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Sapphire HD 7950 OC Problems

Tags:
  • Overclocking
  • HD
  • Benchmark
  • Sapphire
  • FPS
Last response: in Overclocking
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May 7, 2013 5:30:56 PM

I just installed my new Sapphire HD 7950 w/ boost. When I ran benchmarks (valley benchmark 1.0 and the benchmark in Tomb Raider) the results were much better than the 6870 I replaced. I decided to try out Trixx to overclock my new card, for some reason (in both benchmark programs) when I increased the GPU and Memory clock speeds the results were actually worse than stock settings (925/1250).

For Valley Benchmark 1.0 at 925/1250:
Score: 1437
FPS: 34.3
Min FPS: 17.1
Max FPS: 67.9

For Valley Benchmark 1.0 at 1075/1450
Score: 908
FPS: 21.7
Min FPS: 11.4
Max FPS: 39.7

I have no clue what I'm doing wrong. Right now I have CCC installed as well, but use Trixx for the OC'ing. With my old 6870 I only used CCC to OC since it wasn't a sapphire card... Any ideas? Thanks!

More about : sapphire 7950 problems

Best solution

May 7, 2013 5:41:06 PM

On the overclocking tab in Trixx scroll down and make sure that you set the board power li slider to 20. This should solve your issue.
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May 7, 2013 5:50:12 PM

DPCLEV said:
On the overclocking tab in Trixx scroll down and make sure that you set the board power li slider to 20. This should solve your issue.


Awesome, that worked great! Ran it at 1100/1500 on Valley Benchmark 1.0
Score: 1799
FPS: 43.0
Min: 20.5
Max: 83.8

What exactly did moving that to 20 do? Also, what is an unsafe temp? I hit 80... ordered some new fans the other day but they haven't arrived yet. Thanks again man!
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May 7, 2013 6:02:16 PM

It's board power limit and it refers to AMD's powertune technology which you can use to determine the maximum amount of power the graphics card can draw.

As far as the temps go, 80c is getting pretty high. Try using gpuz to monitor temps while actually playing games, if if continues to reach 80c I would back off your overclock until you can get some better cooling. Also make sure to monitor your VRM temps as well. I would try to keep the temps right around 70c or below if possible.
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a b K Overclocking
May 7, 2013 6:07:27 PM

80 is high but safe. trick is it will be heating the inside of your case pretty effectively at that temp.

you aren't in the danger zone till you get into the 90s
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May 7, 2013 6:23:36 PM

DPCLEV said:
It's board power limit and it refers to AMD's powertune technology which you can use to determine the maximum amount of power the graphics card can draw.

As far as the temps go, 80c is getting pretty high. Try using gpuz to monitor temps while actually playing games, if if continues to reach 80c I would back off your overclock until you can get some better cooling. Also make sure to monitor your VRM temps as well. I would try to keep the temps right around 70c or below if possible.


Yeah, I think I'm going to leave the GPU clocks at stock speed when playing most of the games I was playing with my 6870. Will switch to the OC profile when I want to play Tomb Raider or Bioshock Infinite on max settings. How do I figure out the VRM temps? I didn't see them on Trixx or the screenshot for gpuz. Thanks for all the help

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May 7, 2013 6:32:34 PM

Its on the sensors tab in gpuz, just scroll down to the bottom.
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May 8, 2013 3:07:10 PM

DPCLEV said:
Its on the sensors tab in gpuz, just scroll down to the bottom.


So I downloaded gpuz and was able to monitor that temp as well. Just played my first game today (Fifa 13) which always ran perfectly with my 6870, but for some reason the frame rate would drop really low every now and then with the new card. Tried closing down gpuz and trixx thinking maybe running those in the background was slowing it, but didn't change. Went to the OC profile to see if that made a difference, nope... Driver issue? Any idea?
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May 8, 2013 3:22:29 PM

Quick question, do you let your pc go into sleep mode?
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a b K Overclocking
May 8, 2013 3:55:58 PM

Halewafa said:
DPCLEV said:
Its on the sensors tab in gpuz, just scroll down to the bottom.


So I downloaded gpuz and was able to monitor that temp as well. Just played my first game today (Fifa 13) which always ran perfectly with my 6870, but for some reason the frame rate would drop really low every now and then with the new card. Tried closing down gpuz and trixx thinking maybe running those in the background was slowing it, but didn't change. Went to the OC profile to see if that made a difference, nope... Driver issue? Any idea?


sounds like it's throttling back because of temps.
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May 8, 2013 4:06:40 PM

ingtar33 said:
Halewafa said:
DPCLEV said:
Its on the sensors tab in gpuz, just scroll down to the bottom.


So I downloaded gpuz and was able to monitor that temp as well. Just played my first game today (Fifa 13) which always ran perfectly with my 6870, but for some reason the frame rate would drop really low every now and then with the new card. Tried closing down gpuz and trixx thinking maybe running those in the background was slowing it, but didn't change. Went to the OC profile to see if that made a difference, nope... Driver issue? Any idea?


sounds like it's throttling back because of temps.


I was watching the temps during fifa and they never went above 57.. Just played a game of LoL and everything ran fine. I'll try a different game as well and see if maybe its just Fifa acting weird
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a b K Overclocking
May 8, 2013 4:11:08 PM

how are your cpu temps? (what cpu is it?)
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May 8, 2013 5:00:17 PM

ingtar33 said:
how are your cpu temps? (what cpu is it?)


Now quite sure how to check my CPU temps... I have an i7 2600 3.4 ghz, should that be good enough for the card?
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a b K Overclocking
May 8, 2013 5:03:59 PM

Halewafa said:
ingtar33 said:
how are your cpu temps? (what cpu is it?)


Now quite sure how to check my CPU temps... I have an i7 2600 3.4 ghz, should that be good enough for the card?


the cpu is fine for the card. HWMonitor should tell you the temps. http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html
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May 9, 2013 3:57:43 PM

ingtar33 said:
Halewafa said:
ingtar33 said:
how are your cpu temps? (what cpu is it?)


Now quite sure how to check my CPU temps... I have an i7 2600 3.4 ghz, should that be good enough for the card?


the cpu is fine for the card. HWMonitor should tell you the temps. http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html


Thanks for the info. I haven't downloaded that yet, but I was doing some research online and apparently Catalyst drivers 13.x cause problems with Fifa 13. My older Catalyst version before getting the new card was 12.x, I'm guessing this is the problem. I haven't played anything else other than LoL to test this, but after my final exam tomorrow I'll give bioshock a run and see if I notice any stuttering
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May 11, 2013 8:37:59 PM

Alright, so I've decided its just a driver issue with Fifa 13. I played Far Cry Blood Dragon today and there was no stuttering. I was a little concerned about the temperatures though. When playing Blood Dragon without it being OC'd it stayed in the low 70s, when I played for about 45 minutes with it OC'd to 1125/1525 the temp stayed at 81-82 for the most part. I was reading that these cards run a little hot and that these temperatures are normal, is that true? Should I be concerned about the card staying at those temps? I stopped playing when I saw it staying around that temp since I was worried it would damage the card. As I type this my card is staying around 44 degrees (not OC'd), some reviews I saw had their idle temps around 31, I have no clue how they get it that low! When its OC'd (1125/1525) at idle it stays around 50
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May 11, 2013 8:48:20 PM

DPCLEV said:
Quick question, do you let your pc go into sleep mode?


Sorry, I must have missed this question. No I do not let my computer go into sleep mode.... should I? I'm on it for most of the day studying, then turn it off at night. I leave it off when I go to school as well, its only ever on when I'm actually using it
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May 12, 2013 2:47:53 PM

Alright, got another update. I did an uninstall of Catalyst 13.4, used driver sweeper as well (didn't do that last time). I now installed Catalyst 13.5 Beta 2 and just ran Fifa 13, the stuttering is gone!!! :D  Not sure if it was from using Driver Sweeper this time or the new 13.5 beta 2 version. Either way my problem has resolved :D 
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