Gigabyte 7970 Ghz Edition is bad - What's good?

ernie-

sr. member

Activity: 252

Merit: 250

Quote from: crazyates on June 20, 2013, 12:58:07 AM

Quote from: erk on June 19, 2013, 08:04:24 PM

One thing people might not have noticed about the GHz cards, is if you reduce the engine clock down to 1000Mhz, the firmware will reduce the core voltage down from 1.256v to 1.2volts. That may help some people with cooling problems.

Ya I was just mapping the defaults out this past week, and here's what I got:

0.85V is anything 450MHz and below
0.90V is 451-600MHz
0.95V is 601-700MHz
1.20V is 701-1000MHz
1.256V is anything 1001MHz and above

I'm running it at 700/550/0.95V cuz I'm sick of the fan noise/heat in my bedroom, and it's almost the same profit (after deducting electric costs). Now obviously if I use MSI AB I can force a voltage, and find a higher clock stable at each setting. For example, my card is stable at 900MHz @ 950mV, which is 200MHz higher than the default 0.95V settings (or 0.25V lower than the default settings for 900MHz, depending on how you're looking at it).

Is there any BIOS for the card that can give you voltages between 0.95V and 1.2V? Seems quite a gap.

erk

hero member

Activity: 826

Merit: 500

Quote from: crazyates on June 20, 2013, 12:58:07 AM

Quote from: erk on June 19, 2013, 08:04:24 PM

One thing people might not have noticed about the GHz cards, is if you reduce the engine clock down to 1000Mhz, the firmware will reduce the core voltage down from 1.256v to 1.2volts. That may help some people with cooling problems.

Ya I was just mapping the defaults out this past week, and here's what I got:

0.85V is anything 450MHz and below
0.90V is 451-600MHz
0.95V is 601-700MHz
1.20V is 701-1000MHz
1.256V is anything 1001MHz and above

I'm running it at 700/550/0.95V cuz I'm sick of the fan noise/heat in my bedroom, and it's almost the same profit (after deducting electric costs). Now obviously if I use MSI AB I can force a voltage, and find a higher clock stable at each setting. For example, my card is stable at 900MHz @ 950mV, which is 200MHz higher than the default 0.95V settings (or 0.25V lower than the default settings for 900MHz, depending on how you're looking at it).

l also found that running at 700/0.95v knocks off over 100watts from the power consumption, obviously reducing the hash rate, but improving the rig efficiency/profit. Reduced temp from 76C to 56C,

Under-clocking ftw, though it would be nice to have firmware with a few more options between 0.95v - 1.20v

Even with the heavy under clock the card is still doing 500kH/s on scrypt, but the system is pulling 220watts vs 360watt when the 7970 was on defaults. at 24cents per kWh, that's significant.

Spendulus

legendary

Activity: 2898

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Quote from: MisterMelancholy on April 19, 2013, 12:28:53 AM

.....I sold off the Bitcoins I bought when the prices were low, and have just over $425 to put towards a 3rd card for my rig.
I've got an extra 550 watts on my PSU, so I don't think I have any real limitations other than temperature or money.

At the current prices, something like 0.55btc each, you could buy 7+ USB erupter miners and a 3-4A d07 usb expander. See current sale under "mining, group buys, "Canary in the Mine"

Then run btgminer under w7 or linux.

Your USB would contribute to hash rate 7*333 >= 2200 mH.

That is four times the hash rate for the price of one card. And yes, you can run the GPU and the USB miners at the same time.

Your two GPU would add 1100 giving you 3300 mH.

silicont

member

Activity: 87

Merit: 10

I can get it done with MSI Afterburner, but it's unstable and requires much babysitting. I just couldn't get it to stick, so I said F' it.

hammurabi

full member

Activity: 223

Merit: 100

Does anybody managed to undervolt GV-R7970TO-3GD rev: 2.1 ?

The card has stock voltage locked at 1.256V.
I wonder if it is possible to decrease that number to let say 1.09V.

When engine/memory are underclocked the card allows to set 1.2v, but nothing less than that.

relm9

hero member

Activity: 840

Merit: 1000

Quote from: crazyates on June 20, 2013, 12:58:07 AM

Quote from: erk on June 19, 2013, 08:04:24 PM

One thing people might not have noticed about the GHz cards, is if you reduce the engine clock down to 1000Mhz, the firmware will reduce the core voltage down from 1.256v to 1.2volts. That may help some people with cooling problems.

Ya I was just mapping the defaults out this past week, and here's what I got:

0.85V is anything 450MHz and below
0.90V is 451-600MHz
0.95V is 601-700MHz
1.20V is 701-1000MHz
1.256V is anything 1001MHz and above

I'm running it at 700/550/0.95V cuz I'm sick of the fan noise/heat in my bedroom, and it's almost the same profit (after deducting electric costs). Now obviously if I use MSI AB I can force a voltage, and find a higher clock stable at each setting. For example, my card is stable at 900MHz @ 950mV, which is 200MHz higher than the default 0.95V settings (or 0.25V lower than the default settings for 900MHz, depending on how you're looking at it).

Yeah, if you can undervolt, it's well worth it. My 7990 (essentially 2x7970) does 950 MHz/700MHz at 1.00v. From the stock voltage of 1.17v that's a huge difference, brings temps down by 10C.

crazyates

legendary

Activity: 952

Merit: 1000

Quote from: erk on June 19, 2013, 08:04:24 PM

One thing people might not have noticed about the GHz cards, is if you reduce the engine clock down to 1000Mhz, the firmware will reduce the core voltage down from 1.256v to 1.2volts. That may help some people with cooling problems.

Ya I was just mapping the defaults out this past week, and here's what I got:

0.85V is anything 450MHz and below
0.90V is 451-600MHz
0.95V is 601-700MHz
1.20V is 701-1000MHz
1.256V is anything 1001MHz and above

I'm running it at 700/550/0.95V cuz I'm sick of the fan noise/heat in my bedroom, and it's almost the same profit (after deducting electric costs). Now obviously if I use MSI AB I can force a voltage, and find a higher clock stable at each setting. For example, my card is stable at 900MHz @ 950mV, which is 200MHz higher than the default 0.95V settings (or 0.25V lower than the default settings for 900MHz, depending on how you're looking at it).

erk

hero member

Activity: 826

Merit: 500

One thing people might not have noticed about the GHz cards, is if you reduce the engine clock down to 1000Mhz, the firmware will reduce the core voltage down from 1.256v to 1.2volts. That may help some people with cooling problems.

chadtn

sr. member

Activity: 672

Merit: 250

I'm currently running two gigabyte 7970 Ghz cards. I've seen it posted a few times that they will pull 1400 watts. I ran mine for about two weeks with a 660 watt Seasonic power supply in a open case. The top card would run hot and start thermal throttling at around 90 degrees. The bottom card ran mid 80's.

I ended up buying a new case and power supply before over clocking the cards. With a lot of tweaking I now have the top card running at 1160/750 and hashing an average of 700M/s at 78 degrees during the hottest part of the day. At night it runs about 73-74 degrees. The bottom card runs at 1210/750 and hashes an average of 730 to 740M/s while running 71 at the hottest part of the day.. At night the bottom card runs around 67-68.

I've had this setup hashing 24/7 for more than a month now. I lower the intensity on the top card when I play games, but it still does about 650M/s while gaming. I mine BBQcoins with the CPU for fun when I'm not using it. Does about 30k/s without affecting my gpu's. heh..

Afterburner won't let me turn the memory down any lower. I've read if I close the program and reopen it that you can lower it some more, but that hasn't worked for me. How did you guys turn it down lower?

Chad

silicont

member

Activity: 87

Merit: 10

I use cgminer, which keeps the temps down, so I don't think the two of five cards of mine failed due to heat. They are not GHZ versions. I still have two more that are working just fine, and one that has to be babied to minimize HW errors. Pretty bad stats: 2/5 toast.

cooler-persistence

newbie

Activity: 26

Merit: 0

Quote from: FamousJaxx on June 18, 2013, 09:29:49 PM

I have two 7970's - one GHz edition and one normal edition. Running them both on high I have no issue keeping temps under 80 degrees. I would highly recommend you look at getting some more airflow into your case. I actually modded my Bitfenix Shenobi to allow me to mount a 23cm fan directly blowing air onto the cards.

+1

I also Have one of each, they need light airflow or yes they overheat. I have a 180mm AP182, excellent fan and overkill but works well.

BlazinBeaches

member

Activity: 98

Merit: 10

Sapphire OC 7970s @ 1090/1500 in Win8x64 12.6 drivers with sdk2.8 gets me 760's per card using scrypt. They are also voltage unlocked.

Joori

full member

Activity: 192

Merit: 100

Just an average guy with an average job!

I have 2 x Gigabyte 7970 Ghz Editions 1100/1500. These cards demand excellent airflow otherwise you'll have stupid temps as did I in the beginning 99C+ !!! They're a great card and clock very well despite being voltage locked :\

My setup: http://imgur.com/eWclj9s

My stats: http://imgur.com/ceKzyov

FamousJaxx

newbie

Activity: 9

Merit: 0

I have two 7970's - one GHz edition and one normal edition. Running them both on high I have no issue keeping temps under 80 degrees. I would highly recommend you look at getting some more airflow into your case. I actually modded my Bitfenix Shenobi to allow me to mount a 23cm fan directly blowing air onto the cards.

crazyates

legendary

Activity: 952

Merit: 1000

Quote from: erk on June 18, 2013, 06:30:26 PM

Quote from: crazyates on June 18, 2013, 05:44:39 PM

Come on now. I've had a Gigabyte running at 1200 MHz for over a year now. No major issues.

It's probably not the GHz edition then.

It is the GHz edition. Stock OC of 1100MHz?

Quote from: rovchris on June 18, 2013, 07:31:32 PM

Buddy 1 card - you may have been lucky and actually had one that works - Plus when you have multiple in one machine is when you will really see how bad they are.

I've heard of plenty of people using these cards with no issues. With the exception of typically low scrypt performance, they're not bad.

GuiltySpark343

member

Activity: 98

Merit: 10

FWIW I am not a fanboy. I used to use XFX back when they had double-lifetime warranties. But for my mining rigs I went with two systems, each with 3 Gigabyte 7970s, the GV-R797OC-3GD model. I haven't tried to push them too far, but I have gotten about 700 kh/s scrypt, and 620 MH/s SHA256. They are voltage locked unfortunately, but I can OC memory for scrypt, and UC memory for SHA256 while OC'ing the core just fine.

They are in a milk carton open air case with 250mm fans blowing at them, and they run around 65C with 24C ambient temps.

rovchris

full member

Activity: 238

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Quote from: crazyates on June 18, 2013, 05:44:39 PM

Come on now. I've had a Gigabyte running at 1200 MHz for over a year now. No major issues.

Buddy 1 card - you may have been lucky and actually had one that works - Plus when you have multiple in one machine is when you will really see how bad they are.

dben428

member

Activity: 106

Merit: 10

The GHz edition is the better ($50 more) version. The cheaper version is the one that is voltage locked.

erk

hero member

Activity: 826

Merit: 500

Quote from: crazyates on June 18, 2013, 05:44:39 PM

Come on now. I've had a Gigabyte running at 1200 MHz for over a year now. No major issues.

It's probably not the GHz edition then.

crazyates

legendary

Activity: 952

Merit: 1000

Come on now. I've had a Gigabyte running at 1200 MHz for over a year now. No major issues.

Topic: Gigabyte 7970 Ghz Edition is bad - What's good? (Read 11998 times)