1st GPU Overclock Ever

[PaulwallM3]

Whats up everyone! First post. I watched all of Linus' videos and I finally realized there is a forum!   You guys are my heroes. Took me long enough. So this is my first build, and I finally decided to see if this strix can overclock. Im trying not to fry it, ideally. This needs to be a long term overclock, and if I pass my test on thursday, Im ordering another 970 to SLI as my present lol. I know its up in the air with that card, but hey Im running GTA 5 like a beast on very high/ultra. 

 

I set GPU Tweak to these settings

 

GPU Boost +200:               1453

Max GPU Voltage +38:      1213

Memory Clock +490:          7500

Power Target:                    120

GPU Temp Target:             91

 

Valley scored me 65.1 fps, 2707 score, minimum 35 fps, max 118 fps. The GPU never seems to pass 67 degrees. Is that normal? Can I squeeze more out of it safely? Linus and Lukes google docs spreadsheet show that they had their overclock voltage at 1265. Kinda worried me so I kept mine at 1213

 

Thanks for the advice

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

 

Valley scored me 65.1 fps, 2707 score, minimum 35 fps, max 118 fps. The GPU never seems to pass 67 degrees. Is that normal? Can I squeeze more out of it safely? Linus and Lukes google docs spreadsheet show that they had their overclock voltage at 1265. Kinda worried me so I kept mine at 1213

 

Thanks for the advice

anything under 100C is technically safe, but I like to stay under 85C. you have plenty of room left.

raise your voltages, then raise your clock speed to where you want it. then slowly lower your voltages back down until you get game crashes. once you get game crashes, raise it back to the last stop you tested and use that. if later you get game crashes, add a few more mV, and if that doesn't work you might have to lower your clock speed a little bit.

[PaulwallM3]

anything under 100C is technically safe, but I like to stay under 85C. you have plenty of room left.

raise your voltages, then raise your clock speed to where you want it. then slowly lower your voltages back down until you get game crashes. once you get game crashes, raise it back to the last stop you tested and use that. if later you get game crashes, add a few more mV, and if that doesn't work you might have to lower your clock speed a little bit.

 

 

That sounds good, Im gonna try it now. I must have the samsung GDDR5 right? If its overclocking that much. or is that a smallish overclock

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

 

 

 

That sounds good, Im gonna try it now. I must have the samsung GDDR5 right? If its overclocking that much. or is that a smallish overclock

 

I have no idea how different brands of GDDR5 respond to overclocks. that is a pretty decent overclock though.

[Mattrixx]

That sounds good, Im gonna try it now. I must have the samsung GDDR5 right? If its overclocking that much. or is that a smallish overclock

You most likely do. According to http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/327032-gtx-970-owners-club/ Hynix memory doesn't get any more than +200 or so. You can see it in GPUZ if you want to know though. Should be right next to the words GDDR5 on the latest version at least.

 

I got +380 on Elpida memory on my card, so maybe it could be that? They went bankrupt recently.....?

[AngryGoldfish]

You can view your brand of memory within GPU-Z. The ASUS Strix cards usually come stock with Samsung.

 

Your memory should be able to hit 8000Mhz if it is Samsung-made. That is the average (high) overclock most are able to achieve, as long as you didn't lose the silicon lottery that is. Elpida and Hynix memory, at leas this time around, net much lower overclocks (Samsung > Hynix > Elpida). My G1 Gaming 970 only hits 7600Mhz game-stable with Hynix-branded modules. I can reach 7800Mhz in certain synthetic tests, but that's purely for benchmarking and is not a 24/7 overclock.

 

Voltages are a little weird with the 970's. To fully unlock them you often have to modify the BIOS. That's what I had to do to stabilize my voltages. You could max the slider out in GPU Tweak and it would not damage the card. It might decrease its lifespan, but only with a slight degradation effect that may force you to lower your clock speeds by 10Mhz (arbitrary number) every year. Constant over-voltage is more likely to cause leakage than high temperatures.

 

Speaking of which, as said, your temperatures can go pretty high before they cause instability. However, the card will throttle depending on the BIOS. I'm not sure what the throttling point is on a Strix, but on my G1 Gaming it's 65°C. Whenever the GPU hits that mark, the core frequency throttles by 13Mhz. This is GPU Boost at play. I personally don't like it very much—and many in fact disable it and 'bake in' their max overclock—so I removed some of those restrictions within the BIOS.

 

What settings were you using in Valley? If everything was at maximum then your scores are the same as my top score—with a higher overclock. This is the silicon lottery. My card has failed, despite being able to to reach 1550/7800Mhz. I scored 65 FPS in Valley with that. Unless there is a bottleneck elsewhere in my system, or 200Mhz on the memory is enough to lower my scores by 7 frames, my silicon is not up to scratch, despite hitting high overclocking numbers. Which is what I learned this time around; frequency is not everything.

 

Based on this, my recommendation would be to aim for 1500 on the core and 8000Mhz on the memory. This is the sweet spot. If you can hit that, be very happy because based on your scores already, you should be able to to hit 70FPS within Valley and possibly 14,000 in Fire Strike (graphics score). Anything more than that is gravy and not always necessary.

 

To hit these scores, without throttling, open a utility that allows for precise frequency monitoring. MSI Afterburner, GPU-Z, HWiNFO64, etc. all offer this. Stick with your current speeds but bring your memory back down to stock. Work on your core frequency first. Run Valley a few times at 1450Mhz on the core and whatever voltage/TDP is stable. Note your scores all the way along those tests. As Valley is running, monitor your frequency. If at any point it throttles by 13Mhz, or any number for that matter, you are not 100% stable and GPU Boost is being limited in some many.

 

GPU-Z can tell you the reasons for this in the second-to-last box in the Monitor tab. PerfCap Reason allows you to see why GPU Boost is not boosting any higher. VRel, VOp, Pwr, etc. all are different reasons. There is a chart that explains what each reason is. If you are seeing nothing (except Util which is just GPU Boost clocking down during idle) then push your core clock to 1470Mhz and repeat the tests. Keep doing this until you hit 1500Mhz. If there are no signs of throttling, great. If there are, you may be limited to how stable you can get your scores without modifying your BIOS or doing some major tweaking. If you're at 1500Mhz with no throttling, artefacts, crashing, etc. then bring your memory back up to 7500Mhz and rerun the tests. Gradually keep increasing until you hit 8000Mhz. If you're not stable at 8000Mhz, more voltage may be required, but it probably won't be worth it unless you don't mind tweaking the BIOS voltages and flashing a custom-made BIOS, which if done wrong can bring your card and void your warranty.

[PaulwallM3]

You can view your brand of memory within GPU-Z. The ASUS Strix cards usually come stock with Samsung.

 

Your memory should be able to hit 8000Mhz if it is Samsung-made. That is the average (high) overclock most are able to achieve, as long as you didn't lose the silicon lottery that is. Elpida and Hynix memory, at leas this time around, net much lower overclocks (Samsung > Hynix > Elpida). My G1 Gaming 970 only hits 7600Mhz game-stable with Hynix-branded modules. I can reach 7800Mhz in certain synthetic tests, but that's purely for benchmarking and is not a 24/7 overclock.

 

Voltages are a little weird with the 970's. To fully unlock them you often have to modify the BIOS. That's what I had to do to stabilize my voltages. You could max the slider out in GPU Tweak and it would not damage the card. It might decrease its lifespan, but only with a slight degradation effect that may force you to lower your clock speeds by 10Mhz (arbitrary number) every year. Constant over-voltage is more likely to cause leakage than high temperatures.

 

Speaking of which, as said, your temperatures can go pretty high before they cause instability. However, the card will throttle depending on the BIOS. I'm not sure what the throttling point is on a Strix, but on my G1 Gaming it's 65°C. Whenever the GPU hits that mark, the core frequency throttles by 13Mhz. This is GPU Boost at play. I personally don't like it very much—and many in fact disable it and 'bake in' their max overclock—so I removed some of those restrictions within the BIOS.

 

What settings were you using in Valley? If everything was at maximum then your scores are the same as my top score—with a higher overclock. This is the silicon lottery. My card has failed, despite being able to to reach 1550/7800Mhz. I scored 65 FPS in Valley with that. Unless there is a bottleneck elsewhere in my system, or 200Mhz on the memory is enough to lower my scores by 7 frames, my silicon is not up to scratch, despite hitting high overclocking numbers. Which is what I learned this time around; frequency is not everything.

 

Based on this, my recommendation would be to aim for 1500 on the core and 8000Mhz on the memory. This is the sweet spot. If you can hit that, be very happy because based on your scores already, you should be able to to hit 70FPS within Valley and possibly 14,000 in Fire Strike (graphics score). Anything more than that is gravy and not always necessary.

 

To hit these scores, without throttling, open a utility that allows for precise frequency monitoring. MSI Afterburner, GPU-Z, HWiNFO64, etc. all offer this. Stick with your current speeds but bring your memory back down to stock. Work on your core frequency first. Run Valley a few times at 1450Mhz on the core and whatever voltage/TDP is stable. Note your scores all the way along those tests. As Valley is running, monitor your frequency. If at any point it throttles by 13Mhz, or any number for that matter, you are not 100% stable and GPU Boost is being limited in some many.

 

GPU-Z can tell you the reasons for this in the second-to-last box in the Monitor tab. PerfCap Reason allows you to see why GPU Boost is not boosting any higher. VRel, VOp, Pwr, etc. all are different reasons. There is a chart that explains what each reason is. If you are seeing nothing (except Util which is just GPU Boost clocking down during idle) then push your core clock to 1470Mhz and repeat the tests. Keep doing this until you hit 1500Mhz. If there are no signs of throttling, great. If there are, you may be limited to how stable you can get your scores without modifying your BIOS or doing some major tweaking. If you're at 1500Mhz with no throttling, artefacts, crashing, etc. then bring your memory back up to 7500Mhz and rerun the tests. Gradually keep increasing until you hit 8000Mhz. If you're not stable at 8000Mhz, more voltage may be required, but it probably won't be worth it unless you don't mind tweaking the BIOS voltages and flashing a custom-made BIOS, which if done wrong can bring your card and void your warranty.

 

Hey, your really knowledgable, Kudos. GPU Tweak sucks a major one, Ive had to uninstall, reinstall at least a couple times now, mess with compatibility settings. It will not open sometimes. So I switched to afterburner which is actually really legit, I didnt notice core voltage doing anything to the situation, the FPS stayed the same. Past +250 on the core clock, like +275, Valley crashes and GTA5 crashes. Is that because its not a MSI card and voltage does nothing? I have Core Clock at +250 and Memory Clock at +490. I cant for the life of me get hotter than 57 degrees still. Seems like a lot more headroom but, even with this stable setting (250/490) I am blown away with the results. Valley and Heaven gained 10 to 15 FPS, GTA 5 I used to only run it on Very High Settings for all things, with no extended shadows or flying detail (Or my FPS would drop for 60 to 30. NOW I can run everything balls to the wall except for Grass which is Very High instead of Ultra. But man, im impressed. Extended Shadows and Flying detail at the furthest settings and Im still no lower than 50 FPS. Strix is the pretty decent. It is Samsung GDDR5. Will post screenshots of Valley

[PaulwallM3]

<a href='http://linustechtips.com/main/gallery/image/20421-capture/'><imgsrc='http://linustechtips.com/main/uploads/gallery/album_2939/gallery_227866_2939_51755.jpg' alt='Capture' /></a>

[PaulwallM3]

Whats a good way to post screenshots? I uploaded it to my images

[Mattrixx]

Whats a good way to post screenshots? I uploaded it to my images

Or just upload it to Imgur and click "Image" on the reply/edit tab here and put in the URL.

[PaulwallM3]

[PaulwallM3]

Or just upload it to Imgur and click "Image" on the reply/edit tab here and put in the URL.

When you crank settings on Afterburner or GPU Tweak, does it add speed to the Base Clock or the Boost Clock?

[Mattrixx]

When you crank settings on Afterburner or GPU Tweak, does it add speed to the Base Clock or the Boost Clock?

Both. When you up the core clock, it'll boost higher.

[PaulwallM3]

Both. When you up the core clock, it'll boost higher.

Hey, thanks for your help. Im new to this stuff. So Im basically adding 250 to the base clock and 250 to the boost clock. So my boost is 1503. Is it safe to run it at that always? Im not seeing any artifacts or visual problems. I dont mind if the lifespan is shorter, I will probably upgrade often

[Mattrixx]

Hey, thanks for your help. Im new to this stuff. So Im basically adding 250 to the base clock and 250 to the boost clock. So my boost is 1503. Is it safe to run it at that always? Im not seeing any artifacts or visual problems. I dont mind if the lifespan is shorter, I will probably upgrade often

Np! Yes it is safe. And the life will be un-noticeably shortened. Not to mention it'll be covered by warranty anyway. It'll still last longer than you'll ever care to want it. What does really shorten the lifespan of a CPU or GPU is higher voltages and heat, but even there it's impossible to hurt it without a custom BIOS and hardware mods.

 

And yes, as long as there's no artifacts or driver crashes, you're good to go! The only time you'll have to worry about keeping an an OC for 24/7 use is if you used a custom BIOS and upped the voltage to something crazy over 1.3v. 

[AngryGoldfish]

Hey, your really knowledgable, Kudos. GPU Tweak sucks a major one, Ive had to uninstall, reinstall at least a couple times now, mess with compatibility settings. It will not open sometimes. So I switched to afterburner which is actually really legit, I didnt notice core voltage doing anything to the situation, the FPS stayed the same. Past +250 on the core clock, like +275, Valley crashes and GTA5 crashes. Is that because its not a MSI card and voltage does nothing? I have Core Clock at +250 and Memory Clock at +490. I cant for the life of me get hotter than 57 degrees still. Seems like a lot more headroom but, even with this stable setting (250/490) I am blown away with the results. Valley and Heaven gained 10 to 15 FPS, GTA 5 I used to only run it on Very High Settings for all things, with no extended shadows or flying detail (Or my FPS would drop for 60 to 30. NOW I can run everything balls to the wall except for Grass which is Very High instead of Ultra. But man, im impressed. Extended Shadows and Flying detail at the furthest settings and Im still no lower than 50 FPS. Strix is the pretty decent. It is Samsung GDDR5. Will post screenshots of Valley

 

I've never tried using GPU Tweak. Afterburner has always given me everything I needed, including system cataloguing. In normal circumstances, the brand of the GPU in unison with the brand of software used to overclock does not influence stability. Voltage manipulation will work just the same.

 

57°C is excellent for a Strix. That's less than my G1 Gaming which is usually the coolest of the major playas.

 

 

Hey, thanks for your help. Im new to this stuff. So Im basically adding 250 to the base clock and 250 to the boost clock. So my boost is 1503. Is it safe to run it at that always? Im not seeing any artifacts or visual problems. I dont mind if the lifespan is shorter, I will probably upgrade often

 

1503Mhz should pose practically zero degradation to the chip.

 

 

 

 

Excellent. You're higher than my top Valley score. Again silicon lottery. Unless there is a bottleneck somewhere else in my system, you have good silicon. If you're seeing no artefacts, crashing or throttling, run a 3-hour Fire Strike GPU test on repeat (note highest temperature and make sure you're not throttling) and game with a variety of different titles, old and new. That's your card overclocked. And even if you are throttling, it's not a terrible thing. It can cause some instability, but it mostly hampers amateur benchmarking numbers. It also annoys fiddly bastards like me.