New to Graphics Cards & Benchmarking

[Coeleborn]

The EVGA GTX 750 Ti FTW I have in my Core 2 Duo setup is my 1st graphics card, even though I've had PCs since a 286SX in 1992. Until lately, they've always been too expensive for what I was using my computer for, &/or the one I wanted was simply incompatible with my other hardware. I have questions about benchmarking software. I have Fire Strike, Heaven & Valley. I can run one overclocking profile for both Fire Strike & Heaven, but it takes a completely different profile for Valley. Am I correct in assuming that my Fire Strike/Heaven profile would best be used for gaming, while the Valley profile would best be used for video production &/or 3D rendering? Or would the Fire Strike/Heaven profile be best used with 3D rendering also & the Valley profile only for video production? I guess what I'm asking is exactly what should my different overclocking profiles be used for? Surely you wouldn't use a Valley benchmarked profile for gaming --- or would you?

[Nup]

Hey there, welcome to the forums 

 

Are you OCing through the benchmarking programs? 

 

If so you could get an external Ocing program (Msi afterburner is a good one) and use that to Oc and set profiles, and test through all the different benchmarks until you get a good Oc that is happy and stable across all of them. 

[Coeleborn]

Hey there, welcome to the forums 

 

Are you OCing through the benchmarking programs? 

 

If so you could get an external Ocing program (Msi afterburner is a good one) and use that to Oc and set profiles, and test through all the different benchmarks until you get a good Oc that is happy and stable across all of them. 

No, I benchmark after using Precision X to overclock.

I use GPUZ to check performance while running benchmarks in Basic.

[Demorthus]

It sounds somewhat funny as you mentioned it as far as if you would use a benchmark such as Valley to test your OC & use it for gaming. Yet as previously mentioned before yes you would. I also recommend MSI AfterBurner. When it comes to OC'ing you want to test it on a range of different benchmarks to make sure it will be the most reliable.

 

Example: I could test my OC on Valley & it won't crash. Yet while I play Battlefield 4 it'll crash. Or it'll pass FurMark but fail when I try playing Counterstrike..

 

For my testing I use Valley, 3DMark (Extreme & Ultra preset~ your setup will vary)(mainly to compare against others..I know, I'm vain.), FurMark.

 

When you run different tests you will see (if it's the case) where the GPU is starting to need help or in need to back down. In a benchmark you may need more voltage than what you'll need when you're playing oh-say Tetris. Or your base clock is too high but you're not pumping enough voltage for when it does ramp up suddenly = crash. etc etc..

[Nup]

No, I benchmark after using Precision X to overclock.

 

Ah, i see, sorry about that, misread your post. 

 

I think that different benchmarks results don't correlate to types of work loads (at least not gaming ones, i'm sure ones for specific applications do exist.) 

 

What I tend to do is fiddle around with an OC in valley and when its stable, I then go test it in separate games (or applications, if that was needed) to make sure it's stable in those too. Later I can tweak each OC for each game I run. 

 

Keeping one profile for stock setting (always handy to have), one for a general, all round OC that will give a small but safe and stable Oc throughout more or less everythin. And the couple leftover profiles for my most payed games with tweaked OCs. 

 

I hope this answers your question. 

 

TL;DR either go for one good over all OC, or tweak for each thing you use

 

@Demorthus covered it well too.