Asus 6950 DCII 2gb overclocking?

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kingfoot

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So I'm not new to overclocking processors but am to graphics.

The Goal;

To run my graphics at a core of 950 or near without a software layer ontop of Windows. (i.e. BIOS overclock)

The System;

- Windows 7 x64 Ultimate

- Asus Crosshair V formula motherboard

- AMD Phenom II x6, 1090t@3.2 Thuban
(Overclocked@3.8 24h stable with Prime95 1.45v)

- Corsair H60 cpu cooler with 2nd fan to improve the radiator to a push-pull system.
(adjusted fan speeds to be even for non restricted airflow, reached max 54c 100% load for 24h)

- 16gb G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600 9-9-9-24

- Asus Radeon HD 6950 DCII/2gb graphics
(with the 6970 rom flashed to the first switch)

- Corsair Gamer series 600w continuous PSU with Active PFC

- CoolerMaster HAF 922 case with 2x200mm fans one front intake one top out.

The current obstacle;

Using AMD Overdrive with the built in graphics manager to the catalyst suite, I can run the card at 890mhz stable (just playing BF3 or Skyrim for 8-10h straight is my test for that). But when I increase the clock in the BIOS (the 890mhz is achieved with default settings) to even 110 with auto voltage it will crash after 10-30m with a BSoD labeling the driver as the failure point.

In Conclusion;

I guess I just don't understand the correlation to potential core speed from the BIOS setting relationship.

Heat hasn't been an issue. Even at 890mhz It won't break 55c with the fans set manually to 30% (1200rpm for both fans) The noisiest thing in my computer is now the GFX which is great because it's barely audible up to 45%.


Anyone have any advice or tips or experience with this particular card? I believe my PSU, mobo, and airflow is decent enough to push this thing to its max safely.
 
Solution
Yeah you've got it, use software to test overclocks/stability, then when your confident make a backup of your cards BIOS, edit its values in RBE, then you'll need a memory stick or similar to flash the card (in DOS) obviously make sure you have a copy of the original BIOS just incase you need to flash back at any point.

Try overclocking the core first (rather than core and mem at the same time), stay with the stock voltage at first, then increase the core clock by 25Mhz, test for stability for 10 minutes, if its stable up the frequency by another 25Mhz, if its unstable increase the Vcore by 0.01V (I would stay under 1.25V for 24/7).

Repeat the above steps untill you hit a temp/voltage limit (whatever comes first).

I use Unigine...
You'll have to test stability with software inside of Windows before editing the cards BIOS and flashing it, otherwise you'll run the risk of having a expensive paperweight.

Use MSI Afterburner (unlock unofficial overclocking and voltage control) and see if you can get 950Mhz core stable.

If you need any help with BIOS editing or flashing let me know :)
 

kingfoot

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I've flashed it to run with the unlocked set of shaders as the 6970 for the added performance. Not much but the most for my money right? Is it safe to use AMD Overdrive to alter the voltage and speed while in system? Using something like futuremark graphics benching for stability testing? Ideally I would like to know the best method for BIOS overclocking as I'm not familiar with the standard PCI-E overclocking procedure. Only Processors where the math makes a little more immediate sense.
 
I don't think you can change the cards voltage in CCC can you?. I've always used MSI afterburner to overclock graphics cards. Its perfectly safe to overclock a graphics card in windows (providing you don't go crazy with the voltage and make sure the temps are in check).
If you want to edit the cards BIOS you'll need GPU-Z to grab a copy of the cards BIOS and RBE (Radeon BIOS Editor) to edit its values.

You can't overclock a PCI-E devices in the motherboards BIOS (well you can change the PCI-E lane frequency and voltage but it doesn't have the same effect as changing the graphics cards clocks).

All that changing the graphics cards BIOS will do is mean you wont have to run software to achieve an overclock.
 

kingfoot

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So would it be safe, now that I know I can flash successfully with RBE, to software alter until I'm happy with results and then just flash a modified binary to that spec?

How is the best way to go about slowly upping the parts and best way to go, what to change at what time. Not too familiar with the software but I'm looking at a more reliable stress tester for the GPU. Something as good as Prime95.
 
Yeah you've got it, use software to test overclocks/stability, then when your confident make a backup of your cards BIOS, edit its values in RBE, then you'll need a memory stick or similar to flash the card (in DOS) obviously make sure you have a copy of the original BIOS just incase you need to flash back at any point.

Try overclocking the core first (rather than core and mem at the same time), stay with the stock voltage at first, then increase the core clock by 25Mhz, test for stability for 10 minutes, if its stable up the frequency by another 25Mhz, if its unstable increase the Vcore by 0.01V (I would stay under 1.25V for 24/7).

Repeat the above steps untill you hit a temp/voltage limit (whatever comes first).

I use Unigine Heaven 2.5 for stability testing as I've found overclocks pass 3DMark11 and games, but fail on unigine.

Obviously test your final overclock for atleast a few hours prior to flashing.

Oh and I think the GPU will go into a different power state (set by the BIOS) when running more than one monitor, so yes more than monitor will increase heat
 
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kingfoot

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fantastic. Thank you for the advice! I'll report back. I feel confident because my card which was successfully flashed AND has the BIOS safety switch in case I do brick the one, I can just flip the switch and be back to stock.
 

Yeah that switch is awesome, takes alot of the stress away, happy overclocking.
 

kingfoot

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So just some prelims; got it running at 1.112v @925 with the memory at 5000. Seems to be doing fine. Crashed once but I hat my CPU up a half multi and at 3.9 it's not stable without upping volts and I'm not doing that yet. Left it on accident so fixing that and she's running much better. Thanks for your help! Gonna run these settings pretty hard for the next few days and if it stays solid I'll flash it.
 
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