GPU Stress Testing

[coalbee26]

Just bought a MSI 7970 OC BE Twin Frozr III card. I've been playing around with the clocks and have come across some interesting results:

Stock voltage (1200mV)
Core 1200 MHz
Mem 1700 MHz
Fan Auto
Power Limit Max (+20% I think)

Running Heaven (max settings @1080p), I make it through just fine with no artifacting.
Running games (Rome II, League of Legends, Age of Empires III, Star Citizen Hangar Module--havent installed others yet), no artifacting, no crashing.
Running MSI Kombustor, all full screen benches show no artifacting (I've tested about 4 of them).

But here's the problem:
Running MSI Kombustor (the default, fuzzy MSI insignia in windowed mode), I get occasional DESKTOP artifacts (i.e., behind the benchmark). They go away pretty quickly and often don't come back.

Would this be considered "unstable"? Moving the core/memory over what I have posted here results in obvious instability (crashes). But this brand of stability is a bit more subtle...

 

[bgunner]

use OCCT and run the GPU test with error detect on. it will tell you if there is an error instead of looking for it. my experience is it is much more useful of a tool. I don't trust that programs CPU test though.

 

[coozie7]

Any artifacting is a symptom of too much overclock or not enough voltage but I'm not recommending changing the voltage, it's one of the quickest ways to kill a component or shorten its life.
What I will suggest is that you turn down the memory OC and retest, 1700 seems a little optimistic.
OCCT should be used with caution: Like Furmark it can kill a card.

 

[coalbee26]

All right I will back my OC off and try OCCT. I'm thinking I could match the Sapphire R9 280X Toxic specs:

1150 core, 6400 mem (1600)

Obviously I will start lower and build up. Do you guys step core and memory together or one at a time? And what clock intervals to you step by?

 

[bgunner]

definitely do one at a time. this way you know exactly which one is giving the issue. I usually start with 25 as a bump each time till i find it errors the back it down my 5's till it stops having errors. Once it stops then you can play by 1's and get the max.