5970 additional untapped power article

[Tivook]

Hi.

I saw a post from someone on this forum, I believe i t was in the video cards section where there are only 2 pages (? why? )

Anyway now the post seem to be gone but it linked to an article about the 5970 having untapped power waiting to be unleashed, all that was missing was 2 bridges between two points that ATI left open..

Does anyone have a link to that article? I have been looking for it but I cant find it.

TIv

 

[Tivook]

Found it:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/11/28/taking-apart-the-ati-radeon-hd-5970/2

Last picture on the right shows the missing bridges.

Tiv

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Wasn't that about the components between the power and the chips?

It doesn't really matter, when you overvolt past the "safe" preset values that most of the overvolt tools allow, you can start getting some good overclocks, 1Ghz GPU and 1300Mhz memory are both do-able from what we've seen.

It was a trivial task to set my 5970 at 5870 clock speeds, there is room for a great deal more without modifying the card itself.

 

[Mr. K6]

While the extra power phase would improve/stabilize power deliver, the real limitation seems to actually be getting power to the card. Since it only has a 6x PCIe and 8x PCIe, you have to worry more so about the lines coming from the PSU. If it was necessary, my guess is they would have added it.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Yeah the average PSU is going to struggle before the card does I fear, currently heat is really what is limitng overclockers past say a single 5870 can get, not much over 1Ghz basically.

But if you were to then add watercooling you'd probably find the power draw on the PSU would be getting a bit silly, AMD recommends 20A on the 8 pin and 16A on the 6 pin and I know my Antec Quattro 850W puts out a rated 18A so...

 

[Tivook]

While the extra power phase would improve/stabilize power deliver, the real limitation seems to actually be getting power to the card. Since it only has a 6x PCIe and 8x PCIe, you have to worry more so about the lines coming from the PSU. If it was necessary, my guess is they would have added it.

On the bottom left picture in the article u can clearly see that there is also room for a second 8 pin connector if needed in the future.

And about your power supply princess.. 18A on the 12V rail is a bit low isnt it? my Corsair TX950 can deliver 78A on the 12V.

Tiv

 

[Mr. K6]

On the bottom left picture in the article u can clearly see that there is also room for a second 8 pin connector if needed in the future.

Where? Yes, there's unused PCB space, but I don't see any rigging for a third power adapter.

 

[Digital Viper-X-]

Where? Yes, there's unused PCB space, but I don't see any rigging for a third power adapter.

I see it, look at the 6 pin adapter, right of there is a slot with 2 leads coming out of the PCB behind it, that 6pin could technically become an 8pin, hell, if the circuitry is there, someone could do it on their own

 

[Mr. K6]

I see it, look at the 6 pin adapter, right of there is a slot with 2 leads coming out of the PCB behind it, that 6pin could technically become an 8pin, hell, if the circuitry is there, someone could do it on their own

Yes, I thought he was talking about adding a second 8-pin entirely (so 6+8+8). That would be a completely viable solution and I wouldn't be surprised to see some modders hook it up (if the leads are already integrated into the onboard circuitry), but there might be something in PCIe specs that prevents that. The 8-pin would theoretically give an extra 75W of power and that much more headroom and stability when overclocking.

 

[Tivook]

Untapped cardpower marked with red circles

 

[jaredpace]

Yep. When they come out with a revamped "RV890" Cypress gpu, it'll sit comfortably into this PCB with 8+8 peg, and 4+2 phase GPU power x 2

Probably be called a 5990.