First time OC GTX970

[Kylie]

So first time overclocking a GPU. Was wondering if I could get some tips or videos programs to use to test etc, any help is welcomed.

 

I have NO clue as to how to OC a GPU my specs are as follows. 

 

 

 

• CPU: Intel i5-4690K Stock
• CPU: Cooler: CM Hyper T4 Air cooler
• Thermal compound: Arctic Silver 5
• Motherboard: MSI G55-Z97 SLI
• GPU: EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX
• Case: NZXT Switch 810 white
• PSU: EVGA Supernova NEX G1 650W 
• RAM: 2x4GBs 1600MHz DDR3 "Cheapo ram"
• Boot drive: Samsung 840 EVO 120gb
• Game drive: WD Black 1TB 2014 
• Storage drive: Seagate Barracuda 2TB
• Media drive: WD Blue 500GB 2015 model
• OS: Windows 10 Pro
• Keyboard: CM Storm Devastator combo
• Gaming pad: Razer Tartarus RGB Chroma

 

[Enderman]

[marldorthegreat]

 

So first time overclocking a GPU. Was wondering if I could get some tips or videos programs to use to test etc, any help is welcomed.

 

I have NO clue as to how to OC a GPU my specs are as follows. 

 

 

 

• CPU: Intel i5-4690K Stock
• CPU: Cooler: CM Hyper T4 Air cooler
• Thermal compound: Arctic Silver 5
• Motherboard: MSI G55-Z97 SLI
• GPU: EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX
• Case: NZXT Switch 810 white
• PSU: EVGA Supernova NEX G1 650W 
• RAM: 2x4GBs 1600MHz DDR3 "Cheapo ram"
• Boot drive: Samsung 840 EVO 120gb
• Game drive: WD Black 1TB 2014 
• Storage drive: Seagate Barracuda 2TB
• Media drive: WD Blue 500GB 2015 model
• OS: Windows 10 Pro
• Keyboard: CM Storm Devastator combo
• Gaming pad: Razer Tartarus RGB Chroma

 

Whats the point, really. It achieves slightly better performance, at much higher temps, and louder fans. Let GPU boost handle it.

[TheElt]

Whats the point, really. It achieves slightly better performance, at much higher temps, and louder fans. Let GPU boost handle it.

You can manual OC much further than GPU Boost can do, it's a bit naff really. My 970 does 1329MHz out the box and won't boost higher on it's own, but it's more than stable up at 1560MHz with a quiet fan profile. The performance increase is huge, the temp increase isn't major unless you have a blower card or you ramp up voltages, and you can set a custom fan curve to keep the fans slow.

 

OP, start with something such as Unigine Valley or Haven, increase the core in steps of 10MHz and the memory in steps of 25MHz (You can start at +400 if your card has Samsung or Hynix memory) until you get artifacting or driver resets, let it run for a few minutes before increasing again. Scale back 10-15MHz from that point and let it run for a bit, then try some games or some 3D Mark runs to make sure that OC is perfectly stable.

[Monarch]

You can manual OC much further than GPU Boost can do, it's a bit naff really. My 970 does 1329MHz out the box and won't boost higher on it's own, but it's more than stable up at 1560MHz with a quiet fan profile. The performance increase is huge, the temp increase isn't major unless you have a blower card or you ramp up voltages, and you can set a custom fan curve to keep the fans slow.

 

OP, start with something such as Unigine Valley or Haven, increase the core in steps of 10MHz and the memory in steps of 25MHz (You can start at +400 if your card has Samsung or Hynix memory) until you get artifacting or driver resets, let it run for a few minutes before increasing again. Scale back 10-15MHz from that point and let it run for a bit, then try some games or some 3D Mark runs to make sure that OC is perfectly stable.

 

I wouldn't recommend going past 1500 MHz though, not without a custom BIOS. If you OC too much there's a high chance you will get crashes at lower clocks, for example when a game/benchmark test is loading.

[TheElt]

I wouldn't recommend going past 1500 MHz though, not without a custom BIOS. If you OC too much there's a high chance you will get crashes at lower clocks, for example when a game/benchmark test is loading.

You're fine going as high as your card is stable. Stock speeds vs a custom BIOS to get me to 1600MHz there is no difference in stability in everything. If something crashes then your overclock isn't stable and you need to dial it back.

[Kylie]

You can manual OC much further than GPU Boost can do, it's a bit naff really. My 970 does 1329MHz out the box and won't boost higher on it's own, but it's more than stable up at 1560MHz with a quiet fan profile. The performance increase is huge, the temp increase isn't major unless you have a blower card or you ramp up voltages, and you can set a custom fan curve to keep the fans slow.

 

OP, start with something such as Unigine Valley or Haven, increase the core in steps of 10MHz and the memory in steps of 25MHz (You can start at +400 if your card has Samsung or Hynix memory) until you get artifacting or driver resets, let it run for a few minutes before increasing again. Scale back 10-15MHz from that point and let it run for a bit, then try some games or some 3D Mark runs to make sure that OC is perfectly stable.

 

Thanks for this, What tool should I use to overclock? My card is EVGA but a lot of sites recommend MSI after burner ?  And JayZ2cents recently did a video too. 

[TheElt]

Thanks for this, What tool should I use to overclock? My card is EVGA but a lot of sites recommend MSI after burner ? And JayZ2cents recently did a video too.

MSI Afterburner is probably the most common you see people using, it's the most user friendly especially for people new to overclocking.

If you've got a good card it should boost past 1500MHz, if it's an average card it'll pass 1450MHz

[seen19]

Definitely MSI afterburner it's a great application. I would recommend that you set a fan profile where your temps don't exceed 80C to ensure maximum longevity of your card.  

[Monarch]

You're fine going as high as your card is stable. Stock speeds vs a custom BIOS to get me to 1600MHz there is no difference in stability in everything. If something crashes then your overclock isn't stable and you need to dial it back.

 

The problem is that when you OC, the whole boost table shifts, and yet voltage ranges assigned to each CLK remain the same. This causes instability at lower CLKs and is harder to diagnose, as you get crashes while doing non-intensive tasks, like loading a game/stress test. You shouldnt OC Nvidia GPUs too much even if the chip is capable, unless you modify the BIOS and shift voltage ranges as well.

[TheElt]

The problem is that when you OC, the whole boost table shifts, and yet voltage ranges assigned to each CLK remain the same. This causes instability at lower CLKs and is harder to diagnose, as you get crashes while doing non-intensive tasks, like loading a game/stress test. You shouldnt OC Nvidia GPUs too much even if the chip is capable, unless you modify the BIOS and shift voltage ranges as well.

It only adjusts the boost table for the P0 state, which is full clocks, it does not adjust any other state from it's stock value.

 

For me at stock speeds, when a game is loading the card will clock up to 1177MHz @1v, and then when demand calls for it, it will boost to P0 and go up to the default 1329MHz. With a 1600MHz OC, when a game is loading the card will again clock up to 1177MHz @1v, and then boost all the way to 1600MHz. It is safe to run a card up to it's maximum stable clocks if you can handle the temperatures, and with Maxwell if you can keep the card cold enough to boost to what you want stable

[Monarch]

It only adjusts the boost table for the P0 state, which is full clocks, it does not adjust any other state from it's stock value.

 

For me at stock speeds, when a game is loading the card will clock up to 1177MHz @1v, and then when demand calls for it, it will boost to P0 and go up to the default 1329MHz. With a 1600MHz OC, when a game is loading the card will again clock up to 1177MHz @1v, and then boost all the way to 1600MHz. It is safe to run a card up to it's maximum stable clocks if you can handle the temperatures, and with Maxwell if you can keep the card cold enough to boost to what you want stable

 

It sounds like you disabled boost 2.0. The GPU is supposed to switch between CLKs more gradually. I often find my clocks to be in between 1177 and 1418 (which is the max default CLK speed), depending on what's going on. 

But when you OC the GPU, the whole boost table shifts. You don't just change the highest clock speed. So for example, say your card boosts to CLK 63 by default. That's 1380 MHz. When you add +150 MHz with Afterburner, the whole table shifts so that CLK 63 becomes 1380+150=1530. Even if you OC trough Bios, the only way to do it is to shift the whole boost table. But then, for example, CLK 47 is no longer 1177 MHz, but 1329, and yet the voltage ranges assigned to each CLK remain the same. This will obviously cause instability. So you need to shift the whole boost CLK voltage table as well, which are CLK 35-74.

[TheElt]

It sounds like you disabled boost 2.0. The GPU is supposed to switch between CLKs more gradually. I often find my clocks to be in between 1177 and 1418 (which is the max default CLK speed), depending on what's going on. 

But when you OC the GPU, the whole boost table shifts. You don't just change the highest clock speed. So for example, say your card boosts to CLK 63 by default. That's 1380 MHz. When you add +150 MHz with Afterburner, the whole table shifts so that CLK 63 becomes 1380+150=1530. Even if you OC trough Bios, the only way to do it is to shift the whole boost table. But then, for example, CLK 47 is no longer 1177 MHz, but 1329, and yet the voltage ranges assigned to each CLK remain the same. This will obviously cause instability. So you need to shift the whole boost CLK voltage table as well, which are CLK 35-74.

Nope, only change to the BIOS I run 24/7 is 0% fan speeds, everything else is stock.

 

The most shift I can see is a single step in between 1177MHz and the max boost clock, be it with overclock or not. If you're getting crashes from it boosting wrong, then try finding your max without adding voltage. But I've never had an issue with it on my 970 or my 760, and never heard of it being a problem for anyone else until now