2070 Super Overclock Oddity

[kilrath81]

Is it normal to set an overclock that seems to be able to run all day long in Superposition and Timespy, but in some games lock up or crash? Seems strange that a card that is pegging 100% with an overclock rolls through fine but then in a game where it is using 50-60% it would be unstable.

[Otto_iii]

Its pretty normal a slightly unstable overclock will make it through popular benchmarks like TS, FS, or Superposition but isn't stable enough for many games.  Ideally go with a OC that won't crash in any program or game, or at worst so infrequently its hard to tell if it was the OC that caused it or the game just konking out for random other reason (stuff like pubg that just crashes from time to time cause its pubg).  Personally i have found memory OC is more sensitive so setting that at a conservative and proven settings helps, if need be default, but on Nvidea cards like your 2070 Super usually there is good headroom, just have to find best conservative setting that works. 

Likewise look for any weird graphical glitch like 3d models rendering in incorrect LOD (looking low res/low polygon) on and off, taking longer to load ingame, etc.  With memory in particular that is often a clear sign, usually means its encountering errors, just not enough to crash or do more obvious disco-light like artifacting.  With core clocks besides checking stability via crashes its good to plot the clockspeeds if possible and confirm its actually hitting higher clocks then default, and doing so stable, on some cards you may set a higher value then stock, or higher then a working OC, and if its not crashing but still unstable you'll see performance degradation and clock speeds waffling around (going lower in many instances, even if peak is high) reflecting this, upping voltage can resolve this but will come with extra heat and can shorten lifespan of the card.  Always run voltage as low as you can while maintaining stable clockspeeds through benchmarks, games etc.

[Algebruh]

Your GPU might be unstable at lower voltage.

Just set clock offset 1~2 steps (15~30MHz) lower and see if crash still persists.

The performance difference is negligible. 

 

[Mark Kaine]

3 hours ago, Otto_iii said:

Its pretty normal a slightly unstable overclock will make it through popular benchmarks like TS, FS

That's funny I can OC my card really high,  almost nothing crashes it except Firestrike and MHW... 

 

I first thought it's a voltage problem but increasing voltage didn't fix it (rather made it worse) I really have to use very moderate OC to get through either of these programs without frequent crashes. 

 

And in the 3D mark forum that seems to be a common issue too,  unstable OC makes FS crash.  Yet I can run heaven or superposition or most games really with obviously way unstable OCs and nothing crashes... 

 

7 hours ago, kilrath81 said:

Is it normal to set an overclock that seems to be able to run all day long in Superposition and Timespy, but in some games lock up or crash? Seems strange that a card that is pegging 100% with an overclock rolls through fine but then in a game where it is using 50-60% it would be unstable.

Well your OC isn't stable, have you tried Firestrike?  Really helped me to find a good settings, ymmv though. 

[Otto_iii]

58 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

And in the 3D mark forum that seems to be a common issue too,  unstable OC makes FS crash.  Yet I can run heaven or superposition or most games really with obviously way unstable OCs and nothing crashes... 

i find loops of heaven or valley more likely to crash as its sustained load, relative to FS, but im on Radeon so since different drivers and stuff i can imagine instability can be different, but stuff i mentioned also came from days with Nvidea, so hope it would be useful, that said i never benchmarked that card with anything 3dmark

I'd agree with Firestrike sentiment, but really just whatever game or benchmark is least stable for you is best call.  Like i said i was able to not crash but with mem overclock i got weird 3d model loading (LOD loading slow or flashing to wrong model) so its always worthwhile to sometimes go back and check if you've become used to things that maybe aren't game bugs but issues from OC

[kilrath81]

The crap thing is, the game that locks up on the overclock saves only when you transition from one day to the next and likes to lock up near the end of the day so you lose all your progress. It just seemed strange that i can beat the hell out of it with a 950mhz memory and 104mhz core all day long, then i play this game that uses 50-60% gpu or Wreckfest that uses 80% and its a problem randomly. The difference in benchs like superposition or time spy is 1000 points, which seems like it would be pretty substantial in frame limited situations in games so it would o fbeen nice to have that stable in games as well. Stable i can only really set 700mhz memory and 75mhz  The curve scan on afterburner only does 32mhz