ASUS HD 7970 Matrix Platinum Overclocking

[Alinyx]

I am completely new to overclocking and wanted to ask a few things about the ASUS HD 7970 Matrix Platinum.

How much do you think can I overclock it?
What is the maximum safe voltage?
I read somewhere that the new cards have been voltage capped and aren't very good for overclocking. Is this true? And how do I know whether mine is voltage capped?

Finally, how do I know if I increased the GPU Clock too much? I always run Heaven 4.0 and everything looks fine. If I put it too high would Heaven 4.0 just crash or would the computer crash? I know that when Memory Clock is too high I'll see easy recognizable artifacts.

[Zka17]

Hello Alinyx,

First of all, you will need Asus GPU Tweak to OC the Matrix Platinum…

Second: your max OC will be determined by the temps… - no one can tell you how high your specific card will go…

Look around this Forum, somewhere there is a guide for GPU Tweak… but as a basic thing, max out the fans, then start increasing the core clock step by step and run Heaven while you're monitoring the card's temps… when it start artefacting or freezes, then you start increasing the Vcore… you will stop when the slider can not be upped more (it will never happen on stock cooling) or it will crash because of overheating…

Then reduce your core speed and start the same thing with the memories… when you found the max for them too, then try to combine the Vcore and memory max OCs… usually they will work together a little bit below their individual max settings…

Again, OC with fans at max (to find your max settings) and watch your temps!!!

Also, GPU Tweak has a "Burn" button at the bottom - avoid it (do not press it) as much as you can!!!

[Alinyx]

I already use GPU Tweak.

Should I increase the voltage on GPU Tweak or press the + button on the card? It has buttons for increasing the voltage. Would it be safer to just use them since they stop at a certain point?

[Zka17]

Either way is OK to try... - the point is to find the lowest voltage, because that will give you the lowest temps...

[Alinyx]

The temp for every GPU is different. At what temp is the card too hot? Googling didn't give me any good answers.

[Zka17]

Alinyx wrote:
The temp for every GPU is different. At what temp is the card too hot? Googling didn't give me any good answers.

Because "too hot" depends on what you're using your card for... it won't catch on fire, it has built in protection for that... - but it will slow down and/or freeze if reaches very high temps...

Slowing down starts somewhere around 65-75C, but you may not notice it... it depends on the application...