GTX 970 Overclock - too far?

[Guy Marshall]

I have been running my Strix 970 and realised recently that my VRM is between 115 and 125 degrees C whilst gaming, so I have made a custom fan curve to keep it below 90 degrees under full load now, and I started noticing artifacts at +150 core and +500 memory, so I dialed my core down to +110 and it is fine. I then thought that I will see how far my memory overclocks, and I have it running at +110 core and +1100 memory and the performance is insane, temps under control, no artifacting or anything!! It won't let me push any further in ASUS GPU Tweak so I have to leave it at that speed!

 

Have I won the silicone lottery or is this expected of a Strix 970?? Or is something wrong? It just seems too good to be true

[Jurrunio]

where could you see VRM temperatures?

 

as for overclocking Maxwell, 1.5GHz core is the line between "bad" and "ok". Going past 1.55GHz is considered exceptional.

[Guy Marshall]

Just now, Jurrunio said:

where could you see VRM temperatures?

 

as for overclocking Maxwell, 1.5GHz core is the line between "bad" and "ok". Going past 1.55GHz is considered exceptional.

I am using HWiNFO and ASUS GPU Tweak. Whenever I enter a different number for memory and click apply, it goes back to +1100MHz (8200 MHz) so something has gone wrong!

[Jurrunio]

2 minutes ago, Guy Marshall said:

I am using HWiNFO and ASUS GPU Tweak. Whenever I enter a different number for memory and click apply, it goes back to +1100MHz (8200 MHz) so something has gone wrong!

just uninstall GPU tweak, it's more often than not broken. Afterburner is much more reliable, and yes brand of software doesn't stop them from working.

 

Might want to do something with the VRM temperatures tho, dust clog or lacking VRM heatsink?

[Guy Marshall]

Just now, Jurrunio said:

just uninstall GPU tweak, it's more often than not broken. Afterburner is much more reliable, and yes brand of software doesn't stop them from working.

 

Might want to do something with the VRM temperatures tho, dust clog or lacking VRM heatsink?

Yeah it's a piece of garbage this software! I expected that because the card is ASUS there would be some magic between software and hardware, but it keeps crashing and being annoying so definitely going back to afterburner or gigabyte's! I have reinstalled it and it lets me change it at least!

 

On a side note, is the ASUS ROG Furmark artifact scanner any good? I have tried it a bit and it showed artifacting going from +110 to +120 core, but not from +500 memory to +1100!

[Jurrunio]

5 minutes ago, Guy Marshall said:

ASUS ROG Furmark artifact scanner any good?

I wont run Furmark or any of its derivatives like MSI Kombustor since they don't reflect situation in gaming loads. Artifact scanner... not as good as my eyes. Flickers and odd colours stand out on their own, no need for some dumb software for that

[Guy Marshall]

Just now, Jurrunio said:

I wont run Furmark or any of its derivatives like MSI Kombustor since they don't reflect situation in gaming loads. Artifact scanner... not as good as my eyes. Flickers and odd colours stand out on their own, no need for some dumb software for that

You make a great point! I tested and it is stable at +1100 MHz memory in shadow of the tomb raider, tomb raider, minecraft with ray tracing, GTA V and Crysis 3! 

[bkrownd]

 

  I had my Strix 970 bumped up to 1400 MHz core and +500 on the memory with GPUTweak, before I swapped to a newer card this weekend, but I never pushed it far enough to get artifacts, or tried tweaking core voltage or really stressing it at all.  I might try it again a bit more agressively in a second build if I start feeling spendy. 

[dgsddfgdfhgs]

9 hours ago, Guy Marshall said:

You make a great point! I tested and it is stable at +1100 MHz memory in shadow of the tomb raider, tomb raider, minecraft with ray tracing, GTA V and Crysis 3! 

I think any custom 970 can to up to ~1450MHz with ease

 

before reapply thermal paste artifects around 1450

now my msi gaming x hover 1480~1493 most the time, mem +450