And can you unlock more voltage than the +20% in CCC?

I should add, mine is a Sapphire and I would like to avoid flashing it to an Asus if I can avoid it, at least until Im sure Im going to keep it ....

[Falkentyne]

Guys, what are you using to get past the 1125 CCC gpu clock limit? And can you unlock more voltage than the +20% in CCC?

I should add, mine is a Sapphire and I would like to avoid flashing it to an Asus if I can avoid it, at least until Im sure Im going to keep it ....

Remember your card has dual bios...if it bricks, all you have to do is switch to the backup bios, boot to ms dos disk with flasher, switch dip to primary after running the flasher, then flash. Zero risk. These cards don't boot loop, lol.

[G.Foyle]

Use ASUS GPU Tweak - you can pass 1125 on any brand card. You can't set voltage in CCC, that slider that goes +/- 20% is power limit for powertune. Set more to have it scale better with voltage and clocks (Powertune will throttle the GPU if it exceeds current limit)

[aussie-revhead]

Sweet, I will give it a shot. For comparison purposes with 2700K at stock and 7970 at stock it score P7599 in 3D11, 28800 3D06 and P30331 in Vantage, thats all stock just for a baseline. That 3D11 score is well above what a 580 scores stock and that vantage score isnt far from my PB in Vantage ... nice card indeed.

:P

[[XC] Oj101]

Could someone please PM me an unlocked BIOS for a reference design card?

[aussie-revhead]

The unlocked bios is in the Op isnt it?

Can someone run me through the steps of flashing the bios? I have a stick with Nvflash on it from playing with 580 bioses, can I put the AMD utility there too? Can I have more detailed instructions for bios recovery too?

Will an MCW80 fit the gpu die or is it oddly shaped (as a mate just told me)?

Cheers.

[Gaul]

3DMark Vantage - 44782

beat my 6990 OC

[hokiealumnus]

Guys, what are you using to get past the 1125 CCC gpu clock limit? And can you unlock more voltage than the +20% in CCC?

I should add, mine is a Sapphire and I would like to avoid flashing it to an Asus if I can avoid it, at least until Im sure Im going to keep it ....

Could someone please PM me an unlocked BIOS for a reference design card?

Both ASUS' GPU Tweak plus a BIOS that allows voltage control with it are in the OP.

[aussie-revhead]

Yep I have them now, so atiflash is safe to run in window command prompt? No need for dos bootable USB? Does that mean your obviously flashing the bios that isn't in use right? So you flash then switch over? Can atiflash save the original bios also? Does anyone know if an mcw80 might fit ? How are you guys finding mem overclocking? My scores seem to drop even with a small bump in mem clocks...

Cheers.

[hokiealumnus]

Correct, no DOS bootable; you run it from Windows. Run command prompt from the GPU Tweak folder (shift + right-click in Win7). Make sure the BIOS is in the same folder (copied from the package you downloaded) and run the command shown in the .jpg.

You do this with the BIOS you want to flash active, no switching over. The only time you use the backup BIOS is when you bork the original. This is an 'official' BIOS so you aren't flashing any potentially flawed settings (i.e. those you tried with a BIOS editor). Chances of borking it are slim, just don't do it with an unstable system.

No idea on the MCW80, sorry.

EDIT - FYI, there is a new version of TRIXX for Sapphire cards expected to be released on the 9th if you really don't want to flash. Our editors have a beta but we're not allowed to share that one, sorry. I haven't had the chance to use it yet.

[G.Foyle]

Trixx allows up to 1,3 V, and works on ASUS bios/cards

[[XC] Oj101]

It's not voltage I need, it's more speed. With the stock BIOS, the Asus utility can set pretty much any speed but 1126MHz+ doesn't actually get applied. Will that BIOS do it?