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HD7950 revised with reference HD7970 PCB club

122K views 846 replies 148 participants last post by  ilflores 
#1 ·
A few of the newest HD7950s are shipping with reference HD7970 PCB designs.

This is a unique situation for the HD7950 because it has improved PCB with higher VRM power output design. These cards have 6+8 pin power connections and 8+8 and are compatible with all reference HD7970 water blocks.

I'm hoping that these cards will all eventually be able to be flashed to full HD7970 performance.

I have done some experimental flashing with my Sapphire HD7950 OC 950mhz edition to HD7970 but haven't had any success yet.

If you have a HD7950 that is using a reference HD7970 PCB please share over clocking abilities and photos.

Here is my card which is totally stable for gaming at 1300/1600 1.22v.













With Swiftech MCW82 7900 gpu block.



HD7950 cards that have used reference HD7970 PCB.

1. VTX3D HD 7950 X-Edition V2 w/ 7970 PC
2. HIS ICEQ X2 Boost
3. MSI TF3
4. Sapphire 950mhz Edition
5. A795 Fire Hurricane
6. SAPPHIRE 100352-4L and Sapphire 21196-00-20G
6+6 power connector with 5+1 phase power design

How to flash HD7970 BIOS to HD7950.

Thanks to Condrutz85 from Xtremesystems.org for figuring this out. Will not unlock shaders but may have some other performance benefits. I just did this myself and it worked for my card.


http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?284653-I-Finnaly-DiD-IT-MSI-7950-TF3-OC-V2-X-Flashed-with-7970-Bios-!!!&p=5164147&viewfull=1#post5164147


Condrutz85 instructions:

Quote:
1. Check your Device ID with GPU-Z.
In my case the device id was 1002-679A and the only bios from 7970 that matched my card was from HIS.

2. Now you have to go to the VGA Bios Archive ( http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/i...=&memSize=3072 ) and identify a bios that matches YOUR DEVICE ID!!!!!!
Be sure that the bios device id and your device id matches perfectly.

3. Download the bios(es) that matches BUT DO NOT FLASH IT YET!!!Before you go flashing 7970 bios like a maniac, please check that your card can take the matched bios.Check with an overclock software (MSI Afterburner ,Trixx ) that your card support the 7970 bios clock.

4. Make 2 BACKUP BIOSES, 1 with the SWITCH on 1 and SWITCH on 2. Do not forget to put bios switch on the 1st position before flashing. This will become in hand later.

5. Download atiflash latest version and extract it on a bootable stick, along with the bios you want to flash. ( Use hpboot stick and win98 system files, and make sure that atiflash.exe and your bios are on root or in the same folder ).

6. Boot into DOS and write "atiflash -f -p 0 yourbios.rom", where 0 is the number of the card conected on your pci-e.

7. After finishing flashing , restart. If it doesn`t boot follow the recovery procedure (Switch on 2 boot into dos, put switch on 1, flash original bios). If the 7970 bios doesn`t work choose other bios (remember same DEVICE ID).

8. After you boot into windows with 7970 bios, unninstall all drivers and all overclocking GPU utilities, RESTART!!!!! (IF you want to oveclock and change voltage, else would not work).

9. Install the latest Beta Catalyst, RESTART!!!

10. Install the Overcloking utilities.

11. ENJOY and Open a beer!
 
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#2 ·
Here is the newest 950mhz Edition 7950 BIOS if somebody wants to try it out. I tried the new MSI TF3 HD7950 BIOS on my card and it was not as stable at 1300/1600.

SAPPER.zip 41k .zip file
 

Attachments

#3 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by SonDa5 View Post

Here is the newest 950mhz Edition 7950 BIOS if somebody wants to try it out. I tried the new MSI TF3 HD7950 BIOS on my card and it was not as stable at 1300/1600.

SAPPER.zip 41k .zip file
Thanks for providing the bios, a Rep+ for that:thumb:
I've been looking for the 950 MHz version for ages, it's still not at TPU.

My card certainly doesn't have a 7970 pcb:D but it's doing well with the ref. 7950 pcb.

I wanted to get a Sapphire 950MHz 7950 when I bought mine a few months ago, but at the time they were about a hundred bucks more.
Of course they can be had on sale for about the same price now:rolleyes:
You've done quite a job with the cooling on that card. Nice to be able to run it at 1300/1600 all day!

I flashed mine with the "Sapper" bios yesterday. So far, it's working great, totally stable. I'm gradually testing it for stability, and any differences from the stock 7950 bios VisionTek uses.
Maximum clock testing will come soon, I could run 1200 with the stock bios and a voltage boost to 1.250, I wasn't pushing the ram much, at about 1450.

What I do find interesting, is that I can run it about 100MHz higher on stock voltage than I could before.
1000/1450 at stock voltage was fine with the original bios, anything much higher needed more juice.
It's now doing 1100/1450 with no increase in voltage, and I've done a fair bit of stress-testing and gaming with those clocks.
 
#4 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by DerComissar View Post

Thanks for providing the bios, a Rep+ for that:thumb:

I flashed mine with the "Sapper" bios yesterday. So far, it's working great, totally stable. I'm gradually testing it for stability, and any differences from the stock 7950 bios VisionTek uses.
Maximum clock testing will come soon, I could run 1200 with the stock bios and a voltage boost to 1.250, I wasn't pushing the ram much, at about 1450.
What I do find interesting, is that I can run it about 100MHz higher on stock voltage than I could before.
1000/1450 at stock voltage was fine with the original bios, anything much higher needed more juice.
It's now doing 1100/1450 with no increase in voltage, and I've done a fair bit of stress-testing and gaming with those clocks.
Your welcome. Good to see the BIOS is working out for your card. I've tried many different HD7950 BIOS for my card and this newest Sapphire HD7950 950mhz edition BIOS is the most stable I have tried. Also it is very new from May of 2012. It isn't the same BIOS that was shipped with my card. I got this BIOS direct from Sapphire customer support after requesting the newest BIOS for my card.
 
#5 ·
I have the TF3 7950 from Fry's and mine has the 7970 PCB
biggrin.gif
.
Should I flash my bios? Will it increase my performance better?
I'm stable at 1080/1575 core/memory clock at no voltage increase. Can get 1150/1700 at 1.1v and probably 1300 at 1.22 like you
wink.gif
but I don't have water cooling, so my temps will be in high 70's ...
Will flashing my bios to a new one help?
 
#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tw23 View Post

I have the TF3 7950 from Fry's and mine has the 7970 PCB
biggrin.gif
.
Should I flash my bios? Will it increase my performance better?
I'm stable at 1080/1575 core/memory clock at no voltage increase. Can get 1150/1700 at 1.1v and probably 1300 at 1.22 like you
wink.gif
but I don't have water cooling, so my temps will be in high 70's ...
Will flashing my bios to a new one help?
I would only flash if you think you need it or just want to see if it helps. It may help out. My card didn't operate as stable with the new TF3 BIOS.

You may have a new TF3 BIOS on your card though. If you could please post screen shots and photos of your card. Also check to see the date of your BIOS to see how new yours is. GPU-Z verification also shares BIOS info.
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by SonDa5 View Post

I would only flash if you think you need it or just want to see if it helps. It may help out. My card didn't operate as stable with the new TF3 BIOS.
You may have a new TF3 BIOS on your card though. If you could please post screen shots and photos of your card. Also check to see the date of your BIOS to see how new yours is. GPU-Z verification also shares BIOS info.
Maybe... Also I'm getting max 72C and 67C constant while playing BF3 on Ultra 1080p @ 1080/1575 at stock voltage... Should I reapply thermal paste or open it up and do something?
Thanks
wink.gif
.
 
#10 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tw23 View Post

Maybe... Also I'm getting max 72C and 67C constant while playing BF3 on Ultra 1080p @ 1080/1575 at stock voltage... Should I reapply thermal paste or open it up and do something?
Thanks
wink.gif
.
My biggest concern is if the stock TF3 has the proper offset diamond for proper GPU contact. I would check to see if the TF3 heat sink has that. I've reads of HD7900 cards having over heating problems because they shipped with a flash surface heat sink that didn't make proper contact on gpu die.

I would run Furmark at stock card settings with HWinfo64 sensor readings going and monitor temps for about 15 minutes. If the gpu is in the 80s or the VRMs are clost to 120C I think the card doesn't have good enough stock cooling and you are going to be hitting the wall when over clocking because of weak heatsink and weak PCB heatsink. To hot.
 
#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by SonDa5 View Post

My biggest concern is if the stock TF3 has the proper offset diamond for proper GPU contact. I would check to see if the TF3 heat sink has that. I've reads of HD7900 cards having over heating problems because they shipped with a flash surface heat sink that didn't make proper contact on gpu die.
I would run Furmark at stock card settings with HWinfo64 sensor readings going and monitor temps for about 15 minutes. If the gpu is in the 80s or the VRMs are clost to 120C I think the card doesn't have good enough stock cooling and you are going to be hitting the wall when over clocking because of weak heatsink and weak PCB heatsink. To hot.
So open it up?
It should have that diamond thing?
 
#12 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tw23 View Post

Are you water cooled?
Yes.

There is a photo of my Swiftech MCW82-7900 block in first post.

Here is another photo.

Day1MCW82.jpg


Before I water cooled I did alot of testing with the stock heat sink any my card could do 1300mhz but the temps were much higher so I tapered back to 1200mhz to keep cool till I water cooled.
 
#13 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tw23 View Post

So open it up?
It should have that diamond thing?
It's up to you. Not sure how cool MSI is about opening up the card but I don't see any problems with doing it. Just be careful no to damage the card and take it easy on the screws.

Your heat sink should have a diamond offset like the one in this photo.

layoutSapphire950mzcard.jpg
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tw23 View Post

Maybe... Also I'm getting max 72C and 67C constant while playing BF3 on Ultra 1080p @ 1080/1575 at stock voltage... Should I reapply thermal paste or open it up and do something?
Thanks
wink.gif
.
How good is your case cooling ? How many case fans ? its very important to create a good airflow (wind tunnel) .Do you have a 120mm fan provision on the side panel which can blow cool air onto the card. That helps in most cases to reduce temps.
Generally if things are working fine I wouldn't mess around with the card like opening it up or flashing some other card's BIOS. Your best bet is voltage tweaking and getting 1150 Mhz at less than 75c temps. If that can be achieved by improving case cooling thats the first thing to focus on.
 
#16 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by raghu78 View Post

How good is your case cooling ? How many case fans ? its very important to create a good airflow (wind tunnel) .Do you have a 120mm fan provision on the side panel which can blow cool air onto the card. That helps in most cases to reduce temps.
Generally if things are working fine I wouldn't mess around with the card like opening it up or flashing some other card's BIOS. Your best bet is voltage tweaking and getting 1150 Mhz at less than 75c temps. If that can be achieved by improving case cooling thats the first thing to focus on.
I have 5 120mm fans, 1 200mm fan, 1 140mm fan... pretty sure I have goot case cooling lol. I have it everywhere.
Should I return my card?
 
#17 ·
I suppose this is the place to ask, 310$ MSI 7950 TF3 vs 400$ Gigabyte 670 WF3 for 1440p gaming? Those two cards are the king of price/performance in their price bracket, don't know what to go for though. I ussually only demand a modest AA, but at the same time, would like to future proof abit. Yeah, I get this is apples and oranges.

What would really help in my decision would be some honest oc benchmarks for the MSI 7950 w/ consideration to their ability to flash to 7970 bios, anyone know where i can find some?
 
#18 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tw23 View Post

I have 5 120mm fans, 1 200mm fan, 1 140mm fan... pretty sure I have goot case cooling lol. I have it everywhere.
Should I return my card?
wow thats a lot of cooling fans. Can you tell which are intake and which are outtake. also where they are positioned. Returning your card when its doing 1050 Mhz with decent temps is not a good idea.
 
#19 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by thehidecheck View Post

I suppose this is the place to ask, 310$ MSI 7950 TF3 vs 400$ Gigabyte 670 WF3 for 1440p gaming? Those two cards are the king of price/performance in their price bracket, don't know what to go for though. I ussually only demand a modest AA, but at the same time, would like to future proof abit. Yeah, I get this is apples and oranges.
What would really help in my decision would be some honest oc benchmarks for the MSI 7950 w/ consideration to their ability to flash to 7970 bios, anyone know where i can find some?
HD 7950 at 1.1 - 1.15 Ghz should be enough to run at 1440p and get decent fps in all the latest games. Your biggest limitation to overclocking comes from the cooler itself. MSI Twin Frozr is good only for 1.1 - 1.15 Ghz overclocks.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/02/08/gigabyte_radeon_hd_7970_oc_video_card_review/8

BF3 2560 X 1600 2X AA

HD 7950 (1195 Mhz) - avg 54.7 min 35 fps

And that review is 3+ months old with older drivers. With the latest drivers and at a lower resolution of 1440p you should have no problem hitting avg 45 - 50 fps in BF3 at 1440p even with Ultra 4X MSAA .

If you want to spend more money I definitely would recommend the Gigabyte HD 7970 Windforce (1 Ghz) for USD 440. Your chances of 1250 Mhz overclocks are better with those HD 7970 OC cards. Plus the Gigabyte Windforce would be able to handle those extremeclocks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125413

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/02/08/gigabyte_radeon_hd_7970_oc_video_card_review/8

"While idling at the desktop, the stock GIGABYTE Radeon HD 7970's temperature was 34 degrees Celsius while the fans were running at 20%, and extremely quiet. Under full load the temperature increased to 67c, however fan speed only increased to 34%. We did not have any issue with the fans at this speed. On the overclocked GIGABYTE Radeon HD 7970 we had fan speeds set to 80%, which was not as loud as most video cards, and helped remove a ton of excess heat. At idle, the video cards temperature was 25 degrees Celsius. Under full load with fans still at 80% temperature only reached 56c"

HD 7970 will beat the GTX 670 when both cards are overclocked at 1440p if you compare across a wide range of games.
 
#20 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by raghu78 View Post

wow thats a lot of cooling fans. Can you tell which are intake and which are outtake. also where they are positioned. Returning your card when its doing 1050 Mhz with decent temps is not a good idea.
Also have one extra
smile.gif
.
Actually really only 5 fans, because two are my CPU fans
biggrin.gif
.
1 on top - 200mm - outtake
1 on the bottom - 120mm - outtake
1 on the rear - 120mm - outtake
1 on the side case mesh - 120mm - outtake
1 in front - 140mm - intake

I think I should have more intakes, but not sure which ones I should make intake?
Thanks
wink.gif
.
 
#25 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by SonDa5 View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by DerComissar View Post

Thanks for providing the bios, a Rep+ for that:thumb:

I flashed mine with the "Sapper" bios yesterday. So far, it's working great, totally stable. I'm gradually testing it for stability, and any differences from the stock 7950 bios VisionTek uses.
Maximum clock testing will come soon, I could run 1200 with the stock bios and a voltage boost to 1.250, I wasn't pushing the ram much, at about 1450.
What I do find interesting, is that I can run it about 100MHz higher on stock voltage than I could before.
1000/1450 at stock voltage was fine with the original bios, anything much higher needed more juice.
It's now doing 1100/1450 with no increase in voltage, and I've done a fair bit of stress-testing and gaming with those clocks.
Your welcome. Good to see the BIOS is working out for your card. I've tried many different HD7950 BIOS for my card and this newest Sapphire HD7950 950mhz edition BIOS is the most stable I have tried. Also it is very new from May of 2012. It isn't the same BIOS that was shipped with my card. I got this BIOS direct from Sapphire customer support after requesting the newest BIOS for my card.
That's good to know, that it's been very stable for your card. And a very recent version as well. It's fine at 1200 on my card, at about 1.2v. But I don't want to push any more into it while it's on air cooling.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SonDa5 View Post

Some performance results under load.
Ambient temperature 23.6C
1300/1600 with under 1.2v.
Over 2 hours of looping Heaven. Stable.
Ambient Temp 25C.
Can go faster.

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3614346
You can't beat good watercooling. Your results speak for themselves. 1300MHz, with ridiculously low load temperatures, even on Furmark.
Very good 3DMark score too.

I have a Swiftech 7950 unisink on mine, which would be a perfect compliment to their MCW-82 gpu block.
Along with the rest of the parts, of course:rolleyes:
 
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