Optimizing ATI performance, 6950 in particular

[haydent]

it saved me quite some Watts, though.

good point, i never thought of that angle, ill try the beta and get back to you.

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[haydent]

yes so it keeps the power tune option as mentioned. i can run 920mhz so long as im not doing much else with my pc, but once a change it to -f60 from -f0 and open my firefox and thunderbird at the same time it crashes. so im trying to find a stable -f60 clock that i can work without crashing, and 915mhz is going well so far.

heres 410Mhs @ 920mhz

[onis_uk]

Right my update on the sapphire hd 6950 2gb (non reference model)

i just cant seem to flash it. it has the bios switch and i have saved the original bios, run the scripts to mod it for the extra shaders ...but nothing !
if i flash it back to the card after the flash then it wont boot ........ ( (lucky it has a dual bios !!!lol )
 ive tried atiwinflash and atiflash, in command prompt both in windows and via dos !

i used the line atiflash -f -p 0 mod.bin

its flashes and then... nothing just a black screen !

i also cant overclock it more than 840mhz, its all afterburner will go to! the memory clock wont change even if i change it in CCC or after burner
its always 1250 mhz !!!!!!! gurrrr i have also changed the afterburner config file ........

what else can i try to help this card oc a bit ?!??!?!?

cheers Onis

[nebiki]

i also cant overclock it more than 840mhz, its all afterburner will go to! the memory clock wont change even if i change it in CCC or after burner
its always 1250 mhz !!!!!!! gurrrr i have also changed the afterburner config file ........

what else can i try to help this card oc a bit ?!??!?!?

msi afterburner doesn't support overclocking beyond the limit without editing the MSIAfterburner.cfg.

Code:

[ATIADLHAL]
UnofficialOverclockingEULA = I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it
UnofficialOverclockingMode = 2

mode 2 enables everything, including using 20% with CCC, you need the new beta version, though. -> http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=346506

[onis_uk]

ah ok i had the beta but not in control mode 2 ! this works but still not voltage control ! (even if its checked in the settings)
sapphire trixx works though !

[haydent]

i just cant seem to flash it. it has the bios switch and i have saved the original bios, run the scripts to mod it for the extra shaders ...but nothing !
if i flash it back to the card after the flash then it wont boot ........ ( (lucky it has a dual bios !!!lol )

are you making your original backup bios with gpuz ?

[nebiki]

ah ok i had the beta but not in control mode 2 ! this works but still not voltage control ! (even if its checked in the settings)
sapphire trixx works though !

idk, if i use only my amd card, i can change the voltage, but once i set up my two cards, i can't change the voltage on the amd card, either. it's still possible to change the voltage on my 2nd card, a nvidia, though. seems weird, maybe you find a way to figure it out.

you won't need more than 1.1V to get to around 920MHz, in fact i thing it's less productive. there's a reason why the gpu gets 1.1V at default clock. it's probably where the least leakage flows occur. i've tweaked my settings quite a bit, running on 407Mhash/s at 920MHz core and 310MHz memory now. still at 1.1V, 240W total system power consumption.

[onis_uk]

are you making your original backup bios with gpuz ?

I have been ! why should i not have ?! cheers onis

[haydent]

yes that is correct . just checking. im not sure what your problem is and it is lucky you do a have a backup bios. maybe you just are unlucky however with your card. im not sure if peeps have 100% success rate with these procedures. i cant think of anything more to suggest, maybe someone else can.

[naypalm]

XFX Radeon HD6950 1Gb link
poclbm miner (Win XP Pro SP3 32-bit)
OC'ed @ 890Mhz GPU (default 800Mhz)
650Mhz Memory (default 1250Mhz)
100% fan @ 75C
75% fan @ 80C
Flags: -v -w128 -f30
No crossfire enabled/connected
~350Mhps per card

[film2240]

I have successfully unlocked shaders on my GPU with ATIWinflash.

Now I get 361MHash/s with the following settings:
1.Shaders unlocked
2.Overclocked to 840MHz (core clock) and 1260MHz (mem clock) currently
3.Use paramenters in GUIminer:-v -w128 -f2
I think

I used to only get 332MHash/s with same overclocking and parameters but without unlocked shaders.My GPU is a Sapphire Radeon HD6950.It is a reference card.

Word of advice:When using ATIWinflash,win 7 may temporarily freeze for less than a second or 2 but the system is quickly responsive after this,it then said that flashing was successfull then it asks me to restart computer for chances to take affect.

How to get above 400MHash/s on that card?
What parameters in GUIminer?
what clock speeds?
or anything else (like switch off Aero in win 7 to reduce GPU overhead maybe)?

Thank you

[mattpker]

MSI 6950 2GB with unlocked shadders.

Getting 395Mhash/s with the newest GUIminer (http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?board=42.0) and the preview 11.7 ATI Drivers (http://developer.amd.com/Downloads/110619a-121104E.zip).

With ATI Tray Tools (http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=733):

Core: 895
Memory: 300
Volt: 1100
Fan: 70%
Mining Flags: -v -w128

With the memory at 300 I get a significant drop in core temp, both my cards run around 59 - 61 degrees Celsius.

[nebiki]

How to get above 400MHash/s on that card?
What parameters in GUIminer?
what clock speeds?
or anything else (like switch off Aero in win 7 to reduce GPU overhead maybe)?

Thank you

i'm running 925/310 with 20% power in amd overdrive. use the latest afterburner beta and set

Code:

[ATIADLHAL]
EnableUnofficialOverclocking   = 1
UnofficialOverclockingEULA = I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it
UnofficialOverclockingMode = 2

maybe your card won't reach the 925 without voltage increase, i've heard of some 6950 not even working with 6970 core settings. depends on luck i guess. good luck!

edit:

[...]
Fan: 70%
[...]
With the memory at 300 I get a significant drop in core temp, both my cards run around 59 - 61 degrees Celsius.

70% fan at 61°C? i'd consider lowering the fanspeed. helps the durability of the fan as well as your ears.

[mattpker]

70% fan at 61°C? i'd consider lowering the fanspeed. helps the durability of the fan as well as your ears.

70% is the final percent from quiet and loud. At 71% it gets loud. I like to keep the temps down as much as possible as I live in Arizona and my motherboard tends to run hot because of the cards. Need to start water cooling as I already have 8 fans in my case lol.

[crazybernie]

Running XFX  HD-695X-ZNFC 1GB 6950 Rev VA.3 (HW locked shaders, have not tried unlock mod)

Clock: 900MHz (800MHz default)
Memory: 300MHz (1250MHz default)
Fan Speed @ 65%

Windows 7 Pro x64
Catalyst 11.7 Preview drivers
GUIMiner 7-1-2011 build
-v -w128 -f2

~366Mh/s (It was fluxing between 362 and 368, but -f2 seemed to stabilize it @366, with occassional dips to 362 and spikes to 370) - about a 2% (8Mh/s) improvement over Cats 11.6
Temp: ~74C  (Minimal cooling in system, need to upgrade case.)

[film2240]

Up to 360 MHash/s @ 940 core 

140 Mhz OC was way more than expected.  It seems to still have more room to go...

I was doing some tests on how far my GPU can go without upping the mV (voltage)

This is what I managed without crashing:
918MHz Core clock (can't go to 919 or above as this crashed my card and froze my system)
947Mhz mem clock
I was getting approx 390MHash/s on my card
It's a Sapphire Radeon HD6950 with unlocked shaders(as mine is reference.was on sale as it appear that old stocks were goten rid of now so the new cards wont be unlockable now.)

On a power consumption front the card uses approx approx 200 Watts when pushed in this way.

Does the performance of my card seem good for the MHash/s I'm getting.

Currently I'm use safe OC settings of:
913MHZ
947 MHZ mem clock

I'm getting 395MHash/s with those safe settings.Pros of this are cooler card and improved lifetime for fans and card as well.Power use is high tho This shows I think that issue of diminishing returns where going faster and faster won't necessarily boost performance as substantially after a certain point.

I used Sapphire trixx utility as afterburner failed to work for me at all.

Volts is still at 1.1v due to fear of great damage and excessive power use.

[epdp14]

I have a ASUS EAH6950 DCII/2DI4S/1GD5 which is a 1gb model that has a bios switch.

Available here: http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-EAH6950-DCII-2DI4S-1GD5/dp/B004SUO55Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310426291&sr=8-1

I have downloaded the RBE bios editor and done these steps (after saving the original bios with gpuz):

1. Clicked Acquire/Flash
2. Acquired the bios
3. Changed the 6950 shader option to 6970 shader count
4. Saved the new bios
5. Clicked Acquire/Flash
6. Flashed the card from within RBE, after thinking for a while the program said flashing was successful and suggested a reboot.

I rebooted the computer and ran gpuz again but it is still showing the 6950 shader count. Am I not flashing the bios correctly? Are the shaders just not unlockable? I have the bios switch in the position that is AWAY from the crossfire port. Anyone have any ideas?

Here is what I am running now:

350MH/s
72c
fan at 95% (I know its high but I just got the card and I wanted to check the temps... I am going to lower it but I am not sure what a safe temp range for this card is, so I'd rather blow a fan out early than a video card from overheating)
Clock at 925MHZ
Memory at 1250MHZ... I know people are underclocking this but mine seems to be super unreliable if I underclock it, any suggestions here?

Guiminer/poclbm with -v -w128 -f1 as it is a dedicated mining only PC

[EskimoBob]

I have not found a tool in Linux, that lets me unlock the memory speed minimum level at set it below  1250

All I can do at the moment is:

Code:

$ aticonfig --od-enable
$ aticonfig --adapter=0 --od-setclocks=900,1250

looks good and everything is stable,  so I set

Code:

$ aticonfig --adapter=0 --od-commitclocks
$ aticonfig --pplib-cmd "set fanspeed 0 60"

$ aticonfig --pplib-cmd "get fanspeed 0" && aticonfig --adapter=0 --odgt

Fan speed query:
Query Index: 0, Speed in percent
Result: Fan Speed: 65%

Adapter 0 - AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series
            Sensor 0: Temperature - 75.50 C

I am running poclbm-mod.py , with  -w 128 -f 10 -d 0 -v  and I get about 316300 khash/s.  What bothers me is the 6-9% "I/S" rate.

Any ideas and recommendations are welcome.

Thank you.

[onis_uk]

right i have 2* sapphire hd6950's

both overclocked
as follows

GPU01: 930 CORE
            430 MEM
FLAGS: -v -w64 -f60
RATE  : 362MH/S

GPU02: 940 CORE
            430 MEM
FLAGS: -v -w64 -f2
RATE  : 384MH/S

Using guiminer and open cl 2.1 and catalyst 11.5 in windows for a total of 746Mhash/s ...
not to bad seeing as i cannot unlock the shaders ! 

[Newton]

I have not found a tool in Linux, that lets me unlock the memory speed minimum level at set it below  1250

All I can do at the moment is:

Code:

$ aticonfig --od-enable
$ aticonfig --adapter=0 --od-setclocks=900,1250

You can use AMDOverDriveCtrl.  It allows you to change the Low/Mid/High clocks.  You can't have the High mem clock lower than the Mid/Low clocks, so you need to lower the Mid memory clock to at or below the High level.  You can also use RBE to flash the BIOS with a permanent change in default clock.

However, for the 6950's it only works to set the mem clock up to 100Mhz below the core clock.  aticonfig --odgc will show 1250 mem clock if you try to go lower.

People report that they are able to go lower in Windows.  I'm curious if this is just reporting an inaccurate clock (your requested setting rather than the card) or if they are truly able to do this.

I would be truly interested if someone has a Linux tool that can set mem clocks lower than 100Mhz below core clock for a 6950.