Got my 6970s today - Mixed bag so far...

did you get 2x 6950?

Are 99% of 6950s still unlocking?

Only the one for now, Going to see how it behaves first, will ditch it and go Nvidia if it doesn't impress me or order a second if it does

They're all still unlocking as far as I know.
 
Lol, you got a casing built out of fans... :LOL:

:)

Yes. It's this one:
top1.jpg


It has 230 mm fans on the front (in), door (in blowing directly on GPUs) and top (out) and 120 mm fans on the bottom (in) and rear (out). My motherboard temp reading (front lower part of MB) usually matches the room. Ironically it's a very quiet case because the 230s run slow.
 
Wow you are keeping those cards around 61C in Furmark? That's astonishing really. Do you know the RPM reading of the fans in that situation?
 
Wow you are keeping those cards around 61C in Furmark? That's astonishing really. Do you know the RPM reading of the fans in that situation?

The fans top out at 2000 RPM and the reading in MSI Afterburner is 1800-1900.
Remember I also have a 120 mm on the bottom blowing up at them and a 230 mm on the case door directly over them.

Also, I do not run Furmark for more than a few minutes after reading the "Furmark kills your GPU" thread at guru3D. I basically run it until I see the asymptote. The same process would approach 90 C with stock coolers. I suppose I could run it longer with my fingers crossed to make sure it doesn't just climb slowly.
 
Furmark shouldn't be able to blow up one of these cards unless the VRMs are inadequately cooled. PowerTune should prevent overload. Indeed I can see it reducing the clock speed of the core whenever the furry donut is dead on flat in view. ;) This is actually the only time I've seen PowerTune do anything.

But it is rather meaningless in the end. In games I think the temps are usually 20C or so lower. I saw around 55-65C with my Accelero setup that couldn't handle Furmark.
 
Furmark shouldn't be able to blow up one of these cards unless the VRMs are inadequately cooled. PowerTune should prevent overload. Indeed I can see it reducing the clock speed of the core whenever the furry donut is dead on flat in view. ;) This is actually the only time I've seen PowerTune do anything.

But it is pretty meaningless in the end. There are only a few games that will come even remotely close to the kind of GPU utilization that Furmark pulls off. STALKER will heat one of these cards up pretty well but I'm sure it's not anything like Furmark.

Is there a Stalker loop that can be run for comparison with your Tright solution on that other forum we seem to be parallel tasking in? I only have SoC no CoP.

The VRMs are well-cooled with GPU-Z showing comparable temps for all three readings, but my 6950 is at +20% for stability with the 6970 BIOS.
 
If you put PowerTune on +20% that means you are allowing a 20% increase beyond its normal power protection. More power through the VRMs in other words. I just leave it alone because it only seems to affect Furmark. If you run it at -20% though it will definitely throttle a lot more often.

Actually the 3 separate GPU temps are all in the core and are measuring different hotspots apparently. The VRMs are not monitored (at least not in GPU-Z).

The only STALKER loop that I can think of might be that Call of Pripyat benchmark program. But I was more referring to the original game because I was playing it recently. Not sure how hot CoP is.
 
Ahh...so no real good way barring a laser temp gauge to check VRM temps, eh?
Suppose I could borrow one from the office :)
 
That VRM heatsink that comes with the Setsugen looks adequate to me (especially with the direct airflow) but it would be interesting to find out what Furmark does to it. ;)
 
Remember there's one other VRM (top left) that isn't directly under the fan...it's getting airflow for sure though and has a tiny little heat sink of its very own.

[Edit: I'll Furmark it a bit longer tonight]
 
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Remember there's one other VRM (top left) that isn't directly under the fan...it's getting airflow for sure though and has a tiny little heat sink of its very own.
That's right. I've been curious about that lone fellow. I'm thinking it powers the RAM maybe?
 
Okay the nail-biter is done.
Case got to 29 C (from 22 C), CPU to 50 C (at 4.5 GHz) and the GPUs topped out (and ran five minutes) at 79 C and 80 C. So much for my asymptote! The 6970 does throttle but the +20% PowerTune 6950/70 does not.

Still pretty decent for a silent cooling solution. Stock would be screaming at >90 C after far less time running Furmark.
 
Yeah when I ran Furmark on my 6950->6970 it would hit 100C and the blower would really spin up and it was hair drier loud. Plain 6950 would hit 85-90C and be somewhat quieter. I just run an unlocked 6950 BIOS now.

Pumping the PowerTune to +20% is a sure way to get another +5C or so because it stops throttling when the full fur donut is in view.
 
Yeah when I ran Furmark on my 6950->6970 it would hit 100C and the blower would really spin up and it was hair drier loud. Plain 6950 would hit 85-90C and be somewhat quieter. I just run an unlocked 6950 BIOS now.

Pumping the PowerTune to +20% is a sure way to get another +5C or so because it stops throttling when the full fur donut is in view.

Well in my case the flashed-to-6970 card is the slave so it's only running at like 80% duty compared to the 6970 (I don't remember the actual number but it was lower than the "master" card). I think if I were to run Furmark on just the flashed card I might be tempted to turn off the +20% PowerTune.
 
:)

Yes. It's this one:
top1.jpg


It has 230 mm fans on the front (in), door (in blowing directly on GPUs) and top (out) and 120 mm fans on the bottom (in) and rear (out). My motherboard temp reading (front lower part of MB) usually matches the room. Ironically it's a very quiet case because the 230s run slow.

Hah, nice case for airflow but now I understand why you could hear those cards so well. :)

Just out of curiousity what model number case is that and how many internal 3.5" bays does it have? Off topic at this point, but I've been looking at good airflow cases for a new WHS build that I'll be sticking in an un-airconditioned side room (so noise will be less of an issue).

Regards,
SB
 
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