Advice needed: Sapphire HD7950 Dual X just DIED (RIP). Too much OC?

[lorbas]

Hey there,

short recap of what just happened: One of my Sapphire HD7950 Dual X died, it was brand new. Stable OC  for about 24h - with GPU set to 1150MHz and RAM set to 1600MHz. Powertune 20, Intensity at 20.

In the night the system froze, so I reconfiguered cgminer to work at max. values Catalyst would let me choose (1200MHZ GPU, 1575MHz RAM). 2 min. later - mining at full intensity - the system shut off with smoke coming from one card. End of story.

Now what's the max. OC values I can run this card at? What have YOU experienced? I'm greatful for any hint on that subject.

Greez
lorbas

[Gazza1]

If the system froze why would you then increase the OC even more

What voltage were you running

[lorbas]

The idea was to lower the RAM-clock, since it was above the max. value that catalyst offers. On the other hand catalyst offers a max. value of 1200MHz for GPU clock so i believed it would be okay to rise it.

Voltage was factory preset.

[neomon]

try to get warranty and start again 

[lorbas]

Really you think it's worth a try? Don't you think Sapphire "smells" a rat?

BTW: Card's temp was never over 80 degrees.

[Gazza1]

if you bought it brand new definitely send it to warranty, to be safe just don't say anything about oc'ing, etc.

[lorbas]

Now what's the max. OC values I can run this card at? What have YOU experienced? I'm greatful for any hint on that subject.

Anyone?

[lorbas]

Besides: I just figured that Trixx allows overclocking for the 7950's Memory up to 1800MHz and GPU clock up to 1500MHz.. Maybe my card just died cause it was faulty / had components with a short lifetime right from the very beginning?

[Wipeout2097]

You guys are using stock voltage and overclocking video cards for mining?  

While that card was at 80ºC at the core, the VRMs were at 110ºC, I'm almost sure.

You MUST undervolt your gaming cards for mining: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/vbe7-vbios-editor-for-radeon-hd-7000-series-cards.189089/ and look at VRM temperature with GPU-z. It's mandatory, not optional.

You must run the fan at 70-85%. It must run at relatively high speed, even if the core says 50ºC. It's not optional either.

These are also decent temperature settings:

"temp-cutoff" : "75",
"temp-overheat" : "70",
"temp-target" : "65",

[Wipeout2097]

Besides: I just figured that Trixx allows overclocking for the 7950's Memory up to 1800MHz and GPU clock up to 1500MHz.. Maybe my card just died cause it was faulty / had components with a short lifetime right from the very beginning?

No, your brain was the faulty component...  

Kidding, man.

[lorbas]

Haha, yeah and one day maybe I'll die cause of a a faulty component inside my head. Aren't we 2-legged GPUs after all?

[Wipeout2097]

Send that card to RMA/warranty and hope for the best.

Then please, follow the advice on the previous post. It's not only a matter of preserving the hardware; that card could have set the house on fire.

[lorbas]

Wipeout2097: Tha's exactly what I needed. Thanks so much. Now why does GPU-Z not show my VRM-Temps? Do I have to unlock / flash the card / Bios?

[lorbas]

And: Do you know any other good threads / sites that cover OCing of gaming-cards for mining?

[Wipeout2097]

Wipeout2097: Tha's exactly what I needed. Thanks so much. Now why does GPU-Z not show my VRM-Temps? Do I have to unlock / flash the card / Bios?

Some cards don't report. With those is basically mine and pray, blind. That's why serious undervolting (down to 1V ~ 1.05V) and high fan speed at all times is so important.

Perhaps HwInfo64 report them, dunno.

[Wipeout2097]

And: Do you know any other good threads / sites that cover OCing of gaming-cards for mining?

You should not OC cards in the first place. Typical overclock makes the card hash SLOWER. Either because it throttles, or because hashing speed is not directly related with clock speed. It's very very weird.

The best is to set the ram to where it provides lowest latency (often 1500Mhz) and then raise the clock slowly from ~950 Mhz until the hash speed starts to fall. There's a limit, perhaps around 1020 Mhz. 1000 Mhz gives more hash than 1100 Mhz. Figure that limit and undervolt to lowest possible that holds that clock speed.

Get the most out of it, with timings tuned. Please donate to the OP if you can
https://litecointalk.org/index.php?topic=12369.0

There are optimized .bin files out there, but I can't find the link atm. https://litecointalk.org/index.php?topic=6058.0

Also take a look at this: https://raw.github.com/ckolivas/cgminer/v3.7.2/SCRYPT-README

[kcobra]

You guys are using stock voltage and overclocking video cards for mining?  

While that card was at 80ºC at the core, the VRMs were at 110ºC, I'm almost sure.

You MUST undervolt your gaming cards for mining: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/vbe7-vbios-editor-for-radeon-hd-7000-series-cards.189089/ and look at VRM temperature with GPU-z. It's mandatory, not optional.

You must run the fan at 70-85%. It must run at relatively high speed, even if the core says 50ºC. It's not optional either.

These are also decent temperature settings:

"temp-cutoff" : "75",
"temp-overheat" : "70",
"temp-target" : "65",

That low of a temp target is pretty unrealistic in the summer time for a lot of people. Plenty cards chugging along at 75c - 80c.

With my new Tri-x 290's I've set the temp target at 78c. Fan runs around 60% at that target where it would ramp up to 90% if I had the target at 70c. This is for the top card.

[Wipeout2097]

You guys are using stock voltage and overclocking video cards for mining?  

While that card was at 80ºC at the core, the VRMs were at 110ºC, I'm almost sure.

You MUST undervolt your gaming cards for mining: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/vbe7-vbios-editor-for-radeon-hd-7000-series-cards.189089/ and look at VRM temperature with GPU-z. It's mandatory, not optional.

You must run the fan at 70-85%. It must run at relatively high speed, even if the core says 50ºC. It's not optional either.

These are also decent temperature settings:

"temp-cutoff" : "75",
"temp-overheat" : "70",
"temp-target" : "65",

That low of a temp target is pretty unrealistic in the summer time for a lot of people. Plenty cards chugging along at 75c - 80c.

With my new Tri-x 290's I've set the temp target at 78c. Fan runs around 60% at that target where it would ramp up to 90% if I had the target at 70c. This is for the top card.

Yes, but those are settings for now, the Northern Hemisphere is in the winter.

The point being: mine at the lowest possible temperature. Do not assume that, e.g. 78 ºC is safe for mining. It may be for some cards, not for others. One thing is having cards I own and know, other is saying it's okay for someone else's unknown card and environment. Then, those are temperatures for the core only, not elsewhere in the card.

[scrap]

yea man those clocks... prettttttyyyy damn high

i have mine at 1375 mem, 925 core, and i get 620kh/s ... i know its not MAX but i do know my card wont fry on me(well i HOPE, never know)

[atp1916]

Ouch, i'd be pissed...really pissed.

I personally can take most of my Sapphires up into the 17000-1800mhz ram area, but that speed is entirely unnecessary to max the card out.

That being said, return it!