MSI R5870 Lightning UnOverclockable through Afterburner??

[steponz]

Not really on air, on LN2 yes.... no where did I see that these were supposed to be posting crazy air overclocks..

If it does crap on LN2 then thats where I would be pissed... But until then, I am fine with it.. Actually pretty happy with it.

 

GFDuke, did you modify the bios? to get voltage control?, you would have had to flash the bios. There was no other workaround.. After burner said voltage was changed, but really wasn't..

[[GF]Duke]

I guess i just got a POS. Like i said it wouldnt even run at stock clocks. No way was i going to even attepmt to flash the bios because they sent me a bad card.

[steponz]

I honestly can't remember if mine ran at stock clocks.. I was just very amazed that I couldn't do 1000 on any extra volts.

 

I just setup the card for LN2 to use with an aircooled 670 I have just for testing to see what kind of clocks I can get from it...

Ill report back when I am done tonight.

[steponz]

Was able to get at least 1350 through 3DMark06 on 1550 volts.

 

Honestly ran out of LN2 and was being very stubburn with the LN2.. lol..

 

Not to bad for a stock cards.. I think if I play with it more I might be able to get more out of it. Probably going to have to mod it just a little bit.

[Massman]

1350 is not bad for 3DMark06. That should be 1400-ish in Vantage

[steponz]

Yep.. I should be able to get more out of her... I get my classy back on wednesday.. then its 980x, R5870, ln2 action... oh yeah....

[steponz]

I was trying 1400.. I really thought it was going to happen until I looked at my dewar... Not happening.. It might have a chance...

[Hondacity]

good patience steponz

[steponz]

It's been a little rough the past month.

 

Had 2 bad P55 Classy boards come in the mail. Killed 2 5870's from a bad soldering iron.. I have had to develop patience... lol

 

Thanks though.

[Brian y.]

i flashed the bios massman gave and i am still having the issue of the voltages not being reflected. are there cards that just wont work with afterburner at all(i have heard this as a rumor)?

Edited March 24, 2010 by Brian y.

[Massman]

are you using AB 1.5.1?

[steponz]

You have to use the newest version 1.5.1... The others don't work.

[Brian y.]

are you using AB 1.5.1?

I have both the 1.51 regular and extreme version and the card does not respond to either one:(

 

 

 

*update

 

Playing around with the .cfg file has now the voltage changes showing up in afterburner but not reflecting on the card with a DMM. I know it is working as with stock volts it crashes with a core over 950 but with 1.35v set it passes nature in 03 at 1030/1350.......soooo I guess it works just very confused how the DMM shows 1.16v but the card is passes 03 at these clocks....

Edited March 25, 2010 by Brian y.

[steponz]

Maybe try flashing the bios again? Seems very odd...

[Brian y.]

Maybe try flashing the bios again? Seems very odd...

that is exactly what fixed it:woot:

[steponz]

Sweet..

[CaineWax]

Hey guys,

 

Just got my lightning today and it also clocks like crap! cant actually get past 950 on the gpu no matter what voltage or tweaker setting i use?!

 

i assume the card applys the voltake threw afterburner (1.5.1) because with voltage monitoring enabled i can see voltage bumping up. dont have a multi meter to test if voltage is really applyed.

 

What about the hint with the spacers?? seemd to work for some people?? or should i rather flash a newer bios on the card??

 

Was really hoping to get good 1000 on the gpu with smooth voltages. my old 5870 from XFX couldnt get past 975 unless i used extreme voltage. but then again temperature was holding me back.

 

Could really use some help!

 

Edit: im also having sort of an odd flickering on the display when i apply any other clock speeds then the default ones???

 

Edit 2: Tried to flash Massmanns bios. still no luck! card wont clock better at ALL!!! cant be true that those cards are such blenders?? only hope for me right now seem to be the spacers. can anyone in here give me an advice on how to do that?? never unmounted any of my graphics cards fans. How thick should the spacers aprox. be?? wich (thick/rather thin type of paste) & how much thermal paste should i apply when remounting the fan? In case i wanna send the card back within the first 7 days would it be a prob if i unmounted & reapplied the fan?

 

Edit 3: Ok after trying to flash different bioses (massmans & the one from techpowerup) several times still no improvement. another strange thing is that when looking at the bios strings after flashing with atiflash they always have the same version numbers?? i mean either all bioses im flashing are actually the same (including the one that was on the card already) or atiflash is simply not applying the flash?? For the flickering issue i have now realized that it immediatly starts when i alter gpu clock & have a program running full screen that doesnt have a lot of gpu usage. for example the cpu & phys x tests from ventage. when running them the cards voltage falls back to 2d clocks resulting in odd flickering.

 

the chip on my lightning does 940@default (1,164) but everything above 940 is impossible to get stable. no matter which voltage i apply or bios i use. i assume something is holding the card back from performing the way it could but cant figure out what it is. msi hotline support is also wack. they cant even send me a beta bios. starting 2 go nuts here..

 

Any suggestions???

Edited April 20, 2010 by CaineWax