I own an Asus 7950 DCII Top with 900 mhz core and 1250 mhz memory stock speeds. I've been running this card for the past 5-6 months at 1080 core, 1500 mhz memory and the core voltage at 1150 mV. After tweaking around in the afterburner I realized that it can go much higher than that (I used gpu tweak until today which had a core voltage limit of 1150, afterburner has 1300) and that I could reach speeds like 1200 mhz on core or even more and 1700 mhz on memory without getting my hands too dirty but I had to raise the voltage to 1250 mV which is much more than what Gpu tweak (the recommended overclocking utility for my card) would let me go.
So, what is a safe core voltage I can run for everyday usage and long gaming sessions without having to worry that my card will melt soon after it's 3 year warranty expires (you still get warranty replacement if it's overclocked right ?
I've always tried to make a fan profile that will keep my card in the high 60's/low 70's, was I exaggerating or these are the temps I should be aiming ?
I have the Gigabyte Windforce 7950. The cool thing about these 7950's with the non-reference coolers is they can be overclocked quite a bit and yield some significant performance improvements, as I'm sure you've seen for yourself.
The stock clocks for my card are 1000mhz core and 1250 memory. The highest I've been able to push it using Overdrive in Catalyst Control Center is 1150mhz core and 1450mhz memory and with the power/voltage slider maxed. This gave a 10-15fps boost in BF4 beta which was really cool but not really noticeable as it was running at 50-60fps average at stock clocks anyways. I left the fan control set to auto as I felt it did a pretty good job on its own keeping temps in check. With this stable OC, the temps hovered around the high 60's and low 70's with the fan speed as high as 93%.
I still run my 7950 at stock clocks unless I'm running a more demanding game. Right now the only one I run the GPU OC'd is Crysis 3, which I run at 1080p and everything maxed except AA which I have turned down a bit. This allows me to run that game in the high 30's/low 40's fps during the most demanding parts of the game and at or close to 60fps (V-sync on) when it's less demanding.
Other than that one game, I've found no reason to run this card OC'd as it seems to run anything else I throw at it at 1080p and ultra, no problem at stock clocks.
When I tried to push my card a little further, even just another 25mhz on the core, it became unstable. I can't remember what the voltage was, but I can check later tonight.
After reading your post, I'm thinking my card still has a some more headroom yet. I wonder if the Overdrive settings in Catalyst Control Center are limiting how high this card can be pushed... I'll install Afterburner and see what I can do with that. Will report back with my findings.
I think it's totally safe to run a mild overclock, day to day, but I don't think it's necessary to run at a max overclocked state all the time, even if it seems stable. On my PC I set up two profiles with Overdrive. One is the default stock clocks, which I run with day to day and the other is the max stable OC settings, which I switch to when playing Crysis 3. Just a simple click to swap profiles. :)
Ok, the stock Windforce stats: 1000mhz core, 1250mhz memory and 1.25V.
Max stable OC through AMD Overdrive is 1150mhz core and 1450mhz memory, like I mentioned before, but even though I increased the "power control setting" slider as high as it goes, the voltage stays at 1.25V. Tweaked this a little more and found it runs a little more stable and a little cooler if I keep the power control setting at +15 instead of +20.
So cooperman, you are correct. ;)
I'm very happy with the performance of this card. Especially considering I only paid $169 CDN brand new. (Thank you NCIX!) It runs pretty much anything maxed at 1080p at stock clocks and provides a substantial boost in performance with the stable OC. Temps stay in check and I see no need to push it any harder. :)
To the OP, again, I would suggest setting up a couple different clock profiles. One at stock clocks for everyday safe operation and one maximum stable OC settings for a nice boost when playing games that demand a little more, rather than running it OC'd all the time.