Average 7970 scores?

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Dingleberg

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Sep 21, 2012
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Hey, I'm not sure how to go about this, but I feel like I'm not getting as good of a score as i should.

i5 3350p
Sapphire Dual X 7970
XFX 550w Bronze psu
All stock cooling

First off, I'm not sure how to get the turbo clock to work with my cpu. Any time I go to change it in the bios, it says 3.10GHz / 3.30GHz.

As for my gpu, I don't feel that I am scoring as I should with benchmarks on stock or oc. Heaven 4.0 for example, I get 850 max settings at 1080p at 950MHz core and 1425MHz memory. My furthers oc with voltage modding is 1170 core and 1600 memory and voltage is 1.237v and I get 980 for that. My temps stay around 60c stock and 66c oc.

Does that seem normal, or do you guys think there is something wrong? I don't keep my card oc, just for games with a low fps (below 40).
 
Solution
mr1hm


going with AMD vs. nVidia really comes down to personal preference and your past experiences with both brands. if you haven't tried nVidia before, as a previous AMD user i can definitely recommend it but, like i said, personal preference.

since you already have a 7970, my choice would be probably to grab another 7970 but, if you are able to sell it for a decent price, it's definitely a possibility to make the transfer to nvidia.

for your future reference, my experiences with crossfire wasn't great but, wasn't bad either...
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try and monitor your GPU usage while playing games. i can't say for sure if there is a possibility of a CPU bottleneck or not (although i don't think there should be but, i could be wrong) but, if the GPU usage is not reaching 99% or 100%, this can be a sign of a CPU bottleneck.

the i5 3350p doesn't have a unlocked multiplier so overclocking it just by raising its' turbo multiplier is generally not an option.

if you do notice that your GPU usage is pegged @ 100% during benchmarking, i'd take a look to see if the overclock is a bit too high. you can decrease your Core/Memory speeds by 5-10MHz @ a time and see if it improves the score; if the score improves then you know the GPU overclock is most likely not stable at those speeds, if it doesn't try taking the speeds down a bit further and check again.
 
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Wow, a problem that I was having has just resurfaced. In win7, neither my cpu or gpu were hitting high usage, but my fps was below 60 in most games (no vsync). I formatted my drive and installed win8.1, hoping that would fix (or maybe help) my problem. It didn't.

http://i.imgur.com/KNKsFeg.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/oZ8KN3P.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/sdhiPbV.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/SxZN3Vk.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/l81UtSl.jpg

Do you have any sort of idea as to what is happening? I have usage and temp monitors in the top corners. These are all at 1080p maxed out.
 
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it's normal for the CPU usage to never hit 100% in games, in fact, this is what you want. i saw the first screenshot and all seems normal, GPU seems to be 92% but, this could be just be the result of the game not requiring full power from the 7970; since none of the CPU's cores aren't @ 80%-100%, we can conclude that it's not a CPU bottleneck and most likely the reason i stated previously.

hmm, that first screenshot in the top corner shows 81.8FPS but, Borderlands is a CPU intensive game and it seems that one of your cores are hitting 80% which could point to a possible CPU bottleneck; however, it could also just mean a bad driver for that specific game.
 
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All of these pics were taken at stock clocks. Also, what about the last two?

Yet another question, do you see reason in getting an 8350 or a 4670k for gaming? I plan on either xfire with my card or getting a 780/ti. Which would be best for modern gaming? I have to get a new motherboard, so they're both options.
 
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if it were me, i'd grab a 4770k and be done with it but, if you have to choose from an 8350 or 4670k, the 4670k would be my choice.

SLI 680s will dominate the 780 @ 1080p and save you money (which can be put towards the 4770k) :)

i've been looking to upgrade to GTX 670 SLI as well, which also dominates the 780 @ 1080p.

your 3rd picture seems to be chivalry: medival warfare if i'm correct :), i didn't think it was too demanding on the CPU but, it seems that the game is. when you see a core going above 80%, this is a sign that you are probably more limited on the CPU side and should look to overclocking or in your case, upgrade :)

i'll take a look @ my CPU's usage when i get a chance to play to confirm it's CPU dependent.
 
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Sounds good. The 680 is too expensive for me to sli right now, but the 670 sli seems reasonable. Now, since I already have a 7970, why not save money and xfire it? Would there be any problems vs the 670 sli?
 
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going with AMD vs. nVidia really comes down to personal preference and your past experiences with both brands. if you haven't tried nVidia before, as a previous AMD user i can definitely recommend it but, like i said, personal preference.

since you already have a 7970, my choice would be probably to grab another 7970 but, if you are able to sell it for a decent price, it's definitely a possibility to make the transfer to nvidia.

for your future reference, my experiences with crossfire wasn't great but, wasn't bad either; crossfire had gained me about double the FPS i was seeing with a single HD6870 for BF3, which was the game i was into at the time. however, the micro-stuttering was extremely hard to get rid of and persisted (although i was able decrease the stuttering to a manageable point) until i upgraded to the GTX 670.

i haven't tried SLI but, a couple buddies of mine have told me that if i'm looking for a dual GPU configuration, nvidia is where i should aim for. it's been almost a year with my single GTX 670 and while certain driver releases had minor issues/bugs (mainly beta drivers), certified drivers were generally awesome.

im not exactly sure how AMD's drivers have been doing lately so everything i said should be taken with a grain of salt but, coming from AMD's driver support then to nvidia's drivers with the GTX 670 now, i feel like it was worth every single cent. :)
 
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Solution


There are so many things right with your post.

I do have to admit, I didn't use to know about this "micro-stuttering", but I got my hands on a 660 for a day and I could immediately see a difference. I'm gonna go ahead with the 670 sli because I already have someone lined up to buy my 7970 at a decent price. I'll still be out a little bit of money though, but oh well.

Now I've hit a bump in the road. NVidia's offerings for vram isn't very good. Either 2 or 4gb cards for the 670. While 2gb is plenty at 1080p for now, I do feel that I'll be running a reasonably higher resolution within the year. Also, I can't decide on which cards to get. I'm torn between the Gigabyte and Asus. Any performance differences can be pushed aside with an oc, but I like quiet and cool. Which of those, if either, would you get for those reasons?
 
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i have the Gigabtye GTX 670OC Windforce x3 myself and have no complaints whatsoever. reviews and GTX 670's overclocking threads will also show that Gigabyte's version overclocks very well (also, gigabyte's 670 is probably considered one of the quietest out there) with MSI's GTX 670 Power Edition being #1 as far as overclocking capabilities go. i've seen both Gigabtye and MSI's GTX 670s hit very high core clocks (1300MHz+) as well as memory clocks, the advantage of the MSI is that you have manual voltage control while as Gigabyte's version is locked unless flashed with a modded GPU BIOS. the ASUS version has some poor reviews even @ stock clocks while the overclocking review on it is even worse from what i remember; the ASUS GTX 670 is probably at the bottom of the list when it comes to overclocking, in other words, the Gigabyte GTX 670 will eat it for breakfast when it comes down to overclocking. :)

as far as VRAM goes, if you're planning on going 1440p+ then i'd probably take a look at purchasing a single GTX 780 but, with that hefty price tag, it's not an easy decision. demanding games like the soon to be released BF4 can use slightly more than 2GB of VRAM @ 1080p but, this was only seen during the beta (which was rather extremely unoptimized) and with further optimizations over time, i can see a possibility of VRAM usage decreasing by a good amount.

i'm glad you like "quiet and cool" as the general public doesn't seem to care much (which also makes sense). :) however, i do a lot of audio work and isolating the sound i'm hearing is very important; with that said, the reason i went for the Gigabyte was mainly due to the fact it was reviewed to be very quiet.
 
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You've really helped me a lot with this. I'm gonna go with a 4670k and the Gigabyte 670 SLI.

Now, would you take a look at this and let me know if there is anything I can do to better it? I already have my case and a 1tb hdd, but everything else is being bought new. Also, would you give it a sort of rating like 1/10 for silence and overclocking power? I've got time to make changes because I won't have the money for about a month.
 
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sure thing :)

the PSU you stated in the OP will not suffice for a GTX 670 SLI configuration, the minimum recommended PSU is 700W PSU. XFX is a good brand or if you want to cut costs a little you can try an go with Corsair (i think they have more deals/sales). i wouldn't really look to overclock the 670's in SLI as the sheer amount of power @ stock speeds will most likely be more than enough; however, when you look to purchase your motherboard, make sure it's PCI-E lanes can run dual GPU setups @ x8/x8 speeds. this is to ensure that your GPU's will not be bottlenecked by the motherboard's PCI-E lanes itself. i recommend something like the Z87X-UD3H: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128592

from personal experience, i can say gigabyte does not gimp out when it comes to CPU power delivery; i used to own the Z77X-UD3H and besides the fact i had a single bent pin, CPU overclocking was just as capable as very high end boards like my current Asus Maximus V Extreme. from what i've read, they've made further improvements and still maintain quality MOSFETs/VRMs for excellent power delivery to the CPU when overclocking.

as far as noise levels go, it'll depend on how fast your fans are spinning and how many there are. for example, i have 2 fans for my CPU and my GPU (gigabtye 670) has the 3 fan windforce technology; while the windforce technology is very quiet at lower speeds, if the GPU is hitting higher temperatures, the fans can start to make some noise due to the fact there are 3 fans. this is the trade-off for me, i limit all my overclocking so that i can get my fans to cool efficiently without having to ramp up to its' maximum speeds. i have a single side-panel that stays off 24/7 which forces me to maintain a little more frequently than having the side panel closed but, having the side panel off yields much lower temps for me which results in slower fan speeds, which would mean less noise.

so all in all, the only fans i have in my system are the CPU's fans and GPU's fans which are both required. i removed anything other than the required fans.
 
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That's a very nice motherboard, however I'd really like something with hdmi in. I have a ps3 and will most likely be getting a next gen to play with friends, but I want to get rid of this 32in tv I have. Also, you must know how 720p looks across 32 inches to a pc gamer :)

Anyway, I don't mind spending a little bit more for one that has that capability, it's just that my monitors don't have hdmi ports.
 
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haha, i feel your pain, 720p @ 32in isn't very pretty :) but, the GTX 670 has HDMI, Dual-Link DVI-I, DVI-D as well as a Display Port.

did your monitors only have VGA ports??
 
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VGA and DVI. I'm considering selling one and grabbing a 144Hz 1080p panel. I can run the console through that hdmi port since I'll use DVI DL for my pc.

Another question, I can't seem to find any benchmarks right now, so how does the 670 2gb SLI compare to a 760 4gb SLI?
 
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sounds good by me :)

i can't seem to find much more info on the 670SLI vs. 760SLI but, if you plan on getting something like 1440p monitor and not going any higher in resolution than that, 670s do have the better performance in certain situations if not, overall. the extra VRAM can allow you to run extreme anti-aliasing (smoothing of edges) settings in games which will in return make it much prettier at a very big performance cost. with minimal anti-aliasing, the 670SLI should dominate the 760s.
 
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Sorry if I keep bugging you.

All seems great with the 670 SLI, but... should I think about a 770 SLI?
 
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