AMD 7970 (Non GHz) Overclock

[xForbiddenOne]

Recently I decided to start working on what was once a reference MSI 7970 and change it into something slightly better. With much success I installed the aftermarket cooling solution by Gelid.

Everything went smooth, VRM 1 temps went from 95 under load (Stock) down to 60 under load after multiple hours, And VRM 2 went from about 80 down to 50 under load, GPU temps went from 80ish all the way down to 50. So why not do some overclocking?

I do actually just have a quick question, I'm just curious if these voltages and temperatures are acceptable for long term use. I've had this card for about three years, And realistically I'd like another three years out of it. I've done quite a lot of CPU overclocking, But I've never really done much GPU overclocking due to the reference design simply not allowing it.

So does this seem alright? This is after around ~4 hours of benchmarking

http://i.imgur.com/kcDLbOZ.png (All things that matter are set to the highest recorded, Including temps, And voltages.)

And lastly, I actually noticed coil whine for the first time after changing the voltage, Is this something to be concerned about?

Full system specs:
i7-3770k (Currently no OC)
Intel DZ77RE-75k
16GB Kingston HyperX 1600MHz
Radeon 7970
Corsair TX850

 

[PhysX_HW]

It should be fine as far as the actual silicon chip is concerned.
Mine is running at 1100 for 6 months so far with a core voltage around 1.15V. The coil whine is a bit annoying though. So if it persists, lower the frequency to 1100Mhz. Because the vrm of the reference cards is not designed for such a heavy load like this.

 

[xForbiddenOne]

It should be fine as far as the actual silicon chip is concerned.
Mine is running at 1100 for 6 months so far with a core voltage around 1.15V. The coil whine is a bit annoying though. So if it persists, lower the frequency to 1100Mhz. Because the vrm of the reference cards is not designed for such a heavy load like this.

I appreciate the response, My main concern isn't actually related to the temperatures here. VRM temps seem more than adequate and the GPU core is definitely fine.

I'm actually the most concerned by just how much voltage is going through there. I have no idea if VDDC at 1.5v is actually safe for the card.

 

[Aladdad]

on my 7870 the core voltages are locked all i do is turn the power limit to 20% and my core clock from 975 to 1150 and memory from 1500 to 1600 and thats about it, everything is stable and i get around 5fps boost

 

[PhysX_HW]

Voltage is related to the thermals, so as long as you can cool the VRM adequately, it should not be a problem at all.
My card has a custom, more OC oriented PCB, so I don't think we should compare them, but as I said, if you can keep the temps down, your card is safe.