Catalyst 12.8 Gave me 40mh/s on my 7950

[Fiyasko]

Title says it all, I upgraded to Cat 12.8 from 12.6 and i gained a magical 40mh/s
Can anyone else confirm/deny? Im most certain it was because of the SDK

Edit:
Win7x64ultimate
CAT (now) 12.8
CGminer 2.8.3
XFX 7950 Ghost, Not Double D

Edit:
The jitter problem is fixed by dropping intensity from 6 to 5.
Suuuper weird since it would run at 10 without the sound skip jitter, It would just lag

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[Cablez]

Do you have a screeny?  Also what other software are you running? cgminer, bitminter etc.

It is highly questionable and most likely a glitch. I have been running 12.8 on my 7970s with normal hashing numbers.

[Fiyasko]

I used to get 510mh/s with intensity 10 core 1080
Now im hitting 549 with intensity 7 core 1054
http://imageshack.us/f/689/megahash.png/

Its apparently Not a glitch.. im happy
my 24/hr earning have just kept going down and down from difficulty, So i went "time to optimize cards for winter mining" and ended up going "oh hell, Why not try cat 12.8" and Poof, 40mh gain

[Saturn7]

My experience is that 12.8 is the buggiest version out there.

upgraded from 12.8 to 12.9 beta and went from 408mh to 432mh on a 6970 @ 970mhz.

Plus 12.8 would crash my system when i woke it up from screen saver mode while it was mining. 

[Cablez]

I used to get 510mh/s with intensity 10 core 1080
Now im hitting 549 with intensity 7 core 1054
http://imageshack.us/f/689/megahash.png/

Its apparently Not a glitch.. im happy
my 24/hr earning have just kept going down and down from difficulty, So i went "time to optimize cards for winter mining" and ended up going "oh hell, Why not try cat 12.8" and Poof, 40mh gain

Well if it keeps up then good on ya!    I should have watched closer when I upgraded.

[Fiyasko]

My experience is that 12.8 is the buggiest version out there.

upgraded from 12.8 to 12.9 beta and went from 408mh to 432mh on a 6970 @ 970mhz.

Plus 12.8 would crash my system when i woke it up from screen saver mode while it was mining. 

I can confirm on the "buggyness" of the drivers, My game AND sound lockup briefly, Jitter style with these new drivers when gaming, Im Rebooting right now to finish installing 12.9 (i dont know or care if rebooting is neccessary, But im doing it anyways)

[Fiyasko]

OOOoooKaaaayy, So help me out here, Only League of Legends is stuttering, with the 12.9 drivers, But when it does, Everything including sound locksup, My whole sound system goes STICK-continue, I've never had such a seemingly harsh stutter before, And yet mining while playing BF3 is totally smooth 50fps 140mh/s

[Saturn7]

OOOoooKaaaayy, So help me out here, Only League of Legends is stuttering, with the 12.9 drivers, But when it does, Everything including sound locksup, My whole sound system goes STICK-continue, I've never had such a seemingly harsh stutter before, And yet mining while playing BF3 is totally smooth 50fps 140mh/s

Does it still do that if you switch off mining?
Is your card overclocked?
Do you have crossfire?

Also do you have your Power control settings set to 20%+

[DobZombie]

The 7000 series is a pain in the arse for mining.  I really wish I'd only bought 5970s.

oh well.  when its too expensive to GPU mine, I'll just have to put em in my PC and play BF3 in super duper detail

[AndrewBUD]

12.8 gave me a lot of problems.... Mostly HD audio problems when trying to use the GPU on my LCD.

[DobZombie]

Install Sapphire Trixx and check "Disable ULPS"

then install MSI afterburner.  Make sure your clock speed is reading what its meant to 800/900/1000 or whatever.

reboot, and tell us what happens

[Fiyasko]

Im well aware of the ULPS bug every driver install i search the registry and set all "EnableULPS" to 0, And all the Crossfire issues, I have one single 7950
MSI? Yeah it's working just fine, Nothing weird or out of the ordinary, Did i mention that only Leage of Legends is Stuttering and skipping audio? And that BF3 Plays Perfectly?

Yes it's overclocked And rather gently to at that, I never touch the voltages, I drop the memory and raise the core (to a point where running intensity 13+a Furmark BURN IN test doesnt have any hiccups in the programming)
Changing the clocks to stock does nothing

I never touched the "power control setting" inside CCC because CCC sucks (or amd overdrive cataylst engine control center, Wtfever they named it)

Thankyou for helping!

[crazyates]

The 7000 series is a pain in the arse for mining.  I really wish I'd only bought 5970s.

oh well.  when its too expensive to GPU mine, I'll just have to put em in my PC and play BF3 in super duper detail

Orly? 620MH/s @ 160W and temps in the mid 50s? I don't remember my 5970s doing that.

[Badonkadonk]

how can u think the 7xxx series are a pain to mine with? u must be doing it wrong

1190/685 @1.45v doing 647mh @ 76c on 7950`s using 12.9 beta drivers..  

[Fiyasko]

how can u think the 7xxx series are a pain to mine with? u must be doing it wrong

1190/685 @1.45v doing 647mh @ 76c on 7950`s using 12.9 beta drivers..  

Gosh, You REALLY are tempting me to try and find my cards "ceiling" overclock...
What would be a good starting point for voltage increse if if my cards stock volt is 1.093v core 900, With 1070(90 if i do nothing but mine) being stable
I want my card to be nice and cozey, not having to worry about damage or lifetime reducing (beyond the expected from a non voltage change OC).

My plan was to just never increse the voltage, But im wondering if any harm is gonna come from me running it at 1.150v
And weather or not i'll gain stability at higher values, (such as game at 1100core while mining, i can do it at 1060)

[Badonkadonk]

how can u think the 7xxx series are a pain to mine with? u must be doing it wrong

1190/685 @1.45v doing 647mh @ 76c on 7950`s using 12.9 beta drivers..  

Gosh, You REALLY are tempting me to try and find my cards "ceiling" overclock...
What would be a good starting point for voltage increse if if my cards stock volt is 1.093v core 900, With 1070(90 if i do nothing but mine) being stable
I want my card to be nice and cozey, not having to worry about damage or lifetime reducing (beyond the expected from a non voltage change OC).

My plan was to just never increse the voltage, But im wondering if any harm is gonna come from me running it at 1.150v
And weather or not i'll gain stability at higher values, (such as game at 1100core while mining, i can do it at 1060)

hehehe, if your scared of frying your card then just start slow. the above statement of mine has a typo. the voltage i set is 1.145 not 1.45
there are loads of guides on how to overclock these cards.

when i was starting out i used http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/radeon_hd_7950_overclock_guide,2.html

if you have a closed case like me and more then 1 card in there i would recomend doing them 1 at a time ofc (can be selected in Afterburner settings) and see how the temp plays out on each one.
atm im running each rig with 2 cards. and the one thats closed in (meaning the fan is getting crappy airflow) is running lower clocks, the diff is about 10c.

if you only have 1 card in you can pretty safely pump up the voltage to 1.250 and set the core to 1200/625.. or just start with something a little lower,
i found that anything under 1095/685 can be run at stock voltage on my card, but all cards are different.. but like i said, the guide is pretty ez to follow

current settings for both my cards:
http://imageshack.us/f/197/mining.png/

[Fiyasko]

Well then... Really? 1.25 and 1200 is feasable?
My (crappy) case has two intake fans at the front (that i put in), Two side panel outtake fans (that i dremeled on) 1 large reat outtake, 1 PCI slot cooler atop the 7950
then 1psu fan, 1gpu fan, 1cpuLCUradiator fan

hoolllly craaaaap
I didnt touch that % thingy, But bringing the volt to 1.130v gets me to 1150 stable, Giving me 600+mh/s
Temperature hovers around 82-3° wich worries me a little since the fan spins at 86%ish instead of 70%

[Badonkadonk]

Well then... Really? 1.25 and 1200 is feasable?
My (crappy) case has two intake fans at the front (that i put in), Two side panel outtake fans (that i dremeled on) 1 large reat outtake, 1 PCI slot cooler atop the 7950
then 1psu fan, 1gpu fan, 1cpuLCUradiator fan

ye should be able to handle it. havent heard off to manny failing failing with those settings, worst case scenario is that u get a bluescreen and you reboot with normal settings...
but like i said, start off with lower clocks and voltages, play around with your limits til you feel more confident. as long as you dont go nuts with the voltages you should be pretty safe.

u can use a tool like gputool to check for artifacts and stability in general if you are unsure.
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1383/GPUTool_Community_Technology_Preview_1.html

edit: to be able to do some voltage tuning etc u need to:


To enable the unofficial overclocking in this version it is necessary to edit the MSIAfterburner.cfg file located in the installation directory of AfterBurner (typically Program Files (x86) MSI Afterburner):


You need to alter the following:
Seek UnofficialOverclockingEULA field and add following text:
I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it
Set UnofficialOverclockingMode to 1 to keep PowerPlay active (may not work on old ASICs), 2 to traditionally disable PowerPlay or to 0 to temporary disable unofficial overclocking path
Using the unofficial overclock method opens up more freedom in terms of voltages and clock ranges, it however also can open a can of worms in terms of stability or weird issues.

Unofficial means unsupported -- we grant some extra tweak options to fool around with, but in no way, manner or fashion is it supported by Guru3D.com or MSI.

[Fiyasko]

Thanks for all the info.
I've gone from 1.093 and 1060core upto 1.130mv 1150core and 800core
The fan runs at 84% with 81-83° temperature. instead of 70%fan and 77°, What kind of increse in lifespan deficenecy should i expect?
A year off the cards life?
I've boosted the core by another 90mhz and the voltage by .04mv

[Badonkadonk]

Thanks for all the info.
I've gone from 1.093 and 1060core upto 1.130mv 1150core and 800core
The fan runs at 84% with 81-83° temperature. instead of 70%fan and 77°, What kind of increse in lifespan deficenecy should i expect?
A year off the cards life?
I've boosted the core by another 90mhz and the voltage by .04mv

i would drop the memory clock all the way down to 685 to get the temp down even further

as for the lifespan i wouldnt worry so much about it, by the time it would ware out that much you would have gotten a new card.
you can always check the manufacturer for how long your warranty is, i know atleast the xfx black edition cards are lifetime,
and if a fan blows within 2 years all manufacturers will send u a replacement

besides, its allmost asics time, run your gpu to the ground