Windows 7 - Help overclocking my 6970

Not always the Gpu that bottlenecks things

Have you tryed Oc'ing the Cpu instead of the Gpu that might be why it is dropping cpu can't keep up even though i have the same chip i have mine oc'ed to 4 Ghz

thank you very much. although, i will not be able to use 3d mark, it does not support 5760x1080, last time i ran it it screwed up my resolution horibly, had to restart without even seeing my score and then reset my drivers (not fun).

so if i understand you correctly, just start slowly lowering the core and increasing the ram. id like to play with the voltage a little also, im assuming the same rules apply as to CPU, only go up in .12-.25 increments.

You should be able to set a custom resolution, but it's been a while since since I had an Eyefinity setup but I don't recall if ran any of the 3D mark in Eyefinity.

Heaven supports it though.

For simplicities sake, stick with a single screen while initially testing.

Basically you're looking for for the 'wall' of both the core and memory separately. The point where it runs out of oomph and starts to misbehave. It doesn't matter which one you start with really, as long as one is stock and the other overclocked.

When you find the wall, you can focus on the other and finally test both together. By doing both together from the start as you've noticed, it's hard to pinpoint which is unstable.

And yes, the voltage rules apply to the GPU as well. You could go balls to the wall and start out maxed, but end up pumping more voltage than necessary. Doing it incremental gives you an better idea of what the card can do at any given clock speed.

You can even use profiles to allow for varying overclocks depending on game or task, so it doesn't have to run at full OC speed when it doesn't need to be.

You should be able to set a custom resolution, but it's been a while since since I had an Eyefinity setup but I don't recall if ran any of the 3D mark in Eyefinity.

Heaven supports it though.

For simplicities sake, stick with a single screen while initially testing.

Basically you're looking for for the 'wall' of both the core and memory separately. The point where it runs out of oomph and starts to misbehave. It doesn't matter which one you start with really, as long as one is stock and the other overclocked.

When you find the wall, you can focus on the other and finally test both together. By doing both together from the start as you've noticed, it's hard to pinpoint which is unstable.

And yes, the voltage rules apply to the GPU as well. You could go balls to the wall and start out maxed, but end up pumping more voltage than necessary. Doing it incremental gives you an better idea of what the card can do at any given clock speed.

You can even use profiles to allow for varying overclocks depending on game or task, so it doesn't have to run at full OC speed when it doesn't need to be.

which i find odd cuz i see people who OC WAY higher than i am with less than half the problems
when im not even clocked as high as some other people who run it just fine?

somthing im unaware of is running my ram up from 3.2gb, to 4.1, some times as much as 5gb

Is this screen tearing using Eyefinity? And does the screen tearing look like the top half of the screen is out of sync with the lower half?

It sounds like a V-Sync issue. V-Sync was permanently broken when I used to run Eyefinity, maybe it still is

Alternatively, do your monitors have a 'Game Mode' function, and if so, are they enabled? Game mode also introduces tearing.


The higher the clock speed, the 'smoother' it should be. Try lowering/disabling XAA (anti-aliasing). This has a big impact on both frame rate and VRAM usage, particularly in Eyefinty.

Also is your 6970 a 1GB or 2GB version?

Sounds like a possible memory leak. To attempt to try and find out what the culprit is:


Task Manager>Processes then select View>Select Columns... and tick Memory - Private Working Set and CPU Time

Attachment 197888

It might help show what process is hogging both the CPU and Memory.

Is this screen tearing using Eyefinity? And does the screen tearing look like the top half of the screen is out of sync with the lower half?

It sounds like a V-Sync issue. V-Sync was permanently broken when I used to run Eyefinity, maybe it still is

Alternatively, do your monitors have a 'Game Mode' function, and if so, are they enabled? Game mode also introduces tearing.


The higher the clock speed, the 'smoother' it should be. Try lowering/disabling XAA (anti-aliasing). This has a big impact on both frame rate and VRAM usage, particularly in Eyefinty.

Also is your 6970 a 1GB or 2GB version?

Sounds like a possible memory leak. To attempt to try and find out what the culprit is:


Task Manager>Processes then select View>Select Columns... and tick Memory - Private Working Set and CPU Time

Attachment 197888

It might help show what process is hogging both the CPU and Memory.

sounds like they havent done much with the V-Sync issue,

i looked it up, people are saying if it is using tri-buffer, leave it on, most games use quad-buffer though, so does that mean i should turn V-Sync off?

im using the 2gb sapphire BFBC2ed (you proly din' need to know that part about BFBC2, but special ed.s sometimes change specs here and there).

im finding this taring when i watch youtube videos also, especially vimeo, idk what the deal is with the whole, start-stop-start-stop issue with the video quality.

i have my sample quality at Super-sample AA so i dont get that choppy MW2/3 effect, leme know if i need to turn that down to adaptive multi sample or multi sample.

i have set the anisoropic filtering to 2, i was using application setting, dk how that was working out, leme know if you think i could get away with turning that up cuz on 2x it looks REALLY crappy.

im leaving my "standard 3d settings" at "use application settings" but am able to turn that off if you think it would be necessary.

back to the taring issue, the part i find really odd, is its not taring in the game, its taring er'y where else, the game is still running just fine besides the laggyness and the sudden frame rate drops

One thing to check would be to use the frame rate counter Fraps.

If V-Sync is set to ON in the app (forcing it in CCC never worked for me) and the framerate still jumps over 60fps and maxes out a 120fps, it's still broken.

In single screen mode it shouldn't shoot past 60FPS.

Leave triple buffering on. It only affects OpenGL and not DirectX (which 97% of games use).

Quad buffering is only used for 3D (HD3D, iZ3D)




The important part is that it's a 2GB model. 1GB models really struggle with Eyefinity.




You don't mean buffering do you? It loads a bit, plays - stops until it loads, plays, stops, loads, plays?

The tearing is another factor.





Just use the one you are most happy with performance/quality wise. MSAA probably has the biggest hit on performance.




lol, it certainly would

@ 1920x1080 the card can handle x16

In eyefinity, x4 or x8, even x16 depending on the game.

With Eyefinity there are usually a few sacrifices needed to attain smoothness.

Anti-Aliasing @x2 or even off. MLAA Off. AF x4-x8 SSAO (Ambient Occlusion low/off


I always found with CCC that the "use application settings" was best. For those options that aren't available in game, you can always attempt to override them in CCC.



Just to clarify, this is all happening using the Eyefinity setup/resolution?

►Have you tried single screen / breaking the eyfinity group to see if the tearing happens when the monitors are in extended mode instead?

►When did this tearing first start?
From the day you installed the card, overclocked the CPU or overclocked the GPU?

►If it only happened after overclocking the CPU, set it back to stock for now.

►What previous card did you have before the 6970?

It might be worth doing another driver uninstall/driversweep and re-installation if not already done so.

One thing to check would be to use the frame rate counter Fraps.

If V-Sync is set to ON in the app (forcing it in CCC never worked for me) and the framerate still jumps over 60fps and maxes out a 120fps, it's still broken.

In single screen mode it shouldn't shoot past 60FPS.

Leave triple buffering on. It only affects OpenGL and not DirectX (which 97% of games use).

Quad buffering is only used for 3D (HD3D, iZ3D)




The important part is that it's a 2GB model. 1GB models really struggle with Eyefinity.




You don't mean buffering do you? It loads a bit, plays - stops until it loads, plays, stops, loads, plays?

The tearing is another factor.





Just use the one you are most happy with performance/quality wise. MSAA probably has the biggest hit on performance.




lol, it certainly would

@ 1920x1080 the card can handle x16

In eyefinity, x4 or x8, even x16 depending on the game.

With Eyefinity there are usually a few sacrifices needed to attain smoothness.

Anti-Aliasing @x2 or even off. MLAA Off. AF x4-x8 SSAO (Ambient Occlusion low/off


I always found with CCC that the "use application settings" was best. For those options that aren't available in game, you can always attempt to override them in CCC.



Just to clarify, this is all happening using the Eyefinity setup/resolution?

►Have you tried single screen / breaking the eyfinity group to see if the tearing happens when the monitors are in extended mode instead?

►When did this tearing first start?
From the day you installed the card, overclocked the CPU or overclocked the GPU?

►If it only happened after overclocking the CPU, set it back to stock for now.

►What previous card did you have before the 6970?

It might be worth doing another driver uninstall/driversweep and re-installation if not already done so.