PowerColor R9 280x what is the nor,al clock speed and when does AMD PowerBoost kick in?

[metalhusky]

Hi,
so i bought this card just 4 Months ago to play CoD AW on hight settings with 60FPS, and i can do that. Everything is fine.
But now i wanted to Play Witcher 3 on highest settings possible with 60FPS and its not that easy to find the right settings, i messed around with the FanMade tool for W3 and got pretty decent looking game with 50-63FPS, i am ok with that.

But now i started to wonder maybe i can OverClock it and get even better performance.

The problem is every tool says something different.
The Powercolor Website says: Engine Clock 880MHz (up to 1030MHz with boost)
Now this boost that they are speaking of is AMD PowerBoost doesn't activate.
I checked it with "RadeonPro" in game it say Boost is on 0%
RadeonPro also says, ingame:
that the card works with 880MHz the temperature is at 70°C normally.
Here are some Screens of other programs NOT-INGAME (IDLE):

Spoiler

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So what is it, can i overclock my GPU?
As i understand, in idle its 501 MHz
Under load its 880 MHz
and Boost, that is supposed to kick in and bring me up to 1030 MHz isnt working because oh heat maybe? But temp is only around 70°C under load as i said and the fans are working with 40% speed or so.

Please help.

Can i overklock, is there a box in some programm that i just have to click to enable the "PowerBoost", or what?

 

[johnnyb105]

You can download MSI AFTERBURNER and overclock your gpu.

 

[metalhusky]

You can download MSI AFTERBURNER and overclock your gpu.

did you look at the whole post?

 

[chris987]

second tab of gpuz will reveal current clock under load. as seen in first tab you have posted, it should be 1030mhz while gaming.

http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1193

During our testing the PowerColor Radeon R9 280X TurboDuo OC held 1'030 MHz most of the load time. We have only experienced downclocking under FurMark where the GPU clock was going up and down from 1'030 MHz (1.150v) to 880 MHz (1.050v) past 70°C. We didn't notice any throttling while gaming

if however you experience any drops to 880mhz while gaming(check second tab in gpuz while gaming), apply a more agressive fan profile to maintain temps lower than 70c.

my 7970 stays at 1090mhz with temps of mid 70s without any kind of throttle.

what drivers are you using? crimson isnt that good, with reports of problematic gpu fan activity.

 

[metalhusky]

second tab of gpuz will reveal current clock under load. as seen in first tab you have posted, it should be 1030mhz while gaming.

if however you experience any drops to 880mhz while gaming(check second tab in gpuz while gaming), apply a more agressive fan profile to maintain temps lower than 70c.

my 7970 stays at 1090mhz with temps of mid 70s without any kind of throttle.

what drivers are you using? crimson isnt that good, with reports of problematic gpu fan activity.

OK, so now, i monitored it on 2nd monitor with GPU-Z as you said and clock goes from 501 MHz in loading screen to 1030 MHz ingame and the temp is also ca. 70-76°C like you said.

Gameplay Test (recorded with OBS, 1000p, 40-60 FPS [bad bitrate, my fault])

Now it's finaly clear to me what the clock this card is, it was just confusing because RadeoPro showed only 880 MHz in game, guess it didn't recognize the card right or something, i will deinstall it.

Thanks!

But, different question still remains, can i just bump core clock up like this guy did?

PowerColor R9 280X OC

And yes i am using Crimson 15.12, should i downgrade?

 

[chris987]

about crimson driver, the reports where about fan stuck at 20% leading to overheating issues. make sure youf fan activity is as it should. 280x can easily run at 85c without issues. as long as you dont deal with any ore throttling , overclocking it is an option. you may reach 1100ghz before you would need a voltage tweak. just ensure your core clock is stable. you can also try a higher manual fan profile. the higher clock you apply , the higher the power limit must be set.

 

[metalhusky]

about crimson driver, the reports where about fan stuck at 20% leading to overheating issues. make sure youf fan activity is as it should. 280x can easily run at 85c without issues. as long as you dont deal with any ore throttling , overclocking it is an option. you may reach 1100ghz before you would need a voltage tweak. just ensure your core clock is stable. you can also try a higher manual fan profile. the higher clock you apply , the higher the power limit must be set.

As you can see in that video the fan isn't stuck at 20%, but goes up to 41%, so looks like Crimson is working correctly for me.
Trorrling isn't really a thing and the temp is mid 70°C under load.
So then i will try to OC, i will tell you the results later, but for now thanks!

 

[chris987]

no worries...you're welcome.

 

[metalhusky]

no worries...you're welcome.

ok, i now, i watched JayzTwoCents Tutorial on GPU OC and did it like this (a little different since he uses different equipment) -> i made a custom Fan Profile, clocked Core to 1150 MHz (from 1030 MHz) and Memory Clock to 1700 MHz (from 1500 MHz), without increasing Power Limit or Core Voltage. Seems to run stable.

Unigine Valley Benchmark 1.0 shows an increase of 4 FPS agerage and 8 FPS Max. and a Score of 1974 (from 1794)
Run at "Extreme HD" preset.
The score of 1974 is identical to the score of a PC with an [ i7 2600k and GTX 670] taken from Overclock.net , mine are [ FX 8320 @ 4GHz and the R9 280X].

The Wither 3 runs a little bit smoother also, i like that. Every FPS counts! I bet i could overklock even further, but i am little bit afraid, i have a warranty, but they most probably don't cover brocken cards after bad OC.
So i think i am going to leave it like that.

Thanks again, mate, you helped me alot!

 

[chris987]

these are great numbers for stock voltage. you are now making the most out of your gpu. try a furmark to ensure stability! i wouldnt push further . further cpu o/c would now be beneficial, however that will depend on the rest of your hardware. good psu and strong mobo vrm will be required.

 

[metalhusky]

these are great numbers for stock voltage. you are now making the most out of your gpu. try a furmark to ensure stability! i wouldnt push further . further cpu o/c would now be beneficial, however that will depend on the rest of your hardware. good psu and strong mobo vrm will be required.

it's ok, if it starts trotteling or crash i will go back to 1100 MHz or something.
cpu is OC already, FX 8320 @4 GHz , stock was 3,5

 

[chris987]

these are great numbers for stock voltage. you are now making the most out of your gpu. try a furmark to ensure stability! i wouldnt push further . further cpu o/c would now be beneficial, however that will depend on the rest of your hardware. good psu and strong mobo vrm will be required.

it's ok, if it starts trotteling or crash i will go back to 1100 MHz or something.
cpu is OC already, FX 8320 @4 GHz , stock was 3,5

yes , i just wanted to point out that from now on, a further cpu o/c would be more beneficial than a gpu one. it will greatly help in keeping minimum fps as high as possibe.