How to OC 6950 xfire?

[Brutality]

Okay so I was looking for something like this:

 

http://tech.icrontic.com/article/overclocking-the-radeon-hd-5850/

 

A simple step-by-step guide for overclocking my new 6950s

 

So my questions is:

Is the procedure the same for my 6950s? Just OC mem, and then OC the core?

Of course I gotta keep both cards at exact same settings - I picked that up in the search

But should I also use Furmark? I read somehwere someone saying AMD "throttles" the card, so best to avoid Furmark - Although I think this is just another false rumour about Furmark, but asking anyway

Should I bump the Power Control setting to +20% to start with? I think I read somehere it allows higher overclocks

 

 

BTW: I will not be overvolting the card and I am not going for bench-overclocking - I want to get a 24/7 OC

 

Also: What is the temp u wanna stay below for the 6950s? IIRC it was 89*C for the 5870

 

Cheers and thanks in advance - Brutality

Edited November 3, 2011 by Brutality

[Tjj226_Angel]

Well you can't do it in the BIOS with out a special mobo, but you can use MSI afterburner. It is a program that allows you to overclock the card with in windows. However it WILL void the warranty. There is no way around that. Not to mention as soon as you reboot the system you loose your overclock. It is a nice tool, but it is only meant for when you need a kick and not a permanent overclocking tool.

[Stonerboy779]

Try msi kombuster instead of furmark to stress test the overclocks.

 

Sorry can't help with max temps not sure. Just see how far you can go with stock voltages, change power plan to prefer max performance if such an option is available through ccc, then once you reach max kick things back a little.

[Brutality]

So, you're not suggesting overclocking graphics cards for 24/7?

If I misunderstood you - then can you please tell me the procedure for overclocking my 6950s? Should I just do like they did with the 5850s in that link, or do I need to follow a different procedure?

[Puck]

Trixx would probably be the easiest method, and it will OC both cards at once.

 

Disable the energy saving feature first since it can cause lockups, then push the memory until you reach its max, testing temperature and artifacts with the programs of your choice. When you find its max, drop it 10mhz or so then start pushing the core. Save it as a profile and set it to start with windows minimized and you are good to go.

 

No reason why you can't keep it OC'd 24/7 as long as your voltages and temps are in check.

[Stonerboy779]

What no I am saying try not to change the volts too much when overclocking if you can keep it stock or bump it up only a few mV because you really do notice the temp differences when upping volts. Higher temps and more stress on th VRMs will decrease the life of a gpu. As an idea when giving an extra 60mV to my gpu to get a 1025 core overclock I raised temps nearly 10C so I am hardly going to run that overclock but with only an extra 10mV to get a stable oc of 980 temps only increased about 2C with less stress on the VRMs.

 

When pushing for 24/7 overclock try to keep voltage as close to stock.

 

Considering you have 6950s have you looked to see if flashing to 6970 bios is an option?

 

Memory then core overclocking is the general way about things but first you pick you overclocking program I generally use afterburner and considering you have msi cards it should be a great choice but maybe trixx will be better for you idk haven't used it. Always remember to disable power saving/eco settings as they will hamper performance and likely cause instability.

 

Do as puck says push for a max and then drop back so you know it should be definitely stable and whichever program you use whether trixx or otherwise have your profile saved and the program set to boot minimized with windows.

[El_Capitan]

Disable the energy saving feature first since it can cause lockups

That means doing a regedit and going into each folder that has "EnableUlps" = 1 to = 0 (within all the folders 0000, 0001, 0002, etc.)

 

I use MSI Afterburner. Right-click the MSI Afterburner shortcut and Open File Location. Open the MSIAfterburner.config file and edit to have this:

 

[ATIADLHAL]

UnofficialOverclockingEULA = I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it

UnofficialOverclockingMode = 1

 

Then restart MSI Afterburner. Then apply these settings within it:

 

Restart MSI Afterburner again. Now you can start overclocking on it.

 

I suggest starting with Core Clock only and at default Core Voltage. Memory overclocks will differ depending on your Core Clock overclock. I do a quick pass of Cinebench 11.5 OpenGL test to make sure it's somewhat stable (only takes about a minute to run), except you have to exit out, adjust your overclock, and start it again for it to use your new overclock.

 

When you crash while running it, you know the setting before is what's stable. Then do a complete benchmark of Unigine Heaven v2.1 or v2.5 at default, but with Anisotropy 16 and Anti-Aliasing x8 at your highest resolution in fullscreen. If you crash or error out, drop your Core Clock by 10MHz and re-test and repeat until you get a full pass. Note: If you see a lot of flashing (usually Core Clock related) or grainy spots (usually Memory related), you overclocked too far.

 

After that, you can find your memory overclock. Just compare the benchmark score in Unigine Heaven. If it's higher, that's good. If you get a lower score than your higher score with lower memory overclock, that means you went too far.

[Brutality]

What no I am saying try not to change the volts too much when overclocking if you can keep it stock or bump it up only a few mV because you really do notice the temp differences when upping volts. Higher temps and more stress on th VRMs will decrease the life of a gpu. As an idea when giving an extra 60mV to my gpu to get a 1025 core overclock I raised temps nearly 10C so I am hardly going to run that overclock but with only an extra 10mV to get a stable oc of 980 temps only increased about 2C with less stress on the VRMs.

 

When pushing for 24/7 overclock try to keep voltage as close to stock.

 

Considering you have 6950s have you looked to see if flashing to 6970 bios is an option?

 

Memory then core overclocking is the general way about things but first you pick you overclocking program I generally use afterburner and considering you have msi cards it should be a great choice but maybe trixx will be better for you idk haven't used it. Always remember to disable power saving/eco settings as they will hamper performance and likely cause instability.

 

Do as puck says push for a max and then drop back so you know it should be definitely stable and whichever program you use whether trixx or otherwise have your profile saved and the program set to boot minimized with windows.

 

They're both XFX

 

And I don't feel comfortable flashing BIOS, I'd rather just overclock it

Sorry for misunderstanding you, I read your post at 5:30am and was über tired, but on the other hand - How can I go sleep when I've just received my new 6950s

 

Thanks alot for your advice guys - just what I needed and I knew I could get it here at OCC <3

 

EDIT: Argh ElCapitan, now I don't know which method to use

mem->core

or

core->mem

:S

 

EDIT2: What dd you guys think about Furmark and "AMD throttling"?

Edited November 3, 2011 by Brutality

[t0asty]

When I OC'ed my xfire 6950's (both flashed, and stock), along with every other video card I have had... you run furmark (or any gpu stress test) at fullscreen and slowly bump your memory up little by little, waiting a few minutes between each increase. Do this until your display drivers crash, then back down 10mhz or so until stable. I've heard put the memory back down to stock, then OC your core the same way. Then after you find your max core OC, put your memory back up and run the stress test for a while to make completely sure there are no artifacts. I always kept my memory at the stable OC, then bumped up core.

[Brutality]

When I OC'ed my xfire 6950's (both flashed, and stock), along with every other video card I have had... you run furmark (or any gpu stress test) at fullscreen and slowly bump your memory up little by little, waiting a few minutes between each increase. Do this until your display drivers crash, then back down 10mhz or so until stable. I've heard put the memory back down to stock, then OC your core the same way. Then after you find your max core OC, put your memory back up and run the stress test for a while to make completely sure there are no artifacts. I always kept my memory at the stable OC, then bumped up core.

 

Yeah I think I'll go that way too

 

But don't worry ElCapitan without you I wouldn't know how to disable the power saving stuff so thanks alot to you too mate!

[Brutality]

Should I use Furmark 1.9.1 or 1.8.5?

 

And what settings should I use? so far I picked up I need to use fullscreen to make crossfire work (and possibly change filename of Furmark, to activate a cf profile, but I haven't gotten that far yet)

Any specific resolution? what about AA?

and why are there so many options?! >_<

I wish there was just a button called Furmark and then boom, you're stress testing!

Edited November 3, 2011 by Brutality

[El_Capitan]

Imo you shouldn't use Furmark at all.