Stability Issues MSI Twin Frozr III 6950

[eviltt]

So i picked this card up dirt cheap just to do some testing, and im having major stability issues with it.

latest catalyst drivers (open CL dropped down to 2.5 via copy and past of DLL's)
using afterburner beta

Sstem is my gaming rig... like i said just foolin around

intel q9650
1 ssd 2 green 1tb hd's
no other accessories
corsair 1000w ps

no other cards
nada.

every time i go over like 890 mhz on my core clock my driver stops responding in windows 7.. any pointers here guys?

much appreciate it

[1714106668]

1714106668

[1714106668]

1714106668

[1714106668]

1714106668

[1714106668]

1714106668

[urlord]

I recommend removing and reinstalling the drivers, who knows what could go wrong if you cut and paste over .DLL files. And your overclocking so why are you questioning stability. Any card oc'd can have stability issues,  you never know what you get from the factory.

[eviltt]

I recommend removing and reinstalling the drivers, who knows what could go wrong if you cut and paste over .DLL files. And your overclocking so why are you questioning stability. Any card oc'd can have stability issues,  you never know what you get from the factory.

i understand that, just surprised to see the wide variance in performance people are able to squeeze out of this card.  i cant even approach 900mhz while others are up in the 1000 range.

[wndrbr3d]

What are your temps??

I know with non-reference cards, they usually don't exhaust the hot air out of the case so they can sometimes overheat (especially in xfire) depending on what cards are around them/case air flow.

[dropt]

I've a Powercolor 6950 2gb model with extra shaders enabled (RBE method) showing the exact same response if I try to go over 900MHz on the core.  I think it's AMD trying to curb the market of users flashing their 6950's to 6970's.  They want that extra chedda.
 
If someone has a fix, I'd like to hear about it.

I should add I get the same response over 900MHz. Be it win7 64bit w/catalyst drivers w/MSi afterburner and in linuxcoin using AMDOverDriveCtrl.

[P4man]

Its entirely possible your card simply wont overclock any further. There are no guarantees, its not because many people can overclock way beyond that, that your card can. There is a reason these cards are sold as 800 MHz parts, and not as 900 MHz parts.

Drivers have nothing to do with it btw.

If your temperatures are good, as I would expect with a twinfrozr, you could try increasing the voltage a tiny bit (if your card supports it), but be aware this will greatly reduce power efficiency and its not good for reliability either.

[jake262144]

P4Man is absolutely correct, please allow me to elaborate on the 6970/6950 subject:

At the fab (silicon chip manufacturer) level, there is no difference at all, the 6970 and 6950 cards are using the same GPU chip.
While the differences seem minor (lower clock rate and shader count), they have some important implications for the end user.

Chips sold as 6950 may have been downgraded from 6970 status due to:
  (1) faulty shaders - as long as the total number of functional shaders is >= 1408 everything is ok.
  (2) low quality chip - not all chips made from the same silicon die are created equal. Some are better than others.
       A poor-quality chip might not be stable at stock voltage when clocked at 880 MHz (hd 6970 default clock) but may still work fine at 800MHz.
  (3) market demand - this is what every 6950 buyer is hoping for: a good, 6970-grade chip sold as 6950 solely due to market demand.
       Keep in mind that AMD have been laser-cutting the disabled shaders on all 6950 chips to make them totally inert for a long time now.

It is probable that OP's chip is just substandard. P4's suggestion of raising the voltage might remedy the situation somewhat but miracles are not to be expected.

[eviltt]

P4Man is absolutely correct, please allow me to elaborate on the 6970/6950 subject:

At the fab (silicon chip manufacturer) level, there is no difference at all, the 6970 and 6950 cards are using the same GPU chip.
While the differences seem minor (lower clock rate and shader count), they have some important implications for the end user.

Chips sold as 6950 may have been downgraded from 6970 status due to:
  (1) faulty shaders - as long as the total number of functional shaders is >= 1408 everything is ok.
  (2) low quality chip - not all chips made from the same silicon die are created equal. Some are better than others.
       A poor-quality chip might not be stable at stock voltage when clocked at 880 MHz (hd 6970 default clock) but may still work fine at 800MHz.
  (3) market demand - this is what every 6950 buyer is hoping for: a good, 6970-grade chip sold as 6950 solely due to market demand.
       Keep in mind that AMD have been laser-cutting the disabled shaders on all 6950 chips to make them totally inert for a long time now.

It is probable that OP's chip is just substandard. P4's suggestion of raising the voltage might remedy the situation somewhat but miracles are not to be expected.

i appreciate that but was still hopeful that i could squeeze a few extra mhz out of the chip.. funny thing is my mh is actually higher than i had anticipated already, just getting greedy. (404mh average)

BTW about the laser cutting.. i bought my card brand new not 2 weeks ago... it is not laser cut.. i was able to activate my shaders no problem using the rbe method.

also my temps are holding steady at 73c@55% fan the chip is clocked to 880mhz, and the memory is down to 755, cant get the voltage down under bamt for some reason or another

[jake262144]

Good for you. Either some manufacturers still have the old 6950 chips stocked up in their warehouses or you purchased an older hardware review card.
Unfortunately, it's a total crapshoot already and chances of successful unlock are decreasing as time goes by.

Not all cards have software-tweakable VRMs. I believe I needn't say that with nonref designs everything's possible?
My asus 6950 DCII 1GB also doesn't allow voltage changes. The good part, however, is that the card is pretty efficient as is, with lower power usage than reference models at their stock settings.