Quick GPU over-clocking question!

Just wondering, hypothetically if I overclocked my GPU core clock and mem clock using evga precision X, would that mean that the frequency I set them to are constant, or will it stay as is and adaptively change the clock rate but with a higher maximum? If not then is there a setting or some method I could use to make it continue to adaptively change? Sorry if these seem like silly questions for someone thinking of overclocking, im new to it! haha!

You risk voiding your warranty and making the gpu unstable. You can also brick the gpu if not done properly.

Well hypothetically If I did do this at some point it would be in the distant future, considering how much trouble ive had with broken PC parts I dont really want to, was just looking for answers to something I was thinking about all day at work! Thats why I said hypothetically!

overclocking the GPU is quite easy and fairly safe if using one of the overclocking utilities. Just go slowly and don't put everything to max, look for rough settings others are using and use them as a guide.

As far as will the clock speed be adaptive, yes it will be.

floking96 said:

Just wondering, hypothetically if I overclocked my GPU core clock and mem clock using evga precision X, would that mean that the frequency I set them to are constant, or will it stay as is and adaptively change the clock rate but with a higher maximum? If not then is there a setting or some method I could use to make it continue to adaptively change? Sorry if these seem like silly questions for someone thinking of overclocking, im new to it! haha!

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A GPU does not run at it's maximum clock all the time. Precision X shows you the speed it is currently running at. Download TechPowerUp GPU which will show the maximum clocks that have been set, and CPUID HW Monitor which among other things will show current and maximum temperature reached (GPU stats in HW Monitor are down the bottom).
Just start off at a modest overclock then edge up a bit at a time. I use the benchmark in EVGA OC Scanner X to test the overclock - if you've gone to far the test will stop and the GPU will re-set.
My 760 was, and now my 780 is a factory OC version - I have ended up on both with GPU clock +100, and memory +150 which is stable without an over-voltage (you will probably end up with higher numbers if you have a stock GPU).
I think it's when you get into over-voltages you are getting risky.

Yeah I was watching a video on someone using precision x to over clock a 780 and because I couldn't find much else about over clocking a 780 ti in terms of guides, I'm using that as a reference video guide, thanks for the input guide, I'll bear all this In mind if I do an over clock and no I don't intend to over volt it considering I'm an novice in overcooking and I'm pretty sure then 780 ti would be fine for 1080p gaming with a non overvolted over clock!

I use MSI Afterburner and would highly recommend it if you want to overclock. All the info you need is right there on the UI to make overclocking easy and very safe. The clock speeds will only ramp up when required.

There are a few reasons as to why I wouldn't overclock my card (s).
- Possible loss of warranty
- I don't know what I'm doing, so I could kill it.
- I don't need any more performance, when gaming at 1080x1920 @60frames. - I don't see the point in pushing my cards further than my monitors can display.
- my cards are factory overclocked anyway, one at 1215mhz and the other at 1175mhz

I run a small overclock of 100mhz on my 780ti but the reality is that the card will only boost to that new frequency if it needs to. In most games it runs at about 900- 1020mhz (well below it's maximum boost with my overclock) because I have set the fps target to 60.
I would just leave your card as is until you find that it is lacking performance in certain games. Then it would be time to treat overclocking as a free upgrade

tom_gr7 said:

There are a few reasons as to why I wouldn't overclock my card (s).
- Possible loss of warranty
- I don't know what I'm doing, so I could kill it.
- I don't need any more performance, when gaming at 1080x1920 @60frames. - I don't see the point in pushing my cards further than my monitors can display.
- my cards are factory overclocked anyway, one at 1215mhz and the other at 1175mhz

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Hypothetically

I read somewhere yesterday that when overcloking the Gpu, it basically raises whatever the clock rate would be by that overclock amount, can anyone confirm this? So if I have an overclock of 100 kHz then say the card was idling at 400mhz default then the new one would be 500mhz!

floking96 said:

I read somewhere yesterday that when overcloking the Gpu, it basically raises whatever the clock rate would be by that overclock amount, can anyone confirm this? So if I have an overclock of 100 kHz then say the card was idling at 400mhz default then the new one would be 500mhz!

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No. With nvidia cards the overclock only effects the maximum boost clock. It will only boost to it's maximum if it needs to thanks to GPU boost 2.0. The idle clock is not effected.

halox said:

I use MSI Afterburner and would highly recommend it if you want to overclock. All the info you need is right there on the UI to make overclocking easy and very safe. The clock speeds will only ramp up when required.

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I noticed in a video of a person using MSI that the person also used GPUz (TechPowerUp).
I tried MSI and I didn't like it.

One of the things about HW monitor is that it very clearly shows you the maximum value reached while it's been on. This means you can leave it going while gaming and you'll see how hot your GPU got.

tom_gr7 said:

There are a few reasons as to why I wouldn't overclock my card (s).
- Possible loss of warranty

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How would they know you had overclocked it if you sent it back?
Precision X has to start up every time you boot up to apply the overclock. Without Presicion X being activated (it has a tick box to auto-start on boot) the overclock is not set.

tom_gr7 said:

I don't see the point in pushing my cards further than my monitors can display.

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Faster, baby, faster faster!

How would they know you had overclocked it if you sent it back?
Precision X has to start up every time you boot up to apply the overclock. Without Presicion X being activated (it has a tick box to auto-start on boot) the overclock is not set.

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Well PCS could just refer to this thread and say otherwise

keynes said:

Well PCS could just refer to this thread and say otherwise

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Oh God please I hope they don't do that, I think it's time for me to deactivate my account and delete all my posts!

floking96 said:

Oh God please I hope they don't do that, I think it's time for me to deactivate my account and delete all my posts!

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lol, even if you delete them we can still see everything.

floking96 said:

Oh God please I hope they don't do that, I think it's time for me to deactivate my account and delete all my posts!

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As tom said, we can see them anyway but I would be fairly sure a hardware 'switch' will be flipped when it goes above stock settings meaning PCS/manufacturer will know its been OC'd

I would not worry too much about what you write in the forums. I haven't made a vid for a while on benchmarking. So, today I made a small vid of me benchmarking my GTX 690's in quad SLI when they are watercooled. Just to give you an idea of the temperatures. Keep in mind though the ambient is 24'C so its very warm today. Even so, my GPU's only reach 50'C and my water temperature only reaches about 36'C.

Just food for though if you decide to watercool. I am always on the lookout for some vids to make so if you have one that you can't find already on youtube then please let me know. Perhaps the one you do find on youtube is not very good. Again, let me know.

Have a look at MSI afterburner. It does everything mentioned in the software already mentioned in this thread and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOzrzp9UA-8&feature=youtu.be

All I did with my R9 280x was download the power tuneup program for powercolor, downloaded furmark, from this you need to try and balance things by monitoring your temperature, voltage and FPS/throttling. It's not hard, please read thoroughly through a decent guide or two until you feel comfortable you have sufficient knowledge prior to even attempting it, check for recommended simple overclock speeds for your GPU too and start small.

How I would go about it is Run Furmark at stock and take note of all details FPS temps volts, when it starts if it starts to throttle. Then I would dramatically up the voltage limit then up the GPU clock 15Mhz and run the test again. Then for voltage, take the difference of what was reported between first and second test, times that by 3 or 4 and add that to what was set as default limit. Then I would raise another 15Mhz, checking voltage isn't maxing out the limit, adjusting higher if need be increasing and keeping a higher voltage margin. If you see the GPU utilization dropping from 99/100% to 60% then back up, crank upp the fan speed a few % until it stops dropping (don't use auto fan control), best way to notice is by checking the temperature at which it drops and trying to get it down around 10c degrees. Then for memory clock speed I would do the same process but with a smaller increment of around 10Mhz. Each change should always be followed by a stress test, if screen freeze happens de clock the last setting down and stress again.

My example is crude and is not advice or to be taken as a guide, but rather just an idea of how to roughly do it by me with my card and your preference technique and card and software will probably vary, there is also a lot more advice to be taken, like not to have OC profile loaded on boot incase something wrong goes, be sure you can afford to replace your card if something wrong goes, not just stress test but also play your games aswell for a good while for better judgement of performance like seeing your FPS increase.

Most cards come overclocked themselves mostly, infact my msi 8600gt I believe came overclocked and that was many years ago.