Windows 7 - Help overclocking my 6970

i have verry good air flow in my case, the only problem, i dont know what a sefe, core clock, memore clock, and gpu voltage are. im using TriXX and have the current default settings of 880 core, 1375 memory, and 1175 gpu voltage. what is the absolute MAX i could get away with, what is the absolute MAX i could SAFELY get away with, what is the most recomended, and what should i start off with as a beginner to graphics cards overclocking

oh ya, forgot to mention, it is all air cooled! no water cooling

well, there's no actually absolute figures in getting away in Ocing, but an absolute safe should come on priority unless you lose a lifespam of stuff as it should be. In general speaking ocing, one amongst, is a matter of voltage which then affects directly to heat. So oc gpu is just like we do for CPU, only the resistance towards heat make them different.

From what i've read, the gpu could stand heat more than that of cpu. 60C gpu temp is catagorized warm while cpu is a bit hot, below 85C of gpu is still normal / safe zone, >85C to 100C hot and >100C very hot .

First to do is up the clock by 25 mhz and keep the voltage default, stress it with i,e furmark in a certain period. if ok, then up more 2nd 25 mhz and so on till you find it unstable. and if you want to push more clock, up the voltage per one increament till you find it stable. Always remember the temp which you can read while gpu's being stressed.

Have a good OC

Whatever is stable and for longevities sake of the card, try to keep it under 85c.



1.3v is the BIOS limit for these cards.

On air (stock cooling), 1.2v-1.25v (temps permitting) is about the max you'd want to go.

And follow peaceful's method of slow increments during stability testing.

thank you very much. thanks to trixx, whether or not its the best program to use, i dont know, but they provide me with them and fan controll, when i play bf3 i never let it go above 70 degrees and thats with my case fans down and gpu fan t 43%. i know for most thats still a bit cold, but i like consistancy to tell me if somthing is wrong.
Seeing as how i am new to this, what are the ratios? of core/memory/Voltage.

thats another thing, i didnt really see you post anything about the memory clock from what i see, just the core clock. if you could help ansewer my questions as best you can, id greatly appreciate it

Use CCC, the safest overclocker imo and its by amd you can have it test the clocks before setting them to see if they are safe and if you don't want to set clocks, CCC can automatically test your system and give you settings the program thinks are most stable for you card

my CCC does not have overdrive built in, i had to download it 3d party, but i dont trust it with my gpu, i have used it with my cpu before though. meany people say that it gives them the wrong performance settings at an unsafe level, id rather take some advice on how i can do it myself and see what the safe levels are my self or from people more experienced. arguably, amd is more experienced, but if its killed other peoples cards i dont exactly trust it myself iether

erm.. might i ask why you want to? up until a few weeks ago your card was one of the fastest single Gpu's around, only beaten by the 580gtx and the new 7970 (or what varients out now).

It would be a pointless achievement at best, you wont see improvements in game play as your already getting more than enough frames to spare. just my 2 cents well pence.. being a brit lol

It should. It's called AMD overdrive - you have to 'unlock' it.

If you're going to use 3rd party, use MSI Afterburner

As for clock speeds - each card is different. That's why you raise the core/mem clocks in increments.

Keep raising the core and mem speeds on stock volts until it fails, then you can up the volts. It's trial and error.

BS

By that 'reckoning' I wouldn't need to OC my 580, nor would I notice any difference by doing so - but I do OC it and I do notice a difference.

IF u like to get down and dirty ..with a screwdriver and some other tools u might wanna checkout what the gpu real~estate under that heatsink looks like after u have runed that OC for a while ... never hurts to replace the "stock thermal compound paste' {grease} with some new proper after market stuff or u can try and mix it yourself {lol be careful} ...should allso bring down the temps a couple of nothes...{AiR Cooled}