eish! The EMEA MOA Qualifiers has been extremely tough for alot of us judging by some of the conversations and posts here.
while MSi has done a great job with the Z77A-GD65 and i like the board compared to its predecessors but only the first couple of bench session are great and then something go's wrong with the ME8/bios and or the components on the board.
I have had 4 boards now that developed the issue where the maximum multiplier is 39x and after a wipe/reflash the board works and functionality is restored but no stability at high clocks and low temps can be reached again.
added to this have tested a total of five 7970 Lightnings and the results have been a wild!
1) LN2 CB -140 1600 @ 1.598 - AIR 1300Mhz @ 1.3
2) LN2 CB -30 1550 @ 1.550 - AIR 1300Mhz @ 1.3
3) LN2 CB -80 1630 @ 1.610 - AIR 1300Mhz @ 1.3 - DEAD (0.0 vGPU)
4) LN2 CB -90 1500 @ 1.650 - AIR 1200Mhz @ 1.3 - DEAD (0.0 vGPU)
5) LN2 CB -95 1610 @ 1.620 - AIR 1300Mhz @ 1.3
Last night my best 7970 lightning died while testing memory clocks for SuperPi32 on a GD65 that had the 39x error fix, stock bios, stock heat sink at stock clocks just 5 seconds into 06 with 0.0vGPU :(
My best sessions was always my first session so after 4 weeks of hard frustrating benching tonight will be my last dash to the finish line (If I can get 03 and 11 to load) with my last good 7970 on my 5th GD65 with a new CPU.
This has been a real wild ride of emotions but all the same what a great competition and good luck to everyone during the last 2 days of benching
Thank you MSi, Hwbot and every one else who has assisted and advised over the last 4 weeks