7950 vs 7950 boost

[panduhsaur]

Hello, I've been looking at these two cards and I can't find the difference or at least I'm looking for an explanation. Is the boost version just factory overclocked and that's it? what happens if I do overclock it would it gain anything over the regular 7950?
Thanks

 

[lostgamer_03]

Boost, which is a technology as AMD has ripped off the Nvidia GPUs from this year, is a technology that overclocks your GPU without you doing anything, it overclocks in game where extra performance is needed and below thermal temperatures.

It's highly recommended by me, that you get it with boost.

 

[refillable]

If the difference is More than ~$10, I'd overclock it myself.

 

[panduhsaur]

Boost, which is a technology as AMD has ripped off the Nvidia GPUs from this year, is a technology that overclocks your GPU without you doing anything, it overclocks in game where extra performance is needed and below thermal temperatures.

It's highly recommended by me, that you get it with boost.

But can you use afterburner along side with it?

 

[lostgamer_03]

But can you use afterburner along side with it?

Yes.

 

[jaideep1337]

I would get the normal one and OC it myself. However if the price gap isn't too wide then get the boost version.

 

[sayantan]

I don't recommend the boost , simply a waste of money.

 

[lostgamer_03]

Boost isn't a Waste? My GPU overclocks from 980 to 1110.5 MHz in games where it is needed, instead of running on 1110.5 24/7. We're talking an increase of 13-14%.

I own a GTX 660 reference which should overclock itself to 1033 MHz, as I just told it doesn't. It goes even higher and if I had an aftermarket cooler on it, it would overclock even higher because of the better cooling. Don't believe the specs.

So with boost you save more power, you save heat and prolong the life time of the GPU, compared to a overclocked GPU.

But it seems as if you will push it to the edge, so you might just be better off with the normal one.

 

[sayantan]

Boost isn't a Waste? My GPU overclocks from 980 to 1110.5 MHz in games where it is needed, instead of running on 1110.5 24/7. We're talking an increase of 13-14%.

I own a GTX 660 reference which should overclock itself to 1033 MHz, as I just told it doesn't. It goes even higher and if I had an aftermarket cooler on it, it would overclock even higher because of the better cooling. Don't believe the specs.

So with boost you save more power, you save heat and prolong the life time of the GPU, compared to a overclocked GPU.

But it seems as if you will push it to the edge, so you might just be better off with the normal one.

The term 'where it is needed' is somewhat confusing.

So where exactly it is needed?
case1: you have turned on adaptive vsync(NV only) or some frame limiter (Radeon pro etc) ,and your frame rate goes below your prescribed frame rate then the boost should probably kick in depending on your thermal and power limits.
case 2: Also if you don't have any frame limiter or vsync turned on , your GPU will try to maintain its boost clock all the time given that there is enough headroom left.

So how does boost differ from OC?
Ans: I would say it is somewhat different from OC only for case 1. In case of OC your clocks at load will remain fixed whatever you do. (Note that OCing has no effect on idle clock speed which is always the same whether you OC or not). However your GPU usage will vary. In case you have frame limiter turned on , the gpu load will be less than 100% in case the target fps is met. If the target fps is not met , the GPU will run at full load.

However for boost the clock speed will vary and the load will be close to 100% all the time irrespective of whether the target fps is met or not.

Although both boost and OC should have same efficiency but in case of radeons an OC card consumes less power than a boost version. So OC FTW in case of radeons.

 

[lostgamer_03]

The term 'where it is needed' is somewhat confusing.

So where exactly it is needed?
case1: you have turned on adaptive vsync(NV only) or some frame limiter (Radeon pro etc) ,and your frame rate goes below your prescribed frame rate then the boost should probably kick in depending on your thermal and power limits.
case 2: Also if you don't have any frame limiter or vsync turned on , your GPU will try to maintain its boost clock all the time given that there is enough headroom left.

So how does boost differ from OC?
Ans: I would say it is somewhat different from OC only for case 1. In case of OC your clocks at load will remain fixed whatever you do. (Note that OCing has no effect on idle clock speed which is always the same whether you OC or not). However your GPU usage will vary. In case you have frame limiter turned on , the gpu load will be less than 100% in case the target fps is met. If the target fps is not met , the GPU will run at full load.

However for boost the clock speed will vary and the load will be close to 100% all the time irrespective of whether the target fps is met or not.

Although both boost and OC should have same efficiency but in case of radeons an OC card consumes less power than a boost version. So OC FTW in case of radeons.

"Where it is needed", shouldn't be confusing?

If you need more power when under heavy load - boost will give you more power.

You just said it yourself, "In case of OC your clocks at load will remain fixed whatever you do". Exactly what my point is. Do you need that 1200 MHz overclock while playing League of Legends, or minecraft? I don't think so. Then the regular clock speed will be better because you will be saving power and heat. While if you play BF3 boost will give you more power, but it does depends on the heat of the GPU. If it's under heavy heat, the clock speed won't bump too much up, but if the cooling is top notch then the GPU will keep powering on towards higher clock speeds.

I can tell because I owned an inno3d GTX 660 before, which had a cooler that was really bad - 85 degrees under heavy load and the boost were only at about 1080 MHz. Then I got the reference GTX 660 which gets about 75 degrees and my clock speeds raised to 1110 MHz. Same thing will happen if the OP gets a GPU with great cooling, just higher clock speeds whenever they're needed under load.

 

[sayantan]

You just said it yourself, "In case of OC your clocks at load will remain fixed whatever you do". Exactly what my point is. Do you need that 1200 MHz overclock while playing League of Legends, or minecraft? I don't think so. Then the regular clock speed will be better because you will be saving power and heat. While if you play BF3 boost will give you more power, but it does depends on the heat of the GPU. If it's under heavy heat, the clock speed won't bump too much up, but if the cooling is top notch then the GPU will keep powering on towards higher clock speeds.

Yes but you can always turn on a frame limiter or vsync while playing minecraft. Although clocks will be fixed but gpu load % will be much lower. So it will still save you power given that you turn on frame limiter or vsync. Mind that power consumption depends on both clock frequencies and gpu load.

The math is somewhat like this:

60 fps = some_proportionality_constant x clock_frequency x gpu_load

For an OCed card : clock_frequencies are higher but load is lower.
For a boost card : clock_frequencies are lower but load is higher.

Hope you get my point.