Quick question about overclocking

[ping4k]

Im just getting into overclocking my 3060.

 

While overclocking, at a certain core clock MSI Kombustor crashes, allthough the gpu temp is at 65c max.

 

Does that mean that the gpu isnt running at its full potential?

 

I read that nvidia gpu's are still fine at 80-85c, so there should theoretically be some room to play with, right?

 

Also, Ive only changed the Core clock and memory clock in small increments and I left the fan speed at around 50. I havent touched the voltage.

 

Build:

KFA2 RTX 3060 EX OC

Ryzen 5600X

MSI B550 Tomahawk

16gb Corsair Vengeance RAM, 3200

1tb m.2 SSD Seagate FireCuda 510

Corsair icue 4000x

6x Corsair sp 120 elite

Be quiet dark rock 4

Corsair TX650M, 650w

[Levent]

3 minutes ago, ping4k said:

Does that mean that the gpu isnt running at its full potential?

It only means it is not stable (meaning you might need more or depending on your GPU core less voltage). Lack of stability can be due to GPU temperature (hotspot is also important for recent GPUs), VRM temperature, VRAM clocks and temperature and power supply.

[Chris Pratt]

Both temperature and voltage are limiting factors. There's a frequency voltage curve the GPU follows to determine how much frequency to push at any given voltage. If you undervolt the GPU you can potentially extend the curve, giving more voltage headroom to obtain higher frequencies, but it needs to still be enough voltage to drive that given frequency.

 

In short, temperature only matters if it gets too hot and has to throttle back, as a result. If you're keeping it sufficiently cool, that removes a potential limitation, but it doesn't mean it can just go wild. There's other limiting factors.