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GPU Overclocking Discussion Thread

MEC-777
By MEC-777
in Graphics Cards
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Recently I've been conflicted about GPU overclocking. It's a great way to boost performance, but there's also a negative side to doing so. 

 

My 7950 recently died, I believe, partly as a result of overclocking, even though it's temperatures were totally under control (under 55 degrees at full load). But I can't really say for sure because it's always had the odd hick up and strange behavior on occasion before I even tried OCing, so perhaps it's premature death was in the cards to begin with and by OCing it, that just pushed it too far.

 

Anyways, I'm just curious because there's a lot of emphasis and discussion on GPU overclocking, even with brand new parts being released. Reviewers are hitting 1500mhz on the GTX 970 without much drama. But how stable/safe is it to continue running a 970 at 1500mhz? Personally, I would think a mild OC of maybe +150mhz above factory clocks would be a safe, reasonable bump that shouldn't stress the GPU to an early end. That's what I thought I had done with my 7950, but that didn't work out too well.

 

So while trying to figure out which GTX 970 to purchase, I'm wondering if I should go with one of the cheaper cards and give it a very safe and mild OC and leave it at that, or buy a more expensive factory OC'd card and let it run as-is, OR OC it even further but not to the extreme. What do you guys think? Do you own or prefer a factory OC card and do you run it even faster just for kicks? 

 

Is GPU overclocking even worth it, given the risks?

 

 

Discuss...

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What risks

 

Are you saying overclocking is risk-free?

My Systems:

Main - Work + Gaming:

Spoiler

Woodland Raven: Ryzen 2700X // AMD Wraith RGB // Asus Prime X570-P // G.Skill 2x 8GB 3600MHz DDR4 // Radeon RX Vega 56 // Crucial P1 NVMe 1TB M.2 SSD // Deepcool DQ650-M // chassis build in progress // Windows 10 // Thrustmaster TMX + G27 pedals & shifter

F@H Rig:

Spoiler

FX-8350 // Deepcool Neptwin // MSI 970 Gaming // AData 2x 4GB 1600 DDR3 // 2x Gigabyte RX-570 4G's // Samsung 840 120GB SSD // Cooler Master V650 // Windows 10

 

HTPC:

Spoiler

SNES PC (HTPC): i3-4150 @3.5 // Gigabyte GA-H87N-Wifi // G.Skill 2x 4GB DDR3 1600 // Asus Dual GTX 1050Ti 4GB OC // AData SP600 128GB SSD // Pico 160XT PSU // Custom SNES Enclosure // 55" LG LED 1080p TV  // Logitech wireless touchpad-keyboard // Windows 10 // Build Log

Laptops:

Spoiler

MY DAILY: Lenovo ThinkPad T410 // 14" 1440x900 // i5-540M 2.5GHz Dual-Core HT // Intel HD iGPU + Quadro NVS 3100M 512MB dGPU // 2x4GB DDR3L 1066 // Mushkin Triactor 480GB SSD // Windows 10

 

WIFE'S: Dell Latitude E5450 // 14" 1366x768 // i5-5300U 2.3GHz Dual-Core HT // Intel HD5500 // 2x4GB RAM DDR3L 1600 // 500GB 7200 HDD // Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon

 

EXPERIMENTAL: Pinebook // 11.6" 1080p // Manjaro KDE (ARM)

NAS:

Spoiler

Home NAS: Pentium G4400 @3.3 // Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 // 2x 4GB DDR4 2400 // Intel HD Graphics // Kingston A400 120GB SSD // 3x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200 HDDs in RAID-Z // Cooler Master Silent Pro M 1000w PSU // Antec Performance Plus 1080AMG // FreeNAS OS

 

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Well nvidia puts limits so you dont fry your card so anything under that shouldnt really damage your card, but don't quote me on it. Increasing heat and voltage both lower lifespan but I feel it is worth it as most people don't keep their card for like 10 years. After a few years most will upgrade again so why not get the most out of your card?

Desktop: The Bluez | CPU: i5-3570k @ 4.5 ghz 1.296V | CPU Cooler: Hyper 212 Evo | Motherboard: P8Z77 M-Pro | Memory: 16 GB 1600Mhz Kingston HyperX  


GPU: Asus GTX 780ti DirectCu II | HDD: Some Random Hitachi 1TB, WD Blue 1TB, 850 EVO 500GB | PSU: Rosewill Hive 750W | Case: Enermax Ostrog GT (Blue Ver.) 


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Well nvidia puts limits so you dont fry your card so anything under that shouldnt really damage your card, but don't quote me on it. Increasing heat and voltage both lower lifespan but I feel it is worth it as most people don't keep their card for like 10 years. After a few years most will upgrade again so why not get the most out of your card?

I change cards every year so i think it is worth OC'ing. I am also a OC addict though. 4.8ghz 4790K and a 1590Mhz 970........soon to be 1600!!  :P

You can't be serious.  Hyperthreading is a market joke?

 

 

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I change cards every year so i think it is worth OC'ing. I am also a OC addict though. 4.8ghz 4790K and a 1590Mhz 970........soon to be 1600!! :P

Damn those are some nice overclocks :)

I've been a little too busy to properly overclock my 780ti...

Desktop: The Bluez | CPU: i5-3570k @ 4.5 ghz 1.296V | CPU Cooler: Hyper 212 Evo | Motherboard: P8Z77 M-Pro | Memory: 16 GB 1600Mhz Kingston HyperX  


GPU: Asus GTX 780ti DirectCu II | HDD: Some Random Hitachi 1TB, WD Blue 1TB, 850 EVO 500GB | PSU: Rosewill Hive 750W | Case: Enermax Ostrog GT (Blue Ver.) 


Laptop: Razer Blade 14 2013 256GB

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What can possibly go wrong with overclocking a high-end nvidia GPU

Well, I've only had personal experience with OCing AMD GPUs. But from what I've encountered and researched, if you push any GPU too far (in terms of frequency, voltage etc) you start to get artifacting, strange flashes on the screen and even display freezing/shutting down. That can't be good for the GPU. 

 

I guess these new Nvidia 900's have better fail-safe measures put in place because I've heard reviewers say when they try to push the GPU further, it just doesn't hit the mark and down-clocks to within "safe limits". Guess I shouldn't worry too much about it. Depending on which 970 I get, I run it to at least 1400 or so and just leave it there. If I ever upgrade to 1440p or more, at least I know there should still be a little more performance left on the table to squeeze out of it then. 

 

Anyways, thanks for your input, guys n gals. Not too many votes in the poll, but it's enough to show that most of you are overclockers. :)

My Systems:

Main - Work + Gaming:

Spoiler

Woodland Raven: Ryzen 2700X // AMD Wraith RGB // Asus Prime X570-P // G.Skill 2x 8GB 3600MHz DDR4 // Radeon RX Vega 56 // Crucial P1 NVMe 1TB M.2 SSD // Deepcool DQ650-M // chassis build in progress // Windows 10 // Thrustmaster TMX + G27 pedals & shifter

F@H Rig:

Spoiler

FX-8350 // Deepcool Neptwin // MSI 970 Gaming // AData 2x 4GB 1600 DDR3 // 2x Gigabyte RX-570 4G's // Samsung 840 120GB SSD // Cooler Master V650 // Windows 10

 

HTPC:

Spoiler

SNES PC (HTPC): i3-4150 @3.5 // Gigabyte GA-H87N-Wifi // G.Skill 2x 4GB DDR3 1600 // Asus Dual GTX 1050Ti 4GB OC // AData SP600 128GB SSD // Pico 160XT PSU // Custom SNES Enclosure // 55" LG LED 1080p TV  // Logitech wireless touchpad-keyboard // Windows 10 // Build Log

Laptops:

Spoiler

MY DAILY: Lenovo ThinkPad T410 // 14" 1440x900 // i5-540M 2.5GHz Dual-Core HT // Intel HD iGPU + Quadro NVS 3100M 512MB dGPU // 2x4GB DDR3L 1066 // Mushkin Triactor 480GB SSD // Windows 10

 

WIFE'S: Dell Latitude E5450 // 14" 1366x768 // i5-5300U 2.3GHz Dual-Core HT // Intel HD5500 // 2x4GB RAM DDR3L 1600 // 500GB 7200 HDD // Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon

 

EXPERIMENTAL: Pinebook // 11.6" 1080p // Manjaro KDE (ARM)

NAS:

Spoiler

Home NAS: Pentium G4400 @3.3 // Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 // 2x 4GB DDR4 2400 // Intel HD Graphics // Kingston A400 120GB SSD // 3x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200 HDDs in RAID-Z // Cooler Master Silent Pro M 1000w PSU // Antec Performance Plus 1080AMG // FreeNAS OS

 

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Well, I've only had personal experience with OCing AMD GPUs. But from what I've encountered and researched, if you push any GPU too far (in terms of frequency, voltage etc) you start to get artifacting, strange flashes on the screen and even display freezing/shutting down. That can't be good for the GPU. 

 

I guess these new Nvidia 900's have better fail-safe measures put in place because I've heard reviewers say when they try to push the GPU further, it just doesn't hit the mark and down-clocks to within "safe limits". Guess I shouldn't worry too much about it. Depending on which 970 I get, I run it to at least 1400 or so and just leave it there. If I ever upgrade to 1440p or more, at least I know there should still be a little more performance left on the table to squeeze out of it then. 

 

Anyways, thanks for your input, guys n gals. Not too many votes in the poll, but it's enough to show that most of you are overclockers. :)

Don't worry my offsets were incredibly high due some bug, it ended up in my GPU not being able to display anything on the screen. It doesn't get damaged

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Well, I've only had personal experience with OCing AMD GPUs. But from what I've encountered and researched, if you push any GPU too far (in terms of frequency, voltage etc) you start to get artifacting, strange flashes on the screen and even display freezing/shutting down. That can't be good for the GPU.

I guess these new Nvidia 900's have better fail-safe measures put in place because I've heard reviewers say when they try to push the GPU further, it just doesn't hit the mark and down-clocks to within "safe limits". Guess I shouldn't worry too much about it. Depending on which 970 I get, I run it to at least 1400 or so and just leave it there. If I ever upgrade to 1440p or more, at least I know there should still be a little more performance left on the table to squeeze out of it then.

Anyways, thanks for your input, guys n gals. Not too many votes in the poll, but it's enough to show that most of you are overclockers. :)

I have been pushing my 970 like crazy and when i have gone to far i just get driver crashes. It wont ruin it @ 1.25v anyway. It Cant even hit the power limit on these cards yet. I have mine stable @ 1590/8000. Doesnt get any hotter than 62c.

If you were on a unlocked bios then you would be able to overvolt it. That could cause some damage

You can't be serious.  Hyperthreading is a market joke?

 

 

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