Kepler Overclocking Guide! With BIOS mods too!

[ChaoticWeaponry]

Alright, for those of you that are less keen with overclocking their Kepler graphics card, I'm here to provide the information that I know. If I mess anything up, feel free to leave me a message or comment, and I'll fix it up.

You'll obviously want to install the latest version of MSI Afterburner (I think it's the best) and GPU-Z.

 

I'm not liable for damages or explosions inside your computers. :P

 

So, here are the majority of the terms for overclocking Kepler. (Picture included)

 

 

First off, you will have a core voltage setting. The core voltage is the voltage applied to the GPU processor. Generally speaking, the higher the voltage, the higher the clock speed your GPU can reach. Now, for Kepler cards, you don't have to worry about damaging your card with voltages, because Nvidia decided to put a software lock on voltages at 1.15 volts. Most voltage controllers can supply 1.21 volts max to the core. Even though most cards would be capable of handling 1.3 volts if they had a decent heatsink to cool the card. Most of the clock speed adjustment is done automatically by the Kepler core anyways.

 

Next, you have your power limit. Kepler will dynamically adjust it's clock speed and voltage to stay inside the power limit. Now, increasing this to the max does NOT hurt your card. It allows it to have 'breathing room' to max out it's clock speed. I'll go more into BIOS adjustments later, but you can change the maximum values so the card has even more room to breathe.

 

Core clock and memory clock are pretty self-explanatory. You can increase these to make your clock speed on your GPU core or memory go higher. When you increase these too much, your computer will either crash completely, or reset the graphics driver. Your options after the crash are either to decrease your overclock, or to increase your voltage.

 

Fan speeds are important to keep your graphics card cool. You can keep the automatic profile, or you can go into MSI Afterburner's settings and create your own profile. Adding to this, Nvidia decided to add many 'throttles' to their graphics cards, specifically at 70, 80, and 90 degrees Celsius. When your card hits each one of these temperature thresholds, the clock speed of your core will drop by 12mHz. This is an attempt to keep temperatures in check.

 

If you have an 'overclocking ready' MSI Kepler card, there will be an arrow box next to core voltage, and this will allow you to overvolt the memory and PLL chip. These will allow for slightly higher clocks on the memory, PLL will SOMETIMES give slightly better stability with an overclock.

 

On Kepler cards, there are two different types of clock speeds, well, technically three. You will have a base (core) clock, which is the baseline 3D speed that your graphics card will operate at. If the load gets high enough (I've seen around 40-50% usage) the card will move up to its boost clock speed. This will give better performance obviously. From the boost clock up to the maximum boost clock, the card takes power limit, temperature, and graphics load into account, and changes the speed accordingly. Now, GPU-Z will give you the core clock and the boost clock, but not the maximum boost clock. You'll have to load your graphics card's BIOS into an editor to see that.

 

The overclocking 'technique'. (You'll need a benchmark/stress test like Unigine Heaven on my screenshot. Max out the settings for that.)

 

Basically, whenever I overclock my card, I will start from the default values. Overclock one part of your card at a time. Increase the core clock by 25-50mHz at a time. Stress test that for around 2 minutes, and if it succeeds, then increase the core clock again by 25-50mHz. Repeat that until you get a crash. At that point, you can increase the voltage, or step back the overclock by 10mHz, until the card becomes stable again. Repeat this with all other parts that you want to overclock. Make sure you take your time with this, rushing won't benefit you all that much. Now, after you're done with the majority of overclocking, stress test your card for an hour by playing a really intensive game, or just using the benchmark. This will prove the stability of the card, and just drop the clock speeds by a little if there's instability.

 

WARNING

 

WARNING

 

This part can mess up your graphics card if you do it wrong or play with settings that you aren't supposed to! I'm not liable for damages or broken cards!

 

Now comes the intensive part, for those who aren't afraid to tinker with settings that can void your warranty. From overclock.net, there are a load of BIOS editing tools and flashing tools.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1289489/gtx-600-series-unlocked-voltage-bios-downloads-and-tools

 

For me, I downloaded NVflash so I could flash my BIOS, and I got a separate program to edit my BIOS from technic3d.com.

http://www.technic3d.com/download/overclocking-und-monitoring-tools/532-kepler-bios-tweaker-v1.25.htm

 

Download the 1.25 version, and extract it with whatever program you like, such as 7zip. Now, on GPU-Z there is a box next to your BIOS version (1st tab) that you can click to save your bios. Save it where ever you like, just remember where it is, and open the .rom file with the kepler bios tweaker.

 

There will be many options, but the ones that we are really interested in are the power limits (in watts), and the maximum voltages (voltage tab). Keep in mind the software reads in milliwatts and microvolts. 1210000 is equal to 1.21 volts. 225000 is 225 watts.

 

To solve for your MAXIMUM wattage for your card you need to know the power connectors. A 6 pin can give 75 watts of power, an 8 pin can give 150 watts. The PCI slot itself gives 75 watts, so just add those together to get your maximum wattage. My 6x6 pin GTX 670 has 225 watts. or 75 + 75 + 75. You really only need to change the maximum values, change the left and right ones as well (unless your version looks different.)

 

Maximum voltage can be thrown straight to 1.21 volts, as I doubt this will hurt your graphics card in any way. You shouldn't change the other voltage settings. You can tinker with other setting if you'd like, but do your research and use common sense. Your idling voltage shouldn't be 1.21 volts. :P

 

After you're done editing, save the bios, and follow the BIOS flashing tutorials on the overclock.net link. After the card is flashed, reboot your computer, and play with your new settings! You may need to reinstall your drivers or MSI Afterburner for them to work properly.

 

It's really late at night here, so if I've messed up at all, let me know. If anyone has questions, I'll get back to you ASAP. I'm not the Kepler super-genius, but I have learned quite a bit about it. I'll fix any errors or things that I got wrong, just message me or comment below.

Thanks guys!

Chaotic

[ericlee30]

Great guide :)

[Niblolkik]

can i get a screenshot of what power control should look like?  :wacko: thx