Overclocking my ATI 7950 Video Card

[StormseekerV]

Hello,

Guess I should let the community know what I'm trying to do.

My main goal is to OC my system to a reasonable level where it could be used for a prolongued period of time. I've already OCed my CPU (I5-3570K) to 4.2GHZ in my Bios (42x100).

The part which seems to be giving me trouble is Ocing my Video Card. I have a 7950 MSI Frozn 3 which I am currently using Afterburner to OC it. I manage to get my 3Dmark 2011 graphic score from 7400 to 8150 but I can't seem to get it higher. My Core Clock speeds have been changed from 880mhz to 1000mhz and the memory clock speed is changed from 1250mhz to 1325mhz. But when I try to increase it any further, it causes my CPU score to go lower or even the GPU score to go lower. I tried increasing the voltage slightly higher to see if it needed more power but no difference.

Can anyone give me tips on how to achieve a higher score. I know i've heard of some peopel hitting the 9100 score with their 7950. If I could get to even close to that score I would be happy.

Current HW setup:
CPU: I5-3570k
CPU Fan: Noctua nh-d14
Mobo: Gigabyte ga-z77x-ud5h
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3 1866
Video Card: MSI 7950 Frozn 3
SDD: 128GB OCZ Vertex 2
HDD: 4x2TB Seagate Barracuda Green in Raid 1 (Mirrored)
Power Supply: CORSAIR TX850 --- 850Watt psu


Thanks for any suggestion people may have.

 

[Z1NONLY]

Don't overclock memory and core clock at the same time. Try nailing down your max core clock before you touch the memory clock.

 

[StormseekerV]

Thanks for the tip but the more I look at it, the more I think my PSU might be limiting my overclocking. Every time I need to increase the voltage even slightly, something goes wrong.

 

[Z1NONLY]

TX 850 is a tank. It should have no problem powering your system and your neighbor's system at the same time.

This was Nvidia cards and may have nothing to do with your particular card, but MSI has been caught playing with voltages to improve the performance of their cards "out of the box".

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/MSI-GTX-660-670-overvolting-PowerEdition,18013.html


Your voltage situation may have been near the limit in stock form.

 

[StormseekerV]

Interesting article.

Any way I can check the amount of voltage my card is using and how taxed my PSU is in regards to voltage and the such?

I just want to make sure Voltage isn't really an issue.

If it's not, I'll move on to the next logical step and keep evaluating why I can't seem to OC this card anymore then I do right now.

thanks