What are the risks of overclocking a Graphics cards?

[Amateur Gamer]

So i have an Msi gtx 1070 quicksilver and i'd like to try out overclocking if possible.

I don't really have experience with overclocking. So far i have only overclocked my cpu (i5 6600k to 4,5 GHz) but this seems much more complicated.

 

I'd like to know what could happen and just in general what should i not mess with.

I heard that the Msi afterburner is a great overclocking tool but if you guys have any other suggestions feel free to tell me

[Wolly9102]

you heard right, use Msi afterbuner, Only thing you need to is adjust core and memory sliders however you wish

[Badger906]

if you push a gpu to far, by either over volting or pushing the core clock too high, your computer will just crash or bluescreen.

as long as theres enough cooling and the gpu doesnt get excessively hot (it will throttle regardless at that point) then youve nothing to worry about.

 

ive always used afterburner combines with kombuster. the fuzzy ring of death is great.

 

overclocking a gpu is super easy. just increase the core frequency by 5 to 10mhz at a time and run a stress test. keep increasing till it crashes, when i does try increasing the voltage a little and see if it still crashes. if it does, back it off 5 to 10mhz and run a stress test for an hour or so.

monitor temps and see if its throttling itself.

[ELSknutson]

the risk is you will get more performance and we cant have that now.

 

[JohnVHSTapes]

As long as you use programs like MSI Afterburner, then you can't really hurt it.

[DildorTheDecent]

5 minutes ago, Amateur Gamer said:

So i have an Msi gtx 1070 quicksilver and i'd like to try out overclocking if possible.

I don't really have experience with overclocking. So far i have only overclocked my cpu (i5 6600k to 4,5 GHz) but this seems much more complicated.

 

I'd like to know what could happen and just in general what should i not mess with.

I heard that the Msi afterburner is a great overclocking tool but if you guys have any other suggestions feel free to tell me

Overclocking a GPU carries more or less the same risks as overclocking a CPU. Life span, power and heat. Life span really isn't going to be affected much since you'll have ditched that card long before it actually dies. The GPU may also tun tad hotter and consume a bit more power, but these are easily solved with aftermarket air or water. 

 

If you want to overclock the GPU properly, take in steps of 13MHz. The reason why 13MHz is used is because the GPU is binned in steps of 13. So 13, 26, 39 and so on and so forth. This was introduced in Kepler and has stuck ever since. 

 

13MHz steps in a 780 Ti BIOS: http://www.overclock.net/t/1438886/official-nvidia-gtx-780-ti-owners-club/1960#post_21192200

 

[Amateur Gamer]

16 minutes ago, Badger906 said:

if you push a gpu to far, by either over volting or pushing the core clock too high, your computer will just crash or bluescreen.

as long as theres enough cooling and the gpu doesnt get excessively hot (it will throttle regardless at that point) then youve nothing to worry about.

 

ive always used afterburner combines with kombuster. the fuzzy ring of death is great.

 

overclocking a gpu is super easy. just increase the core frequency by 5 to 10mhz at a time and run a stress test. keep increasing till it crashes, when i does try increasing the voltage a little and see if it still crashes. if it does, back it off 5 to 10mhz and run a stress test for an hour or so.

monitor temps and see if its throttling itself.

What do i do if my pc crashes or bluescreens?

 

[Amateur Gamer]

10 minutes ago, DildorTheDecent said:

Overclocking a GPU carries more or less the same risks as overclocking a CPU. Life span, power and heat. Life span really isn't going to be affected much since you'll have ditched that card long before it actually dies. The GPU may also tun tad hotter and consume a bit more power, but these are easily solved with aftermarket air or water. 

 

If you want to overclock the GPU properly, take in steps of 13MHz. The reason why 13MHz is used is because the GPU is binned in steps of 13. So 13, 26, 39 and so on and so forth. This was introduced in Kepler and has stuck ever since. 

 

13MHz steps in a 780 Ti BIOS: http://www.overclock.net/t/1438886/official-nvidia-gtx-780-ti-owners-club/1960#post_21192200

 

Are there any good Youtubers or maybe articles who know a lot or focus on overclocking?

[Badger906]

4 minutes ago, Amateur Gamer said:

What do i do if my pc crashes or bluescreens?

 

Just lower the overclock slightly and test again 

[Amateur Gamer]

Just now, Badger906 said:

Just lower the overclock slightly and test again 

Oh so i can just boot back up no problem?

That's reassuring to hear.

[Biggerboot]

If you don't touch the voltages then there's very little risk associated with it.  Just keep tweaking the core and memory in MSI afterburner till you get something that runs as stable/quiet as you want.

 

If you start messing with the voltage or power limit I would start googling the specific card you want to OC and see what voltage people generally recommend.

[Biggerboot]

3 minutes ago, Amateur Gamer said:

Oh so i can just boot back up no problem?

That's reassuring to hear.

Your card is only hitting those settings under load so it's fine.

[Amateur Gamer]

1 minute ago, Biggerboot said:

Your card is only hitting those settings under load so it's fine.

I see...thanks!

[DildorTheDecent]

56 minutes ago, Amateur Gamer said:

Are there any good Youtubers or maybe articles who know a lot or focus on overclocking?

Overclock.Net should have a GTX 1070 OC article or at least a Pascal OC article. You can use OC settings from a different manufacturer since most cards are going to easily hit 2000MHz boost.

 

Alternatively you can ask people in the Unigine Valley and Superposition thread for settings to try out. Its more active than the 3DMark thread. 

I think that the only way to really learn how to OC is to just do it yourself especially with how simple GPU OC actually is.  Add clock until it show instability by or artifacting crashing and then add some voltage if you want to go really fast. 

[i_build_nanosuits]

1 hour ago, Amateur Gamer said:

I'd like to know what could happen and just in general what should i not mess with.

nothing can happen other than the directX display driver crash or system lock uo...in which case just reboot and try with slightly lower values.

i would indeed use afterburner.

[SkilledRebuilds]

How much does it Boost by itself without any OC values added?

 

Is it really worth it when GPU Boost 3.0 does in fact overclock the card to "near its max"......90% of your Overclock right off the bat? <-- guesstimate number

 

Prior to Boost3.0 I see many reasons to OC NV-GPU's, but since GPU Boost does most of it for you, people may think they are going to get more than they do get.

Absolutely a person to person perspective.... but if its boosting to 1850-1950Mhz on its own, I'd be happy with that as is when OC's only add another 100Mhz or so and only gaining a few FPS.

 

#EachtoHisOwnMethods

[Princess Luna]

None as long as you don't touch vcore

[Amateur Gamer]

17 hours ago, SkilledRebuilds said:

How much does it Boost by itself without any OC values added?

 

Is it really worth it when GPU Boost 3.0 does in fact overclock the card to "near its max"......90% of your Overclock right off the bat? <-- guesstimate number

 

Prior to Boost3.0 I see many reasons to OC NV-GPU's, but since GPU Boost does most of it for you, people may think they are going to get more than they do get.

Absolutely a person to person perspective.... but if its boosting to 1850-1950Mhz on its own, I'd be happy with that as is when OC's only add another 100Mhz or so and only gaining a few FPS.

 

#EachtoHisOwnMethods

I ran Unigine Heaven and got these results.

 

Edit: I'm using the OC mode in the gaming app.

Edited April 25, 2017 by Amateur Gamer