# ~~The GTX 670 Overclocking Master-Guide~~



## SeanPoe

*Vocabulary:*
Before we begin, I feel it's important to go over some new vocabulary that's unique to the Kepler-based GPUs. With all of the new architecture and functionality changes brought about with the GTX 670, I think it will be very beneficial for the community as a whole if we, the GTX 670 owners, could come up with some common terminology. This is a step towards that goal.

*GPU Clock*:
In the past, the GPU clock was the maximum and minimum frequency the core of the GPU would run at under full-load. It had significance, and it was the number people would look at when judging the performance of a GPU. Now, with the Kepler-based GPU's dynamic clocking, this number has little to no real-world value. For all intents and purposes, this number can just be ignored.

*Boost Clock (abbreviated as "BC"):*
This number is quite similar to the original GPU clock of past generations, with some key differences though. The first key difference is the Boost Clock is not the maximum core speed that the GPU will run at under load. However, it is still typically the minimum core speed that the GPU will run at under full-load. The second key difference is this number alone can not be used to judge the general performance of a GPU.

How to find your Boost Clock:


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



There's a number of methods, but the easiest method is to download and use GPU-Z. The Boost Clock will be clearly shown in the bottom-right of the Graphics Card Tab:




*Kepler Boost (aka, Dynamic Clocking Boost, abbreviated as "KB"):*
This is the new Dynamic Clocking feature found on the Kepler-based GPUs; It will dynamically add more performance to the card if it's at a suitable temperature and suitable power percent. If the GPU is not drawing too much power or running too hot, then this Kepler boost value is added to the Boost Clock when the card is under load. It's maximum amount is set in stone and can't be increased beyond what Nvidia set it at when the GK104 chip was made. Each card has a different maximum Kepler Boost. For example, some cards will have a KB value as low as 104MHz (and perhaps even lower) and some as high as 234MHz, the average is somewhere around 130MHz and 143MHz. The only constant is the Kepler Boost is always a multiple of 13 (ie, 13, 26, 104, 130, 234, etc). However, the thing to keep in mind is, the maximum Kepler Boost will only be active when the card is not too hot or drawing too much power. If the card gets too hot, then the Kepler Boost value will be throttled down below its true maximum in 13MHz increments. The first thermal throttle point is at 70C, then 80C, then 85C and lastly at 95C. Here's a graph for easy reference:


Additionally, If the card is drawing too much power, it will also throttle itself down in 13MHz increments. I will go into more detail below on how to maximize the Kepler Boost in the Overclocking Section.

One thing to keep in mind is the Kepler Boost is only throttled once per throttle point. For example, if the GPU got up to 75C, it would be throttled exactly one time at 70C by 13MHz; It would _not_ be throttled continuously until the temperature dropped back below 70C.

How to find your max Kepler Boost:


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



First, you need to be sure your card never goes over the 70C throttle point, to do this, temporarily set your fan to run at a constant 75%. Next, we need to be sure the GPU has plenty of Power Percent headroom, so set the 'Power Target' in Precision-X to its maximum. Now, open GPU-Z and go to the sensor tab, click the expand-arrow on GPU core-clock, and set it to 'Show Highest Reading', like so:
.
Now run a complete run of the Heaven benchmark. After that's finished, check GPU-Z for the maximum recorded core clock. Take that number and then subtract your boost clock and that resulting number is your Kepler Boost.

As an example, here's mine:
My boost clock:


My Maximum Core clock:


My Kepler Boost:
So i take my Maximum Core clock (1257) and subtract my Boost Clock (1152) and that will give me my Kepler Boost value of 105. If you want to be really precise, you would then want to round to the nearest multiple of 13, in this case it's 104MHz, to remove any rounding errors in the software.



*Max Boost (or Maximum Boosted Frequency, abbreviated MBF):*
This is the maximum frequency that the core will run at under full-load when the GPU is free of both power and heat constraints. By that i mean, the card is utilizing it's maximum Kepler Boost without any throttling. The Max Boost is found by adding the max Kepler Boost to the Boost clock (Max Kepler Boost + Boost Clock = Max Boost). This is the most significant number when talking about the overclock on your Kepler-based GPU. It's the ONLY number alone that gives us any indication of the performance of your GPU. So please, when describing your overclock, use THIS number, not the offset, not the Kepler Boost, not the Boost Clock, and certainly not the GPU clock.

How to find your Max Boost:


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



If you already know your card's maximum Kepler Boost, then all you need to do is add your Kepler Boost to your Boost Clock.
If you don't already know your card's Kepler Boost then just follow the same method as you did to find your Kepler boost but ignore the steps involving the Boost Clock.
First, you need to be sure your card never goes over the 70C throttle point, to do this, temporarily set your fan to run at a constant 75%. Next, we need to be sure the GPU has plenty of Power Percent headroom, so set the 'Power Target' in Precision-X to its maximum. Now, open GPU-Z and go to the sensor tab, click the expand-arrow on GPU core-clock, and set it to 'Show Highest Reading', like so:
. Now run a complete run of the Heaven benchmark. Now check GPU-Z for the maximum recorded core clock. This number is your Max Boost.



*Power Percent and Power Target:*
The Power Percent is the percent of TDP (Thermal design power) the card is running at. So if the card's TDP is rated at 170W and the card is running at a Power Percent of 117%, that means it's drawing 17% more watts of power than TDP, or 199W. The Power Target on the other hand, is a user defined number that tells the GPU how much over TDP it can go. For example, if you were to set the Power Target to 109% then the card would be able to run about 9% over TDP. However, there does seem to be some additional headroom involved, so realistically, a 109% Power Target would allow the card to go up to around 115% Power Percent. Like i mentioned above in the Kepler Boost section, Kepler Boost is also throttled down based on Power Percent. If the GPU is set at 100% Power Target, then the card will only be allowed to draw enough power to boost up to ~100% of TDP, anymore than that and the card will start to throttle the Kepler Boost value by 13Mhz increments in-order to stay below this number. If you were to then set the Power Target to a higher value, then the GPU could boost a little higher until it either reaches its maximum Kepler Boost or it reaches this new Power Target.

How to find your Power Percent:


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



Open GPU-Z and go to the sensor tab, click on the expand-arrow for 'Power Consumption' and set it to 'Show Highest Reading'. Then after you run a game or benchmark you can easily check this value to find out what your maximum Power Percent was. Keep in mind, this number will change depending on your overclock and how demanding the application is.



*GPU/Memory Clock Offset:*
The GPU Clock Offset adds a static amount to the Boost Clock. A +50 Offset will add 50MHz to the boost clock, however, it will NOT increase your Kepler Boost value. The Memory Clock Offset simply increases the frequency of the memory. A +50 on the Memory Clock Offset will add only 25MHz (or one half of the offset value) to each memory module, or +100 (or double the offset value) to the effective memory value. So, if your base memory frequency is 1502MHz (or 6008 effective) then a +50 memory offset will increase the memory frequency to 1527MHz (or 6108 effective).

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## SeanPoe

*Software: Benchmarks and Overclocking Tools*

*Drivers*
The first thing you will need to do is make sure you have the newest driver for your graphics card. Having the newest, most stable driver version will eliminate numerous false positive crashes that are solely related to drivers and not your overclock. The newest driver for the 670 can always be found here. If you're upgrading from an AMD graphics card or a really old Nvidia driver version, you might want to manually remove all traces of previous drivers before installing the new drivers. This is entirely optional but if you end up getting Red/Brown Screens, then the first thing you should try is doing a clean driver installation.

How to manually remove old AMD drivers:


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!




Download and install driver sweeper
Download the newest Nvidia driver at the link above
Uninstall your current display driver. To do this, type Add or Remove Program in the windows 7 search box and hit enter, find "AMD install manager" in the list and then uninstall it.
Boot into safe mode (restart your computer and hit f8 key after post, then select safe mode. If your mobo brings up the drive selection menu, select your boot drive, and then right after that begins to load start hitting f8 again to bring up the windows option menu)
Run driversweeper. Check the selection boxes for the removal of all nvidia vga drivers and ati drivers. Be sure you run this twice, it sometimes has issues on the first run and won't remove everything.
Restart your computer and boot up into regular windows
Install the new Nvidia Driver





How to manually remove old Nvidia drivers

*Software and Benchmarks*
The next thing you need to do is get various benchmarks and overclocking software downloaded, installed and setup.

*Precision-X:*
You have three choices in the software overclocking category: EVGA Precision-X, MSI AfterBurner, or Asus GPU Tweak. I've tried all three exhaustively and can conclusively say that Precision-X is the clear winner here. Asus GPU Tweak just didn't work at all. With the exact same settings that i used in Precision-X and Afterburner, GPU Tweak would crash my graphics drivers. Asus GPU Tweak has also caused Red Screens for a lot of people. Both Afterburner and GPU Tweak's voltage setting seems to be non-functional too. With Precision-X you can set the voltage slider to 1.175 and it actually pegs the voltage at 1.175 when the card is at a high Power Percent. This can make an otherwise unstable overclock stable. The only downside with Precision-X is its graphs don't have min/max values like the other two, but that's not really a big deal, especially if you have GPU-Z too.

Precision-X can be downloaded here, you will have to sign up on the EVGA website in-order to download it though.
I recommend that you uninstall both MSI Afterburner and Asus GPU Tweak and then restart your computer before installing Precision-X.



Spoiler: Precision-X Setup:



Now that you have Precision-X downloaded and installed, there's a few minor tweaks that should be made to the settings to make overclocking easier.
First, click on the 'Monitoring' button on the left-side and then setup that tab so it looks like this:

Essentially what you want to do is group the GPU related graphs together and in a specific order (Voltage, Power, GPU clock, Temperature, and Fan Speed) so you can easily look at them and compare them after a benchmark run.

You may also want to set some of these to show up on the OSD so you can monitor them during a Game or Benchmark run. This makes it easy to tell if you're getting throttled or if your temperatures are going over 70C. If decided to put some of these on the OSD, then you will need to setup an OSD hotkey too. Go to the OSD tab and setup a keybind to toggle on/off the OSD, Shift+Period is what i used.

Now go to the Fan tab and setup a very simple fan curve, we will optimize this later on once we find your maximum overclock. But for now, this is just to ensure that the GPU never goes over the 70C throttle point. This is what it should look like:

Just set the first point at 20% fan speed at 20C, set the second point at 85% fanspeed at 68C, and set the last point at 100% fanspeed at 79C. Be sure you keep the 'Auto' setting checked on the main Precision UI, like this:


Close out of the Properties menu if you haven't already and then click the "Performance Log" button on the Main Precision UI (by default this is already selected). Now double-click on any of the three graphs along the bottom, this will expand those graphs and show you more details. For the majority of your overclocking, you will want these graphs expanded like this.



*GPU-Z:*
Download Link

I talked about this program a bit above in the Vocabulary section. If you haven't already, it's a good idea to get this program. It makes a great complement to Precision-X as you can use this to easily track your max values on the sensor tab and show your Boost Clock and Memory Clocks.

*Unigine 'Heaven' DX11 Benchmark*
Download Link

You will want to max out all of the settings here, so it looks like this:

You should set the Resolution to your monitors maximum supported and/or the resolution you plan to use in the majority of games. Using a lower resolution is fine for standardized benchmark comparisons, but for stress testing an overclock, using a lower resolution than you actually plan on using in games might change your card's maximum Power Percent under load, making your GPU unstable at more demanding resolutions.

Be sure that you remember to click the 'Benchmark' button in the top-left corner of the screen after the program loads to actually start the Benchmark. I'd also suggest turning off the sound by clicking the button on the top-left menu bar. Also, if you alt-tab out of Heaven, you will need to close it completely after that to get a real score. If you notice that your score suddenly dropped by 10 or more FPS, then your card is probably stuck in 2d mode. To fix this, first try restarting your computer.

To stop the benchmark at any time, press the esc key and then click quit.

When saving a score, be sure you leave the .HTML extension on the file name. If you accidentally remove the extension when you save a score, you can always go back and rename the score. Just add .HTML to the end. I also suggest that you use a naming convention that means something so you can easily compare scores from different runs. Something like 'CCC-MMM-A' where 'CCC' is your core offset value, 'MMM' is your memory offset value, and A is a rough estimate of how many artifacts you saw.

*3DMark 11*
Download Link

If you're using the free version then each time you open 3dMark11 you will need to click the "upgrade later" button. Switch the preset to 'Performance' if it's not already there and switch it to run only the Benchmark Tests in Centered Mode.

The esc key can be used at any point during the benchmark to end it prematurely.

*Furmark:*
Download Link

This is an old favorite of most GPU overclockers, but unfortunately, it has very little value in testing Kepler-based GPUs. The problem is it unrealistically increases the Power Percent to the absolute max the entire time forcing the GPU to throttle all the way down to the Boost Clock. But it still has a purpose, using a custom resolution we can use this program to simulate temperatures that you would likely see in extremely demanding games. This makes it easy to setup fan profiles. Other than that, it has no value.

I've found that setting it to a custom resolution of 228x228 with 8XMSAA realistically simulates what the most demanding games ever will produce in terms of temperature and power draw.

With these settings it will increase the Power Percent to the max, but just under the throttle point. It will also increase the GPU temperature to about 2C higher than even the most demanding maxed-out games will.

*Other Benchmarks and games:*
These are completely optional, but once you think you're stable in 3DMark11 and Heaven, it might be a good idea to test your overclock in a couple other games and benchmarks just to be sure. Some good free options are:
Alien Vs Predator Benchmark
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat Benchmark
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky benchmark
Mafia 2 Demo with Benchmark
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 Benchmark

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## SeanPoe

*Overclocking:*
Now that the new Vocabulary has been defined and you have all of the software and benchmarks installed and setup, it's time to move on to the main attraction








There's two methods for overclocking: the long method that will result in a nearly perfect overclock; and the short method, where you'll get pretty close but it won't be the absolute max. Either method is fine, it just comes down to how much time you want to devote to your overclock. I will be explaining both methods below.

*The Long Method -- Estimated Time: 3 Hours*
This method will get you to within about .25% of your card's maximum overclocked performance. Three hours is a lot of time, but you only need to do this one time and then your card is overclocked for the rest of it's lifespan. If you don't have the time or patience to devote three hours to this project, then skip down to the Quick Overclocking section of this guide.

*Finding your Maximum Stable Core Clock*

*Step one: Preparation:*

Be sure your fan curve is setup like i mentioned above in the Precision-X setup section. It's important to keep your GPU under 70C at all times to prevent thermal throttling.
Temporarily increase both the Power Target and Voltage slider to their maximum value. This will minimize the throttling caused by going over the Power Target.
Go to the Nvidia Settings menu (you can open this from the taskbar), go to Manage 3d Settings, Global settings tab, scroll to the very bottom and make sure Vsync is set to off. You can turn this back on after you find your maximum overclock if you wish.
Increase the GPU Clock Offset by whatever it takes to get your Boost Clock to 1100MHz. So that means if you're using a reference model with a default Boost Clock of 980 you will need to increase the offset to +120. If you're using a Factory overclocked card, then you will need to increase the offset by +10 to +50 (or until you hit 1100MHz Boost Clock) depending on which card you have, just use GPU-Z to keep track of your Boost Clock. If you have an Asus TOP 670 then i suggest down-clocking the card by 37MHz (-37 offset) for now. The reason being, someone Asus TOP models are factory overclocked to an unstable level.

Now double-click on one of the graphs in Precision-X to bring up the expanded Hardware Monitor (you may need to click the 'Performance Log' button before you can do this). Right-click on the expanded hardware monitor and then click 'clear history'. Now start a run of Heaven Benchmark. This will give us some information about your card's overclocking capability. As soon as the Benchmark finishes, save your score (name it CC-MMM, where CC is your core offset, and MMM is your memory offset, so here it should be 120-000 or something similar), hit esc, and then quit Heaven. If you didn't make it to the end of the benchmark for whatever reason (ex, the benchmark crashed, your display drivers crashed and stopped responding, or you had a BSOD or a Red screen) or if you saw graphical artifacts during the benchmark (Bright green/blue spots), then skip to Step 4. If you made it through the benchmark, then right-click on the Expanded Hardware Monitor and click pause. It should look something like this:


Notice how the voltage is constant the entire time? That's because we increased the voltage to 1.175V in Precision-X which locks the voltage at the maximum during heavy load.
Now mouse through the Power Percent line and try to fine the highest peak. The lower this peak is, the better. A low power percent at this stage usually indicates you have a lot of overclocking headroom left
Now mouse through the GPU Clock. What you're looking for is a perfectly straight, constant line (some drops at the very beginning and end are normal). If the line isn't straight at this stage, then that's an indicator that your card is already being throttled and you have little to no more core overclocking headroom.
You can go ahead and calculate your Kepler Boost at this moment if you wish. Just take your Max Boost Frequency and subtract your Boost Clock. The higher your Kepler Boost, usually the better your card will overclock. Keep in mind though, this isn't a hard rule; some people with low Kepler Boosts can still get high overclocks.
Now mouse through the temperature line. You want to make sure that you didn't go over 70C. If you did, then refer to the troubleshooting section called "Reducing Temperatures to Eliminate Throttle" below. If your temperatures are below 70C, this is a good sign and means you can keep overclocking for now.

*Step 2: Increasing your offset:*

Increase the GPU Clock offset by an additional 20MHz, clear the Precision-X hardware monitor and unpause it, and start up a second Heaven Benchmark run. Immediately after the Heaven run completes, save your score (use a similar naming convention as you did above) and pause the Hardware Monitor. If you crashed or have any other symptoms of instability, go to Step 4. If your Heaven score decreased, that can mean one of three things. Either your overclock is unstable, your overclock is pushing you over the thermal or power throttle zone reducing your overall performance, or the benchmark was inconsistent. This is something that you need to be very vigilant of. Just because you hit a higher Max Boost frequency doesn't mean your GPU is performing better. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

Compare this graph to the one i posted above in Step 1. In the first graph my GPU core was at a constant 1241MHz the entire time. As you can see here, my Max Boosted Frequency has gone up to 1264 but there's a ton of oscillation and it's also dipping extremely low too, even down to my base boost clock of 1120. So even though my card momentarily has a higher Max Boost, my overall performance has decreased substantially. This is why it's extremely important to always analyze the graphs after each offset increase. Higher is not always better with Kepler GPUs. If this is what your GPU Clock graph looks like (and/or even if you're seeing small 13mhz drops), go on to Step 3.

Here's an example of what a successful offset increase looks like:

Now you see my Max Boost is running at a constant 1264 with no dips. This is what you want to see with each additional increase in offset. So as long as your Heaven score hasn't decreased, and your Max Boost is running at a constant Frequency, then this means you're ready to increase the offset some more. Keep repeating this step (step 2) until you meet the criteria to go on to another step.

However, if your GPU clock doesn't show any variance, yet your Heaven score has decreased by more than 5 points, then i suggest that you re-run the Heaven Benchmark. If your score is still lower than the previous offset, then revert back to the previous Offset that had the highest score, and re-run Heaven again. If that score is still higher, then that suggests that your overclock with the increased offset is unstable. If this is the case, increase your offset back to the one that produced the _lower_ score and then go to Step 4.

*Step 3: Dealing with Frequency Oscillation:*
If you're on this step then that means you're seeing your Max Boost Frequency constantly changing which will often times result in a performance decrease. First, check that your temperatures are still under 70C at all times. If they are, then you know it's not your temperatures causing the problems. If your temperatures are going over 70C, then refer to the Troubleshooting section below, "Reducing Temperatures to Eliminate Throttle."

Next, check to see if the Frequency drops also correspond with a GPU usage drop. If the GPU usage drops to less than around 90%, the GPU core clock might be throttled down just to save power but this won't lead to a performance decrease. Here's an example:

You see how each time my GPU usage drops my core clock also drops? This is because whenever there's a drop in GPU demand, for example when you're on a loading screen between sections in a benchmark or game, the core clock also drops in order to save power. This is completely normal and just means the GPU is throttling itself whenever additional core frequency is _not_ beneficial, so you aren't actually losing performance. If this is what you're seeing, then go back to Step 2 and ignore the frequency oscillation that also corresponds with GPU usages drops too.

Now, check to see if your Power Percent is close to your set maximum Power Target (remember, Power Percent can go 3-10% over the set Power Target). So if your Power Target is set at 117%, and your Power Percent is at 120%-124%, then that is probably the reason for your oscillating frequencies. The only solution I've found to stabilize the variance in Max Boost caused by a maxed out Power Percent is to reduce the voltage slider. The reason this works is it reduces your Power Percent slightly but it might also cause instability. Try reducing the voltage slider back to default and check if your Max Boosted Frequency stabilize. Usually though, this method might stabilize your frequencies but it will cause instability too. If it causes instability, go to step 4. If not, and it fixed your oscillating frequencies, then go back to Step 2.

*Step 4: Fixing Instability*
So either your application crashed or produced an error, your display driver crashed or became unresponsive, you Blue-screened, you've notice graphical anomalies or your Benchmark score has decreased, or changing voltage doesn't stabilize the variance in your Max Boost. This usually means you're over your maximum stable offset. The only way to make your card stable at this point is to reduce the offset. The first thing you'll need to do is save a profile of your current settings in Precision-X (this is done by clicking the profile button at the bottom-left and then right-clicking a number), now close Precision-X and re-open it. The reason you have to restart Precision-X after each crash is because Precision-X will sometimes get bugged and not transfer your settings to the GPU. Restarting it is the only way to fix this. Now that you've restarted Precision-X, left-click on your saved profile and then click apply to load your previous settings, go to the voltage control and increase it to the max again (crashing resets voltage to default, and you can't save voltage in profiles). These underlined bits are extremely important. You will save yourself a lot of frustration later if just remember to restart Precision-X after each crash and then reset your voltage.

Now reduce your core offset by 5Mhz, clear the hardware monitor (and unpause it if applicable), and start a Heaven run. After the heaven run completes, save your score and pause the hardware monitor. If you still crashed or had other symptoms of instability, keep repeating this step until you reach stability and you reach a flat-lined (ie, constant) GPU Clock on the Precision-X graph. Be sure you restart Precision-X and reset your voltage after each crash. If you reach stability with a constant GPU Clock, go to Step 5.

*Step 5: Fine Tuning*
Now that you're within 4MHz of your maximum stable overclock, it's time to increase the offset in smaller steps. Increase the core offset by 1MHz, clear the hardware monitor (and unpause it if applicable), and start a Heaven run. After the heaven run completes, save your score and pause the hardware monitor. If this 1MHz increase caused instability again or the GPU clock to become variable (ie, not a constant line on the GPU clock graph), then reduce the offset by 1MHz and go to Step 6. If neither of these two scenarios happen, then repeat this step up four times and then go to Step 6.

*Step 6: Checking for Instability in other Applications:*
Heaven Benchmark will get your GPU stable in about 99% of other games, benchmarks and applications, but it's still a good idea to test your overclock in a couple other applications just to be on the safe side. I'd suggest starting with 3dMark11, then any of the other free game benchmarks i posted above, then boot up a couple games that you typically play (BF3 multiplayer is usually a good stability testing game if you have it). If your GPU show signs of instability in any of these games or benchmarks, then reduce your core offset by 1MHz until the problem goes away.

Now that you've tested your overclock in some other applications, it's safe to say that you've now found your maximum stable boosted frequency. I suggest that you save these settings in a Precision-X profile for future.

*Finding your Maximum Stable Memory Clock:*

*Step 1: Increasing your Memory Offset:*

Revert your GPU Core offset to its default (+0) offset but leave the Power Target and voltage slider at whatever it took to stabilize your Core (most likely the maximum for both of these).
Increase your Memory Offset to +100
Start up a Heaven Benchmark run. Be extremely vigilant during the entire Benchmark run, you're looking for any graphical anomalies or artifacts. These usually look like green, blue, or white light shafts or dots. I've found it's usually much easier to spot these if you move six feet away from your monitor so you can have most of the screen in visual focus. If you see any artifacts, go ahead and hit ESC and then click 'Quit' in the top-left menu to end the Benchmark early; there's no point in letting the Benchmark finish if you already know it's unstable. After the Heaven run completes, save your score (name it CC-MMM, where CC is your core offset, and MMM is your memory offset, so here it should be 00-100). If you crashed, saw any graphical artifacts or have any other symptoms of instability, or if your score decreased by more than 5 points, go to Step 2. If not, repeat this step until you do and then go to Step 2.

*Step 2: Fine Tuning your Memory Offset*

Reduce your Memory Offset by 25Mhz. For example, if you were at +600 in Step 1 and that started to produce graphical anomalies, you should be at +575 now.
Start up a Heaven Benchmark run. Be sure you're still looking for graphical artifacts during the entire run. Once the benchmark finishes, save your score. If you crashed, saw any graphical artifacts or have any other symptoms of instability, or if your score decreased by more than 5 points, then repeat this step until the problem is resolved and then go to Step 3. Be sure that you restart Precision-X after each crash like i described in the Core Clock portion of this guide.

*Step 3: Fine Tuning your Memory Offset*

Increase your memory Offset by an additional 5Mhz. For example, if you had to drop down to +525 Offset in Step 2 to eliminate artifacts, then you should be at +530 Offset now.
Start up a Heaven Benchmark run. Be sure you're still looking for graphical artifacts during the entire run. Once the benchmark finishes, save your score. If you crashed, saw any graphical artifacts or have any other symptoms of instability, or if your score decreased by more than 5 points, then repeat this step until the problem is resolved and then go to Step 4. Be sure that you restart Precision-X after each crash like i described in the Core Clock portion of this guide.

*Step 4: Fine Tuning your Memory Offset*

Decrease your memory Offset by 1Mhz. For example, if you were able to increase your Offset to +540 in Step 3, then you should be at +539 now.
Start up a Heaven Benchmark run. Be sure you're still looking for graphical artifacts during the entire run. Once the benchmark finishes, save your score. If you crashed, saw any graphical artifacts or have any other symptoms of instability, or if your score decreased by more than 5 points, then repeat this step up to four times or until the problem is resolved and then go to Step 5. Be sure that you restart Precision-X after each crash like i described in the Core Clock portion of this guide.

*Step 5: Checking your Memory for Instability in other Applications*

Like I mentioned in Step 6 of the Core overclocking section, it's a good idea to check for stability in other applications too. At the very least, check for stability on 3DMark11. If you see artifacts in any other application, reduce the Memory Offset by 1MHz until the problem goes away.
Now you know your maximum memory frequency. I suggest that you save this to a profile number.

*Finding your Maximum Stable Total Overclock*
Now that you found your maximum core and memory overclock independently of each other, it's time to attempt to put them together. With some luck, you'll be able to put the two together and be stable right off the bat.

*Step 1: Combing both Maximums*
Set Precision-X to your maximum core offset and maximum memory offset that you found in the above steps. Be sure the voltage is set to whatever you needed to stabilize your core clock (for most people, this should be maxed). Be sure the Power Target is also set to the max. Now clear the hardware monitor (and unpause it if applicable), and start a Heaven run. After the heaven run completes, save your score (name it CC-MMM, where CC is your core offset, and MMM is your memory offset) and pause the hardware monitor. If you crashed, saw artifacts, or had any other symptoms of instability, then go on to Step 2a. If not, then you're done! You're at your true maximum GPU overclock. Go on to the Fan section below.

*Step 2a: Explanation of Core and Memory balance*
Most likely you crashed in Step 1 when you first combined both maximums. This is quite normal. From here you usually have three paths that you can take. Either you sacrifice some core frequency in-order to maintain your maximum memory frequency, you sacrifice some memory frequency to maintain your maximum core frequency, or you sacrifice a little of both. Neither option is better than another on the whole, it really depends on your specific GPU and how much you have to give up of one to maintain the other. Some GPU's barely have to give up any of one to maintain the other. Also, some applications benefit more from memory than core and vice versa. Generally speaking though, 1MHz on the core is worth about 4MHz on the memory in terms of performance, keep that ratio in mind as you reduce things.

Based on a lot of trial and error with three difference GTX 670's (Asus TOP, Gigabyte Windforce, and an EVGA reference model) I've found that reducing both core and memory together produces the best results. When i only reduced the core frequency enough to stabilize the GPU I'd still have memory related artifacts. When i only reduced the memory, I'd have to give up a huge amount of memory to stabilize the GPU; I'd have to trade something in the ball park of 25MHz on the memory for 1MHz on the core, which if you remember the 1-4 ratio above, is a very poor trade. My maximum boosted frequency was also getting throttled by 13MHz at certain points in 3dMark11 because i was hitting the maximum Power Percent when i only reduced the memory. But when i reduced both together, I've found that i can keep both the core and memory frequencies rather high while eliminating the memory related artifacts without seeing a Power Percent throttle in 3dMark11. Because of this empirical evidence, I'm going to suggest in this guide that you reduce both together. It's up to you if you want to try the other two methods, they might net you slightly better performance.

*Step 2b: Balancing the Core and Memory*
Close and then reopen Precision-X, re-enter your maximum offsets (or re-enter the Offsets you used in your previous run if you're repeating this step), Power Target, and voltage.
Reduce the core offset by 1MHz and the Memory Offset by 5MHz. After the Heaven run completes, save your score. Keep repeating this step until you become stable enough to finish Heaven (ignore artifacts for now) and then go to Step 3.

*Step 3: Finding your optimal Balance Point*
If you finished Heaven but still saw artifacts, then reduce the memory offset by an additional 5MHz until the artifacts go away. For every 5MHz you reduce the memory you can typically increase the core offset by an additional 1MHz. Be sure you don't increase the core offset higher than 1MHz below your maximum stable core offset. I've found that staying 1MHz below your maximum stable core offset allows you to increase the memory quite a bit more while still retaining stability without artifacts. Repeat this step until the artifacts are gone and you're still stable. If at some point you do become unstable again (if you crashed, remember to restart precision-X) reduce the core value by 1MHz but leave the memory where it was. If that is stable again, then continue the pattern until the artifacts are gone. Once the artifacts are gone and you can complete Heaven, go to the next step.

Here's an example of Step 3:


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



Lets assume you became stable enough to complete Heaven at +119 core offset and +604 memory offset but you still have artifacts.
So you reduce the memory by 5 and increase the core by 1 = +120c and +599m. You test this and you still have artifacts but you still can complete Heaven
So you reduce the memory an additional 5 and increase the core by 1 = +121c and +594M. In this test you crash before you can complete Heaven (be sure to remember to restart Precision-X after the crash).
Now instead of reducing the memory more, you reduce the core by 1 = +120c and +594M. You test this and you still have artifacts but now you can complete Heaven again.
Now you reduce the memory by 5 and increase the core by 1 = +121c and +589M. You test this and you can finish Heaven and you no longer have artifacts.



*Step 4: Fine Tuning the Memory Offset*
Leave the core offset where it is and increase the memory offset by 1. Repeat this step until you see artifacts or crash, in which case you'd reduce the memory offset by 1, or until you've repeated this step a total of four times.

*Step 5: Checking for Instability in other Applications:*
Now, just like above, you should test your combined overclock in other applications. I'd suggest starting with 3dMark11, then any of the other free game benchmarks i posted above, then boot up a couple games that you typically play (BF3 multiplayer is usually a good stability testing game if you have it).

If you crash in any of these games or benchmarks, then reduce your core offset by 1MHz until the problem goes away. Just be sure the crash is not caused by the game itself before deciding to reduce things.
If you see graphical artifacts, reduce the memory offset by 1 until it goes away.

You should now be at your highest performing stable overclock. Go on to the Fan section of this guide.

*Quick Overclocking -- Estimated time: 30 minutes*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



Using this method should get you within about 2-5% of your card's maximum overclock but in a lot less time. For most people, overclocking using this method is probably ideal. If you followed the long overclocking section of this guide, skip this and go to the Fan section instead.

*Step 1: Preparation:*

Be sure your fan curve is setup like i mentioned above in the Precision-X setup section. It's important to keep your GPU under 70C at all times to prevent thermal throttling.
Temporarily increase both the Power Target and Voltage slider to their maximum value. This will minimize the throttling caused by going over the Power Target.
Go to the Nvidia Settings menu (you can open this from the taskbar), go to Manage 3d Settings, Global settings tab, scroll to the very bottom and make sure Vsync is set to off. You can turn this back on after you find your maximum overclock if you wish.
Increase the GPU Clock Offset by whatever it takes to get your Boost Clock to 1100MHz. So that means if you're using a reference model with a default Boost Clock of 980 you will need to increase the offset to +120. If you're using a Factory overclocked card, then you will need to increase the offset by +10 to +50 (or until you hit 1100MHz Boost Clock) depending on which card you have, just use GPU-Z to keep track of your Boost Clock.
Start a Heaven Benchmark run. If you make it to the end of the run, then go to Step 2, if you crash or have other signs on instability, go to Step 3
*Step 2: Finding your maximum core offset*

Increase the core offset by an additional 20MHz
Start up another Heaven Benchmark run
If you make it to the end of this run, repeat this step until you crash or show signs of instability and then go to Step 3.

*Step 3: Finding your maximum core offset*

Reduce the core offset by 5MHz
Start up another Heaven Benchmark run
If you _DON'T_ make it to the end or show signs of instability, then repeat this step until you can finish Heaven and then go to Step 4.

*Step 4: Fine tuning your maximum core offset*

Increase the core offset by 2MHz
Start up another Heaven Benchmark run
If you crash or show signs of instability, then remove that additional 2 core offset and go to Step 5.
If you don't crash or show signs of instability, then go to Step 5.

*Step 5: Finding your maximum memory offset*

Now increase the memory offset by 100
Start up a Heaven Benchmark run
If you make it to the end _without_ seeing any graphical artifacts and see your Heaven Score increase, then repeat this step until you crash, see artifacts, see your score decrease by more than 5 points, or show other signs of instability and then go to Step 6.

*Step 6: Finding your maximum memory offset*

Reduce the memory offset by 25
Start up a Heaven Benchmark run
If you crash, see artifacts or show other signs of instability, then repeat this Step until you no longer do then go to Step 7.
*
Step 7: Finding your maximum memory offset*

Increase your memory offset by 12
Start up a Heaven Benchmark run
If you crash, see artifacts, see your score drop by more than 5 points, or show other signs of instability, then remove the additional 12 memory offset you just added and go to Step 8
If you don't crash, see artifacts, see your score drop by more than 5 points, or show other signs of instability, then go to Step 8

*Step 8: Checking for Instability in other Applications:*
Heaven Benchmark will get your GPU stable in about 99% of other games, benchmarks and applications, but it's still a good idea to test your overclock in a couple other applications just to be on the safe side. I'd suggest starting with 3dMark11, then any of the other free game benchmarks i posted above, then boot up a couple games that you typically play (BF3 multiplayer is usually a good stability testing game if you have it).

If you crash in any of these tests, then reduce your core offset by 2 until you stop crashing
If you see artifacts, then reduce your memory offset by 5 until you stop seeing artifacts

Congratulations, you're now very close to your maximum overclock. Go on to the Fan section of this guide.



*Setting up a Quiet and/or Efficient Fan Curve:*
There's a couple of ways to go about this. Either you setup a fan curve that maximizes performance or you setup a fan curve that's quiet but sacrifices a small amount of performance. If you have a 670 with non-reference cooling (specifically the Gigabyte Windforce, both Asus models, or the factory overclocked Galaxy model) you can easily get away with a very quiet fan profile without sacrificing performance. However, with the turbine-cooled reference models, you'll most likely have to choose between a quiet profile or maximum performance. If you have low ambient temperatures (both inside and out of your case) then you can probably get away with a performance profile without too much noise.

Before we begin though, I'd like to briefly go over the tools we're going to be using to perfect these fan curves.

Furmark Simulator:
Download Link

By using custom settings in Furmark, we can simulate the temperatures of an extremely demanding game. These are the settings you should be using for all the tests below:


Based on playing various demanding maxed-out games (The Witcher 2, Skyrim, BF3-Multiplayer, etc) I've tuned these settings to closely simulate the temperatures you'll see in these games but about 3C higher. This gives you some headroom if there's an especially demanding part of a game or benchmark that increases temperatures beyond normal levels.

*Finding your idle Fan Speed:*
Now you need to find your idle temperature. To do this, be sure you don't have any benchmarks or videos open that might pull the card out of idle. Also be sure your have your stable overclock settings loaded and applied.

First, set your fan to manually run at 25% by un-checking the Auto box and then moving the arrow on the side down until the fan read-out shows 25% and then click apply:

You will need to wait 1-3 minutes for temperatures to stabilize. This resulting temperature is is your idle temperature. Now set the fan back to auto by re-checking the box, and then click apply. The reason we have to do this is because the manually-set fan speed minimum is only 25% and you might need to go lower than that to find your true idle fan speed. Open up the fan-curve editor and set a point 3C higher than your observed idle temperature and at 25% fan-speed. This is to account for ambient temperature variance. Now keep the X-axis set at your idle+3C temperature and reduce the fan speed in 5% increments (be sure to click 'OK' after each change and wait 1-2 minutes for temperatures to stabilize), until you see the temperature of your GPU increase by 1C. Be sure you don't go below 10% though. Now add 2% to this number and this is the fan speed required to maintain your idle temperature. For me, my idle temperature is 30C (so i set the X-axis at 33C), and i observed that at 10% fanspeed my temperature rose to a constant 31C, so i increased the fan-speed by 2% to 12%, and that's what i need to set for the Y-axis:


The reason you want the fan speed to be constant at idle is so the noise profile is also constant. If you didn't have it at a constant speed, then when the fan has to increase even by as little as 1% it can change the noise profile slightly and with some louder fans (or fans that have frequent pitch changes) this can be noticeably annoying, especially when it oscillates by +/-1% constantly with each variance having a slightly different pitch.

Now that you've set your Idle fan speed, you'll need to decide if you want to go with a quiet fan profile that might sacrifice some performance or a maximum performance fan profile.

*Maximum Performance:*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



The objective of a maximum performance fan curve is to keep the GPU under the 70C throttle point at all times. If you have a non-reference card with improved cooling, this is the route you want to take. If you have a reference model and don't mind the louder fan profile and care more about performance than anything else, then this is also the route you want to take. However, the performance difference between this profile and the quiet profile will only be 13MHz (which is only about 0.5% performance difference), so it might be more practical to just go with the quieter profile below if you have a reference card or high ambient temperatures. The choice is yours.

The first thing you want to do is manually set your fan to run at 85% (remember to hit apply). Then start-up a 'Burn-in' test with the custom Furmark settings. Wait about 4-5 minutes until the temperature read-out in the Hardware monitor stabilizes. I wouldn't suggest leaving your computer during this time because if you have very poor airflow or a hot card, you might hit some pretty hot temperatures. Just be ready to stop Furmark if you go over 84C. Now manually reduce (or increase) the fan speed a little bit at a time until you see the temperature stabilize at 69C. Keep in mind it's going to take about one minute after each fan change for the temperature to stabilize. Once you've found the fan percent you need to maintain a constant 69C, close Furmark. Now open the fan tab in Precision-X and add a point on the graph right at 69C and whatever fan percent you needed to stabilize Furmark at 69C. For me, i needed 79% so this is what my graph will look like:

(notice the point is at 79% and 69C)

Now set a second point at 79C and 100% fanspeed. This is really just a safety net in-case you ever do go over 69C to both protect your card from higher temperatures and to keep you well below the second throttle point at 79C.



*Quiet Profile:*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



The objective of this profile is to reduce the noise of the fans to an acceptable level without sacrificing too much performance. The first thing you need to figure out is at what percent does your fan become annoyingly too loud for you to tolerate. To do this, manually set your fan at 50% and then increase it in 5% increments (remember to hit apply after each addition) until you get to a point that the fan noise is overbearing. Also pay attention for any annoying tone shifts. For example, if at 55% and 65% the fan sounds fine, but at 60% the fan makes a aggravating high-pitched squeal, then it might be best to completely skip that RPM when designing the fan curve. Here's an example:

You see how it completely skips 60% and goes straight from 55% to 65%? There is one draw back to this though, and that is the temperature might get stuck at 55C oscillating between the two fan points. So you would hear the fans constantly shifting from 55% to 65%. You will need to decide if this fan throttling noise is better than the pitch change. If you're lucky, you'll be able to optimize this a bit and set the fan to jump from 58% to 62% and bypass the problem RPM's without having a noticeable fan throttling sound. You'll have to test that for yourself.

Now that you've found the tolerable upper-limit of your fan, you're going to want to manually set the fan to run at that. Now start-up a 'Burn-in' test with the custom Furmark settings. Wait about 4-5 minutes until the temperature read-out in the Hardware monitor stabilizes. I wouldn't suggest leaving your computer during this time because if you have very poor airflow or a hot card, you might hit some pretty hot temperatures. Just be ready to stop Furmark if you go over 84C. While this test is running, closely watch the temperature read-out; if the temperature doesn't go over 69C at any point, then that means your GPU and fan setup is capable of running a maximum performance fan curve without being too loud. If that's the case, i suggest that you go up to the Maximum Performance fan section above and continue from there. If you go over 69C, then you will need to run a lower-performance (but quiet) fan curve. To do this, while the Burn-in test is running, manually increase or decrease your fan speed until the temperature read out stabilizes at 78C but never goes higher than that. Be sure you allow about 1 minute in between fan changes to ensure the temperature is truly stable. Now stop the Burn-in test and open the fan curve editor in Precision-X. You're going to want to place a point at 78C with the fan percent you just found. For example, for me i needed 62% to keep my GPU at a stable 78C during the Furmark test.

Now set a second point at 82C with 100% fanspeed. This is just to protect your card from high temperatures, you should never actually go over 78C though.

If you had any specific RPM ranges that produced an annoying sound range (like screeching or grinding), now is a good time to by-pass those areas like i showed above. You'll also need to decide if the additional fan throttling caused from by-passing those points is more desirable to listen to then the screeching/grinding.

This is what your curve should look like:




>>Link back to the table of contents<<


----------



## SeanPoe

*Troubleshooting:*

*How to Receive Help With Your Overclock in This Thread:*
If you're having issues with your overclock and would like help, then please post in the following format:
Quote:


> A short, concise, explanation of your general problem.
> 
> Your card's model
> Your Boost Clock
> Your Max Boost (This is your Boost Clock + Kepler Boost)
> Your Memory Clock
> Your Power Target and Voltage setting
> 
> Your Heaven score and a screenshot of the graphs after that same Heaven run. If you were unable to finish Heaven then mention that instead.


*Here's an example:*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



My score in Heaven seems low for my settings. I'm able to finish the run without any artifacts but i still don't understand my low score.

Asus TOP
1156 Boost Clock
1260 Max Boost
1796 Memory
117% Power Target with 1.175 Voltage slider







*Reducing Temperatures to Eliminate Throttle:*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



If you're seeing temperatures over 70C even with the fan curve set to run at ~85% at that temperature, then your case's airflow is probably to blame. First, try removing the side-panel of your case. If that reduces temperatures to acceptable levels, then it's most likely your case and your case's airflow that's the problem. It's almost impossible to give generalized help to fix this problem, so i suggest that you post here or in another thread to ask for personalized assistance. If removing your case's side-panel didn't improve temperatures, then you most likely have a hot card. The first thing you should try (if you feel comfortable doing this), is to replace your GPU's Heatsink's TIM. This is an easy and inexpensive procedure that can net up to a 2-10C decrease in temperatures depending on how poor the initial TIM application was. If that doesn't reduce your temperatures then you have the option to reduce the overclock of your card until your temperatures are under 70C. This may or may not result in a performance increase as you only lose 13MHz from the 70C throttle. In most cases, it's only worth reducing your overclock to stay under 70C if you only have to reduce it less than ~12MHz to accomplish this. So if your current Boost Clock is set to 1150 and you're at 73C under heavy load, and reducing your Boost Clock to 1137 keeps you under 70C, then that would not be a performance increase (because you had to reduce the offset by 13MHz or more).



*Frequently Asked Questions:*
_Work in progress, will update as more questions are asked_

>>Link back to the table of contents<<


----------



## SeanPoe

*Videos:*




 _by motherboardsorg_
_This video is about the 680 but a lot of the information is transferable to the 670 too. It's a great primer on how Power Percent and temperature can affect overclocks._




 _by asusrog_
_The title of this video is slightly misleading, it's actually an overclocking tutorial for the Asus 670 TOP._

*Additional Threads:*
[OFFICIAL] GTX 670 Overclocking
_This thread is the 'Official' thread to brag in about your 670 overclock._

[Official] GTX670 Reviews Thread
_The 'Official' 670 review thread with links to most all of the online 670 reviews._

[Official] NVIDIA GTX 670 Owners Club
_The 'Official' 670 owners club. This is probably the best place to ask generalized questions about the 670_.

Asus 670 DirectCU II TOP
_Ignore the 'TOP' in the title, this thread is a place for all Asus 670 owners to ask question and get help from other Asus 670 owners._

Gigabyte GTX 670 OC Version *HANDS ON*
_Ahh, the thread that started it all. This is one of the very first threads on OCN that had first-hand information about the 670. It has now turned into the unofficial Gigabyte 670 owners' thread of choice._

GTX 670 Availability
_This is the thread to watch if you're looking to buy a 670. Even though it's died down a bit now, people still post here from time to time when certain online retailers get a new shipment of the 670's in._

Brettjv's 470 SLI vs 670 Bench-Off (both OC'd) ... (Now with 7970 OC'd!)
_The title of this thread is rather misleading, it's more of a collection of benchmarks comparing SLI'd 470's, the 670, the 680, and the 7970._

Rock Heaven Your Hardest!!! (670/680 Users)
_Once you get your card to its maximum overclock, you should head over to Brett's thread and post up your score! This is also a good place to see how your 670 stacks up to the rest._

*Closing Note:*
If anyone has any other suggestions for this guide feel free to post them here and i'll try my best to incorporate everything into the original post.

Hope you enjoyed the guide and good luck with your overclock!


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## MNDan

Really nice job with this!


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## SeanPoe

Sorry for the formatting problems, need 3-5 more minutes. I will update the main post and title when i finish









Ready to go!


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## Manavapor

+rep and subscribed!


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## SeanPoe

That took way longer than 10 minutes to fix all my formatting problems after i copied this from wordpad









It's done and ready now though


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## FromUndaChz

Great job +Rep

I'm sure this will help out quite a few people.. I'll let you know if I see any errors when I go through it more thoroughly, I'm away right now and can't even use my new toy!!


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## Degree

Do you recommend the Long method or the Quick method?


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## Slightly skewed

Nice. Thanks for doing this.


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## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Degree*
> 
> Do you recommend the Long method or the Quick method?


The long method will get you closer to your true maximum overclock than the quick method will. The performance difference between either method is only maybe 2-3%. However, the long method takes about 2 hours longer. If you have the time, I'd suggest you attempt the long method. You only have to do it once


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## stainlineho

Awesome job....rep'd.


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## Degree

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> The long method will get you closer to your true maximum overclock than the quick method will. The performance difference between either method is only maybe 2-3%. However, the long method takes about 2 hours longer. If you have the time, I'd suggest you attempt the long method. You only have to do it once


Alright thanks!
Also, do you know how to rep?








I can't seem to find the rep button anywhere


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## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Degree*
> 
> Alright thanks!
> Also, do you know how to rep?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I can't seem to find the rep button anywhere


It's found in the bottom-right corner next to 'reply,' 'qoute,' and 'multi' buttons. Just find the post you want to rep and click the rep button in the bottom-right of that post.


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## Slightly skewed

You know, I don't like overclocking this card. I feel like I don't have full control like I did in previous generations where you set it and it either ran, or it didn't.


----------



## MoYu

PrecisionX is wierd, it actually reads my default without making any adjustments to the GPU Clock as 1241 (stable) . But when i look at GPU-z it displays as 1137 for my Asus GTX 670 TOP

edit: nvm maybe i was reading the guide wrong, since i thaught i was supposed to set GPU Clock to +75, because of 1137-1059. So i guess this operates just like Asus's GPU Tweak XP


----------



## MoYu

Im also wondering whether it is safe to leave the Power Target and Voltage settings running at MAX all the time?


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## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MoYu*
> 
> Im also wondering whether it is safe to leave the Power Target and Voltage settings running at MAX all the time?


Yes, it's safe. Technically the voltage slider doesn't increase the voltage, it just locks it at the max when the card is under heavy load. When the GPU isn't under load, the voltage still throttles down like it should even when the voltage slider is maxed out in Precision-X. So there's nothing to be worried about.


----------



## whybother

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Slightly skewed*
> 
> You know, I don't like overclocking this card. I feel like I don't have full control like I did in previous generations where you set it and it either ran, or it didn't.


You can use nvidia inspector to force a boost free overclock using power level P2. It's a little involved tho.


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## iatacs19

Quote:


> However, it is still typically the minimum core speed that the GPU will run at under full-load.


Boost clock is not the minimum clock, it's the average clock over the base clock.

Edit: the base clock = minimum clock


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iatacs19*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> However, it is still typically the minimum core speed that the GPU will run at under full-load.
> 
> 
> 
> Boost clock is not the minimum clock, it's the average clock over the base clock.
> Edit: the base clock = minimum clock
Click to expand...

Sorry, but you're incorrect on all three points.

The Boost Clock is typically the minimum clock that the GPU will run at while under load. If it's being extremely throttled by power percent, it drops to the Boost Clock, after that it drops to one of the power-saving modes which is 920MHz -- that's the true 'minimum' someone will ever see under-load, but it's not at all typical.

I'm not sure what you mean by the average clock over the base clock. If you're suggesting that the Boost Clock is what the card runs at while under full-load, then that is incorrect. The 'average' core frequency under load should always be the Max boost frequency (Boost Clock plus Kepler Boost).

Technically, the minimum clock speed is the first power saving mode at 324MHz. I've never seen the card drop to this under any type of load. Even 2D applications will pull it out of this state. The second lowest clock speed is the second power saving mode at 920MHz. If you're WAY over your power percent, like when running furmark at 1080p, it will drop to this power saving mode even while at full-load. After that the minimum is the Boost clock. The base clock plays no role here.


----------



## Slightly skewed

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *whybother*
> 
> You can use nvidia inspector to force a boost free overclock using power level P2. It's a little involved tho.


I'm looking at it now. Is there a guide on how to do it?


----------



## whybother

http://www.obr-hardware.com/2012/05/exclusive-guide-how-to-disable-gpu.html

You need to apply +boost to get the overclock applied. Using this method limits your maximum overclock by about 10mhz.

My batch files (for 24/7 gaming):

*overclock.bat*
nvidiaInspector.exe -setBaseClockOffset:0,0,125 -setMemoryClockOffset:0,0,500 -setpowertarget:0,111 -setGpuClock:0,2,1300 -setMemoryClock:0,2,3500 -forcepstate:0,2

*default.bat*
nvidiaInspector.exe -setGpuClock:0,2,705 -setMemoryClock:0,2,3000 -forcepstate:0,16

*force_idle.bat*
nvidiaInspector.exe -setGpuClock:0,2,705 -setMemoryClock:0,2,3000 -forcepstate:0,8

You want to avoid using the resetAllPStates command. It causes a P state lock and will require a clean driver install to undo. There can also be the odd issue (still not pinpointed) with P states being locked after returning to default (forcepstate:0:16). Not an issue if you only ever use overclock.bat and force_idle.bat.


----------



## EliteReplay

nice well written guide, thanks. i think i will use this once i get my EVGA GTX670 FTW


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## brettjv

Good Job Sean. Haven't proof-read the whole thing but I would point out that the Crysis benchmark is just an application for running the game benchmark (not stand-alone) ... so not really 'free'. Also, you could throw up the Stalker - Call of Pripyat and Clear Sky benches, those are stand-alone and free.

Also here:
Quote:


> You see how each time my core clock drops my gpu usage also drops?


I believe you meant to say Power Usage


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *whybother*
> 
> http://www.obr-hardware.com/2012/05/exclusive-guide-how-to-disable-gpu.html
> You need to apply +boost to get the overclock applied. Using this method limits your maximum overclock by about 10mhz.
> My batch files (for 24/7 gaming):
> *overclock.bat*
> nvidiaInspector.exe -setBaseClockOffset:0,0,125 -setMemoryClockOffset:0,0,500 -setpowertarget:0,111 -setGpuClock:0,2,1300 -setMemoryClock:0,2,3500 -forcepstate:0,2
> *default.bat*
> nvidiaInspector.exe -setGpuClock:0,2,705 -setMemoryClock:0,2,3000 -forcepstate:0,16
> *force_idle.bat*
> nvidiaInspector.exe -setGpuClock:0,2,705 -setMemoryClock:0,2,3000 -forcepstate:0,8
> You want to avoid using the resetAllPStates command. It causes a P state lock and will require a clean driver install to undo. There can also be the odd issue (still not pinpointed) with P states being locked after returning to default (forcepstate:0:16). Not an issue if you only ever use overclock.bat and force_idle.bat.


Cool, I'll look into that some more and add a section to the guide. For some people, this might be the best option


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> Good Job Sean. Haven't proof-read the whole thing but I would point out that the Crysis benchmark is just an application for running the game benchmark (not stand-alone) ... so not really 'free'. Also, you could throw up the Stalker - Call of Pripyat and Clear Sky benches, those are stand-alone and free.
> Also here:
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> You see how each time my core clock drops my gpu usage also drops?
> 
> 
> 
> I believe you meant to say Power Usage
Click to expand...

I'll add those and fix the Crysis one, thanks









I actually meant gpu usage, but i think i worded that sentence backwards so it might be confusing. I should have said:


You see how each time my GPU usage drops my core clock also drops? This is because whenever there's a drop in GPU demand, for example when you're on a loading screen between sections in a benchmark or game, the core clock also drops in order to save power. This is completely normal and just means the GPU is throttling itself whenever additional core frequency is not beneficial, so you aren't actually losing performance. If this is what you're seeing, then go back to Step 2 and ignore the frequency drops that also corresponds with GPU usages drops too.

Makes more sense now, right?


----------



## amadnei

dang I dont know how to rep , I would If I knew :S


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *amadnei*
> 
> dang I dont know how to rep , I would If I knew :S




I should make a guide on how to +rep. Then people can all test out what they learned by +repping me









INFINITE REP GENERATOR!


----------



## amadnei

Oh good lord! my life is changed , thanks


----------



## bigal1542

Hey Sean,

Amazing guide. I am doing the OCing at the moment and have a few questions...

This was just on the first run, so I don't have too much info.

I have attached a screenshot of my results after I increased the offset by 15 to get a boost clock of 1100. Why does it say that I am using the Intel 4000? I am testing this on my sig rig. Should I disable the Intel 4000 in the device manager or something?

Also, during the entire test, GPU 1 was running "harder" than GPU 2. In relation to GPU2, GPU1 always 10% more on the power, 13mV more on the voltage, 39MHz more on the clock, 4 deg C warmer temp, and 4% higher fan percentage.

I do have the sync box checked in Precision X.

Thanks a ton,
Big Al

_+rep for an amazing guide_


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> Hey Sean,
> Amazing guide. I am doing the OCing at the moment and have a few questions...
> This was just on the first run, so I don't have too much info.
> I have attached a screenshot of my results after I increased the offset by 15 to get a boost clock of 1100. Why does it say that I am using the Intel 4000? I am testing this on my sig rig. Should I disable the Intel 4000 in the device manager or something?
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Also, during the entire test, GPU 1 was running "harder" than GPU 2. In relation to GPU2, GPU1 always 10% more on the power, 13mV more on the voltage, 39MHz more on the clock, 4 deg C warmer temp, and 4% higher fan percentage.
> I do have the sync box checked in Precision X.
> Thanks a ton,
> Big Al
> _+rep for an amazing guide_


Do you have VirtuMVP turned on? I'm not really sure why sometimes Heaven shows the Intel 4000 as the GPU even when Virtu is off. You could try disabling the HD4000 in your UEFI/bios. As far as i know, the HD 4000 has very little value for a desktop computer if you don't care about VirtuMVP (which at this point doesn't have a lot of real-world value) and QuickSync (fast video encoding). Maybe someone else can add more to this than i can.

As for GPU1 running 'harder' than GPU2 in SLI, that's normal.


----------



## bigal1542

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Do you have VirtuMVP turned on? I'm not really sure why sometimes Heaven shows the Intel 4000 as the GPU even when Virtu is off. You could try disabling the HD4000 in your UEFI/bios. As far as i know, the HD 4000 has very little value for a desktop computer if you don't care about VirtuMVP (which at this point doesn't have a lot of real-world value) and QuickSync (fast video encoding). Maybe someone else can add more to this than i can.
> As for GPU1 running 'harder' than GPU2 in SLI, that's normal.


Thanks for the reply!

I have never heard of VirtuMVP. If it doesn't run by default, I doubt it is running now









Is it safe to disable the 4000 in the BIOS? I have read both that it is always necessary to disable the onboard graphics, but some people have also said that with the Intel 4000, that you want to keep it. I don't really know what to believe, so I just left it.

Sounds good on GPU 1 running harder.

Thanks again!

+rep

EDIT: looks like virtumvp was on by default in the uefi. Turned it off and got an extra fps at the same clocks. It also shows the right card now


----------



## iatacs19

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Sorry, but you're incorrect on all three points.
> The Boost Clock is typically the minimum clock that the GPU will run at while under load. If it's being extremely throttled by power percent, it drops to the Boost Clock, after that it drops to one of the power-saving modes which is 920MHz -- that's the true 'minimum' someone will ever see under-load, but it's not at all typical.
> I'm not sure what you mean by the average clock over the base clock. If you're suggesting that the Boost Clock is what the card runs at while under full-load, then that is incorrect. The 'average' core frequency under load should always be the Max boost frequency (Boost Clock plus Kepler Boost).
> Technically, the minimum clock speed is the first power saving mode at 324MHz. I've never seen the card drop to this under any type of load. Even 2D applications will pull it out of this state. The second lowest clock speed is the second power saving mode at 920MHz. If you're WAY over your power percent, like when running furmark at 1080p, it will drop to this power saving mode even while at full-load. After that the minimum is the Boost clock. The base clock plays no role here.


Sorry, what you are saying is not correct, you should re-read how the kepler clocks are explained by nVidia.
Quote:


> For example, the GeForce GTX 680 has a *base clock of 1006 MHz* and a *boost clock of 1058 MHz*. What this means is that in intensive 3D games, the lowest the GPU will run at is 1006 MHz, but most of the time, it'll likely run at around 1058 MHz. It won't run exactly at this speed--based on realtime monitoring and feedback, it may go higher or lower, but in most cases it will run close to this speed.


source: http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/introducing-the-geforce-gtx-680-gpu/


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iatacs19*
> 
> Sorry, what you are saying is not correct, you should re-read how the kepler clocks are explained by nVidia.
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> For example, the GeForce GTX 680 has a *base clock of 1006 MHz* and a *boost clock of 1058 MHz*. What this means is that in intensive 3D games, the lowest the GPU will run at is 1006 MHz, but most of the time, it'll likely run at around 1058 MHz. It won't run exactly at this speed--based on realtime monitoring and feedback, it may go higher or lower, but in most cases it will run close to this speed.
> 
> 
> 
> source: http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/introducing-the-geforce-gtx-680-gpu/
Click to expand...

There's a couple ways to explain this:

1) Companies are not always right. I challenge you to go ask for help on the official Intel, Nvidia or basically any companies forums. Their paid forum representatives usually know very little about their own products.

2) They're talking about the 680 there which actually does run closer to the Boost Clock than the 670 does from I've seen. But they're still wrong (the 680 doesn't run at the Boost Clock, it's usually 30-80MHz higher because of the Kepler Boost) and being overly simplistic. They're probably being overly simplistic on purpose because most people would be confused if they said: "The new 680 has a base clock, a boost clock, and a dynamic boost clock that's added to the boost clock. The card actually never runs at the base clock, we don't even know why we added this number. Also, the card almost never runs at the boost clock either because of the dynamic clocking feature that brings the card up another 100MHz because of the Kepler Boost."

3) It's proven countless times by running benchmarks and looking at the graph afterwards. Please explain then why when i run Heaven that my GPU core clock is at a CONSTANT 1260MHz when my Boost Clock is only at 1156:



And lastly, and this might come off as rude but that's not my intention, you really shouldn't believe something based off of only one source. It really doesn't mater how credible that source is, there's always a first time for mistakes. This has been proven countless times in the scientific community over the years, where an established and trusted scientist (or organization) is later disproven.


----------



## bigal1542

Just followed your guide with great results.

2 EVGA GTX 670 FTWs in SLI
GPU Max Clock: 1300 MHZ
Memory Max Clock: 1800 MHz

I could get the Clock to 1302 and the Memory to 1817 stable in Haven, but decided round numbers is nicer than a 0.7 fps advantage.


----------



## Italianguy

This guide is awesome!! I read it in anticipation of my build coming soon. I'm very new to overclocking and after reading through this guide I feel like a pro already!







Haha

+rep to you!


----------



## MoYu

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> Just followed your guide with great results.
> 2 EVGA GTX 670 FTWs in SLI
> GPU Max Clock: 1300 MHZ
> Memory Max Clock: 1800 MHz
> I could get the Clock to 1302 and the Memory to 1817 stable in Haven, but decided round numbers is nicer than a 0.7 fps advantage.


those scores really make me feel like getting another card, but i should probably get a better monitor first. =/


----------



## bigal1542

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MoYu*
> 
> those scores really make me feel like getting another card, but i should probably get a better monitor first. =/


I still haven't OCed my CPU or memory









The EVGA FTW is amazing for SLI. I am only seeing a 2-3 degree Celsius temp difference between the cards due to the external exhaust.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> Just followed your guide with great results.
> 2 EVGA GTX 670 FTWs in SLI
> GPU Max Clock: 1300 MHZ
> Memory Max Clock: 1800 MHz
> I could get the Clock to 1302 and the Memory to 1817 stable in Haven, but decided round numbers is nicer than a 0.7 fps advantage.


So you started off at 88.4 FPS before using my guide and ended up at 95.4FPS after. Nice results, and... PROOF THAT MY GUIDE WORKS!









But i do have to say, real men never round down!


----------



## yowzatheman

my dc2t 670 runs a heaven benchmark as long as i don't touch any settings,or setting my boost below 1137mhz with max voltage and power target.

However, as soon as i adjust voltage or power target with a boost at 1137 or above, heaven crashes. i can't even start adjusting my clocks D: what gives? I've followed the guide correctly, I guess i just have a not so good top card?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *yowzatheman*
> 
> my dc2t 670 runs a heaven benchmark as long as i don't touch any settings,or setting my boost below 1137mhz with max voltage and power target.
> However, as soon as i adjust voltage or power target with a boost at 1137 or above, heaven crashes. i can't even start adjusting my clocks D: what gives? I've followed the guide correctly, I guess i just have a not so good top card?


Can you run Heaven with stock settings and then take a screenshot of the Precision-X graphs, please? What i think is happening is when you're at stock voltage/power-target your card is being throttled by 13MHz which is just low enough to keep you stable but once you turn the power target up you jump 13MHz higher which is unstable at 1.175 volts for your card. If that is the case, then there's nothing you can really do except underclock your core and then compensate for that drop by overclocking your memory some more (as long as it doesn't cause artifacts or a lower score).


----------



## bigal1542

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> So you started off at 88.4 FPS before using my guide and ended up at 95.4FPS after. Nice results, and... PROOF THAT MY GUIDE WORKS!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But i do have to say, real men never round down!


Once I get the memory and CPU overclcoked I might put some extra work into really finding the exact limits


----------



## nvidiamd

This is definitely a plethora of information, well done









+ rep


----------



## Blizzfury

Awesome guide.

So in games with heavy gpu usage or benchmarks such as Heaven, my card's gpu clock will remain at the speed I want, which is good.

But in games such as WoW, I noticed the gpu clock would sometimes dip down to 700 mhz obviously because of light GPU usage but is there a way to force it to not dip that low in a 3D app regardless of GPU usage?

I have tried setting globally "prefer maximum performance" on the nvidia control panel, but it still does it.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Blizzfury*
> 
> Awesome guide.
> So in games with heavy gpu usage or benchmarks such as Heaven, my card's gpu clock will remain at the speed I want, which is good.
> But in games such as WoW, I noticed the gpu clock would sometimes dip down to 700 mhz obviously because of light GPU usage but is there a way to force it to not dip that low in a 3D app regardless of GPU usage?
> I have tried setting globally "prefer maximum performance" on the nvidia control panel, but it still does it.


Do you have adaptive vync turned on or vsync turned on in general? Do you have the FPS target set in precision-X? Those are the only two things that i know of that will throttle GPU usage.


----------



## MoYu

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Do you have adaptive vync turned on or vsync turned on in general? Do you have the FPS target set in precision-X? Those are the only two things that i know of that will throttle GPU usage.


after we have achieved a stable overclock, are we supposed to turn vsync back on?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MoYu*
> 
> after we have achieved a stable overclock, are we supposed to turn vsync back on?


If you prefer to have vsync on, then yes


----------



## Blizzfury

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Do you have adaptive vync turned on or vsync turned on in general? Do you have the FPS target set in precision-X? Those are the only two things that i know of that will throttle GPU usage.


Nope, don't have adaptive vsync or vsync on in Nvidia Control Panel or in WoW.

Here is the graph taken from a 25 man boss fight. The red line is where the fight starts. Ignore the dip at the start of the first red line, that happened because I alt-tabbed to turn on logging.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Blizzfury*
> 
> Nope, don't have adaptive vsync or vsync on in Nvidia Control Panel or in WoW.
> Here is the graph taken from a 25 man boss fight. The red line is where the fight starts. Ignore the dip at the start of the first red line, that happened because I alt-tabbed to turn on logging.


It's interesting how it's the exact same pattern over and over. Is there a boss mechanic during that fight that reoccurs every ~45 seconds? Each increase in GPU usage might correspond to those more demanding portions of the fight. Do you know what your FPS was at? Isn't there a 300FPS cap in WoW? Were you at that cap at certain points of the fight? You also might be CPU bound right now so your GPU only needs to run at ~50% for the most part to keep up with the CPU. I say this only because WoW isn't exactly a very graphically demanding game. The spikes in GPU usage might correspond to more graphically demanding parts of the fight where the GPU isn't being bottlenecked by the CPU as much.


----------



## Blizzfury

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> It's interesting how it's the exact same pattern over and over. Is there a boss mechanic during that fight that reoccurs every ~45 seconds? Each increase in GPU usage might correspond to those more demanding portions of the fight. Do you know what your FPS was at? Isn't there a 300FPS cap in WoW? Were you at that cap at certain points of the fight? You also might be CPU bound right now so your GPU only needs to run at ~50% for the most part to keep up with the CPU. I say this only because WoW isn't exactly a very graphically demanding game. The spikes in GPU usage might correspond to more graphically demanding parts of the fight where the GPU isn't being bottlenecked by the CPU as much.


Ah, thank you for the explanation, that makes a lot of sense. There is a repeated boss mechanic which I expect would probably fall under really low graphics usage. Now that I look at it, that is pretty funny that the graph basically mimiced the boss fight.

My FPS for the fight was fine (50+) and I'm not sure if there is a FPS cap, but I've never reached 300 FPS in a 25 man raid anyway.

I guess my main concern is, if the video card is at 700 mhz does that mean I'm losing out on FPS because it's not running at it's max speed.


----------



## whybother

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Blizzfury*
> 
> ... is there a way to force it to not dip that low in a 3D app regardless of GPU usage?...


Force a fixed clock speed with no boost or downclocking. Hopefully SeanPoe can do a better write-up than me and the guy over at obr:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1265110/the-gtx-670-overclocking-master-guide/20#post_17393068


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Blizzfury*
> 
> Ah, thank you for the explanation, that makes a lot of sense. There is a repeated boss mechanic which I expect would probably fall under really low graphics usage. Now that I look at it, that is pretty funny that the graph basically mimiced the boss fight.
> My FPS for the fight was fine (50+) and I'm not sure if there is a FPS cap, but I've never reached 300 FPS in a 25 man raid anyway.
> I guess my main concern is, if the video card is at 700 mhz does that mean I'm losing out on FPS because it's not running at it's max speed.


Your card should never throttle itself like that if throttling would actually reduce your FPS (unless if you actually do have Vsync or FPS-Target turned on). Are you sure you have vsync off in-game and set to either application controlled or off (or forced-off in the game specific tab) in the NVidia settings? How do you know your fps was 50+? Did you have fraps or something running?


----------



## Blizzfury

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Your card should never throttle itself like that if throttling would actually reduce your FPS (unless if you actually do have Vsync or FPS-Target turned on). Are you sure you have vsync off in-game and set to either application controlled or off (or forced-off in the game specific tab) in the NVidia settings? How do you know your fps was 50+? Did you have fraps or something running?


Yeah I'm sure I have vsync off because if I stare at a wall and zoom in to the max the fps is 200+. As for knowing FPS there is a built in display that will show your current FPS, though I can't watch it the entire time during a boss fight.

I really just think it's what you mentioned before, there isn't much graphically demanding parts on certain parts of a fight so it will just throttle down.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Blizzfury*
> 
> I really just think it's what you mentioned before, there isn't much graphically demanding parts on certain parts of a fight so it will just throttle down.


That would only be the case though if your CPU was bottlenecking the GPU. You can test that theory though pretty easily. Start by going to a really populated area of the game (like orgrimar AH, stormwind AH) where there's at least 25+ players and make sure you have the game maxed out. Take note of your FPS and GPU usage. Now turn down all of the GPU related settings (AA, shadows, textures, etc.) down to their minimums. If your CPU is the problem, then your GPU usage should drop and your FPS should stay about the same.


----------



## Blizzfury

Unfortunately, I can't find 25+ people standing around in the same area.

But staring at about 10 people with everything on max, my fps was about ~79-81. Then setting everything to low, my FPS goes to ~135-140 staring at the same spot.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Blizzfury*
> 
> Unfortunately, I can't find 25+ people standing around in the same area.
> But staring at about 10 people with everything on max, my fps was about ~79-81. Then setting everything to low, my FPS goes to ~135-140 staring at the same spot.


You probably won't start to become CPU bound until there's a ton of people around (20+). You could try joining an AV (that's still 40v40 right?) and go to the big clash in the center or wait until the end when there's ~30 people killing the NPC boss and then repeat the test. Your fps will still probably go up but what you really want to look at is if the GPU usage changes too when you switch settings. If the GPU usage drops when you turn the settings down, then that would indicate a CPU bottleneck problem.


----------



## Felz

Hi! Thanks alot for the guide, i have been following the GTX 670 threads since they came out. Bought a Gigabyte 670 last week and so far i am very satisfied in games with it. I have Followed your guide and it looks like the highest i can get is +65 and +90 and hitting a maximum of 43.6 FPS in Heaven. When comparing with other people, it seems im lacking between 4 and 6 fps, is there a reason for this or it's normal?


----------



## Skunt

Great guide +rep! was so confused about this kepler boost from other threads and you made it crystal clear

Will use thise guide 2night when i get to overclock my asus top 670=D


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Felz*
> 
> Hi! Thanks alot for the guide, i have been following the GTX 670 threads since they came out. Bought a Gigabyte 670 last week and so far i am very satisfied in games with it. I have Followed your guide and it looks like the highest i can get is +65 and +90 and hitting a maximum of 43.6 FPS in Heaven. When comparing with other people, it seems im lacking between 4 and 6 fps, is there a reason for this or it's normal?
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


Some cards just overclock better than others. It looks like your Kepler Boost is only 91MHz (most Gigabyte 670 have a KB of around 130), that alone explains why you're seeing a lower overclock. Do you have the voltage slider maxed out to 1.175V? Do you have the Power Target slider maxed out? Which version of the guide did you follow (long or short)? If you followed the short version you might want to try reducing your core offset by ~20 and then see how much higher you can get your memory instead. You might be able to trade 20MHz on the core for about 100MHz+ on the memory.

If none of that works for you, then you probably just have a poor overclocking card. There's nothing you can do to fix that on a personal level unfortunately


----------



## Skunt

Ok started with overclock yesterday.

Asus direct cu top 670:

My kepler boost is only 91 running (1137 bOOST)1228(+KEPLER) mhz under heaven bench.

Puted max voltage tdp to 117%

First thought lets see if it can do 1300MHZ so puted +72 crashed and gpu-z recorded 329 TDP????

tried +20mhz and heaven crashed temps ok tdp again went to 329?

Am doing something wrong or should i just settle with 1228 max(heaven scores 1207) and put some memory overclock?


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Some cards just overclock better than others. It looks like your Kepler Boost is only 91MHz (most Gigabyte 670 have a KB of around 130), that alone explains why you're seeing a lower overclock. Do you have the voltage slider maxed out to 1.175V? Do you have the Power Target slider maxed out? Which version of the guide did you follow (long or short)? If you followed the short version you might want to try reducing your core offset by ~20 and then see how much higher you can get your memory instead. You might be able to trade 20MHz on the core for about 100MHz+ on the memory.
> If none of that works for you, then you probably just have a poor overclocking card. There's nothing you can do to fix that on a personal level unfortunately


I have to respectfully say Sean that I'm not sure that we have adequate data just yet to confirm a definitive correlation between lower Kepler Boost values and lower overall OC'ing ability. In other words at this point TTBOMK any such proclamations would be more anecdotal than properly scientific.

For a long time there was a similar mindset about Fermi cards in the sense that low Stock VID's supposedly equated to higher OC'ing potential, and it was much bandied about here as a theory but never (imho) satisfactorily proven to be true.

I would be excited to see some kind of thread that aggregates and analyzes 'the numbers' of a good-sized group of OCN'ers Kepler cards to see if we could validly draw this conclusion (hint, hint)


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> I have to respectfully say Sean that I'm not sure that we have adequate data just yet to confirm a definitive correlation between lower Kepler Boost values and lower overall OC'ing ability. In other words at this point TTBOMK any such proclamations would be more anecdotal than properly scientific.
> ...
> I would be excited to see some kind of thread that aggregates and analyzes 'the numbers' of a good-sized group of OCN'ers Kepler cards to see if we could validly draw this conclusion (hint, hint)


Yeah, i should be more careful with my wording with you around









From what I've seen though so far (and yes, this is anecdotal and not scientific







) cards with very high Kepler Boosts also seem to overclock better. I think this has to do with how the Kepler boost is assigned when the chip is made. I have a strong suspicion that it's based on how the chip performs relative to the TDP. If the chip is under the TDP, it gets a higher kepler boost; if it's over TDP it gets a lower kepler boost. In a lot of cases the most limiting factor when overclocking the 670 is voltage (not TDP or thermals). But for the 'golden' overclocking 670 that can get very high core clocks with the locked voltage, they seem to be limited more by TDP than anything else. So if you get a chip that's both efficient (which, from I've seen, also correlates to a higher Kepler Boost), and a chip that's very responsive to voltage, you can get a higher overall overclock. So, in and of itself, the higher kepler boost doesn't translate to a better overclock, but having a higher kepler boost seems to be a marker for also having a chip that won't be limited by TDP as much.


----------



## Skunt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Skunt*
> 
> Ok started with overclock yesterday.
> Asus direct cu top 670:
> My kepler boost is only 91 running (1137 bOOST)1228(+KEPLER) mhz under heaven bench.
> Puted max voltage tdp to 117%
> First thought lets see if it can do 1300MHZ so puted +72 crashed and gpu-z recorded 329 TDP????
> tried +20mhz and heaven crashed temps ok tdp again went to 329?
> Am doing something wrong or should i just settle with 1228 max(heaven scores 1207) and put some memory overclock?


I think i found my 329 % tdp problem(feel like a nuub now).

I did like the guide and had gpu voltage checked in the precision X.
But also downloaded msi afterburner to give it a try and there it gives a warning b4 enabling this that if you have 2 programs checking gpu voltage it may cause problems.
And seems that was the case cause i also was running gpu-z.

So i put a +13mhz(which crashed in precision) into MSI afb and passed heaven np.
Went for a +22 to get a MAX Boost of 1250!

so went back to precision disabled the gpu voltage monitor.
+22 passed heaven also without a prob.

So seems i have some headroom now gonna find my max

Mayb put a warning in guide at precision X section for noobs like me


----------



## balancebox

Thanks for the guide got 35 and 635 on my top


----------



## klewlis1

Yep that would be your problem


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Yeah, i should be more careful with my wording with you around
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From what I've seen though so far (and yes, this is anecdotal and not scientific
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ) cards with very high Kepler Boosts also seem to overclock better. I think this has to do with how the Kepler boost is assigned when the chip is made. I have a strong suspicion that it's based on how the chip performs relative to the TDP. If the chip is under the TDP, it gets a higher kepler boost; if it's over TDP it gets a lower kepler boost. In a lot of cases the most limiting factor when overclocking the 670 is voltage (not TDP or thermals). But for the 'golden' overclocking 670 that can get very high core clocks with the locked voltage, they seem to be limited more by TDP than anything else. So if you get a chip that's both efficient (which, from I've seen, also correlates to a higher Kepler Boost), and a chip that's very responsive to voltage, you can get a higher overall overclock. So, in and of itself, the higher kepler boost doesn't translate to a better overclock, but having a higher kepler boost seems to be a marker for also having a chip that won't be limited by TDP as much.


Yeah ... well you have positioned yourself (justifiably







) as an authori-TIE by creating the thread here, so ... I have to act as the system of checks and balances









I get your logic and thinking and wouldn't be surprised if the actual numbers did bear out the assertion. HOWEVER I think it's premature to proclaim definitively









I have to also say that the Heaven score in the 43 range does strike me as a bit low for 1215/3096. It's not a big OC but it's nothing to sneeze at ... based on looking at a TON of Heaven benches for these cards lately (as I know you also have) ... I should think those clocks should properly yield at least 48 fps.

I find myself thinking something else may be involved in the relatively low score for our new friend Felz here.

Felz, could you please fill in the specs on your rig and enable it in your signature so we can see what all we're dealing with?

Does your board have a slot that still runs in PCI-Ex 2.0 that you could try the card in? I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but ... some people have had better luck with these cards in 2.0 slots on certain boards. Also, make sure you've nothing 'forced on' in the NVCP that might be interfering with the bench.


----------



## Felz

Thanks for the reply guys. Here's what happened since i posted: Figured i would leave the overclock alone yesterday and try to play some BF3, i crashed twice in the first 30 minutes (display driver errors) so i reverted the overclock and restarted BF which crashed another 2 times in around 45 minutes. At this point i removed the 142 drivers and installed the 134 drivers. I was then able to play a good 2 hours with 0 crash (with no overclock)

Tonight, i decided to try to overclock again in the long way but with the 132 drivers, last time i did it i used the quick way as i did'nt have that much time. I am now able to pull +67 gpu boost and +300 mem clock, higher than that, i get absolutely no increase in the score. I ran the +67, +300 for an hour. Still, the highest FPS i was able to get was 45.6 and that's with nothing forced on in NVP.

I have tried to put the card in the PCIE 2.0 when i was at 60, 90 but that did not change anything for me.

I'm adding my rig right now so you can have a look.

I also realize that this thread was not about bad performance with the 670 but more with overclocking problems so i can start my own thread if you wish.


----------



## brettjv

Yeah, Felz, that's a good idea making a new thread.

In that thread, post a screenie with your Heaven Score, preferably with the AB or PrecX OSD running so it shows the actual clocks you're running at (just stating values like +65 offset don't tell us anything useful cause actual clocks on every Kepler card is different).

Then ask if anyone can confirm whether your score seems right for those clocks. Hopefully some others will contribute screens of their own at the same clocks to confirm whether your score is right.

BTW, just ran at your same settings as you listed in your first post (1215/3096), here's the results ... guess I was a little off when I said at least 48fps at these clocks ... still yours is enough lower that I'd be wondering what's going on a little bit


----------



## HardwareDecoder

does everyone run these tests w/ vsync off? my scores are 200 points higher when I do...


----------



## Skunt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HardwareDecoder*
> 
> does everyone run these tests w/ vsync off? my scores are 200 points higher when I do...


I do^^


----------



## andy4theherd

Great guide!

I've had a reference EVGA GTX 670 since release. I spent the first few days trying to overclock it. I was running +70/+350 and thought it was stable. I got a couple of crashes playing Skyrim so I went back to the default settings. Using your guide I seem to be dialed in at +50/+395. My boost is maxing out at 1148. I'm only seeing a 3fps increase with this overclock vs default settings in Heaven. Does that sound right?


----------



## andy4theherd

scratch that....

2nd Arkham City bench resulted in red screen......

at this point, not even sure it's worth it to continue trying to overclock my card for a 2 or 3 fps gain


----------



## BWG

Wow, this has to be one of the best guides I have ever layed eyes on. I am going to read every word very soon. Great work!


----------



## vhsownsbeta

Yes, massive props for this guide. Kepler is so steeped in automagical marketing jargon and this guide really brings it all back to the real world.


----------



## klewlis1

I totally agree i was able to get my 670 FTW to run a 1325 Core , 3506 Memory , 130% Power Target with a max temp of 65c


----------



## daltonfury

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> Just followed your guide with great results.
> 2 EVGA GTX 670 FTWs in SLI
> GPU Max Clock: 1300 MHZ
> Memory Max Clock: 1800 MHz
> I could get the Clock to 1302 and the Memory to 1817 stable in Haven, but decided round numbers is nicer than a 0.7 fps advantage.


I also have 2 670 evga FTWs in SLI and i can only get the GPU clock offset 55+
anything over that crashes and i have to HARD reset...Guess i got some crappy overclockers?


----------



## bigal1542

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *daltonfury*
> 
> I also have 2 670 evga FTWs in SLI and i can only get the GPU clock offset 55+
> anything over that crashes and i have to HARD reset...Guess i got some crappy overclockers?


Did you up the max voltage that would be supplied? Did you up the power maximum as well?


----------



## daltonfury

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> Did you up the max voltage that would be supplied? Did you up the power maximum as well?


no....any recommendations on the max voltage?


----------



## daltonfury

power target set to 145


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *daltonfury*
> 
> no....any recommendations on the max voltage?


Just max them both. The only reason not to max the voltage is if your maximum boost is being throttled by power percent (rare).

I haven't seen a reason not to max the power target yet. Keeping it lower can only artificially create stability by forcing the card to throttle itself before it hits an unstable core frequency, but the card itself isn't truly stable. This is the case on some of the stock Asus TOP models which are unstable at factory stock overclock settings.

But for you, i see no reason not to max both


----------



## bigal1542

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *daltonfury*
> 
> no....any recommendations on the max voltage?


Max em as Sean said. That is probably your issue


----------



## daltonfury

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> Max em as Sean said. That is probably your issue


i apprectiate the help guys...that worked a little..but now i can only get it to +65







seems kinda low


----------



## bigal1542

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *daltonfury*
> 
> i apprectiate the help guys...that worked a little..but now i can only get it to +65
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> seems kinda low


Hey man, you win some you lose some. The CPU I got in my build now is the worst I have seen of anyones reports on the forums. Most people can get 4.4 GHZ at the stock voltage or even 1.1V. Mine isn't even table there at 1.28V. Don't worry too much, the difference you will see between 65 and 85 is nothing


----------



## daltonfury

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> Hey man, you win some you lose some. The CPU I got in my build now is the worst I have seen of anyones reports on the forums. Most people can get 4.4 GHZ at the stock voltage or even 1.1V. Mine isn't even table there at 1.28V. Don't worry too much, the difference you will see between 65 and 85 is nothing


i hear ya. i had to back it to 60 ....65 still crashed on me the second run


----------



## Skunt

Almost found my sweet spot:x

Went up to 1250(maxBoost)-3374(mem)(+370 in msi afterburner).

Decided to go between my first stable MAx clock and highest so went for 1245(Max Boost). And am now at 3554 Mem(+550 in msi).

going to try boost mem a bit more to get a 1300 score in heaven With 1245/3554 I get 1294 score 51.4ish FPS pretty happy with it


----------



## XFighter899

I recently bought a ASUS GTX 670 Top and start a oc based on the guide (well written and useful thanks)
Im not consider a serious overclocker so my question is, *can I push even further the oc on this card.*

This is the most stable clocks so far, increase 5mhz on gpu or memory heaven benchmark quicly gives artifacts and a error message, that i think is unstable oc
I need increase voltage?








Note: Voltage is 1.1750v (default).


----------



## klaurent02

thank you so much for this guide. i was able to get 1230 boost clock with this.

i have one annoying problem though, in GPUz my bus interface is reading pci-e 2.0 x 16 @ x4 1.1
ive tried everything to run this at x16 and i cant get it to change.
my motherboard is an asus p8z68-v lx bios 3904. I think this is lowering my scores because my graphics windows index is a 7.5 instead of a 7.9.


----------



## Xenon64

Wow, this guide has helped me tremendously with my 670 FTW!

I have followed up to where I would begin messing with the memory offset. Just to show people where I'm at, here is my best stable overclock with no memory settings whatsoever!

+145% power
+124 Mhz Clock offset


----------



## Skunt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *klaurent02*
> 
> thank you so much for this guide. i was able to get 1230 boost clock with this.
> i have one annoying problem though, in GPUz my bus interface is reading pci-e 2.0 x 16 @ x4 1.1
> ive tried everything to run this at x16 and i cant get it to change.
> my motherboard is an asus p8z68-v lx bios 3904. I think this is lowering my scores because my graphics windows index is a 7.5 instead of a 7.9.


click the question mark next to it in gpuz then start the render test and it will go to the correct value!


----------



## Skunt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *XFighter899*
> 
> I recently bought a ASUS GTX 670 Top and start a oc based on the guide (well written and useful thanks)
> Im not consider a serious overclocker so my question is, *can I push even further the oc on this card.*
> This is the most stable clocks so far, increase 5mhz on gpu or memory heaven benchmark quicly gives artifacts and a error message, that i think is unstable oc
> I need increase voltage?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Note: Voltage is 1.1750v (default).
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> /SPOILER]


1st: no voltage cant be increased.
2nd: you can try 1mhz offset on gpu but i advice you to put mayb less on GPU and try boost your mem clock a bit more(for me it gave better fps) so mayb try 45 and do a +50 on memory(so for you +125) if stable push memory again with another +50 if you found max mem over clock push your gpu clock by 5 and see if stable if not go 4 3 2 1 => back at + 45. if stable go + 1 2 3 4 =>55 you prob wont make cause you already crash now.

compare it to your heaven score with highest gpu clock and see whats best for you.

3th: if you do heaven and want comparable result run like the rest of us (1920x1080 and 8XAA).

(sorry for double post)

gl!


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *XFighter899*
> 
> I recently bought a ASUS GTX 670 Top and start a oc based on the guide (well written and useful thanks)
> Im not consider a serious overclocker so my question is, *can I push even further the oc on this card.*
> This is the most stable clocks so far, increase 5mhz on gpu or memory heaven benchmark quicly gives artifacts and a error message, that i think is unstable oc
> I need increase voltage?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Note: Voltage is 1.1750v (default).
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [


Did you already try increasing the voltage slider to 1.175V? Like this:


If you still crash by increasing the core by 5MHz then you're very close to your maximum overclock. You could try increasing it in 1MHz steps if you really care about getting within 1MHz of your true max.


----------



## XFighter899

I start playing some games to test the oc like battlefield 3 and sometimes appears black squares on the ground so far in one particular mission
could this be a bug game or memory failing sins
I ope my oc didn't broke the memory
Change to default clocks and still sometimes show texture bugs

example textures on table flickring


----------



## autotroph

I'm at a place where I could use some input. I'm getting weird peaks on TDP and GPU usage, and at the beginning of benches, there is a slow ramp up to the max clock. Note that the second image is from a different run at +48.


----------



## whybother

GPU usage drops like that are usually due to external processes hogging resources.


----------



## brettjv

@Autotroph

Lots of people get those weird random troughs in GPU usage in the Heaven Bench. Nothing to worry about there.

As far as the clocks ramping up in the beginning of the test goes, these cards exhibit odd behaviors like that from time to time. That have a bit of a mind of their own when it comes to deciding what clocks they'll run at.

Something like what you're talking about here is going to be completely unnoticeable when gaming, and affect a benchmark score only by a tiny, tiny amount. Honestly I wouldn't waste your time worrying about it.


----------



## KMan90

Hey!

I've asked this question on the Official overclocking thread and got two different responses, so checking here as well to get better confirmation about my issue.

When I run Unigine Heaven 3.0 I sometimes get Glitches/Flashes mostly a single flash that cover the entire screen but also some houses dissappearing and reappearing in a split second. All of this at factoryclock. I've even tried lowering the clock but with the same result, maybe a little less frequent but I'm not sure about that. Is this normal in Heaven or is this infact artifacts? I can try explaining or capture the flashes/glitches if needed.

I've had one saying that this is normal in Heaven and another one saying that that never happens to him.

Thanks in advance.

Edit: I've also noticed in GPU-Z during both idle and load my pci-e interface is 1.1 16x @ 1.1 16x, shouldn't it be 2.0 or something?
Using p5k-premium socket 775

Edit2: I'd like to add also that when playing BF3 I get huge FPS drops when looking in a distans, and at the same time as this happens I see that my GPU Usage goes down from about 80% to 50-60% or even less. You would think it'd go up during something demanding.
I've also noticed that my 4gb ddr2 RAM has been using up to 4002 mb, while playing BF3. Can RAM be a bottleneck in that case and lowering the GPU Usage?


----------



## Xenon64

Well, I finally finished this entire guide for my 670 FTW.

Final stable clocks for me were +124Mhz Core offset/+385 memory offset.

Not sure if these are good at all, but these were the best stable results I got!

Attached are some pics:


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xenon64*
> 
> Well, I finally finished this entire guide for my 670 FTW.
> Final stable clocks for me were +124Mhz Core offset/+385 memory offset.
> Not sure if these are good at all, but these were the best stable results I got!


It would be helpful if you told us what your actual overclock is. +124 could mean anything from about 1200MHz to 1400MHz, depending on the individual card


----------



## Arizonian

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xenon64*
> 
> Well, I finally finished this entire guide for my 670 FTW.
> Final stable clocks for me were +124Mhz Core offset/+385 memory offset.
> Not sure if these are good at all, but these were the best stable results I got!


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> It would be helpful if you told us what your actual overclock is. +124 could mean anything from about 1200MHz to 1400MHz, depending on the individual card


What Brett said and to mention cards factory base clocks can vary. So your +124 MHz over clock on the 670 reference 918 MHz Base Core clock would differ to someone else's 967 MHz base core clock like on the EVGA SC version.

It's best to state your actual clocks to be compared. Base / Memory / Boost & Max Core specs if your monitoring the card. I think the most important spec is the max Core dynamic over clock I can achieve to know what the card can truly capable of pulling.


----------



## Xenon64

Ah my apologies!

Default Boost Clock- 1085MHz
OC'ed Boost Clock- 1280MHz

Kepler Boost- 91MHz

Max Boost- 1300MHz (spikes sometimes)


----------



## amunfortex

i have a 670 ftw and im currently working on the oc but it just seems alittle off to me. the max gpu offset i can get to run stable is only +35 and compared to others their getting +125 on avg and yes i have the voltage set at 1.175v. tho on the other hand i can run through heaven bench with a mem offset of +710 with no artifacts. when i go to play skyrim everything becomes all flashy ppl get thrown in the air. you wouldnt think a fresh install of windows would help at all maybe its keeping some info from my 560ti and doesnt want to update it? thanks in advance


----------



## Xeby

I had a quick question following this guide, I went with the short option and in the beginning it has you "temporarily" set the Power Target and Voltage sliders to max. However at least in the short version it doesn't say anything about changing them. Do you leave them at max after you are done?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xeby*
> 
> I had a quick question following this guide, I went with the short option and in the beginning it has you "temporarily" set the Power Target and Voltage sliders to max. However at least in the short version it doesn't say anything about changing them. Do you leave them at max after you are done?


Yes, leave them at their respective maximums. I'll be sure to fix that part of the guide. Thanks for pointing it out


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *amunfortex*
> 
> i have a 670 ftw and im currently working on the oc but it just seems alittle off to me. the max gpu offset i can get to run stable is only +35 and compared to others their getting +125 on avg and yes i have the voltage set at 1.175v. tho on the other hand i can run through heaven bench with a mem offset of +710 with no artifacts. when i go to play skyrim everything becomes all flashy ppl get thrown in the air. you wouldnt think a fresh install of windows would help at all maybe its keeping some info from my 560ti and doesnt want to update it? thanks in advance


Oh my god I'm going to start pulling my hair out here pretty quick ...

Offset values like +35 or +125 alone mean NOTHING. +35 on one card could mean 1250MHz and +125 on another card could mean 1240MHz. What is your actual, observed core operating frequency (like the max you see in AB graphs) when running a full load (the PCI-Ex render test in GPU-Z is a great, quick way to generate a full load, btw)?

There's no such thing as 'keeping info from another card' in such a way that your max overclock would end up being less with your new card. Now, Skyrim might have some information 'kept' from your old card that it's not updating, potentially. It might be worth re-installing the game, or at least deleting the config files and letting Skyrim re-generate them. Could also just try starting a fresh game and seeing if the problem still exists.


----------



## Cosmic Collision

Question, on one particular run the GPU clock was steady at 1239MHz then a few minutes into it I got an extra 13MHz and sat at 1252MHz for the rest of the run

Here are some pics, it looks stable I guess. At least it's not going down.





Should I keep pushing up?


----------



## amunfortex

the ftw is stock at 1006Mhz with a boost of 1085. my offset was could only go to 35. and im currently working on a fresh install of windows and skyrim so hopefully that would help


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *amunfortex*
> 
> "when i go to play skyrim everything becomes all flashy ppl get thrown in the air. you wouldnt think a fresh install of windows would help at all maybe its keeping some info from my 560ti and doesnt want to update it? thanks in advance


Well, first off, the 'ppl get thrown in the air' thing is an established bug with the skyrim engine. 



 lol









As for the things that are flashy, are they constantly flashy no mater where you stand or look at them in the game? Are the same things constantly flashing? Memory related artifacts won't be constantly flashy, they last literally less than half a second and rarely appear in the exact same place more than once. They usually aren't just a single color either, most often memory related artifacts are green, blue, white, and purple (in order of prevalence). If you can stand still in one spot and see something constantly flashing, it is probably just a problem with the game and not your overclock. Just save your game in an area where you see a lot of flashing, close the game, revert your overclock to default value, re-open the game, and load your game. Now check for flashing. If it's gone it might be memory related, though it might also just be because you restarted the game. So just to be sure, close the game again, reload your overclock settings, and then open the game again, and load your save. If the flashing is gone still, then it's probably not your overclock. If it's back after re-overclocking, then it's probably your overclock.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic Collision*
> 
> Question, on one particular run the GPU clock was steady at 1239MHz then a few minutes into it I got an extra 13MHz and sat at 1252MHz for the rest of the run
> Here are some pics, it looks stable I guess. At least it's not going down.
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Should I keep pushing up?


What is your power target set to? That throttling might be power percent related. Does it happen exactly like that every run of Heaven (start off lower and then bump up about a minute in)? If you're already at the maximum power target then you're most likely very close if not already over, your best performing overclock. You might get stable at a higher max boost frequency but it also might make the card throttle down more (hindering performance). Your best bet is to continue increasing the core offset and keep an eye on the graph. Make sure the gpu core keeps running relatively constant and that your score keeps going up.


----------



## Cosmic Collision

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> What is your power target set to? That throttling might be power percent related. Does it happen exactly like that every run of Heaven (start off lower and then bump up about a minute in)? If you're already at the maximum power target then you're most likely very close if not already over, your best performing overclock. You might get stable at a higher max boost frequency but it also might make the card throttle down more (hindering performance). Your best bet is to continue increasing the core offset and keep an eye on the graph. Make sure the gpu core keeps running relatively constant and that your score keeps going up.


Think you're right. After I pushed past it started fluctuating like mad. Now doing that same run at 180 offset (from stock) gives me that same fluctuation.

Gonna take it down a bit then move onto memory

Great guide


----------



## amunfortex

for some reason turning vsync on in the nvidia toolbox fixes all of my problems. but nobody has any idea y im not able to get a higher gpu offset?


----------



## Cosmic Collision

Now I'm confused. Runs that I completed smoothly earlier are now unstable

edit: Forgot to reset after crash


----------



## Cosmic Collision

Done, settled on

Max Boost 1262MHz
Memory Clock +575

Worked out that my Kepler Boost was 92MHz but it seems like there's some sort of delay going from 79-92MHz which takes a couple minutes. I can't get past 1262MHz if I set my offset to +195. It'll sit there at 1254MHz for a little while then I'm guessing it tries to add that additional 13MHz and realizes that it's probably a bad idea then crashes the driver. Just my theorizing though

Great guide once again. Took exactly 3 hours


----------



## daltonfury

I turned my over-clocking off completly. I have 2 670 SLI evga FTW and even when I overclocked and ran a test fine with no crashing or artifacts as per this thread....bf3 would crash after about a hour. I know it's due to OC. My temps are fine. Apparently bf3 is very picky about OC cards. As soon as I turned off all OC settings...I can run it or hours. Even with a little OC bf3 would crash. I mostly play bf3 so its not worth it to me. You guys may run the test fine but play bf3 that's where u will in come into issues.


----------



## bigal1542

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *daltonfury*
> 
> I turned my over-clocking off completly. I have 2 670 SLI evga FTW and even when I overclocked and ran a test fine with no crashing or artifacts as per this thread....bf3 would crash after about a hour. I know it's due to OC. My temps are fine. Apparently bf3 is very picky about OC cards. As soon as I turned off all OC settings...I can run it or hours. Even with a little OC bf3 would crash. I mostly play bf3 so its not worth it to me. You guys may run the test fine but play bf3 that's where u will in come into issues.


Same deal with me. Just pull 15 MHz of your max and you should be fine. BF3 isn't as optimized as heaven and the other benching programs, so it crashes even though you are stable in terms of better programmed stuff


----------



## HardwareDecoder

actually I think it's cause BF3 is more heavy-duty than heaven even is why people are heaven stable and crash in BF3 but yea maybe it's just bad programming I liked bad company 2 alot better.


----------



## waylonrobert

At Step 4, do I also increase the Power Target to max, or do I leave it at 100%?


----------



## Thoraine

Just bought my Gigabyte GTX670 today. Updated to latest drivers from nvidia.

I installed my drivers and then played one round of Diablo 3 after which I opened the NVIDIA Control Panel and then it immediately went into a blank red screen. I forcefully rebooted the computer and chose to boot normally after which it BSODed mentioning a graphics problem and then rebooted a second time.

Not sure if this helps:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 18441

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 116
BCP1: FFFFFA800B797010
BCP2: FFFFF8800F5D24D4
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 0000000000000002
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 256_1

Now I'm getting constant error messages along the lines of NVIDIA drivers have crashed and recovered.

I've run Heaven DX11 to stress test it and it went to 70C without freezing (I've been getting green artifacts in Heaven DX11), however the moment I closed and opened Firefox my system froze. My system has frozen twice so far. I've set my power target to 112% and my voltage to 1.175 but it's not helping.

I'm running:

Gigabyte 670 Windforce
Boost: 1120 MHz
Max Boost: 1237 MHz
Mem clock: 1502 MHz
112% Power Target 1175 mV


----------



## brettjv

Thoraine, I'm confused ... it sounds like you had unresolved issues, but then decided to overclock anyways (1120 is not stock boost on the GB)?

How are things doing if you leave the card at stock at this point?


----------



## Crabby654

So it's been at least 4 years since I have touched voltage on any video card and I absolutely love this guide. Is it safe to jack the voltage up to max and leave it that way forever? I remember reading about adjusting the max Power % to whatever the highest was in Precision X but as for the voltage we just leave it at max?


----------



## Thoraine

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> Thoraine, I'm confused ... it sounds like you had unresolved issues, but then decided to overclock anyways (1120 is not stock boost on the GB)?
> How are things doing if you leave the card at stock at this point?


Hello, Thanks for replying. yeah they aren't the stock boost clocks for the GB board. I reset them to the default 1059MHZ boost clock and still get driver crashes and green artifacts when running heaven dx11. What should I do? I have tried cleanly removing the drivers and reinstalling.


----------



## waylonrobert

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Thoraine*
> 
> Hello, Thanks for replying. yeah they aren't the stock boost clocks for the GB board. I reset them to the default 1059MHZ boost clock and still get driver crashes and green artifacts when running heaven dx11. What should I do? I have tried cleanly removing the drivers and reinstalling.


Sort of sounds like an unstable stock card. I'd consider RMA'ing that card.


----------



## Italianguy

I've been following the guide and when I increased the gpu clock a second time I got the below crash.

Is that the error that shows up when you've overclocked too high? Is there anything that I can tweak to make it possibly work? Voltage and power are already maxed out. Or at this point is the only option bringing down the clock? Thanks.

What hurts is the monitor graphs look so good right up until it crashed.









Is "D3D10 App window::swap_window()evice removed." the error that you guys got when overclocking too high? And if not, what does that error mean?


----------



## Lutsk92

If I follow the long version guide, does it work with 2x 670s in SLI?


----------



## Seltox

So, i've got a Asus GTX670 DirectCU II.. Not TOP, just stock speeds.

Heaven is able to pass a run fine at and a little over +200MHz offset (and I have ~130MHz Kepler Boost), but during a second run through directly after it would crash. Fair enough, wasn't totally stable. So I went down to 195 offset, and it passed two runs. I thought "sweet", and started raising it by 1MHz testing two runs each time. Long story short, I got to 199MHz before it crashed. then on 198 I tried for a third consecutive run (by 'consecutive run' I just mean starting another benchmark as soon as one finishes), and it crashed. Even longer story short, i'm now on 185 offset (1165 boost + ~130 Kepler Boost, it sits stable at 1296MHz according to the chart), and let Heaven run continuously for about 20-30 minutes (not benchmarking, just running through) and it was fine. Sat at about 62 degrees the whole time.

Anyway, what I eventually wanted to get to, was to suggest that you recommend people let Heaven run two or 3 times through once they think they've found their maximum stable clock - just to be sure.


----------



## InfoWarrior

I wish these cards wouldnt throttle at only 70 degrees. Thats too soon and limits the OC. AFAIK 70 degrees is perfectly safe. I put in hundreds of hours on my GTX 460's at 80 degrees without a problem.


----------



## bern43

So is everyone using precision x for these cards? I like the ui much more in afterburner. Is pinning the voltage that critical to getting a good overclock?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


----------



## Thoraine

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *waylonrobert*
> 
> Sort of sounds like an unstable stock card. I'd consider RMA'ing that card.


Now I can't even boot without getting nvlddmkm.sys BSOD. I've tried driver versions 301.25(drivers on the CD that came with the GPU), 301.34(official oldest), 301.42 (official latest), 301.59, 301.71. None of them fixed the problem. Refitted my GTX 260 for now. I'm leaving RMA as the last resort because there are many people complaining of crashes as well so I am unable to isolate whether it is my drivers or my card.


----------



## Seltox

I started off using GPU Tweak, because I have an Asus card.. That thing didn't work at all. Terrible program.

Then I went onto Afterburner, because my last card was an MSi Radeon HD6950, so i'd used it before.. But eventually decided to try out this Precision-X - and after a little getting used to, I prefer it. It's a much more interesting user interface IMO.


----------



## andy4theherd

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *daltonfury*
> 
> I turned my over-clocking off completly. I have 2 670 SLI evga FTW and even when I overclocked and ran a test fine with no crashing or artifacts as per this thread....bf3 would crash after about a hour. I know it's due to OC. My temps are fine. Apparently bf3 is very picky about OC cards. As soon as I turned off all OC settings...I can run it or hours. Even with a little OC bf3 would crash. I mostly play bf3 so its not worth it to me. You guys may run the test fine but play bf3 that's where u will in come into issues.


BF3 is horrible for OC'd hardware.

before my 670 i had SLi 460's. i had them moderately OC'd to 850/2000 running stable for almost 2 years. i always had tons of artifacts in BF3 unless i turned the OC off. never had this problem in anything other than BF3...


----------



## jam3s

hey guys, I herd OC'ing mem is moot.

True story or not


----------



## andy4theherd

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jam3s*
> 
> hey guys, I herd OC'ing mem is moot.
> True story or not


when finding my memory clock i had the core set to default and added +350mhz to the memory. this gave me a better score and higher fps in Heaven than with a +50mhz bump to the core with memory at default. so no, it is definitely not "moot".


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jam3s*
> 
> hey guys, I herd OC'ing mem is moot.
> True story or not


Mostly true w/Fermi (esp. the top end cards) but with Kepler not so much true. The memory bandwidth of Kepler is not improved as much as the core power has improved, so bandwidth is more likely to be a limiting factor. Of course it depends on the test, level of AA, things like that ... some tests will show a fairly dramatic improvement with a memory OC, others not quite so much. There's also a lot of headroom for OC'ing mem on (most samples of) these cards, so it's worth doing for sure.


----------



## SloppyJoeBEER

Where is the voltage slider ? When i go to the Adjust Voltage tab above test/monitoring is just shows greyed out sliders that I can not move. Running an Msi 670OC.

Nvm I reinstalled it and it seems to be fine, cheers and thanks for the guide!


----------



## Italianguy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Italianguy*
> 
> I've been following the guide and when I increased the gpu clock a second time I got the below crash.
> Is that the error that shows up when you've overclocked too high? Is there anything that I can tweak to make it possibly work? Voltage and power are already maxed out. Or at this point is the only option bringing down the clock? Thanks.
> What hurts is the monitor graphs look so good right up until it crashed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is "D3D10 App window::swap_window()evice removed." the error that you guys got when overclocking too high? And if not, what does that error mean?


^Could someone confirm if that error means unstable overclock or does it mean something else is wrong?

Also no matter what I do I can't seem to get any of the Precision X OSD monitoring numbers to show up when running the Heaven Benchmark (its running in full screen mode). Anyone know what could be wrong? Thanks.


----------



## bern43

Quick question. The guide mentions that you should back off your gpu clock if you have oscillation as little as 13mhz that doesn't correspond to a gpu usage drop. I'm on a Asus GTX 670 DC2 with a Kepler boost of +144. At +115 to the boost clock (1239) I'm getting 2 or 3 oscillations of 9mhz over the course of one Heaven run. Should I be shooting for no oscillation or is there an acceptable number??? Any help would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## Corndart

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Italianguy*
> 
> ^Could someone confirm if that error means unstable overclock or does it mean something else is wrong?
> Also no matter what I do I can't seem to get any of the Precision X OSD monitoring numbers to show up when running the Heaven Benchmark (its running in full screen mode). Anyone know what could be wrong? Thanks.


Yes, that's a crash signalling an unstable overclock, mentions this explicitly in the overclocking guide.

Step 4: Fixing Instability
So either *your application crashed or produced an error*, your display driver crashed or became unresponsive, you Blue-screened, you've notice graphical anomalies or your Benchmark score has decreased, or changing voltage doesn't stabilize the variance in your Max Boost. This usually means you're over your maximum stable offset.


----------



## Italianguy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Corndart*
> 
> Yes, that's a crash signalling an unstable overclock, mentions this explicitly in the overclocking guide.
> Step 4: Fixing Instability
> So either *your application crashed or produced an error*, your display driver crashed or became unresponsive, you Blue-screened, you've notice graphical anomalies or your Benchmark score has decreased, or changing voltage doesn't stabilize the variance in your Max Boost. This usually means you're over your maximum stable offset.


I wasn't sure if that error could have meant there was another problem. So I just wanted to confirm the error I saw is the type of error expected from an unstable clock.

So I guess that does mean the clock is unstable. I've been able to run the benchmark 5 times out of 6 and its fine. Then the 6th run I'll get that error.


----------



## jeffrey159

oh well. got a sucky card. can't go any further than that. if not it'll start crashing

Core Clock +40Mhz
Memory Clock +80
Fan speed 75%


----------



## jam3s

hey don't worry man, I can't hit more than like 40MHz more than stock on the core and I can't even do a run of 3DMark 11 at all.

I went up say 3-4 FPS max in heaven.

Tonight I'll work on the memory.

From what I hear memory will help some, if not more than the core in this case.


----------



## renat77

Hi.
I joined the new forum. I was a long time, but followed.
I'm using 3-way SLI GTX670 Gigabyte WINDFORCE.

+100 Mhz 980Mhz, BF3 multiplayer
1.GPU (top) 1276Mhz boost, 62-62-63 degrees centigrade, 62-63% utilization rate, 1175v
2.GPU (bottom) 1263Mhz boost, 66-65-63 degrees centigrade, 62-63% utilization rate, 1175v
2.GPU (middle), 1250Mhz boost, 68-64-62 degrees centigrade, 62-63% utilization rate, 1175v

I want to ask, if I make contacts if what you're saying, 1276.1263 and 1250 values are all Will it be 1276mhz? 13Mhz of this difference occurs due to SLI?

fatal1ty champion asrock x79
[email protected]


----------



## Italianguy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Italianguy*
> 
> Also no matter what I do I can't seem to get any of the Precision X OSD monitoring numbers to show up when running the Heaven Benchmark (its running in full screen mode). Anyone know what could be wrong? Thanks.


I was able to figure this one out. All I had installed was windows and the benchmarking tool. Since I never installed a game I was missing some of the direct x files.

After installing this package the OSD monitoring started to work: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109

The reason why windows update missed some of those files: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/179113

Dont forget to install that or any game that would install the latest version of direct x and you shouldn't come across the problem.


----------



## Omni322

Asus GTX 670 TOP
Stock Boost Clock 1137
Stock Max Boost Clock: 1241
Memory Clock: 3004
Max power and voltage

First off I'd like to say I am very much a newbie when it comes to all things about overclocking. I've read the guide and have a somewhat increased understanding of whats going on. From my numbers I gather my Kepler boost is 104, which i guess is on the lower side. I am actually running Heaven on loop now while I'm at work at stock settings and hoping that I'll find it on when I get home later today. About a 11 hour loop.

One question I have is when I run Heaven at above stock settings, say +20 to the core clock, sometimes it will run and others it will fail(making me think it is unstable at that frequency). What I don't understand is what's causing the failure. I've never seen temps go above 70C, and my power percentage usually stays right around 100%, even though I have it set at the max of 117% and voltage at 1.1175. Shouldn't the card be able to draw a higher power percentage? The EVGA Precision X tool shows that its running at a fairly consistent 1.1175 voltage, so I think that's fine, just not sure why setting the power target higher isnt resulting in the card drawing more power.


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *renat77*
> 
> Hi.
> I joined the new forum. I was a long time, but followed.
> I'm using 3-way SLI GTX670 Gigabyte WINDFORCE.
> +100 Mhz 980Mhz, BF3 multiplayer
> 1.GPU (top) 1276Mhz boost, 62-62-63 degrees centigrade, 62-63% utilization rate, 1175v
> 2.GPU (bottom) 1263Mhz boost, 66-65-63 degrees centigrade, 62-63% utilization rate, 1175v
> 2.GPU (middle), 1250Mhz boost, 68-64-62 degrees centigrade, 62-63% utilization rate, 1175v
> I want to ask, if I make contacts if what you're saying, 1276.1263 and 1250 values are all Will it be 1276mhz? 13Mhz of this difference occurs due to SLI?
> fatal1ty champion asrock x79
> [email protected]


No, it's not SLI making the cards run at different clocks. Every individual card has it's own 'Kepler Boost' that is added on top of the stock boost clock. This amount varies from card to card. If you ran each card alone, you'd see the same thing. You can just leave them as it is if you like, nVidia has said it's normal and it won't hurt anything. Or you can OC them individually using Afterburner. You just go to settings and uncheck 'sync similar cards', and then choose each card in the drop down and OC them individually. If you OC the bottom by 50, middle by 37, top by 24, they should all then run at 1300 or right near 1300.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Omni322*
> 
> Asus GTX 670 TOP
> Stock Boost Clock 1137
> Stock Max Boost Clock: 1241
> Memory Clock: 3004
> Max power and voltage
> First off I'd like to say I am very much a newbie when it comes to all things about overclocking. I've read the guide and have a somewhat increased understanding of whats going on. From my numbers I gather my Kepler boost is 104, which i guess is on the lower side. I am actually running Heaven on loop now while I'm at work at stock settings and hoping that I'll find it on when I get home later today. About a 11 hour loop.
> One question I have is when I run Heaven at above stock settings, say +20 to the core clock, sometimes it will run and others it will fail(making me think it is unstable at that frequency). What I don't understand is what's causing the failure. I've never seen temps go above 70C, and my power percentage usually stays right around 100%, even though I have it set at the max of 117% and voltage at 1.1175. Shouldn't the card be able to draw a higher power percentage? The EVGA Precision X tool shows that its running at a fairly consistent 1.1175 voltage, so I think that's fine, just not sure why setting the power target higher isnt resulting in the card drawing more power.


The max OC on graphics cards is very often hit due to something that cannot be monitored directly. Just because temps are okay and power usage isn't at it's limit, there's just a limit to how many MHz the chip will handle. Raising voltage usually increases that max clock (up to a point), however these cards will go to their voltage limit of 1.175V automatically ... so traditional overvolting isn't really an option.

AFA the power limit goes, that's totally normal. The card's power usage "is what it is", it's simply a function of the voltage, clocks, and how hard the game/bench makes the card work. The way Kepler is set up, it is designed to keep the power usage within a certain window around a particular wattage target (like, say, 225W since that's the safe draw on mobo power + 2x6-pin pci-ex cables) . If, during the course of running the game/bench, the electricity draw of the card goes significantly above the target, then Kepler is designed to downclock and/or downvolt to reduce power consumption. All you're doing by raising power target is altering the amount of power the card will be allowed to draw before it begins to downclock/downvolt.

IOW, raising power target isn't going to make the card use more power UNLESS it's already downclocking/downvolting in order to reduce power consumption. Even then the change would likely be pretty tiny.


----------



## Omni322

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> The max OC on graphics cards is very often hit due to something that cannot be monitored directly. Just because temps are okay and power usage isn't at it's limit, there's just a limit to how many MHz the chip will handle. Raising voltage usually increases that max clock (up to a point), however these cards will go to their voltage limit of 1.175V automatically ... so traditional overvolting isn't really an option.
> AFA the power limit goes, that's totally normal. The card's power usage "is what it is", it's simply a function of the voltage, clocks, and how hard the game/bench makes the card work. The way Kepler is set up, it is designed to keep the power usage within a certain window around a particular wattage target (like, say, 225W since that's the safe draw on mobo power + 2x6-pin pci-ex cables) . If, during the course of running the game/bench, the electricity draw of the card goes significantly above the target, then Kepler is designed to downclock and/or downvolt to reduce power consumption. All you're doing by raising power target is altering the amount of power the card will be allowed to draw before it begins to downclock/downvolt.
> IOW, raising power target isn't going to make the card use more power UNLESS it's already downclocking/downvolting in order to reduce power consumption. Even then the change would likely be pretty tiny.


Thanks for that explanation, that makes a lot more sense now. I guess I had assumed raising the power target would allow the card to draw as much power as required to keep it running stably up until a certain point, obviously was wrong about that :/

Guess I just can't push my card all that much. Considering others have had to downclock to be stable, shouldn't be complaining.

I do have another question about memory OC'ing. From my understanding, increasing the Mem clock shouldn't result in crashing, but rather artifacts. If i bump up my memory to +20, Heaven will just crash on me. Is this normal?


----------



## djmikea

Thanks for this guide, really useful









I think I got a bit unlucky with my card as I only get 65 MHz Kepler boost, which looks to be low for a Gigabyte card. Still, managed to get up to 1227 Mhz core (+104) and 7108 MHz memory (+550), which I'm happy enough with.

One question, do people actually run at their max overclock 24/7 or is it more sensible to clock it a bit below that?? i.e. 25Mhz less than max, seeing as the fps difference would be negligible but then you're not constantly pushing the card to it's limit?


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Omni322*
> 
> Thanks for that explanation, that makes a lot more sense now. I guess I had assumed raising the power target would allow the card to draw as much power as required to keep it running stably up until a certain point, obviously was wrong about that :/
> Guess I just can't push my card all that much. Considering others have had to downclock to be stable, shouldn't be complaining.
> I do have another question about memory OC'ing. From my understanding, increasing the Mem clock shouldn't result in crashing, but rather artifacts. If i bump up my memory to +20, Heaven will just crash on me. Is this normal?


Anything anyone says about 'what happens' from OC'ing core or memory ... it's just a rough guideline of what to expect. In reality, an unstable OC of either Core or Memory could cause anything from artifacting to driver crashes to bsod to system freezes. It's not written in stone exactly what's going to happen from either core or mem being too high.

And even just your 'stock' clock of 1241 (including the KB) is pretty decent clock on a 670


----------



## Omni322

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> Anything anyone says about 'what happens' from OC'ing core or memory ... it's just a rough guideline of what to expect. In reality, an unstable OC of either Core or Memory could cause anything from artifacting to driver crashes to bsod to system freezes. It's not written in stone exactly what's going to happen from either core or mem being too high.
> And even just your 'stock' clock of 1241 (including the KB) is pretty decent clock on a 670


ah, gotya. I'll have to mess around with it a bit more and see if I can eek out anything extra from it.

and agreed! May not get to that 1300 number it seems everyone wants to hit, but considering that makes like a 5 fps difference, by the time that performance becomes relevant in gaming, it'll be time for a new card upgrade anyways









Thanks for your responses man, appreciate the knowledge!


----------



## Lutsk92

Does the long version guide work for GTX 670s SLI?


----------



## Lutsk92

Because, when I turn up my GPU clock offset, for both 670s on Precision X, only the first GPU Boost Clock goes up in GPU-Z..


----------



## PCModderMike

I'm loving the wealth of information provided by OP








+rep, I've got a lot of reading to do.


----------



## dizzyorange

If my voltage is left at auto, it starts at 1.175 but drops to 1.162 and then to 1.150 as the temperature rises. I'm curious as to why nvidia implemented this since the reduction in voltage seems to have more potential to cause instability than lower temps.

(Running Unigine 3.0)
Voltage set to 1.175 (steady at 1.175): max temp 80
Voltage on Auto (1.175 dropping to 1.150): max temp 80

With auto fan control, fan speed maxes out at 57% in both cases.

One question: Does enabling software fan control have any performance impact? The tooltip in the settings makes it sound like it could possibly cause stuttering. Also, does Precision X need to be running for the fan control to work?

One more question: Where does the <85 degrees recommendation for graphics cards come from? Nvidia's listed max temperature for the 670 is 97C. It doesn't seem likely to me that they would post a max of 97C if 97C actually would damage the card. They would probably leave some headroom right? They would get absolutely no benefit from setting too high a temp ceiling and then seeing lots of cards fail. If 97C would really screw up the card, why wouldn't they set the temp ceiling at 92C? If, say, 86C would damage the card, I would see them setting the ceiling at 81C.

Of course I'm just blindly speculating. Great guide btw, will be posting my results in a bit.


----------



## SeanPoe

Sorry guys, I've been busy with Guild Wars 2 beta the last couple days. I just went through the last 10 pages and I'll try to respond to everyone. I'm not a huge fan of multi-qoute as it forces people to read my entire post instead of the information aimed directly at them, but I'm not going to post 10 different posts in a row







. To make things easier, i will bold the name of each poster I'm responding to so you can quickly scan through this post and find where i respond directly to your post.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Italianguy*
> 
> I've been following the guide and when I increased the gpu clock a second time I got the below crash.
> Is that the error that shows up when you've overclocked too high? Is there anything that I can tweak to make it possibly work? Voltage and power are already maxed out. Or at this point is the only option bringing down the clock? Thanks.
> What hurts is the monitor graphs look so good right up until it crashed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is "D3D10 App window::swap_window()evice removed." the error that you guys got when overclocking too high? And if not, what does that error mean?
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


Yes, that error means your overclock is unstable. If you already have the voltage slider maxed out, there's nothing you can do except reduce the offset until it's stable. The locked-voltage just isn't enough to stabilize your GPU at that frequency.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Seltox*
> 
> So, i've got a Asus GTX670 DirectCU II.. Not TOP, just stock speeds.
> Heaven is able to pass a run fine at and a little over +200MHz offset (and I have ~130MHz Kepler Boost), but during a second run through directly after it would crash. Fair enough, wasn't totally stable. So I went down to 195 offset, and it passed two runs. I thought "sweet", and started raising it by 1MHz testing two runs each time. Long story short, I got to 199MHz before it crashed. then on 198 I tried for a third consecutive run (by 'consecutive run' I just mean starting another benchmark as soon as one finishes), and it crashed. Even longer story short, i'm now on 185 offset (1165 boost + ~130 Kepler Boost, it sits stable at 1296MHz according to the chart), and let Heaven run continuously for about 20-30 minutes (not benchmarking, just running through) and it was fine. Sat at about 62 degrees the whole time.
> Anyway, what I eventually wanted to get to, was to suggest that you recommend people let Heaven run two or 3 times through once they think they've found their maximum stable clock - just to be sure.


Good recommendation. I was honestly trying to simplify some steps in my guide because running heaven 2-3 times after each offset change will bring the total time from 3 hours to about 6 hours. I will mention in the fine-tuning section of the guide (where you are increasing the offset by 1MHz per step) to run Heaven 2-3 times after each increase as an optional (but recommended) step.









Quote:


> Originally Posted by *InfoWarrior*
> 
> I wish these cards wouldnt throttle at only 70 degrees. Thats too soon and limits the OC. AFAIK 70 degrees is perfectly safe. I put in hundreds of hours on my GTX 460's at 80 degrees without a problem.


Yeah, i don't get why they decided to have the card throttle based on temperature at all. I can see the importance of throttling at 85C+ but not at 70C and 80C. I would also like to point out that i think the Asus TOP 670 doesn't throttle until 79C. I made a lot of posts about this in the Asus TOP thread. My Asus TOP specifically doesn't throttle until 79C and then again at 80C.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bern43*
> 
> So is everyone using precision x for these cards? I like the ui much more in afterburner. Is pinning the voltage that critical to getting a good overclock?
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


Yes, it's important. You can get about 13-26MHz higher overclock on some cards that struggle with stability when the voltage drops to 1.162. The Precision-X UI is actually quite nice once you get used to it. I actually prefer it over the Afterburner UI now.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Italianguy*
> 
> Also no matter what I do I can't seem to get any of the Precision X OSD monitoring numbers to show up when running the Heaven Benchmark (its running in full screen mode). Anyone know what could be wrong? Thanks.


Not sure if the other suggestion of installing the windows update fixed this for you, but you could try setting up a keybind in Precision-X to toggle the OSD on and off and then when heaven is running you can press that key and see if it turns it on.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bern43*
> 
> Quick question. The guide mentions that you should back off your gpu clock if you have oscillation as little as 13mhz that doesn't correspond to a gpu usage drop. I'm on a Asus GTX 670 DC2 with a Kepler boost of +144. At +115 to the boost clock (1239) I'm getting 2 or 3 oscillations of 9mhz over the course of one Heaven run. Should I be shooting for no oscillation or is there an acceptable number??? Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Hard to say what exactly will give the best performance. If the oscillations only last a split second each (not a constant down-clock) then you might get better performance with a higher max boost with some down-clocks. But from what i've seen, when the card is forced to throttle itself, the throttle is pretty much constant. For example, your Max Boost might be at 1239 but if the card runs at an average of 1233 over the entire course of the benchmark then that will give you less performance than if you dropped the offset down a bit and could run at a constant max boost of 1236. You could try setting GPU-Z's core-clock setting to 'average' right before each run and see which gives you the highest average max boost. You should also look at the Heaven score at the end and decide based on which ones gives a better score.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Omni322*
> 
> Asus GTX 670 TOP
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> Stock Boost Clock 1137
> Stock Max Boost Clock: 1241
> Memory Clock: 3004
> Max power and voltage
> First off I'd like to say I am very much a newbie when it comes to all things about overclocking. I've read the guide and have a somewhat increased understanding of whats going on. From my numbers I gather my Kepler boost is 104, which i guess is on the lower side. I am actually running Heaven on loop now while I'm at work at stock settings and hoping that I'll find it on when I get home later today. About a 11 hour loop.
> 
> 
> One question I have is when I run Heaven at above stock settings, say +20 to the core clock, sometimes it will run and others it will fail(making me think it is unstable at that frequency). What I don't understand is what's causing the failure. I've never seen temps go above 70C, and my power percentage usually stays right around 100%, even though I have it set at the max of 117% and voltage at 1.1175. Shouldn't the card be able to draw a higher power percentage? The EVGA Precision X tool shows that its running at a fairly consistent 1.1175 voltage, so I think that's fine, just not sure why setting the power target higher isnt resulting in the card drawing more power.


Brett already explained this, but in short, the locked-volage of only 1.175V is not enough to stabilize your GPU at that higher frequency. There's nothing you can do to fix it other than reduce your overclock.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *djmikea*
> 
> Thanks for this guide, really useful
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think I got a bit unlucky with my card as I only get 65 MHz Kepler boost, which looks to be low for a Gigabyte card. Still, managed to get up to 1227 Mhz core (+104) and 7108 MHz memory (+550), which I'm happy enough with.
> One question, do people actually run at their max overclock 24/7 or is it more sensible to clock it a bit below that?? i.e. 25Mhz less than max, seeing as the fps difference would be negligible but then you're not constantly pushing the card to it's limit?


A 25MHz downclock is probably around 1FPS decrease, it's not completely negligible







. But i wouldn't recommend downclocking. As long as your GPU isn't running at 80C+ (which would degrade the life of your GPU, but not enough to actually be meaningful before you replace the gpu in 3-4 years), then there's no reason not to run at your max overclock. When the card is at idle it will automatically downclock itself to 324MHz and .987V no matter what your overclock is at, so you aren't increasing the stress on the card at idle by overclocking.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lutsk92*
> 
> Because, when I turn up my GPU clock offset, for both 670s on Precision X, only the first GPU Boost Clock goes up in GPU-Z..


I'm not really familiar with GPU-Z in relation to SLI, maybe that's a normal bug with GPU-Z? Anyways, just uncheck the 'sync' button in Precision-X and overclock each card independently. Then physically move your best clocking card to the first GPU slot in your SLI array (since GPU1 is ran the hardest).

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dizzyorange*
> 
> If my voltage is left at auto, it starts at 1.175 but drops to 1.162 and then to 1.150 as the temperature rises. I'm curious as to why nvidia implemented this since the reduction in voltage seems to have more potential to cause instability than lower temps.
> (Running Unigine 3.0)
> Voltage set to 1.175 (steady at 1.175): max temp 80
> Voltage on Auto (1.175 dropping to 1.150): max temp 80
> With auto fan control, fan speed maxes out at 57% in both cases.
> One question: Does enabling software fan control have any performance impact? The tooltip in the settings makes it sound like it could possibly cause stuttering. Also, does Precision X need to be running for the fan control to work?
> One more question: Where does the <85 degrees recommendation for graphics cards come from? Nvidia's listed max temperature for the 670 is 97C. It doesn't seem likely to me that they would post a max of 97C if 97C actually would damage the card. They would probably leave some headroom right? They would get absolutely no benefit from setting too high a temp ceiling and then seeing lots of cards fail. If 97C would really screw up the card, why wouldn't they set the temp ceiling at 92C? If, say, 86C would damage the card, I would see them setting the ceiling at 81C.
> Of course I'm just blindly speculating. Great guide btw, will be posting my results in a bit.


It could also be reducing the voltage slightly to save power and not just reduce temperatures. Hard to say without graphs. As for your questions though: I don't think the fan control will have any meaningful impact on performance. And yes, you do need to have Precision-X open for the custom fan control to work. The 85C recommendation is just an arbitrary number i chose. Technically speaking, any increase in temperature will degrade component lifespan even if it's well below the safe maximum. For example, if the safe max is 97C then you could run the card at 97C but the card will probably die after 1-2 years of use. If you were to run it at 85C it would probably die after 2-4 years. If you were to run the card at 75C it would probably die after 4-6 years. Each 10C increase in temperature usually leads to a 50% decrease in lifespan.


----------



## marvkip

I'm still very new to overclocking and I was wondering, do I just keep my voltage and power target at max for my overclock? Is this not hurting my card?


----------



## Lutsk92

I'm having some problems with the guide although i'm following everything to the letter. I set the fan curve as shown in the image, maxed out voltage and power. Then I set my offset to +41 for a 1100 boost clock and ran Heaven benchmark with everything maxed out ofc. It gave me a score of 1179 (46.8 FPS). Then I increased my offset by +20 but after running another test, it gave me a slight lower score of 1176 (46.7 FPS). I set my offset back to +41 but my score and FPS were only decreasing with each test. After, I tried this with an offset of +82 and without changing it in between tests, I had the same problem too, score kept decreasing with each test after I started off with a score of 1291 (51.2 FPS). I also noticed that after restarting my PC, running the test with the last offset tested would bring back the score at its highest peak (or somewhere around) but then it would still keep decreasing. What's going on? Is this happening because i'm running 670s SLI with sync turned on in X-precision? If not, please help me out because I don't want to end with a brain tumor.


----------



## brettjv

Lutsk, are you shutting down Heaven and retrying w/higher clocks, or alt-tabbing out, changing clock, and then going back into that same running session? If it's the latter, do the former. Using Alt-Tab even once messes up the way Heaven runs for me. Other than that, I'd watch the graphs for each run, try to reckon what's changing from one to the next. There's likely some kind of a hint there that would point you in the right direction


----------



## Lutsk92

I'm doing none of what you just mentioned.


----------



## bern43

Looks like my oscillations are due to my power percentage being maxed. It hits its highest power amount then the clock drops for a second. If I lower the voltage back down to stock it smooths the line out completely though. At +113 now with the stock voltage. Not much difference in Heaven score even at +120 with max voltage. Gets about 2 or 3 points higher. Think I'm going to stick with the smooth line.

And one more question. I'm right at the edge of my memory overclock. Each time I get an artifact, if I don't completely restart my system my next Heaven run is complete crap. Drops around 20 fps. Restarting Precision X and Heaven isn't enough. I need to completely reboot my system. Is this normal?


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Then I increased my offset by +20 but after running another test, it gave me a slight lower score of 1176 (46.7 FPS).


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lutsk92*
> 
> I'm doing none of what you just mentioned.


Well, what I'm saying is that if I ever alt-tab out of Heaven, it messes up how it runs from that point forward until I shut down the running app (i.e. I need to return to the Heaven settings screen to 'reset' it), so keep that in mind ... yours may work the same


----------



## Italianguy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Sorry guys, I've been busy with Guild Wars 2 beta the last couple days. I just went through the last 10 pages and I'll try to respond to everyone. I'm not a huge fan of multi-qoute as it forces people to read my entire post instead of the information aimed directly at them, but I'm not going to post 10 different posts in a row
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . To make things easier, i will bold the name of each poster I'm responding to so you can quickly scan through this post and find where i respond directly to your post.
> 
> Not sure if the other suggestion of installing the windows update fixed this for you, but you could try setting up a keybind in Precision-X to toggle the OSD on and off and then when heaven is running you can press that key and see if it turns it on.


Thanks for getting back to me! Not sure if you saw this but I figured out what was the problem:
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Italianguy*
> 
> I was able to figure this one out. All I had installed was windows and the benchmarking tool. Since I never installed a game I was missing some of the direct x files.
> After installing this package the OSD monitoring started to work: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109
> The reason why windows update missed some of those files: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/179113
> Dont forget to install that or any game that would install the latest version of direct x and you shouldn't come across the problem.


----------



## dizzyorange

My results: 1210/3475 resulting in 44.8fps in Unigine @ 1920x1200. Core overclock was kind of disappointing... so I got another one for SLI.









But I still won't be able to max out The Witcher 2...


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dizzyorange*
> 
> My results: 1210/3475 resulting in 44.8fps in Unigine @ 1920x1200. Core overclock was kind of disappointing... so I got another one for SLI.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But I still won't be able to max out The Witcher 2...


Meh ... ubersampling in TW2 is over-rated, and definitely not worth the $ you have to throw at it to make it run well imho. My single 670 chews up the game and spits it out maxed w/o Uber at 1920x1200. Same w/every other game excepting Metro and MP3 totally maxed out. I personally see no good reason to get SLI 670's for 1200p resolution at this point in time unless you just have money to burn









Of course I say that now ... but I'll probably get another anyways cause I'm stupid like that


----------



## dizzyorange

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> Meh ... ubersampling in TW2 is over-rated, and definitely not worth the $ you have to throw at it to make it run well imho. My single 670 chews up the game and spits it out maxed w/o Uber at 1920x1200. Same w/every other game excepting Metro and MP3 totally maxed out. I personally see no good reason to get SLI 670's for 1200p resolution at this point in time unless you just have money to burn
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Of course I say that now ... but I'll probably get another anyways cause I'm stupid like that


Just turned on ubersampling and it is kind of overrated. I was expecting something like 2x FSAA and it's not really like that.


----------



## Mkilbride

This is daunting!

OC'ing older cards were so easy!

Now I got this 3 hour or half hour guide, when it used to take 5 minutes! And a lot more steps, as well!


----------



## dizzyorange

It took me about 90 minutes, half of which was spent reading the post. It's a great read though, well worth the time.


----------



## DigitalSyn

I am kind of disappointed with my EVGA GTX 670... With Stock clocks and power target set to 122% its constantly over 70 at around 72,73C. That is with the fan on max - my GTX 470 never got that hot in this case. I'm thinking I should RMA this sucker.

I can however jack my offset to 165+ but whats the point if I am being throttled for being over 70?

Also it looks like this card is capable of drawing 129% power, according to Precision X. Maybe I could try throttling it manually? Hrm. More testing I guess.

Adding benchmark results:

Core Offset +165
Memory Offset +400
Powertarget 122%

Core is hitting 1302 at times but is usually at 1289

I hit 70c - 73c at times, so I am being throttled but I guess this is a good OC. Temps are the same as they are on the stock clocks which is a bit weird.


----------



## bigal1542

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DigitalSyn*
> 
> I am kind of disappointed with my EVGA GTX 670... With Stock clocks and power target set to 122% its constantly over 70 at around 72,73C. That is with the fan on max - my GTX 470 never got that hot in this case. I'm thinking I should RMA this sucker.
> I can however jack my offset to 165+ but whats the point if I am being throttled for being over 70?
> Also it looks like this card is capable of drawing 129% power, according to Precision X. Maybe I could try throttling it manually? Hrm. More testing I guess.
> Adding benchmark results:
> Core Offset +165
> Memory Offset +400
> Powertarget 122%
> Core is hitting 1302 at times but is usually at 1289
> I hit 70c - 73c at times, so I am being throttled but I guess this is a good OC. Temps are the same as they are on the stock clocks which is a bit weird.


What version of the 670 do you have?

Have you changed your fan curve?


----------



## Mkilbride

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dizzyorange*
> 
> It took me about 90 minutes, half of which was spent reading the post. It's a great read though, well worth the time.


I came out knowing less about how to OC GK104 than I did when I first came in. Dunno, that just happened.

*Ugh

It seems my EVGA GTX670 FTW edition is a poor Over-clocker. Got a custom cooler on it and I max out round +55 core & + 100 memory =/

ASIC quality is 100% though.

Ah, well, I forgot about the factory OC.

, GPU reports that it is 1282mhz, abit disappointing after hearing people on the stock cooler hitting 1350mhz









I was hoping with a custom cooler like I have, to easily hit that and I'd be content.

Uniengine keeps crashing, the display driver that is, if I oc the core clock +55mhz.


----------



## DigitalSyn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> What version of the 670 do you have?
> Have you changed your fan curve?


I have the standard EVGA GTX 670, stock clock is 915mhz.

My fan curve its 75% at 55C as 80% sounds terrible. Its 75% all the way until 72C where it hovers between 71 and 72


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mkilbride*
> 
> I came out knowing less about how to OC GK104 than I did when I first came in. Dunno, that just happened.
> *Ugh
> It seems my EVGA GTX670 FTW edition is a poor Over-clocker. Got a custom cooler on it and I max out round +55 core & + 100 memory =/
> ASIC quality is 100% though.
> Ah, well, I forgot about the factory OC.
> , GPU reports that it is 1282mhz, abit disappointing after hearing people on the stock cooler hitting 1350mhz
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was hoping with a custom cooler like I have, to easily hit that and I'd be content.
> Uniengine keeps crashing, the display driver that is, if I oc the core clock +55mhz.


Yeah .. on these cards the max OC isn't coming down to temps at all. It's all about the silicon quality.

However, 1282 is nothing to sneeze at ... it's only really a fail card if you can't hit 1200MHz. There's not that many hitting 1300, let alone 1350. I think on the boards over the past month there's only been 4 or 5 cards reported (out of at least 75 I've seen mentioned) that can pull 1350 or above. Mine is one


----------



## bigal1542

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DigitalSyn*
> 
> I have the standard EVGA GTX 670, stock clock is 915mhz.
> My fan curve its 75% at 55C as 80% sounds terrible. Its 75% all the way until 72C where it hovers between 71 and 72


Wait, so you are getting throttling at 72 C?


----------



## stainlineho

Man, I love water cooling. I never go above 35C, EVER.


----------



## DigitalSyn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> Wait, so you are getting throttling at 72 C?


No, getting throttled at 70. The temp hottest I get is around 72-73


----------



## bigal1542

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DigitalSyn*
> 
> No, getting throttled at 70. The temp hottest I get is around 72-73


I would talk to support then. That isn't normal at all.


----------



## Mkilbride

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> Yeah .. on these cards the max OC isn't coming down to temps at all. It's all about the silicon quality.
> However, 1282 is nothing to sneeze at ... it's only really a fail card if you can't hit 1200MHz. There's not that many hitting 1300, let alone 1350. I think on the boards over the past month there's only been 4 or 5 cards reported (out of at least 75 I've seen mentioned) that can pull 1350 or above. Mine is one


Well my ASIC quality is 100%, though, for good or bad.


----------



## Xeby

So I'm not quite sure what I did or what happened, but I was trying to overclock and following the guide, everything seemed fine until I got a crash during the memory part and figured I had reached my max. I lowered it and even lowering it to what was stable before kept crashing me when running Heaven. I went lower than stable and it crashed. I even turned off the overclocking program and ran the Heaven with no overclock and it still crashed...what is going on? Is my card ruined? I was able to successfully get Heaven to run before with some overclock and now I can't get it to run successfully even without an overclock.


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xeby*
> 
> So I'm not quite sure what I did or what happened, but I was trying to overclock and following the guide, everything seemed fine until I got a crash during the memory part and figured I had reached my max. I lowered it and even lowering it to what was stable before kept crashing me when running Heaven. I went lower than stable and it crashed. I even turned off the overclocking program and ran the Heaven with no overclock and it still crashed...what is going on? Is my card ruined? I was able to successfully get Heaven to run before with some overclock and now I can't get it to run successfully even without an overclock.


Have you tried restarting your machine?


----------



## renat77

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *renat77*
> 
> Hi.
> I joined the new forum. I was a long time, but followed.
> I'm using 3-way SLI GTX670 Gigabyte WINDFORCE.
> +100 Mhz 980Mhz, BF3 multiplayer
> 1.GPU (top) 1276Mhz boost, 62-62-63 degrees centigrade, 62-63% utilization rate, 1175v
> 2.GPU (bottom) 1263Mhz boost, 66-65-63 degrees centigrade, 62-63% utilization rate, 1175v
> 2.GPU (middle), 1250Mhz boost, 68-64-62 degrees centigrade, 62-63% utilization rate, 1175v
> I want to ask, if I make contacts if what you're saying, 1276.1263 and 1250 values are all Will it be 1276mhz? 13Mhz of this difference occurs due to SLI?
> fatal1ty champion asrock x79
> [email protected]


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> No, it's not SLI making the cards run at different clocks. Every individual card has it's own 'Kepler Boost' that is added on top of the stock boost clock. This amount varies from card to card. If you ran each card alone, you'd see the same thing. You can just leave them as it is if you like, nVidia has said it's normal and it won't hurt anything. Or you can OC them individually using Afterburner. You just go to settings and uncheck 'sync similar cards', and then choose each card in the drop down and OC them individually. If you OC the bottom by 50, middle by 37, top by 24, they should all then run at 1300 or right near 1300.


YES, I tested the cards separately. Here are the results;

temperature <70C
Unigine Heaven Benchmark 3.0. To see the stability of the cards, I took 3 rounds bench.OK. 1175v

1. Card (top): 980Mhz+160Mhz=1337Mhz MAX
2. Card (bottom): 980Mhz+130Mhz=1254Mhz MAX
3. Card (middle): 980Mhz+80Mhz=1243Mhz MAX

2 th and 3 rd MHz frequency values of the cards is increasing with time, was interesting for me.;

1. Card (top): start 1337Mhz and then after stabil.
2. Card (bottom): start 1254Mhz then after (about 3 minute) 1267Mhz







)
3. Card (middle): start 1234Mhz then after (about 1 minute) 1241Mhz, 1247Mhz
very strange, is not it?

To synchronize the frequencies of the card. I equated the value of the worst performing card mhz. correct?

1. Card (top): 980Mhz+67Mhz=1243Mhz OK
2. Card (bottom): 980Mhz+107Mhz=1231>1241>1244Mhz
3. Card (middle): 980Mhz+81Mhz=1231>1244Mhz

I will have a few questions. I would appreciate you answer.
*1.*In this way, ie by synchronizing cards, overclocked to use, will you?
*2.*What happens to their maximum settings, making use of each card? Stability Will there be a problem?

*3.*Will be off-topic question, but not what I expected BF3 multiplayer performance. Average score was 80-85FPS GTX570SLI my old cards. 3-way GTX670SLI 120fps. Values should be higher. For BF3, 3-way SLI scaling problem there? Solve the problem with the new nVidia driver you think? Because of this scaling, AMD cards business more successful. If you look at video on the link give below, you understand better what I mean. 120fps with a minimum of 7970 cards in AMD 3xCrossFire. 60-70FPSs 3xSLI my GTX670 I'm getting the lowest performance.






A map of the same game, my FPS values to the variable 70-120fps. 7970, with a minimum of 120fps playing the game. Why is that?


----------



## Italianguy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xeby*
> 
> So I'm not quite sure what I did or what happened, but I was trying to overclock and following the guide, everything seemed fine until I got a crash during the memory part and figured I had reached my max. I lowered it and even lowering it to what was stable before kept crashing me when running Heaven. I went lower than stable and it crashed. I even turned off the overclocking program and ran the Heaven with no overclock and it still crashed...what is going on? Is my card ruined? I was able to successfully get Heaven to run before with some overclock and now I can't get it to run successfully even without an overclock.


Same thing happened to me when pushing the memory slightly too far. A restart fixed the problem.


----------



## bern43

Do the power management modes in the Nvidia control panel affect overclocks at all? I have mine set to "prefer maximum performance" but I'm honestly not sure what difference it really makes.


----------



## hetsaq

I have two Gigabyte Wind force GTX 670 cards and I am a little stumped here. I have one card that is consistently boosting about 50MHZ less than the other card. Power limit is 112%, Voltage is 1.175, Prefer Maximum Performance for Heaven in the drivers. GPUZ shows both cards as having the same boost but the 2nd GPU is about 50MHZ lower, I have seen them a few MHZ lower but not 50MHZ. Any ideas?


----------



## eotheod

Wow, amazing guide! Thanks heaps for this!
I'm doing the Quick Overclock as I have them both running on Air at the moment. Once I put them underwater I think I'll do the proper full overclock and see what these can really do!
Really new to overclocking, so guides like this are really helpful, thanks!


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hetsaq*
> 
> I have two Gigabyte Wind force GTX 670 cards and I am a little stumped here. I have one card that is consistently boosting about 50MHZ less than the other card. Power limit is 112%, Voltage is 1.175, Prefer Maximum Performance for Heaven in the drivers. GPUZ shows both cards as having the same boost but the 2nd GPU is about 50MHZ lower, I have seen them a few MHZ lower but not 50MHZ. Any ideas?


See the first link in my signature for the explanation of why this is


----------



## Alphatek45

Amazing info! + Rep
I'm going to reread it a few times and get this done soon.


----------



## illli

so i was doing some tests tonight following the guide. i adjusted all the suggested settings in the first post and ran a few test runs. for my first set, i adjusted power target to +117 but kept the gpu and mem offset at 0. i ran the heaven benchmark like that 4 or 5 times non-stop without any problem. phase 2. i increased gpu clock offset to +20 and mem offset was 0. sometime during he first run the heaven benchmark crashed. it said something like 'd3d11app windows device removed' and also another box 'display driver stooped responding and has recovered'.

i'm wondering is this related to my video card or is it software issues? because if it is card related that would suck if i could not even do +20








i have an asus top if that makes any difference.


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *illli*
> 
> so i was doing some tests tonight following the guide. i adjusted all the suggested settings in the first post and ran a few test runs. for my first set, i adjusted power target to +117 but kept the gpu and mem offset at 0. i ran the heaven benchmark like that 4 or 5 times non-stop without any problem. phase 2. i increased gpu clock offset to +20 and mem offset was 0. sometime during he first run the heaven benchmark crashed. it said something like 'd3d11app windows device removed' and also another box 'display driver stooped responding and has recovered'.
> i'm wondering is this related to my video card or is it software issues? because if it is card related that would suck if i could not even do +20
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> i have an asus top if that makes any difference.


The Tops tend to run at real high clocks out of the box, but they're actually all different because of the 'Kepler Boost', so ... what is your actual operating frequency on the core of your card? Meaning, if you run a benchmark like Heaven, what does the Afterburner or Precision X graphs show your core running at, when you leave the card at stock?


----------



## illli

i think i might have figured out the problem. for some strange reason it seems like maybe the precision x software was not saving my setting when i would increase voltage to max. seems like the other settings were saved, just not that one. i dont really know why, but i just checked it and it was back to default setting. so this time i left it open while i ran the benchmark to see if it made any difference. i managed to make one full pass at +35 without error. its really late so i wont be able to run any more tests until some other time


----------



## hetsaq

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> See the first link in my signature for the explanation of why this is


Thanks for that


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *illli*
> 
> i think i might have figured out the problem. for some strange reason it seems like maybe the precision x software was not saving my setting when i would increase voltage to max. seems like the other settings were saved, just not that one. i dont really know why, but i just checked it and it was back to default setting. so this time i left it open while i ran the benchmark to see if it made any difference. i managed to make one full pass at +35 without error. its really late so i wont be able to run any more tests until some other time


Yup, that's how it works. evga Voltage Tuner is actually a separate application, so changes made there are not part of the 'saved profile' in PrecisionX. LAME, but ... that's the problem here. And voltage tuning in AB (which DOES save voltage changes) doesn't work at all, so ... until that gets fixed, or evga creates a link between VT and PrecX, we're stuck with manual overvolting on each startup if we want higher volts.


----------



## illli

yeah, i think that was the problem i'm having. i've experienced it a few more times since last night. i can't pinpoint what causes it, but seems like it just goes back to stock voltage at random times.


----------



## bern43

Does your clock speed always go down 1 if you lower your overclock 1? I'm lowering my boost from 98, which gives me a 1228 core, to 97, and I'm suddenly getting a 1215 core?


----------



## Ilaylowfoshow

How long does everyone run Heaven for their Benchmarks to ensure Stability? I am so confused with my 670......I cannot seem to get past +114 on my GPU (Which is 1273Mhz on my Card) and +90 (which is like 3050Mhz) on my Memory.....Now I am happy with my GPU overclock, but not with my memory overclock, I should get MORE than just +93...And I can run those settings (+114GPU/+93Mem) on Heaven with Everything maxed out at 1920x1200 for 2+ hours...But if I go higher on My Memory I crash out within about 30-45 minutes.....My temps never go higher than 64 degrees...I am starting to wonder if this is an issue with EVGA Precision.......I know my card is not bad because I ran Heaven overnight at stock settings and had no issues.....I might try Afterburner to see if there is a difference, I have heard that Precision can cause instability......What do you all think? By the way my card is a EVGA SC 4GB 670......Only had it a few days, just trying to hit my sweet spot....


----------



## Mkilbride

For some reason, my EVGA's max TDP is 80%, even with PT + 145%

I want to OC it a little bit more!

1280mhz is not enough!

It's the FTW edition and I have a custom cooler, rarely goes over 55c, let alone to as point where it'd throttle.


----------



## Lutsk92

Could someone please help me out? My score keeps decreasing with every Heaven benchmark test even if increasing or decreasing my offset or even leaving it the same. I'm following everything in the long method guide. Perhaps someone with Team Viewer could give me a hand? I would appreciate that.

Thanks.


----------



## Ilaylowfoshow

For what it is worth...I seem to be getting higher clocks and more stability using Afterburner rather than EVGA Precision....And I have an EVGA card....


----------



## FromUndaChz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> Yup, that's how it works. evga Voltage Tuner is actually a separate application, so changes made there are not part of the 'saved profile' in PrecisionX. LAME, but ... that's the problem here. And voltage tuning in AB (which DOES save voltage changes) doesn't work at all, so ... until that gets fixed, or evga creates a link between VT and PrecX, we're stuck with manual overvolting on each startup if we want higher volts.


I've noticed my OC is stable (once I found a stable one) just by leaving the voltage to adjust on its own while gaming - I've been having no troubles at all staying at my max boost clocks or remaining stable. The card ramps itself right up to 1.175 volts anyway once it hits its max boost, which usually happens when I blow something up in BF3 then the max boost and voltage just stay pegged for the rest of the multiplayer session, unless I go hide in a dark corner, in which case it will downclock itself until I get moving again.

My question is, do all of you HAVE to manually adjust the voltage to remain stable with your max OC, or are you just doing it to avoid the card downclocking itself on the rare instance that it might decide it doesn't need as much juice? I just keep my power percent pegged on max and it remains stable regardless of what I set the voltage too. I've just been leaving mine to do what it wants and I've been stable. Interested to know why we are adjusting the voltage manually after finding a stable OC, and how many of you need to do that to be stable at max OC - if any..


----------



## illli

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *FromUndaChz*
> 
> My question is, do all of you HAVE to manually adjust the voltage to remain stable with your max OC, or are you just doing it to avoid the card downclocking itself on the rare instance that it might decide it doesn't need as much juice? I just keep my power percent pegged on max and it remains stable regardless of what I set the voltage too. I've just been leaving mine to do what it wants and I've been stable. Interested to know why we are adjusting the voltage manually after finding a stable OC, and how many of you need to do that to be stable at max OC - if any..


thats an interesting question that i hope someone could better answer. i've read a few posts where people stay at stock voltages and could o/c pretty high. but then in my case i could not even manage +20 offset at stock. but after i manually raised the voltage to max i could do +35. its quite confusing since it appears no two cards are alike. there is so much randomness involved.


----------



## bern43

With my card I get power throttled. So pegging the voltage actually does more harm than good. I'm at +77 on the core (1200 max boost) and +60 on the memory. Any higher on either, or an increase in the voltage, and I get throttled. Not the best chip, but not too horrible.


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bern43*
> 
> Does your clock speed always go down 1 if you lower your overclock 1? I'm lowering my boost from 98, which gives me a 1228 core, to 97, and I'm suddenly getting a 1215 core?


No, there are 'steps' on these cards. Most of them are very small, only a few MHz apart, but there may be some that are up to 13MHz apart. You've found a spot where they are.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *FromUndaChz*
> 
> My question is, do all of you HAVE to manually adjust the voltage to remain stable with your max OC, or are you just doing it to avoid the card downclocking itself on the rare instance that it might decide it doesn't need as much juice? I just keep my power percent pegged on max and it remains stable regardless of what I set the voltage too. I've just been leaving mine to do what it wants and I've been stable. Interested to know why we are adjusting the voltage manually after finding a stable OC, and how many of you need to do that to be stable at max OC - if any..


The only reason I care to max out voltage in Precision is because my card literally WILL NOT go to 1.175V unless I put it there with the voltage tool. Ever. Otherwise it taps out at 1.162V. And there's at least one or two others who've reported the same issue. If your card already runs at 1.175V when it's put on load, and downclocks appropriately whenever volts drop (due to lower load or whatnot) then I don't think using the voltage tuner to up the volts has any real benefit.


----------



## Mkilbride

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bern43*
> 
> With my card I get power throttled. So pegging the voltage actually does more harm than good. I'm at +77 on the core (1200 max boost) and +60 on the memory. Any higher on either, or an increase in the voltage, and I get throttled. Not the best chip, but not too horrible.


Thas not to good.

Your card boosts to 1200, and it cost 480$, if Amazon prices and Newegg prices are correct.

My EVGA FTW Edition cost 420$ and boosts to 1282mhz and + 350 on the memory.


----------



## Lutsk92

Could someone please help me out with my Gigabyte 670s SLI? My score keeps decreasing with every Heaven benchmark test even if increasing or decreasing my offset or even leaving it the same. I'm following everything in the long method guide. Perhaps someone with Team Viewer could give me a hand? I would appreciate that. Please let me know.

Thanks.


----------



## bern43

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mkilbride*
> 
> Thas not to good.
> Your card boosts to 1200, and it cost 480$, if Amazon prices and Newegg prices are correct.
> My EVGA FTW Edition cost 420$ and boosts to 1282mhz and + 350 on the memory.


Well, it actually cost me $377. But still not happy with the throttling. It's actually now throttling at stock, which it wasn't doing when I first got it. I'm rma'ing it. Going to the MSI. Hopefully, I have better luck with that.


----------



## Mkilbride

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bern43*
> 
> Well, it actually cost me $377. But still not happy with the throttling. It's actually now throttling at stock, which it wasn't doing when I first got it. I'm rma'ing it. Going to the MSI. Hopefully, I have better luck with that.


Eh, 377$?

That's a crazy deal man...

I just don't think you're OCing it right...you can't get a RMA for a card unless it is broken...and I don't think you understand that you do not get your money back...you get a replacement card, of the same make, if available.


----------



## bern43

It's just that its running way over the 100% TDP at stock and throttling all over the place. It's also that the throttling is only now appearing. When I first got the card, and tested everything at stock, there was no throttling at all. A week later its dropping like crazy. Newegg is out of these, so I'm pretty sure I can just get a straight refund. I was on the fence about whether to RMA this, but I really think the card should run within the TDP at stock. Maybe it's just me though.


----------



## Gainward

Great job! Thank you!

I got my card overclocked to +200 on core (max volt. 122% power limit)

I was wondering if there is anyway to go beyond 1.175v and 122% limit? a modified bios maybe?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lutsk92*
> 
> Could someone please help me out with my Gigabyte 670s SLI? My score keeps decreasing with every Heaven benchmark test even if increasing or decreasing my offset or even leaving it the same. I'm following everything in the long method guide. Perhaps someone with Team Viewer could give me a hand? I would appreciate that. Please let me know.
> Thanks.


That sounds like a memory leak (or fragmented memory) or something similar. Which I've never seen happen in the context of Heaven. Have you tried restarting your computer? What is your GPU memory usage at when you run heaven? Have you ever used MemTest86+ to test your RAM? What happens if you run the card at default clocks, are your scores higher and constant/stable when you do consecutive runs at default clocks?

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> No, there are 'steps' on these cards. Most of them are very small, only a few MHz apart, but there may be some that are up to 13MHz apart. You've found a spot where they are.
> The only reason I care to max out voltage in Precision is because my card literally WILL NOT go to 1.175V unless I put it there with the voltage tool. Ever. Otherwise it taps out at 1.162V. And there's at least one or two others who've reported the same issue. If your card already runs at 1.175V when it's put on load, and downclocks appropriately whenever volts drop (due to lower load or whatnot) then I don't think using the voltage tuner to up the volts has any real benefit.


Well, in my case, i actually _need_ to have the voltage maxed out. I will crash in heaven within 2 minutes with my current overclock if i forget to max the voltage after a computer reset. So maxing the voltage out definitely nets me around +18MHz on the core offset (not sure how much on the memory, but it had a effect on the memory too). I've tested heaven for 18 hours and 50+ hours in various games with my current overclock and haven't crashed yet, so maxing the voltage doesn't just temporarily or artificially help the card pass heaven, it seems to actually make the card truly stable (at least in my case).

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gainward*
> 
> Great job! Thank you!
> I got my card overclocked to +200 on core (max volt. 122% power limit)
> I was wondering if there is anyway to go beyond 1.175v and 122% limit? a modified bios maybe?


Nope. There might be a way to increase the power limit at some point, but definitely not the voltage without a physical modification of the card. Increasing the power limit without also increasing the max voltage probably won't have a very profound effect. In most cases, the 670's are limited by voltage before the power target.


----------



## illli

ok i've read conflicting reports on this, maybe someone can help clarify things. firstly i have tried following the guide written here. after making the recommended settings etc, when i ran heaven at stock voltage i could only manage +20 gpu offset. however, if i used the voltage tuner and raised to max (1175) i could hit +35. the confusion comes from other places i have read which said that adjusting the voltage does absolutely nothing b/c they are locked. but in my experience setting voltage to max did make a little difference (although i have not done exhaustive testing). all the other settings were the same between tests, the only difference was raising max voltage vs. stock voltage. i dont really know what to think









also, i have not been able to get a conclusive answer to this one as well, but does anyone know if the resolution that the heaven benchmark runs at adversely effects your ability to find your card's max overclock number? for example would a person get the same numbers running say at 1920 vs 1680? i could not really find much info regarding how much resolution factors into it. i was thinking about running heaven benchmark in a window so i could see real time stats on the video card. unless there is a way to do that in heaven itself? i dont really know too much about it.


----------



## SeanPoe

When people say the voltage is 'locked' they just mean you can't increase it past 1.175v. Increasing the slider definitely has an effect, it seems to force the card to run at the maximum voltage (1.175) when the card is under very heavy load. When the voltage slider is left at default, the voltage just randomly reduces itself to 1.162v and i don't think anyone has really figured out why it does this. By increasing the slider, you can usually net a 10-30MHz increase in overclock. Some people are misinterpreting the locked voltage though. Because the voltage is locked, they go around saying things like, "changing the voltage slider won't do anything because it's locked," which is only half true at best. The voltage slider DOES help stabilize a higher overclock, but it won't let you get past 1.175v.


----------



## Gainward

Quote:


> Nope. There might be a way to increase the power limit at some point, but definitely not the voltage without a physical modification of the card. Increasing the power limit without also increasing the max voltage probably won't have a very profound effect. In most cases, the 670's are limited by voltage before the power target.


So +200 is the maximum boost for my card
I was hoping to go a little bit further









anyways i guess +200 is enough for me


----------



## brettjv

iLLLi ... SP answered your first question, the answer to the 2nd is that I've definitely found Heaven to be most effective as a stability tool when run in full screen vs. Windowed. Lots of times I've found that loops complete in windowed (800x600 is what I run) whereas they won't when switched to full screen (1920x1200 for me). Whether that's 'resolution' based, or just full screen vs. windowed based I'm not 100%, but I suspect it's resolution based. It's best to check stability at the highest possible resolution I think.


----------



## illli

i don't know if i'll get an answer from them, but i think i'll try to contact them and see what they say. its too bad i dont have two monitors with two different max resolutions. that way i could test myself if there is a difference between full screen at different native resolutions vs. windowed at any resolution. i have a un-scientific theory that maybe running at higher native full screen resolutions would push the card harder vs windowed, so it might effect how well the card does. or possibly lower resolutions would inhibit the max o/c since not as much horsepower would be needed for the tests. say a person uses a 22 inch lcd. i wonder if the results would be the same if you used the same card but with a 27inch. or what happens if a person used a 27inch lcd but ran the benchmark windowed or full screen in the resolution of the 22.
i guess i'll just stick to the full screen native res testing for now


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gainward*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Nope. There might be a way to increase the power limit at some point, but definitely not the voltage without a physical modification of the card. Increasing the power limit without also increasing the max voltage probably won't have a very profound effect. In most cases, the 670's are limited by voltage before the power target.
> 
> 
> 
> So +200 is the maximum boost for my card
> I was hoping to go a little bit further
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> anyways i guess +200 is enough for me
Click to expand...

+200 is a meaningless value because it means a different clock on everyone's card. What max boost does this offset value actually produce on your card, if you run a full load (like Heaven bench) and observe the clocks in Afterburner or Precision?


----------



## Teh Bottleneck

A great guide,but it actually made me depressed when I saw the results some of you are getting,like those with 1350Mhz








Here's my GPU-Z shot:



It seems my Kepler boost is very small,since my card's boost can barely hit 1200Mhz under load(the temps are under 70 all the time,ofc)...
I increased the Power Target to 122%(max value) and tried with and without "increasing" the Vcore,but if I push on with my OC,Heaven's rocks start giving me a lightshow.Too bad,was hoping I could at least approach 1250Mhz...


----------



## illli

dont feel too bad. 1300+ is pretty rare from what i have read.
1200 range is more common.


----------



## Eruethemar

Hey - new owner of a MSI 670 gtx here, just threw an Artic Frozr II on in in my new build.

In the midst of OC'ing it, and have a question:

I cannot seem to get the Max recorded power consumption (in GPU-Z) to go above ~110% (or 107% as far as the OSD for Precision X is concerned). I've maxed the power target and Voltage sliders in P-X, and restarted multiple times - same result.

Am I just sitting with an unlucky card that capped my power-percent lower that what I would have wanted?

My voltage monitor shows 1.175 flatline (as one would expect)... So perhaps I'm just screwed. Or, perhaps I'm not screwed: I did buy the 'OC' version of MSI card so it came overclocked to a certain degree... might the reference TDP have been increased on the card, hence reporting a lower 'power percent' even though I'm hitting 1.175?

Current build and results:

2500K @ 4.5 w/1.28v (73 C Max temp)
8GB
ASRock Extreme4 Gen3 on latest BIOS, Intel drivers, etc.
MSI GTX 670 'OC' w/ Frozer Cooler current stable at 1231 gpu load clock (+120) / 3402 memory load clock (+400); load temps 56deg C

Thanks for the advice in advance!

~E~


----------



## bern43

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Eruethemar*
> 
> Hey - new owner of a MSI 670 gtx here, just threw an Artic Frozr II on in in my new build.
> In the midst of OC'ing it, and have a question:
> I cannot seem to get the Max recorded power consumption (in GPU-Z) to go above ~110% (or 107% as far as the OSD for Precision X is concerned). I've maxed the power target and Voltage sliders in P-X, and restarted multiple times - same result.
> Am I just sitting with an unlucky card that capped my power-percent lower that what I would have wanted?
> My voltage monitor shows 1.175 flatline (as one would expect)... So perhaps I'm just screwed. Or, perhaps I'm not screwed: I did buy the 'OC' version of MSI card so it came overclocked to a certain degree... might the reference TDP have been increased on the card, hence reporting a lower 'power percent' even though I'm hitting 1.175?
> Current build and results:
> 2500K @ 4.5 w/1.28v (73 C Max temp)
> 8GB
> ASRock Extreme4 Gen3 on latest BIOS, Intel drivers, etc.
> MSI GTX 670 'OC' w/ Frozer Cooler current stable at 1231 gpu load clock (+120) / 3402 memory load clock (+400); load temps 56deg C
> Thanks for the advice in advance!
> ~E~


Low power consumption is good. It means that you're not going to be throttled from using too much power.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Eruethemar*
> 
> Hey - new owner of a MSI 670 gtx here, just threw an Artic Frozr II on in in my new build.
> In the midst of OC'ing it, and have a question:
> I cannot seem to get the Max recorded power consumption (in GPU-Z) to go above ~110% (or 107% as far as the OSD for Precision X is concerned). I've maxed the power target and Voltage sliders in P-X, and restarted multiple times - same result.
> Am I just sitting with an unlucky card that capped my power-percent lower that what I would have wanted?


Two things:
First, Having a low power consumption is a good thing. It means you have a lot more headroom before your card is throttled by TDP.
Second, the power consumption is largely based on what program/app you're using to stress your GPU. I guarantee if you use Furmark you will instantly hit your card's maximum TDP and it will stay there the entire time. So if you really want some piece of mind, and proof that your GPU _can_ go above 110% TDP, then run a minute or two of furmark. Just keep in mind, it will push your TDP so high that the card will be forced to throttle all the way down to the Boost Clock (this is normal with furmark).


----------



## Eruethemar

Thanks for the clarification ya'll. Unfortunately, I still can't seem to push much higher on my GPU clock without crashing Heaven (even when I clock the memory back to stock). I never get artifacts - just crashes. Strange. Not that my current OC is bad (see above), but still - I always have higher hopes. Hah. Oh well.









~E~


----------



## thegh0sts

tried the guide and i got my Gigabyte GTX 670 OC to do core+120 and mem+475 and i only played part of a rush game in BF3 and it was smooth on my settings.


----------



## Thoraine

Hi guys I'm back. RMAed my 670 and ran a benchmark. I think my new card has a much much lower Kepler Boost than many others out there. Is this a problem?

Boost Clock 1059
Max Boost 1110.5


----------



## Mkilbride

It depends what 670 you have.

As for without OC'ing it, that's a decent boost.


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Thoraine*
> 
> Hi guys I'm back. RMAed my 670 and ran a benchmark. I think my new card has a much much lower Kepler Boost than many others out there. Is this a problem?
> Boost Clock 1059
> Max Boost 1110.5


Looks like your KB is 52MHz ... A little on the lower end of things. There's been speculation that higher Kepler boost value is indicative of a 'better' chip but nobody has ttbomk done any statistical analysis of this supposition. In any case a low KB can be compensated for by simply OC'ing more (larger clock offset), and the only way you're going to know how far your card can OC is just to do it. Let us know how it goes









Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> tried the guide and i got my Gigabyte GTX 670 OC to do core+120 and mem+475 and i only played part of a rush game in BF3 and it was smooth on my settings.


It looks like the 100 or so times I've mentioned on the boards (including when I said it 10 posts ago) that posting your offset value alone is meaningless since everyone's card works different has still not had the desired effect


----------



## DSmooothieTM

Hi guys, I was wondering what I should do if I have a problem staying under 70c? If I change my offset any more then +10 it'll go up to around 75c. How do I figure out how much I can overclock the card if it gets so hot so easily?


----------



## bern43

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DSmooothieTM*
> 
> Hi guys, I was wondering what I should do if I have a problem staying under 70c? If I change my offset any more then +10 it'll go up to around 75c. How do I figure out how much I can overclock the card if it gets so hot so easily?


Have you modified your fan curve as detailed in this guide? Helps a lot.


----------



## DSmooothieTM

Yes, I even put it higher but for whatever reason it seems my fan won't go past 80%. I have no idea why.


----------



## bigal1542

Wow, these beta drivers are pretty dang good. Able to get better clocks and the even fps improvements at the old clocks.


----------



## Eruethemar

Which drivers are you referencing? 301.42? Or is there a new beta I haven't seen yet...

~E~


----------



## bigal1542

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Eruethemar*
> 
> Which drivers are you referencing? 301.42? Or is there a new beta I haven't seen yet...
> ~E~


http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-winvista-64bit-304.48-beta-driver.html

So I OCed as much as I could, and here are the differences in offsets and score:
Core clock: 1 MHz less
Memory clock: 25 MHz more
Heaven 3.0: 110.3 fps up from 107.4 fps

I have to note that the cards got 2-3 degrees warmer than on the previous drivers, so I had to increase the slope of the fan curve just a little bit.


----------



## Xabulon

how do i get more than 29.9FPS in heaven benchmark? using +15 and +225 on my ASUS directCU2 TOP cards in SLI


----------



## jam3s

Uh, why is your FPS so low?

Ah, triple monitors. I see.


----------



## Hapatingjaky

Hi everyone,

Been reading these forums for a long time and I've been reading this thread for about 2 weeks now.

Last weekend my Girlfriend and I went to the local shop here since I've been procrastinating for 4 months since selling my old 580 GTX TRI-SLI setup. I purchased an Asus GTX 670 DirectCU II not the top edition just the vanilla. Installed it last last Sunday, set the system up and cleaned out the old drivers. Followed this guide to the letter but my Asus seems to be a POS... Reading all these users hitting upwards of 1350MHz I was hoping for the best instead I got the worst. I am unable to OC at all, even at stock the GPU throttles down, the highest boost I've seen is a lowby 30MHz over stock but it throttles, OC I can not get it stable even with an offset of +5 it crashes, but according to my charts everything is perfect, never goes above 55c, voltage and power are flat lined, no dips or anything, gpu core speed is constant, when OC'd boost dose 't happen at all but nothing is stable.

Right now I am contemplating returning the card for a refund for now and maybe getting an EVGA FTW 4GB 670 or 680.

At stock the card can barley push 1000MHz and hits 70c very quickly, manual fan curve seems to drop the temps considerably but the card will not boost at all....

Very disappointed.


----------



## bigal1542

Hey guys...

I think I found a problem...

For some reason, if I haven't run PrecisionX after I power up the computer, the fan settings aren't active.

I was sitting watching the card sit at 62C while the fan was at 30% which is the default for that temp. Once I started PrecisionX, the fan jumped up and the card immediately cooled.

Should I have PrecisionX start with Windows and minimized rather than just checking the "apply settings at startup" button?


----------



## Mkilbride

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> Hey guys...
> I think I found a problem...
> For some reason, if I haven't run PrecisionX after I power up the computer, the fan settings aren't active.
> I was sitting watching the card sit at 62C while the fan was at 30% which is the default for that temp. Once I started PrecisionX, the fan jumped up and the card immediately cooled.
> Should I have PrecisionX start with Windows and minimized rather than just checking the "apply settings at startup" button?


Even if you have it start with Windows; unless I bring it to the front, my fan settings don't stick, either.


----------



## Xabulon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jam3s*
> 
> Uh, why is your FPS so low?
> Ah, triple monitors. I see.


bought im running the test at 1680x1050 so i would think i would get more than 30FPS???


----------



## bigal1542

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mkilbride*
> 
> Even if you have it start with Windows; unless I bring it to the front, my fan settings don't stick, either.


I think they do for me. I have the box below the clocks checked to apply the clocks at startup, and in the settings I have the program start up minimized when windows starts up. I will look into it more though.

EDIT: Yep, it works for me. I have it starting with windows minimized to the notification area. The part that sucks though is that there are two icons there, one for the Rivatuner Statistics Server Technology and one for PrecisionX. I wish I could get rid of the Rivatuner icon and just have the precisionx, but I can't find a way. If anyone knows, please let me know.

*Hey Sean*, you might want to add something in your guide about that. If PrecisionX isn't running, the fan curve you set won't run. So if you start Precision then close it and play a game or bench, the card gets toasty and your fans never go above 40%. Right now, the only way I have found to counter this is to start PrecisionX when windows starts (another option in the settings). So all in all, you need to have the checkbox under the clocks checked to start with windows and then in the settings as well. I have both starting minimized, but it kinda sucks because there are two icons. If you can think of another way to get the fan curve working, please let me know


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hapatingjaky*
> 
> OC I can not get it stable even with an offset of +5 it crashes, but according to my charts everything is perfect, never goes above 55c, voltage and power are flat lined, no dips or anything, gpu core speed is constant, when OC'd boost dose 't happen at all but nothing is stable.
> Right now I am contemplating returning the card for a refund for now and maybe getting an EVGA FTW 4GB 670 or 680.
> At stock the card can barley push 1000MHz and hits 70c very quickly, manual fan curve seems to drop the temps considerably but the card will not boost at all....
> Very disappointed.


That's unfortunate







. But one thing i want to point out, and i need to make this more clear in the guide, it doesn't mater if all of those things check out, in the end, you're limited by voltage. Your maximum stable overclock, when no other factor is holding the card back, is determined by the quality of your card and more specifically how sensitive it is to voltage. Since we can't increase the voltage with these, if you card is extremely unresponsive to voltage, then you won't get a very high overclock.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> Hey guys...
> I think I found a problem...
> For some reason, if I haven't run PrecisionX after I power up the computer, the fan settings aren't active.


This isn't really a problem with precision-X. All of the software overclocking tools that are based on RivaTuner have this problem. You have to have the app running for the fan-profile and overclock to be active (ie, it must be open and minimized in the system tray for the settings to be active).

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xabulon*
> 
> bought im running the test at 1680x1050 so i would think i would get more than 30FPS???


Yes, it should be higher, much higher. Try restarting your computer and then set Heaven to full-screen mode. Be sure not to tab out of it at any point.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> EDIT: Yep, it works for me. I have it starting with windows minimized to the notification area. The part that sucks though is that there are two icons there, one for the Rivatuner Statistics Server Technology and one for PrecisionX. I wish I could get rid of the Rivatuner icon and just have the precisionx, but I can't find a way. If anyone knows, please let me know.
> 
> *Hey Sean*, you might want to add something in your guide about that. If PrecisionX isn't running, the fan curve you set won't run. So if you start Precision then close it and play a game or bench, the card gets toasty and your fans never go above 40%. Right now, the only way I have found to counter this is to start PrecisionX when windows starts (another option in the settings). So all in all, you need to have the checkbox under the clocks checked to start with windows and then in the settings as well. I have both starting minimized, but it kinda sucks because there are two icons. If you can think of another way to get the fan curve working, please let me know


I'm pretty sure the Rivatuner one is from the OSD display. Go into properties in precision-x and then go to monitoring and make sure none of the categories say "in osd".

Well, i just assumed people would leave it running as that's what you have to do for the overclock to apply as well. I will add a little more information tomorrow on it though. Thanks for pointing that out


----------



## Gainward

http://www.obr-hardware.com/2012/05/exclusive-guide-how-to-disable-gpu.html

did anyone try disabling the gpu boost? Do you recommend it?


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gainward*
> 
> http://www.obr-hardware.com/2012/05/exclusive-guide-how-to-disable-gpu.html
> did anyone try disabling the gpu boost? Do you recommend it?


interesting. i probably would just leave it on if you're not confident in making that change nor are you seeing any benefit to it being off at all....unless you think using more power and making more noise is somehow beneficial!


----------



## bigal1542

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> I'm pretty sure the Rivatuner one is from the OSD display. Go into properties in precision-x and then go to monitoring and make sure none of the categories say "in osd".
> Well, i just assumed people would leave it running as that's what you have to do for the overclock to apply as well. I will add a little more information tomorrow on it though. Thanks for pointing that out


Thanks Sean!

I will try what you said as soon as I am done with the stress testing run I am on now.

I had no idea I had to have PrecisionX running







, yep, I'm a noob lol


----------



## yusep

Sorry but my english is very bad...
Why my max TDP is so slow? i can not get more than that 78.7%...in unignine or 3dmark or any game, only with furmark i get 100% tdp, so what is the problem??

Gigabyte OC WF
1128 Boost Clock
1257.6 Max Boost
1739.6 Memory
78.7% Power Target with 1.175 Voltage slider


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *yusep*
> 
> Sorry but my english is very bad...
> Why my max TDP is so slow? i can not get more than that 78.7%...in unignine or 3dmark or any game, only with furmark i get 100% tdp, so what is the problem??
> Gigabyte OC WF
> 1128 Boost Clock
> 1257.6 Max Boost
> 1739.6 Memory
> 78.7% Power Target with 1.175 Voltage slider
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


That's pretty normal for the Gigabyte cards because it uses an 8+6 pin power connector instead of the 6+6 all other GTX 670's use. Since the 8+6 pin cards have a higher maximum power draw, yet use the same amount of power as the 6+6 cards, their power percent is always going to be much lower (since it's percent based, that doesn't mean it's actually using less power). You shouldn't concern yourself with the power percent on the gigabyte card unless if it's over ~90% (then you might start to get power-based throttle). Because you aren't seeing any throttling (based on the graphs you posted), the power percent isn't currently limiting your overclock in any way. So if you're unstable at higher clocks it's because of the voltage. Since the voltage can't be increased over 1.175v, there's no way to overclock any higher.


----------



## nismofreak

The gigabyte cards use an 8+6 PCIe power connectors. All other 670s so far are 6+6. The GB is already using more power.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nismofreak*
> 
> The gigabyte cards use an 8+6 PCIe power connectors. All other 670s so far are 6+6. The GB is already using more power.


Yes, sorry, that's what i meant









My point still stands


----------



## yusep

Lots of thanks for the answer, i saw in most forums that gigabyte cards reach 100%+ TDP, thats because i was worried about it.
I have 129 Kepler boost so i expecte a little more OC...so i think i get a normal one jeje

Really nice post by the way


----------



## Lutsk92

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Lutsk92*
> 
> Could someone please help me out with my Gigabyte 670s SLI? My score keeps decreasing with every Heaven benchmark test even if increasing or decreasing my offset or even leaving it the same. I'm following everything in the long method guide. Perhaps someone with Team Viewer could give me a hand? I would appreciate that. Please let me know.
> Thanks.
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds like a memory leak (or fragmented memory) or something similar. Which I've never seen happen in the context of Heaven. Have you tried restarting your computer? What is your GPU memory usage at when you run heaven? Have you ever used MemTest86+ to test your RAM? What happens if you run the card at default clocks, are your scores higher and constant/stable when you do consecutive runs at default clocks?
Click to expand...

Here are one of my many results:










I ran Memtest86+ and here what results are:

Walltime = 1:28:00
Cached = 8154M
RsvdMem = 2828K
MemMap = e820
Cache = on
ECC = off
Test = std
Pass = 1
Errors = 237
ECC Errs = 0

Tst = 2
Pass = 0
Failing Address = 0017fb0603c - 6139.0MB
Good = ffffffff
Bad = fffffbff
Err-Bits = 00000400
Count = 1

RAM must be the problem? I need to get them replaced?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lutsk92*
> 
> Here are one of my many results:
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I ran Memtest86+ and here what results are:
> Walltime = 1:28:00
> Cached = 8154M
> RsvdMem = 2828K
> MemMap = e820
> Cache = on
> ECC = off
> Test = std
> Pass = 1
> Errors = 237
> ECC Errs = 0
> Tst = 2
> Pass = 0
> Failing Address = 0017fb0603c - 6139.0MB
> Good = ffffffff
> Bad = fffffbff
> Err-Bits = 00000400
> Count = 1
> RAM must be the problem? I need to get them replaced?


Yeah, your RAM is probably currently the problem -- you should be getting zero errors in MemTest86. But you might not have to replace them, you might just have unstable settings in the bios. What RAM do you have? Have you set the voltage and timing in the bios to the factory settings? If so, you might be able to downclock your RAM to make it stable/error-free (though if the RAM is bad, then that won't help either).


----------



## bigdaddytomcat

Has anyone tried the new .48 beta drivers to see if they improve performance.

My Card is currently maxing @1320 boost stable but I'm not getting the results in heaven that everone else is getting. My max FPS dont get high enough.

My card runs a 1.175 volts constantly even if I dont adjust the slider. My Tdp ranges from 64 to 75% under full load. My memory will only go 170 stable in unengine but I can play games a 200 just fine with no issues.


----------



## Lutsk92

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Yeah, your RAM is probably currently the problem -- you should be getting zero errors in MemTest86. But you might not have to replace them, you might just have unstable settings in the bios. What RAM do you have? Have you set the voltage and timing in the bios to the factory settings? If so, you might be able to downclock your RAM to make it stable/error-free (though if the RAM is bad, then that won't help either).


They shouldn't be unstable since i'm running their XMP profile setting which is 1600MHz 8-8-8-24 1.5V. RAM is G.Skill Ripjaws X 8GB. I'll try it at 1333MHz then.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lutsk92*
> 
> They shouldn't be unstable since i'm running their XMP profile setting which is 1600MHz 8-8-8-24 1.5V. RAM is G.Skill Ripjaws X 8GB. I'll try it at 1333MHz then.


Also try 1600MHz 8-9-8-24 if 1333MHz passes. Usually increasing the second timing can make Gskill RAM stable without sacrificing much performance. If that fails, you could also try 1600MHz 9-9-9-27. And as a last ditch effort, try 1333MHz 9-9-9-27 (and/or 9-10-9-27). My guess is that if you fail at 1333MHz loosening up the timings won't help either though.

Edit: Forgot to say, you should also increase the voltage a bit to around 1.6v before downclocking anything. The maximum safe voltage for a i7-2600k is 1.65v is it not?


----------



## yusep

Hi all again!
This is magic:
"The first thing you should try (if you feel comfortable doing this), is to replace your GPU's Heatsink's TIM."

Before i changed the GPU Heatsink's TIM, with a generic one, my idle temp was 44º now is 40º (42º ambiental temperature in my room T_T), but the best of all its that i can increase my mem OC seriusly.

I got my max stable OC at +65 core, +750 mem.
Gigabyte OC WF
1124 Boost Clock (before Heatsinks's TIM change was 1128)
1254 Max Boost (before 1257)
1879 Mems (before 1739)
80% max TDP 1.175v

So i get an 8% in mems and a decrement in temperature.
I waiting for my 212 evo and a 15g Artic Silver TIM so i will change it again and i expect better results

Screen:


Here are all of my unigine test:
67-750 (unestable) I can finish benchmark but it charshed shortly after that.
Average FPS: 51.6
Score: 1300
Min FPS: 22.1
Max FPS: 132.0

70-700 (unestable)
Average FPS: 51.5
Score: 1298
Min FPS: 23.9
Max FPS: 131.6

66-725 (stable but i prefer +50 more mem a -1 core)
Average FPS: 51.5
Score: 1298
Min FPS: 21.1
Max FPS: 131.4

Once more sorry if my english is bad, i hope you can understand at least an 80% of what i wrote.

I tried with 69/68/67/-725/750 and 66-750 but crashed, so I think that my best choice is 65-750 stable (more than 2 hours with enigine on) with good temp, fps and score.


----------



## XLR8IN

Hello all,

Im new to the forums here but have read artcles and info on this site for years. Its much appreciated.

Okay I just purchased 2 Asus GTX 670 DCUII cards. The regular versions. I had one top card and found it was very unstable and the normal ones overclocked even better.

My problem is both my cards are overclocked using precision x (Ive used afterburner as well). They are +212 core and +426memory. The speeds shown in gpu-z are 1127 mhz for my cores and 1728mhz for me memory. The boosts are 1192 mhz respectively.

This is where it gets wierd. I will run 3Dmark11 and have both my gpu z windows open for each gpu and record all my maxes on each sensor. For my 2nd gpu (lower in the case) it reaches a max core clock of 1336 mhz and the other card only reaches a max of 1282 mhz (the primary card in 1st slot). Why is there a difference in my max clocks? I have run multiple tests and other benchmarks and keep getting the same results. The one card is always 55mhz higher than my other one! I even talked to a tech where I bought the cards and he didnt have an answer for me









Neither of my cards break 68 celsius. Fan speeds are max for benching...The top card is usually at 67-68 and the bottom card at 62-63 celsius. Does it have to do with asic quality? The card that boosts higher gets 100% and the lower card gets 91.2% Is this minor or should I take the card back and get another? My cards score 20.357 graphic score on 3dmark11 performance preset. Im happy with that but everybit counts, What are your thoughts guys? Thank you very much!


----------



## Arizonian

@ XLR8N - 1336 MHZ on Core is above exceptional over clock. Golden chip quality. 1282 MHz over clock is actually a very decent OC. The fact your card isn't hitting 70C means your not throttling which will force a down clock of 13 MHz on the card. In SLI or even a dual GPU your best OC is your what your lowest OC is capable of. It's very very rare to get two cards to OC the same.

Your better with what's happening in your current scenario then both cards only getting 1282 MHz Core over clock. My dual GPU dosent get same OC even though both my GPU's are on one PCB.


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *XLR8IN*
> 
> Hello all,
> Im new to the forums here but have read artcles and info on this site for years. Its much appreciated.
> Okay I just purchased 2 Asus GTX 670 DCUII cards. The regular versions. I had one top card and found it was very unstable and the normal ones overclocked even better.
> My problem is both my cards are overclocked using precision x (Ive used afterburner as well). They are +212 core and +426memory. The speeds shown in gpu-z are 1127 mhz for my cores and 1728mhz for me memory. The boosts are 1192 mhz respectively.
> This is where it gets wierd. I will run 3Dmark11 and have both my gpu z windows open for each gpu and record all my maxes on each sensor. For my 2nd gpu (lower in the case) it reaches a max core clock of 1336 mhz and the other card only reaches a max of 1282 mhz (the primary card in 1st slot). Why is there a difference in my max clocks? I have run multiple tests and other benchmarks and keep getting the same results. The one card is always 55mhz higher than my other one! I even talked to a tech where I bought the cards and he didnt have an answer for me
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Neither of my cards break 68 celsius. Fan speeds are max for benching...The top card is usually at 67-68 and the bottom card at 62-63 celsius. Does it have to do with asic quality? The card that boosts higher gets 100% and the lower card gets 91.2% Is this minor or should I take the card back and get another? My cards score 20.357 graphic score on 3dmark11 performance preset. Im happy with that but everybit counts, What are your thoughts guys? Thank you very much!


See the first link in my signature for the explanation, and keep in mind that a card being in SLI doesn't change it's inherent Kepler Boost value. So what you have going on here is you've got one card with a pretty epic Kepler Boost (1336-1192 = 144MHz) and another card with a fairly normal KB (1282 - 1192 = 90MHz) ... or very close to it (the more or less random strap sizes might throw it off a little bit, so just adjust for them).

The difference in each card sample's Kepler Boost value (which is set at the factory, basically) is why you're seeing ... what you're seeing. It doesn't hurt anything, it's totally normal, but if you just can't deal with it, you can adjust the offset for each card individually by turning off the 'sync similar cards' option in the settings screen of your OC'ing program, and just putting an offset that's (about) 54MHz higher for your card with the lower KB value.

There are some clock 'straps' on Kepler cards though, so in reality you probably want +52MHz (4x13MHz) offset rather than +54MHz if you want them to consistently clock the same









So, if you put a 100MHz offset for the first card, put a 152MHz offset for the 2nd card, and you should end up with the same Max Boost for both cores ... or at least very close to it, depending on how the straps work out.


----------



## jinny69

Even at max fan speed, my gpu goes over 70 degree under heaven dx11 benchmark with a mild overclock and it crashes

Core clock +100
Memory clock +396

it idles at 32 though

i'm getting thermally throttled, my score is like 1036


----------



## Explicit528

^^

Similar to jinny, I get over 70 degrees on my heaven benchmark. I have a reference Galaxy 670, 120 core clock offset, no mem clock OC... fan curve is correct too.


----------



## Evzee

Hello all, I've playing with my new GTX 670 today. Thought I'd post up what I've squeezed out of it so far. I'm really chuffed with it, seeing as my 1st step up from EVGA was DOA. Then to my surprise they have sent me a GTX 670 FTW. My new build consists of a Silverstone FT03 case, next to no airflow so temps have been my biggest battle, I had to crank up the fan to the max a bit earlier then the guide showed but I can just about keep the temps at 69 degrees during a Heaven bench. My max clock I can maintain is 1316mhz and just over 7000mhz on the memory. I think My 3d Mark score is low , not sure why that isNot too bothered on that one.









gtx 670 overclock.png 1377k .png file


----------



## SeanPoe

The guide has now been translated to Italian over at hwupgrade by johnnystuff if anyone is interested in that version


----------



## nismofreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Evzee*
> 
> My max clock I can maintain is 1316mhz and just over 7000mhz on the memory. I think My 3d Mark score is low , not sure why that isNot too bothered on that one.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gtx 670 overclock.png 1377k .png file


I know you aren't making a big deal out of your 3DMark11 score but why do you think it's low? It higher than mine. http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3693268
I did 1278 core and 7200 mem to get my score.

Looks good to me.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Explicit528*
> 
> ^^
> Similar to jinny, I get over 70 degrees on my heaven benchmark. I have a reference Galaxy 670, 120 core clock offset, no mem clock OC... fan curve is correct too.


I helped Jinny in his/her own thread, the problem was with his/her cases' airflow. In most cases, if you're over 70C in Heaven, then your case has airflow problems. Try taking the side off your case and then do a Heaven run and see if temperatures are lower. If they are, then your case/airflow is the problem and not your GPU.


----------



## RandomHer0

EDIT: believe i found the answer already


----------



## ASSEMbler

This guide is the BEST

Followed it to the letter, the result is


----------



## ASSEMbler

A bit of a warning, I can get +875 memory to run, but even though no artifacts,

PERFORMANCE DECREASED with higher memory clock past 700.

So if you have your memory maxed out , try to roll it back to +500mhz and go up in 50mhz chunks until it starts to show
lower FPS, then back off 5-25mhz and fine tune until you are optimal.


----------



## Arizonian

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ASSEMbler*
> 
> A bit of a warning, I can get +875 memory to run, but even though no artifacts,
> PERFORMANCE DECREASED with higher memory clock past 700.
> So if you have your memory maxed out , try to roll it back to +500mhz and go up in 50mhz chunks until it starts to show
> lower FPS, then back off 5-25mhz and fine tune until you are optimal.


What is your Memory Clock currently? (Not offset) I'm curious. That's a healthy OC btw.


----------



## Evzee

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nismofreak*
> 
> I know you aren't making a big deal out of your 3DMark11 score but why do you think it's low? It higher than mine. http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3693268
> I did 1278 core and 7200 mem to get my score.
> Looks good to me.


Thanks, I think I had it in my head that alot of folk were breaking the 10k mark. When mine didn't I assumed it was my cpu letting me down. I've go it at 4.7ghz. Recently changed to this little asus maximus board. I've managed to clock cpu upto 4.7ghz with 1.4v where as before, I had a msi gd53 board, it took 1.45v. Not great difference but gotta keep them temps down, especially in this little new case of mine. Give it a couple of months and I'll have all of it under water. Should sort temps out then.


----------



## RandomHer0

Anyone having an issue with the OC not stick upon a reboot? I have to open Precision X, then adjust a clock, and click apply for it to OC every time I boot up my PC.
Windows Start Up is checked

Great guide btw, Improved my Heaven score by about 180 points


----------



## nismofreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Evzee*
> 
> Thanks, I think I had it in my head that alot of folk were breaking the 10k mark. When mine didn't I assumed it was my cpu letting me down. I've go it at 4.7ghz. Recently changed to this little asus maximus board. I've managed to clock cpu upto 4.7ghz with 1.4v where as before, I had a msi gd53 board, it took 1.45v. Not great difference but gotta keep them temps down, especially in this little new case of mine. Give it a couple of months and I'll have all of it under water. Should sort temps out then.


Cool! I'm running 4.9GHz.

Have fun getting it underwater. I guess if I were having issues with temp, then I would do the same. I did notice that my idle CPU temps went up after putting in my GB 670 OC. Went from 27 to 31 at idle... I'm still comfortable with that but I am going to throw in a GT to pull air straight from the 5.25 bays to the NH-D14. That should bring my temps back down for my CPU. My GB never clears 55 deg and I have a 1:1 profile... I could prolly lower that too but with all the fans that I have (including a resisted YL highspeed in the rear exhaust), I can't hear it at 55% fan speed.


----------



## Evzee

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nismofreak*
> 
> Cool! I'm running 4.9GHz.
> Have fun getting it underwater. I guess if I were having issues with temp, then I would do the same. I did notice that my idle CPU temps went up after putting in my GB 670 OC. Went from 27 to 31 at idle... I'm still comfortable with that but I am going to throw in a GT to pull air straight from the 5.25 bays to the NH-D14. That should bring my temps back down for my CPU. My GB never clears 55 deg and I have a 1:1 profile... I could prolly lower that too but with all the fans that I have (including a resisted YL highspeed in the rear exhaust), I can't hear it at 55% fan speed.


I've just come from having a fully water cooled build inside a cosmos s case to a silverstone ft03 case. I love the case, but it's certainly making things interesting. I've managed to squeeze in a pump under the ram slots and placed a 120mm rad with fans either side in push/pull to keep my cpu overclocked and cool. Now I no longer have any drive bays, it's a bugger trying to work out the best place/way to get some airflow in there without it sounding like a spitfire on takeoff.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RandomHer0*
> 
> Anyone having an issue with the OC not stick upon a reboot? I have to open Precision X, then adjust a clock, and click apply for it to OC every time I boot up my PC.
> Windows Start Up is checked
> Great guide btw, Improved my Heaven score by about 180 points


The overclock and fan settings are only active when precision-X is open and running (minimized to the tool-try is fine). So yes, this is normal and yes, you will need to launch precision-X after each computer restart.


----------



## nismofreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> The overclock and fan settings are only active when precision-X is open and running (minimized to the tool-try is fine). So yes, this is normal and yes, you will need to launch precision-X after each computer restart.


Really? I know the voltage is never there but the OC and fan settings are always there. If you check "load at startup" (whatever that checkbox says), it should load it. Now, having said that, I noticed that until I loaded the 304.48 beta drivers that is was consistent in doing this.


----------



## PCModderMike

Went through the quick and dirty route of overclocking my 670's, and this is what I got. Does it look like they're pulling in a good score?


----------



## radiomir

I've been experimenting with my ASUS 670 Top and think it is a dud.

I'm using the latest BIOS for the Top (which seems to lower Kepler Boost around 43MHz??) and my Kepler Boost is only +26! I've been able to overclock to a Max Boost of 1202 for several runs of Heaven before it crashes on max settings @ 2560x1440, but can't go more than about half an hour. So... to keep it stable, I have to keep it around 1163-1180 MHZ, which is under where it would have been running stock with the first BIOS -- (which would have been around 1205 based on a 26-43 = 69 Kepler Boost. I'm thinking that, had I not updated the BIOS immediately (I updated before testing), I would have had an unstable card at stock settings.

I'm using Precision X and setting the voltage to max and power target to 117%. My idle temps are around 30C, and I rarely get above 60C under load.

My monitor is 2560x1440 (my iMac) and even at stock clocks, Heaven does not run all that smoothly at that resolution. It's not awful, but seems to give me tearing and some stutter (not sure what the appropriate lingo is as I am new to this). I've been scoring around 770-790 at just over 30 fps at that resolution. At 1920x1080 (but still using my iMac as a monitor), I get scores between 1170 and 1190 at around 45 fps. I haven't been able to stably boost my memory much at all . . . maybe +100.

It seems as if I have one of the slowest still functional 670 Tops out there. I'm wondering if I should I return to Newegg and try again, or if should I be happy with what I have. I had a standard EVGA 670 before this, but it sounded like someone put trading cards in the spokes of a bicycle that had a dyson vacuum cleaner strapped to it. It's been running Skyrim pretty well (as long as I have VSync on - otherwise I get major tearing).

As a final consideration, I am getting noticeable coil whine from the card after I quit to the credits screen in heaven.

What do yo think? Bail out while I can?

BTW, awesome guide. Thanks to SeanPoe!


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nismofreak*
> 
> Really? I know the voltage is never there but the OC and fan settings are always there. If you check "load at startup" (whatever that checkbox says), it should load it. Now, having said that, I noticed that until I loaded the 304.48 beta drivers that is was consistent in doing this.


I just assumed he didn't have the load at startup box checked because of his question. Sometimes even with load to startup on it still doesn't actually send the OC to the card until you hit apply again.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *radiomir*
> 
> I've been experimenting with my ASUS 670 Top and think it is a dud.
> 
> What do yo think? Bail out while I can?
> BTW, awesome guide. Thanks to SeanPoe!


If you had bought the Asus non-top, i would say that that's just the nature of things and it would be somewhat unethical to send it back, but with the TOP version, you technically paid for a card that's supposed to hit around 1242MHz. Asus really dropped the ball here with the TOP models, they're not binned properly (or at all), and they're selling a product that's not capable of performing as advertised. I would send it back for a replacement or a refund if it was me personally.


----------



## cavalier9976

I have a Reference Galaxy GTX 670, managed to get this overclock. Mainly play Battlefield 3, working out BF3 settings so I never go below the 60FPS then will switch on Adaptive V-Sync (works well) this will then tone down the amount of activity my card does and hopefully prolong the life of the card!

My boost will go to around 1293 to 1306 in Battlefield 3, hovers around 65-70c (Adaptive V-Sync off)


----------



## Game0N

I have played with clocks for a while this night, not using the Guide








GB 670 OC



My monitors are 1680s so I had to test in windowed mode but that way it uses 1920/*1034*








This is at +95(1215max boost) and +600 Memory. I need to test for a longer period of time to see is it stable enough.

Just a question? At +100 my max boost is 1227, at +95 its 1215. Is it normal. Temps dont go above 65.
And why are there different max power targets? Mine is 112%. And I have seen 120ish. cavalier9976 is at 122%.


----------



## thegh0sts

is 41 degrees C OK as an idle temp?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> is 41 degrees C OK as an idle temp?


That seems pretty high. It won't cause any damage or anything but it might be worth investigating why it's so high. Are your load temps still under 70C? What's your ambient temps (room temperature)? What's your idle fan speed like? What case do you have and do you have good airflow?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Game0N*
> 
> Just a question? *At +100 my max boost is 1227, at +95 its 1215*. Is it normal. Temps dont go above 65.
> And why are there different max power targets? Mine is 112%. And I have seen 120ish. cavalier9976 is at 122%.


I still haven't figured out why the offset doesn't linearly change the max boost. Even without getting throttled it's not linear. I tried to figure out a pattern, but it seemed pretty random (sometimes 1 offset = 1 MHz, other times 1 offset = up to 5 MHz change). For example, you're seeing a ~2.4MHz change per offset. So to answer your question, yes, that's normal.

Presumably the max power target is set when the GPU chip is made. It's really the only explanation why GPU's from the same manufacture and same exact model number have varying power target ranges. Though, it does seem that each model actually has it's preferred power target range (like Gigabyte's are mostly at 111%, Asus' are mostly at 117%, Galaxy's are mostly at 122%, and EVGA's are mostly at ~132%). At least that's the pattern I've observed. So i think it would be more precise to say that the maximum power target is set when the GPU chip is made and then manufactures can choose their own maximum (this is also my theory for Kepler Boost too).


----------



## Neovalen

Alright now that I got my Ivy Bridge to 4.6 and stable, I'm working on my EVGA Superclocked+ 4GB 670's (2xSLI).

Just with the starting test (1100 boost clock), my first card hits 70c pretty quick (about 30 seconds)... I've been stopping the Heaven test right off at that point, but didn't see any artifacts at that point. I'm running at surround resolutions as that is what I'm planning to run. (5760x1080) Is 70c a hard number that I have to hit "STOP" immediately for or is it a guideline to be around that number?

1100 boost clock I didn't think would push me all the way to cap right off.... The cards are pretty damn close together though on the motherboard (PCI-E slot 1 and 2 on G1 Sniper 3 so they both run at 16x) cards are almost literally a pen width apart... The case has good airflow though, I minimized the cabling and it's a HAF X.

Memory is set to base, voltage is set to max as in the quick guide and so is power target (122%).

OK I think I'm screwed.... even without changing my overclock from factory (base power target, base voltage) I'm hitting 70/71c in Heaven... =/ Not sure how to get more airflow into this thing other than to install a second top fan... but even then it's not going to the video card directly.

If I don't over-ride the fan settings I hit up to 80c using the base cards... even with the case side open... so I don't think it's airflow... did I just get bad cards?


----------



## SeanPoe

It's fine if you go over 70c IF you can't actually figure out a way to stay below 70C. All that's going to happen is a 13MHz decrease whenever you go over 70C. So it's not that big of a deal. Just use the quiet fan-profile and aim to stay below 79C (which is right below the second throttle point).


----------



## Neovalen

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> It's fine if you go over 70c IF you can't actually figure out a way to stay below 70C. All that's going to happen is a 13MHz decrease whenever you go over 70C. So it's not that big of a deal. Just use the quiet fan-profile and aim to stay below 79C (which is right below the second throttle point).


Thanks... for some reason my fan speed profile only allows 30-80% (yellow lines)... Only way I can keep it under 80c under max load (Heaven 5760x1080 with it all turned up) is to have my fan speed up at max.... then it sits at 78/79c... kind of sucks since I didn't even do any overclocking of my own on this thing.... other than to turn up the voltage limit / power target... Precision shows I'm getting 1125 core only during the test

Edit: Just did some real world testing... BF3 @ Max Settings... granted at 5760x1080 with 55fps. With fan at 100% I was still hitting 79/80c with the cover off the side of the case... did I get a pair of dud cards or is there something I'm missing...


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Neovalen*
> 
> Thanks... for some reason my fan speed profile only allows 30-80% (yellow lines)... Only way I can keep it under 80c under max load (Heaven 5760x1080 with it all turned up) is to have my fan speed up at max.... then it sits at 78/79c... kind of sucks since I didn't even do any overclocking of my own on this thing.... other than to turn up the voltage limit / power target... Precision shows I'm getting 1125 core only during the test
> Edit: Just did some real world testing... BF3 @ Max Settings... granted at 5760x1080 with 55fps. With fan at 100% I was still hitting 79/80c with the cover off the side of the case... did I get a pair of dud cards or is there something I'm missing...


There's a lot of factors to consider. But i would say it's probably your airflow. What case do you have, how many fans, where are they located, and what direction are they blowing? I'm somewhat surprised your temperatures are still so high with the side off of your case. Try removing the PCI-E covers too.


----------



## diaBoliQu3

Guys, between thes two GTX 670, Gigabyte OC vs Asus DCUii. Which one do you think can oc better? My assumption is DCUii perform better for cooling solution. While Gigabyte perform better in oc because they are using GTX 680 pcb for that card. Or my assumption is absolutely wrong? Going to buy this card but still confuse. And does GTX 670 can outperform HD 7970 in oc?


----------



## 1awndart

SeanPoe,

I bought the EVGA GTX 670 FTW a few weeks ago and immediately found your guide online (only a few days after it was first posted). Followed every step and tip to a tee and it was nothing short of awesome help! Thank you for taking the time writing it!!!

Right now I've been able to run my 670 with the following settings:

Power target 121%
Clock offset +52 MHz
Memory offset +587 MHz

Since EGA's FTW comes factory OC'ed at 1006 MHz with a 1084 MHz boost clock, adding the Kepler boost (104 MHz in my case) = 1188 MHz.
Add my 52 MHz offset and it gives me *1240 MHz* MBF! Not too bad...

Side note: Friend of mine just put an aftermarket water cooling bracket on his EVGA GTX 670 FTW (same card as mine) and his card only hits temps in the mid-30s (!) under full load (running Heaven DX11 benchmark or 3DMark11). Under the same circumstances my stock fan keeps it ~64C. We have pretty much identical systems otherwise.

Anyway, wanted to say thanks again for the great guide. I signed up on the forums today just to say that (and sent rep on every post on the first page)!


----------



## Neovalen

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> There's a lot of factors to consider. But i would say it's probably your airflow. What case do you have, how many fans, where are they located, and what direction are they blowing? I'm somewhat surprised your temperatures are still so high with the side off of your case. Try removing the PCI-E covers too.


The case I have is the HAF X (http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6653) in the default configuration (it has an airflow diagram on the site). The fans installed are:

1. Front Intake Fan (230mm x 30mm)
2. Side Intake Fan (200mm x 30mm)
3. Top Back Output Fan (200mm x 30mm), the Top Front Output Fan is optional and I don't have it.
4. Back Output Fan (140mm x 25mm)

I do not have the VGA holder installed as it didn't come with a fan either.

The cards are in the top 2 PCI-E slots of my motherboard (http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4169). All fans are unobstructed and functional as far as I can tell.

My CPU cooler is a Hyper 212 EVO(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099) and its blowing the hot air towards the front of the case and over the ram chips (and out the top of the case as heat rises).

Only things I can possibly do are install the optional 2nd top fan and maybe the VGA holder with a high speed fan...

Edit: I put the case side back on and my temps are DOWN compared to when the side was off... GPU1: 76C GPU2: 73C during Heaven benchmark at the factory overclock setting. Still nothing to write home about though... think the VGA holder / additional fans will help?

Also in case you care, my CPU is outputting about 82c worth of heat because of it's 4.6Ghz overclock at full Prime95 load.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diaBoliQu3*
> 
> Guys, between thes two GTX 670, Gigabyte OC vs Asus DCUii. Which one do you think can oc better? My assumption is DCUii perform better for cooling solution. While Gigabyte perform better in oc because they are using GTX 680 pcb for that card. Or my assumption is absolutely wrong? Going to buy this card but still confuse. And does GTX 670 can outperform HD 7970 in oc?


I would say the 7970 is better in terms of raw gaming performance (once overclocked). It's not a huge difference, maybe only ~10% faster. I'm not really sure what price the 7970's are going for these days, but as long as the price/performance is the same as the 670, i'd say get the 670. So for example, if the 670 is $400 and the 7970 is $440 (10% more expensive, so the price/performance is the same), i think the 670 is the better buy. If the 7970 is under $440 then it might start to be a more favorable choice. I am a fan of PhysiX, NVidia drivers, and especially their multi-GPU support. The 670 also runs cooler (total heat, not temperature) and uses much less power (like ~30% less at max overclock). So those are a couple things that aren't really performance related to consider. Also, if TXAA pans out in the future, then that's going to be a huge advantage for the 670 (it would make up the 10% difference easily and double the quality of the AA). For me personally, i think the 7970 would need to be around ~$415 before i would recommend it over one of the $400 670's.

As for the Gigabye vs the Asus 670, i would recommend the Gigabyte if you don't care at all about getting a 'free' backplate. The gigabyte is $20 cheaper and seems to have a higher top-end overclock _*if*_ you get lucky with a good card. The average overclock seems to be very similar between the two though (somewhere around 1250MHz). All things considered, there isn't much difference between them. There's pros and cons to both.


----------



## diaBoliQu3

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> I would say the 7970 is better in terms of raw gaming performance (once overclocked). It's not a huge difference, maybe only ~10% faster. I'm not really sure what price the 7970's are going for these days, but as long as the price/performance is the same as the 670, i'd say get the 670. So for example, if the 670 is $400 and the 7970 is $440 (10% more expensive, so the price/performance is the same), i think the 670 is the better buy. If the 7970 is under $440 then it might start to be a more favorable choice. I am a fan of PhysiX, NVidia drivers, and especially their multi-GPU support. The 670 also runs cooler (total heat, not temperature) and uses much less power (like ~30% less at max overclock). So those are a couple things that aren't really performance related to consider. Also, if TXAA pans out in the future, then that's going to be a huge advantage for the 670 (it would make up the 10% difference easily and double the quality of the AA). For me personally, i think the 7970 would need to be around ~$415 before i would recommend it over one of the $400 670's.
> As for the Gigabye vs the Asus 670, i would recommend the Gigabyte if you don't care at all about getting a 'free' backplate. The gigabyte is $20 cheaper and seems to have a higher top-end overclock _*if*_ you get lucky with a good card. The average overclock seems to be very similar between the two though (somewhere around 1250MHz). All things considered, there isn't much difference between them. There's pros and cons to both.


I bought a used Sapphire HD 7970 for about $ 346 (MYR -> USD) and it's a reference version. First I was thinking to change the cooler with Accelero or go for watercooling because I'm gonna oc it and the stock fan are noisy. But after calculate everything including the hassle, I was regret to buy the HD 7970. I need to change my chasis, buy from scratch cpu+gpu wc. Now, I'm planning to sell back this card and get GTX 670 either DCUii (non-Top) or Windforce because it will be hassle free and though the air temp is higher than wc, I don't really mind as I know both card I want have good cooling. What do you mean gree backplate? At my country, Gigabyte are expensive than the non-Top card. Is it worth it for me to sell the HD 7970 and buy a new GTX 670? And are you saying that Giga OC are better than DCUii non-Top in oc?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Neovalen*
> 
> The case I have is the HAF X (http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6653) in the default configuration (it has an airflow diagram on the site). The fans installed are:
> 1. Front Intake Fan (230mm x 30mm)
> 2. Side Intake Fan (200mm x 30mm)
> 3. Top Back Output Fan (200mm x 30mm), the Top Front Output Fan is optional and I don't have it.
> 4. Back Output Fan (140mm x 25mm)
> I do not have the VGA holder installed as it didn't come with a fan either.
> The cards are in the top 2 PCI-E slots of my motherboard (http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4169). All fans are unobstructed and functional as far as I can tell.
> My CPU cooler is a Hyper 212 EVO(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099) and its blowing the hot air towards the front of the case and over the ram chips (and out the top of the case as heat rises).
> Only things I can possibly do are install the optional 2nd top fan and maybe the VGA holder with a high speed fan...
> Edit: I put the case side back on and my temps are DOWN compared to when the side was off... GPU1: 76C GPU2: 73C during Heaven benchmark at the factory overclock setting. Still nothing to write home about though... think the VGA holder / additional fans will help?
> Also in case you care, my CPU is outputting about 82c worth of heat because of it's 4.6Ghz overclock at full Prime95 load.


With the Haf-X you'll definitely get better temps with the side on because of the side-panel fan. Usually when people have temperature problems it's because they don't have side-fans so i just tell them to remove the side of the case as preliminary troubleshooting step (before i know what case they have).

I would say swap the direction of your CPU fan so it's blowing towards the back of the case and straight out of the 140mm output fan. Technically heat rises, but that's only really relevant for passive cooling systems. Heat goes where you push it and the force of the fans FAR exceeds that of convection.

Move your top back output fan to the front top spot but reverse its direction to *intake*. This will put cold air right in front of your CPU's intake (and it will travel right over your RAM too) and then your CPU fan will blow air straight out the back Output fan. You should see a notable decrease in CPU temperature too because right now your CPU is starved of cold air (you currently have two exhaust fans near the CPU fan intake stealing its air)

Remove all of the PCI-E covers from your case. Now that we swapped that top fan to intake your case is going to have much higher positive pressure and increasing the rate that air can flow out of the PCI-E slots will help.

Keep your Side-panel fan as an intake fan for now. Run the same test you used before to measure temperatures and see if they're now at a more respectable level. If not, you can then try swapping the side-panel fan to output, re-run that same test and see if temps improve.

Let me know the result


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diaBoliQu3*
> 
> Now, I'm planning to sell back this card and get GTX 670 either DCUii (non-Top) or Windforce because it will be hassle free and though the air temp is higher than wc, I don't really mind as I know both card I want have good cooling. What do you mean gree backplate? At my country, Gigabyte are expensive than the non-Top card. Is it worth it for me to sell the HD 7970 and buy a new GTX 670? And are you saying that Giga OC are better than DCUii non-Top in oc?


Oh, i didn't realize you weren't from North America







. I only recommended the gigabyte over the Asus because the Asus is $420 in NA and the gigabyte is only $400. I would definitely say just get whichever one of the two is the cheapest. They're almost identical in terms of performance, overclocking, noise/heat, etc. From what i've seen, if you get lucky and get an amazing gigabyte card, it will probably overclock better than an Asus. Just keep in mind, both cards have an average overclock of around 1250MHz, so i wouldn't recommend the gigabyte over the asus if it's more expensive. So again, buy whichever is cheaper.
Edit: And the by 'free' backplate, i mean the Asus comes with a protective backplate preinstalled and you'd have to pay $20 extra to buy a backplate for the gigabyte. So the backplate alone might justify the cost difference if you want a backplate.

If you only payed $346 for the 7970 (vs ~$400 for a 670, not sure the price in your country), i would say keep the 7970. I'm sure you can fix the fan profile to make it a little less noisy. I would definitely recommend trying to overclock the 7970 before even considering selling it. You don't need to buy watercooling to do this, the stock fan is perfectly fine, you just wont be breaking ~1200 very easily on air. If you can't break 1100MHz, then you might want to consider selling it, as a 670 at 1250MHz is going to be slightly better than the 7970.


----------



## diaBoliQu3

Lemme convert it for you:

Asus GTX 670 DCUii $ 434
Gigabyte GTX 670 OC 2 GB $ 468
Sapphire HD 7970 $ 346 (bought at February at $ 559)

It's quite expensive here.So, I should try to oc the card first? I haven't test the card yet as my new psu haven't arrive. However, I already have someone that interested to buy from me. There is the guy in our forum, using exact card with me achieve 1300 with stock fan and voltage at 1.3v IINM. At first, I was thinking that it's a rare opportunity to get high end AMD card with that price, so I just grab it. For now oc are unnecessary for since I was on single 1080p. But do have plan of upgrading to 5760x1080p after this and if I'm on single card, I might need to oc it. I never see any backplate included with Giga card before here. Or the backplate only applied to NA? Duh... I don't even tried my HD 7970 and already want to change. Such a waste is it?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diaBoliQu3*
> 
> Lemme convert it for you:
> Asus GTX 670 DCUii $ 434
> Gigabyte GTX 670 OC 2 GB $ 468
> Sapphire HD 7970 $ 346 (bought at February at $ 559)
> It's quite expensive here.So, I should try to oc the card first? I haven't test the card yet as my new psu haven't arrive. However, I already have someone that interested to buy from me. There is the guy in our forum, using exact card with me achieve 1300 with stock fan and voltage at 1.3v IINM. At first, I was thinking that it's a rare opportunity to get high end AMD card with that price, so I just grab it. For now oc are unnecessary for since I was on single 1080p. But do have plan of upgrading to 5760x1080p after this and if I'm on single card, I might need to oc it. I never see any backplate included with Giga card before here. Or the backplate only applied to NA? Duh... I don't even tried my HD 7970 and already want to change. Such a waste is it?


You said it was "noisy" so i assumed you tried it already. If it's still in the box (never opened or used) i would personally sell it, especially if you already have a buyer willing to buy it for nearly full-price. It's not worth $559 when you can get the Asus GTX 670 for $434. 1300MHz is very rare for a 7970, especially on air. As for the backplate, it's the ASUS card that comes with the backplate. So i would say for ~$34 less, the Asus is the clear winner.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Neovalen*
> 
> The case I have is the HAF X (http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6653) in the default configuration (it has an airflow diagram on the site). The fans installed are:


Like this:


Intake front-bottom, intake front-top
Output top-back, plus some air going out the PCI-E slots because of pressure differences
intake/exhaust on the side-panel (start with intake, my money is on the intake being optimal) to see which direction works better.


----------



## diaBoliQu3

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> You said it was "noisy" so i assumed you tried it already. If it's still in the box (never opened or used) i would personally sell it, especially if you already have a buyer willing to buy it for nearly full-price. It's not worth $559 when you can get the Asus GTX 670 for $434. 1300MHz is very rare for a 7970, especially on air. As for the backplate, it's the ASUS card that comes with the backplate. So i would say for ~$34 less, the Asus is the clear winner.


What I mean noisy is I read from other user experience. Even the guy that sell the card too me admit that it's a bit noisy during gaming. Most of them claim sound like vacuum cleaner on full speed fan during max oc. Actually, the first user bought the card at $ 599 but I only bought at $ 346 from him. So, there is another person, willing to buy from me for $ 346. And he already confirm to buy it from me. I think I don't win or lose here, so gonna let go this card and get my self DCUii within this week. Sound good or not? Hehe... Can't wait to have DCUii. Woot... DCUii should include backplate right?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diaBoliQu3*
> 
> What I mean noisy is I read from other user experience. Even the guy that sell the card too me admit that it's a bit noisy during gaming. Most of them claim sound like vacuum cleaner on full speed fan during max oc. Actually, the first user bought the card at $ 599 but I only bought at $ 346 from him. So, there is another person, willing to buy from me for $ 346. And he already confirm to buy it from me. I think I don't win or lose here, so gonna let go this card and get my self DCUii within this week. Sound good or not? Hehe... Can't wait to have DCUii. Woot... DCUii should include backplate right?


Hard to say for sure. A 7970 for $346 is better in terms of price/performance compared to a 670 at $334.


----------



## raghu78

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diaBoliQu3*
> 
> I bought a used Sapphire HD 7970 for about $ 346 (MYR -> USD) and it's a reference version. First I was thinking to change the cooler with Accelero or go for watercooling because I'm gonna oc it and the stock fan are noisy. But after calculate everything including the hassle, I was regret to buy the HD 7970. I need to change my chasis, buy from scratch cpu+gpu wc. Now, I'm planning to sell back this card and get GTX 670 either DCUii (non-Top) or Windforce because it will be hassle free and though the air temp is higher than wc, I don't really mind as I know both card I want have good cooling. What do you mean gree backplate? At my country, Gigabyte are expensive than the non-Top card. Is it worth it for me to sell the HD 7970 and buy a new GTX 670? And are you saying that Giga OC are better than DCUii non-Top in oc?


Are you running the HD 7970 at stock clocks and still you feel its noisy.What brand card do you have. Does it overclock well. If it does 1125 Mhz at stock volts you have a pretty good card. Whats the problem with going for accelero cooler. will accelero not fit in your case. Are you afraid of warranty issues. I have heard most manufacturers like sapphire, powercolor will provide warranty as long as you ship with the original stock cooler back whenever you have a problem. you should check with the particular manufacturer if you have doubts.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186064

The accelero cooler costs USD 80. so your actual cost is usd 346 + 80 = 426.

A HD 7970 with a custom cooler like accelero is far better than going for GTX 670. I think you should have a look at the latest Radeon HD 7970 Ghz edition reviews.

the other option is sell the HD 7970 and try and grab a HD 7950 OC card. There are some very good deals.

MSI HD 7950 - USD 340 ( USD 320 after rebate)
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-R7950-TWIN-FROZR-3GD5/dp/B007NG3WR2/

Gigabyte HD 7950 - USD 350
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Mini-Displayport-PCI-Express-Graphic-GV-R795WF3-3GD/dp/B007581QHG/

clock for clock the HD 7950 is close to HD 7970 perf. the HD 7950 OC cards can hit 1 - 1.05 Ghz at stock volts and with a bit of voltage tweaking 1.1 - 1.15 Ghz. They are the best high end price perf cards in the market.

if you have any doubts check out the HD 7950 OC(900 Mhz) at stock clocks and OC'd compared with HD 7970 (925 Mhz)
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/01/xfx_radeon_hd_7950_black_edition_video_card_review/8

think about it.


----------



## diaBoliQu3

@raghu78
Accelero at my country $94. In my situation, it's $ 346+94=440. I haven't try to oc the card yet. Even no time to try use the card because my psu haven't arrive yet. It's Sapphire reference. If I sell this card, I won't go for Ghz version. More temp and noise issue. So now, I'm stuck with Sapphire HD 7970+Accelero vs GTX 670 DCUii. BTW is it okay to discuss about Red Camp at Green Camp oc thread? Feel like trolling. Nevermind, I will create new thread after this.


----------



## raghu78

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diaBoliQu3*
> 
> @raghu78
> Accelero at my country $94. In my situation, it's $ 346+94=440. I haven't try to oc the card yet. Even no time to try use the card because my psu haven't arrive yet. It's Sapphire reference. If I sell this card, I won't go for Ghz version. More temp and noise issue. So now, I'm stuck with Sapphire HD 7970+Accelero vs GTX 670 DCUii. BTW is it okay to discuss about Red Camp at Green Camp oc thread? Feel like trolling. Nevermind, I will create new thread after this.


I would advise you to go for a HD 7970 with accelero any day over a custom GTX 670. HD 7970 OC is faster than GTX 680 OC. with the latest drivers AMD wins the majority of games. Only few like shogun 2 run faster on GTX 680. Reference HD 7970 boards have good quality. First when you get your PSU test the card at stock voltage at 1100 Mhz. If its stable in Unigine Heaven and BF3 for 1 hr, thats a good start. Don't bother about noise while testing. Once you are satisifed that the chip overclocks well get accelero cooler. Install accelero and go for voltage OC with sapphire trixx. You should be able to hit 1.2+ Ghz with a good cooler like accelero and keep temps below 70c with less noise. good luck.


----------



## brettjv

Raghu, you just never stop with your Tahiti crusade, do you









Anyways, GUYS, this is NOT the place for a 7970 vs. 670 debate ... please take it elsewhere, like the General GPU forum.


----------



## raghu78

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> Raghu, you just never stop with your Tahiti crusade, do you
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anyways, GUYS, this is NOT the place for a 7970 vs. 670 debate ... please take it elsewhere, like the General GPU forum.


moderator
the person had a HD 7970 and was looking at whether a change to GTX 670 was worth it or to just go for custom accelero for HD 7970. In fact it would have been appropriate if he had posted in a separate thread instead of here. i advised him to stick with HD 7970 and just go for accelero. Is that a bad advice. Given that recent reviews are showing a HD 7970 competitive with GTX 680 I felt he was going for more like a downgrade. Yeah I wouldn't post here again unless i have something relevant on this topic.


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *raghu78*
> 
> moderator
> the person had a HD 7970 and was looking at whether a change to GTX 670 was worth it or to just go for custom accelero for HD 7970. In fact it would have been appropriate if he had posted in a separate thread instead of here. i advised him to stick with HD 7970 and just go for accelero. Is that a bad advice. Given that recent reviews are showing a HD 7970 competitive with GTX 680 I felt he was going for more like a downgrade. Yeah I wouldn't post here again unless i have something relevant on this topic.


It's cool, I know you were just answering a question that didn't really belong in this thread in the first place. It's just EVERY time I come across a post of yours, it's about how Tahiti is better than Kepler









I don't want to take this thread off topic any more than it already is, but personally if you showed up at my door with a 7970 to trade straight across for my GB 670, believe it or not, I wouldn't trade you. Even though I know that in a few games, a 7970 is legitimately faster (such as Metro, Crysis/WH, and a few others), but in most others, they're so close to same speed that there's no *practical* difference between the two. And I really like how quiet and efficient my card is, plus I prefer nV drivers, and I like having physX, so ...

OTOH, I probably wouldn't trade a 7970 for 670 either if I already had the 7970









But let's not get into debating this here


----------



## ViTosS

There is a difference between changing the energy managenment mode in Nvidia control painel from adaptive to maximum performance? I did it and my temps now at idle are higher than before because the clock stays almost always at 1006Mhz and not 324Mhz anymore. Is there really a gain in FPS of doing that?

Thanks!


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ViTosS*
> 
> There is a difference between changing the energy managenment mode in Nvidia control painel from adaptive to maximum performance? I did it and my temps now at idle are higher than before because the clock stays almost always at 1006Mhz and not 324Mhz anymore. Is there really a gain in FPS of doing that?
> Thanks!


It might increase scores in benchmarks slightly (very slightly) but only if your card is going from idle to full load constantly during the benchmark (which doesn't happen in the good ones anyways). It won't increase sustained performance at all, so it would have no impact on gaming fps (except maybe a couple fps drop for a split second when coming out of loading screen). My suggestion is to keep it set to adaptive.

Edit: you could run a Heaven benchmark with it on and off and see for yourself if you like. I never saw an overall performance difference myself.


----------



## brettjv

I agree with Sean. Switching power mode to 'max performance' is the standard answer given by people on OCN when what they really mean is 'I have no idea what's wrong, but I want to try to help anyways'. Well, actually it's the #2 non-solution, right after 'You should run Driver-Sweeper', which I've seen recommended like 500 times, and only 3 people have come back and said 'yup, that fixed it!'. And switching the perf mode has a similar success rate


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> And switching the perf mode has a similar success rate


Are you saying that switching the setting back to 'adaptive' from 'max performance' solved some people's problems? Or the opposite? Your word choice is a little ambiguous.


----------



## ViTosS

Here is the difference between adaptive energy and maximum performance:

Adaptive:



Maximum performance:



As we can see, a really good improvement in minimum FPS and I don't know but maybe when there is scenes high GPU demand maybe at adaptive it would cause more impression of slowdown than if it were at maximum performance?









And there is a problem if I keep switching between adaptive and max performance? When I'm not playing I choose adaptive and when I go play I choose max? Can this stress the VGA and any kind of problem?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ViTosS*
> 
> Here is the difference between adaptive energy and maximum performance:
> Adaptive:
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maximum performance:
> 
> 
> 
> As we can see, a really good improvement in minimum FPS and I don't know but maybe when there is scenes high GPU demand maybe at adaptive it would cause more impression of slowdown than if it were at maximum performance?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And there is a problem if I keep switching between adaptive and max performance? When I'm not playing I choose adaptive and when I go play I choose max? Can this stress the VGA and any kind of problem?


The differences you observed are statistically irrelevant because Heaven has such a huge margin of error (ie, it's not that precise). You could run heaven 5 times in a row without changing a single thing and your minimum/maximum FPS will vary by as much as +/- 10fps and your average fps can vary by as much as +/- 1 fps (though this is usually around only a .1 to .3 difference). So the only conclusion you can make from these benchmark comparisons is that the power setting doesn't have enough impact to mater at all.

There won't be a problem switching the power setting constantly, but you're honestly just wasting time (and electricity) by changing it. Just leave it on adaptive -- trust me, it has no impact on your performance, i've thoroughly tested it in dozens of games. The only conclusion i made was that if does actually have an impact on performance, then it's impossible to measure; therefore, there's no reasons to actually use the maximum performance setting.


----------



## Neovalen

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Like this:
> 
> Intake front-bottom, intake front-top
> Output top-back, plus some air going out the PCI-E slots because of pressure differences
> intake/exhaust on the side-panel (start with intake, my money is on the intake being optimal) to see which direction works better.


I'll give it a shot and come back to let you know... I was not home most of the day yesterday so just now read the post.

Alright. my CPU temperature went UP at least 5 degrees....I think if I'm gonna test this I need to get a 2nd top fan so I can have that upward suction for the CPU heat...

Edit: Alright... configured my PC back to the way it was... with the added exhaust fan at the top. Now if I set my fan profile to max out my fan at 70C I can manage to keep it in the low 70 range...


----------



## FightCat

Hello, thanks for the great guide. Below are my specs:

MSI GTX 670 OC Edition
Base Clock 965 MHz
Boost Clock 1045 MHz
Memory Clock 6008 MHz
Power Target %122 (max.)
Voltage 1175 mV (max.)

Having adjusted fan curve as per instructions, I've halted at the end of Step 1, because in Unigine benchmark, the fan got noticably loud and although having seen no artifacts or whatsoever during the benchmark, I saw GPU clock hitting *1200 MHz* on OSD during the run and also I found out that during the run the temperature had got as high as *82 C*. My Unigine bench was under the following settings:

Render: direct3d11
Mode: 1680x1050 fullscreen
Shaders: high
Textures: high
Filter: trilinear
Anisotropy: 4x
Occlusion: enabled
Refraction: enabled
Volumetric: enabled
Tessellation: disabled

Have I missed or overdone anything ? Am I good to go on ? I don't want to end up with a fried VGA yet.


----------



## bern43

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *FightCat*
> 
> Hello, thanks for the great guide. Below are my specs:
> MSI GTX 670 OC Edition
> Base Clock 965 MHz
> Boost Clock 1045 MHz
> Memory Clock 6008 MHz
> Power Target %122 (max.)
> Voltage 1175 mV (max.)
> Having adjusted fan curve as per instructions, I've halted at the end of Step 1, because in Unigine benchmark, the fan got noticably loud and although having seen no artifacts or whatsoever during the benchmark, I saw GPU clock hitting *1200 MHz* on OSD during the run and also I found out that during the run the temperature had got as high as *82 C*. My Unigine bench was under the following settings:
> Render: direct3d11
> Mode: 1680x1050 fullscreen
> Shaders: high
> Textures: high
> Filter: trilinear
> Anisotropy: 4x
> Occlusion: enabled
> Refraction: enabled
> Volumetric: enabled
> Tessellation: disabled
> Have I missed or overdone anything ? Am I good to go on ? I don't want to end up with a fried VGA yet.


What case and fan set up are running? Sounds like an airflow issue. I've got the same card and with my core running at 1215 I'm not even breaking 65 C.

And for stability testing make sure you run Heaven with maxed out settings.


----------



## bern43

Sorry for the double post, but I worked on my fan profile tonight and everything seemed to go fine. Just checked AB and this is what I found. Power percentage maxed with a yellow line and core clock dropped to zero. Wife logged onto the computer a few minutes before I got on. She has a separate user account with no AB installed. Everything seems to be running fine, but because I've never seen this before I'm a little worried.


----------



## FightCat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bern43*
> 
> What case and fan set up are running? Sounds like an airflow issue. I've got the same card and with my core running at 1215 I'm not even breaking 65 C.
> And for stability testing make sure you run Heaven with maxed out settings.


I have a Cooler Master HAF X 942, sire.


----------



## SeanPoe

Hard to say what caused that, but it was definitely just a software error. It's showing the maximum value was over 31 million and same thing for the GPU usage. I would just say to ignore it and if it happens again then maybe there's an issue somewhere (most likely an unstable CPU overclock or unstable RAM, hard to say for sure).


----------



## bern43

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Hard to say what caused that, but it was definitely just a software error. It's showing the maximum value was over 31 million and same thing for the GPU usage. I would just say to ignore it and if it happens again then maybe there's an issue somewhere (most likely an unstable CPU overclock or unstable RAM, hard to say for sure).


Thanks for the quick response. I'll just keep an eye on it. Supposedly the most recent bios for my motherboard, which I have installed, is bugged and causing a lot of memory problems. So maybe that's it.


----------



## shmoo11

I have been tweaking my GB 670 OC and I got it to around 1.3ghz gpu clock and 3.5 ghz mem clock. I have been running the heaven benchmark with a lot of different settings, including even turning the A/C off in my room and letting the hot air in from my window. My power consumption never passes %80, temp never breaks 69 degrees C, and my gpu clock speed is a solid line. I find that every time I have a problem with heaven, it is because of a display driver fail. Is this normally the case, and have I just reached my max clock or do people normally see comp crashes and other problems as well? I'm wondering if the display driver (which is current) is holding me back or if I'm just hitting the ceiling of what this thing can do. I was sort of expecting to see the temp get too high, jagged gpu clock logs, and/or power consumption hitting the roof before having issues however everything seems to be happy and than the gpu driver just crashes (and recovers in around half a second.) I don't have logs from an instance of when the gpu driver crashed, just a log from a successfully completed run. I will continue to tweak and will post some logs but if anything I have mentioned sounds like an obvious red flag let me know please b/c im an o/c newb!

Tx


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *shmoo11*
> 
> I have been tweaking my GB 670 OC and I got it to around 1.3ghz gpu clock and 3.5 ghz mem clock. I have been running the heaven benchmark with a lot of different settings, including even turning the A/C off in my room and letting the hot air in from my window. My power consumption never passes %80, temp never breaks 69 degrees C, and my gpu clock speed is a solid line. I find that every time I have a problem with heaven, it is because of a display driver fail. Is this normally the case, and have I just reached my max clock or do people normally see comp crashes and other problems as well? I'm wondering if the display driver (which is current) is holding me back or if I'm just hitting the ceiling of what this thing can do. I was sort of expecting to see the temp get too high, jagged gpu clock logs, and/or power consumption hitting the roof before having issues however everything seems to be happy and than the gpu driver just crashes (and recovers in around half a second.) I don't have logs from an instance of when the gpu driver crashed, just a log from a successfully completed run. I will continue to tweak and will post some logs but if anything I have mentioned sounds like an obvious red flag let me know please b/c im an o/c newb!
> Tx


Yes, an unstable overclock will generally manifests itself as a graphics driver crash. Typically this is because your core clock is too high for the voltage, and since we can't increase the voltage, you will need to reduce the overclock until you no longer get driver crashes. Also, be sure you're using the newest beta driver, that's version 304.79, here's a link for the 64-bit version. Some people in the gtx 670 thread claimed they got a higher overclock with this driver, i have no idea if those claims are true as i saw no benefit personally.


----------



## shmoo11

thanks, I will install this and do some more tweaking.


----------



## Neovalen

SeanPoe,

Just wanted to stop in and share my final result after getting my heat problem under control (mid 70's now).

Cards: EVGA GTX 670 Superclocked+ 4GB x2 in SLI
Base Clock: 1074 MHz (GPU-Z)
Boost Clock: 1153 MHz (GPU-Z)
Actual Clock: 1268 Mhz (Precision during Heaven)
Memory Clock: 1576 (GPU-Z)
Power Target: MAX
Voltage: MAX

Heaven 1920x1080: 86.1fps, 2168score, 31min, 202.4max
Heaven 5760x1080: 18.4fps, 464score.

Going any higher than the above resulted in the benchmark crashing and my screens going nuts. Got gains all the way up to the last %.
Heaven uses over 3 gigs of memory during the triple monitor test... ouch! Glad I got my 4GB cards for surround.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Neovalen*
> 
> SeanPoe,
> Just wanted to stop in and share my final result after getting my heat problem under control (mid 70's now).
> Cards: EVGA GTX 670 Superclocked+ 4GB x2 in SLI
> Base Clock: 1074 MHz (GPU-Z)
> Boost Clock: 1153 MHz (GPU-Z)
> Actual Clock: 1268 Mhz (Precision during Heaven)
> Memory Clock: 1576 (GPU-Z)
> Power Target: MAX
> Voltage: MAX
> Heaven 1920x1080: 86.1fps, 2168score, 31min, 202.4max
> Heaven 5760x1080: 18.4fps, 464score.
> Going any higher than the above resulted in the benchmark crashing and my screens going nuts. Got gains all the way up to the last %.
> Heaven uses over 3 gigs of memory during the triple monitor test... ouch! Glad I got my 4GB cards for surround.


What did you end up doing to reduce temperatures?


----------



## FightCat

Hello, have I got anything to do ?

What should I check ?

Please refer to my posts on this page.


----------



## bern43

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *FightCat*
> 
> Hello, have I got anything to do ?
> What should I check ?
> Please refer to my posts on this page.


Your case looks like it should have decent airflow. What fans are you running on it? What's your idle temp? Post up the rest of your system in your signature so we can also tell what else you're running. Assuming you have decent airflow and you followed the guide here, those temps don't seem normal.


----------



## FightCat

I am running Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E for a CPU cooler and all fans on the Cooler Master case are connected and are running. There are 4 of them. 1x top, 1x back, 1x side, 1x front.

Idle temp is 38-40C.


----------



## FightCat

Having checked the settings, I re-run the Unigine bench and temp was around over 80 C.

I have my CPU (2.66GHz) overclocked to 4.2GHz by the way. Does that make any change ?


----------



## FightCat

For a reference here are my Precision SS's:


----------



## TiHawk560

I've got a few questions about this guide. I followed that guide extensively and read it very carefully. I started with the quick one. I was able to get heaven stabilized at around +45 on the gpu and +225 on memory. I then spent a long time doing the slow method and for the life of me could not get a stable flatline starting at +54(boost clock of 1046) working my way down in increments of -5 all the way down to +4 . My card will easily either reach 125-127% power or reach 70 degrees causing it to downclock at certain parts. Mainly set 9(iirc the dragon one) and set 26.

I mentioned this in the 3dmark thread and I was recommended to bump up my PCH by "a hair" in my bios. I bumped it up by one minimum increment with no success. I am not sure if I should keep bumping it not or what to try.

on a side note I haven't experienced any artifacts whatsoever throughout this process. I just get driver crashes instead. Is this normal?

Is it possible my card's factory OC is unstable or is it just they have squeezed out all the OC for that card already?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TiHawk560*
> 
> I've got a few questions about this guide. I followed that guide extensively and read it very carefully. I started with the quick one. I was able to get heaven stabilized at around +45 on the gpu and +225 on memory. I then spent a long time doing the slow method and for the life of me could not get a stable flatline starting at +54(boost clock of 1046) working my way down in increments of -5 all the way down to +4 . My card will easily either reach 125-127% power or reach 70 degrees causing it to downclock at certain parts. Mainly set 9(iirc the dragon one) and set 26.
> I mentioned this in the 3dmark thread and I was recommended to bump up my PCH by "a hair" in my bios. I bumped it up by one minimum increment with no success. I am not sure if I should keep bumping it not or what to try.
> on a side note I haven't experienced any artifacts whatsoever throughout this process. I just get driver crashes instead. Is this normal?
> Is it possible my card's factory OC is unstable or is it just they have squeezed out all the OC for that card already?


I would suggest just ignoring the downclocking. It's only a 13MHz downclock, so if you have to reduce your overclock by more than 13MHz then it's counterproductive. You could also try to figure out how to reduce your temperatures (if that's what's causing the downclocking) by optimizing case airflow. I'm not entirely sure if that's a such a big deal though, just use the quiet fan profile section and settle with the 13MHz downclock.


----------



## Neovalen

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> What did you end up doing to reduce temperatures?


Honestly, I set up a more aggressive fan profile and added some additional fans to the case. I find with my 670's you cannot let them get hot because they don't cool down even with max fan... trick is to catch them BEFORE they start to heat up and it keeps them lower.


----------



## TiHawk560

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> I would suggest just ignoring the downclocking. It's only a 13MHz downclock, so if you have to reduce your overclock by more than 13MHz then it's counterproductive. You could also try to figure out how to reduce your temperatures (if that's what's causing the downclocking) by optimizing case airflow. I'm not entirely sure if that's a such a big deal though, just use the quiet fan profile section and settle with the 13MHz downclock.


Thanks for the quick reply SeanPoe.








I really appreciate it.

There were times I remember where it would drop more then 13mhz, sever increments and times I remember when it would only drop by 13. So in this case I should shoot for the highest clock I can achieve while not letting my flatline drop more then a single 13 mhz increment?

Also the downclocking was being cause both by sometimes reaching 70 degrees or sometimes by reaching 125-127% power. Looks like I will have to re try this once I get my card under water to get that factor out of the way.


----------



## bern43

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *FightCat*
> 
> Having checked the settings, I re-run the Unigine bench and temp was around over 80 C.
> 
> I have my CPU (2.66GHz) overclocked to 4.2GHz by the way. Does that make any change ?


That might raise the temps in your case a tiny bit but shouldn't make a huge difference. What's the ambient temp in your room? Also double check that you have your custom fan profile selected.


----------



## FightCat

Below is my fan curve.



Please tell me, is my idle GPU temp (38C now) too much ? If the ambient temp affecting it was the case, it should have a constant effect, shouldn't it ?


----------



## HardwareDecoder

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *FightCat*
> 
> Below is my fan curve.
> 
> Please tell me, is my idle GPU temp (38C now) too much ? If the ambient temp affecting it was the case, it should have a constant effect, shouldn't it ?


why does your fan curve only have three points on it? here is mine...


----------



## TiHawk560

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HardwareDecoder*
> 
> why does your fan curve only have three points on it? here is mine...


Does it matter how many points you have? I would think it makes no difference?


----------



## bern43

I don't think it matters how many points you have on your fan curve as long as the curve itself is working for you. And an idle temp of 38C seems a little high to me. I've got an ambient temp of around 22.7 C. Usually my card idles around 29C.


----------



## FightCat

On a rough parallelization, subtract 9 and it would equal to 75C.

Sorry we use C, I don't get what 73 (F, I suppose ?) is.

The instructions, by the way, tell you the way I have SS'ed above to do it. Only 3 fan-throttle points.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *FightCat*
> 
> On a rough parallelization, subtract 9 and it would equal to 75C.
> Sorry we use C, I don't get what 73 (F, I suppose ?) is.
> The instructions, by the way, tell you the way I have SS'ed above to do it. Only 3 fan-throttle points.


Three points is fine, the line in-between points also acts as points. 38C is a little warm for idle temperatures but it's not going to cause any damage. What are your load temperatures?


----------



## FightCat

I've explained above, *SeanPoe*. It rockets as high as 84C during Unigine benchmark. This post of mine summarizes Precision settings prior to bench run.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *FightCat*
> 
> I've explained the above, SeanPoe. It rockets as high as 84C during Unigine benchmark. This post of mine summarizes Precision settings prior to bench run.


Thanks, i missed that post. What are your ambient temperatures (ie, the temperature of the room your computer is in)?

Edit: What Cooler Master model do you have?


----------



## bern43

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *FightCat*
> 
> On a rough parallelization, subtract 9 and it would equal to 75C.
> 
> Sorry we use C, I don't get what 73 (F, I suppose ?) is.
> 
> The instructions, by the way, tell you the way I have SS'ed above to do it. Only 3 fan-throttle points.


My mind still works in F. My ambient temp is 22.7 C.


----------



## FightCat

@*SeanPoe*,

Mardin is a hot hot place. I'm currently living in a Turkish city northern neighbors to Syria. We get desert climate from south.

I'm not sure what temp the room is currently however outside may exceed 35C during the day and in the nighttime, it says it's 27C.

I got Cooler Master HAF X 942. Here : http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6653

@*bern43*,

Thanks.


----------



## LostRib

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *FightCat*
> 
> Below is my fan curve.
> 
> Please tell me, is my idle GPU temp (38C now) too much ? If the ambient temp affecting it was the case, it should have a constant effect, shouldn't it ?


Event hough you have it set at 20%, doesnt it only go as low as 30%?


----------



## greg1184

I am currently overclocking my SLI 670s. I am doing it linked together. Is this the correct way? Uniengine does not bring my cards' usage to 99%, more like 97/98%.


----------



## greg1184

Here is what I got:

*Stock:*
GPU1: 1137/3105
GPU2: 1175/3105

Benchmark:

*
Overclock:*
GPU1: 1215/3649
GPU2: 1256/3649

Benchmark:


EDIT: I updated to the beta driver, and although I had to reduce clock a bit less, it seems more stable now.

1202/3645. 1246/3645


----------



## FightCat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *LostRib*
> 
> Event hough you have it set at 20%, doesnt it only go as low as 30%?


Sorry ?


----------



## bigal1542

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *greg1184*
> 
> I am currently overclocking my SLI 670s. I am doing it linked together. Is this the correct way? Uniengine does not bring my cards' usage to 99%, more like 97/98%.


I'm interested in the answer here too.

I just left mine linked, but I could see how clocking one a tiny bit higher might help some.


----------



## greg1184

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> I'm interested in the answer here too.
> I just left mine linked, but I could see how clocking one a tiny bit higher might help some.


Honestly, unless you are benchmarking, it won't make that big of a difference. I clocked down a little bit after I downloaded the beta driver and it didnt make a big difference in performance.... it is more stable, though.


----------



## johnnystuff

I'm having some hard times overclocking my evga 670 4Gb, mostly because of temperature exceeding the 70°c in few seconds after the benchmark starts. So, before any other conclusion, may I ask you if this is a "normal" behaviour? I'm talking about the GPU usage ofc, being completely idle, nothing but PrecisionX running. Beta drivers, vsync off.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *johnnystuff*
> 
> I'm having some hard times overclocking my evga 670 4Gb, mostly because of temperature exceeding the 70°c in few seconds after the benchmark starts. So, before any other conclusion, may I ask you if this is a "normal" behaviour? I'm talking about the GPU usage ofc, being completely idle, nothing but PrecisionX running. Beta drivers, vsync off.


That definitely doesn't look normal. It should be at 0% gpu usage constantly if you indeed have nothing else open. Try restarting your computer and then check it again and see if it flat-lines at 0%.

Also, it's not that important to stay below 70C. You'll be throttled by only 13MHz by going over 70C (and an additional 13MHz if you go over 79C), so it's not a big deal. Try taking the side off your case for a Heaven run and check if temperatures drop. If they do, then your cases airflow is most likely the issue. If you want to try to improve temperatures, post your case model, how many fans it has, their location and the direction they're blowing.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *greg1184*
> 
> I am currently overclocking my SLI 670s. I am doing it linked together. Is this the correct way? Uniengine does not bring my cards' usage to 99%, more like 97/98%.


You can unlink them and overclock each card separately. This will net you a little more performance but it will take about twice as much time. Just be sure you keep the card you aren't testing at stock clocks so you don't get a bunch of false-positives when testing the second.

For example
GPU1 = overclock testing
GPU2 = stock speed
Find GPU1 max stable clock and write it down

GPU1 = stock speed
GPU2=overclock testing
Find GPU2 max stable clock and write it down

Now set GPU1 to max overclock
Now set GPU2 to max overclock

You might also want to consider switching the better performing card to your first (top) PCI slot, as the top card does a little more work than the bottom one (this will equate to pretty insignificant FPS gains though, but if you're in to min/maxing, might as well







)


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Hey guys. I have a question. I've been following this guide, working on the boost clock part so far and I hit the point of failure about +60 mHz in. So naturally, I went down 5 mHz each time, only to have it fail each time. Eventually, I reverted back to the stable +40 mHz setting, just to try it out again, and to my surprise, it also failed.

I don't understand why this is happening. Everytime the benchmark failed, I've tried reinstalling drivers manually, restarting the computer, and running the benchmark with stock settings and then running the benchmark again with the new settings. I also remembered to maximize the voltage each time I start up Precision. Sometimes the old settings fail and sometimes it doesn't so I don't really have any clue what settings are stable and what are not. Any tips?


----------



## ViTosS

Damn I can run without problems 1300Mhz core in 3DMark 11 and when I try Heaven even at 1250Mhz I cant run it gives me driver error =(


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Guys, why is it that during the benchmark, my GPU clock isn't running at its fullest? The leap towards the end is when I quit out of the program.



Drivers are 301.42. Boost clock is set to +140 mHz. I"m only playing around with boost clocks so far, so all other settings are default. I've also done max voltage and max power target.


----------



## timbradley21

Hi

Managed to follow this guide very well so far, just hit a bit of a problem when trying to overclock the memory

I have an EVGA 670 gtx SC, I have managed to get +88 stable on the boost clock as per the first set of instructions.

During testing the memory, I mangaed to get to +500 before I saw any artifacts. so started to dial back down the clocks by 25. This is when I started to see a couple of issues, mainly with Unigine. Since attemping the memory clock, Unigine now goes very slow, even when default card clocks are applied.

I reset my machine, then tested my +88 boost clock, everything has returned to normal, then I started testing memory again, I went to +475, the same slowness came back. I think I read somewhere regarding maxing out the vram on a card can cause an issue, is this correct?

It just seems strange that after testing memory clocks, even resetting back to defaults, my Unigine scores become much lower than normal.

Thanks

Tim


----------



## Arizonian

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *timbradley21*
> 
> Hi
> Managed to follow this guide very well so far, just hit a bit of a problem when trying to overclock the memory
> I have an EVGA 670 gtx SC, I have managed to get +88 stable on the boost clock as per the first set of instructions.
> During testing the memory, I mangaed to get to +500 before I saw any artifacts. so started to dial back down the clocks by 25. This is when I started to see a couple of issues, mainly with Unigine. Since attemping the memory clock, Unigine now goes very slow, even when default card clocks are applied.
> I reset my machine, then tested my +88 boost clock, everything has returned to normal, then I started testing memory again, I went to +475, the same slowness came back. I think I read somewhere regarding maxing out the vram on a card can cause an issue, is this correct?
> It just seems strange that after testing memory clocks, even resetting back to defaults, my Unigine scores become much lower than normal.
> Thanks
> Tim


Hi Tim, Welcome to OCN







Congrats with your 670 and your first post.









I would work the memory in the opposite direction. First find your absolute highest core clock with memory at default. Then once you've found highest stable Core clock you should work on memory. Start low and work your way higher.

Everyone's offsets can vary. +80 for you might be +60 for some one else and both can be hitting the same Kepler boost.

What is your core clock? What's your 'Kepler Boost'? Keeping the card 69C or lower is key to not have any down clocking by 13 MHz.

As for Heaven 3.0 there is an artifact looking streak that happens at the dragon when it swings back around the second time. It happens same spot every time, even stock clocks.

Best test bed IMO is a good campaign set to high graphic settings and if you can remain stable for a couple hours, you've found a good 24 / 7 setting most likely. Good luck with your trial and error finding your highest potential OC.


----------



## timbradley21

thanks for the quick reply!

I shall have to post my full clocks later, but I think I was more concerned about how Unigine behanved once I started to increase the memory. Even when I put the card back to full stock settings (after restarting precision x) Unigine ran very slowly, like it was running out of memory or something, and my 670gtx stock settings gave very low scores (unigine) compared to pre memory overclock attempt (if this makes sense).

I know my card has never gone above 68 deg while getting my core clock to be +88. When I tried for +500 memory offset (core offset returned back to 0), I had a couple of green streaks across the screen so stopped and dialed back to +475. But after this the pc needs to be rebooted for Unigine to run correctly.

BTW I was following the long guide which tries to find the Max core, then Max memory seperatly, then combine them after.

Tim


----------



## bern43

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *timbradley21*
> 
> thanks for the quick reply!
> 
> I shall have to post my full clocks later, but I think I was more concerned about how Unigine behanved once I started to increase the memory. Even when I put the card back to full stock settings (after restarting precision x) Unigine ran very slowly, like it was running out of memory or something, and my 670gtx stock settings gave very low scores (unigine) compared to pre memory overclock attempt (if this makes sense).
> 
> I know my card has never gone above 68 deg while getting my core clock to be +88. When I tried for +500 memory offset (core offset returned back to 0), I had a couple of green streaks across the screen so stopped and dialed back to +475. But after this the pc needs to be rebooted for Unigine to run correctly.
> 
> BTW I was following the long guide which tries to find the Max core, then Max memory seperatly, then combine them after.
> 
> Tim


The slow down of Unigine is likely an unstable clock reverting your card back to 2d mode. Same thing happened to my Asus gtx 670. Only thing that would fix it was a reboot. As others have said dial back your memory.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> Guys, why is it that during the benchmark, my GPU clock isn't running at its fullest? The leap towards the end is when I quit out of the program.
> 
> Drivers are 301.42. Boost clock is set to +140 mHz. I"m only playing around with boost clocks so far, so all other settings are default. I've also done max voltage and max power target.


Bump.


----------



## Evzee

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> Bump.


Hello there, what readings are you getting as your maximum power target during your benchmark? My thinking was that maybe your power target is being reached and maxed out and the gpu clock is holding back because of it.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Evzee*
> 
> Hello there, what readings are you getting as your maximum power target during your benchmark? My thinking was that maybe your power target is being reached and maxed out and the gpu clock is holding back because of it.


Maximum power target is not being reached, although I think I reinstalling Precision fixed the problem. Thank you.

EDIT: Never mind. It doesn't work. Installing MSI Afterburner does work however...strange.


----------



## Lutsk92

For the the memory offset section, I set it at +500, then +600, then +700 until it finally hit 71 degrees (is temperature a factor to consider in memory offset? It's not mentioned anywhere). Still, I haven't noticed any graphical anomalies throughout the whole process so i'm not sure on what to base my my conclusion on.


----------



## Nitrius

Am looking to find a stable clock for my Gigabyte GTX 670 Windforce 3X, something i can use everyday, and while playing, is it then good to lay close to max clock? Or should you only be close to max clock while benchmarking, and when using the system "normally" you should clock it a bit lower? Or doesn't it matter as long as it stable?

Also is there any reason to maxing voltage when according to MSI Afterburner it goes max when under load? Also Power Limit, so far i've never seen it go above 93, and the limit is currently at 100.


----------



## Lutsk92

Must I always turn on Precision X in order for my overclocking to take effect?


----------



## thegh0sts

is letting the heaven benchmark loop a good way of testing stability cos it failed within 70 minutes for me


----------



## DrBoss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> is letting the heaven benchmark loop a good way of testing stability cos it failed within 70 minutes for me


Yes

Unigine at MAX settings (AA, AF, Tesselation, etc) is a good way to test stability. I usually considering an OC stable if i can loop for 2 hours without a crash. Others would say you need to loop for 12 hours.

If your OC made it 70 minutes, i would guess you are just slightly above it's max settings. Lower the core and ram slightly and test again.


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrBoss*
> 
> Yes
> Unigine at MAX settings (AA, AF, Tesselation, etc) is a good way to test stability. I usually considering an OC stable if i can loop for 2 hours without a crash. Others would say you need to loop for 12 hours.
> If your OC made it 70 minutes, i would guess you are just slightly above it's max settings. Lower the core and ram slightly and test again.


well, i'll try a lower memory clock and see how that goes.

EDIT: I didn't get the same error that i was getting when benching. though i was able to play 1.5 hours of BF3 MP with no probs though it was a lower memory clock so will test that clock and see.


----------



## DrBoss

yea, Vram set to high can definitely lead to instability. I'd keep your core clock the same as you had it when you crashed in Unigine after 70 minutes, but lower your Vram some.

Side note: i spent a summer in Sydney in the late 90's... Awesome city. Love Australia.


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrBoss*
> 
> yea, Vram set to high can definitely lead to instability. I'd keep your core clock the same as you had it when you crashed in Unigine after 70 minutes, but lower your Vram some.
> Side note: i spent a summer in Sydney in the late 90's... Awesome city. Love Australia.


i tested it on 980+100/3004+475 and it crashed within 70 minutes. so will test 980+100/3004+400 and see how that fairs.

Sydney is ok...damn it is getting expensive though...even games FFS!


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Anyone notice artifacts in Heaven when the camera spins around the tesselated dragon? It happens everytime for me, on every single clock speed, including stock clocks.


----------



## Arizonian

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> Anyone notice artifacts in Heaven when the camera spins around the tesselated dragon? It happens everytime for me, on every single clock speed, including stock clocks.


Yup. It's a bug because it happens to everyone whether stock or over clocked. Same place every time for me too.


----------



## DrBoss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Arizonian*
> 
> Yup. It's a bug because it happens to everyone whether stock or over clocked. Same place every time for me too.


Dito,

It had me worried about my GPU until i found a similar post on a different forum. Rest easy


----------



## Lutsk92

Must I leave Precision X turned on at all time in order for my overclocking to take effect?


----------



## brettjv

Lutsk ... I'm pretty sure Precision has an 'windows startup' checkbox, right above the 'Apply' button ... The only thing it won't apply is any voltage tuner setting ... and I dunno about whether it does the fans as well but I think it does


----------



## Arizonian

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lutsk92*
> 
> Must I leave Precision X turned on at all time in order for my overclocking to take effect?


*EVGA Precision X* is a Riva Tuner shell. _Includes 'Enable Internal Access to Application via Blue Tooth' as well._



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!







Manual fan settings that start up with windows. Monitors and logs all GPU stats.



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!







Screen captures. 2D & 3D profiles. On Screen Displays (OSD). Everything but forced voltage start up on windows.

However with *E-Leet Tuner* you can take over clocking more seriously.

Real-time monitoring of CPU, Memory and QPI frequencies
Real-time monitoring of vital voltages such as: CPU VCore, DRAM Voltage, +12v, etc.
Real-time monitoring of each individual core, north bridge and voltages regulator temperatures
Real-time adjustments of QPI Base Clocks, CPU Multiplier and PCIe Bus Frequencies
Directly generate CPUZ Validation file and submit it via the utility itself
"Brink OC" mode automatically saves a validation file every time you push up your CPU Frequency so you can grab your overclocking record with lesser hassle
Logitech keyboard LCD display support.
"*Must I leave Precision X turned on at all time in order for my overclocking to take effect?*"

Yes you do. It's not a resource drain at all to your system performance. Only way to force an over clock to a GPU is to have a software utility running in background. Check 'windows start up' and 'run minimized' at windows start up and you will never even notice it running in the back ground. No other way to over clock your GPU, otherwise it starts at default stock clocks and auto fan settings every time.

To get the best over clock you can you'd really want to set up your own fan profile. Bare minimum is 1C to 1% and higher for more extreme over clocking during benching.


----------



## greg1184

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3864538

Just benchmarked my computer with my overclocks.


----------



## Arizonian

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *greg1184*
> 
> http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3864538
> Just benchmarked my computer with my overclocks.


I'm impressed with your score. Congrats on the cards. 









Your EVGA GTX 670 FTW SLI 3DMark11 score *16306* running your i7 3770K @ [4.7] under water is awesome.









My EVGA GTX 690 3DMark11 Score is *17011* & running my i7 3770K @ [4.5] on air. I'm at 1044 Base Core / 1594 Memory / 1149 Boost = Kepler Boost 1175 & 1201 Core. (24/7)

I'd say you did very well spending $798 vs my $999. The GTX 670's have turned out to be the best price performance cards of the year.









What is your Core / Memory / Boost and Kepler Boost for GPU #1 & 2?

On a quick side note: You'd be a hero if you posted screen shots of your UEFI Sabertooth settings on the *[Officia] ASUS Sabertooth Club* thread or if your shy your more than welcome to PM me with them.


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> i tested it on 980+100/3004+475 and it crashed within 70 minutes. so will test 980+100/3004+400 and see how that fairs.
> Sydney is ok...damn it is getting expensive though...even games FFS!


OK, tried core @ 980+100 / mem @ 3002+400 and not only did it pass the 70 minute and 2 hour mark but I let it run for a full 8 hours straight and no issues arose...I even left the house to do other things and it was still going nicely.


----------



## DrBoss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> OK, tried core @ 980+100 / mem @ 3002+400 and not only did it pass the 70 minute and 2 hour mark but I let it run for a full 8 hours straight and no issues arose...I even left the house to do other things and it was still going nicely.


then you are golden. you could try bumping things up again slightly... or just be done with it and go play some games. With +100 on your core, what boost clock does that give you? Afterburner and GPUZ will report max boost clock, etc.


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrBoss*
> 
> then you are golden. you could try bumping things up again slightly... or just be done with it and go play some games. With +100 on your core, what boost clock does that give you? Afterburner and GPUZ will report max boost clock, etc.


Base clock is 1080
boost clock is 1159
mac observed is 1215
memory is 3402

i may or may not have reached their maximums though i think it's a good enough balance of both. my goal was to get it to 1.2GHz and i believe i have achieved that even if i was premature on the verdicts


----------



## IronDoq

So i just finalized my overclock on my Gigabyte Windforce 670. Out of the box at stock settings the core would boost up to 1110, with a boost clock of 1059. This gives me a kepler boost of a sad 41.







. Using the long method, following all the steps down to the letter, I've narrowed the boost offest to +78, giving a maximum boost clock of 1188. While I am a little disappointed that the card wasn't able to even break 1200Mhz, my memory did do a little better. After laborously increasing the offset by +100 each time and doing a run of Heaven, I began to see artifacts at +800. Backing it down to +750 proved,to be stable for a few runs, however I have yet to let it run for hours at a time. I have a 3570k at 4.5 on air, and my Heaven run with 1188 core and 3752 memory gave a score of 1230. Fps was somewhere around 48.8 (I think). Overall I can't say that I am not disappointed, what with the godly 1350Mhz+ being reported, but I did get a fair overclock on the memory. The card plays BF3 beautifully, and I am happy I chose this over the 7970.


----------



## Neovalen

Apparently I was a bit premature in giving out what my overclock was...
I actually ended up having more performance doing a more memory OC than Core. These are stable (8 heaven runs in a row + I let it run in between and played BF3 for a few hours)

System Processor: i5 3570k @ 4.5 on air
Card Model: EVGA Superclocked+ 4GB x2(SLI) - Boost 1046Mhz, Memory 3004Mhz out of the box, Max Boost 1175 out of the box. Heaven 83.7fps, 2109. Temp at 85c(no fan profile)

My Overclock:
Fan Profile: 30% at 30c, 65% at 55c, 80%(max) at 70c+.
Boost Clock: 1110 (+64 offset)
Max Boost: 1240 (avg 1215 during heavy load (benchmark, usually higher in games)
Temperature: 80/81c - just setting the power target to 122 pegged me here, clocks didn't seem to matter.
Memory: 1740Mhz(GPUz) - 3480Mhz (+475 offset)

Final Score (Heaven): 94FPS, 2369.

Well, 10fps ain't half bad I think. What kind of increase in actual FPS did others see?


----------



## famibica

Hello, i just used precision X program with the techpowerup program and got +90mhz on gpu and + 850mhz on memory clock, getting total:

1331mhz gpu clock
3954mhz on memory clock
Temps didnt gone over 56 celsius and fans didnt get over 67% of speed.
Precision X infos.

is that a good achieve on a GTX 670 FTW ?

Thanks, Famibica.


----------



## Harx

Can you damage the card in any way by overclocking? Or you can go as far till it crashes / artifacts? I got me a 670 Windforce, temps haven't exceeded 62-63c during gaming what is safe?, my 6950 sometimes hit close to 90c on memory temps when gaming. Overclocked +120 core, +425 memory with Afterburner, no problems yet







, custom fan profile went up to about 53-54 % fanspeed @ 63c


----------



## fastex92

Hi lad!
The windforce cooler only cools down the marked up elements, the rest is only stock airflow over.

http://hawnutor.org/image/zfdMrQq.jpg
over the orange mark, there is a normal very slim cooling rib.

There is no cooling over the pink markers, so overclocking can make those components hotter then it should.
altrough, everything within the red marker has very effective cooling!


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Harx*
> 
> Can you damage the card in any way by overclocking? Or you can go as far till it crashes / artifacts? I got me a 670 Windforce, temps haven't exceeded 62-63c during gaming what is safe?, my 6950 sometimes hit close to 90c on memory temps when gaming. Overclocked +120 core, +425 memory with Afterburner, no problems yet
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> , custom fan profile went up to about 53-54 % fanspeed @ 63c


i haven't touched 60 deg C on my gigabyte GTX 670 OC. the most i have seen is 58 deg C.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

OK, there has to be a better way of testing this card. I'm trying to find my stable overclock for both the GPU and memory clock. I go down and up and for most of the settings, I don't notice any artifacts or crashes. 3DMark11 runs fine too. And then I start up a game like BF3 and I fail about five minutes in. So then I go back and fiddle with the settings and again, it passes Heaven and 3DMark11, but fails BF3 five minutes in. This process I have repeated for at least 20 times now...is there a more efficient way of doing this? I was hoping that if an overclock was stable, this would be reflected in the Heaven run, but it really only gets reflected if it's a relatively high memory or GPU clock.


----------



## fastex92

Weird problem...
What kind of a crash are you experiencing in BF3?
and you have no flickering in Heaven / 3dmark?

BLAME DRIVERS!









you're using beta version or the 301 version?


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fastex92*
> 
> Weird problem...
> What kind of a crash are you experiencing in BF3?
> and you have no flickering in Heaven / 3dmark?
> BLAME DRIVERS!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> you're using beta version or the 301 version?


No flickering. Crashes are usually driver-related, most of the time. Sometimes picture goes weird and then the monitor goes black. Reboot's usually require several retries, which is odd, considering that my CPU overclock is very, very stable.

I hope it's as simple as a driver reinstall. I am using the 301 WHQL version. I have had limited success with the Beta's.


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> OK, there has to be a better way of testing this card. I'm trying to find my stable overclock for both the GPU and memory clock. I go down and up and for most of the settings, I don't notice any artifacts or crashes. 3DMark11 runs fine too. And then I start up a game like BF3 and I fail about five minutes in. So then I go back and fiddle with the settings and again, it passes Heaven and 3DMark11, but fails BF3 five minutes in. This process I have repeated for at least 20 times now...is there a more efficient way of doing this? I was hoping that if an overclock was stable, this would be reflected in the Heaven run, but it really only gets reflected if it's a relatively high memory or GPU clock.


i did what drboss (i think) told me: let the heaven bench run in its looped mode and see if it crashes there. with my current settings i had made it passed their 2hour stability test and i let it go for a full 8 hours straight and it was stable for me.

that's just one way of course. there's no 100%$ sure fire way though.


----------



## fastex92

well its weird when you have to reboot so many times, and retry the booting, drivers only work when the OS is active, not under booting, so seems like BF3 crashes the clocks...
I will blame the drivers!









I have good success with the beta drivers this far, every game works just fine with current clocks at 1316 core, and 6210 memory.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> i did what drboss (i think) told me: let the heaven bench run in its looped mode and see if it crashes there. with my current settings i had made it passed their 2hour stability test and i let it go for a full 8 hours straight and it was stable for me.
> that's just one way of course. there's no 100%$ sure fire way though.


Yea, I've started doing that too. What do you downclock when you fail the loop...the memory or the GPU clock? I guess it's situational right?

The latest failure was a DX-related crash, so since it was a crash to the desktop, it made sense to downclock the GPU clock.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fastex92*
> 
> well its weird when you have to reboot so many times, and retry the booting, drivers only work when the OS is active, not under booting, so seems like BF3 crashes the clocks...
> I will blame the drivers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have good success with the beta drivers this far, every game works just fine with current clocks at 1316 core, and 6210 memory.


So it's a possibility that my CPU overclock isn't stable? It passed Prime95 for 14 hours...and temperatures are never a problem.


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> Yea, I've started doing that too. What do you downclock when you fail the loop...the memory or the GPU clock? I guess it's situational right?
> The latest failure was a DX-related crash, so since it was a crash to the desktop, it made sense to downclock the GPU clock.


i had my core clock at

980 (base) + 100 offset | mem 3002 + 475 offset

that failed within 70 minutes. at the time i didn't think it was the core clock cos i had seen no issues with it in games or benching so i decided to try the next best memory clock i had tested.

so i tested

980 + 100 offset | mem 3002 + 400 offset

and i put it through the riggers of the heaven bench and i just let it loop. i started it at 11am and called it stable at 7pm and it ran fine with no issues: i even left the house to go do some things i needed to do and it was still running when i got back. so it ran for a full 8 hours with no crashes and so i am satisfied and confident that those settings are stable.

while i don't think i have reached their max stable values i think that this is a good balance between the core clock and the memory clock.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> i had my core clock at
> 980 (base) + 100 offset | mem 3002 + 475 offset
> that failed within 70 minutes. at the time i didn't think it was the core clock cos i had seen no issues with it in games or benching so i decided to try the next best memory clock i had tested.
> so i tested
> 980 + 100 offset | mem 3002 + 400 offset
> and i put it through the riggers of the heaven bench and i just let it loop. i started it at 11am and called it stable at 7pm and it ran fine with no issues: i even left the house to go do some things i needed to do and it was still running when i got back. so it ran for a full 8 hours with no crashes and so i am satisfied and confident that those settings are stable.
> while i don't think i have reached their max stable values i think that this is a good balance between the core clock and the memory clock.


What kind of failure was it? Driver crash, artifacts, etc.?

The problem is I don't know what's causing the crashes...either too high of a memory clock, too high of a GPU clock, or even both.

I have core clock set to 980+62 right now. 65 caused crashes to desktop when I was trying to find my max GPU clock.

I think memory clock is sitting around the 3002 + 400 offset range as well. Highest it went to without crashes was the 599 range. I've had to drastically reduce it since.

It's a pretty crappy card...


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> What kind of failure was it? Driver crash, artifacts, etc.?
> The problem is I don't know what's causing the crashes...either too high of a memory clock, too high of a GPU clock, or even both.
> I have core clock set to 980+62 right now. 65 caused crashes to desktop when I was trying to find my max GPU clock.
> I think memory clock is sitting around the 3002 + 400 offset range as well. Highest it went to without crashes was the 599 range. I've had to drastically reduce it since.
> It's a pretty crappy card...


driver crash though the heaven bench gave an error that was different to the error from previous tests. i just reboot and change the settings down and now i think it's stable.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> driver crash though the heaven bench gave an error that was different to the error from previous tests. i just reboot and change the settings down and now i think it's stable.


OK, well my brother updated me with the status of the latest Heaven run (since I'm at work) and it's been running for about an hour. Here's to hoping it's stable.

If not, I'll probably try a manual clean installation of the drivers again...you said you recommend the beta drivers...or was that someone else?


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> OK, well my brother updated me with the status of the latest Heaven run (since I'm at work) and it's been running for about an hour. Here's to hoping it's stable.
> If not, I'll probably try a manual clean installation of the drivers again...you said you recommend the beta drivers...or was that someone else?


that was someone else though i am using the 304.79 betas.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> that was someone else though i am using the 304.79 betas.


I believe I tried those beta's only to find out that I get 5 points less on Heaven with the same settings. I only tried it for a couple minutes though so perhaps I'll have better success with longer use and playing around.


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> I believe I tried those beta's only to find out that I get 5 points less on Heaven with the same settings. I only tried it for a couple minutes though so perhaps I'll have better success with longer use and playing around.


i stopped caring about scores cos i just want my overclock to be stable, plus the numbers are very arbitrary and i find it hard to compare scores with others.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> i stopped caring about scores cos i just want my overclock to be stable, plus the numbers are very arbitrary and i find it hard to compare scores with others.


True...this was way back then when I just started overclocking with the 670. It could also be the restricted voltage control on Afterburner. I could use Precision, but it doesn't seem to work really well with my 670...the overclocks I mean.


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> True...this was way back then when I just started overclocking with the 670. It could also be the restricted voltage control on Afterburner. I could use Precision, but it doesn't seem to work really well with my 670...the overclocks I mean.


did you check the option in the settings to enable voltage control? i went with precision x cos it was recommended in the 670 master OC guide....plus precision x has a nice gtx 670 skin.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> did you check the option in the settings to enable voltage control? i went with precision x cos it was recommended in the 670 master OC guide....plus precision x has a nice gtx 670 skin.


I did. I also originally went with Precision X, only to find out that no matter how much I overclocked, my Heaven score was always the same and that during the benchmark, the clocks stayed at base/stock clocks and then jumped up AFTER I had finished the benchmark and quit out of the program.

After that, I just stuck to Afterburner, which I have used for a very long time. I had a lot of success with the program with my 470 overclocking so I like it a lot. However, I do miss the high over volting option Precision X allows. The lower voltage could be what's limiting my overclock.


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> I did. I also originally went with Precision X, only to find out that no matter how much I overclocked, my Heaven score was always the same and that during the benchmark, the clocks stayed at base/stock clocks and then jumped up AFTER I had finished the benchmark and quit out of the program.
> After that, I just stuck to Afterburner, which I have used for a very long time. I had a lot of success with the program with my 470 overclocking so I like it a lot. However, I do miss the high over volting option Precision X allows. The lower voltage could be what's limiting my overclock.


fair enough, i tried all the ones i could think of but really needed to settle on one to do the oc'ing with.


----------



## DrBoss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> i had my core clock at
> 980 (base) + 100 offset | mem 3002 + 475 offset
> that failed within 70 minutes. at the time i didn't think it was the core clock cos i had seen no issues with it in games or benching so i decided to try the next best memory clock i had tested.
> so i tested
> 980 + 100 offset | mem 3002 + 400 offset
> and i put it through the riggers of the heaven bench and i just let it loop. i started it at 11am and called it stable at 7pm and it ran fine with no issues: i even left the house to go do some things i needed to do and it was still running when i got back. so it ran for a full 8 hours with no crashes and so i am satisfied and confident that those settings are stable.
> while i don't think i have reached their max stable values i think that this is a good balance between the core clock and the memory clock.


Glad to see you found a solid OC. 8 hours of looping in Unigine is good confirmation that you are stable. However, one thing Unigine does not report is errors/artifacts (It can be hard to see them with the naked eye when they happen). OCCT is a nice piece of software that stress the GPU and specifically looks for errors.

8 hours in Unigine is pretty damn rigorous. But if you want to be 100% certain you are stable, i'd suggest running your OC through OCCT. If you pass without errors, you know you've got a rock solid Overclock.

Cheers


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrBoss*
> 
> Glad to see you found a solid OC. 8 hours of looping in Unigine is good confirmation that you are stable. However, one thing Unigine does not report is errors/artifacts (It can be hard to see them with the naked eye when they happen). OCCT is a nice piece of software that stress the GPU and specifically looks for errors.
> 8 hours in Unigine is pretty damn rigorous. But if you want to be 100% certain you are stable, i'd suggest running your OC through OCCT. If you pass without errors, you know you've got a rock solid Overclock.
> Cheers


how long does that take roughly?

how do you set the parameters and a good test length?


----------



## DrBoss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> how long does that take roughly?
> how do you set the parameters and a good test length?


Select the GPU test (OCCT also has the ability to street the CPU)
Set your resolution and refresh rate
Select "error check"
Select an amount of time, 2 hours is good (this may have changed with the newer version, which i haven't used)

run it.


----------



## famibica

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *famibica*
> 
> Hello, i just used precision X program with the techpowerup program and got +90mhz on gpu and + 850mhz on memory clock, getting total:
> 1331mhz gpu clock -> stock + 90mhz
> 3954mhz on memory clock -> stock +450mhz
> Temps didnt gone over 56 celsius and fans didnt get over 67% of speed.
> Precision X infos.
> is that a good achieve on a GTX 670 FTW ?
> Thanks, Famibica.


anybody can help me on that question pls?


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrBoss*
> 
> Select the GPU test (OCCT also has the ability to street the CPU)
> Set your resolution and refresh rate
> Select "error check"
> Select an amount of time, 2 hours is good (this may have changed with the newer version, which i haven't used)
> run it.


i set it to infinite and will let that go.

EDIT: Wow! OCCT has hit the 60 deg C mark on this card.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Question. How do you know if you have a dead GPU? I can see everything fine, but a couple minutes sitting in Windows, a black screen just pops up on my monitor. Did I kill it through all the stress testing? Is it possible that it's a bad DVI cable? I don't think it's the monitor or its power brick because if the monitor/power brick was bad, I wouldn't be getting any sort of display at all.

Also, this phenomenon doesn't happen in safe mode.

EDIT: Ok, it does happen in safe mode.

EDIT 2: Interesting. If I turn off the monitor and then turn it back on, the display's all fine again.


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrBoss*
> 
> Select the GPU test (OCCT also has the ability to street the CPU)
> Set your resolution and refresh rate
> Select "error check"
> Select an amount of time, 2 hours is good (this may have changed with the newer version, which i haven't used)
> run it.


2 hours a good length to test?


----------



## Arizonian

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> 2 hours a good length to test?


In my opinion more than enough. It's a good gauge when trying to find max OC. Once you think you've found it by not crashing the best test is get your most demanding game turn up graphics highest settings and have fun.

When I found my over clock limits, I played Crysis & Crysis 2 campaigns, Battelfield 3 campagin start to finish and then a few days of 64 multi-player gaming. After all that with no crashes, I was good to go. GPU #1 1175 & GPU# 2 1201 Core.


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Arizonian*
> 
> In my opinion more than enough. It's a good gauge when trying to find max OC. Once you think you've found it by not crashing the best test is get your most demanding game turn up graphics highest settings and have fun.
> When I found my over clock limits, I played Crysis & Crysis 2 campaigns, Battelfield 3 campagin start to finish and then a few days of 64 multi-player gaming. After all that with no crashes, I was good to go. GPU #1 1175 & GPU# 2 1201 Core.


OK, cos the OCCT test lasted 2hr 46mins 56s where an error came up (something to do with devil may cry DX11 exe not working). Just to be sure it didn't kill my overclock i doubled checked gpu-z and my clocks were still there so that means it was an app error and not a gpu error.

so here are my results for the stability tests:

Unigine Heaven benchmark (in loop mode) - 8 hours
OCCT in error checking mode - 2 hours 47 mins
max temp on load - 60 deg C (and not 1 deg C higher)

i am now confident that the clocks are stable....now i can finally go to sleep since it is 4am here in Sydney and i am in need of some sleep!


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> Question. How do you know if you have a dead GPU? I can see everything fine, but a couple minutes sitting in Windows, a black screen just pops up on my monitor. Did I kill it through all the stress testing? Is it possible that it's a bad DVI cable? I don't think it's the monitor or its power brick because if the monitor/power brick was bad, I wouldn't be getting any sort of display at all.
> Also, this phenomenon doesn't happen in safe mode.
> EDIT: Ok, it does happen in safe mode.
> EDIT 2: Interesting. If I turn off the monitor and then turn it back on, the display's all fine again.


Ruled it out as a cable issue. A new DVI cable fixed it







.


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> Ruled it out as a cable issue. A new DVI cable fixed it
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .


glad you sorted it out....simplest is the usually the best!


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> glad you sorted it out....simplest is the usually the best!


It was simple...until all my overclocks failed, even at stock settings. Would crash to screen after two seconds of entering a BF3 server. Power and GPU usage on Afterburner would jack up to ridiculous loads (300k+ range). This was after various clean driver installation and reboots. The last reboot, I got no display on POST. However, I could hear the Windows loading screen, which means that the computer is OK, but the GPU is foobar'd. Isolated the problem by removing the card out, restarting computer, and the computer would still boot up, which rules out all the other parts in the computer, if they were actually at fault.

Started an RMA process already. Sigh...hopefully this new card clocks better than this one. I couldn't even touch 1200 MHz core clock on this one.


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> It was simple...until all my overclocks failed, even at stock settings. Would crash to screen after two seconds of entering a BF3 server. Power and GPU usage on Afterburner would jack up to ridiculous loads (300k+ range). This was after various clean driver installation and reboots. The last reboot, I got no display on POST. However, I could hear the Windows loading screen, which means that the computer is OK, but the GPU is foobar'd. Isolated the problem by removing the card out, restarting computer, and the computer would still boot up, which rules out all the other parts in the computer, if they were actually at fault.
> Started an RMA process already. Sigh...hopefully this new card clocks better than this one. I couldn't even touch 1200 MHz core clock on this one.


that's a shame, i hope you get it resolved and back with a new card to OC!


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> that's a shame, i hope you get it resolved and back with a new card to OC!


Here's to hoping the new card can overclock better







.


----------



## SeanPoe

Sorry guys, I've been extremely busy the last week and was unable to respond to any help requests. I scanned the ~200 or so posts i missed and it looks like everyone got help from someone else. If anyone still needs additional assistance, please feel free to re-ask your question (or link back to your original question).


----------



## nyk20z3

I followed the guide earlier in this thread and came back with this score although it is 3dmark basic -

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3885038


----------



## greg1184

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> You can unlink them and overclock each card separately. This will net you a little more performance but it will take about twice as much time. Just be sure you keep the card you aren't testing at stock clocks so you don't get a bunch of false-positives when testing the second.
> For example
> GPU1 = overclock testing
> GPU2 = stock speed
> Find GPU1 max stable clock and write it down
> GPU1 = stock speed
> GPU2=overclock testing
> Find GPU2 max stable clock and write it down
> Now set GPU1 to max overclock
> Now set GPU2 to max overclock
> You might also want to consider switching the better performing card to your first (top) PCI slot, as the top card does a little more work than the bottom one (this will equate to pretty insignificant FPS gains though, but if you're in to min/maxing, might as well
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> )


Found a weird quirk when I moved the faster card on top. Got like 400 more points on 3dMark.... However, BF3 started to do the minimize (and cannot maximize) bug along with locking up and/or direct X errors. No matter what I did... reinstall drivers, run at stock speed, etc ... it gave me grief. It only happened when SLI is on. I switch the cards back to how I had it before, BF3 runs flawless now. Go figure.


----------



## Steven467

I've used your guide to get a stable overclock of 1300 core and 7012 mem on my gigabyte gtx 670, runs heaven with score around 48 fps 1221 and 3dmark no issues. Yet i keep getting the same bug in bf3 that greg described, no error message or drivers failed message, just black screen and i have to end bf3.exe. It happens at random times, could be 10 mins in or 2 hours in. Again i can run skyrim,batman and such with no such issues. Temps are good as well, hardly breaks 55C in bf3 and 60C benchmarking. Voltage is at 1.175 and slider 112%.Havent seen power % go over 90 yet. I previously had a evga gtx 560 ti and never had this problem once. Thanks in advance.


----------



## omega4

Hello everyone. I'm new here. First, I'd like to thank the author of this post and all the mods for sharing their OC expertise. As a new owner of an EVGA GTX 670 FTW and first time overclocker, I found all your comments very educational.

I attempted my first overclock with my 670 and would appreciate it if any of the OC experts here could please answer the following questions for me:

1. Did I calculate my Kepler Boost correctly? I calculated 91 with the out-of-the-box settings and a 92 after OC.
2. Is my Kepler Boost lower than the average 670 GPU Kepler Boost or is that not an apples-to-apples comparison since EVGA already OC the card above the standard 670 GPU?
3. Are my overclocked Unigine 'Heaven' DX11 Benchmark scores average, above-average, or below-average vs. the average EVGA 670 FTW GPU?
4. Are my OC settings of +50 GPU Clock / +160 Memory Clock.average, above-average, or below-average vs. the average EVGA 670 FTW GPU?
5. Is my EVGA 670 FTW GPU average, above-average, or below-average vs. the average EVGA 670 FTW GPU?

Out of the box, my EVGA 670 FTW GPU has a GPU Clock of 1006 and Boost Clock of 1085. I believe that EVGA overclocks the 670 FTW card as my GPU clock and Boost Clock are higher than a standard out of the box 670 GPU. I believe has a GPU Clock of 965 and a Boost Clock of 1045, correct?



When I ran the Unigine 'Heaven' DX11 Benchmark using the out of the box settings (No OC, no GPU offset, no Memory offset, no voltage increase), my maximum GPU Clock was 1176 (rounded up) and my maximum GPU Memory Clock was 3105 (=1552.5*2).

 



So does this mean that my Kepler Boost = Max GPU Clock - Boost Clock = 1176 - 1085 = 91? Since 91 is divisible evenly by 13 (=7), it seems like I calculated the Kepler Boost correctly.

Is my Kepler Boost low when compared to the average 670 GPU or is it not an apples-to-apples comparison since EVGA already OC the card above the standard 670 GPU?

After trying to find my best, stable OC settings as per this thread's instructions (max power +145%; max voltage 1175 mV), I eventually ended up with offsets of +50 GPU Clock / +160 Memory Clock.

I ended up with a maximum GPU Clock of 1227 and maximum Memory Clock of 3260 (=1630*2).

Are my OC results (from offset settings of +50 GPU Clock / +160 Memory Clock) average, above-average, or below-average vs. the average EVGA 670 FTW GPU?

 

So does this mean that my Kepler Boost = Max GPU Clock - Boost Clock = 1227 - 1135 = 92?

These OC settings ran successfully with the Unigine 'Heaven' DX11 Benchmark.

Are my Unigine 'Heaven' DX11 Benchmark scores average, above-average, or below-average vs. the average EVGA 670 FTW GPU?

 

So is my EVGA 670 FTW GPU average, above-average, or below-average vs. the average EVGA 670 FTW GPU?

Thank you all for your help. I really appreciate it.


----------



## Steven467

It would appear i've got mine stable clocked it down to 1290 boost core with 3600 mem, so +140 core and +595 mem, had mem stable at +800 but i backed it off a bit. Played about 2 hours of bf3 no issues.


----------



## Capwn

So my EVGA vanilla 670 just took a dump on me, I think I'm going to exchange it for the gigabyte with the windforce cooler, 10$ more.. Thoughts ??


----------



## Steven467

Go Go GO, it's great. Seems like everyone gets good clocks out of these things and i've yet to see mine break 60C benching, 55C in bf3 maxed


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Steven467*
> 
> Go Go GO, it's great. Seems like everyone gets good clocks out of these things and i've yet to see mine break 60C benching, 55C in bf3 maxed


i've seen mine hit 60 deg C in OCCT and that's it...everything else is within the 50-60 deg C range.


----------



## omega4

Why do some people seem to multiply their memory speeds by 2.

For example some will say their memory clocks are 3100, while others will say it's 6200.

I imagine both are correct but which way is the more common way to state memory speed?

Also, if someone could answer my questions on my first post about my EVGA 670 FTW card, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.


----------



## DrBoss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> 2 hours a good length to test?


sorry for the delay, i was out of town this weekend.
yes, 2 hours in OCCT is all you need.


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrBoss*
> 
> sorry for the delay, i was out of town this weekend.
> yes, 2 hours in OCCT is all you need.


cool, it managed about 2.75 hours before an app failed...i double-checked the clocks and they were still good.


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *omega4*
> 
> Why do some people seem to multiply their memory speeds by 2.
> For example some will say their memory clocks are 3100, while others will say it's 6200.
> I imagine both are correct but which way is the more common way to state memory speed?
> Also, if someone could answer my questions on my first post about my EVGA 670 FTW card, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.


Edited to fix first value:
1550 Actual Memory Frequency =
3100 Double-Data Rate speed (GDDR3) =
6200 Quad-Data Rate speed (GDDR5)

They all refer to the same thing, but only the first and last are really 'right' .. when you're talking about a GDDR5 card. People quote the 2nd number though cause Precision and Afterburner are still presenting the Double-Data rate version of the memory clock, as though these DDR5 cards were still DDR3.


----------



## omega4

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> 1650 Actual Memory Frequency =
> 3100 Double-Data Rate speed (GDDR3) =
> 6200 Quad-Data Rate speed (GDDR5)
> They all refer to the same thing, but only the first and last are really 'right' .. when you're talking about a GDDR5 card. People quote the 2nd number though cause Precision and Afterburner are still presenting the Double-Data rate version of the memory clock, as though these DDR5 cards were still DDR3.


Thanks for the explanation. Using your example, wouldn't the GDDR3 speed be 3300 (=1650*2) and the GDDR5 speed be 6600 (=1650*4)?

If you get a chance, could you look over my post (http://www.overclock.net/t/1265110/the-gtx-670-overclocking-master-guide/410#post_17712539) here and tell me what you think about my 670 GPU (average, below-avg, above-avg). Thanks!


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *omega4*
> 
> Thanks for the explanation. Using your example, wouldn't the GDDR3 speed be 3300 (=1650*2) and the GDDR5 speed be 6600 (=1650*4)?
> If you get a chance, could you look over my post (http://www.overclock.net/t/1265110/the-gtx-670-overclocking-master-guide/410#post_17712539) here and tell me what you think about my 670 GPU (average, below-avg, above-avg). Thanks!


Yeah, my bad ... I miscalculate the first number, based on your example ... shoulda been 1550


----------



## rilum

I have a pair of non-top asus 670s in sli. Should the graph for cpu clock look like that or do I have a problem? This is at stock settings except for the fan profile..


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *omega4*
> 
> Hello everyone. I'm new here. First, I'd like to thank the author of this post and all the mods for sharing their OC expertise. As a new owner of an EVGA GTX 670 FTW and first time overclocker, I found all your comments very educational.
> I attempted my first overclock with my 670 and would appreciate it if any of the OC experts here could please answer the following questions for me:
> 1. Did I calculate my Kepler Boost correctly? I calculated 91 with the out-of-the-box settings and a 92 after OC.
> 2. Is my Kepler Boost lower than the average 670 GPU Kepler Boost or is that not an apples-to-apples comparison since EVGA already OC the card above the standard 670 GPU?
> 3. Are my overclocked Unigine 'Heaven' DX11 Benchmark scores average, above-average, or below-average vs. the average EVGA 670 FTW GPU?
> 4. Are my OC settings of +50 GPU Clock / +160 Memory Clock.average, above-average, or below-average vs. the average EVGA 670 FTW GPU?
> 5. Is my EVGA 670 FTW GPU average, above-average, or below-average vs. the average EVGA 670 FTW GPU?
> Out of the box, my EVGA 670 FTW GPU has a GPU Clock of 1006 and Boost Clock of 1085. I believe that EVGA overclocks the 670 FTW card as my GPU clock and Boost Clock are higher than a standard out of the box 670 GPU. I believe has a GPU Clock of 965 and a Boost Clock of 1045, correct?


Welcome to OCN









1+2) Yes, that looks correct. 91MHz is probably right in the middle in terms of average KB value for all 670's. No, the stock OC doesn't really matter in that calculation. There's reference cards with KB's of like 26MHz, and pre-OC'd cards with 143MHz KB's, for example. Pretty sure that the KB value is encoded into the chip at the factory (e.g. before it's even known what actual model it'll go into), although it can be over-ridden by editing the BIOS.
3) Your Heaven score looks about right for those clocks, yes ... maybe a tad on the low side though but I bet it's because you have that huge stutter about 4/5 of the way through it. A lot of people get a stutter there, but yours is really long. Not sure why that'd happen but I'd try it w/o OC and see if it goes away or at least becomes just a blip. Although that may just the point at which your score is being tabulated ... in which case, not that big a deal ... although it's still kinda long.
4+5) The +50 offset value is basically irrelevant, because of different cards having different KB values. The number that 'matters' is the 1227MHz OC. That's a bit on the low side, as over 1/2 of FTW's in our Stats poll are hitting over 1300. Also I've seen a lot of people getting +500MHz (double pumped speed) on the memory. So I'm sorry to say that compared to most FTW's I've seen, your card seems a bit below average









Sometimes cranking up the fan speed will help with stability, let you eek out a bit higher OC. You also should work out a balance between core and memory, as they do seem to affect one another. Sometimes a small downward bump of one will allow the other to go much higher, which can definitely be worthwhile ...

And reference 670's are clocked at 915 base/985 boost if my memory serves. I know it's not 965/1045 as the reference, it's definitely lower ...


----------



## kamalelsherif

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> That sounds like a memory leak (or fragmented memory) or something similar. Which I've never seen happen in the context of Heaven. Have you tried restarting your computer? What is your GPU memory usage at when you run heaven? Have you ever used MemTest86+ to test your RAM? What happens if you run the card at default clocks, are your scores higher and constant/stable when you do consecutive runs at default clocks?


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lutsk92*
> 
> Here are one of my many results:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I ran Memtest86+ and here what results are:
> Walltime = 1:28:00
> Cached = 8154M
> RsvdMem = 2828K
> MemMap = e820
> Cache = on
> ECC = off
> Test = std
> Pass = 1
> Errors = 237
> ECC Errs = 0
> Tst = 2
> Pass = 0
> Failing Address = 0017fb0603c - 6139.0MB
> Good = ffffffff
> Bad = fffffbff
> Err-Bits = 00000400
> Count = 1
> RAM must be the problem? I need to get them replaced?


I have the exact same problem, but there is nothing wrong with my RAM.
Restarting didn't solve the problem, memory usage is 2032 MB, same problem when run at stock.

note: i crash in heaven @ stock after 2-3 hours with every setting maxed out (my temps never exceed 55 degrees)

thanks SeanPoe for your help & waiting your answer.

System: 3570K @ 4.5 GHz - Asus P8Z77-V pro - 8GB G.skill 2133 MHz - corsair force GT 120 GB SSD - Gigabyte GTX 670 OC


----------



## thegh0sts

Would it be safe to update the bios of a 670? are there any negative effects?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kamalelsherif*
> 
> I have the exact same problem, but there is nothing wrong with my RAM.
> Restarting didn't solve the problem, memory usage is 2032 MB, same problem when run at stock.
> note: i crash in heaven @ stock after 2-3 hours with every setting maxed out (my temps never exceed 55 degrees)
> thanks SeanPoe for your help & waiting your answer.
> System: 3570K @ 4.5 GHz - Asus P8Z77-V pro - 8GB G.skill 2133 MHz - corsair force GT 120 GB SSD - Gigabyte GTX 670 OC


Well, if you tried everything i suggested to Lutsk92 with no success, then maybe try running a GPU RAM test (like this one) and let me know if you get errors at stock clocks. If you do, your only real solution is to downclock your memory until it becomes stable. But personally, i would just RMA it for a replacement if that's the case because it should be stable at stock speeds no mater what.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> Would it be safe to update the bios of a 670? are there any negative effects?


Yes, It's potentially safe. Just be sure to use a proper bios and back-up your original. Most manufacturers have a bios update utility, check your manufacturers website for a download.


----------



## twitchyzero

Hi Sean,

Thanks so much for your guide.

I have a few questions being new to overclocking GPUs

I have a pair of FTW models taht I plan to overclock

My plan is to go over the quick step with each card to understand each OC potential before SLI

My biggest question is at the end, do I run them at its individual offsets or go with the lower of the 2 GPU/mem clock offsets? If it's the latter, what happens when one card has high GPU offset low mem offset and the other card has low mem offset and high offset?

Also some basic questions regarding single card OC:

1. fan curve..it talks about fan speed as low as 10% or as high as 85%..I noticed in Precision X my FTW only ranges from 30-80%. Should my idle and load speed just be at 30% and 80%, respectively then?

2. One of my cards can hit MBF 1270-1280MHz (+120MHz) and memory 1900MHz (+700MHz..not sure how GPU-Z calculated 1900 as stock memory is 1552MHz) under 80% fan speed...once I apply the appropriate fan curve Heaven crashes but the temp is ~60C.

3. Power slider is always maxed out at 145%. Max TDP I've seen is 115%. Is there anyway to allow my card to use more power? I think that's what's trottling my OC beacuse my temp are always never higher than 61/62C.

4. When Heaven crashes it reports a Max TDP of 333%. Is that an error? I saw someone reporting similar problem in page 4-6 of this thread but he was using Afterburner and Precision X at the same time. I have a brand new Seasonic X750 so I doubt it's PSU related.

5. I noticed sometimes during heavier OC runs the power usage can dip and stay at ~80% when it's usually 98-105% which causes huge fps drops...what's causing this? I need to reboot the comp everytime this happens to benchmark properly.


----------



## omega4

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> Welcome to OCN
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 1+2) Yes, that looks correct. 91MHz is probably right in the middle in terms of average KB value for all 670's. No, the stock OC doesn't really matter in that calculation. There's reference cards with KB's of like 26MHz, and pre-OC'd cards with 143MHz KB's, for example. Pretty sure that the KB value is encoded into the chip at the factory (e.g. before it's even known what actual model it'll go into), although it can be over-ridden by editing the BIOS.
> 3) Your Heaven score looks about right for those clocks, yes ... maybe a tad on the low side though but I bet it's because you have that huge stutter about 4/5 of the way through it. A lot of people get a stutter there, but yours is really long. Not sure why that'd happen but I'd try it w/o OC and see if it goes away or at least becomes just a blip. Although that may just the point at which your score is being tabulated ... in which case, not that big a deal ... although it's still kinda long.
> 4+5) The +50 offset value is basically irrelevant, because of different cards having different KB values. The number that 'matters' is the 1227MHz OC. That's a bit on the low side, as over 1/2 of FTW's in our Stats poll are hitting over 1300. Also I've seen a lot of people getting +500MHz (double pumped speed) on the memory. So I'm sorry to say that compared to most FTW's I've seen, your card seems a bit below average
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sometimes cranking up the fan speed will help with stability, let you eek out a bit higher OC. You also should work out a balance between core and memory, as they do seem to affect one another. Sometimes a small downward bump of one will allow the other to go much higher, which can definitely be worthwhile ...
> And reference 670's are clocked at 915 base/985 boost if my memory serves. I know it's not 965/1045 as the reference, it's definitely lower ...


Thank you sir for sharing your insights on my GPU. I really appreciate the information that you've shared with me, as well as your generosity of spirit and time. Thank you very much again!


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *twitchyzero*
> 
> Hi Sean,
> Thanks so much for your guide.
> I have a few questions being new to overclocking GPUs
> I have a pair of FTW models taht I plan to overclock
> My plan is to go over the quick step with each card to understand each OC potential before SLI
> My biggest question is at the end, do I run them at its individual offsets or go with the lower of the 2 GPU/mem clock offsets? If it's the latter, what happens when one card has high GPU offset low mem offset and the other card has low mem offset and high offset?


Since you're planing on taking the time to overclock both cards individually anyways, then it would be best to uncheck the 'SYNC' box on the main-page of Precision-X, and keep both cards at their respective maximum overclock. All that's going to happen is the card with the faster overclock will run at a lower load (instead of 100% usage, it will be at 90-95% usage). You won't see a huge performance difference doing it this way (since your FPS will be limited by the lower-clocked GPU) but it can help out your minimum FPS in some cases. Also, if you swap the better performing card to the first slot in your SLI-array, then you will see a small performance boost too (less than 1%).
Quote:


> Also some basic questions regarding single card OC:
> 1. fan curve..it talks about fan speed as low as 10% or as high as 85%..I noticed in Precision X my FTW only ranges from 30-80%. Should my idle and load speed just be at 30% and 80%, respectively then?


Yes, that's exactly what you'll need to do.
Quote:


> 2. One of my cards can hit MBF 1270-1280MHz (+120MHz) and memory 1900MHz (+700MHz..not sure how GPU-Z calculated 1900 as stock memory is 1552MHz) under 80% fan speed...once I apply the appropriate fan curve Heaven crashes but the temp is ~60C.


How long did you run Heaven at 80% fan speed with those same settings? My guess is it just wasn't stable at those settings and it was just a coincidence that it crashed with the altered fan settings. Try running Heaven in a loop for about 2 hours at 80% fan speed and see if it doesn't crash.
Quote:


> 3. Power slider is always maxed out at 145%. Max TDP I've seen is 115%. Is there anyway to allow my card to use more power? I think that's what's trottling my OC beacuse my temp are always never higher than 61/62C.


Nope, you can't increase the amount of power your card uses aside from just maxing out the power slider. If your power target is set to 145% and you're only seeing 115%, then i really doubt you're being throttled by power. You only get throttled for going too high, not for being too low. Did you check the graphs to see if you're indeed being throttled?
Quote:


> 4. When Heaven crashes it reports a Max TDP of 333%. Is that an error? I saw someone reporting similar problem in page 4-6 of this thread but he was using Afterburner and Precision X at the same time. I have a brand new Seasonic X750 so I doubt it's PSU related.


Definitely sounds like an error to me. I would recommend closing all other GPU monitoring tools (like GPU-Z, aferburner, motherboard programs, etc) because if you have more than one open it can cause mis-readings and crashes.
Quote:


> 5. I noticed sometimes during heavier OC runs the power usage can dip and stay at ~80% when it's usually 98-105% which causes huge fps drops...what's causing this? I need to reboot the comp everytime this happens to benchmark properly.


I don't know exactly what causes this. It's something to do with the card being locked into 2D mode when it should be in 3D mode. I've only seen it happen in Heaven. I know that alt-tabbing out of Heaven will cause this, but aside from that, it just seems to randomly happen. Whenever it happens, just restart your computer and try again.


----------



## howe108

Got my second evga gtx 670 ftw today.

Here is sli result,

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3909096


----------



## kamalelsherif

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Well, if you tried everything i suggested to Lutsk92 with no success, then maybe try running a GPU RAM test (like this one) and let me know if you get errors at stock clocks. If you do, your only real solution is to downclock your memory until it becomes stable. But personally, i would just RMA it for a replacement if that's the case because it should be stable at stock speeds no mater what.


Thanks for the reply man, but my GPU RAM passed the test without errors !!

any ideas?


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Yes, It's potentially safe. Just be sure to use a proper bios and back-up your original. Most manufacturers have a bios update utility, check your manufacturers website for a download.


I am just worried it might kill my current OC settings and possibly OC less than what it's currently doing now!


----------



## Hokies83

Everything runs smooth and fine.. then all of a sudden my TDP shoots from 101% to 333% and i crash..


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kamalelsherif*
> 
> Thanks for the reply man, but my GPU RAM passed the test without errors !!
> any ideas?


I'm out of ideas at this point honestly. Try down-clocking your GPU memory by 50MHz (just as a starting point for now), and see if it fixes things. You could honestly probably just return your current GPU for a replacement; it shouldn't be crashing at stock settings.


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

So it's completely safe to always have the voltage maxed?


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> So it's completely safe to always have the voltage maxed?


It maxes on its own at load.


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> It maxes on its own at load.


Ok Ty

Now I'm having 2 weird things happen, when I complete the heaven benchmark the gpu section says I'm running off my hd 3000 graphics, which is weird and idk why.

Also, when I got to about 90-100 offset which brings me to 1245 or 1250, I crash in heaven with the error "D3D11AppWindow::swap_window(): device removed"

Edit: just did a successful run of heaven with +85 (1235 Mhz) and +200 Memory. Score was 1334
Edit2: just did a successful run of heaven with +85(1235 Mhz) and +275 Memory. Score was 1345

Is this really the OC limit of my 670...


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> Ok Ty
> Now I'm having 2 weird things happen, when I complete the heaven benchmark the gpu section says I'm running off my hd 3000 graphics, which is weird and idk why.
> Also, when I got to about 90-100 offset which brings me to 1245 or 1250, I crash in heaven with the error "D3D11AppWindow::swap_window(): device removed"


That means its unstable. And it just says that for reason when the iGPU is enabled dont know why, I disabled it in bios, more work then gain imo.


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hokies83*
> 
> Everything runs smooth and fine.. then all of a sudden my TDP shoots from 101% to 333% and i crash..


You sold your 7970's?


----------



## Arizonian

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hokies83*
> 
> Everything runs smooth and fine.. then all of a sudden my TDP shoots from 101% to 333% and i crash..


Might want to try backing down on power target offset. It may keep it from crashing without having to lower clocks. Try +125 and see if that changes anything.

Let us know what clocks your getting. Offset values vary and clocks reached with Kepler Boost.

May want to set up a fan profile. 1C-1% example 50C - 50% fan speed. Mine is more aggressive benching.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> It maxes on its own at load.


That's not true in all cases. Some 670's seem to drop down to 1.162v under full-load instead of running at 1.175v if you don't manually max out the voltage slider. There's no reason not to just max the voltage slider though even if your 670 doesn't drop to 1.162v.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> Ok Ty
> Now I'm having 2 weird things happen, when I complete the heaven benchmark the gpu section says I'm running off my hd 3000 graphics, which is weird and idk why.


It's just a bug with Heaven. Even if you have the iGPU disabled in the bios, it still sometimes shows up in Heaven. Just ignore it.
Quote:


> ]Also, when I got to about 90-100 offset which brings me to 1245 or 1250, I crash in heaven with the error "D3D11AppWindow::swap_window(): device removed"
> Edit: just did a successful run of heaven with +85 (1235 Mhz) and +200 Memory. Score was 1334
> Edit2: just did a successful run of heaven with +85(1235 Mhz) and +275 Memory. Score was 1345
> Is this really the OC limit of my 670...


That might not be your maximum. Did you try going higher on the memory? Keep increasing the memory until you get artifacts (or crash) and then back down a bit from there. If you already did this, then yes, that's probably your maximum overclock.


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> It's just a bug with Heaven. Even if you have the iGPU disabled in the bios, it still sometimes shows up in Heaven. Just ignore it.
> That might not be your maximum. Did you try going higher on the memory? Keep increasing the memory until you get artifacts (or crash) and then back down a bit from there. If you already did this, then yes, that's probably your maximum overclock.


Yea I got to 300 on memory and the same error happened, i backed down to 275 and it was fine.

I was thinking i could get this thing to like 1300 =(

Also, since i have the msi pe isnt there supposed to be a voltage unlock thing coming so that we can go higher and possibly increase overclocks?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Arizonian*
> 
> Might want to try backing down on power target offset. It may keep it from crashing without having to lower clocks. Try +125 and see if that changes anything.


Do you have any examples of where this worked for other people without causing a throttle? When i tested this out, all that happened was I'd get throttled by power (which would then dynamically reduce my overclock), only making my unstable overclock stable because it was actually reducing my overclock. For example, if i was at 1300MHz with a +150MHz offset (unstable) and then reduced the power-target a bit, it would stabilize my overclock but only because i was getting throttled down to ~1250Mhz (though my offset was still set at 150). I found i could get more performance by just keeping the power target maxed and then manually reducing my overclock a bit. So instead of being at 1300MHz and 105% power target, i would set it at 1275MHz and 121% power target (this resulted in a performance increase). I have a hunch that in less-demanding applications (that don't tap out the power-draw causing a power-related throttle) that you might still be unstable without that throttle happening. So manually reducing your overclock would not only result in more performance in most cases but would also eliminate the possibility of instability when that power-related throttle doesn't happen.

This is just what I've observed with my own 670 anyways, things might be different for other people's 670s. If reducing the power target does indeed result in stability and increased performance for other people, I'll be sure to update the guide to reflect this new information.


----------



## Hokies83

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> It maxes on its own at load.


Was defective i rmaed with NEwegg got one of these got tired of AMDs buggy drivers.. This thing is alittle slower then my 7970 was but meh no driver headaches ftw..


----------



## Hokies83

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Arizonian*
> 
> Might want to try backing down on power target offset. It may keep it from crashing without having to lower clocks. Try +125 and see if that changes anything.
> Let us know what clocks your getting. Offset values vary and clocks reached with Kepler Boost.
> May want to set up a fan profile. 1C-1% example 50C - 50% fan speed. Mine is more aggressive benching.


All done temps have been no issue hot as i get is 62c ish.. im at 127% power +87 on core and +700 on the mem


----------



## twitchyzero

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Also, if you swap the better performing card to the first slot in your SLI-array, then you will see a small performance boost too (less than 1%).
> Yes, that's exactly what you'll need to do.
> ... Did you check the graphs to see if you're indeed being throttled?


First slot assuming the lane closest to the CPU?

What would it look like on the graph if I was throttled by the power at 100-115% when power slider is maxed at 145%? I merely suggested that because the temps were fine but it was unstable.

BTW thanks for suggesting me to loop heaven for 2 hours to test for stability...I thought about it but it sound like it defeated the purpose of your 30 minute guide









So If I should test for stability for 2 hours...what's to say that let's say I follow the quick guide, find a close to max GPU clock then starting playing around with the mem and find it crashing often...how would one pinpoint the error to the new slight memory offset or the close to max GPU offset if they do not let the close to max GPU offset run in loop for hours? I mean it seems like it would be a prerequisite to confirm for stability for GPU offset before playing with mem offset (if I read the quick guide correctly it only says to do a 7 min heaven loops for each adjustment)


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *twitchyzero*
> 
> First slot assuming the lane closest to the CPU?


Yup.
Quote:


> What would it look like on the graph if I was throttled by the power at 100-115% when power slider is maxed at 145%? I merely suggested that because the temps were fine but it was unstable.
> BTW thanks for suggesting me to loop heaven for 2 hours to test for stability...I thought about it but it sound like it defeated the purpose of your 30 minute guide
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So If I should test for stability for 2 hours...what's to say that let's say I follow the quick guide, find a close to max GPU clock then starting playing around with the mem and find it crashing often...how would one pinpoint the error to the new slight memory offset or the close to max GPU offset if they do not let the close to max GPU offset run in loop for hours? I mean it seems like it would be a prerequisite to confirm for stability for GPU offset before playing with mem offset (if I read the quick guide correctly it only says to do a 7 min heaven loops for each adjustment)


This is exactly correct, and the reason the long guide exists. In 99% of cases, you can resolve a crash by just reducing the GPU offset and in 99% of cases you can fix artifacts by reducing the memory offset. That's why i mention this in the last step of the short guide:
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> If you crash in any of these tests, then reduce your core offset by 2 until you stop crashing
> If you see artifacts, then reduce your memory offset by 5 until you stop seeing artifacts


In the spirit of keeping the short method actually _short_, this is the best suggestion i can make as it holds true to almost every single 670; It also allows someone the majority of people to skip the 2 hour long heaven runs.


----------



## Arizonian

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Do you have any examples of where this worked for other people without causing a throttle? When i tested this out, all that happened was I'd get throttled by power (which would then dynamically reduce my overclock), only making my unstable overclock stable because it was actually reducing my overclock. For example, if i was at 1300MHz with a +150MHz offset (unstable) and then reduced the power-target a bit, it would stabilize my overclock but only because i was getting throttled down to ~1250Mhz (though my offset was still set at 150). I found i could get more performance by just keeping the power target maxed and then manually reducing my overclock a bit. So instead of being at 1300MHz and 105% power target, i would set it at 1275MHz and 121% power target (this resulted in a performance increase). I have a hunch that in less-demanding applications (that don't tap out the power-draw causing a power-related throttle) that you might still be unstable without that throttle happening. So manually reducing your overclock would not only result in more performance in most cases but would also eliminate the possibility of instability when that power-related throttle doesn't happen.
> This is just what I've observed with my own 670 anyways, things might be different for other people's 670s. If reducing the power target does indeed result in stability and increased performance for other people, I'll be sure to update the guide to reflect this new information.


First, great thread for discussion on 670's over clocking. A lot of great info.









I don't have a 670, own a 680. Over clocking Kepler is similar across the series it seems from what I've been reading. I suggested to lower the power target as I've found I still max 1.175v whether PT offset was +135 or +125 on my 690. It did play a small role in lowering Kepler boost enough to maintain stability without lower the base Core over clock.

See for me with max Power Target I'd get GPU #1 1189 GPU #2 1214 but instability would occur when maxed for a length of time. Lowered PT down and now stable @ GPU #1 1175 & GPU 1201. When I did back down Core and kept PT maxed I only found it to decreased my Heaven & 3DMark11 bench scores. So it actually didn't improve performance to keep PT maxed with lower Core clock.

In short, main goal is to get highest over clock before hitting the magic 70C temp that will throttle the card 13 MHz Core clocks. It can be a balancing act between offsets for optimal results.

Thought Hokies83 could try that just to see if in fact it did give him stability. At that point some testing / trials on lowering Core while keeping Power Target maxed vs lowering power target with higher core gives better results. I found it to be the latter for my 24/7 over clock.

I know experiences and approaches can vary on over clocking Kepler. Seems there are in deed some variance between vendors.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Arizonian*
> 
> First, great thread for discussion on 670's over clocking. A lot of great info.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't have a 670, own a 680. Over clocking Kepler is similar across the series it seems from what I've been reading. I suggested to lower the power target as I've found I still max 1.175v whether PT offset was +135 or +125 on my 690. It did play a small role in lowering Kepler boost enough to maintain stability without lower the base Core over clock.
> See for me with max Power Target I'd get GPU #1 1189 GPU #2 1214 but instability would occur when maxed for a length of time. Lowered PT down and now stable @ GPU #1 1175 & GPU 1201. When I did back down Core and kept PT maxed I only found it to decreased my Heaven & 3DMark11 bench scores. So it actually didn't improve performance to keep PT maxed with lower Core clock.
> In short, main goal is to get highest over clock before hitting the magic 70C temp that will throttle the card 13 MHz Core clocks. It can be a balancing act between offsets for optimal results.
> Thought Hokies83 could try that just to see if in fact it did give him stability. At that point some testing / trials on lowering Core while keeping Power Target maxed vs lowering power target with higher core gives better results. I found it to be the latter for my 24/7 over clock.
> I know experiences and approaches can vary on over clocking Kepler. Seems there are in deed some variance between vendors.


Thanks for sharing your experience. I'll be sure to add your advice to lower the power target as a way to troubleshoot an unstable overclock in the troubleshooting section of the guide.

I think i perhaps misinterpreted what you meant in your your previous post. I thought you meant to leave the core offset alone and only reduce the power target as a way to regain stability (which as i described above, would only make the overclock stable because of the power-related throttle that occurs). I didn't know you meant to reduce both the offset and power target in tandem, which makes a lot more sense, and also wouldn't have the problem i described above as my 'hunch'.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Arizonian*
> 
> See for me with max Power Target I'd get GPU #1 1189 GPU #2 1214 but instability would occur when maxed for a length of time. Lowered PT down and now stable @ GPU #1 1175 & GPU 1201. When I did back down Core and kept PT maxed I only found it to decreased my Heaven & 3DMark11 bench scores. So it actually didn't improve performance to keep PT maxed with lower Core clock.


I'm really curious why your scores actually improved by reducing the power target. At least on paper, it shouldn't increase performance by reducing it. The only way i can see how reducing the power target would improve performance is if you're flirting with the 70C throttle-threshold and the PT reduction would then keep you under 70C. For example, if you're at 1175MHz with the PT maxed out and your GPU is hitting 71C during the benchmark because of the slightly increased power draw (and then being throttled down to 1162), then by reducing the PT a bit, you might be able to keep the GPU under 70C at all times and not get throttled (so you'll run at 1175MHz the entire bench run). Just for the sake of my own understanding, do you mind doing two heaven bench runs (one with PT maxed, one with your current PT) and then post the graphs so i can see temperature, power percent, and core clock, as well as what you scored in Heaven for each run?


----------



## Arizonian

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> I'm really curious why your scores actually improved by reducing the power target. At least on paper, it shouldn't increase performance by reducing it. The only way i can see how reducing the power target would improve performance is if you're flirting with the 70C throttle-threshold and the PT reduction would then keep you under 70C. For example, if you're at 1175MHz with the PT maxed out and your GPU is hitting 71C during the benchmark because of the slightly increased power draw (and then being throttled down to 1162), then by reducing the PT a bit, you might be able to keep the GPU under 70C at all times and not get throttled (so you'll run at 1175MHz the entire bench run). Just for the sake of my own understanding, do you mind doing two heaven bench runs (one with PT maxed, one with your current PT) and then post the graphs so i can see temperature, power percent, and core clock, as well as what you scored in Heaven for each run?


Keep in mind the scores showing are not my top score as my system isn't optimized for benching ATM. I scored 110 FPS top score.

Well learned two things - I'm not at that happy temperature place after all because secondly, GPU-Z dosen't take accurate temps I'm finding. I ran it along side of Precision and got two different results. Hence why I was under the assumption according to GPU-Z my temps were well below 70C as you can see from the screen shots. Here are my results with Power Target as you wanted for confirmation in relation to scoring.

+125 PT / +132 Core / +183 Memory = KB 1177 & 1202 MHz Core = Heaven 103.5 = Precision 75C & 74C GPU-Z 58C & 59C


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!









+135 PT / +129 Core / +183 Memory = KB 1175 & 1201 MHz Core = Heaven 105.6 = 75C & 74 C


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!









+125 PT / +129 Core / +183 Memory = KB 1175 & 1201 MHz Core = Heaven 106.0 = 75C & 74C


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Arizonian*
> 
> Keep in mind the scores showing are not my top score as my system isn't optimized for benching ATM. I scored 110 FPS top score.
> Well learned two things - I'm not at that happy temperature place after all because secondly, GPU-Z dosen't take accurate temps I'm finding. I ran it along side of Precision and got two different results. Hence why I was under the assumption according to GPU-Z my temps were well below 70C as you can see from the screen shots. Here are my results with Power Target as you wanted for confirmation in relation to scoring.


First, I'd just like to thank you for providing this information. It will go a long way in helping our understanding of why some people might see a performance increase by reducing the power target.
Quote:


> +125 PT / +132 Core / +183 Memory = KB 1177 & 1202 MHz Core = Heaven 103.5 = Precision 75C & 74C GPU-Z 58C & 59C
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


GPU1 is being throttled by what looks like 13MHz for the entire first half of the bench. It's interesting that you saw a 13MHz increase during the second half despite temperatures remaining well over 70C. This, combined with the fact that the power percent also dropped for the second half, leads me to believe the initial throttle was because of power and not temperature. Maybe GPU-Z is actually displaying a correct temperature after-all and its precision-X that's incorrect? The fact that GPU2 doesn't get throttled once the entire run despite going over, and remaining over, 70C the entire run definitely supports this theory.
Quote:


> +135 PT / +129 Core / +183 Memory = KB 1175 & 1201 MHz Core = Heaven 105.6 = 75C & 74 C
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


Here GPU1 is being throttled by ~13MHz for the majority of the benchmark. I'm actually somewhat surprised this run produced a higher score than the first test despite running at, what appears to be, a lower average core clock. One thing that's interesting here is the core voltage dropped from 1.175v to 1.162v for the majority of the bench run. This didn't happen in either of the other tests. Do you have the voltage slider maxed out to 1.175v in precision-X? If not, it would be interesting to see this test re-run with the voltage slider maxed out.
Quote:


> +125 PT / +129 Core / +183 Memory = KB 1175 & 1201 MHz Core = Heaven 106.0 = 75C & 74C
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


Here GPU1 isn't being throttled at all, so it's not surprising at all why this test produced the highest score. However, i still don't understand why reducing the power target actually removed, what appears to be, a power-related throttle in the +135PT test. Again, as observed in the first two bench runs but with GPU2, GPU1 isn't being throttled at all despite going over 70C. This either means precision-X is inaccurately reporting temperatures or your GPU throttles at a higher temperature than 70C. I've found that my Asus 670 doesn't throttle until 79C and then again a second time at 80C. This might be the case for your 690 too. Further tests would be needed to confirm either theory. Another interesting observation is that your power usage went up to 113% in this test (it was only 111% and 110% in the first two respectively) even though you reduced the power target.

If you'd like to run a test to find your exact thermal throttle point, i wrote a short guide on how to do that here. You can find my results from that test here and here, so as you can see, not all kepler's throttle at 70C.


----------



## Hokies83

Hmm working out a trade + cash on a Gtx 690... Im kinda scared of it as seeing how hard my 590s were to sell.. but.. they did do a great job on the 690 where the 590 had it's issues...


----------



## Carcin0Genic

Hi guys, long time reader first time poster.
Im having a few problems overclocking my evga 670 FTW. I have been trying to do it as per instruction in your quick method, and this is the problem i am having.

With everything at default this is what im getting.

Click to view full size!

But as soon as i increase only the power target and voltage to max, I get this.


Click to view full size!

Is there something i am doing wrong or have i missed something?
Any and all help will be much appreciated and keep up the good work.

Edit: More info and screenies in the next hour, as soon as i have finished dinner. It looks like volts are hurting my OC, but PT does help. I am very new to this.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Carcin0Genic*
> 
> Hi guys, long time reader first time poster.
> Im having a few problems overclocking my evga 670 FTW. I have been trying to do it as per instruction in your quick method, and this is the problem i am having.
> With everything at default this is what im getting.
> 
> But as soon as i increase only the power target and voltage to max, I get this.
> 
> Is there something i am doing wrong or have i missed something?
> Any and all help will be much appreciated and keep up the good work.
> Edit: More info and screenies in the next hour, as soon as i have finished dinner. It looks like volts are hurting my OC, but PT does help. I am very new to this.


There was no driver crash or anything? It kind of looks like your GPU's reverting to 2D clocks or something.


----------



## Carcin0Genic

Nope no driver crashes. Will edit this post in 10 minutes with more info.
Ok here we go

145%PT 1.175V +80CC Heaven= 789

Click to view full size!
So here i have droped PT and V
130%PT 1.15V +80CC Heaven= 842

Click to view full size!
And another V drop
130%PT 1.125V +80CC Heaven= 898

Click to view full size!
And another V drop
130%PT 1.10V +80CC Heaven= 949

Click to view full size!
Increase of PT
145%PT 1.10V +80CC Heaven= 951

Click to view full size!
Another V drop
145%PT 1.075V +80CC Heaven= 1011

Click to view full size!
Another V drop
145%PT 1.05V +80CC Heaven= 1050

Click to view full size!
Again a V drop
145%PT 1.025V +80CC Heaven= 1075

Click to view full size!

Thats basically where im at at the moment. So yeah to me it looks like Volts are definatly affecting my OC. Notice in the last 2 tests the score only increased my 25 points? Maybe im getting close and im starting to think you definatly need the right volts for the right OC, or at least in my case. This is the first time i have OCed a gpu, and OCed my first cpu just yesterday. So, What do ya think?
And my apologies about the wall of screenies.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Carcin0Genic*
> 
> Nope no driver crashes. Will edit this post in 10 minutes with more info.
> Ok here we go
> 145%PT 1.175V +80CC Heaven= 789
> 
> So here i have droped PT and V
> 130%PT 1.15V +80CC Heaven= 842
> 
> And another V drop
> 130%PT 1.125V +80CC Heaven= 898
> 
> And another V drop
> 130%PT 1.10V +80CC Heaven= 949
> 
> Increase of PT
> 145%PT 1.10V +80CC Heaven= 951
> 
> Another V drop
> 145%PT 1.075V +80CC Heaven= 1011
> 
> Another V drop
> 145%PT 1.05V +80CC Heaven= 1050
> 
> Again a V drop
> 145%PT 1.025V +80CC Heaven= 1075
> 
> Thats basically where im at at the moment. So yeah to me it looks like Volts are definatly affecting my OC. Notice in the last 2 tests the score only increased my 25 points? Maybe im getting close and im starting to think you definatly need the right volts for the right OC, or at least in my case. This is the first time i have OCed a gpu, and OCed my first cpu just yesterday. So, What do ya think?
> And my apologies about the wall of screenies.


Interesting. This isn't my first time overclocking, but I never thought extra voltage would hurt a GPU OC (asides from the usual problems of high temperature or too high of a voltage).

I guess you really do have to play around with the settings more, even fiddling around with stuff like lowering voltages just to make your GPU stable. I believe Arizonian (a couple posts back) had this same problem too. He posted in the same thread as this one.


----------



## Carcin0Genic

Yeah it does seem to be a very similar problem, and the way i read it is they believe its the PT whereas for me it is voltage.
I only just realised this isnt an Australian forum lol. Must be pretty early in the morning for you guys ay? Well if i just taught an experienced OCer something that would make me a happy man. Hopefully Arizonian and SeanPoe would have learnt from this too. Will update some more of what i have found when there is enough info. Just benchmarked at 1.00V and got 1110 in heaven. So will start increasing CC until i get a suitable clock then will start playing with voltages again. Lets wait and see.
Hopefully i will post up more tonight, (its 10pm here) but if not will definatly share more tomorrow night.

Ok something is really not right here. I had just posted all this following with pics only to realise after i restart my comp i forgot to set the PT at 145% so i went back and removed the pics from the host. Yeah stupid mistake i know. So the text is now edited to reflect this. And is definatly worth reading considering the TP was 45% lower than it should have been.

Here we have
100%PT 1.00V +80CC Heaven= 1110

So from there, i went to +95CC (driver crash) to +92CC (very bad/strange score 1st run, driver crash 2nd run) and ended up at
100%PT 1.00V +90CC Heaven= 1110. Same score as +80CC EXCEPT one of the lowest min fps, and the highest max fps, and the average was the same. I found that quite strange.

So, what happens now if we nudge the volts back to 1.025? This...
100%PT 1.025V +90CC Heaven= 1072 So we lost 28 points!

Ok ya wanna play that game huh, lets take it down to 0.975. Which happens to be the lowest she will go.
100%PT 0.975V +90CC Heaven= 1115. A 5 point jump from 1.00V

And this is where it gets really strange. After i realised my mistake i set everything back to what its was meant to be (145%TP 1.00V +90CC), and guess what? Driver crash. Ok i thought, resets computer, sets everything up again, driver crash again. Ok. What the frick is happening. The only thing i know right now is im tired as all hell and have to work in the morning. When i knock off from work tomorrow this will be my top priority. Expect to hear from me again soon!


----------



## bigal1542

Wait, so how many of you guys are getting better performance at below max power target or below max voltage?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Carcin0Genic*
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah it does seem to be a very similar problem, and the way i read it is they believe its the PT whereas for me it is voltage.
> I only just realised this isnt an Australian forum lol. Must be pretty early in the morning for you guys ay? Well if i just taught an experienced OCer something that would make me a happy man. Hopefully Arizonian and SeanPoe would have learnt from this too. Will update some more of what i have found when there is enough info. Just benchmarked at 1.00V and got 1110 in heaven. So will start increasing CC until i get a suitable clock then will start playing with voltages again. Lets wait and see.
> Hopefully i will post up more tonight, (its 10pm here) but if not will definatly share more tomorrow night.
> Ok something is really not right here. I had just posted all this following with pics only to realise after i restart my comp i forgot to set the PT at 145% so i went back and removed the pics from the host. Yeah stupid mistake i know. So the text is now edited to reflect this. And is definatly worth reading considering the TP was 45% lower than it should have been.
> Here we have
> 100%PT 1.00V +80CC Heaven= 1110
> So from there, i went to +95CC (driver crash) to +92CC (very bad/strange score 1st run, driver crash 2nd run) and ended up at
> 100%PT 1.00V +90CC Heaven= 1110. Same score as +80CC EXCEPT one of the lowest min fps, and the highest max fps, and the average was the same. I found that quite strange.
> So, what happens now if we nudge the volts back to 1.025? This...
> 
> 
> 100%PT 1.025V +90CC Heaven= 1072 So we lost 28 points!


The reason you lost points here is because by increasing the voltage you also increased the power draw slightly, which would put you over your set power target causing a GPU throttle. You would need to increase the PT and the voltage together to avoid this. Try 115% PT and 1.025V +90CC and see what you get.
Quote:


> Ok ya wanna play that game huh, lets take it down to 0.975. Which happens to be the lowest she will go.
> 100%PT 0.975V +90CC Heaven= 1115. A 5 point jump from 1.00V


This is the opposite of what i just described above. By lowering the voltage you also decreased the power draw slightly which then prevented a power-related throttle.
Quote:


> And this is where it gets really strange. After i realised my mistake i set everything back to what its was meant to be (145%TP 1.00V +90CC), and guess what? Driver crash. Ok i thought, resets computer, sets everything up again, driver crash again. Ok. What the frick is happening. The only thing i know right now is im tired as all hell and have to work in the morning. When i knock off from work tomorrow this will be my top priority. Expect to hear from me again soon!


Try 145% PT, *1.175V*, +89CC. I'm not sure why you're being so reluctant to try maxing out the voltage slider. If that crashes, then try 122% PT, 1.175V and +89CC. This would be a nice test to apply what i learned from Arizonian.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> Wait, so how many of you guys are getting better performance at below max power target?


I've honestly only seen Arizonian and Carcin0Genic getting better performance at a lower power target. That's why i've always just recommended to max it out (because, at least on paper, I'm not sure why exactly reducing it would lead to a performance increase). I'll recommend everyone at least try reducing their power target to see what happens from now on.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Carcin0Genic*
> 
> Nope no driver crashes. Will edit this post in 10 minutes with more info.
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> Ok here we go
> 145%PT 1.175V +80CC Heaven= 789
> 
> Click to view full size!
> So here i have droped PT and V
> 130%PT 1.15V +80CC Heaven= 842
> 
> Click to view full size!
> And another V drop
> 130%PT 1.125V +80CC Heaven= 898
> 
> Click to view full size!
> And another V drop
> 130%PT 1.10V +80CC Heaven= 949
> 
> Click to view full size!
> Increase of PT
> 145%PT 1.10V +80CC Heaven= 951
> 
> Click to view full size!
> Another V drop
> 145%PT 1.075V +80CC Heaven= 1011
> 
> Click to view full size!
> Another V drop
> 145%PT 1.05V +80CC Heaven= 1050
> 
> Click to view full size!
> Again a V drop
> 145%PT 1.025V +80CC Heaven= 1075
> 
> Click to view full size!
> 
> 
> Thats basically where im at at the moment. So yeah to me it looks like Volts are definatly affecting my OC. Notice in the last 2 tests the score only increased my 25 points? Maybe im getting close and im starting to think you definatly need the right volts for the right OC, or at least in my case. This is the first time i have OCed a gpu, and OCed my first cpu just yesterday. So, What do ya think?
> And my apologies about the wall of screenies.


I hate to say this, but i'm quite certain that at least the first 5 tests are bugged. You should never be getting an average FPS under around 40, even at stock speeds. This indicates that Heaven is running in 2d mode instead of 3d mode. Like I've said before, i have no idea why this happens, but it seems to happen 1 out of 30 runs and then the only way to fix it is to restart your computer. What i usually do is watch the average FPS down in the bottom-right corner, and if it doesn't break 40 fps by the end of the second area of the benchmark, i just assume it's bugged.

I'd say restart your computer and then run Heaven again with the same settings as the first test (145%PT 1.175V +80CC) and then post the graphs so i can look at them.


----------



## Carcin0Genic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Try 115% PT and 1.025V +90CC and see what you get.


Heaven = 1064

Click to view full size!
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Try 145% PT, *1.175V*, +89CC. I'm not sure why you're being so reluctant to try maxing out the voltage slider.


Heaven = 769

Click to view full size!

And i wouldnt say im reluctant to increase voltage, just that from what i can see volts are hurting my OC.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> If that crashes, then try 122% PT, 1.175V and +89CC. This would be a nice test to apply what i learned from Arizonian.


Heaven = 775

Click to view full size!

Then tried 122% 1.10V +89C
Heaven = 942

Click to view full size!

Then 145% 1.10V +89C
Heaven = 940

Click to view full size!

In between EVERY run was a full restart to avoid any 'bugs' in Heaven.
Will post update this post soon with the 145% 1.175V +80C you requested, but internet has been capped so uploading is going really slow.
Ok so restart was done, as i am now doing between all runs. Lol i think my computer is starting to hate me.
145%PT 1.175V +80C

Click to view full size!

So what do you think? The best run i have had so far was 100%PT at 0.975V And +90C. I have repeated this test after a restart and got the same score as last time (Heaven = 1113)

Click to view full size!


----------



## Dart06

Currently overclocking my reference EVGA 670.

Temps have always been at 60-61C since I started.
1275MHz Gpu clock
1677 memory clock

Will get closer to my max overclock on it tomorrow.

One question that I hope someone can answer for me so I know when I wake up. If I don't crash on Heaven but do on BF3 after playing for around 5-10 minutes, could memory being low in comparison to my GPU clock be part of the problem? I didn't see artifacts or anything when doing the memory part of the overclock guide but I want to keep as much performance as possible fps-wise. I should probably tinker with the memory tomorrow since my core clock is definitely stable.


----------



## thegh0sts

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dart06*
> 
> Currently overclocking my reference EVGA 670.
> Temps have always been at 60-61C since I started.
> 1275MHz Gpu clock
> 1677 memory clock
> Will get closer to my max overclock on it tomorrow.
> One question that I hope someone can answer for me so I know when I wake up. If I don't crash on Heaven but do on BF3 after playing for around 5-10 minutes, could memory being low in comparison to my GPU clock be part of the problem? I didn't see artifacts or anything when doing the memory part of the overclock guide but I want to keep as much performance as possible fps-wise. I should probably tinker with the memory tomorrow since my core clock is definitely stable.


i did what drboss said: let the heaven bench run in looped mode and see how long it can last for without crashing. if the clocks crash: reboot, lower the core clock, and test again to see if it stays on longer. keep doing this till it can last a few good 2+ hours.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> Heaven = 1064
> 
> Click to view full size!
> Heaven = 769
> 
> Click to view full size!
> And i wouldnt say im reluctant to increase voltage, just that from what i can see volts are hurting my OC.
> Heaven = 775
> 
> Click to view full size!
> Then tried 122% 1.10V +89C
> Heaven = 942
> 
> Click to view full size!
> Then 145% 1.10V +89C
> Heaven = 940
> 
> Click to view full size!
> In between EVERY run was a full restart to avoid any 'bugs' in Heaven.
> Will post update this post soon with the 145% 1.175V +80C you requested, but internet has been capped so uploading is going really slow.
> Ok so restart was done, as i am now doing between all runs. Lol i think my computer is starting to hate me.
> 145%PT 1.175V +80C
> 
> Click to view full size!
> So what do you think? The best run i have had so far was 100%PT at 0.975V And +90C. I have repeated this test after a restart and got the same score as last time (Heaven = 1113)
> 
> Click to view full size!


Something strange is definitely happening with your card. Because you restarted in-between tests, it's safe to say it was _not_ Heaven that was bugged. However, as you can see in the graphs, your GPU core clock is all over the place. For example, even in your best run, the core clock is spiking up and down continuously throughout the run (when it should be constantly at your maximum boost). In your worst run in the first screenshot, your GPU is running at around 300-600MHz the entire run. I'd be shocked if that type of throttle (1000-700Mhz throttle, 1300Mhz to 300-600Mhz) is purely power-related (it could be, but that would indicate you have a dud card). I want to say that your card is having trouble switching to 3d mode or coming out of a power-saving state, but i don't know how to test for that. Consider private messaging BrettJV and asking him what he thinks of all this (ask him to post in this thread too please, i want to see what he has to say).


----------



## skyn3t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> i did what drboss said: let the heaven bench run in looped mode and see how long it can last for without crashing. if the clocks crash: reboot, lower the core clock, and test again to see if it stays on longer. keep doing this till it can last a few good 2+ hours.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> [/SPOILER]
> Something strange is definitely happening with your card. Because you restarted in-between tests, it's safe to say it was _not_ Heaven that was bugged. However, as you can see in the graphs, your GPU core clock is all over the place. For example, even in your best run, the core clock is spiking up and down continuously throughout the run (when it should be constantly at your maximum boost). In your worst run in the first screenshot, your GPU is running at around 300-600MHz the entire run. I'd be shocked if that type of throttle (1000-700Mhz throttle, 1300Mhz to 300-600Mhz) is purely power-related (it could be, but that would indicate you have a dud card). I want to say that your card is having trouble switching to 3d mode or coming out of a power-saving state, but i don't know how to test for that. Consider private messaging BrettJV and asking him what he thinks of all this (ask him to post in this thread too please, i want to see what he has to say).


This is for everyone.

Why Heaven crashes on high OC sometimes it happen in low OC too and 3DMark is stable in all my high OC and low OC? I had try Heaven on all my OC settings and it still crashes I cannot get any high score in heaven like it supposed to be and the same OC on 3DMark are so smooth.3DMark are very stable in all my settings and Heaven won't like it at all.I did try all you can think of , New Heaven Download, windows installation with stock drivers only an so on and Heaven pisses me off.
all my 3DMark benchs, I'm kinda lazy now to post all links but here A'm.




Top Card


This is my 15k on 3DMark that never pass Heaven

To me looks like Heaven are not optmized like 3DMark for High OC. my2cents


----------



## twitchyzero

Should power draw stay near 100% when running full load on Heaven? Even if I loop it for 2 hours?
I noticed TDP drops to 80-90% and it kills fps/heaven score (this is without alt-tabing so it cant be stuck in 2D mode)

Also, are there any advantages of lowering voltage to 1.162? I see some people with crazy but stable overclock dont always have it maxed out at 1.175.

both my FTW are around the 1275-1283 GPU MBF/ 1880-1900 Mem...but still need to ensure long term stability.

Also, is it still accurate if i loop Heaven but have my monitor off? Yes right?

And artifacts appearing = overclock is detrimental to the card? Or will it not affect the card's lifespan?


----------



## Dart06

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thegh0sts*
> 
> i did what drboss said: let the heaven bench run in looped mode and see how long it can last for without crashing. if the clocks crash: reboot, lower the core clock, and test again to see if it stays on longer. keep doing this till it can last a few good 2+ hours.


My problem is that I can get Heaven to bench just fine, but when I play BF3, after about 5 minutes or less of playing, the game crashes. Heaven has been fine.


----------



## Spudinske

I've got to the part where I need to combine the two maximums. My stable core boost is 129 and my memory is 725. When I put them together I get no crash but get artifacts but the guide says increase the core by one and decrease the memory by 5. But then next the guide says don't increase the core higher than one mhz lower than the max core. Bit confused.

But then I also try decreasing the core by one and memory by 5 together. I have gotten all the way down to 120 core and 680 memory. Am I supposed to going that far down?


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Can't seem to get my MSI power edition over 1230Mhz Core Clock (+75) and 6552 Mhz Memory Clock (+270)

Running at 1.175V and 114% Power Target (Can't go higher?)

Could I be doing anything wrong or is this my max OC?


----------



## omega4

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> Can't seem to get my MSI power edition over 1230Mhz Core Clock (+75) and 6552 Mhz Memory Clock (+270)
> Running at 1.175V and 114% Power Target (Can't go higher?)
> Could I be doing anything wrong or is this my max OC?


Sounds like that is your max stable OC.

Such is life in the "silicon lottery".


----------



## omega4

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Spudinske*
> 
> I've got to the part where I need to combine the two maximums. My stable core boost is 129 and my memory is 725. When I put them together I get no crash but get artifacts but the guide says increase the core by one and decrease the memory by 5. But then next the guide says don't increase the core higher than one mhz lower than the max core. Bit confused.
> But then I also try decreasing the core by one and memory by 5 together. I have gotten all the way down to 120 core and 680 memory. Am I supposed to going that far down?


The guide is basically trying to tell you that finding your maximum core and memory offsets is a bit of an iterative process, but in a systematic manner.

Everything is a tradeoff between core and memory.

If you decrease your core by a certain amount (e.g. 1) then it MAY allow you to increase your memory by a certain amount (e.g. 5) and vice versa (i.e. reduce your memory offset so that you may increase your core offset).


----------



## Carcin0Genic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> Can't seem to get my MSI power edition over 1230Mhz Core Clock (+75) and 6552 Mhz Memory Clock (+270)
> Running at 1.175V and 114% Power Target (Can't go higher?)
> Could I be doing anything wrong or is this my max OC?


But just for a fun party trick







Try reducing your voltage to 1.150 and reducing your PT to 107%
Let us know if it makes it better or worse please.
Please don't flame me for asking that either, the more experimentation that gets done, the better off we all are, if it makes it worse then put it straight back to what it was!

P.s. PM has been sent, and have also sent a quite detailed email to EVGA Support. Hopefully someone will know whats going on.


----------



## brettjv

Okay, I've looked over the issue ... your card is definitely behaving very abnormally. Your card is not properly engaging up to full-power 3d like it should. My OC'd card runs at 1337 core clock the entire time when I run that test.

What happens if you restart, and just do a totally stock run (hit 'reset' in Precision, don't touch the voltage tuner), and max out the fan speed. Post a screenie of that. I would also grab the latest version of Precision, and I'd recommend safe-mode driver sweep, and re-installation of the latest WHQL drivers before doing the run. I'm particularly interested in seeing what the core clock does at stock.


----------



## Spudinske

Well i didn't get any artifacts this morning but i haven't tried the combo in games yet. I will in just a sec but my scores are:

Heaven settings
Resolution: 1920x1080
Tesselation: Extreme
Shaders: High
Anisotropy: 4x (should have used 16x but o well)
AA: 4x
Full screen

Stock 1150/3005
Average fps: 56.7
Low: 30.0
High: 147.4

Overclocked 1278/3703
Average fps: 65.0
Low: 31.4
High:168.8

Hmm do these figures seem right? Some guys in here i see with like 2000+ scores...Im using i5-3570k @ 4.53 btw. Oh and great guide!


----------



## General123

Guys im having a big of a problem.
My card will only run at (for ex) 1273 with no extra boost, the whole time in heaven, until stage 10 and past(The dragon) I boost up again at the dragon but then I found out another problem. If i where to set my gpu at +130(1280) it will only stay at 1280 and It wont go over 1280, not stability wise, clock wise. It just stay at 1280 non stop even if i increase it to something like +200, still 1280.. Im guessing the next WHQL will fix this I hope.


----------



## Carcin0Genic

Okay, so after i finally figured out how to boot into safe mode(lol yeah never done that before) i did the driver sweep(never dont that before either). Did a clean reinstall of the WHQL drivers. Removed precision x, and installed latest version. Did a full stock run with fan locked at 80%. And this is what i got.

Click to view full size!
Hmmm. I was really hoping that would fix it.


----------



## skyn3t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> Okay, I've looked over the issue ... your card is definitely behaving very abnormally. Your card is not properly engaging up to full-power 3d like it should. My OC'd card runs at 1337 core clock the entire time when I run that test.
> What happens if you restart, and just do a totally stock run (hit 'reset' in Precision, don't touch the voltage tuner), and max out the fan speed. Post a screenie of that. I would also grab the latest version of Precision, and I'd recommend safe-mode driver sweep, and re-installation of the latest WHQL drivers before doing the run. I'm particularly interested in seeing what the core clock does at stock.


well since I start reading I'm sad instead then happy not only myself but for a lot of members here with the same issue i had a bit time today ( because last night i had to sleep in my couch







FTS )
let's get back to business. Now let's take a good look in the Graphic monitor GPU-1 and GPU-2 I did run all those bench's @stock Clock's

GPU-1 Stock clock 1006MHz
GPU-1 Boost to 1215MHz @ 1.162v / Gain 209MHz
GPU-2 Top OC 1350MHz @ 1.175v / Gain 135MHz + Boost Clock
The Graphic Drop in the END is after the bench run




GPU-2 Stock clock 1006MHz
GPU-2 Boost to 1137MHz @ 1.175v - Gain 131MHz
GPU-2 Top OC 1242 @ 1.175v less - Gain 105MHz + Boost Clock
The Graphic Drop in the END is after the bench run
I'm behind, let's round it to 100MHz in all those bench same as gaming.
Heaven won't like this second card at all like some other games too because it does hold the second card so bad and sometimes crash for none pairing with the first card.




any input because I'm about to RMA this second card so bad.


----------



## skyn3t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Carcin0Genic*
> 
> Okay, so after i finally figured out how to boot into safe mode(lol yeah never done that before) i did the driver sweep(never dont that before either). Did a clean reinstall of the WHQL drivers. Removed precision x, and installed latest version. Did a full stock run with fan locked at 80%. And this is what i got.
> 
> Click to view full size!
> Hmmm. I was really hoping that would fix it.


can you fill this out Computer Info what is you top OC on this card? your GTX is a short PCB or FTW Version. My first card does 1215MHz stock and when i OC it goes 1350MHz


----------



## Carcin0Genic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyn3t*
> 
> can you fill this out Computer Info what is you top OC on this card? your GTX is a short PCB or FTW Version. My first card does 1215MHz stock and when i OC it goes 1350MHz


Done and done. Filled out the my rig thing but i can't see it in my sig. It is appearing in my profile though. Max OC can be found here
http://www.overclock.net/t/1265110/the-gtx-670-overclocking-master-guide/470#post_17756237

But basically, stock voltage and PT with a +90 Core. Heaven = 1113. Haven't started overlooking ram or pushing core as far as possible. Want to get my current issues sorted first.


----------



## Spudinske

I had to clock down quite a bit to be stable in BF3

Heaven settings
Resolution: 1920x1080
Tesselation: Extreme
Shaders: High
Anisotropy: 16x
AA: 8x
Full screen

Stock 1150/3005
Average fps: 44.8
Low: 22.7
High: 116.2

Overclocked 1258/3672
Average fps: 51.2
Low: 13.8
High:131.9

But then i realized after my first crash i didnt set the voltage to 1.175 and it was only running at 1.162 on load. If i turn it back to 1.175 does that mean i didnt have to lower my clocks this far?


----------



## seven87

After a few days of tweaking around with the clocks and verifying they were stable after a few hours of BF3, these are my scores with a GB 670 GTX OC with max OC clocks of 1189/3704 (+700 on the memory)


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Carcin0Genic*
> 
> But just for a fun party trick
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Try reducing your voltage to 1.150 and reducing your PT to 107%
> Let us know if it makes it better or worse please.
> Please don't flame me for asking that either, the more experimentation that gets done, the better off we all are, if it makes it worse then put it straight back to what it was!
> P.s. PM has been sent, and have also sent a quite detailed email to EVGA Support. Hopefully someone will know whats going on.


I wasn't able to turn the voltage down because no matter what I set it at, it goes to 1.175 in heaven anyway.

But, I was able to set the power target to 107, then to 100 and even 90%. The score every time was around 1340, and it didn't make me more stable because going up even 5 more core clock made me crash like before.

I guess this is possible because I never needed that much power drawn, I turned monitoring of power % and it doesn't ever go over 85%.


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Carcin0Genic*
> 
> Okay, so after i finally figured out how to boot into safe mode(lol yeah never done that before) i did the driver sweep(never dont that before either). Did a clean reinstall of the WHQL drivers. Removed precision x, and installed latest version. Did a full stock run with fan locked at 80%. And this is what i got.
> 
> Click to view full size!
> Hmmm. I was really hoping that would fix it.


I think it may be time to RMA, dude. The clock graphs look nothing like how they should running the Heaven bench ... the clocks should max out and stay that way the whole run, or very close to it, not be all up and down like that. I was hoping it was just an instability issue with your OC, or a driver problem, but I think you can rule those out now. The only other thing I can think to try is putting your card into a friends system to see if it runs right on theirs, or to try a full windows re-install. Frankly though I think the card probably has a problem. How does 3dMark11 do? Does that get you a steady, maxed out core clock profile?


----------



## Carcin0Genic

No 3dMark11 gives me the exact same thing. Battefield 3 it improves ever so slightly but nothing like what it should look like. Just recieved an email back from evga support and he either doesnt know **** or just doesnt care. Owell its my first week back at uni this week so i shouldn't be playiong games anyway. Will contact shop i bought from and sort out a RMA. Thanks for all the help guys, i will keep you posted.


----------



## twitchyzero

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *twitchyzero*
> 
> Are there any advantages of lowering voltage to 1.162? I see some people with crazy but stable overclock dont always have it maxed out at 1.175.
> Also, is it still accurate if i loop Heaven but have my monitor off? Yes right?
> And artifacts appearing = overclock is detrimental to the card? Or will it not affect the card's lifespan?


Hoping someone can answer my questions posed above.

I have spent too much time finetuning in SLI..so far managed to get them both running 1270MHz but still haven't found a stable memory offset yet...from what I can tell my setup runs best if it's perfectly symmetrical (ie. same GPU max boost/memory clocks). Long story short, it was pretty much a waste of time trying to finetune each card individually for me.

The FTW are pretty noisy under load overclocked since it's blower style and it doesn't even really run that cool...my top card goes up to 74% fan when it max out at 64C.

Also, how come the memory clock value in GPU-Z is different than what's reported in Precision X? It's almost nearly double but not surehow it's calculated...which value do most people on OCN usually report?

I have also noticed 3Dmark free edition doesn't even offer extreme preset (1080p)...so I am guessing it's useless.


----------



## Sunsetter

Well, I think I hit the wall with my setup: Gigabyte OC with the 3 fans...



As you see, I hit +135, with a core clock of 1299

memory I hit +650 with a memory total of 3649.

What do you guys think?


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sunsetter*
> 
> Well, I think I hit the wall with my setup: Gigabyte OC with the 3 fans...
> 
> As you see, I hit +135, with a core clock of 1299
> memory I hit +650 with a memory total of 3649.
> What do you guys think?


Wow I wish I could go that high


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sunsetter*
> 
> Well, I think I hit the wall with my setup: Gigabyte OC with the 3 fans...
> 
> As you see, I hit +135, with a core clock of 1299
> memory I hit +650 with a memory total of 3649.
> What do you guys think?


Nice card!


----------



## Sunsetter

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> Wow I wish I could go that high


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> Nice card!


Thank you! I bought it used off amazon.com, paid 360 shipped...

I came from Xfired 6870's...this thing is MUCH faster, and my xfire setup would run at 95C undervolted...this card doesn't break 62c in BF3.


----------



## skyn3t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sunsetter*
> 
> Well, I think I hit the wall with my setup: Gigabyte OC with the 3 fans...
> 
> As you see, I hit +135, with a core clock of 1299
> memory I hit +650 with a memory total of 3649.
> What do you guys think?


nice OC







. what about if you raise all the way PT and run it again


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyn3t*
> 
> nice OC
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . what about if you raise all the way PT and run it again


That is raised all the way, the max for the GB cards is 111%


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyn3t*
> 
> nice OC
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . what about if you raise all the way PT and run it again


doesnt really matter his Power % didnt look like it went over 80


----------



## Sunsetter

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyn3t*
> 
> nice OC
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . what about if you raise all the way PT and run it again


trying to figure out how to make a signature to list all of my specs!

Yea, gigabyte's power target is capped at 111%. I don't think having more would do much, this thing FLYS like it is!


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sunsetter*
> 
> trying to figure out how to make a signature to list all of my specs!
> Yea, gigabyte's power target is capped at 111%. I don't think having more would do much, this thing FLYS like it is!


Well I have seen games hit 120%-125% MAX on my card, not sure if it helps but it does not hurt


----------



## brettjv

Having a 8-pin + 6-pin connection, the Gigabyte OC cards are calibrated to a higher TDP value than the 2 x 6-pin connector cards. This is why they run a much lower power usage % on the same tests, and don't have as high a power target % ... It simply doesn't need a higher power target than 111%.

I've never hit 100% power usage even with a huge OC on my card. 93% is the highest I've ever seen.

And I get the exact same FPS in the Heaven bench with my power limit at 111%, 100%, and 85%.


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> The Gigabyte cards are calibrated to a higher TDP value than the 2 x 6-pin connector cards. This is why they run the much lower power usage % on the same tests, and don't have as high a power target % ... It simply doesn't need a higher power target than 111%.
> I've never hit 100% power usage even with a huge OC on my card. 93% is the highest I've ever seen.
> And I get the exact same FPS in the Heaven bench with my power limit at 111%, 100%, and 85%.


Wow i usually sit around 107 in BF3 and around 110 in heaven. Intresting, I didn't think it helped performance just thought it helped the card not get starved if it needs it(which it probably never will as we have no voltage control )


----------



## Spudinske

Lol yup. I just tried the dialing in the clocks with 1.175 voltage and all i had to do was decrease the gpu clock by 8 to finally be stable in bf3. Been playing for three hours now.

1270(+120)/3703(+700)
FPS: 51.9
Score: 1306
Low 24.9
High: 134.5


----------



## Sunsetter

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> Wow i usually sit around 107 in BF3 and around 110 in heaven. Intresting, I didn't think it helped performance just thought it helped the card not get starved if it needs it(which it probably never will as we have no voltage control )


At 1080P, I am sitting at 80% usage, ultra everything, adaptive Vsync included.


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sunsetter*
> 
> At 1080P, I am sitting at 80% usage, ultra everything, adaptive Vsync included.


Ah okay I see why - Vsync. I dont run it on my 120hz monitor.


----------



## Sunsetter

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> Ah okay I see why - Vsync. I dont run it on my 120hz monitor.


turned it off, and watched my frame-rate sky rocket...My usage stayed the same.


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sunsetter*
> 
> turned it off, and watched my frame-rate sky rocket...My usage stayed the same.


Oh well different cards with different phase systems and etc. My card likes to use power, im fine with that. lol


----------



## mboner1

alright, i must be mising something, all is well with the overclock, even if it didnt get as much as i had hoped out of it, but i have a problem with the custom fan profile , if i exit precision x the custom fan profile stops working, same story with msi afterburner, is there something i need to do for it to work with the programs closed, or do i need to open them every time i want to play a game for the fan profile to take affect??


----------



## emett

You have to leave precisionX running in the background, also make it load on startup.


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *testicles*
> 
> alright, i must be mising something, all is well with the overclock, even if it didnt get as much as i had hoped out of it, but i have a problem with the custom fan profile , if i exit precision x the custom fan profile stops working, same story with msi afterburner, is there something i need to do for it to work with the programs closed, or do i need to open them every time i want to play a game for the fan profile to take affect??


u need precision running for the fan curve to work, but not for the overclock to stay


----------



## atomicmew

Hi, I've been following the "Quick Overclocking" part of this guide. In step one, you say to temporarily max out voltage and power target, but you never make mention of it again. After maxing out the clock offsets, would it be worthwhile to bring these settings down? How do we determine how far we can bring them back down?


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> Wow i usually sit around 107 in BF3 and around 110 in heaven. Intresting, I didn't think it helped performance just thought it helped the card not get starved if it needs it(which it probably never will as we have no voltage control )


Not sure where you got that I was saying that 'it helped performance' ... in fact I'm not even sure what you mean by 'it'









But yeah, the GB cards end up with lower power usage % on the same tests, and with the 1.175V cap, none of the 670 models need any higher of a power target % than what they have available. It wouldn't help performance if they did.


----------



## mboner1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *trcvrs*
> 
> Hi, I've been following the "Quick Overclocking" part of this guide. In step one, you say to temporarily max out voltage and power target, but you never make mention of it again. After maxing out the clock offsets, would it be worthwhile to bring these settings down? How do we determine how far we can bring them back down?


was wondering the same thing myself, so i just left them at stock because i dont think its safe to max the voltage??


----------



## lacrossewacker

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *testicles*
> 
> was wondering the same thing myself, so i just left them at stock because i dont think its safe to max the voltage??


well you aren't really maxing anything. We can't really control the voltage like we could with the previous generations. Anything you can set your card to now is safe, though maybe not always stable.


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Wooot
Quote:


> MSI Afterburner Version 2.2.3 (2012/7/24)
> Revised I2C access API for NVIDIA 301.xx and newer display drivers
> Added core, memory and auxiliary PEXVDD voltage control for custom design MSI N680GTX Lightning series graphics cards with CHL8318+uP6262 voltage regulators
> Added memory and VRM temperature monitoring for custom design MSI N680GTX Lightning series graphics cards with NCT7718W thermal sensors
> Added core, memory and auxiliary PEXVDD voltage control for custom design MSI N670GTX Power Edition series graphics cards with uP6262 voltage regulators


Can someone teach me how to OC now using Memory Voltage and Aux Voltage?


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> Wooot
> Can someone teach me how to OC now using Memory Voltage and Aux Voltage?


Same as before but now you can hit much higher on your clocks with the voltages cranked up. is your voltage still locked at 1.175?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> Wooot
> Can someone teach me how to OC now using Memory Voltage and Aux Voltage?


That would mean you could overclock that gpu just like you would any other graphics card with unlocked voltage (i.e., increase the voltage to help stabilize an otherwise unstable core value) but you'll also have to monitor the GPU graphs to make sure you don't get throttled by power percent or temperature just like described in this guide.

I would say just follow the guide but instead of reducing the core value whenever you find it unstable, instead just increase the core voltage until it becomes stable (but without causing throttling or oscillation). For example, lets say +250 offset causes instability, instead of backing down to ~+245 to make it stable, instead increase the voltage slightly and keep bumping the voltage slightly until you become stable, then try +255 (etc) and just keep repeating the process of slightly increasing the voltage until either a voltage increase doesn't have an effect, your temperatures get too high (i'd say keep the temps under 79C which is right below the second throttle point, and only go over 70C if you net more than 13MHz to offset the thermal throttle), or you start to get throttling/oscillation from power usage (increasing voltage will increase power usage).


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> That would mean you could overclock that gpu just like you would any other graphics card with unlocked voltage (i.e., increase the voltage to help stabilize an otherwise unstable core value) but you'll also have to monitor the GPU graphs to make sure you don't get throttled by power percent or temperature just like described in this guide.
> I would say just follow the guide but instead of reducing the core value whenever you find it unstable, instead just increase the core voltage until it becomes stable (but without causing throttling or oscillation). For example, lets say +250 offset causes instability, instead of backing down to ~+245 to make it stable, instead increase the voltage slightly and keep bumping the voltage slightly until you become stable, then try +255 (etc) and just keep repeating the process of slightly increasing the voltage until either a voltage increase doesn't have an effect, your temperatures get too high (i'd say keep the temps under 79C which is right below the second throttle point, and only go over 70C if you net more than 13MHz to offset the thermal throttle), or you start to get throttling/oscillation from power usage (increasing voltage will increase power usage).


Found a stable one and reached 1405 score, one thing i noticed though is the core clock didn't stay consistent *(went from 1300-1320)* which by what i read in this guide seems like throttling, although it never went over *65C*.


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> Found a stable one and reached 1405 score, one thing i noticed though is the core clock didn't stay consistent *(went from 1300-1320)* which by what i read in this guide seems like throttling, although it never went over *65C*.


The same thing happens to me, I go around 1293-1313. I have no idea why. I hope drivers will fix it








Nice card though 1323!
EDIT: lol i just realized that both of our clocks are inconsistent by 20mhz.
Also your voltage doesnt go over 1.175







its true Nvidia did lock it
http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-gtx-680-lightning-voltage-tweaking/

Nvidia you greedy bastards.


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> The same thing happens to me, I go around 1293-1313. I have no idea why. I hope drivers will fix it
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice card though 1323!
> EDIT: lol i just realized that both of our clocks are inconsistent by 20mhz.


Yea I got it to 1337 ;_; (childish I know) and it ran until like test 20/26 on heaven...
Was soo excited but then it crashed









Edit: got a little higher score, bumping memory up to +415


Also, idk if it's just me but it seems to run smoother when my PT is lower, or closer to what its actually drawing, the measured Power % only gets to 104 and setting it at 110 looks smoother than the max 114.


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> Yea I got it to 1337 ;_; (childish I know) and it ran until like test 20/26 on heaven...
> Was soo excited but then it crashed
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Edit: got a little higher score, bumping memory up to +400


I just beat my high score I took the core down to 1283 and the memory up to 1860


----------



## Blam

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> Yea I got it to 1337 ;_; (childish I know) and it ran until like test 20/26 on heaven...
> Was soo excited but then it crashed


which drivers are you using? I could get through heaven benchmark at 1234MHz (+150 offset) using the WHQL drivers but with 304.79 beta it would fail around 20/26 like you. That could suggest my +150 with WHQL might not be stable and need to run couple hours heaven to be sure

@SeanPoe, thanks for the great guide.

Just one point. Maybe I've misread, but the second point of "Step 3: Fine Tuning your Memory Offset" doesnt look right. If you experience instability/artifacts shouldn't you be moving on to step 4 rather than repeating step 3 which increases offset with each iteration of the step?


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Blam*
> 
> which drivers are you using? I could get through heaven benchmark at 1234MHz (+150 offset) using the WHQL drivers but with 304.79 beta it would fail around 20/26 like you. That could suggest my +150 with WHQL might not be stable and need to run couple hours heaven to be sure
> @SeanPoe, thanks for the great guide.
> Just one point. Maybe I've misread, but the second point of "Step 3: Fine Tuning your Memory Offset" doesnt look right. If you experience instability/artifacts shouldn't you be moving on to step 4 rather than repeating step 3 which increases offset with each iteration of the step?


301.42


----------



## HeadlessKnight

Heaven seems benefit from memory bandwidth more than core.


----------



## Bigm

So this may be a noob question to some but I've been hearing about this ASIC Quality thing. What is it and is higher better?


----------



## Arizonian

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bigm*
> 
> So this may be a noob question to some but I've been hearing about this ASIC Quality thing. What is it and is higher better?


Here is the explanation given by *TechPowerUP! - Source* when they first implemented the ASIC Rating.
Quote:


> The next new feature is ASIC quality, designed for NVIDIA Fermi (GF10x and GF11x GPUs) and AMD Southern Islands (HD 7800 series and above), aimed at advanced users, hardware manufacturers, and the likes. We've found the ways in which AMD and NVIDIA segregate their freshly-made GPU ASICs based on the electrical leakages the chips produce (to increase yield by allotting them in different SKUs and performance bins), and we've found ways in which ASIC quality can be quantified and displayed. Find this feature in the context menu of GPU-Z. We're working on implementing this feature on older AMD Radeon GPUs.


It's values can give some insight on your cards qaulity on a few different levels. Default Voltage, Power Consumption, Overclocking (stock,air cooler), & Overclocking (water,dice,LN2).



Example: My first GPU is 81.5 reaches 1175 MHz Core my second is 90.1 reaches 1201 MHzCore on my dual GPU. So there is some correlation on scores translating with actual over clocks acheived at least for me it did.

*However* we are seeing cards who's low ASIC score still yeilded a good over clock, so I take the scores with a grain of salt.


----------



## Bigm

Hmm mine says 94.9%....hoping that means I got a good clocker.


----------



## DrBoss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> Found a stable one and reached 1405 score, one thing i noticed though is the core clock didn't stay consistent *(went from 1300-1320)* which by what i read in this guide seems like throttling, although it never went over *65C*.


good looking OC
if possible, please run Heaven at 1920x1080. most numbers being posted are at that resolution w/ all settings maxed out (tesselation, AA, AF, etc).

i've also noticed my MSI N670 PE apparently throttle with voltage increased on the core.
with +20mV on the core i'm stable at 1350 MHz (core) and 3703 MHz (Vram) but when i run Heaven at those settings i notice the core bounces between 1350 MHz, and 1290 MHz... temps are in the 60's so i don't understand why its throttling (its my understanding temp throttling does not happen until over 70C)


----------



## Arizonian

The higher the AISC means the better of an over clocker on stock air cooling. So the closer you get to 100% score should translate into better overclocking on air. No garuantee though and that's why I don't give the score to much weight in determining more than the silicone quality.


----------



## skyn3t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Arizonian*
> 
> Here is the explanation given by *TechPowerUP! - Source* when they first implemented the ASIC Rating.
> It's values can give some insight on your cards qaulity on a few different levels. Default Voltage, Power Consumption, Overclocking (stock,air cooler), & Overclocking (water,dice,LN2).
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Example: My first GPU is 81.5 reaches 1175 MHz Core my second is 90.1 reaches 1201 MHzCore on my dual GPU. So there is some correlation on scores translating with actual over clocks acheived at least for me it did.
> *However* we are seeing cards who's low ASIC score still yeilded a good over clock, so I take the scores with a grain of salt.
Click to expand...

uhmm it make me think a lot. The ASIC Rating result of my card's I'm ~9.2%


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrBoss*
> 
> good looking OC
> if possible, please run Heaven at 1920x1080. most numbers being posted are at that resolution w/ all settings maxed out (tesselation, AA, AF, etc).
> i've also noticed my MSI N670 PE apparently throttle with voltage increased on the core.
> with +20mV on the core i'm stable at 1350 MHz (core) and 3703 MHz (Vram) but when i run Heaven at those settings i notice the core bounces between 1350 MHz, and 1290 MHz... temps are in the 60's so i don't understand why its throttling (its my understanding temp throttling does not happen until over 70C)


no most results being posted, and even in the benchmark forums, are 1680x1050


----------



## DrBoss

i'd agree with your statement if it read
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> *yes* most results being posted, and even in the benchmark forums, are *1920x1080*


I'm looking to compare my N670 PE against other halo gpus (680 Lightning, EVGA Classy, ASUS TOP, and so on) and those guys are benching at 1920x1080. If your native resolution is higher than 1680x1050, you are really not pushing your gpu as hard as your should to determine stability.

But, no need to listen to me. I can simply run my gpu at 1680x1050 to compare with yours.


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrBoss*
> 
> i'd agree with your statement if it read
> I'm looking to compare my N670 PE against other halo gpus (680 Lightning, EVGA Classy, ASUS TOP, and so on) and those guys are benching at 1920x1080. If your native resolution is higher than 1680x1050, you are really not pushing your gpu as hard as your should to determine stability.
> But, no need to listen to me. I can simply run my gpu at 1680x1050 to compare with yours.


wait until i get my new monitor tmw i will run one


----------



## HeadlessKnight

GTX 670 (1344 MHz Core (+115)/ 7516 MHz Memory (+650) 1.175mV)



I am happy with this beast thus far, I can't imagine if the voltage is unlocked what it can do.
Too bad it throttle at 1350/7620 and I have to restart the system.


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> I just beat my high score I took the core down to 1283 and the memory up to 1860


Lol beat you by 1 point by doing the same thing, clock down to 1300 and memory up to 1901.


----------



## mboner1

alright, so im pretty new to overclocking, this is the best i can do, can someone have a look and tell me if they have seen something i have done wrong, could improve upon? would be greatly appreciated. cheers.


----------



## SeanPoe

I'm not sure why you're using both afterburner and precision-X, that's definitely not a good idea at all. Uninstall afterburner. If you were only using afterburner for the graphs, precision-X has the exact same graphs (click performance-log, double-click on one of the three small graphs to bring up the full graph screen).

I'd say you should try maxing the voltage (maybe you have in precision-X already, but afterburner doesn't show that you have)
Without a graph showing the core clock, it's hard for me to help you any further.


----------



## mboner1

in the top left gpu z pic it has the gpu core clock listed at 1228, is that what you mean? and yeah, i have just been using precision x , just put msi on incase their was any info in there that may have been needed. and i have only increased the power target not the voltage as i wasnt sure what a safe voltage is, and i had also read that the voltage control didnt work with the 670?


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *testicles*
> 
> in the top left gpu z pic it has the gpu core clock listed at 1228, is that what you mean? and yeah, i have just been using precision x , just put msi on incase their was any info in there that may have been needed. and i have only increased the power target not the voltage as i wasnt sure what a safe voltage is, and i had also read that the voltage control didnt work with the 670?


The voltage control works for what it's supposed to do. You just can't increase the voltage past 1.175v on the 670. The voltage control for the 670 just tells the card to run at that set voltage (or higher) under heavy load. So by setting it at 1.175v you keep the card running at the maximum voltage instead of getting dips down to 1.162v which could affect performance. Any voltage that you can set in precision-X is safe for the 670, just set it to 1.175v (the max).

As for the core clock, i need to see a graph like found in this example here that shows the GPU core clock DURING a heaven run:


----------



## mboner1

alright. thanks alot, i will do that now, just wondering, as a ball park sort of estimate, are you and others getting a whole lot more from the overclock than i am getting based on what you can tell from my settings, or am i getting roughly what would be expected? thanks man. this is my first real attempt at over clocking properly.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *testicles*
> 
> alright. thanks alot, i will do that now, just wondering, as a ball park sort of estimate, are you and others getting a whole lot more from the overclock than i am getting based on what you can tell from my settings, or am i getting roughly what would be expected? thanks man. this is my first real attempt at over clocking properly.


Your overclock is a _little_ bit on the lower-end of the spectrum but there's nothing you can do about that. Some cards just overclock better than others. It's all just luck of the draw


----------



## mboner1

yeah, well i know it crashes if i raise the gpu clock offset anymore, and i get artifacts if i increase the mem clock offset, i just did the asic test thing in gpu z and got 97.1 but i doubt that that is worth the paper its written on?? and if i was to increase the voltage does that generally lead to a higher gpu clock offset being attained? i really cant say thanks enough man lol, i was on toms hardware and that place is like a ghost town. 75 views not one reply lol. gotta say i should have come here first.

edit: just tried increasing the voltage to max and increasing the gpu clock offset by 10 and it crashed, so i think im done, just gonna be happy with what i have gotten out of it. thanks again.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *testicles*
> 
> yeah, well i know it crashes if i raise the gpu clock offset anymore, and i get artifacts if i increase the mem clock offset, i just did the asic test thing in gpu z and got 97.1 but i doubt that that is worth the paper its written on?? and if i was to increase the voltage does that generally lead to a higher gpu clock offset being attained? i really cant say thanks enough man lol, i was on toms hardware and that place is like a ghost town. 75 views not one reply lol. gotta say i should have come here first.


The quality of information on Tom's hardware is also very low (at least the forum section of their site). I'd honestly not trust anything from the Tom's forums without finding other sources that corroborate the information.

Sounds like you're at your maximum overclock then. Increasing the voltage might allow you to get a higher overclock, i saw a ~15Mhz increase in my core clock once i increased the voltage slider to the maximum. If you're not seeing your voltage dip down to 1.162v (doesn't happen for everyone) then you might not see a performance increase. That dip in voltage is what causes instability for me. So it's definitely worth a shot. Increase the slider to the maximum and then try increasing your core clock in 3Mhz steps and then test each addition with Heaven.


----------



## Skoobs

link to GPU-Z is to an old version. (just in case you want to update the link to the newest version, its not a big deal because it tells you on the top of the page. just trying to be helpful haha)


----------



## twitchyzero

so I've been OCing and find that perfect symmetry works best for SLI
I've had both at core 1270 but noticed once I touched mem it becomes unstable really fast

running both core @1250 is super stable and has allowed me to push mem fairly high

Now core @ 1250 + Mem 1900 + 1.175V + 145% TDP target yields pretty good Heaven 3.0 benchmarking (95fps/2400 score @1080p maxed)...fans maxed out

However I have run into a new problem, getting throttled.

15 min into this heaven looping I believe hit a power throttle...power that's usually mid/high 90's to 105 suddenly drop to around 70-80...sometimes dipping as low as 60's...temps also drop and mostly importantly fps comes from 90'-100 down to 50-60ish...mem/core/voltage are unchanged however. Temp never higher than mid 60's

I have a new seasonic 750w PSU

I am curious what I can do now to prevent this throttle.

Here's a screenshot but only shows the last 9 minutes of the 15 min loop


----------



## SeanPoe

Twitchyzero, do you have a higher resolution screenshot you could upload? That image is too small to really see anything of importance.


----------



## dwjp90

I'm having stability issues with mild overclocks.

I have a 670 FTW.

voltage=max
powerlimit=145
cc+60 (benchmark stable up to 87 Mhz)
mm+600 (benchmark stable Up to 650Mhz)

cc=1197MHz
mm=3703MHz

If i leave Heaven running, it crashes after a while.

Games like batman will crash eventually over time, and When i run WEI on my card, I get a "scream" sound during parts of the benchmark.

Would it be worth it to exchange it for another 670 ftw and hope for better OC?


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dwjp90*
> 
> I'm having stability issues with mild overclocks.
> I have a 670 FTW.
> cc+60 (benchmark stable up to 87 Mhz)
> mm+600 (benchmark stable Up to 650Mhz)
> cc=1197MHz
> mm=3703MHz
> If i leave Heaven running, it crashes after a while.
> Games like batman will crash eventually over time, and When i run WEI on my card, I get a "scream" sound during parts of the benchmark.
> Would it be worth it to exchange it for another 670 ftw and hope for better OC?


Exchange as in what? Trade or RMA?


----------



## ecksodia

Problem: My Heaven score successfully increases with each +20 offset (albeit marginally - I'm talking .2 fps here), but the max boost stays at 980. I'm up to +180 (where it has plateaued somewhat) and it still shows no difference - the graph there is almost exactly the same graph at +120, +140, and +160.

Is there something I forgot to do to 'unlock' the card or something? I'm pretty bummed that it seems that I can't OC AT ALL.

ASUS Direct CU II non-TOP version
Boost clock: 980
Max Boost: 1058
Memory Clock: 3005
Power Target and Voltage Setting: +122%, and 1.175


----------



## dwjp90

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> Exchange as in what? Trade or RMA?


Return to the store where i purchased the card in exchange for a new one.

Also, my card seems to have a far lower than normal ASIC.

I have ~80 ASIC score.


----------



## HeadlessKnight

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ecksodia*
> 
> Problem: My Heaven score successfully increases with each +20 offset (albeit marginally - I'm talking .2 fps here), but the max boost stays at 980. I'm up to +180 (where it has plateaued somewhat) and it still shows no difference - the graph there is almost exactly the same graph at +120, +140, and +160.
> Is there something I forgot to do to 'unlock' the card or something? I'm pretty bummed that it seems that I can't OC AT ALL.
> ASUS Direct CU II non-TOP version
> Boost clock: 980
> Max Boost: 1058
> Memory Clock: 3005
> Power Target and Voltage Setting: +122%, and 1.175


Probably your power supply is not up to the task mate.
What are your other specs?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dwjp90*
> 
> I'm having stability issues with mild overclocks.
> I have a 670 FTW.
> voltage=max
> powerlimit=145
> cc+60 (benchmark stable up to 87 Mhz)
> mm+600 (benchmark stable Up to 650Mhz)
> cc=1197MHz
> mm=3703MHz
> If i leave Heaven running, it crashes after a while.
> Games like batman will crash eventually over time, and When i run WEI on my card, I get a "scream" sound during parts of the benchmark.
> Would it be worth it to exchange it for another 670 ftw and hope for better OC?


There is always a chance in getting a dud, high OCing ability is never guaranteed.
If the store can change it for you then nice, as for ASIC there is no normal value each card is different, it is considered normal when the card can run stock clocks flawlessly.
But good luck of course







.


----------



## twitchyzero

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Twitchyzero, do you have a higher resolution screenshot you could upload? That image is too small to really see anything of importance.




When I changed PTarget to 120% and ran 1866 mem it was stable

Tried doing that with 1900 mem and still powered throttled...same thing when I pull PTarget down to 112% (I didn't want to get with 5% of the max 107% TDP). This image is of me running 1250c/1900m/112% PTarget/1.175V

Usually power throttle kicks in 10-15 min of heaven looping

Also another question, my CPU/RAM are running default values. Will I see any graphics gains by overclocking them so my system can squeeze out more performance/fps with my 670 SLI? Or is it not going to affect anything because they are of I assume no bottleneck?


----------



## qazserNOS

Great guide, at least for achieving maximum performance in Heaven. Sadly though, getting my watercooled EVGA GTX 670 stable in Battlefield 3 multiplayer is proving to be very difficult.










I could run Heaven at +169 / +475 for at least two consecutive runs. Battlefield, however, would crash within a few minutes. I lowered the clocks gradually until I hit +135 / +0 (better get the core clock stable first). The card still crashed after about 30 minutes. I then tried +120 / +0, which seemed to be stable. I have to test some more to make sure it's stable and then try boosting the clock a bit higher.

The card may have crashed in Heaven if I ran it longer, but the stability difference compared to Battlefield is surprisingly large. In the time frame it would take to run two flawless Heaven runs, Battlefield would crash even at around +145 / +0.

I must say I'm a bit disappointed. The card may have below average overclockability, which in itself is not nice, but what makes the situation worse is the extremely slow method of stability testing by playing an hour or so after each clock increase. But I guess I'll get there eventually. Then I can try my luck with memory overclocking, which will hopefully be more straightforward.

Is anyone else experiencing this phenomenon with some game?

I'm thinking Battlefield 3 multiplayer is the definitive stability test. Man, that game likes to crash! It may crash even though your CPU overclock is rock solid in every other application. It crashes even with some stock GPUs (friend's GTX 570 needed more voltage).


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *twitchyzero*
> 
> 
> When I changed PTarget to 120% and ran 1866 mem it was stable
> Tried doing that with 1900 mem and still powered throttled...same thing when I pull PTarget down to 112% (I didn't want to get with 5% of the max 107% TDP). This image is of me running 1250c/1900m/112% PTarget/1.175V
> Usually power throttle kicks in 10-15 min of heaven looping
> Also another question, my CPU/RAM are running default values. Will I see any graphics gains by overclocking them so my system can squeeze out more performance/fps with my 670 SLI? Or is it not going to affect anything because they are of I assume no bottleneck?


I don't see any throttling in that screenshot. Your second GPU's core clock is being reduced only because it's usage is also reduced (so because the usage is so low, there's no reason to have the core running at full speed). The reason this happens is to save power during less-demanding sections of a game. If that's all you're seeing, than i would say not to worry about it.

Of course you'll see performance gains from overclocking your CPU and ram, especially with a 670 SLI setup which will be bottlenecked by a weaker CPU. Just a heads-up though, you will most likely not see a performance increase in Heaven by overclocking your CPU, this is normal. However, you will see substantial gains in real games.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *qazserNOS*
> 
> Great guide, at least for achieving maximum performance in Heaven. Sadly though, getting my watercooled EVGA GTX 670 stable in Battlefield 3 multiplayer is proving to be very difficult.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I could run Heaven at +169 / +475 for at least two consecutive runs. Battlefield, however, would crash within a few minutes. I lowered the clocks gradually until I hit +135 / +0 (better get the core clock stable first). The card still crashed after about 30 minutes. I then tried +120 / +0, which seemed to be stable. I have to test some more to make sure it's stable and then try boosting the clock a bit higher.
> The card may have crashed in Heaven if I ran it longer, but the stability difference compared to Battlefield is surprisingly large. In the time frame it would take to run two flawless Heaven runs, Battlefield would crash even at around +145 / +0.
> I must say I'm a bit disappointed. The card may have below average overclockability, which in itself is not nice, but what makes the situation worse is the extremely slow method of stability testing by playing an hour or so after each clock increase. But I guess I'll get there eventually. Then I can try my luck with memory overclocking, which will hopefully be more straightforward.
> Is anyone else experiencing this phenomenon with some game?
> I'm thinking Battlefield 3 multiplayer is the definitive stability test. Man, that game likes to crash! It may crash even though your CPU overclock is rock solid in every other application. It crashes even with some stock GPUs (friend's GTX 570 needed more voltage).


I wouldn't say Battlefield three is the ultimate stability test. Battlefield 3 is the only game that I've seen that does this so i think you would be hurting your performance in 99.9% of other games if you try to balance your GPU speeds around BF3 stability. What i'd recommend is maybe setting up a secondary OC profile for BF3 and then having your primary profile (with your Heaven-stable/other-game-stable overclock) for other games.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> I wouldn't say Battlefield three is the ultimate stability test. Battlefield 3 is the only game that I've seen that does this so i think you would be hurting your performance in 99.9% of other games if you try to balance your GPU speeds around BF3 stability. What i'd recommend is maybe setting up a secondary OC profile for BF3 and then having your primary profile (with your Heaven-stable/other-game-stable overclock) for other games.


Well thank God. I was getting pissed off about this issue too.


----------



## dwjp90

Well, definitively going and having the card replaced.

It crashed in Heaven stock.


----------



## twitchyzero

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> I don't see any throttling in that screenshot. Your second GPU's core clock is being reduced only because it's usage is also reduced (so because the usage is so low, there's no reason to have the core running at full speed). The reason this happens is to save power during less-demanding sections of a game. If that's all you're seeing, than i would say not to worry about it.
> Of course you'll see performance gains from overclocking your CPU and ram, especially with a 670 SLI setup which will be bottlenecked by a weaker CPU.


Are you sure that's power saving? If so, is there a way to turn it off? What would power throttle on a chart look like if it's not that? This never happens unless I crank up my OC too high or if I've been running heaven tests for an extended (let's say 5hr+) time. It requires a reboot to 'reset' it.

I just don't understand why power + GPU usage will just tank like that..taking a huge performance hit on the fps. Has this been happening to most people's Kepler cards?

I'll eventually get to overclocking my cpu/ram...but you think my setup at default values is a bottleneck to OC'd 670 SLI? I've 3570K & 16GB DDR3-1600

BTW, I only seem to be able to take a see precision X graph of data from the last 5-8 min or so..I can't figure out how to scroll to the data outside of this range...


----------



## spinejam

Here's my Top:











Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *twitchyzero*
> 
> Are you sure that's power saving? If so, is there a way to turn it off? What would power throttle on a chart look like if it's not that? This never happens unless I crank up my OC too high or if I've been running heaven tests for an extended (let's say 5hr+) time. It requires a reboot to 'reset' it.
> I just don't understand why power + GPU usage will just tank like that..taking a huge performance hit on the fps. Has this been happening to most people's Kepler cards?
> I'll eventually get to overclocking my cpu/ram...but you think my setup at default values is a bottleneck to OC'd 670 SLI? I've 3570K & 16GB DDR3-1600


There's a pretty severe bug with Heaven where it suddenly gets stuck in 2d-mode and/or doesn't run as well as it should. It seems to happen more often with unstable overclocks but I've also seen it happen even at stock. What's happening to you is different than what i was talking about in my previous post (about gpu usage throttle) before i had all the information. I'd say just restart your computer whenever it happens and then continue testing with your previous settings. If you see that same thing happening in any real games, then it's cause for concern and you might need to look into it more.


----------



## SeanPoe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *twitchyzero*
> 
> I just don't understand why power + GPU usage will just tank like that..taking a huge performance hit on the fps. Has this been happening to most people's Kepler cards?


I've only seen people mention it during Heaven, never in any real games. I don't know if it's a bug with Heaven or with the combination of Heaven and the 670. I'd recommend displaying the OSD for GPU-usage and GPU-core-clock so you can monitor performance during some real games as you play them. If you ever suddenly see GPU-usage drop off (and stay reduced) or see core-clock drop off without a corresponding gpu-usage drop, then you might have an unstable overclock or some other issue going on. My guess is you have nothing to worry about. I had similar issues as you're describing with Heaven and have never seen it happen in another game or benchmark.
Quote:


> I'll eventually get to overclocking my cpu/ram...but you think my setup at default values is a bottleneck to OC'd 670 SLI? I've 3570K & 16GB DDR3-1600
> BTW, I only seem to be able to take a see precision X graph of data from the last 5-8 min or so..I can't figure out how to scroll to the data outside of this range..


It's not going to be an absolutely massive bottleneck, but yes, i think your stock 3570K will act as a bottleneck for two overclocked 670's. A stock 3570K might even be a bottleneck for a single 670 in some CPU-intensive games (like, for example, Guild Wars 2). There's no rush to overclock your 3570K, i was just pointing out that you won't be seeing the truest potential of your 670's until you do overclock you CPU too.


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

I can't seem to get any higher, I also get about 9700 in 3dmark11 and I wish I could break 10k


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> 
> I can't seem to get any higher, I also get about 9700 in 3dmark11 and I wish I could break 10k


Really? Is that your graphics? Can you post a link?
EDIT: Never mind I found the link in the 3dmark 11 post, that does seem odd that I am beating you by 900points(Graphics) yet you are beating me in Heaven..


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> Really? Is that your graphics? Can you post a link?


It's in my sig rig performance
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3981834
the gpu score breaks 10k but not the overall


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> It's in my sig rig performance
> http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3981834
> the gpu score breaks 10k but not the overall


Yeah that odd, you beat me in heaven but not in there? I doubt my cpu can help that much more for graphics, if at all.


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> Yeah that odd, you beat me in heaven but not in there? I doubt my cpu can help that much more for graphics, if at all.


well your 2600k at 5ghz helps a bit... lol
but yea ur gpu score is only 250 more, the higher overall score is definitely from your cpu


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> well your 2600k at 5ghz helps a bit... lol
> but yea ur gpu score is only 250 more, the higher overall score is definitely from your cpu


Its 648 points more :
I have 10903
You have 10255
That seems a bit steep ?


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> Its 648 points more :
> I have 10903
> You have 10255
> That seems a bit steep ?


Oh yea it does...
sorry i was looking at the one on ur profile page, it not the same as the one in ur signature


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> Oh yea it does...
> sorry i was looking at the one on ur profile page, it not the same as the one in ur signature


Its fine lol, I haven't updated that one in awhile.


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> Its fine lol, I haven't updated that one in awhile.


hmm maybe i should run it again

edit: ran it again and got a lower score, what is this


----------



## twitchyzero

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> I've only seen people mention it during Heaven, never in any real games. I don't know if it's a bug with Heaven or with the combination of Heaven and the 670. I'd recommend displaying the OSD for GPU-usage and GPU-core-clock so you can monitor performance during some real games as you play them. If you ever suddenly see GPU-usage drop off (and stay reduced) or see core-clock drop off without a corresponding gpu-usage drop, then you might have an unstable overclock or some other issue going on. My guess is you have nothing to worry about. I had similar issues as you're describing with Heaven and have never seen it happen in another game or benchmark.
> It's not going to be an absolutely massive bottleneck, but yes, i think your stock 3570K will act as a bottleneck for two overclocked 670's. A stock 3570K might even be a bottleneck for a single 670 in some CPU-intensive games (like, for example, Guild Wars 2). There's no rush to overclock your 3570K, i was just pointing out that you won't be seeing the truest potential of your 670's until you do overclock you CPU too.


Thanks. Haven't been able to push my BF3 to have high 90's usage like heaven yet with SLI...need my surround up and running first to push it


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> hmm maybe i should run it again
> edit: ran it again and got a lower score, what is this


Yikes


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> Yikes


a little better
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3987832


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> a little better
> http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3987832


Yeah my only guess is that the cpu is making a 300 point difference?
Silly me I should of asked what clocks your running at during the test. I was at 1300/1860.


----------



## ecksodia

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HeadlessKnight*
> 
> Probably your power supply is not up to the task mate.
> What are your other specs?


i5-3570k
g.skill 8gb RAM
*seasonic 620w*
cooler master 212 EVO
crucial m4 128gb ssd
WD 500 gb caviar blue

I can't figure out what's wrong either... The PSU should be more than enough but it just doesn't go past 1058.


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> Yeah my only guess is that the cpu is making a 300 point difference?
> Silly me I should of asked what clocks your running at during the test. I was at 1300/1860.


I was running 1310/1901

Just did it again and got this
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3994145


----------



## twitchyzero

*out of the box:*

GPU1: 1150MHz Max Boost Frequency + 1552 MHz Memory
GPU2: 1202MHz Max Boost Frequency + 1552 MHz Memory

Heaven 3.0 1080p maxed out: 85.6 fps

*
final stable overclock*

GPU1: 1250MHz Max Boost Frequency + 1866 MHz Memory (Offset: 120%PT, +48MHz Core, +628MHz Memory)
GPU2: 1250MHz Max Boost Frequency + 1866 MHz Memory (Offset: 120%PT, +100MHz Core, +628MHz Memory)

Heaven 3.0 1080p maxed out: 94.9 fps



Is 9.4 fps decent gain at 1080p? Wonder how much that translates over onto my surround setup...too bad heaven seems broken for multimonitor benching


----------



## dwjp90

Much better, Got it to 1299, gotta do long term stability check.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Hey Sean, I don't know if my graphics card can be pushed anymore. Here are the latest highest overclocks:



This is while running folding.

As you can see, my max GPU clock is only 1180 MHz and my max memory clock is 3483 MHz. Poor OC'ing chip or am I doing something wrong? It seems that my card's significantly weaker than most GTX 670's.

This is a reference GTX 670 btw.

I was thinking of getting an aftermarket cooler for it, but that only seems to help with temperatures...it doesn't really help with higher overclocks. I could try replacing it with the FTW edition, but I don't want to go through the hassle for that.

Thanks.


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> Hey Sean, I don't know if my graphics card can be pushed anymore. Here are the latest highest overclocks:
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is while running folding.
> As you can see, my max GPU clock is only 1180 MHz and my max memory clock is 3483 MHz. Poor OC'ing chip or am I doing something wrong? It seems that my card's significantly weaker than most GTX 670's.
> This is a reference GTX 670 btw.
> I was thinking of getting an aftermarket cooler for it, but that only seems to help with temperatures...it doesn't really help with higher overclocks. I could try replacing it with the FTW edition, but I don't want to go through the hassle for that.
> Thanks.


Your most likely doing nothing wrong, its just the silicon lottery my friend, not everyone wins








It wouldn't hurt to swap out the 670 with a "better" one. My 670 FTW did around your max clock out of the box stock.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> Your most likely doing nothing wrong, its just the silicon lottery my friend, not everyone wins
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It wouldn't hurt to swap out the 670 with a "better" one. My 670 FTW did around your max clock out of the box stock.


What's an easy way to do that? Do I have to just sell my 670 on Ebay or something? I can't get a refund on this because it's past 30 days.


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> What's an easy way to do that? Do I have to just sell my 670 on Ebay or something? I can't get a refund on this because it's past 30 days.


That and it in the marketplace, yes.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> That and it in the marketplace, yes.


Would anyone even want to buy a GTX 670 that can't overclock that well? lol


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> Would anyone even want to buy a GTX 670 that can't overclock that well? lol


Lol yes. You'll probably have better luck on ebay. Just dont say anything about overclocking.


----------



## Carcin0Genic

Hey guys, Just a lil update.
Refering back to my problems on pages ~47 through to ~50, the card was returned under warranty and they contacted me today to let me know that a new card was on its way and should be here tomorrow. YAY! About bloody time. I had also contacted evga support via email, and was basically told what my card was doing was normal operation, and that 3dmark11 was telling me my computer was below average because that program was used by people who run masive overclocks. LOL. Not that i ever even mention that but anyway. One recommendation, don't bother with evga support, they don't seem to be the brightest bunch of cookies. Will let you guys know what sort of OC i get when i get my card back, hopefully its a good one!

Thanks to everyone who had helped, ESPECIALLY SeanPoe and Brettjv. Many thanks to you guys.
Cheers, Carcin0Genic


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> Not sure where you got that I was saying that 'it helped performance' ... in fact I'm not even sure what you mean by 'it'
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But yeah, the GB cards end up with lower power usage % on the same tests, and with the 1.175V cap, none of the 670 models need any higher of a power target % than what they have available. It wouldn't help performance if they did.


Just saw this reply







Lol I forgot about it.
"It" is the power target of course (What we where talking about...)


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Pretty sure it's my highest so far.


----------



## Mbalmer

I have what might seem to be a few stupid questions, but I know everyone here is cool, so here goes.

I have an EVGA 670 4GB.

My Max Boost is 1215 99% of the time when doing Heaven benchmark. I saw it go to 1227 while using precision, and then it crashed. So should I assume that 1215 is my highest stable? or since it went up to 1227, I just have to find a situation that works for 1227? (and maybe beyond)

It seems no matter what boost offset I go with, +65 to +83 in precision, the max boost is still 1215....Is that the way it should be?


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mbalmer*
> 
> I have what might seem to be a few stupid questions, but I know everyone here is cool, so here goes.
> I have an EVGA 670 4GB.
> My Max Boost is 1215 99% of the time when doing Heaven benchmark. I saw it go to 1227 while using precision, and then it crashed. So should I assume that 1215 is my highest stable? or since it went up to 1227, I just have to find a situation that works for 1227? (and maybe beyond)
> It seems no matter what boost offset I go with, +65 to +83 in precision, the max boost is still 1215....Is that the way it should be?


No, but I personally can not help you hopefully someone can.


----------



## HeadlessKnight

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mbalmer*
> 
> I have what might seem to be a few stupid questions, but I know everyone here is cool, so here goes.
> I have an EVGA 670 4GB.
> My Max Boost is 1215 99% of the time when doing Heaven benchmark. I saw it go to 1227 while using precision, and then it crashed. So should I assume that 1215 is my highest stable? or since it went up to 1227, I just have to find a situation that works for 1227? (and maybe beyond)
> It seems no matter what boost offset I go with, +65 to +83 in precision, the max boost is still 1215....Is that the way it should be?


Have you set the voltage to 1.175mV and Power Target to max?
If it crash a 1227 MHz then yes 1215 is your highest stable

Also what is your PSU?


----------



## Mbalmer

Hey, just got back from work...

Yes, my voltage and power target were/are where you suggested.

I have an XFX Pro XXX 750 W. It is made by Seasonic and got good reviews, I don't think that is the problem, do you?

In GPU-Z, it has a tab (under sensors) for power consumption. XX.X% TDP. Is there a certain number range I should be within?


----------



## HeadlessKnight

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mbalmer*
> 
> Hey, just got back from work...
> Yes, my voltage and power target were/are where you suggested.
> I have an XFX Pro XXX 750 W. It is made by Seasonic and got good reviews, I don't think that is the problem, do you?
> In GPU-Z, it has a tab (under sensors) for power consumption. XX.X% TDP. Is there a certain number range I should be within?


1- No. Your PSU is good enough.
2- No as long it is close to the Power Target% you have chosen (I guess 122% ?)

What was your memory OC? If it is too high it can hinder your GPU overclock.


----------



## Mbalmer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HeadlessKnight*
> 
> 1- No. Your PSU is good enough.
> 2- No as long it is close to the Power Target% you have chosen (I guess 122% ?)
> What was your memory OC? If it is too high it can hinder your GPU overclock.


I can't remember what the memory is at...I will get back to you on that.

What does it mean when the graph lines are yellow instead of white in Precision X??

Is there a good psu test that I can run that will tell me if it is a problem or not?


----------



## HardwareDecoder

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mbalmer*
> 
> I can't remember what the memory is at...I will get back to you on that.
> What does it mean when the graph lines are yellow instead of white in Precision X??
> Is there a good psu test that I can run that will tell me if it is a problem or not?


your psu should be fine


----------



## IronDoq

Well, had to return my Gigabyte, which it in itself could only reach 1185. Just got my EVGA 4gb from Newegg (who I LOVE) and hooked it up to my brand new Yamakasi Catleap (sexy beast). Running a quick run of Heaven, I see that me max boost without overclocking is 1100. Giving me a kepler boost of 54. The exact same as my last card. *facepalm*. Feeling frustrated, I set a quick +70 in Precision and did a run of Heaven. It crashed. So... do I just have the worst MOTHER F*CKING LUCK EVAR??? Or is it something else. I didn't reinstall the drivers figuring that since both the cards are 670s, but I suppose that is something I could do. Any other suggestions? Or is this just ANOTHER terrible, horrible, squalid overclocker.

As a side note, does the 4gb somehow make for worse overclocking?


----------



## Mbalmer

Dude, great buy with the 4gb....I think you will love it.

I have been messing with mine the last two days and was getting frustrated with the results on Heaven, and then I re-seated it, and now I like it. I don't know what kind of overclock you are looking for, but I set my offset to +69 (Anything over that and it isn't stable, but that still gives me max gpu at 1202.) I can hit 1215, but then it crashes....

Anyway, just ran heaven and this is what it looks like.....I am happy with this and I am still working with it...Also, I plan to sli in the next 2 months or so just because so then it will be twice as cool.

Will post in a second from other computer....


----------



## Mbalmer

Sorry, no idea what I am doing wrong....He is a copy/paste of my heaven benchmark score.

Powered by Unigine Engine

Heaven Benchmark v3.0 Basic

FPS:
51.7
Scores:
1303
Min FPS:
22.9
Max FPS:
131.9
Hardware

Binary:
Windows 32bit Visual C++ 1600 Release Mar 7 2012
Operating system:
Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1) 64bit
CPU model:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40GHz
CPU flags:
3399MHz MMX SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 SSE41 SSE42 HTT
GPU model:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 8.17.13.142 4095Mb
Settings

Render:
direct3d11
Mode:
1920x1080 8xAA fullscreen
Shaders:
high
Textures:
high
Filter:
trilinear
Anisotropy:
16x
Occlusion:
enabled
Refraction:
enabled
Volumetric:
enabled
Tessellation:
extreme


----------



## IronDoq

Just had a game of BF3 crash at stock settings. SO MAD RIGHT NAO


----------



## Krossfyre

So do voltage settings persist between reboots? Or do I have to reapply them each time I start up my computer? Thanks!


----------



## Smann90

Hello longtime lurker here, I've been working on this for a few hours now and I cannot get a flat line in 3dMark. Heaven is fine other benchmarks/tests (Mafia 2, Clear Sky, A New Dawn, etc..) don't have seem to have an issue achieving a flat line. Is this just the way 3DMark works? Should I ignore this?


----------



## IronDoq

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krossfyre*
> 
> So do voltage settings persist between reboots? Or do I have to reapply them each time I start up my computer? Thanks!


In my experience with my last card, it was hit or miss. The overclock I had with it required the 1.175 volts, and it Precision liked to randomly drop it back to .988 while in-game or after restarts. So yes it carried over after restarts sometimes, but it is still ideal to check it every time you turn your computer on.


----------



## General123

I just got my voltage increased by salitus on MKV tech! Im going to flash it right now and report back!


----------



## RunM

So I just got my Asus DirectCU II nontop and I tested the thing at OP. My boost clock is 980 and max core got up to 1097 at heaven. So the difference was 117. So.. what now? Can I get this to something like 1200 or not? I don't get this new kepler stuff..


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RunM*
> 
> So I just got my Asus DirectCU II nontop and I tested the thing at OP. My boost clock is 980 and max core got up to 1097 at heaven. So the difference was 117. So.. what now? Can I get this to something like 1200 or not? I don't get this new kepler stuff..


Do not worry about all of that. Just increase the core to 100-150 and creep up or down by 5 until its stable.


----------



## IronDoq

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RunM*
> 
> So I just got my Asus DirectCU II nontop and I tested the thing at OP. My boost clock is 980 and max core got up to 1097 at heaven. So the difference was 117. So.. what now? Can I get this to something like 1200 or not? I don't get this new kepler stuff..


Read the OP. Nuff said.


----------



## ecksodia

i5-3570k
8gb skill ram
asrock z77 extreme4
seasonic m12-ii 620w
crucial m4 128 gb ssd

At +120 core, 0 memory, 0 artifacts:  At +180 core, 0 memory, 0 artifacts:  The +140, and +160 graphs were remarkably similar. Almost 0 differences. At this point I kinda gave up and tried +200 and +220 just for the hell of it, sadly I was only able to save the +220 because it was late and I was already incredibly frustrated. +220 core, 0 memory, 0 artifacts.  Not sure if I should be happy or sad about the .1 fps increase while nothing else changes, but yeah.


----------



## dwjp90

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ecksodia*
> 
> i5-3570k
> 8gb skill ram
> asrock z77 extreme4
> seasonic m12-ii 620w
> crucial m4 128 gb ssd
> At +120 core, 0 memory, 0 artifacts:  At +180 core, 0 memory, 0 artifacts:  The +140, and +160 graphs were remarkably similar. Almost 0 differences. At this point I kinda gave up and tried +200 and +220 just for the hell of it, sadly I was only able to save the +220 because it was late and I was already incredibly frustrated. +220 core, 0 memory, 0 artifacts.  Not sure if I should be happy or sad about the .1 fps increase while nothing else changes, but yeah.


Drop your OC to +80 and see what your results are, It seems like you crossed the "stability line".


----------



## ecksodia

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dwjp90*
> 
> Drop your OC to +80 and see what your results are, It seems like you crossed the "stability line".


At stock clocks:



At +80:


----------



## Omnicurse

I was pretty happy with my results on SLI 670's

Intel Core i5 2500k Sandy Bridge @ 4.8GHz 1.410v
Asus Sabertooth Z77 LGA 1155 PCI-E 3.0 x16x16 or PCI-E 2.0 x8x8 (which is what i run on)
*2-Way SLI* EVGA GTX 670 2GB Reference - *+150MHz Gpu Offset, +400MHz Memory Offset*
16gb Corsair Dominator 1333MHz @ 9-9-9-24-2T 1.5v
120GB Mushkin Chronos Sandforce Sata-III SSD (OS + Battlefield 3)
60GB Mushkin Chronos Sandforce Sata-III SSD (Backup + Unigine)
500GB Seagate Baracuda 7200.9 Sata II
80GB Seagate Baracuda 7200.10 Sata II
Corsair HX1050w 80+ Silver Modular PSU
Corsair 800D Obsidian Case
Corsair H100 Extreme Liquid CPU Cooler
Arctic Silver 5 TIM

Using...
Nvidia 304.92 Modded INF drivers (just so it works with 670's)
*
STOCK, No overclock at all!*









*WITH +150MHz GPU Offset +400MHz Memory Offset*


----------



## Omnicurse

I can't go any higher than +150, or i get artifacts and black screens :[


----------



## Hand_Grenade

I was wondering if anyone else with the Gigabyte Windforce is not able to play any game if you have afterburner or precisionx opened in the background?


----------



## EVGArazorback

Excited to post up my results on my new GTX670 FTW...

Alright! I spent the morning working out the new card. This is what I managed to get from my FTW:

Nvidia Driver 304.79 beta
Default Nvidia Control Panel Settings (v-sync off)

*STOCK:*

Core 1006mhz
Mem 6208mhz
Heaven: 1166

*OVERCLOCKED:*

Core +117 (1123mhz - 1291 Boost)
Mem +460 (1782mhz / 3564mhz = 7128mhz)
Heaven: 1278


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hand_Grenade*
> 
> I was wondering if anyone else with the Gigabyte Windforce is not able to play any game if you have afterburner or precisionx opened in the background?


Actually, I have the opposite problem. I'm not able to play WITHOUT one of those open in the background ... and the OSD on my screen.

I don't mean it won't work (it probably would), but I've never actually tried it.

I'm too, um ... 'retentive' ... to game w/o seeing all the specs at all times.


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brettjv*
> 
> Actually, I have the opposite problem. I'm not able to play WITHOUT one of those open in the background ... and the OSD on my screen.
> I don't mean it won't work (it probably would), but I've never actually tried it.
> I'm too, um ... 'retentive' ... to game w/o seeing all the specs at all times.


Did you ever try a modded bios on your card?


----------



## tecfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ecksodia*
> 
> i5-3570k
> 8gb skill ram
> asrock z77 extreme4
> seasonic m12-ii 620w
> crucial m4 128 gb ssd
> At +120 core, 0 memory, 0 artifacts:  At +180 core, 0 memory, 0 artifacts:  The +140, and +160 graphs were remarkably similar. Almost 0 differences. At this point I kinda gave up and tried +200 and +220 just for the hell of it, sadly I was only able to save the +220 because it was late and I was already incredibly frustrated. +220 core, 0 memory, 0 artifacts.  Not sure if I should be happy or sad about the .1 fps increase while nothing else changes, but yeah.


Forgot to press the apply button after setting the gpu clock offset?
Look at your screens. PT is always showing 1045MHz core clock.


----------



## K2mil

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tecfreak*
> 
> Forgot to press the apply button after setting the gpu clock offset?
> Look at your screens. PT is always showing 1045MHz core clock.


EPIC


----------



## amorello

got an EVGA GTX 670 FTW 2gb
and system is :
i5-3570k
Hyper 212 evo
Z77 Extreme4
OCZ ZX 850W
120gb mushkin chronos
2tb barracuda 7200rpm
16gb patriot G2 Division2
Any of you guys have an optimal setting for this card, or a similar build ?
because my cpu clock offset cant go above +47
and my mem clock offset is +460
power target 100%
Heaven Score : 1256

but I want to go higher, and I cant for some reason, some other FTW ones have gone hıgher than +150 gpu clock, why cant I ?
open to any suggestion or settings thank you :=)


----------



## PapaSmurf6768

Think I got a really nice clocker on my hands... Currently running at 1336/1602. I think I'm gonna try and push the memory a bit more, I think it's holding me back a little. Core clock is max though, any more and I get artifacts. I'm happy with it though! Also, here's a pretty cool 3DMark result. Not the highest I've seen, but it makes my OCD very happy








My 3DMark Score

*EDIT:* Boosting clocks up to 1336/1652 have me an even better score!


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PapaSmurf6768*
> 
> Think I got a really nice clocker on my hands... Currently running at 1336/1602. I think I'm gonna try and push the memory a bit more, I think it's holding me back a little. Core clock is max though, any more and I get artifacts. I'm happy with it though! Also, here's a pretty cool 3DMark result. Not the highest I've seen, but it makes my OCD very happy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My 3DMark Score


You really want to do that because on these card I see a much bigger gain from memory then core.
My run at 1328/1863


----------



## PapaSmurf6768

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> You really want to do that because on these card I see a much bigger gain from memory then core.


I'm gonna keep pushing (see my edit above) but I know that if you clock the memory too high it could look stable but the performance starts to suffer.

For example, in this test, the memory speed is higher but the score is lower than this test. Strange if you ask me.


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PapaSmurf6768*
> 
> I'm gonna keep pushing (see my edit above) but I know that if you clock the memory too high it could look stable but the performance starts to suffer.


You are 100% correct thats why you should book mark all of your runs and compare.


----------



## JamesNZ

Hi guys,

I'm 100% new to overclocking the gpu, so I thought it'd be best to post a screenshot of the way my gtx 670 is currently running. I've done multiple runs with the Heaven 3.0 benchmark (seems a touch glitchy itself, seems to do an odd white flicker every 1 or 2 runs even on my default clock settings on my card, anyway I wasn't too confident with this benchmark thing because it seemed glitchy from the start with the white flicker so I followed the guide and decided I didn't want to go any higher than I have right now, even though the potential is possibly there).

If you can see anything unusual with these readings let me know, your feedback is appreciated!









http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/9/occheck.png/


----------



## ecksodia

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tecfreak*
> 
> Forgot to press the apply button after setting the gpu clock offset?
> Look at your screens. PT is always showing 1045MHz core clock.


I guess I'm a moron then. This did the trick, I went from being depressed and accepting my 1045 fate to setting it to +180 (1226 core) just to see if it wouldn't crash, and it didn't. I've become paranoid about artifacts though - are thye really that obvious? Sometimes the shadows sort of 'flicker' and I can't tell if it's supposed to do that during a stable run.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.


----------



## ecksodia

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *K2mil*
> 
> EPIC


Definitely deserves the epic fail label. Man that was messed up.


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *amorello*
> 
> got an EVGA GTX 670 FTW 2gb
> and system is :
> i5-3570k
> Hyper 212 evo
> Z77 Extreme4
> OCZ ZX 850W
> 120gb mushkin chronos
> 2tb barracuda 7200rpm
> 16gb patriot G2 Division2
> Any of you guys have an optimal setting for this card, or a similar build ?
> because my cpu clock offset cant go above +47
> and my mem clock offset is +460
> power target 100%
> Heaven Score : 1256
> but I want to go higher, and I cant for some reason, some other FTW ones have gone hıgher than +150 gpu clock, why cant I ?
> open to any suggestion or settings thank you :=)


You can't just look at the offset value ... you have to consider the Kepler Boost, which varies from card to card. See the first link in my sig for a further explanation.

Bottom-line though these cards, perhaps more than any I've seen, involve a major lottery situation. We've seen people's max OC's vary from just under 1200, to just under 1400 (assuming 1.175V). A pretty dang wide range of values for a max OC value.


----------



## Gomi

Thank you for this FANTASTIC guide - Especially the section about frequency oscillation was good!

My scores, after using your guide (Yes, on a custom "VOLT-UNLOCK" BIOS)





The Overclock before the BIOS FLASH:

CORE: 1350
MEMORY: 3602

So gained abit by flashing









Not too shabby for a Reference GTX 670 (Which I bought since its so small with a waterblock on).


----------



## edukas

First of all, thank you for this amazing guide!

CPU: 2600K on a Asus P8P67 Mobo (4.5GHz and 8GB RAM at 1600MHz)
Card Model: EVGA GTX 670 FTW
Boost Clock: 1084
Max Boost: 1177 (Kepler Boost of 93)
Memory Clock: 6208
Power Target: 145% (Slider) - Max 121% (Real)
Voltage: 1.175 (Slider)

Well, I just received my 670 FTW and I was trying to overclock it using this guide. But power and voltage are reacting strangely, different from most of descriptions I have been seeing around:

The max power of 121% TDP never changes, both at factory or overclocking. It reacts the same also even when changing the voltage slider. It always varies between 110% and 120%, maxing out at 121%. Temps are good, never going over 63C.

I started the overclock process with voltage maxed out at 1.175 (constant flat line). I was frustated when I got max heaven points (around 1080) at only +86 core (+0 memory). It would crash over +100, pass at +96 but with lower Heaven points. I tried running 3DMark11 and was also very disapointed with around P8600.

I noticed that at +96 or +86, the core frequency was not a flat line. No big dips as in your example, but not a flat line as well, only very fine oscilation (between 1240 and 1263).

Just as an experience, I tried running again 3DMark11, with all the same settings except for the voltage which I left at default (0.98). For my surprise, I got aroung P9500. I noticed that it doesn't matter what I put in the voltage slider, it always go to 1.175 when needed. Any higher value in the voltage slider only drops the points, being at default my optimal results.

With default voltage slider and 145% (or 125%) power slider, I was able to go up to +126 core, with max boost of 1302. It never is a flat line though, always varying a little bit between 1280 and 1302. The only place where it becomes a flat line at 1302 is the last test of 3DMark11 and/or in the last scenes of Heaven. This is getting me P9980 in 3DMark11 and 1240 points in Heaven.

I wanted to reach P10000, but I can't add any memory to it. It fails in Heaven and 3DMark11 with +40 memory (+80 total). Most of the people gets very high memory overclocks with this card, I wonder if I got a bad one.

Could you please help me figure out what's up with the voltage, non-flat core frequency and no overclock room for memory? Thank you.


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *edukas*
> 
> First of all, thank you for this amazing guide!
> CPU: 2600K on a Asus P8P67 Mobo (4.5GHz and 8GB RAM at 1600MHz)
> Card Model: EVGA GTX 670 FTW
> Boost Clock: 1084
> Max Boost: 1177 (Kepler Boost of 93)
> Memory Clock: 6208
> Power Target: 145% (Slider) - Max 121% (Real)
> Voltage: 1.175 (Slider)
> Well, I just received my 670 FTW and I was trying to overclock it using this guide. But power and voltage are reacting strangely, different from most of descriptions I have been seeing around:
> The max power of 121% TDP never changes, both at factory or overclocking. It reacts the same also even when changing the voltage slider. It always varies between 110% and 120%, maxing out at 121%. Temps are good, never going over 63C.
> I started the overclock process with voltage maxed out at 1.175 (constant flat line). I was frustated when I got max heaven points (around 1080) at only +86 core (+0 memory). It would crash over +100, pass at +96 but with lower Heaven points. I tried running 3DMark11 and was also very disapointed with around P8600.
> I noticed that at +96 or +86, the core frequency was not a flat line. No big dips as in your example, but not a flat line as well, only very fine oscilation (between 1240 and 1263).
> Just as an experience, I tried running again 3DMark11, with all the same settings except for the voltage which I left at default (0.98). For my surprise, I got aroung P9500. I noticed that it doesn't matter what I put in the voltage slider, it always go to 1.175 when needed. Any higher value in the voltage slider only drops the points, being at default my optimal results.
> With default voltage slider and 145% (or 125%) power slider, I was able to go up to +126 core, with max boost of 1302. It never is a flat line though, always varying a little bit between 1280 and 1302. The only place where it becomes a flat line at 1302 is the last test of 3DMark11 and/or in the last scenes of Heaven. This is getting me P9980 in 3DMark11 and 1240 points in Heaven.
> I wanted to reach P10000, but I can't add any memory to it. It fails in Heaven and 3DMark11 with +40 memory (+80 total). Most of the people gets very high memory overclocks with this card, I wonder if I got a bad one.
> Could you please help me figure out what's up with the voltage, non-flat core frequency and no overclock room for memory? Thank you.


Try to add +400 on the memory. Low amounts tend to fail. And my card use to do the same thing with the reference bios, but after I flashed it stopped now its at a constant 1330 in 3dmark which let me break 11k


----------



## edukas

Thank you for the quick reply, I'll try putting higher memory numbers.

Now, about this bios, is it an official update from evga, or a modded one? Do you have a link for it? Is it for evga 670 ftw?

Thanks a lot!


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *edukas*
> 
> Thank you for the quick reply, I'll try putting higher memory numbers.
> Now, about this bios, is it an official update from evga, or a modded one? Do you have a link for it? Is it for evga 670 ftw?
> Thanks a lot!


It is a modded one, check my thread.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1289489/gtx-670-unlocked-voltage-bios


----------



## edukas

Oh, ok, you have a whole thread about it, lol. Thank you!

Is it the one in the first page? I see that there are many pages so I just make sure I use the most updated one.

Thanks a lot!


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *edukas*
> 
> Oh, ok, you have a whole thread about it, lol. Thank you!
> Is it the one in the first page? I see that there are many pages so I just make sure I use the most updated one.
> Thanks a lot!


No problem make sure you read the warning though


----------



## K2mil

So I got mine 670 msi gtx pe and I'm really disappointed ATM running your in deep guide I found my gpU core at default is jumping between 1176 and 1189 mhz in heaven when I attemp to max out voltage and power target in afterburner the card overheats to 67-69 C . mhz are jumping and the score is not getting better any ideas ?? Ps thenvidia panel v sync disabled and preferred maximume performance enabled...









Edit: I figured out my card she doesn't like core volt at max she like is +40 for a highest boost oc of 1269 MHz with power limit of 105%

Very important factor in all this was custom fan profile yeah it gets loud but it's summer in humid Chicago any way here are my scores @ 1920 x 1200

Heaven with settings of master guide OP
Consistent clock of 1269 MHz with 47.2 FPS and score of 1189 temp didn't go over 67 C

3Dmark 11 P score 9554 Graphics 10166 physics 8200 combined 7938 TEMP under 65 C

I found slight lower clock but at lover core volt of +30 I like it better but there is a mystery behind it
The max boot clock is only 5Mhz lover

Consistent 1254 MHz In heaven with score 47.1 fps and score of 1187 Temp under 66 C

Now 3dmark acts bad under this frequency P Score is 9201 temps are fine but thats make me wonder why in heaven The difference is minimal and 3 d mark the gap is bigger

Any way I played Crysis 2 multiplayer maxed out ultra dx11 hr textures

Wow it played Sweet let me tell you the clock was consistent at 1254 and I played good 4 games on full servers without any issue what so ever the only thing I'm thinking of is fan was getting loud but I might increase the power limit maybe to 107% so far the biggest draw was 104 %

Any way I know that's not the killer overclock but I'm happy with it and I'm planing to keep this card until my lucky number 770 GTX will be out sometime in near future. I just wanna say I love support of every member of this forum it's magic .

Thank you for guide


----------



## IronDoq

Currently have an EVGA 670 4gb coming back from the RMA department from Newegg, and I couldn't help but notice all of the talk and supposed benefits of a modded bios. Is there one that would apply to my future card?


----------



## Omnicurse

This is what i ended up getting with the leaked 305.53 drivers on SLI EVGA GTX 670 2gb ref editions

+155MHz GPU (1135MHz GPU Boost)
+500MHz Memory (1752MHz Memory) 7008MHz Effective <3

(It seems like it allowed me to increase my GPU offset by 5 and still be stable, compared to the 304.92 modded inf drivers i was using.










If the pictures are too big i can reformat the size, but nobody has complained yet.. Full computer specs are in my sig


----------



## propete10

Hi guys im new here and first of all, thank you for this amazing guide! I just wanted to share my results to see what you think and if my GPU is behaving normally.

CPU: i7 3770k on a Gigabyte UD5H Mobo (3.5GHz and 16GB RAM at 1333MHz)
Card Model: Zotac GTX 670 4GB
Boost Clock: 1182
Max Boost: 1280 (Kepler Boost of 105)
Memory Clock: 1802Mhz (In GPU-z. Dont know what this equates to can anybody tell me?)
Power Target: 132% (Slider)
Voltage: 1.175 (Slider)

Results:
*3d Mark*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!







*Heaven*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!







*Precision X*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!







*GPU-Z*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!







*BF 3*
For those who are interested this generates 60 - 100 FPS (average of about 70 - 75) on CQ maps with Extreme video settings @ 1920x1200

Now I have a few questions if I may:

Are my results "normal"?
Isn't my FPS in the Heaven screenshot a bit low?
Even though I have "Windows Start up" ticked in Precision X, each time i restart the PC, when I've booted again the voltage level in Precision X is back down to default and this means I have to go in manually and raise it each time. Does anyone else have this problem?
Is my memory clock speed actually 3604 Mhz because its DDR the value shown in GPU-Z?
In GPU-Z my memory size is 0MB and it should be 4096MB. Is this highlighting a problem?


----------



## Robboto

CPU: i5 2500k on a ASUS P8P67 PRO Mobo (4.5GHz and 8GB RAM at 1600MHz)
Card Model: Gigabyte GTX 670 2GB
Boost Clock: 1165 (Stable)
Max Boost: 1261 (Kepler Boost of 91MHz)
Memory Clock: 1777MHz (550MHz)
Power Target: 112% (Slider)
Voltage: 1.175 (Slider)



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!















I'm in a bit of a dilemma at the moment, hopefully someone could help









I'm currently trying to push for a higher core overclock, 1185MHz boost frequency is causing me to encounter Heaven errors, however, what I don't understand is my power % is still at 85%, my temperature is only at 57c, and my GPU clock doesn't suffer from any oscillation - it's completely flatline.

Has my card reach it's max overclock regardless of power and temperature? or.. is there something else that I could be missing?

Any help is greatly appreciated!


----------



## sixty9sublime

^^What have you set your core voltage at? Is it maxed at 1.175? Are you using afterburner or precision?


----------



## Robboto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sixty9sublime*
> 
> ^^What have you set your core voltage at? Is it maxed at 1.175? Are you using afterburner or precision?


Both power target and voltage are maxed. I am using precision.

Can memory hold back GPU clock? I haven't started on the memory clock yet..


----------



## K2mil

Edit: I figured out my card she doesn't like core volt at max she like is +40 for a highest boost oc of 1269 MHz with power limit of 105%

Very important factor in all this was custom fan profile yeah it gets loud but it's summer in humid Chicago any way here are my scores @ 1920 x 1200

Heaven with settings of master guide OP
Consistent clock of 1269 MHz with 47.2 FPS and score of 1189 temp didn't go over 67 C

3Dmark 11 P score 9554 Graphics 10166 physics 8200 combined 7938 TEMP under 65 C

I found slight lower clock but at lover core volt of +30 I like it better but there is a mystery behind it
The max boot clock is only 5Mhz lover

Consistent 1254 MHz In heaven with score 47.1 fps and score of 1187 Temp under 66 C

Now 3dmark acts bad under this frequency P Score is 9201 temps are fine but thats make me wonder why in heaven The difference is minimal and 3 d mark the gap is bigger

Any way I played Crysis 2 multiplayer maxed out ultra dx11 hr textures

Wow it played Sweet let me tell you the clock was consistent at 1254 and I played good 4 games on full servers without any issue what so ever the only thing I'm thinking of is fan was getting loud but I might increase the power limit maybe to 107% so far the biggest draw was 104 %

Any way I know that's not the killer overclock but I'm happy with it and I'm planing to keep this card until my lucky number 770 GTX will be out sometime in near future. I just wanna say I love support of every member of this forum it's magic .

Thank you for guide


----------



## mboner1

im getting some stuttering issues with the 670 in bf3 and a few other games, i have searched and found this is a bit of a problem with the 670. i have updated my bios, i have download the beta driver from nvidia, vsync is turned off in game and in the nvidia control panel. I have a small overclock happening, is there any suggestions on how to fix this? super annoying when you pay so much for a new card and it has problems i diddnt have with my 560. thanks.


----------



## Visceral

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *testicles*
> 
> im getting some stuttering issues with the 670 in bf3 and a few other games, i have searched and found this is a bit of a problem with the 670. i have updated my bios, i have download the beta driver from nvidia, vsync is turned off in game and in the nvidia control panel. I have a small overclock happening, is there any suggestions on how to fix this? super annoying when you pay so much for a new card and it has problems i diddnt have with my 560. thanks.


Make sure your power target and voltage are both maxed. This seems to fix this issue with some.


----------



## mboner1

alrite, thanks! will definitely try that , is it completely safe to max the voltage on this card? on the 560 i had i read that it was a bad move to increase voltage??


----------



## Visceral

It's totally safe on the stock bios. Just use percision x and max voltage and power target, should help.


----------



## mboner1

alrite, cheers mate. just got home from work, will give it a go now.

edit: crashed. yellow dots all over the screen. gonna have to live with the stuttering for now??


----------



## Dviance

I am a little confused.

I have to admit I was a little lazy and did not follow the guide. I did however only add +45 to gpu and +35 to memory.

My aim is a SMALL overclock that can run 24/7 with no problems. Scores are not as important to me, but 9000 in 3dmark 11 is my aim.

With +45 to gpu and +35 to memory I got this.



My score doesn't seem to make sense? Could it be because Im using 2.5 of heaven?

CPU 2600k 4ghz
Corsair Vengeance 16gb 1600mhz
Inno 3D gtx 670
Asus p8p67-m


----------



## Dviance

ok after my initial embarrassment by posting with wrong settings here is the results of +45 Core and +35 Memory

Heaven 3.0



3dmark11



GPUZ



Any suggestions on what my core and memory should be for a very mild oc?

edit: wrong settings with benchmark


----------



## 1c3m4nz

At first I was like how are you getting these numbers, then I saw the settings you are running on. Dude you need to max out the settings. Tessellation - extreme, 8x AA and Anistropic 16x etc. I would highly encourage you to read the guide. OP has done a great job explaining the concepts. You can look at +50/+200 for safe OC's(May not apply to all cards). Make sure you run the benchmark at the settings OP had explained.


----------



## Dviance

lol I saw that this very moment and came back to post sorry wrong settings









you where quicker than me

ps: Any suggestions on what my core and memory should be for a very mild oc?


----------



## 1c3m4nz

Cool, no issues. We are all here to learn and help one other


----------



## feniks

AWESOME guide! I've been totally lost with 600 series card overclocking (vastly different from older gpus ocing), initially I thought the best my 670 can do is 1097MHz while this article explains it well and I ended up at 1242MHz core max boost ! BIG THANKS! rep+


----------



## K2mil

I think 600 series are actually more fun to work with. We all are here because we like to overclock. it's a bit harder to find a sweet spot in these my only suggestion for people that fallow up that guide and have problems with oc you don't have to slide core voltage and power percentage all the way. Msi 670 power edition don't like that especially mine and another guy her so take it easy keep trying.Start from the middle and +50 CV AND 105 % PL and balance it from there. This is how I found my sweet spot at 1269 MHz and memory +400

Any way I'm not sure if you want to apply to much voltage considering rumors about fast degradation of these cores


----------



## 1c3m4nz

Here's my clocks with the ASUS non top version :

+76/+455 boosts and found the Kepler boost to be 144 Mhz. Overall Max boost - 1200/3460. Stable and maxed out at 65~67 C using 90% Fan speed. 1.175V constant.



Don't like temps beyond 65 C so settled at this. Probably can do a few more. My power value is too high though, should i leave it like that? Is it safe ? Should i try anything, would you do anything more given this?

Note : Not yet OC'd my 3570k with Corsair H100 and ASRock Extreme 4. Will get to it now. Dont know if that will help extract a few more FPS.


----------



## K2mil

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *1c3m4nz*
> 
> Here's my clocks with the ASUS non top version :
> 
> +76/+455 boosts and found the Kepler boost to be 144 Mhz. Overall Max boost - 1200/3460. Stable and maxed out at 65~67 C using 90% Fan speed. 1.175V constant.
> 
> 
> 
> Don't like temps beyond 65 C so settled at this. Probably can do a few more. My power value is too high though, should i leave it like that? Is it safe ? Should i try anything, would you do anything more given this?
> 
> Note : Not yet OC'd my 3570k with Corsair H100 and ASRock Extreme 4. Will get to it now. Dont know if that will help extract a few more FPS.


I would go down with power % to 110 on your card increase core to +80 the memory decreases to 400 and see what happens


----------



## Tori

I have a question about ocing my 670.

In the guide it says to keep going +20mzh increments until stuff messes up but I'm wondering why my +60mhz core gets a higher heaven score than my +120mhz one. The test ran fine, and my top core frequency with +120 was 1271mhz in gpu-z

edit: also do I have to restart cpu-z to see my boost clock?


----------



## jkoljo

I have a bit of a problem while overclocking my ASUS GTX 670 DC II (non-TOP). With 1.175 volts and 122% power target I can only reach 980 mHz boost clock with 143 mHz kepler boost. So that is max core frequency of 1123 mHz. If I increase the boost clock by 5 mHz, Unigine benchmark fails The memory clock is at stock value for now.

Should I just get rid of this card and get another one, maybe wait until the local store has the TOP model in stock?


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jkoljo*
> 
> I have a bit of a problem while overclocking my ASUS GTX 670 DC II (non-TOP). With 1.175 volts and 122% power target I can only reach 980 mHz boost clock with 143 mHz kepler boost. So that is max core frequency of 1123 mHz. If I increase the boost clock by 5 mHz, Unigine benchmark fails The memory clock is at stock value for now.
> Should I just get rid of this card and get another one, maybe wait until the local store has the TOP model in stock?


Thats not a problem, it just means your card is not capable of getting very high. I would wait for a TOP imo if your set on asus.


----------



## propete10

Get a Zotac =]


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Hey guys, I'm having a problem with my card. On my heavily modded Skyrim, I've noticed that sometimes the GPU clock likes to dip down about 100 MHz, resulting in abysmal FPS. Is there a way to force the GPU to run constantly at my max GPU clock? I've also noticed that the GPU clock only dips when the GPU surpasses my max power target of 122%.

In the nVidia control panel, I've already set it to prefer maximum performance.


----------



## propete10

Ah now I see why you were asking in the other thread.

Have you tried underclocking the card to maintain a stable performance? (just to help identify the issue not necessarily a long term solution)
You could just have a faulty card. How old is the card? Have you overclocked it heavily in the past or unlocked BIOS to increase the voltage available or anything?

What is the base and boost clock set to now, on what voltage?


----------



## feniks

awesome guide it is









this time I followed the Long Method and came up with a balanced maximums for core and mem on my reference gtx 570 (max 122% TDP) ending up with +149core/+564mem (actual 1246/3571) ... but I have a tiny problem ... TDP ...

my actual TDP spikes above the 122% TDP which is set manually to its max and once the actual TDP (checked with gpu-z and precision X) reaches 128.4% the card starts throttling down the core in 13MHz increments ... so my problem is the core frequency oscillation caused by power limits ...

now the sad part, I tried lowering the voltage slider to default and the TDP can still spike up to 130%, e.g. in 3DMark11 (not in Heaven though) and the oscillation on core frequency still occurs. I tried lowering the clocks and went as far down as +135/+525 and the TDP still can spike to levels causing power throttling ...







could it be caused by a driver or it's the hardware issue? running 304.79 beta here under win7 x64.

any solution to this or this card is just a weak overclocker after all?









thermal limit is not a problem, card never goes above 63C on air.









thanks for opinions.


----------



## Massicor

I cant seem to overclock my Gigabyte windforce 670 oc version at all :S

Default clock - 980
Boost clock - 1059
Default memory - 1502

I can overclock it by about 15 with it being stable :S Heard some people RMA there cards because they had low overclock potential and they where hitting clocks of like 1200.

Is it me or is my card the worst card ever ?


----------



## dwjp90

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tori*
> 
> I have a question about ocing my 670.
> In the guide it says to keep going +20mzh increments until stuff messes up but I'm wondering why my +60mhz core gets a higher heaven score than my +120mhz one. The test ran fine, and my top core frequency with +120 was 1271mhz in gpu-z
> edit: also do I have to restart cpu-z to see my boost clock?


Because your card is no longer Fully Stable, its getting errors that are slowing it down, but the errors are not bad enough to cause a crash.


----------



## RunM

Damn is there something wrong with my 670 DirectCU II ?

I bumped the voltage to the 1,175 and set power target to 122 and fan speed to 100%.

My temps got up to 90c under heaven? What? It's like the fan isn't doing ****. The heatsink was boiling hot.

Edit: Maybe precision X has no acces to the fans?

Edit2: The fan isn't reacting to anything. The fan duty says 100% but the fan itself is stuck at 1110-1140. I'll have to check if other drivers fix this. Really weird..

Edit3: It's still stuck at minimum. What should I do?


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *propete10*
> 
> Ah now I see why you were asking in the other thread.
> Have you tried underclocking the card to maintain a stable performance? (just to help identify the issue not necessarily a long term solution)
> You could just have a faulty card. How old is the card? Have you overclocked it heavily in the past or unlocked BIOS to increase the voltage available or anything?
> What is the base and boost clock set to now, on what voltage?


I haven't tried underclocking...I figured underclocking would net even worse FPS.

The card itself is about two weeks old, lol. I had another GTX 670 that unfortunately died on me, so this new one was the replacement for that RMA.

I didn't really overclock it that heavily. It can't even hit 1200 MHz boost core clock. This is a reference card so as far as I know, I can't unlock the BIOS.

Base, I forgot. Boost clock is around 1180 MHz...voltage is the highest setting possible on stock BIOS in EVGA Precision X.

Really hope that it isn't a faulty card. Don't want to go through another RMA process.


----------



## propete10

Yeah I bet you don't mate that sucks. Hopefully it may just be down to the fact you have a heavily modded skyrim. Have you tried another graphics intensive game? BF3 or Crysis 2 etc?

Can you get it to go wrong doing a benchmark? I would try playing with lowering the voltage level to a new percentage to see if the FPS drops at the new percentage or only over 122% as you may be able to clock it lower to a more safe value but still leave it overclocked.

Be interesting to see if it still does this on stock overclock with max'd and default voltage


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *propete10*
> 
> Yeah I bet you don't mate that sucks. Hopefully it may just be down to the fact you have a heavily modded skyrim. Have you tried another graphics intensive game? BF3 or Crysis 2 etc?
> Can you get it to go wrong doing a benchmark? I would try playing with lowering the voltage level to a new percentage to see if the FPS drops at the new percentage or only over 122% as you may be able to clock it lower to a more safe value but still leave it overclocked.
> Be interesting to see if it still does this on stock overclock with max'd and default voltage


BF3 runs fine at 60 FPS almost always. On Crysis 2, if I set everything to ultra and shadows to high, then I'll get around 45-60 FPS.

Benchmarks are usually no problem. I think it ran at a constant GPU clock all the way through Heaven.

I did just find out that there is an unlocked voltage bios for reference cards.


----------



## IronDoq

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> . This is a reference card so as far as I know, I can't unlock the BIOS.
> Base, I forgot. Boost clock is around 1180 MHz...voltage is the highest setting possible on stock BIOS in EVGA Precision X.
> Really hope that it isn't a faulty card. Don't want to go through another RMA process.


Why don't you check out this thread here!









Edit: looking at the post above makes me feel stupid...


----------



## tecfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *IronDoq*
> 
> Why don't you check out this thread here!


If he assumes that his card may be a faulty one i would say it's not a good idea advising him to flash a custom/modded bios.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tecfreak*
> 
> If he assumes that his card may be a faulty one i would say it's not a good idea advising him to flash a custom/modded bios.


Haven't really assumed. It works fine for the most part...just Skyrim likes to dip occasionally.

EDIT: OK nevermind. I can't run Heaven. It says it keeps on failing to set my video mode correctly for some reason.

Fixed. Had to uncheck enable compatibility with modfiied Direct3D runtime libraries in the Afterburner OSD tool. I can also confirm that my GPU clock stayed at a constant 1180 MHz throughout the first couple minutes I ran it on, so the card's not faulty. It's probably just something with Skyrim.


----------



## propete10

Well that is good news, Good luck with the re-install! =D

BTW, for the record although I've o/c'd my GPU, to preserve its life I saw no point in having it running at O/C values for games that run at > 60fps because with a 60Hz monitor I can't tell the difference =].

I.e. I'll only engage the O/C if I cannot get at least 60 FPS in a game. I doubt that will be required for a while yet!

Pete


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *propete10*
> 
> Well that is good news, Good luck with the re-install! =D
> BTW, for the record although I've o/c'd my GPU, to preserve its life I saw no point in having it running at O/C values for games that run at > 60fps because with a 60Hz monitor I can't tell the difference =].
> I.e. I'll only engage the O/C if I cannot get at least 60 FPS in a game. I doubt that will be required for a while yet!
> Pete


Yea, it gets pretty bad with Metro 2033 and Skyrim, heavily modded with ambient occlusion. Plus, I fold, so I need all the power I can get, lol.


----------



## BarryCarey

First, this is a great guide. It explains overclocking on the 6xx series very well.

I have a 670 FTW and think I might have a dud.

Out of the box my boost is 1085 with a Keplar boost of 79 giving me a max of 1137. From what I've seen here and on the EVGA forums, this is a lot lower than many other FTW cards.

I followed the guide to the letter and the highest core offset I can achieve is +58. Anything higher crashes Heaven. This is with a power target of 145% and voltage set to max.

Here's the weird part. I can stabilize the +58 with 116% power target. That would lead me to believe I should have a lot of headroom to raise the clock. But I still can't get over the +58 regardless of the power target and voltage setting.

I've tried pretty much every combo between 100% and 145% and .988mv and 1175mv. No matter what I can't top +58mhz

Also, even with the power target set to 140% the power % in Precision and GPU-Z never goes over 100. I've seen people in this thread with screenshots of their power % upwards of 113%.

Does anyone have any idea what might be going on here? Is this card maxed out? Am I doing something wrong?


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BarryCarey*
> 
> First, this is a great guide. It explains overclocking on the 6xx series very well.
> I have a 670 FTW and think I might have a dud.
> Out of the box my boost is 1085 with a Keplar boost of 79 giving me a max of 1137. From what I've seen here on on the EVGA forums, this is a lot lower than many other FTW cards.
> I followed the guide to the letter and the highest core offset I can achieve is +58. Anything higher crashes Heaven. This is with a power target of 145% and voltage set to max.
> Here's the weird part. I can stabilize the +58 with 116% power target. That would lead me to believe I should have a lot of headroom to raise the clock. But I still can't get over the +58 regardless of the power target and voltage setting.
> I've tried pretty much every combo between 100% and 145% and .988mv and 1175mv. No matter what I can't top +58mhz
> Also, even with the power target set to 140% the power % in Precision and GPU-Z never goes over 100. I've seen people in this thread with screenshots of their power % upwards of 113%.
> Does anyone have any idea what might be going on here? Is this card maxed out? Am I doing something wrong?


Yea, sounds like you have a dud.


----------



## BarryCarey

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> Yea, sounds like you have a dud.


Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I went through the thread on EVGA where 670 FTW owners posted their stock max boost. I averaged all the verified ones (over 30 different clocks) and the average was around 1190-1200. Many being able to push far beyond that when OCing.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BarryCarey*
> 
> Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I went through the thread on EVGA where 670 FTW owners posted their stock max boost. I averaged all the verified ones (over 30 different clocks) and the average was around 1190-1200. Many being able to push far beyond that when OCing.


Try the BIOS mod that's been going around. You might be able to hit better clocks with some extra voltage.


----------



## Tori

If I am hitting 1185mhz stock boost and 1228mhz OC'd boost max is that good or bad?

Time for RMA or deal with it?

I'm using stock bios for 4gb galaxy gc 670.. I saw another thread with the same low OC issue.


----------



## Tori

Do you guys OC with the beta driver or latest stable release?


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tori*
> 
> If I am hitting 1185mhz stock boost and 1228mhz OC'd boost max is that good or bad?
> Time for RMA or deal with it?
> I'm using stock bios for 4gb galaxy gc 670.. I saw another thread with the same low OC issue.


Not sure if srs. Be happy with your overclock. I wasn't even able to hit 1200 MHz before volt modding. And don't ever RMA just because your GPU can't overclock that well. RMA only when your card is actually faulty.

And I OC'd with the beta drivers.


----------



## BarryCarey

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Admiral Mudkipz*
> 
> Try the BIOS mod that's been going around. You might be able to hit better clocks with some extra voltage.


I'm thinking about giving that a go. Not sure yet.

On your card, what does the power % go to in precision?

Mine will always max at 100% but will NEVER go over even with the power target set to 145%. Not sure if that's normal or not.


----------



## Tori

so 1228 is good??


----------



## Tori

i only get 50-50.5 fps in heaven though :/ ugh

i have seen people get up to like 53 fps in the rock heaven thread


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BarryCarey*
> 
> I'm thinking about giving that a go. Not sure yet.
> On your card, what does the power % go to in precision?
> Mine will always max at 100% but will NEVER go over even with the power target set to 145%. Not sure if that's normal or not.


That is pretty weird. Mine doesn't really go above 106% or something like that. With the old BIOS, mine went to around 130% occasionally on Skyrim. I would think that's pretty good if your card doesn't have to go over 100%.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tori*
> 
> i only get 50-50.5 fps in heaven though :/ ugh
> i have seen people get up to like 53 fps in the rock heaven thread


1228 MHz isn't impressive, but it's better than mine. And it's better or about the same level as a GTX 680 reference. Keep things in perspective.

And...you serious? Three FPS matters that much to you? lol


----------



## Tori

Is it because they have the unlocked voltage on their cards to 1.21 that they can push higher and get 53-54 fps?


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tori*
> 
> Is it because they have the unlocked voltage on their cards to 1.21 that they can push higher and get 53-54 fps?


I don't know. Are the posts that you looked at very recent?


----------



## Tori

Yeah


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tori*
> 
> Yeah


Then possibly. It might be a mixture of both users who have used the new BIOS in addition to people who ended up getting golden cards.


----------



## nismofreak

There are guys with golden 670s that were hitting 53+ way before the voltage mod bios. I know we are on OCN but there is no perceivable difference between 50~55 fps in the real world. It's all about the e-peen!

OCing a 670 and getting 50+ fps in heaven maxed is perfectly normal. RMAing a perfectly good card affects us all because it will just drive up the cost to the manufacture.

I guess nV should have said that Kepler boost is a lottery. Someone I think here or another thread said it best: you are already clocking higher that what the factory OC is doing. The card is fine.


----------



## marasco0815

Yes- but there's a flip side for us. I purchased an open box GTX 670 Asus top for around 300 bucks. Got it setup and running and benchmarked Heaven and it crashed in less than a minute at stock settings. No doubt one of the many RMA'd cards for crashing. Read this thread and applied several suggestions including using precision, changing the fan curve and power target and now passed several benches of Heaven. Did not apply the updated bios that throttles back on the overclock. Haven't pushed it yet further to see if there's some headroom but I'm pretty happy if it runs like this at the manufacturers overclock.
Thanks to everyone in this thread for the helpful information...I was about to RMA the card and now I have a great deal.


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BarryCarey*
> 
> First, this is a great guide. It explains overclocking on the 6xx series very well.
> I have a 670 FTW and think I might have a dud.
> Out of the box my boost is 1085 with a Keplar boost of 79 giving me a max of 1137. From what I've seen here and on the EVGA forums, this is a lot lower than many other FTW cards.
> I followed the guide to the letter and the highest core offset I can achieve is +58. Anything higher crashes Heaven. This is with a power target of 145% and voltage set to max.
> Here's the weird part. I can stabilize the +58 with 116% power target. That would lead me to believe I should have a lot of headroom to raise the clock. But I still can't get over the +58 regardless of the power target and voltage setting.
> I've tried pretty much every combo between 100% and 145% and .988mv and 1175mv. No matter what I can't top +58mhz
> Also, even with the power target set to 140% the power % in Precision and GPU-Z never goes over 100. I've seen people in this thread with screenshots of their power % upwards of 113%.
> Does anyone have any idea what might be going on here? Is this card maxed out? Am I doing something wrong?


Thats is the worst clocking FTW I have ever heard of to date. My stock boost in 1213 btw.


----------



## jmarsiglio

Hm... I learned something new: your suggestion to keep the fan profile not change speed on idle. It makes perfect sense I just never really thought of this before - thanks!


----------



## BarryCarey

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> Thats is the worst clocking FTW I have ever heard of to date. My stock boost in 1213 btw.


lol, way to make me feel better....

I've spent all day trying every combo of voltage, power target, core & mem offset. The end result......62 core offset....putting me at 1199mhz. Can't break 1200 no matter what I try.

I just don't get why I can be stable at +58 with about 116% but have no room above that.

I know there's no guarantee of overclocking but seeing people with reference 670 smoking this card isn't fun. I sprung for the FTW thinking I'd have more OC headroom but that didn't work out so well.


----------



## nismofreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BarryCarey*
> 
> lol, way to make me feel better....
> I've spent all day trying every combo of voltage, power target, core & mem offset. The end result......62 core offset....putting me at 1199mhz. Can't break 1200 no matter what I try.
> I just don't get why I can be stable at +58 with about 116% but have no room above that.
> I know there's no guarantee of overclocking but seeing people with reference 670 smoking this card isn't fun. I sprung for the FTW thinking I'd have more OC headroom but that didn't work out so well.


I hear ya. It's like the ASUS guys choosing TOP or non-TOP. Kepler is like a box of chocolates. You just never know what you're gonna get.


----------



## jmarsiglio

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nismofreak*
> 
> I hear ya. It's like the ASUS guys choosing TOP or non-TOP. Kepler is like a box of chocolates. You just never know what you're gonna get.


That was such a weird movie.


----------



## BarryCarey

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nismofreak*
> 
> I hear ya. It's like the ASUS guys choosing TOP or non-TOP. Kepler is like a box of chocolates. You just never know what you're gonna get.


haha, I managed to pull the dried up, crusty chocolate out of the box. 2nd lowest out of all the ones posted on EVGA.


----------



## skyn3t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BarryCarey*
> 
> First, this is a great guide. It explains overclocking on the 6xx series very well.
> I have a 670 FTW and think I might have a dud.
> Out of the box my boost is 1085 with a Keplar boost of 79 giving me a max of 1137. From what I've seen here and on the EVGA forums, this is a lot lower than many other FTW cards.
> I followed the guide to the letter and the highest core offset I can achieve is +58. Anything higher crashes Heaven. This is with a power target of 145% and voltage set to max.
> Here's the weird part. I can stabilize the +58 with 116% power target. That would lead me to believe I should have a lot of headroom to raise the clock. But I still can't get over the +58 regardless of the power target and voltage setting.
> I've tried pretty much every combo between 100% and 145% and .988mv and 1175mv. No matter what I can't top +58mhz
> Also, even with the power target set to 140% the power % in Precision and GPU-Z never goes over 100. I've seen people in this thread with screenshots of their power % upwards of 113%.
> Does anyone have any idea what might be going on here? Is this card maxed out? Am I doing something wrong?


just to you feel better about you card, my first card clock to 1217 Kepler boost when i OC it it goes 1350







nice hum.But my second card is worst
out of the box 1137 kepler boost when I OC it it goes 1242 max so i have to stay in sli mode with 1240 stable in all games and bench's

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nismofreak*
> 
> I hear ya. It's like the ASUS guys choosing TOP or non-TOP. Kepler is like a box of chocolates. You just never know what you're gonna get.


I wish my two cards could OC 1350 side by side . I'm kinda lazy to post all my links but so fa so good this is all my result in single and sli mode


----------



## BarryCarey

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyn3t*
> 
> just to you feel better about you card, my first card clock to 1217 Kepler boost when i OC it it goes 1350
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> nice hum.But my second card is worst
> out of the box 1137 kepler boost when I OC it it goes 1242 max so i have to stay in sli mode with 1240 stable in all games and bench's
> I wish my two cards could OC 1350 side by side . I'm kinda lazy to post all my links but so fa so good this is all my result in single and sli mode


Not to shabby on the first one. Heck, I would kill for your second card. I top out at 1195 max OC.

Mine is the second lowest FTW I've seen over at EVGA and it's the lowest I've found here so far.

I'm thinking there's something up with the card because of weird OC results and power usage I've had. Plus I've a couple BF3 crashes and 1 heaven crash at stock settings. Also, my ASIC is 76% if that counts for anything.

Might have to give EVGA a call.


----------



## skyn3t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BarryCarey*
> 
> Not to shabby on the first one. Heck, I would kill for your second card. I top out at 1195 max OC.
> Mine is the second lowest FTW I've seen over at EVGA and it's the lowest I've found here so far.
> I'm thinking there's something up with the card because of weird OC results and power usage I've had. Plus I've a couple BF3 crashes and 1 heaven crash at stock settings. Also, my ASIC is 76% if that counts for anything.
> Might have to give EVGA a call.


my second card the max oc is 1242 if i increase 1MHz = 1243 it crash. return it for sure don't waste more time with.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Current clocks right now, with voltage mod BIOS: 1215 MHz core / 3506 MHz memory.

However, I just got a red screen of death. Everything's been running fine so far though with these clocks, except for that. Should I be worried?


----------



## Fallout323f

some comments plz can i lower the voltage or the power target?
or is it safe working this way.
the strange thing is that my arrow are put on default but the wright numbers are on my GPU-Z


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Fallout323f*
> 
> 
> some comments plz can i lower the voltage or the power target?
> or is it safe working this way.
> the strange thing is that my arrow are put on default but the wright numbers are on my GPU-Z


You could lower it if you want to get better temperatures, but it really doesn't matter.

It's safe, for the most part.


----------



## Massicor

My Gigabyte windforce 670 wins the worst silicon chip of the year award tbh.

Default clock - 950
Boost clock - 1059

Cant overclock at all ..mabie by 10mhz stable ?


----------



## propete10

Can anyone answer why in the Fan graph in EVGA Precision X where you can set the target temperature for the fan speed % I noticed mine is capped at 30% and 80% so in I can never manually set it to go down to 10% fan speed or higher than 80%. Will it go above and below these capped values with an automatic fan setting? does anyone know why this is and how I can fix it? I have checked the Precision X install directory for any .ini or .cfg settings but can't find anything =[

surely some other people must have this problem or have noticed this?!?!?


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *propete10*
> 
> Can anyone answer why in the Fan graph in EVGA Precision X where you can set the target temperature for the fan speed % I noticed mine is capped at 30% and 80% so in I can never manually set it to go down to 10% fan speed or higher than 80%. Will it go above and below these capped values with an automatic fan setting? does anyone know why this is and how I can fix it? I have checked the Precision X install directory for any .ini or .cfg settings but can't find anything =[
> surely some other people must have this problem or have noticed this?!?!?


I have, and I do believe it goes below 10%. I think even the OP had this issue, but he still set up the fan speed at 10%.


----------



## ecksodia

Is it okay to set your max OC profile in precision then boot it at startup? It only really comes into play when you play games (i.e., setting the voltage and the power percent to max won't shorten the card's life significantly?)


----------



## HardwareDecoder

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ecksodia*
> 
> Is it okay to set your max OC profile in precision then boot it at startup? It only really comes into play when you play games (i.e., setting the voltage and the power percent to max won't shorten the card's life significantly?)


Yes it is ok. No it won't since it only uses max voltage and clocks when you are gaming anyway.


----------



## omnimodis78

Fantastic write-up, but I do have a question (concern?): my card overclocks nicely and remains stable - but my Kepler Boost is so so low (compared to what you mentioned), it's always around 65Mhz. To be clear, the calculation is "Max Core Clock minus Boost Clock = Kepler Boost" - right? At absolute stock settings, running Heaven, and using GPU-z, I get a max core-clock of 1123.5 and my boost clock is 1059. Max temp registered is 60c (with 40% fan speed), and max TDP is 71.4%. I ran the benchmark twice, and I get relatively identical results. So, is this low Kepler Boost at 65Mhz something I should worry about?

And another side question: Using Precision X, my user fan profile only activates and remains running as long as the actual program is open and running. If I close it down, the fan profile reverts to hardware profile - if I then reopen Precision, my user profile activates. Yes, I have the "Windows Start Up" checked (above the 'default' and 'apply' buttons'), and the 'auto' box is checked above the fan curve button. The OC numbers all load and remain active at all times, it's just the user fan profile that does not activate unless I open Precision (or check the boxes in the properties to open the program when Windows starts).

Thanks!


----------



## Spudinske

Hey guys, are you guys able to run BF3 at 1080p on ultra preset? I notice that i always have 65+ fps but i get some noticeable mouse lag. But if i turn off AA my mouse is 100% responsive. Is this just me? This is in close quarter maps.


----------



## PoWn3d_0704

I can't run the game at 60FPS solid, and it's bothering me.

Never had an issue with mouse lag though... try turning on Vertical Sync


----------



## Spudinske

In all my years of gaming vertical sync has been giving me MORE mouse lag.


----------



## PoWn3d_0704

That is so weird.... I always run Vertical Sync and there is no lag whatsoever. I can't run a game without vertical sync, because the screen tearing makes me want to stab myself in the face.


----------



## Warrior1986

I'm starting to get into OC'ing my Gigabyte 670 (see sig for link to the new build), and I'm not sure if what I'm getting is normal.

The best I'm about to get the power consumption TDP% up to is 77% in Furmark and 88.9% in Kombustor. Is there no way to get it higher? Or should I not care, seeing as the sort of load that both Furmark and Kombustor put on the card is something the card will never see while doing any actual gaming?

Edit - I'm an idiot as I should have put what the settings were for both programs. Furmark - custom resolution at 228x228 with 8x AA and xtreme burn-in checked. Kombustor - 1280x720 with 8x AA and Direct3D 11 for 3D API and Post-FX.


----------



## PoWn3d_0704

I have the same card, and the same issue. I was told that because the card has the extra Power headroom, (The 8 pin and the 6 pin, as opposed to the dual 6 pins) it is normal to stay well under 90% power.

With about 77% power, I got up to 1293 Mhz boosted while running Haven Engine. Highest score was a 1282. Max temp of 55C

EDIT: That's Haven Engine MAXED at extreme Tessaltaion, full AF and Full AA.


----------



## Warrior1986

Ahh, that makes sense. So in a way, it's a good thing I'm unable to peg the card because it won't throttle down as a result of drawing too much power.


----------



## propete10

I thought throttling only occurred due to temperature exceeding 69C and nothing to do with power usage?...


----------



## IronDoq

If you go about the power % you set in precision it will throttle. And B.T.W., I just disabled iGPU cause I was bored, and my scores SHOT up. Went from 1185 to 1276, or about 46 fps to 50! It's crazy how much of a difference it made. I'm at 1240 and +475 @ 1.21v, and I'm going to see if disabling this will allow for a higher overclock. Back to watching Unigen runs for hours on end!


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *IronDoq*
> 
> If you go about the power % you set in precision it will throttle. And B.T.W., I just disabled iGPU cause I was bored, and my scores SHOT up. Went from 1185 to 1276, or about 46 fps to 50! It's crazy how much of a difference it made. I'm at 1240 and +475 @ 1.21v, and I'm going to see if disabling this will allow for a higher overclock. Back to watching Unigen runs for hours on end!


wow, thats interesting


----------



## IronDoq

Well it would seem that I happened to forget to set one of the settings to max, because after a restart of Unigen I was back to getting my normal 46-47 fps scores.


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Dang...got me excited, lol.


----------



## IronDoq

Stay excited! I had vsync on adaptive while I was running those last few tests. I'm testing now with much higher scores and I'm able to pish mu overclock farther. Previous clocks were 1240 and +375, I'll post back when I reach the limits. Disable those iGpus!!


----------



## DobermanPincher

Got my new gtx 670 today, here are the details

1006MHz core
1085MHz boost
52MHz kepler boost
1137MHz max boost

+50 offset core (anything higher crashes)
+500 offset memory

Total 1187MHz core

This seems quite low compared to other ocs, followed the master guide aswell :c


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DobermanPincher*
> 
> Got my new gtx 670 today, here are the details
> 1006MHz core
> 1085MHz boost
> 52MHz kepler boost
> 1137MHz max boost
> +50 offset core (anything higher crashes)
> +500 offset memory
> Total 1187MHz core
> This seems quite low compared to other ocs, followed the master guide aswell :c


which 670 is it


----------



## DobermanPincher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> which 670 is it


palit ref


----------



## Blast

I think I've got a pretty decent card as far as overclocking goes.

GPU clock is at 1238 (+122% power; Precision shows 131% TDP but the clock doesn't throttle).

Fairly unimpressive 91 mhz KB, but the +155mhz offset evens it out.

Memory is outstanding though. I am at 600mhz offset right now and Furmark, with SeanPoe's settings, is running 40 mins stable with no artifacts.

Heaven works, kinda. No crashing and the only couple artifacts I get is on the Cutscene camera only where it rotates around the dragon [happens at stock though anyways; friend has same issue].

Just posting to see what others think of the OC. EVGA base model 670.

GC - 1238
Power - +122%
Memory - 3602 mhz


----------



## Gomi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Blast*
> 
> I think I've got a pretty decent card as far as overclocking goes.
> GPU clock is at 1238 (+122% power; Precision shows 131% TDP but the clock doesn't throttle).
> Fairly unimpressive 91 mhz KB, but the +155mhz offset evens it out.
> Memory is outstanding though. I am at 600mhz offset right now and Furmark, with SeanPoe's settings, is running 40 mins stable with no artifacts.
> Heaven works, kinda. No crashing and the only couple artifacts I get is on the Cutscene camera only where it rotates around the dragon [happens at stock though anyways; friend has same issue].
> Just posting to see what others think of the OC. EVGA base model 670.
> GC - 1238
> Power - +122%
> Memory - 3602 mhz


Definitely one of the better ones, mine is higher but it all comes down to luck with these cards.

And dont worry about those Heaven artifacts, everyone gets them







I was worried aswel when I noticed them, but a quick google search showed that everyone have them.


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DobermanPincher*
> 
> palit ref


you beat this guy by 1 cc




so i think that's fine for that card


----------



## Ragnarok05

I was just wondering, this guide looks very comprehensive and is quite helpful, but would it be possible for the thread starter, or maybe someone who knows as much to make a video tutorial and post it on Youtube?

Just for derpy people like myself who need a demonstration on how to do it.

Also, what are some safety risks I 'd have to be on the lookout for if I do decide to OC my 670?


----------



## Forsakenfire

On my vanilla EVGA 670.

GC: +130MHz @1240MHz
Mem: +525MHz @ 3524MHz.

Not to shabby for a ref.


----------



## lukasdesign

Dear OP,

you say that we have to *TEMPORARLY* increase voltage and power target to the maximum. However I can't see to what setting we have to decrease them after finding the maximum stable overclock.


----------



## Thoraine

Hi guys I have a few questions:

If I overclock to beyond the card's capability, does the driver just crash and force close whatever game I'm running or might it burn my card?

How do I ensure my overclock is stable? Do I run something like furmark for 12 hours? Or do I just have to pass one round of heaven dx11 benchmark without artifacts or crashes?

Once my overclock is stable, at what point do I turn down the power target and voltage to default?

I hope someone can help me out with this. Thank you!


----------



## Crabby654

I'm wondering how good my OC for my card. I have a EVGA 670 FTW 2gb edition and at the moment my OC is:

Voltage: max (the max precision setting)
Power target: 115% (according to what OC scanner showed it needed)
Core: +80
Memory: +150

If I go any higher on the core clock then when I play a game on one monitor and watch a stream on the second the stream will freeze and go green. The memory OC I will admit I haven't played with much. I think when my Kepler boost kicks in with that OC it's around 1200 core clock total.

Any recommendation on what I should do with this OC or is it as good as it gets? Sorry I'm at work so I might misspell words or not have full info.


----------



## shremi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Crabby654*
> 
> I'm wondering how good my OC for my card. I have a EVGA 670 FTW 2gb edition and at the moment my OC is:
> Voltage: max (the max precision setting)
> Power target: 115% (according to what OC scanner showed it needed)
> Core: +80
> Memory: +150
> If I go any higher on the core clock then when I play a game on one monitor and watch a stream on the second the stream will freeze and go green. The memory OC I will admit I haven't played with much. I think when my Kepler boost kicks in with that OC it's around 1200 core clock total.
> Any recommendation on what I should do with this OC or is it as good as it gets? Sorry I'm at work so I might misspell words or not have full info.


I followed the guide and on my 670 FTW My final overclock was 1290 on the core and 1374 on the memory . Those were the settings that i could used ithout my drivers crashing in heaven I also colud run 3dmark11 for 6 times straight.

Did you followed the guide in the OP ?????

You colud always try this :

http://www.overclock.net/t/1289489/gtx-670-unlocked-voltage-bios

It gave me 23mhz more on the core and i colud break the 1300







but the memory stayed the same ..

Give it a try


----------



## D2234

How is this card? +600 to Mem and +100 to Clock so far.

Your card's model: Gigabyte 670 OC Windforce
Your Boost Clock: 1159
Your Max Boost (This is your Boost Clock + Kepler Boost): 1227
Your Memory Clock: 1800
Your Power Target and Voltage setting: 112% and 1.175


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *shremi*
> 
> I followed the guide and on my 670 FTW My final overclock was 1290 on the core and 1374 on the memory . Those were the settings that i could used ithout my drivers crashing in heaven I also colud run 3dmark11 for 6 times straight.
> Did you followed the guide in the OP ?????
> You colud always try this :
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1289489/gtx-670-unlocked-voltage-bios
> It gave me 23mhz more on the core and i colud break the 1300
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> but the memory stayed the same ..
> Give it a try


Yeah it does indeed help with core clocks. It does not help memory as there is no way to raise the memory voltage on the reference controller








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *D2234*
> 
> Did I get a fail card?
> Your card's model: Gigabyte 670 OC Windforce
> Your Boost Clock: 1159
> Your Max Boost (This is your Boost Clock + Kepler Boost): 1227
> Your Memory Clock: 1503
> Your Power Target and Voltage setting: 112% and 1.175
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


Failed? Absolutely not. Below average for a non reference card? I would still say no. That is still a decent clock, and will perform great


----------



## D2234

How is 46.3 FPS with no Memory Increases?

1260 Max Clock on Heaven.


----------



## D2234

91 Kepler Boost - is this bad?

Also - does anyone notice Memory giving more FPS than GPU-Off Set? Would it be worth going down in GPU clock to hit 1000+?


----------



## IronDoq

46.3 is about what I get without memory, so you're spot on. With +475 I get up to 50.1. And no, your Kepler Boost is about average. However, that isn't the thing that matters. What matters is your Kepler Boost AND your maximum offset. In my browsing through this thread, I have found 1220-1260 to be the most common. Yes I do notice that Heaven tends to favor memory overclocking, but it's a synthetic benchmark. I've no idea if/which games prefer core of memory, but Heaven does.

Hope that helps!


----------



## Blast

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *D2234*
> 
> 91 Kepler Boost - is this bad?
> Also - does anyone notice Memory giving more FPS than GPU-Off Set? Would it be worth going down in GPU clock to hit 1000+?


You probably won't hit 1000; you will be more in the range of 300-700. High memory speed is good, but you want a balanced OC.

Also, if you read above, the memory voltage isn't controlled the same way GPU voltage is - therefore sacrificing GPU offset won't really help your memory much.


----------



## D2234

Option 1:
120 GPU Offset - 0 Memory Offset - 1260 Max Boost - 46.3 FPS

Option 2:
105 GPU Offset - 600 Memory Clock - 1240 Max Boost - 50 FPS

Option 3:
Something in between?

Which option is the best for gaming?

It does seem like Heaven likes Memory Clock - does this translate into games?

600 is my highest Mem Clock without Artifacts btw


----------



## IronDoq

Option 2 IMO.


----------



## Warrior1986

Seconded. Losing a potential 600 MHz boost to memory for just 20 MHz on the core is a really bad trade-off.


----------



## SightUp

I'm doing a boost of +110/+600. It passed testing first try with the +600 memory clock boost. How is that as for an OC? Pretty good? Average? Push my memory clock higher?

Anything more in the core clock, and I end up failing testing in Heaven.


----------



## Paztak

Can i just ask quick question... I'm sure that there is answer already somewhere but i didn't find it.
Is there any particular reason why my power percentage seems to always be below 100%. Right now my power target is 128% and after running the Heaven benchmark i can see in the performance log that the highest used power is only 90% Why is that? It should be over 100%, right?


----------



## LBear

Is there something with haven that makes my gpu fail? One day i OC'ed my 670FTW and was able to pass haven multiple times. The next day with the same settings i ran haven again and it failed. I tried 6 more times after that and they all failed but i can run 3d mark 11 on extreme @ 1440p with everything cranked up to the point im only getting bout 10fps and can pass every time.


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *LBear*
> 
> Is there something with haven that makes my gpu fail? One day i OC'ed my 670FTW and was able to pass haven multiple times. The next day with the same settings i ran haven again and it failed. I tried 6 more times after that and they all failed but i can run 3d mark 11 on extreme @ 1440p with everything cranked up to the point im only getting bout 10fps and can pass every time.


It maybe your temps where higher? Maybe it was not completely stable? The benchmarks stress the cards in different ways. I can run about 30mhz higher on the core in 3dmark then in heaven, heaven pushes your card much harder(and I would even go as far to say that it does it more efficiently as well, because I can go up to 140% TDP in 3dmark but only 114% max in heaven, same clocks at 80% fan.)


----------



## D2234

Why does my power peak at 75% in Heaven? --- Gigabyte OC 670


----------



## D2234

Peaking at 82...


----------



## IronDoq

If your power % doesn't go over 100%, it means your card had a good power design. My EVGA 670 4gb is pretty much always above 115%, and with non-reference PCBs with more efficient power designs the % will be lower. If nothing is wrong with your card's performance, there is no reason to worry about your power % being below 100%. In fact I would go so far as to say that it's a good thing!
Quote:


> I'm doing a boost of +110/+600. It passed testing first try with the +600 memory clock boost. How is that as for an OC? Pretty good? Average? Push my memory clock higher?
> 
> Anything more in the core clock, and I end up failing testing in Heaven.


That's a slightly above average memory boost. Mine does +475, any farther and I crash. And as we are in fact on OCN, push that memory as far as it can go!!


----------



## D2234

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *IronDoq*
> 
> If your power % doesn't go over 100%, it means your card had a good power design. My EVGA 670 4gb is pretty much always above 115%, and with non-reference PCBs with more efficient power designs the % will be lower. If nothing is wrong with your card's performance, there is no reason to worry about your power % being below 100%. In fact I would go so far as to say that it's a good thing!
> That's a slightly above average memory boost. Mine does +475, any farther and I crash. And as we are in fact on OCN, push that memory as far as it can go!!


So would setting my power from 110%->125% make any difference then?


----------



## IronDoq

If it isn't even exceeding 100% then there would be no harm or degradation in performance in setting it lower. I've heard of people who have been getting better overclocks with a lower power %, so try it out.


----------



## rocksoff

OK, so I followed the instructions for the quick overclock and when I finished, I compared with some of the overclocks I've found in this thread and... it's quite clear mine is horribly wrong. I'm using a Asus GTX 670 DCUII (non-top) and this is what I ended up with: 

And my Unigine results: 

It's clear to me that everyone else has a memory clock in the 500+MHz range, whereas mine is unstable past 150. And people's gpu clock offsets don't seem to go as high as what I set mine to (212).
I got the 212 by starting at 120, like the guide says, and increasing by 20 until crashing/instability. So can anyone help me out here?


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rocksoff*
> 
> OK, so I followed the instructions for the quick overclock and when I finished, I compared with some of the overclocks I've found in this thread and... it's quite clear mine is horribly wrong. I'm using a Asus GTX 670 DCUII (non-top) and this is what I ended up with:
> And my Unigine results:
> It's clear to me that everyone else has a memory clock in the 500+MHz range, whereas mine is unstable past 150. And people's gpu clock offsets don't seem to go as high as what I set mine to (212).
> I got the 212 by starting at 120, like the guide says, and increasing by 20 until crashing/instability. So can anyone help me out here?


Every card is different it could so happen your card just cant get up there. Also welcome to OCN







. And what are your boost clocks?


----------



## D2234

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rocksoff*
> 
> OK, so I followed the instructions for the quick overclock and when I finished, I compared with some of the overclocks I've found in this thread and... it's quite clear mine is horribly wrong. I'm using a Asus GTX 670 DCUII (non-top) and this is what I ended up with:
> And my Unigine results:
> It's clear to me that everyone else has a memory clock in the 500+MHz range, whereas mine is unstable past 150. And people's gpu clock offsets don't seem to go as high as what I set mine to (212).
> I got the 212 by starting at 120, like the guide says, and increasing by 20 until crashing/instability. So can anyone help me out here?


Try setting GPU clock to 0 and then raising Mem Clock?


----------



## rocksoff

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> Every card is different it could so happen your card just cant get up there. Also welcome to OCN
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . And what are your boost clocks?


Thanks. Well, from looking at my performance log graph its peak was 1320. Is that the correct way to gauge the boost clock speed?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *D2234*
> 
> Try setting GPU clock to 0 and then raising Mem Clock?


So would you recommend putting gpu clock offset back to default, and then boosting the mem clock offset incrementally until it crashes, and then start boosting the gpu clock after it hits its maximum?


----------



## D2234

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rocksoff*
> 
> Thanks. Well, from looking at my performance log graph its peak was 1320. Is that the correct way to gauge the boost clock speed?
> So would you recommend putting gpu clock offset back to default, and then boosting the mem clock offset incrementally until it crashes, and then start boosting the gpu clock after it hits its maximum?


Exactly - there's a certain balance you need to get between core clock and mem clock. Personally, I would try to get your max mem clock offset without artifacts (blue snowflakes in Heaven). Once you find that, set your mem clock offset to that number along with setting your gpu clock to it's highest amount minus 5.

From my experience in 3DMark11 30-40 GPU Clock is equal to 600+ Mem Offset (7200 Mem Clock Total) so it's up to you to decide how much GPU Clock to drop... For me without the voltage tweak I had to drop from 1250->1230 (20) in order to get my 600 Mem Clock... With the voltage tweak my max gpu clock is 1282 and I only had to drop to 1277 for 600+ Mem Clock to be stable (a bit odd - I was thinking without any mem offset I would be 20 ahead of what was stable with mem clock).

By the way - grats on the 1320 Clock - that's a real nice clock. I got 1230 and I got it up to 1277 through voltage modding.


----------



## D2234

"This is the new Dynamic Clocking feature found on the Kepler-based GPUs; It will dynamically add more performance to the card if it's at a suitable temperature and suitable power percent."

I am running 55 degrees load and 125% Power Target and I only use 85% Power Draw at most. My Kepler Boost is 91 - I don't understand why I'm not drawing more.


----------



## NineTailedFox

This is the highest stable run I can get with no artifacts.

i7-3570k @ 4.5GHz
Asus DirectCU II (non-top) GTX 670 1269/3602 @ 1.175



In the top left corner of the picture you can see the PrecisionX value's.


----------



## gutlessVADER

EVGA 670 FTW

My stock boost clock is 1085 and my Kepler Boost is 65, which means that a GPU Clock Offset of 35 should result in a constant clock of 1185MHz. However, you'll notice that my maximum during the Unigine Heaven benchmark was only 1176. I've been having this problem since I first started overclocking it, and find it odd that it didn't decrease in intervals of 13. At any rate, it shouldn't be decreasing at all as I never reached the first temperature threshold (70C) nor anywhere close to the power target. Right now, after BF3 crashing, I'm at GPU Offset +33 and Mem Offset +500, but get 1170MHz instead of 1183MHz, and it sometimes goes to 1176MHz (all while under 69C). I am sad that my Kepler Boost is low, since that normally means my card is terrible at overclocking, so any help would be appreciated.

Heaven Benchmark with GPU +33 and Mem +500









Everything else, just after Heaven with GPU +35 and Mem +600


----------



## Fallout323f

EVGA Precision x 3.0.3 is out. can't get a grab on it.

"qoute :What's New:

Added "Always on top" setting to the context menu of detached hardware monitor window. When this option is disabled, hardware monitoring window can be minimized to the taskbar when it is detached from the main window
Added hardware monitoring history logging support. Now EVGA Precision is able to save history in native RivaTuner Hardware Monitoring Log file format. The log files captured with EVGA Precision can be viewed in any text editor like Notepad or in graphics form in RivaTuner's HML file viewer (RivaTuner must be installed for viewing log files in graphics form)
Maximum framerate target increased to 120 FPS
Maximum length of GPU name for GPU selection buttons has been increased to 10 symbols
Added new "Force fan speed update on each period" option to the "Fan" tab. New option may improve compatibility of software automatic fan speed control mode with some bugged display drivers, overriding manually programmed fan speed under certain conditions
Bundled EVGA EVTune utility has been replaced with brand new EVGA VoltageTuner utility
Added bundled EVGA Bridge utility, allowing controlling EVGA Precision via Bluetooth from Android smartphones. The bridge utility is automatically started by EVGA Precision when "Enable external access to application via Bluetooth" is ticked in advanced settings
Fixed issue in skin engine causing boost clock marker legend to be rendered improperly under certain conditions
Added new "EVGA Classified" skin


----------



## Admiral Mudkipz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Fallout323f*
> 
> EVGA Precision x 3.0.3 is out. can't get a grab on it.
> "qoute :What's New:
> Added "Always on top" setting to the context menu of detached hardware monitor window. When this option is disabled, hardware monitoring window can be minimized to the taskbar when it is detached from the main window
> Added hardware monitoring history logging support. Now EVGA Precision is able to save history in native RivaTuner Hardware Monitoring Log file format. The log files captured with EVGA Precision can be viewed in any text editor like Notepad or in graphics form in RivaTuner's HML file viewer (RivaTuner must be installed for viewing log files in graphics form)
> Maximum framerate target increased to 120 FPS
> Maximum length of GPU name for GPU selection buttons has been increased to 10 symbols
> Added new "Force fan speed update on each period" option to the "Fan" tab. New option may improve compatibility of software automatic fan speed control mode with some bugged display drivers, overriding manually programmed fan speed under certain conditions
> Bundled EVGA EVTune utility has been replaced with brand new EVGA VoltageTuner utility
> Added bundled EVGA Bridge utility, allowing controlling EVGA Precision via Bluetooth from Android smartphones. The bridge utility is automatically started by EVGA Precision when "Enable external access to application via Bluetooth" is ticked in advanced settings
> Fixed issue in skin engine causing boost clock marker legend to be rendered improperly under certain conditions
> Added new "EVGA Classified" skin


That's the latest version.


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rocksoff*
> 
> Thanks. Well, from looking at my performance log graph its peak was 1320. Is that the correct way to gauge the boost clock speed?
> So would you recommend putting gpu clock offset back to default, and then boosting the mem clock offset incrementally until it crashes, and then start boosting the gpu clock after it hits its maximum?


Yes it is, sorry I went to sleep







. That is a great card you have there bud.


----------



## LBear

Im so sick of haven right now. Every time i run it my card drops to 2d mode and im really tired of restarting my PC.


----------



## rocksoff

Alright, so after finding my memory clock's max first, then finding the gpu clock offset, I was able to get these results:




Still not as good as some of the clocks I've seen here, but better than last time.


----------



## Warrior1986

Just started doing some baseline benchmarks to compare to the old sig rig, so I ran 3dMark06 first. The weird thing is when I looked at the monitor graphs after it was done. Is it normal for the GPU clock to do that ramp up and down there towards the end (after those two long plateaus)?


I started rooting around in the Nvidia control panel and found a setting called power management mode, which was set to Adaptive. Would it make a difference setting this to prefer maximum performance? I tried it for a while, but then I noticed the card does not clock down the speeds and voltage, which I'd rather not have it be unable to clock down to idle mode.


----------



## D2234

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Warrior1986*
> 
> Just started doing some baseline benchmarks to compare to the old sig rig, so I ran 3dMark06 first. The weird thing is when I looked at the monitor graphs after it was done. Is it normal for the GPU clock to do that ramp up and down there towards the end (after those two long plateaus)?
> 
> I started rooting around in the Nvidia control panel and found a setting called power management mode, which was set to Adaptive. Would it make a difference setting this to prefer maximum performance? I tried it for a while, but then I noticed the card does not clock down the speeds and voltage, which I'd rather not have it be unable to clock down to idle mode.


Always set to Max Performance!

My card underclocks when I close out of everything (voltage and clocks).


----------



## audioholic

STOCK 670 FTW and STOCK 2500k










Overclocking is happening tomorrow







will update when finished


----------



## KyleN

This is from ~1 hour of BF3 multiplayer with the refrence gtx670.

Does it look good?










Heaven ran 10 loops without any artifacts or crashes too.

Keepin it under 70c is a no-no. So my goal is to have it under 80c.


----------



## IronDoq

Decided to download 3dmark11 for a quick run through, and the first time I ran it I noticed that during certain parts of the benchmark the frames were hard capped at 60. So I ended it and set vsync to off in the control panel. I ran it again, however, and I still noticed that the frames NEVER go above 60. It that just part of the benchmark? Am I missing something? After having run through with the frames capped at 60 I got a score of 9151. Gtx 670 4gb @ 1240 and +400, 3570k @ 4.5, G.Skill 1600 ram.


----------



## tecfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *IronDoq*
> 
> Decided to download 3dmark11 for a quick run through, and the first time I ran it I noticed that during certain parts of the benchmark the frames were hard capped at 60. So I ended it and set vsync to off in the control panel. I ran it again, however, and I still noticed that the frames NEVER go above 60. It that just part of the benchmark? Am I missing something? After having run through with the frames capped at 60 I got a score of 9151. Gtx 670 4gb @ 1240 and +400, 3570k @ 4.5, G.Skill 1600 ram.


Try running the benchmark "stretched" and not "centered".


----------



## IronDoq

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tecfreak*
> 
> Try running the benchmark "stretched" and not "centered".


Thanks!







Got a score of 9593


----------



## Warrior1986

So I tried setting the card to "prefer maximum performance" and it did smooth out the graph a little, compared to adaptive power mode (see my post here)


Strange thing though is it didn't improve my score. In fact, even though it's within the margin of error I think, my score went down. Before it was 26592 (best score out of 3 runs) and now it's 26428 (best out of 3). I'm going to do some more testing between the 2 modes in Vantage, 11, and Heaven and see what the results are.


----------



## audioholic

Hey guys hows this?


----------



## TheBlindDeafMute

Rep added. Very helpful. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

I would be very interested in the actual performance gains of a higher overclock. What would you gain in the FPS department by doing this? 5-10 fps?


----------



## 1c3m4nz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *KyleN*
> 
> This is from ~1 hour of BF3 multiplayer with the refrence gtx670.
> Does it look good?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Heaven ran 10 loops without any artifacts or crashes too.
> Keepin it under 70c is a no-no. So my goal is to have it under 80c.


You do realize that the first throttle point is at 70 C dont you. Try to reduce frequency clocks by 50 and see if you can get to 67-68 C. I see a stable line in the graph but want to see the graph line before it reached 70. It would have had higher clocks.


----------



## Icarian

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tecfreak*
> 
> Try running the benchmark "stretched" and not "centered".


Holy hell, 600 points out of nowhere.

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4179961

I was always left wondering why I had such a low score... That was it


----------



## feniks

**** ... I never paid attention to "stretched" vs "centered" setting in the 3dmark11 ... I'd never even suspect it to be responsible for lower benchmarks ... thanks tecfreak for posting this!

on a side note, I noticed that using Adaptive VSYNC in NVIDIA 3D settings gives me around 120 points higher in 3dmark11 than running any other setting.


----------



## Sakura Siri

just ran 3dmark11.
I have a EVGA GTX 670 FTW.
Power Target - 145%
GPU Clock Offset +79MHz
Mem Clock Offset +275MHz
and the voltage is set to 1175
(in precision x i have seen my gpu clock at 1293 ish MHz)
this is the score i just got http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4180819

wondering if it is an alright score? this is my first build so I am pretty new to the OC scene.










*moved my post from the other oc thread, didn't see this one here*


----------



## audioholic

Thoughts???? I havent touched memory clock yet. I was reading through the guide and I think I missed something on that..where do we start with the memory clock?


----------



## atomicmew

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rocksoff*
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> Alright, so after finding my memory clock's max first, then finding the gpu clock offset, I was able to get these results:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Still not as good as some of the clocks I've seen here, but better than last time.


That's actually really good, for that resolution.

Question: I noticed your graphics card in the scoring sheet reads out as intel HD 4000. Are you using Virtu MVP by any chance?


----------



## Warrior1986

Here are the results as promised earlier regarding adaptive power management vs maximum power management. Scores are a best of 3 runs on each setting.

*3dMark 06*
Adaptive - 28776
Max Power - 28786

*3dMark Vantage*
Adaptive - 35279
Max Power - 35363

*3dMark11*
Adaptive - P9906
Max Power - P9900

Conclusion? It makes no difference what setting is used for power management. Perhaps on a SLI setup there would be, but in my case there wasn't. And for me, running adaptive mode lets the card downclock and volt when idle which it won't do when set to max power.


----------



## Juggalo23451

delete


----------



## BrushyBill

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *audioholic*
> 
> STOCK 670 FTW and STOCK 2500k
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Overclocking is happening tomorrow
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> will update when finished


Hrm, one of my PNY 670's at stock speeds is running almost identical. But my 2500k is at 4.4Ghz.



And this is my scores with a slight overclock.



This one is in SLI, both reference PNY cards. This SLI run I made a while back and I'm not sure what my clocks were. I think I had one card overclocked the same as in the above image. But my second card wasn't OC'd at all IIRC. But since these things run so well in SLI or by themselves, I really don't need to OC them when I game. So I'll have to re-run some benchmarks in SLI with them overclocked if anyone was curious as to how they performed.


----------



## bigal1542

Anyone try out the new beta drivers yet?

http://www.nvidia.com/object/win8-win7-winvista-64bit-306.02-beta-driver.html


----------



## nismofreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> Anyone try out the new beta drivers yet?
> http://www.nvidia.com/object/win8-win7-winvista-64bit-306.02-beta-driver.html


I have. No change in my synthetics. I'm playing GW2 currently so I had a vested interest since this new driver helps with the eye candy.


----------



## Warrior1986

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> Anyone try out the new beta drivers yet?
> http://www.nvidia.com/object/win8-win7-winvista-64bit-306.02-beta-driver.html


Got the same question. From what I've seen so far, really this beta is for GW2 as people have been reporting noticeable increases in their frame rates. I'm more interested to see whether there's performance changes elsewhere and if any changes in benchmark scores.


----------



## BrushyBill

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bigal1542*
> 
> Anyone try out the new beta drivers yet?
> http://www.nvidia.com/object/win8-win7-winvista-64bit-306.02-beta-driver.html


I'm using them, and have noticed a slight stutter in MW3 (with and without SLI enabled), but then again that's MW3 for ya.... Everything else I've played, (which includes BF3, Sol Survivor, Heroes of Newerth, L4D2, Path of Exile, and a little IL-2 Cliffs of Dover), all seemed to run without any noticeable change. I will run some benchmarks later tonight to compare with some pre-beta driver scores.


----------



## feniks

I am running latest beta now and they give me exactly same synthetic scores under 3dmark11 as previous betas did.


----------



## Warrior1986

Yea, I think this beta is mostly because of improving performance in Guild Wars 2.


----------



## BrushyBill

Yeah I agree with the previous two posts. I haven't seen any performance difference in benchmarks either.


----------



## SaucedtC

This is my setup with my EVGA GTX 670 FTW SLI numbers


----------



## goldbranch

I have a question for SLI setup
Since each card may have a different max boost clock, should we enable "sync" while overclocking or should we overclock each card independently so that their maximum clocks will be similar to each other?


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SaucedtC*
> 
> This is my setup with my EVGA GTX 670 FTW SLI numbers


I wanna see you break 100fps


----------



## fourdot00

Hopefully this screen covers all the information:


What do you all think? First time OC'ing so I wasn't sure what to look for/aim for. Also, any idea why it would list the HD4000 as my GPU in the results?

Thanks guys!

Just to add on, after doing a 3DMark 11 bench with the same OC I got the following results:
P8533
Graphics Score
9201
Physics Score
6990
Combined Score
7037


----------



## BrushyBill

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *goldbranch*
> 
> I have a question for SLI setup
> Since each card may have a different max boost clock, should we enable "sync" while overclocking or should we overclock each card independently so that their maximum clocks will be similar to each other?


Well I got stuck with one card that barely hits +50 core clock (from stock reference). I can get it to about +52 but that's pretty much it's max with the memory clock at +500. Which isn't a good core clock at all.. I'm extremely disappointed in it. Then I have a second reference 670 of the same brand and as close as 28 in the last 2 digits of the serial number. This second card sits nicely at +150 core clock and +500 memory clock. It can got +175 on the core without issue but I haven't tried pushing it any farther since these cards running together gets the job done fine. So to answer your question, it's probably user preference. If I set both cards at the lower cards max clock speeds, they work fine together. And if I OC the second card to the specs I gave above, they still perform fine together but I get slightly better framerates when benchmarking. I have yet to actually need the overclocks for gaming though as I'm only running a single 1080p monitor.


----------



## skyn3t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> I wanna see you break 100fps


can i break for him







this settings is with Moded 670's bios, boost clock disable both cards run equaly never had any issue with the moded bios.


----------



## goldbranch

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BrushyBill*
> 
> Well I got stuck with one card that barely hits +50 core clock (from stock reference). I can get it to about +52 but that's pretty much it's max with the memory clock at +500. Which isn't a good core clock at all.. I'm extremely disappointed in it. Then I have a second reference 670 of the same brand and as close as 28 in the last 2 digits of the serial number. This second card sits nicely at +150 core clock and +500 memory clock. It can got +175 on the core without issue but I haven't tried pushing it any farther since these cards running together gets the job done fine. So to answer your question, it's probably user preference. If I set both cards at the lower cards max clock speeds, they work fine together. And if I OC the second card to the specs I gave above, they still perform fine together but I get slightly better framerates when benchmarking. I have yet to actually need the overclocks for gaming though as I'm only running a single 1080p monitor.


I mean, if the cards don't run at the same clock, would it affect gameplay experience like microstutterring?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyn3t*
> 
> can i break for him
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> this settings is with Moded 670's bios, boost clock disable both cards run equaly never had any issue with the moded bios.


He was running at 1920x1080, not 1680x1050.


----------



## skyn3t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *goldbranch*
> 
> I mean, if the cards don't run at the same clock, would it affect gameplay experience like microstutterring?
> He was running at 1920x1080, not 1680x1050.


I can run it at 1080







just give me a bit of time and i will do it


----------



## BrushyBill

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *goldbranch*
> 
> I mean, if the cards don't run at the same clock, would it affect gameplay experience like microstutterring?


With my uneven OC's-
I don't notice any micro stuttering at all in SLI. And I have a pretty sensitive eye for that kind of thing. Although if you play any MW3 know that the latest Nvidia Beta drivers gave me some sort of stutter/lag that comes and goes. In BF3, Red Orchestra 2, Black Ops and other FPS games I don't see this at all though. I play a lot of RTS games as well, everything runs smooth as butter.


----------



## Fallout323f

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fourdot00*
> 
> Hopefully this screen covers all the information:
> 
> What do you all think? First time OC'ing so I wasn't sure what to look for/aim for. Also, any idea why it would list the HD4000 as my GPU in the results?
> Thanks guys!
> Just to add on, after doing a 3DMark 11 bench with the same OC I got the following results:
> P8533
> Graphics Score
> 9201
> Physics Score
> 6990
> Combined Score
> 7037


some high temperature 83°c so it seems.
@70c your card wil trottle back.


----------



## taotree

Several questions:

1) I'm following the guide. I notice that after running the benchmark, GPU-Z shows Max Power Consumption at 129.4% TDP. Since the slider in Precision only goes up to 122% does that mean it's going to throttle? This happened during the first step running benchmark at 1100 MHz. Max temp was 69 C.

2) Someone mentioned noise. I have an EVGA GTX 670. The fan is audible even at the lowest setting. As it goes up it just gets louder and at top speed it's really loud. Is that normal? I checked with EVGA and it sounds like they would let me RMA it. But I would have to pay shipping. Since eventually I would want to water cool it (though don't know when that eventually will come), I'm wondering if I'll save the shipping and just wait. But if the fan is bad, could other things be bad?

3) In Precision X, the fan curve, there are those dashed lines at 30% and 80% and I cannot make the fan go above or below that. The guide shows those lines different so I'm wondering about that. Can I change them somehow?


----------



## fourdot00

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Fallout323f*
> 
> some high temperature 83°c so it seems.
> @70c your card wil trottle back.


Thanks for the reply, but I believe the PX hardware monitor shows it maxing out at 63C, not 83C.
The Heaven BM was crashing when I would push the GPU offset much farther (some error about device removal?). Increasing the memory offset further, while not causing artifacting or instability, seemed to be increasing performance less after each bump up.


----------



## sockpirate

Guys so....yeah i am about to throw my rig out the window and jump out with it....so first off i had a 680 first that constantly crashed and NEVER recovered from the drivers crashing, now i am on my SECOND msi 670 PE, and it is doing the same thing......

Here is a link to my thread about the problem http://www.overclock.net/t/1300309/600-series-nightmare

and here is the video of what is happening with both of my 670 PEs....


----------



## skyn3t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sockpirate*
> 
> Guys so....yeah i am about to throw my rig out the window and jump out with it....so first off i had a 680 first that constantly crashed and NEVER recovered from the drivers crashing, now i am on my SECOND msi 670 PE, and it is doing the same thing......
> Here is a link to my thread about the problem http://www.overclock.net/t/1300309/600-series-nightmare
> and here is the video of what is happening with both of my 670 PEs....


If you have the same problem with the same OS and mobo is your Mobo. Some day everyone will understand Asus all they products is crAsus crap time to move one. do not blame the VGA







I bet if you move your VGA to another mobo it will work. try using the IGPU and see what happen


----------



## sockpirate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyn3t*
> 
> If you have the same problem with the same OS and mobo is your Mobo. Some day everyone will understand Asus all they products is crAsus crap time to move one. do not blame the VGA
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I bet if you move your VGA to another mobo it will work. try using the IGPU and see what happen


Worked on my roommates Asrock AMD board. No problems at all, i am really thinking for some reason that it is my SSD.

I would really be surprised if it was the board, although the problem was happening with my M4E that i did use before this p8Z77-I deluxe.

Gonna install windows on an HDD to see if it is actually in fact my ssd or not.


----------



## skyn3t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sockpirate*
> 
> Worked on my roommates Asrock AMD board. No problems at all, i am really thinking for some reason that it is my SSD.
> I would really be surprised if it was the board, although the problem was happening with my M4E that i did use before this p8Z77-I deluxe.
> Gonna install windows on an HDD to see if it is actually in fact my ssd or not.


i don't think it will be the ssd. but it worth the try.


----------



## SaucedtC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyn3t*
> 
> can i break for him
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> this settings is with Moded 670's bios, boost clock disable both cards run equaly never had any issue with the moded bios.


Hahahaha nice! Ill try to break 100 fps when I get home. Where did you get your green skin btw??


----------



## sockpirate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyn3t*
> 
> i don't think it will be the ssd. but it worth the try.


Ended up being the SSD, everything works fine on my HDD. More than likely it was the firmware that i was using that had problems with the 600 series.


----------



## Sakura Siri

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SaucedtC*
> 
> Hahahaha nice! Ill try to break 100 fps when I get home. Where did you get your green skin btw??


http://www.evga.com/precision/ Scroll down the page and there is a tab for custom skins. I use that one too.


----------



## SaucedtC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sakura Siri*
> 
> http://www.evga.com/precision/ Scroll down the page and there is a tab for custom skins. I use that one too.


Thanks I got it.









Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyn3t*
> 
> can i break for him
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> this settings is with Moded 670's bios, boost clock disable both cards run equaly never had any issue with the moded bios.


What do you mean moded 670 bios? Btw I tried running your setup on my 670 and it just crashes on Heaven


----------



## spinejam

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SaucedtC*
> 
> Thanks I got it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What do you mean moded 670 bios? Btw I tried running your setup on my 670 and it just crashes on Heaven


Go here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1289489/gtx-680-670-unlocked-voltage-bios


----------



## SaucedtC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spinejam*
> 
> Go here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1289489/gtx-680-670-unlocked-voltage-bios


Thanks spine


----------



## JohnnyChuttz

1300mhz Club

Stable for 10 runs.


----------



## mark12000

Hello thanks for this guide but my voltage always resets when I play battlefield 3 (thus freezing the game) and Skyrim but it just reduces the fps to about 20. Yes i have saved it as a profile if anyone asks and also tried restarting numerous times. Please help me as i have absolutely no clue why the hell it's doing this but it's VERY annoying.
Thanks in advance!

EDIT:
DON'T WORRY ABOUT THIS POST IT TURNS OUT MY CLOCK WAS TO HIGH BUT INSTEAD OF THE DRIVER CRASHING MY VOLTAGE WOULD RESET HERE ARE MY *SETTINGS:
POWER TARGET: 110%
GPU CLOCK OFFSET: +60 MHz
MEM CLOCK OFFSET: +260*

*AND ENDED UP WITH THIS: (COMPLETELY STABLE!)*


----------



## taotree

UPDATE: I'll leave this here as a warning that apparently there might be a bug in EVGA Precision X. I was easily able to reproduce the problem by setting the power target to 100%. Apparently, the 122% setting that is displayed in the screenshot wasn't being applied. So, I think that's what was going on.

I'm finding something odd. It's shown in the screenshot.



Note that although temperature is less than 61, power% is only 102, so there shouldn't be any throttling?

But look at GPU clock in monitoring. It's 903. And that's what showed up during the benchmark in the on screen display.
But GPU-Z shows GPU clock is 1060, boost 1125, and kepler boost (mine is 170) would take max boost to 1295. Where is 903 coming from? And the benchmark is slow just as that suggests.

Notice how it spikes up after the benchmark is stopped?

Changing the memclock offset didn't affect it. I started it at 0 and moved it up thinking maybe somehow it was too slow but it had the same behavior.


----------



## taotree

What's the point of the voltage tuner in PrecisionX when it doesn't seem to do anything? I set it all the way down at the very bottom, 825 mV, and the voltage on the monitor still goes up to 1.175 running Heaven.


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Did you try restarting your computer? Some weird things happen with 2d mode.

Also, it's your 6 series card that auto volts itself to max when under load, the option is there because the program supports a lot of different gpus.


----------



## rmp459

So... no matter what I do, the power won't go above 100%. It's bad enough I have a really low kepler boost (~75), but this is just plain ******ed... +35 is about my limit.


----------



## taotree

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rmp459*
> 
> So... no matter what I do, the power won't go above 100%. It's bad enough I have a really low kepler boost (~75), but this is just plain ******ed... +35 is about my limit.


I can go to 122%, but it hits there very easily. Even with a temp of 61C, it will hit the power max and throttle. Makes me wonder if that other bios is worth it to go higher. Trying to overclock was really frustrating because there didn't seem much I could do. It would just keep hitting that power throttle.


----------



## taotree

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ShotgunBFFL*
> 
> Also, it's your 6 series card that auto volts itself to max when under load, the option is there because the program supports a lot of different gpus.


Do all 670's do this? A note in the guide might be useful to explain that for some or all of us that setting is meaningless. If there already is such a note, sorry I missed it.


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *taotree*
> 
> Do all 670's do this? A note in the guide might be useful to explain that for some or all of us that setting is meaningless. If there already is such a note, sorry I missed it.


yes all 6 series cards do it and adding a note to tell you wouldn't make a difference lol


----------



## rmp459

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *taotree*
> 
> I can go to 122%, but it hits there very easily. Even with a temp of 61C, it will hit the power max and throttle. Makes me wonder if that other bios is worth it to go higher. Trying to overclock was really frustrating because there didn't seem much I could do. It would just keep hitting that power throttle.


Yea I dunno, I crash before I can get it over 100% power.

I can get to 1215mhz, but not sure if it will do anymore than that. Temps stay under 63/64C.


----------



## jleon088

Hi Overclock forums,

Problem

I am a new PC builder and am nearly at my wits end trying to resolve my video performance issues. Relevant to this guide, I am unable to achieve low enough temperatures to avoid throttling. I am running two EVGA GTX 670 FTW cards in SLI.

Maximum temperatures:
Idle @ either stock OC or my OC: 43/40C
Unigine Heaven 3 @ stock OC: 74/70C
Unigine Heaven 3 @ my OC: 76/72C
Furmark @ my OC and 60% fan: >84/>81C (I quit at 84C)
Furmark @ my OC and 100% fan: 83/74C (case closed and open)

My OC: 1.175V, 145% Power Target, GPU Offset: 70 MHz, Mem Offset: 75 MHz (stable in Unigine and 3D Mark, but I'm above 70C)
1246/1273 MHz pseudo-Max Clock in Unigine
Unigine Score @ my OC (after boot): 93.1 FPS

The more important issue is that I have been *consistently crashing* since building 3 weeks ago. I wonder if it has to do with my red hot idle and load temperatures. Here is a link to me describing the issue and things I have tried: http://www.overclock.net/t/1302917/display-driver-stopped-responding-and-has-recovered. I have been in contact with my manufacturers with no solutions found yet.

With fingers crossed,

jleon088


----------



## taotree

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rmp459*
> 
> Yea I dunno, I crash before I can get it over 100% power.
> I can get to 1215mhz, but not sure if it will do anymore than that. Temps stay under 63/64C.


I can get 1300 MHz, but under the Unigine benchmark it will keep throttling down, down, down. Even 1200 MHz results in it power throttling.


----------



## Descadent

Anyone have any advice on overclocking sli 670 sc 4gbs? I cannot for life of me get this sli setup stable in games. Max I've been able to get in Heaven in +122 power, +104 gpu offset, +175 mem offset with sync on stable with max voltage set in precision x. Temps under about 64-67 on both cards.

BUT

However in games. Primarily GW2 atm. The display driver crashes and won't even recover. I've had to back it down to +90 gpu and +150 mem to make it stop crashing in GW2. Temps about 65-68 in game.

Seems like such a low overclock to what some of you guys are getting on your gpu and mem offsets.

This is my first time overclocking in sli, so any help is appreciated.


----------



## twztid13

After reading the part about the drop offs in GPU clock & use, and that it is okay. I saw a drop in everything except clock & voltage at one point. Is that something bad? The test went fine, other than that. Any opinions are appreciated!! Here is a pic -
EDIT - sorry, I know this is a 670 board, but it's where i read the info, and that has my interest more than the particular card (and they _are_ both keplars).


----------



## Stonedsoul

I have the asus 670 (not top) and have a few questions please help because im new to overclocking

Anything over 1100mv causes my clock to drop 200mhz and become unstable, what causes this?

I can only get a perfectly straight line on my gpu clock in the hw monitor at minimal overclocking with heaven scores about 940 but i can get an overclock up to 1180 boost clock and 1765 memory clock that will give me a heaven score of 1700. how important is it to have a perfectly straight line? the clock fluctuates about 50 mhz

also when i open gpu-z i get a error for intel opengl bug but it still allows me to open gpu-z does this have any effect on my gpu performance?

also the gpu clock is a straight line during furmark

thanks


----------



## Stonedsoul

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Stonedsoul*
> 
> I have the asus 670 (not top) and have a few questions please help because im new to overclocking
> Anything over 1100mv causes my clock to drop 200mhz and become unstable, what causes this?
> I can only get a perfectly straight line on my gpu clock in the hw monitor at minimal overclocking with heaven scores about 940 but i can get an overclock up to 1180 boost clock and 1765 memory clock that will give me a heaven score of 1700. how important is it to have a perfectly straight line? the clock fluctuates about 50 mhz
> also when i open gpu-z i get a error for intel opengl bug but it still allows me to open gpu-z does this have any effect on my gpu performance?
> also the gpu clock is a straight line during furmark
> thanks


----------



## Whinewhisper

So I've been fiddling with this today and I have no experience.

I got it to a stable point at a 129 MHz cpu offset and 200 MHz mem offset (i didn't tweak it very thoroughly).

This is with power target set to max ar 122% and vcore set to max at 1175. Power % is around 30 with miniscule 31-32 spikes.

Now my temperatures never exceed or hit 70 (max at 68 actually with 85% fanspeed).

Is it healthy with that high vcore and power %? And are my temperatures acceptable? Actually screw vcore, turns out it runs stable with those speeds at default vcore of 998. Weird that I cant oc more with higher vcore..


----------



## Twau

My clocks are stable in EVGA Precision X, but if I enter the same values in MSI Afterburner they are not stable, I want to use MSI Afterburner cause I want the record feature, any tip to solve this issue with AB? Anyone else had the same problem?


----------



## poopsicle

Hi guys, I wonder if anyone can help me.

I've got an MSI gtx 670 card, and I'm kind new to overclocking, so I'm attempting to stick to the guide to the letter.

However during the testing my card goes over 70C and part of the reason I believe is because somehow my GPU fan speed seems to be locked at 80% no matter how I set up my fan profile.
Can anyone tell me if I can unlock this? If not, is there a suggested approach to testing knowing that I can't really avoid passing the 70C mark?


----------



## mannylulz

Hello I'm new to overclocking and I followed this guide to the best of my ability. Now, when trying to find my maximum memory offset, I see green light shafts in the same places of the Heaven benchmark no matter what the memory clock offset. I've tried anywhere from 0-100+. It even shows in the negatives. The only point where I haven't seen green light shafts is when I set the memory clock offset to -200. Yes, that's *negative* 200. What does this exactly mean? I've had no issues running games at all.
Here's my Precision X


The point in which I normally see the light shafts in the benchmark is right after the dragon statue, when the camera is looking at a windmill. It's around step 10-12 in the benchmark.

Does anyone have any idea what exactly is going on here?


----------



## andy4theherd

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mannylulz*
> 
> Hello I'm new to overclocking and I followed this guide to the best of my ability. Now, when trying to find my maximum memory offset, I see green light shafts in the same places of the Heaven benchmark no matter what the memory clock offset. I've tried anywhere from 0-100+. It even shows in the negatives. The only point where I haven't seen green light shafts is when I set the memory clock offset to -200. Yes, that's *negative* 200. What does this exactly mean? I've had no issues running games at all.
> Here's my Precision X
> 
> The point in which I normally see the light shafts in the benchmark is right after the dragon statue, when the camera is looking at a windmill. It's around step 10-12 in the benchmark.
> Does anyone have any idea what exactly is going on here?


there's a bug in Heaven that show's those in the same place. ignore them.


----------



## SeanK67

I was trying to set up the fan curve at the end. However, I have not been able to get the temps to get above 60C (pic shows 59) at 50% fan speed. Any thoughts on why even with the "overkill" program, temps aren't really increasing. Essentially, I'm just worried about setting the fan curve any lower and having temps skyrocket when I'm not staring at it.



EDIT: This on a GB windforce card. (Finally settled on 69C at 38% fans)


----------



## IronDoq

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanK67*
> 
> I was trying to set up the fan curve at the end. However, I have not been able to get the temps to get above 60C (pic shows 59) at 50% fan speed. Any thoughts on why even with the "overkill" program, temps aren't really increasing. Essentially, I'm just worried about setting the fan curve any lower and having temps skyrocket when I'm not staring at it.
> 
> EDIT: This on a GB windforce card. (Finally settled on 69C at 38% fans)


Go for 45% just to be safe, but those results just indicate the effectiveness of the windforce cooler.


----------



## batman3009

I got asus gtx 680 direct cuII top.When i run heaven benchmark and finish the test i found that it benchmarked the intel hd 4000( i got 3770k),i dont know what to to make it bench mark my gtx 680


----------



## aceridgey

Hi guys, I am a newbie to gpu overclocking.

I am following the quick overclock guide, following the set up.

I was doing quite well, initially at 1100mhz and then up by 20,, I got impatient I guess, and started increasing the mem clock..

The problem is, I reset the drivers, and evga precision, and now it crashes on 1100mhz..


----------



## Gaate

My card is running fine, at a low temperature, at low power %, fan speed isn't too high, but its failing, and its not even overclocked that high compared to other scores on this website.

It's a Gigabyte 670 Windforce OC
Stable GPU Clock Offset: + 103
With kepler it gets to about 1240.
Stable Mem Clock Offset: + 485

I ran this at;
GPU Clock Offset: + 108
Mem Clock Offset: + 485
Because I thought it might help figure out why its failing if I have graphs and stuff for right before it failed.
The Voltage and power target are both maxed out.

Here are the graphs and the message I get when I run it at those settings.

Graph and settings after failure:


Error Message:


I know that isn't a bad overclock at all, I just know there are a lot out there that are much higher and I am wondering why I can't go higher if all of the readings are fine.


----------



## IronDoq

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gaate*
> 
> My card is running fine, at a low temperature, at low power %, fan speed isn't too high, but its failing, and its not even overclocked that high compared to other scores on this website.
> It's a Gigabyte 670 Windforce OC
> Stable GPU Clock Offset: + 103
> With kepler it gets to about 1240.
> Stable Mem Clock Offset: + 485
> I ran this at;
> GPU Clock Offset: + 108
> Mem Clock Offset: + 485
> Because I thought it might help figure out why its failing if I have graphs and stuff for right before it failed.
> The Voltage and power target are both maxed out.
> Here are the graphs and the message I get when I run it at those settings.
> Graph and settings after failure:
> 
> Error Message:
> 
> I know that isn't a bad overclock at all, I just know there are a lot out there that are much higher and I am wondering why I can't go higher if all of the readings are fine.


Because the card simply can't. Many, MANY cards are within TDP and thermal limits, but such is the case with the silicon lottery. You get whatcha get.


----------



## batman3009

I got asus gtx 680 direct cuII top,when i entered the fan curve in precisionx i found 4 points not three as mentioned,if any 1 could tell me how to set the 4 points? im very confused


----------



## Descadent

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Descadent*
> 
> Anyone have any advice on overclocking sli 670 sc 4gbs? I cannot for life of me get this sli setup stable in games. Max I've been able to get in Heaven in +122 power, +104 gpu offset, +175 mem offset with sync on stable with max voltage set in precision x. Temps under about 64-67 on both cards.
> BUT
> However in games. Primarily GW2 atm. The display driver crashes and won't even recover. I've had to back it down to +90 gpu and +150 mem to make it stop crashing in GW2. Temps about 65-68 in game.
> Seems like such a low overclock to what some of you guys are getting on your gpu and mem offsets.
> This is my first time overclocking in sli, so any help is appreciated.


any tips anyone? thanks


----------



## Raikku

After setting that curve to fan-profile, what I click/choose next to make it work? And can I save it to oc-profiles?


----------



## josgba2002

Thank you for this guide.


----------



## LostRib

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Raikku*
> 
> After setting that curve to fan-profile, what I click/choose next to make it work? And can I save it to oc-profiles?


If you set up the fan profiel and saved it. You have to put the fan on Auto


----------



## Oczoq5445

delete ty


----------



## ashehadeh1

Great Read. +rep +subscribed


----------



## mechwarrior

hi guys
been reading all the info and posts really excited about doing some overclocking:thumb:
tomarrow is my bday so planning on getting a gtx 670, up grading form Ati 4870, just wondering which one to get?
Gigabyte gtx 670 windforce 3X for $450 or gigabyte gtx 670 winforce 2X for $430 really not sure which one is better?

thanks in advance for any help.








again really enjoy the read
ps I'm in Australia


----------



## Arizonian

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mechwarrior*
> 
> hi guys
> been reading all the info and posts really excited about doing some overclocking:thumb:
> tomarrow is my bday so planning on getting a gtx 670, up grading form Ati 4870, just wondering which one to get?
> Gigabyte gtx 670 windforce 3X for $450 or gigabyte gtx 670 winforce 2X for $430 really not sure which one is better?
> thanks in advance for any help.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> again really enjoy the read
> ps I'm in Australia


Well happy birthday! Welcome to OCN with your first post.









If it was me the Gigabyte 3xWindforce for the extra $20 well spent. Extra cooling will help with over clocking on air.


----------



## mechwarrior

thanks Aaizonian appreciate the reply.
looking forward to my first nvidia card and trying my luck at overclocking.


----------



## Bugses

Hi guys. New to overclock.net. Thanks to Bosniac for a great guide.

This is my first time trying to OC a GPU and maybe my 2-3 time I try to OC overall. I followed guide and used the Quick OC section, since I didnt think I would need a huge performance gain.
I've been reading some of your posts and it seems that alot of people are getting way better results than I am. Below are the results I get when running stable:



What do you think?

This is the card I'm using:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423


----------



## lacrossewacker

so far....670 GTX @ 1310 (boost) and 6992mhz memory, on air


----------



## andy4theherd

how are some of you getting higher power target settings? Precision X maxes at 122%.


----------



## ShotgunBFFL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *andy4theherd*
> 
> how are some of you getting higher power target settings? Precision X maxes at 122%.


your card maxes at 122, it depends on the card, mine wont go over 114 but I can still get 1310 core


----------



## LiL WaYNe

whats the average overclock? i have 1267 boost on core but it crashes a lot. i hear lots of people get 1300 without overvolting


----------



## mechwarrior

followed this great overclocking guide and got my gb gtx 670 OC up to core +110 = 1215 and memory +600 =1800. just wondering if its OK to run these settings 24/7?


----------



## andrewma225

Hi Guys,

Here is my config. and I have a technical problem about the PCIE @X16 1.1 issue -

AsRock H77M (BIOS - P1.30)
Intel i7-3770K (default speed)
Transcend DDR1333 8GB X 2
Cooler Master SilentProM 600W
ADATA SP900 128GB SSD
Galaxy GTX670 GC 2GB (Driver 306.23)
BIOS : PCIE1 = AUTO
Windows 7 Professional 64bit SP1

Whenever I run BF3 or 3DMARK11 or GPU-Z "Start Render Test", I am pretty sure that the GTX670 is not running at its full speed. Please see the following images, I really don't know what the problem is......any comments are welcome, thanks.


----------



## motherpuncher

Right now I have my voltage at 1.087, getting a max core clock of 1264 and memory at 3672. In Nvidia Inspector I can push the voltages up to 1.175. I haven't tried to push the card any further than what it is now, but I'd like to start testing it further. What is a safe voltage to push for a daily overclock?


----------



## GuiltyBoomerang

Just followed this lovely guide, using the full 3 (well, 5) hour tutorial set-up to get a GPU Clock +200 MHz boost up to 1245MhZ, and a Memory Clock +456MHz up to 1730MHz. Unigine score went up from 43 to 50.9, so about 20% boost in performance. Awesomeness, thank you SeanPoe! RepUp 
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mechwarrior*
> 
> followed this great overclocking guide and got my gb gtx 670 OC up to core +110 = 1215 and memory +600 =1800. just wondering if its OK to run these settings 24/7?


As long as your temperatures are fine when the card is under load, you should be set. As Sean, the OP and ultimate master of the guide says:
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> *Vocabulary:*
> The thing to keep in mind is, the maximum Kepler Boost will only be active when the card is not too hot or drawing too much power. If the card gets too hot, then the Kepler Boost value will be throttled down below its true maximum in 13MHz increments. The first thermal throttle point is at 70C, then 80C, then 85C and lastly at 95C.


So if your card can stay under 70C at 100% load, you can technically run the O/C settings 24/7. Up to you how you want to do it, always a good idea to read through the entire post 
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *andrewma225*
> 
> Hi Guys,
> 
> Whenever I run BF3 or 3DMARK11 or GPU-Z "Start Render Test", I am pretty sure that the GTX670 is not running at its full speed. Please see the following images, I really don't know what the problem is......any comments are welcome, thanks.


Hi Andrew, are you running the EVGA On-Screen Display while the benchmarks are going? I notice that your GPU-Z screenshot shows that your card is not overclocked yet, so that may be hampering the scores. That 3DMark11 score is strangely low though....for some reason, your i7-3770k ran the test at 1596MHz, so you may have Intel's CPU throttling on in your BIOS. Is this a stock computer (i.e non-overclocked?)
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *motherpuncher*
> 
> Right now I have my voltage at 1.087, getting a max core clock of 1264 and memory at 3672. In Nvidia Inspector I can push the voltages up to 1.175. I haven't tried to push the card any further than what it is now, but I'd like to start testing it further. What is a safe voltage to push for a daily overclock?


I run my ASUS DirectCuII (non-TOP) 24/7 at the full 1.175V, and temperatures have always been lower than 50C even at 100% load. Then again, I do have an Antec-902 case









Hope this helps you guys out, just as this guide did!


----------



## mechwarrior

thanks for the reply GuiltyBoomerang


----------



## andrewma225

Hi Guilty,

Thanks for your reply, I really appreciate it.









I take my Galaxy GTX670 GC to KINGBO Technology (in Hong Kong) and confirm that the card has problem.
When it runs FurMark, the FPS is only 10 which is too low. They will send a new card to me in 2 days, thanks.


----------



## beekermartin

Awesome guide!

I began to overclock the Gigabyte WF3 GTX 670 I got last week tonight. I followed the guide exactly. I first tried using Afterburner but after I reached my max overclock with that I uninstalled it and installed Precision X. I got the same results with Precision X.

The max offset I can get to is +115 resulting in a max boost frequency of 1215mhz. I haven't touched the memory yet. What I find suprising is that anything higher than that and Heaven crashes. The highest temp was 48c and max power was 72%. It sounds like I have lots of room left but anything over +115 and Heaven crashes.

I am happy I have a very efficient and cool running card but I was hoping for a better overclocking result. Is it possible I am missing something???


----------



## ImmenseBrick

HI everyone, I have a few random questions related to the OC on the 670. I bought an MSI gtx670 Power edition which has been great. On the older drivers 301.42 and afterburner 2.2.3 I can get a stable Overclock of +600mhz on the memory and +160mhz on the core, at +100mv in afterburner. Everything is stable, in games like BF3 it boosts to a consistant range of 1360mhz. In heaven 3.0 I get an fps of 51.4 @1080p. What is weird is after updating drivers to latest nvidia drivers, all the overclocks become unstable and the max Core increase I can get is 60mhz., however the memory OC is still stable. I tried afterburner 2.2.4 with the latest nvdia drivers and the issue perssists. I have gone back to the older drivers and afterburner 2.2.3 and all the overclocks are stable again. To give you an idea my base clock in cpuz is 1170mhz, and as I said in games like BF3 it boosts to 1350mhz which is constant, it does not bounce around like a yoyo, it is a flat speed of 1350mhz. Does anyone have any ideas? it is not a big deal I guess but down the road driver updates will be needed.

Thanks


----------



## beekermartin

I was able to overclock my ram fairly high. I got as high as +800 but it artifacted and crashed once and awhile. I was fairly stable at +750 but I would see an artifact or two. I ended up stable at +100 core and +700 memory. Using the max setting in Heaven I ended up with 49.6 FPS and a score of 1249.

My kepler boost is only 38! My temps are in the high 40s to low 50s and my TDP is in the mid 70s. It sounds like I have a lot more headroom to push the core further but anything over +115 with the memory stock and it crashes Heaven. Like I said earlier, maybe I am missing something but I don't think I am.


----------



## ImmenseBrick

I did some new Benchies with heaven. Interesting enough @ 1080p, max tesselation etc, With a core bump of 160 and memory at +650 I hit 52.2fps, with a core bump of only 55mhz I hit 51.4 fps. Even though my boost is 100mhz less (1250mhz vs 1350mhz) the score is only slightly lower, keeping the ram speed the same. Just food for thought. One thing im not sure of is how much of a difference that extra 100mhz really makes in real world applications. For exampl.e BF3 always maxes to 1350mhz when gaming, yet borderlands 2 hovers around 1250 even though it can go higher. Base on what ive seen, I would not worry about your boost being 38. I dont think you are missing anything. In any event, seems like the 670 is a decent card which performs well. I still dont know why new drivers break my OC like my above post. But I will bench BF3 a bit more and see if that extra 100mhz really makes a difference.


----------



## beekermartin

Thank you for the response. What CPU are you running and at what speed? I am running an i7 950 running at 4.0 ghz. The reason I ask is because your heaven score is still slightly higher than mine when I am running at +115 core. Of course my kepler boost is only 38 given me a max boost of @1215 so maybe that is why.

I am happy with the card but I was hoping to break 1300 mhz just for bragging rights. With my load temps so low and TDP only running in the low 70% range I expected a much higher core overclock. I guess I shouldn't complain because some cards won't break 1200 and run much hotter than mine.

I think I am going to try running it at +100 on the core and +700 on the memory and play a few games. I am a little concerened running the memory so high for long term reliablility. Could running the memory overclocked so high cause reliablitiy issues down the road? Since we can't inrease the voltage I don't think overclocking has any negative effects as long as the temps are safe and it is stable. Does that sound about right?


----------



## sherlock

Thanks for the guide, you really helped me with my first OC, here is the result:

Gigabyte N670-OC-2GD (Windforce)
Stock/Boost 980/1058
Kepler Boost +92(Stock clock Max 1150)
Voltage =1.175 Power Limit 112%(Max)
Core offset +94 (Instant crash +116, Artifact 95-115), Max Boost OC 1241
Memory offset +600 (+700 drops TDP% to 70% max and Heaven FPS to <30)

Combined Max without crash: + 94, +600 (stopped after 1 artifact)
+93, +595 (passed with artifact)
tested all the way down to +93, + 430 -> crashed, everything above it had artifacts but no crash

+90, +400 passed without crash.


Max stable Heaven:50 FPS, 1259, 85% TDP & 66C @ 50% fan


3D mark 11 9665 (Max stock 9113)


----------



## shremi

I have a strange behaviour on my card i want to share it here so i can see if anybody else is having this issue also.

I can bench and pass heaven with the memory clock @ 3756 but i need to turn it all the way down to 3694 to pass 3dmark 11 -60mhz . I don't know but it seems to me weird that i need to turn down the clock all the way down to pass 3d mark .

Any comments on this ????

BTW i did this test without touching the core clock so i can narrow it down to the memory.


----------



## sherlock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *shremi*
> 
> I have a strange behaviour on my card i want to share it here so i can see if anybody else is having this issue also.
> I can bench and pass heaven with the memory clock @ 3756 but i need to turn it all the way down to 3694 to pass 3dmark 11 -60mhz . I don't know but it seems to me weird that i need to turn down the clock all the way down to pass 3d mark .
> Any comments on this ????
> BTW i did this test without touching the core clock so i can narrow it down to the memory.


I think this is power celing limited, my +90/+400 OC ( 1240 max boost/ 1702.5 Max memory) Gigabyte 670 register a 85% TDP on Heaven3.0 but on 3D Mark it shows 96.5% TDP, so you probably bumped against the 100% TDP wall with that 3756(+751).


----------



## ImmenseBrick

Hi Beekermartin, I have an i7 930 that I have overclocked to 4.0ghz. That bastard is D0 but needs me to pumpe 1.365 volts to it otherwise prime 95 crashes lol. I have a noctua NH-D14 massive heat sink so its all good, load temps are like 60 degrees even with that voltage. I also have 6gb of ddr3 corsair XM3 rame (1600 OC to 1691mhz). From my experience as long as your tempts are within the cards limits I dont think anything will fry long term, I backed down my memory a bit to +650mhz on the gpu because Borderlands 2 crashed randomly after like 2 hrs when I was at +700. Have you tried using afterburner 2.2.3? Like I mentioned in my first post, I am running the older 301.42 drivers as the latest (3.06.whatever it is) broke my overclock to max out at 1250mhz (including boost). All to say that the 670 is rated for a boost of 985 mhz so I suppose we should not complain about 1200mhz+. One interesting note is that last night I was benching at stock voltage on everything, memory+650mhz and power limit +114% and my card boosts to 1201mhz. Seems to crash when I dont add the extra voltage. I am still trying to figure out if the POWER EDITION actually does anything...but since it crashes without the extra voltage I guess it does? The one thing is when I monitor the voltage it always maxes at 1.175 and the +100mV seems to do nothing. But it crashes if I dont. Interesting stuff.


----------



## beekermartin

It took some high voltage to get my i7 950 stable at 4.0. I am currently running at 1.38750 in the bios without vdroop. I was stable at 4.2 but it took over 1.4 volts to get there so I settled on 4.0 for 24/7 use. I have speed step enabled so unless I am gaming the volts drop down to @1.0 volts which helps keep idle temps low and probably helps with the lifespan of the chip. I am using a Corsair H60 with 2 fans and it keeps temps very low. Well, low for an i7 950 running at 4.0 that is.









I just ran a few runs of 3d mark with the core at +104 and memory at +700. At that core offset I get a boost clock of 1201.50 according to gpu z. I was stable at +110 core offset but I hit the same boost clock so I dropped it down to 104 because it hits the same clock as 110.

I scored 9401 in 3dmark. I am using the free version so I can't change anything. The highest I've hit in Heaven is 49.7 fps and a score of 1252.

I did see a big jump in max tdp running 3dmark. It hit a high of 91%! Heavan only hit 76%. I am still way under the 112% that precision is set to. My temps are still incredible. Max temp while running 3dmark was 50C! I am using the custom fan profile explained in the guide. It is a little loud under load but not bad at all. I turn my case fans up to max when gaming so the card fans aren't much louder. I can hear them over my case fans but I can tolerate it. Since my temps are so low I think I will play around with the fan profile a bit. As long as the temps don't hit near 70c I should be fine. I will try to create a profile that keeps them at @60c but is a bit quieter.

I guess I am done overclocking this card for now. I wish I would have hit a higher core clock but thats the chip lottery. I hit a very high memory overclock and my temps are excellent so I am overall happy. Now its time to start playing Borderlands 2!


----------



## beekermartin

I started testing some different fan profiles and I noticed a few artifacts while running Heaven. Only once or twice for a second but I know it wasn't right. I dropped down the memory to 650 and it crashed while running Heaven. That may have been a fluke but I dropped the memory down to 600 and I didn't see any artifacts. My Heaven FPS dropped to 49.3 compared to 49.7 at 700 mhz. I don't think that is a big deal.


----------



## ImmenseBrick

Yeah, please note that if the artifact was around the dragon in the heaven benchmark I would ignore it. I get it on every run on every clock setting, on other forums I read most people claim its a flaw in Heaven itself (correct me if this is wrong). However if you are getting artifacts elsewhere I think you made the right call in backing down the memory. Enjoy borderlands 2 dude, I have been playing it with a friend and have been having a blast, including high PHYSX. I think I could optimize my OC on my i7 930 but I am so damn lazy now. I did a quick and dirty OC for a friend of mine with the same cpu and his runs at 1.325volts. Who knows maybe he has a golden chip that might run below 1.3 volts @ 4ghz (HT on of course, no cheating







). To give you an idea my 670 runs and hits mid 60's @ 1350mhz with 600mhz ram. That is with a fan speed set to about 50%. In general its not that loud, I find I cannot hear it until about ~40% speed.


----------



## beekermartin

Thanks for your help Immense Brick. I just played an hour or so of Borderlands 2. I had physx set to low but I am going to try turning it up next time I play. I have adaptive v sync enabled and I didn't see the frame rate drop below 60 at all. I imagine turning physx to high might change that.


----------



## bce22

This guide is the bomb, and Sean!!! +rep

I've read the guide and 20+ pages and have a quick question. Is there any place in the guide I should deviate from for Ocing a newly purchased 680 rather than the 670?

From my study of the guide it seems to be more of a Kepler Ocing guide rather than a gtx 670 guide.

What do I need to consider that is not covered? Is there any information that only applies to the gtx 670?

Thanks a million for your hard work and all you've done for overclock.net


----------



## beekermartin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bce22*
> 
> This guide is the bomb, and Sean!!! +rep
> I've read the guide and 20+ pages and have a quick question. Is there any place in the guide I should deviate from for Ocing a newly purchased 680 rather than the 670?
> From my study of the guide it seems to be more of a Kepler Ocing guide rather than a gtx 670 guide.
> What do I need to consider that is not covered? I what information does not apply?
> Thanks a million


As far as I know overclocking a 680 should be identical to a 670. They are basically the same minus a few cuda cores.


----------



## bce22

Yeah, that's what I thought as well.

My only hang ups after reading through 25 pages were:

1. This guide is so good that after 89 pages since June why wasn't the title changed to Overclocking Kepler as opposed to the gtx 670.

2. In all the posts I read there wasn't a single mention of a 680.

Granted in the OP it was pretty clear that the steps pertained to the architecture rather than the model. I figured it was worth checking nonetheless.


----------



## beekermartin

I am 99% sure the 670 and 680 overclocking procedure are identical. Maybe wait for someone else to chime in. I am by far no expert.


----------



## mahiv87

Awesome guide! Here's what i got so far, just need to fine tune my oc.


----------



## lukeman3000

So, my card gets to 80C MAX. Does that mean that any time it's above 70C, it's being throttled?

I have an EVGA GTX 670 FTW

Do I need to water cool it in order to not be throttled? I've ran Furmark and haven't seen any throttling messages come up..


----------



## sherlock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lukeman3000*
> 
> So, my card gets to 80C MAX. Does that mean that any time it's above 70C, it's being throttled?
> I have an EVGA GTX 670 FTW
> Do I need to water cool it in order to not be throttled? I've ran Furmark and haven't seen any throttling messages come up..


Other than water cooling there only other option is to get more intake air into your GPU(assuming you already turned up the fan), have you considered adding a bottom intake for your Midi? Myabe removing a Harddrive cage(do you really need 8?)

Maybe get a can of compressed air and blow it through your GPU' intake? There might be dust built up inside your GPU and these heat up a GPU fast.

The card throttle once for -13 Mhz off you core at 70C and it will throttle again at 80C for another 13, so keeping these cool are necessary to get the highest stable OC.


I'd also try running with a lesser Memory clock if you really want a high core without throttling, for me the card heats a lot less from Vram OC compared to Core, my +90-130 core gets temp up the 61-2C, +500/600 on Vram gets the card up the 65C at the same ambient & fan %. Right now I run +90/+400 combined at the max at the same fan% is 65C.


----------



## NeonFlak

So, the random green "artifacts" in Unigine Heaven can be ignored? I ask because I don't get throttling, I haven't seen powertarget top 105%, and temp doesn't go over 62c, yet I get random green artificats in Unigine Heaven.


----------



## beekermartin

I don't believe any artifacts should be ignored. An artifact can be many different things. A random flash, splotch of an odd color, random bolt of light, etc. Sometimes it is very diffiicult to see. You need to watch closely. If you see anything out of the ordinary back down your overclock and run Heaven again. Keep in mind that Heaven and 3dmark are extremes for your video card. You may be able to play a game and it won't crash and you might not see any artifacts. That is the idea of testing you overclock with Heaven and 3dmark. To push the card to its max to see if it is truly stable. It really sucks if your card is 98% stable then while your in the middle of a good game it just crashes. If you see something that you think might be artifact remember exactly where it happened. Run Heaven again and see if it happens in the exact same spot again. If it does then it might just be a defect in the program itself. Artifacts are random. They shouldn't happen in the exact same spot and the artifact itself can and usually is different.


----------



## sherlock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *beekermartin*
> 
> I don't believe any artifacts should be ignored. An artifact can be many different things. A random flash, splotch of an odd color, random bolt of light, etc. Sometimes it is very diffiicult to see. You need to watch closely. If you see anything out of the ordinary back down your overclock and run Heaven again. Keep in mind that Heaven and 3dmark are extremes for your video card. You may be able to play a game and it won't crash and you might not see any artifacts. That is the idea of testing you overclock with Heaven and 3dmark. To push the card to its max to see if it is truly stable. It really sucks if your card is 98% stable then while your in the middle of a good game it just crashes. If you see something that you think might be artifact remember exactly where it happened. Run Heaven again and see if it happens in the exact same spot again. If it does then it might just be a defect in the program itself. Artifacts are random. They shouldn't happen in the exact same spot and the artifact itself can and usually is different.


I agree mostly with this although the I sometime get 1-2 black slashes/bolts when *rotating around the Dragon statue* even running at stock clocks with both of my 670s, so I just ignore them and count the other artifacts.


----------



## beekermartin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sherlock*
> 
> I agree mostly with this although the I sometime get 1-2 black slashes/bolts when *rotating around the Dragon statue* even running at stock clocks with both of my 670s, so I just ignore them and count the other artifacts.


That is exactly what I mean about the artifacts being in the same spot, like around the dragon. That to me means it is not an artifact rather a defect in the program. A true artifact is usually random. That is what I look for at least.

I would rather be a few clicks behind the absolute maximum overclock just to be safe. I have had games crash on me and always at the worst possible time. The difference between the absolute maximum overclock and a little bit below that is usaully less than 1-2 fps. If I see even one artifact while benchmarking I back the overclock down. I doubt it would happen in a game but I don't want to take the chance.

Same as when it comes to overclocking the CPU. Some people test P95 for a half hour and call it stable. I always use 20 runs of LinX to test stability because it is much more demanding than P95. I have been stable for hours using P95 but crashed during the first run of LinX. If I left the overclock there it would probably never crash under normal use but it is not truly 100% stable.

I believe an overclock needs to be 100% stable since I can't stand a random crash.

This is just my opinion. Not everyone will agree with it.


----------



## ImmenseBrick

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *beekermartin*
> 
> Thanks for your help Immense Brick. I just played an hour or so of Borderlands 2. I had physx set to low but I am going to try turning it up next time I play. I have adaptive v sync enabled and I didn't see the frame rate drop below 60 at all. I imagine turning physx to high might change that.


No problem. I also run adaptive Vsync and enjoy it. I have noticed dips to the mid 40's (fps) in borderlands 2 in some of the insane areas with coop friends and such. *Update* BF3 has been crashing lately for some reason, I backed down my core to +145 and mem to +550. I am going to do more testing to see if it was the mem or core, I just lowered then both for a dirty quick stability. I will let you know what happens. Also a friend of mine just picked up a reference MSI 670 OC card. Time to see how far I can push that card


----------



## lukeman3000

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sherlock*
> 
> Thanks for the guide, you really helped me with my first OC, here is the result:
> Gigabyte N670-OC-2GD (Windforce)
> Stock/Boost 980/1058
> Kepler Boost +92(Stock clock Max 1150)
> Voltage =1.175 Power Limit 112%(Max)
> Core offset +94 (Instant crash +116, Artifact 95-115), Max Boost OC 1241
> Memory offset +600 (+700 drops TDP% to 70% max and Heaven FPS to <30)
> Combined Max without crash: + 94, +600 (stopped after 1 artifact)
> +93, +595 (passed with artifact)
> tested all the way down to +93, + 430 -> crashed, everything above it had artifacts but no crash
> Max stable Heaven:50 FPS, 1259, 85% TDP & 66C @ 50% fan


Why does your "GPU Model" say "Intel HD Graphics" instead of "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670"?


----------



## sherlock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lukeman3000*
> 
> Why does your "GPU Model" say "Intel HD Graphics" instead of "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670"?


I have *IGPU multi-monitor* enabled in Bios, so that I can use Virtu in games, I leave Virtu off for benchmarks though(3D11 won't even start with Virtu on these days)


----------



## lukeman3000

I know this varies from game to game, but speaking in terms of the Heaven Benchmark, what kind of average FPS increase can users expect?

I have an EVGA 670 FTW, and I think my average FPS in Heaven was 43 with everything maxed. Is this normal, and what could I possibly get it up to?


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lukeman3000*
> 
> I know this varies from game to game, but speaking in terms of the Heaven Benchmark, what kind of average FPS increase can users expect?
> I have an EVGA 670 FTW, and I think my average FPS in Heaven was 43 with everything maxed. Is this normal, and what could I possibly get it up to?


My overclocked 580 is 43fps in heaven....you sure that's right?


----------



## sherlock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lukeman3000*
> 
> I know this varies from game to game, but speaking in terms of the Heaven Benchmark, what kind of average FPS increase can users expect?
> I have an EVGA 670 FTW, and I think my average FPS in Heaven was 43 with everything maxed. Is this normal, and what could I possibly get it up to?


I think 42-44 FPS on Max(Score in the 1140-1150 range) is about the average of a stock factory OCed 670 without manual OC on Heaven, I was at 43 FPS and 1144 with my Gigabyte before I OCed, then with +90/+400 I could get 50 FPS and 1250.


----------



## lukeman3000

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sherlock*
> 
> I think 42-44 FPS on Max(Score in the 1140-1150 range) is about the average of a stock factory OCed 670 without manual OC on Heaven, I was at 43 FPS and 1144 with my Gigabyte before I OCed, then with +90/+400 I could get 50 FPS and 1250.


Sounds good. That's a nice little increase.

I'll definitely be revisiting this thread once I get some water on my 670 (in a manner of speaking).


----------



## MilesTeg1988

Hi everyone,

First of all thank you for this amazing topic. Read almost all of the guide and everthing seem to work fine for me.

My Unigine FPS is 76 with the score of 1916. What do you think, can I get more out of my 670 with the below settings?



GPU is topped at 1342 MHz during the benchmark with 51 degrees celcius.


----------



## JohnnyChuttz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MilesTeg1988*
> 
> Hi everyone,
> First of all thank you for this amazing topic. Read almost all of the guide and everthing seem to work fine for me.
> My Unigine FPS is 76 with the score of 1916. What do you think, can I get more out of my 670 with the below settings?
> 
> GPU is topped at 1342 MHz during the benchmark with 51 degrees celcius.


TBH(to be honest) you really aren't stressing the your gpu while running the Heaven benchmark without AA(Anti-aliasing) set to x8.

That is a really good OC if it remains stable with Heaven maxed.
Set AA to x8, re-run it and post the results
.


----------



## bce22

So it's official. I always have to worst luck with silicon.

I received my EVGA 680 Signature + yesterday (I know it's not 670 but I am using this guide to OC so I figured it was valid) and after verifying multiple times my Kepler boost is a lousy 13mhz. Is this the worst ever??

My offset looks to be about +50. It looks like my max boost will turn out to be about 1215mhz however it's a little early yet to say that for fact. I I feel like I got punched in the gut. I'm hoping once in my life someday I pull great silicon.

I'll test more tonight and maybe flash the bios to see if that helps.


----------



## bce22

*Update*

So I flashed the bios using the SC Signature BIOS listed in the 670/680 bios thread and it really has helped.

Its a little weird what it did to my default clocks and I had to use a negative offset for the GPU Clock (-30) but I was able to get it heaven stable @ 1250mhz max boost!

Pretty happy with that coming from 1215mhz.

Now off to follow the guide to work on the memory. I run surround and have been stressing it at 5760x1080 but I ran a quick 1080p max settings to get an idea of how it compares to others in this thread.

Here is a screenshot.

What do you guys think about my stats? Anything interesting in the readouts?

Thanks.


----------



## MilesTeg1988

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JohnnyChuttz*
> 
> TBH(to be honest) you really aren't stressing the your gpu while running the Heaven benchmark without AA(Anti-aliasing) set to x8.
> That is a really good OC if it remains stable with Heaven maxed.
> Set AA to x8, re-run it and post the results
> .


Here is the result with AA x8.


----------



## midad04

This guide worked great for me, the only problem is that evga precision does not hold the applied voltages after reboot. Afterburner which has the same abilities as precision does hold the voltages after a reboot.


----------



## Kanox

I just finished playing around with my MSI 670 PE OC and here's the results:

Core voltage offset +100 mV
Mem voltage offset +50 mV
Aux voltage offset +30 mV

Power limit 114%
Core Clock offset +66
Mem clock offset +600

One thing that does bug me a lot is how the core clock rarely hits its max of 1256 when running Heaven, but in games such as Battlefield 3, Borderlands 2 among others, it's running at a constant 1256 Mzh

And any idea as to why the power % is jumping all over the place?


----------



## myztikal47

SeanPoe,

My temps are going to about 76C when playing battlefield or even running Heaven, I've attached screen shots to show my results on configs, but I'm not really sure what to turn down (memory or gpu core) to get the temps to stay 70C at full load. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!


----------



## myztikal47

Anyone?


----------



## Arizonian

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Kanox*
> 
> I just finished playing around with my MSI 670 PE OC and here's the results:
> Core voltage offset +100 mV
> Mem voltage offset +50 mV
> Aux voltage offset +30 mV
> Power limit 114%
> Core Clock offset +66
> Mem clock offset +600
> One thing that does bug me a lot is how the core clock rarely hits its max of 1256 when running Heaven, but in games such as Battlefield 3, Borderlands 2 among others, it's running at a constant 1256 Mzh
> And any idea as to why the power % is jumping all over the place?


Heaven does not push Heaven to 98% GPU usage no matter what I tried doing. The synthetic bench just dosent fully utilize Kepler.

It does well in the 3DMark11 bench.


----------



## rexbinary

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Arizonian*
> 
> Heaven does not push Heaven to 98% GPU usage no matter what I tried doing. The synthetic bench just dosent fully utilize Kepler.
> It does well in the 3DMark11 bench.


Try FurMark maybe?


----------



## Martyr82

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> *
> Gigabyte GTX 670 OC Version *HANDS ON*
> Ahh, the thread that started it all. This is one of the very first threads on OCN that had first-hand information about the 670. It has now turned into the unofficial Gigabyte 670 owners' thread of choice.*


As the starter of said thread, it's good to see your guide SeanPoe. Top work.


----------



## nismofreak

Dunno if you work for GB or not (







) but because of said thread, I got my GB 670OC. Luv it more each and every day!


----------



## nismofreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *myztikal47*
> 
> SeanPoe,
> My temps are going to about 76C when playing battlefield or even running Heaven, I've attached screen shots to show my results on configs, but I'm not really sure what to turn down (memory or gpu core) to get the temps to stay 70C at full load. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


You should be able to get a higher score in 3DMark11 for your graphics score. I can run much higher core and mem clocks than I can in heaven:


and detuned for heaven


----------



## myztikal47

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nismofreak*
> 
> [/SPOILER]
> You should be able to get a higher score in 3DMark11 for your graphics score. I can run much higher core and mem clocks than I can in heaven:
> 
> and detuned for heaven


I'm not worried about the score, it's the temprature that bothers me, they say it should be kept below 70C, but my temps go all the way up to 74-76C during full load. Also, I have turned VSync off in the nvidia settings, otherwise my Heaven benchmark scores drop down to like 935 or so which I assume is from throttling.


----------



## rexbinary

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *myztikal47*
> 
> I'm not worried about the score, it's the temprature that bothers me, they say it should be kept below 70C, but my temps go all the way up to 74-76C during full load. Also, I have turned VSync off in the nvidia settings, otherwise my Heaven benchmark scores drop down to like 935 or so which I assume is from throttling.


You are fine on your temps. 97c is the maximum per Nvidia. The goal of staying under 70c is to get the max boost clock. When you go over 70c but stay under 80c you only lose 13MHz. No biggie. I get the same temps on my #1 card in my 670 SLI setup.


----------



## big dad

Hello, Im new here and ive been following this guide to overclock my evga gtx 670 ftw.

I was able to pass furmark, benchmark heaven and 3dmark 11 @ +52/+635
I was able to play bf3 multiplayer without any problem or error.

here comes the problem, I run 3dmark 11 again and it crashed. try to run it again, and once again crashed, lost display and had to restart my pc.










Kepler boost: 90.8
Max boost: 1175.8

Edit: lowered the power target to 125% and run 3dmark11 and heaven. both passed and no problem. I dont know if this makes any difference or it solved the problem.

will play some bf3 and run 3dmark11 again. Is it ok if I run 3dmark11, multiple times in short period of time?

2nd edit: bf3 crashed just now.


----------



## jonathan1107

Hi, I've followed the long version of the OC guide, and it's hard to figure out what's causing me problems...

I have the Asus gtx 670 directcu ii (non-top) card. And I've been able to pass the heaven benchmark @ +145 CC offset and + 600 mem offset with voltage slider to max and power target to 122% (which is the max when I slide over to the right)...

So I was @ the mem offset part of the OC guide when I tried +700 mem offset which seemed unstable (no artifacts I could notice, but a super low score in heaven benchmark...) So, I decided to lower by 25mhz my 700 offset and so on... and I went all the down to +100 mem offset only, with a sucking score again...

I checked my graphs from the Precision-X monitor to check what could have been wrong... and apparantly, I fall into the category of people having trouble with the power %... It seems to drop by a quite a lot every now and then... which it didn't when everything was going great...

It feels like the more benchmarks (unigine heaven) I run in a row, the more problems I encounter... especially with power %. The way I can tell this, is from the graphs, but also from the FPS which is quite lower in the benchmark. So I guess I should lower the voltage limit... but what increments should I use ? or should I lower the power target instead?...

and if I do lower one of those 2, how is this going to affect my OC? And why is it that some of us have problems with the power %? What's causing the power % to variate so much all of a sudden, when it did not for quite a while?

(btw, I followed the guide very well, the temps are perfect... really confused here as to what's the problem...)

EDIT: After thinking about what could possibly be causing my sudden FPS drop after like 30~ heaven benchmarks, I got tired and restarted my computer, and put all the settings back like they were when I had passed with a +600 mem offset, and everything was like before all of a sudden... What the heck? is this RAM related?

EDIT 2: Seems like closing Unigine and re-opening fixed the memory leak I was having...


----------



## beekermartin

Just a FYI

I installed the newest Nvidia drivers tonight, 306.97. I then reran Heaven without changing anything else. With 309.97 installed I was running at 1189 mhz at +104 Precision X. With the last set of drivers I was running at 1202 at the same +104. I bumped it to +105 and I was then running at 1202 while running Heaven. I figured something might have changed so I tried to raise my overclock to 1215, which required +118, but sure enough it crashed just like with the prior drivers.

So my max overclock on the core hasn't changed. Yet I had to raise the offset by 1 to equal the same max clock I was getting with the old drivers.

I figured I would mention it just incase someone else has noticed there max clock has reduced by one level, -13mhz, with the newest drivers.


----------



## beekermartin

I was also averaging around 49.5 fps with the old drivers while running heaven and I am now averaging around 47.3. I am thinking about going back to the old drivers. The newest drivers don't seem to help my setup at all.


----------



## ghibli99

Hi there,

New member here... I registered for this thread specifically. Just wanted to send a big THANK YOU for the guide. It was easy to follow, and it yielded some fantastic results for me. Setting a more aggressive fan curve resulted in Heaven crashing for me, so I went with something a little noisier to maintain stability under full load. Ran Heaven several more times, and everything looks rock-solid. Played some games afterwards, and same thing... buttery-smooth with no artifacting. I feel so much more comfortable with this process. Thanks again.

i7-920 @ 4GHz + GB GTX 670 WF OC: http://i.imgur.com/Z2gel.jpg

Sorry about the image size... for reference, I was at 9092 3DMarks before a mild +105 GPU / +100 Memory OC.


----------



## brettjv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jonathan1107*
> 
> {snip}
> EDIT: After thinking about what could possibly be causing my sudden FPS drop after like 30~ heaven benchmarks, I got tired and restarted my computer, and put all the settings back like they were when I had passed with a +600 mem offset, and everything was like before all of a sudden... What the heck? is this RAM related?
> EDIT 2: Seems like closing Unigine and re-opening fixed the memory leak I was having...


If you have ANY sort of crash caused by an unstable OC, you'll need to restart your machine. This includes just a crash out of the Heaven app to the desktop. These cards/drivers never fully 'recover' and operate correctly once you've had an error from instability. May seem like a hassle, but with older cards, you'd pretty much always get full-blown system freezes when your OC was unstable ... which was even more of a pita, believe me.

On a somewhat-related sidenote, you should never alt-tab out of Heaven, it will get messed up and not run right after you do.


----------



## crackerssss

Everytime I try to OC my numbers go down. Even when I only increase my Power Target and Voltage.

What gives?


----------



## jimhaumman

Hi.

Great guide.Thanks

I follow your guide,but I can't understand why my card react like that to oc I try to do.

Here are the links to some photos:

1. http://www.fotosik.pl/pokaz_obrazek/edc5051b8cae3e83.html
2. http://www.fotosik.pl/pokaz_obrazek/dc09448e8da30300.html
3. http://www.fotosik.pl/pokaz_obrazek/ea69bed4b4a8f101.html

1-Power limit set to 100% and gpu voltage to 988mv-stock
2- PL 100% gpu voltage 1175mv max Values OC are all the same for those 3 points: +62mhz core and + 500mhz memory
3- PL 114% gpu voltage 1175mv max

MSI GeForce GTX 670 OC Twin Frozr Power Edition
- Core Clock: 1019MHz after oc 1083mhz
- Core Boost Clock: 1079MHz after oc 1160mhz kepler boost max 1228 mhz
-memory 7008mhz

Why my card after applying max power limit and max gpu voltage is becoming more unstable?My chip doesn't like more voltage?
Will I be better of using msi afterburner?


----------



## Cheepnis

Just finished building my first desktop pc this past month, so I am still a total noob. But, with this simple guide to (and explanation of) Kepler overclocking, I have gotten what appears to be a pretty decent overclock of my 670, without much trouble. Here is my experience with the 670 over the past weekend.

- Model:GIGABYTE GV-N670OC-2GD (Windforce x3) $360 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423
- Stock Clocks: *980/1059, 1502* (3004) mem
- Heaven benchmark: (1137 MHz GPU Clock according to GPU-Z and Precision-X) *45.0 FPS, 1132* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-000-0%20unigine_20121019_0102.html
- My Kepler Boost seems to be ~90MHz , but also sometimes ~77MHz (and I have never gone above 65C or 90% TDP in Heaven IIRC). Kepler boost at stock = 1137-1059= 78MHz
- Didn't touch install CD. Went right to Nvidia's website for the newest drivers.

As instructed by the guide, I first pushed the core clock as far as it would go, leaving the memory at stock (+0MHz). The highest core offset that allowed me to finish a Heaven benchmark was +174
Here are some of the results that I had:
+153 48.1 FPS, 1211[/COLOR] file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/153-000%20unigine_20121018_2307.html
+165 *48.5 FPS, 1222* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/165-000-0%20unigine_20121018_2326.html
+170 *48.5 FPS, 1222* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/170-000-0%20unigine_20121018_2335.html
+174 *48.5 FPS, 1223* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/174-000-0ithinkunigine_20121018_2344.html

I was starting to see what might be artifacts so I started bringing the offset down a bit to see how much performance I would lose. I settled on +141 for the time, as my heaven scores only dropped around 20 points with 34 less on the core offset
+141 *47.8 FPS, 1204* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/141-000-0%20unigine_20121019_0031.html .

Then, I turned the core offset back to 0, and started increasing the memory speed.
+200 *46.4 FPS, 1170* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-200-0%20unigine_20121019_0236.html
+300 *47.1 FPS, 1187* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-300-2dragonunigine_20121019_0244.html
+400 *47.7 FPS, 1203* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-400-2d%20unigine_20121019_0256.html
+500 *48.1 FPS, 1211* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-500-wasnt%20watchin%20unigine_20121019_0304.html
+600 *48.5 FPS, 1221* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-600-0unigine_20121019_0312.html
+700 *48.9 FPS, 1231* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-600-0%20unigine_20121019_0321.html
+800 *49.1 FPS, 1237* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-800-0%20unigine_20121019_0328.html
+900 *31.4 FPS, 790* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-900-2%20lgit%201d%20unigine_20121019_0335.html

As you can see, performance fell off sharply at +900MHz to the memory, so I decided +800 would be fine for this portion of the overclocking, and moved on to combining the two offsets for the maximum performance in Heaven.

I believe this was my highest stable run:
+140 core, +800 memory: 53.1FPS, 1337 file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/140-800-1d%20unigine_20121019_0352.html
I must have crashed later because I pushed it down a bit and I thought I was stable at +141, +615 because I ran ~10 heaven benchmarks stable, but on the very last one - just when I said to myself "well, at least I know I'm stable here" - it crashed after the benchmark
*** NOTE: I had to do a clean reinstall of the newest drivers after this crash. After the crash I was getting ~30 FPS and ~750 (Power Percent below 70% TDP) on just about whatever settings I used in Precision-X. Restarting the computer didn't help. The clean reinstall worked, however. I also uninstalled and reinstalled Precion-X and Heaven, just to be safe.

I was stable at +141,+600 for a long time, but eventually crashed after a heaven benchmark, so I moved it down a bit more.
*Here's the thing I noticed: _as I gradually brought the core offset down from +141, I noticed that I was still getting 1280 MHz max GPU clock (according to P-X and GPU-Z) all the way down to +131 MHz. At +130 MHz, the GPU Clock read 1267 MHz__. So, it seems that any offset between +131MHz and +143 gives me a GPU clock of 1280 (+144 gives me 1293 and crashes). Knowing that, I settled on +131. And, indeed, the scores I get at +131, +600 are just about the same as the scores I get at +141, +600, with the added benefit of having never crashed yet (which the +141,+600 settings did one time)_

I have benchmarked at 131-600 for quite a bit now, with no crashes in Heaven, 3dMark11, or Furmark. My Heaven scores at this setting have been between 1300 and 1320 in the 20 (or so) runs I've made.
Here are some examples:
*51.7 FPS, 1303* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/131-600%20unigine_20121020_1700.html
*51.8 FPS, 1305* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/131-600%20unigine_20121020_1514.html
*52.2 FPS, 1314* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/131-600%20unigine_20121020_1525.html
*52.1 FPS, 1313* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/131-600%20unigine_20121020_1531.html
*51.8 FPS, 1305* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/131-600%20unigine_20121020_1623.html
*52.0 FPS, 1310* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/131-600%20unigine_20121020_1629.html

And that's where I am now. Games run great, and the card stays cool and quiet. My fan curve has the fans on 20-30% upto 50C, up to around 60% in the high 60s, and the hottest the card has gotten so far is 66C after 30 min of Furmark testing. During Heaven, the only time I hear the fan at all is at a couple points around the airship.

As I wrote earlier, I believe my Kepler boost to be 90MHz because, at these settings: 1280 - (1059 + 131) = 1280 - 1190 = 90

Also, these settings utilize a maximum of 89% of TDP in Heaven (It did go into the mid 90s during furmark), mostly averaging in the low 80s (I'd say just over 80%). This makes me wonder how much more I could get out of the card with a modified BIOS where I can increase the voltage. Should I just leave well enough alone?

I was planning on getting the 7970, but I couldn't find any good deals on one with a good cooler, so I pulled the trigger on the Windforce 670 and I think I made the right choice. The 7970s can OC a bit further, but I can't imagine they would be this cool or quiet.

Thanks to the OP for the wonderful guide. This is why I love the internet.


----------



## IronDoq

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cheepnis*
> 
> Just finished building my first desktop pc this past month, so I am still a total noob. But, with this simple guide to (and explanation of) Kepler overclocking, I have gotten what appears to be a pretty decent overclock of my 670, without much trouble. Here is my experience with the 670 over the past weekend.
> - Model:GIGABYTE GV-N670OC-2GD (Windforce x3) $360 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423
> - Stock Clocks: *980/1059, 1502* (3004) mem
> - Heaven benchmark: (1137 MHz GPU Clock according to GPU-Z and Precision-X) *45.0 FPS, 1132* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-000-0%20unigine_20121019_0102.html
> - My Kepler Boost seems to be ~90MHz , but also sometimes ~77MHz (and I have never gone above 65C or 90% TDP in Heaven IIRC). Kepler boost at stock = 1137-1059= 78MHz
> - Didn't touch install CD. Went right to Nvidia's website for the newest drivers.
> As instructed by the guide, I first pushed the core clock as far as it would go, leaving the memory at stock (+0MHz). The highest core offset that allowed me to finish a Heaven benchmark was +174
> Here are some of the results that I had:
> +153 48.1 FPS, 1211[/COLOR] file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/153-000%20unigine_20121018_2307.html
> +165 *48.5 FPS, 1222* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/165-000-0%20unigine_20121018_2326.html
> +170 *48.5 FPS, 1222* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/170-000-0%20unigine_20121018_2335.html
> +174 *48.5 FPS, 1223* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/174-000-0ithinkunigine_20121018_2344.html
> I was starting to see what might be artifacts so I started bringing the offset down a bit to see how much performance I would lose. I settled on +141 for the time, as my heaven scores only dropped around 20 points with 34 less on the core offset
> +141 *47.8 FPS, 1204* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/141-000-0%20unigine_20121019_0031.html .
> Then, I turned the core offset back to 0, and started increasing the memory speed.
> +200 *46.4 FPS, 1170* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-200-0%20unigine_20121019_0236.html
> +300 *47.1 FPS, 1187* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-300-2dragonunigine_20121019_0244.html
> +400 *47.7 FPS, 1203* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-400-2d%20unigine_20121019_0256.html
> +500 *48.1 FPS, 1211* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-500-wasnt%20watchin%20unigine_20121019_0304.html
> +600 *48.5 FPS, 1221* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-600-0unigine_20121019_0312.html
> +700 *48.9 FPS, 1231* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-600-0%20unigine_20121019_0321.html
> +800 *49.1 FPS, 1237* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-800-0%20unigine_20121019_0328.html
> +900 *31.4 FPS, 790* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/000-900-2%20lgit%201d%20unigine_20121019_0335.html
> As you can see, performance fell off sharply at +900MHz to the memory, so I decided +800 would be fine for this portion of the overclocking, and moved on to combining the two offsets for the maximum performance in Heaven.
> I believe this was my highest stable run:
> +140 core, +800 memory: 53.1FPS, 1337 file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/140-800-1d%20unigine_20121019_0352.html
> I must have crashed later because I pushed it down a bit and I thought I was stable at +141, +615 because I ran ~10 heaven benchmarks stable, but on the very last one - just when I said to myself "well, at least I know I'm stable here" - it crashed after the benchmark
> *** NOTE: I had to do a clean reinstall of the newest drivers after this crash. After the crash I was getting ~30 FPS and ~750 (Power Percent below 70% TDP) on just about whatever settings I used in Precision-X. Restarting the computer didn't help. The clean reinstall worked, however. I also uninstalled and reinstalled Precion-X and Heaven, just to be safe.
> I was stable at +141,+600 for a long time, but eventually crashed after a heaven benchmark, so I moved it down a bit more.
> *Here's the thing I noticed: _as I gradually brought the core offset down from +141, I noticed that I was still getting 1280 MHz max GPU clock (according to P-X and GPU-Z) all the way down to +131 MHz. At +130 MHz, the GPU Clock read 1267 MHz__. So, it seems that any offset between +131MHz and +143 gives me a GPU clock of 1280 (+144 gives me 1293 and crashes). Knowing that, I settled on +131. And, indeed, the scores I get at +131, +600 are just about the same as the scores I get at +141, +600, with the added benefit of having never crashed yet (which the +141,+600 settings did one time)_
> I have benchmarked at 131-600 for quite a bit now, with no crashes in Heaven, 3dMark11, or Furmark. My Heaven scores at this setting have been between 1300 and 1320 in the 20 (or so) runs I've made.
> Here are some examples:
> *51.7 FPS, 1303* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/131-600%20unigine_20121020_1700.html
> *51.8 FPS, 1305* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/131-600%20unigine_20121020_1514.html
> *52.2 FPS, 1314* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/131-600%20unigine_20121020_1525.html
> *52.1 FPS, 1313* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/131-600%20unigine_20121020_1531.html
> *51.8 FPS, 1305* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/131-600%20unigine_20121020_1623.html
> *52.0 FPS, 1310* file://muther/Users/M.U.T.H.E.R/Documents/---%20HEAVEN%20RESULTS/131-600%20unigine_20121020_1629.html
> And that's where I am now. Games run great, and the card stays cool and quiet. My fan curve has the fans on 20-30% upto 50C, up to around 60% in the high 60s, and the hottest the card has gotten so far is 66C after 30 min of Furmark testing. During Heaven, the only time I hear the fan at all is at a couple points around the airship.
> As I wrote earlier, I believe my Kepler boost to be 90MHz because, at these settings: 1280 - (1059 + 131) = 1280 - 1190 = 90
> Also, these settings utilize a maximum of 89% of TDP in Heaven (It did go into the mid 90s during furmark), mostly averaging in the low 80s (I'd say just over 80%). This makes me wonder how much more I could get out of the card with a modified BIOS where I can increase the voltage. Should I just leave well enough alone?
> I was planning on getting the 7970, but I couldn't find any good deals on one with a good cooler, so I pulled the trigger on the Windforce 670 and I think I made the right choice. The 7970s can OC a bit further, but I can't imagine they would be this cool or quiet.
> Thanks to the OP for the wonderful guide. This is why I love the internet.





Thank you for some good ol' hard data! +rep for the info.

And yes go for the bios... who do you think we are, people who buy Dells?


----------



## nismofreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cheepnis*
> 
> [massive snip]
> *Here's the thing I noticed: _as I gradually brought the core offset down from +141, I noticed that I was still getting 1280 MHz max GPU clock (according to P-X and GPU-Z) all the way down to +131 MHz. At +130 MHz, the GPU Clock read 1267 MHz__. So, it seems that any offset between +131MHz and +143 gives me a GPU clock of 1280 (+144 gives me 1293 and crashes). Knowing that, I settled on +131. And, indeed, the scores I get at +131, +600 are just about the same as the scores I get at +141, +600, with the added benefit of having never crashed yet (which the +141,+600 settings did one time)_


I have noticed that very same thing with the newest driver:306.97. I have rolled back to 306.23 to get more fine tuning over the core clock rather than the 13MHz straps. I haven't noticed any loss of OC ability between the two but I do need to spend more time with 306.23 and test the difference between the two. YMMV


----------



## glyph0reo

I've been trying to overclock my asus dcII non-TOP 4gb for a while, following this guide. I've been using Precision X and Afterburner.

I have pretty much 2 issues:

All tests done with core clock @ offset + 120 = 980 + 1100
Power target @ 122%
voltage @ 1175 mV

1. When using precision with the heaven benchmark, the card is pretty much stable about 980 mhz and sometimes pushes up towards max 1006 and can go down to as low as 960mhz, which I think is odd. But when I've turned on the benchmark option(F9) and hit escape again the clock bumps up to 1254 (when looking at the dragon statue) - meaning my kepler boost is @ 154? why the hell isn't this stable? the voltage is stable though an the GPU never reaches more than 60 degrees Celsius. I've tried using BF 3 but the same thing occurs except that it boosts itself a litte bit higher at times but never 1254, except when I alt+tab out and it stays at windowed mode.
Edit: Just ran BF3 again, at first the clock was good, but then it stabled itself down to 901.

2. When using Afterburner it stays generally @ a higher core clock than Precision, but still not stable, it jumps up to 1254 when running the benchmark sometimes, something that precision is not letting it do at all. Problem here is that the GPU voltage isn't stable at 1175 it stays at just about 1000 mV, something that can quickly ruin my overclocking potential!
The overclock is bizarre in BF3 haven't tested it that much.

Could you have both softwares at the same time, or would one ruin for the other.

Heaven Benchmarks: (all same settings)

Precision X v3.0.4:

FPS: 38.8
Scores: 977
Min FPS: 24.0
Max FPS: 96.8

Afterburner 2.2.4

FPS: 46
Scores: 1158
Min FPS: 22.1
Max FPS: 118.9

It's a pretty substantial score, FPS and max FPS difference.

You guys have any clues I'll try to get some screens up, but I'm pretty busy atm, but I'll see what I can do

I've just bought the card, and I really want a good clock on it, atleast a stable one!

Edit: Is is just me this happens to?


----------



## andy4theherd

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nismofreak*
> 
> I have noticed that very same thing with the newest driver:306.97. I have rolled back to 306.23 to get more fine tuning over the core clock rather than the 13MHz straps. I haven't noticed any loss of OC ability between the two but I do need to spend more time with 306.23 and test the difference between the two. YMMV


per several people on the EVGA forums, the new beta 310.33 driver (released 10/23) is VERY solid and fixes the down clocking issues from 306.97.

also for you guys using PrecisionX, check out the new "K-Boost" feature under voltage. it allows you to keep the card at constant voltage and max clock speeds. here is a very easy to follow guide on creating a couple of batch files so you can still use lower power state features when not gaming.
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=1770296

this makes finding your boost clock very easy


----------



## nismofreak

Cool! I was planning on loading the new beta driver tonight ahead of my GW2 session to see if there are any improvements there.

Dunno how many of you are running GW2 but this game requires that I run a lower level of OC over anything else that I have. I can run a higher OC in Heaven (1280 core) and stay stable vs. GW2 (1267). I think there needs to be some massive optimization there as the game is pretty heavily CPU bound. Boo!


----------



## jonathan1107

Simple question for you guys: I would like to know how to figure out what's the highest Memory Clock offset that I can put on my Asus directcu ii gtx 670 2gb (non-top), without risking to shorten the card's life...

here's the deal: There is no way to measure the VRAM temp on the gtx 670 cards, therefore, how can we determine what is SAFE for us to run?
Because, even if a Memory offset might be very stable in Unigine heaven benchmarks (even after 20 runs), it doesn't mean that in the long run, we're not gonna hurt the VRAM...

I want my cards to last, so I'd like to hear what you guys think...
(I read about the guy who managed +600 mem offset stable, like 2 posts before this one... do you guys think that's a safe offset, or it could hurt the VRAM in the long run ??)


----------



## andy4theherd

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jonathan1107*
> 
> Simple question for you guys: I would like to know how to figure out what's the highest Memory Clock offset that I can put on my Asus directcu ii gtx 670 2gb (non-top), without risking to shorten the card's life...
> here's the deal: There is no way to measure the VRAM temp on the gtx 670 cards, therefore, how can we determine what is SAFE for us to run?
> Because, even if a Memory offset might be very stable in Unigine heaven benchmarks (even after 20 runs), it doesn't mean that in the long run, we're not gonna hurt the VRAM...
> I want my cards to last, so I'd like to hear what you guys think...
> (I read about the guy who managed +600 mem offset stable, like 2 posts before this one... do you guys think that's a safe offset, or it could hurt the VRAM in the long run ??)


somebody can correct me if this is wrong, but my thought is that any damage to the VRAM would happen by upping the voltage to an unacceptable level. with the Kepler cards we are locked at 1.175 volts and are just upping the speed of the ram and GPU. if you have ever overclocked a CPU you'll remember the heat problems you are watching for don't become a factor until you start upping the voltage.


----------



## jonathan1107

Would like to hear what others think about this. (safe V-RAM speed for long-term usage for the gtx 670)

1 more thing: When using 2x gtx 670 in SLI that have 2 different Kepler Boost, must I attempt to adjust the clock offset so that both cards end up having the same Max Boost (kepler + cc) ???

or can I use the full kepler boost potential of my first card? (which is +140 k-boost whilst the other card's is +98...)


----------



## glyph0reo

Anyone else having downclocking issues with the 310.33 beta drivers?


----------



## Daredevil 720

Is it normal to get a lower Kepler Boost, without any thermal or power throttling involved, when raising the core clock offset with PrecisionX? For example, I set my core clock offset to +85MHz and only got a +78MHz increase in Unigine, monitored through both PrecisionX's OSD and GPU-Z. Here are the details:

GPU: EVGA GTX 670 FTW
Stock Boost Clock: 1085MHz
Stock Max Boost: 1215MHz

So my maximum Kepler Boost is 130MHz. Am I right? Now, check out these statistics:

+35MHz Core Clock Offset: I get to 1120MHz Boost Clock and 1241MHz Max Boost which means Kepler Boost got decreased by 9MHz.
+65MHz Core Clock Offset: I get to 1150MHz Boost Clock and 1267MHz Max Boost which means Kepler Boost got decreased by 13MHz.
+85MHz Core Clock Offset: I get to 1170MHz Boost Clock and 1293MHz Max Boost which means Kepler Boost got decreased by 7MHz.

All of these tests were run with temperatures at 66°C maximum, and the max power consumption recorded was 111% TDP while I've set the power target to 145% TDP. So I'm guessing there was no thermal or power throttling involved, and again if there was, it would only decrease the Kepler Boost in steps of 13MHz.

I'm using the non-beta 306.97 NVIDIA drivers and version 3.0.4 of PrecisionX, which by the way has min and max values in the graphs.

Also to avoid any confusion, my signature rig mentions two 670 FTWs but I'm currently just running one. I'm expecting my second one next Tuesday!









Thanks in advance.


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Question guys: Just got my 670...
Why is my Power % only around 33%? The max is 45% power %...I'm using afterburner...

Power % is below the screen showing but its from 30-33% when benching on heaven...


----------



## nismofreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Daredevil 720*
> 
> Is it normal to get a lower Kepler Boost, without any thermal or power throttling involved, when raising the core clock offset with PrecisionX? For example, I set my core clock offset to +85MHz and only got a +78MHz increase in Unigine, monitored through both PrecisionX's OSD and GPU-Z. Here are the details:
> GPU: EVGA GTX 670 FTW
> Stock Boost Clock: 1085MHz
> Stock Max Boost: 1215MHz
> So my maximum Kepler Boost is 130MHz. Am I right? Now, check out these statistics:
> +35MHz Core Clock Offset: I get to 1120MHz Boost Clock and 1241MHz Max Boost which means Kepler Boost got decreased by 9MHz.
> +65MHz Core Clock Offset: I get to 1150MHz Boost Clock and 1267MHz Max Boost which means Kepler Boost got decreased by 13MHz.
> +85MHz Core Clock Offset: I get to 1170MHz Boost Clock and 1293MHz Max Boost which means Kepler Boost got decreased by 7MHz.
> All of these tests were run with temperatures at 66°C maximum, and the max power consumption recorded was 111% TDP while I've set the power target to 145% TDP. So I'm guessing there was no thermal or power throttling involved, and again if there was, it would only decrease the Kepler Boost in steps of 13MHz.
> I'm using the non-beta 306.97 NVIDIA drivers and version 3.0.4 of PrecisionX, which by the way has min and max values in the graphs.
> Also to avoid any confusion, my signature rig mentions two 670 FTWs but I'm currently just running one. I'm expecting my second one next Tuesday!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks in advance.


If you roll back to 306.23 driver, you can go up and down incrementally rather then the 13MHz straps. The latest beta also includes the 13MHz straps. Boo!


----------



## Daredevil 720

Wow nismofreak, thanks man you opened my eyes! I did some tests ands it's indeed limiting me to 13MHz steps.

What got me confused though is that +65 (which is 5 times 13) got me +52 (which is 4 times 13). Both are products of 13, so they should be applied correctly. When I bumped up the offset to +66, however, it gave me +65, which got me to 1280MHz and that seems stable in Unigine.









Got to wait for my second 670 FTW though, to decide my SLI clocks. I think 1280MHz is a pretty good clock, and I would be damn happy if the other card also goes there. Surprised by the FTW's cooler by the way, didn't even touch 67°C and it's not that loud at all. It's the air movement that makes the noise, not the fan itself!


----------



## glyph0reo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nismofreak*
> 
> If you roll back to 306.23 driver, you can go up and down incrementally rather then the 13MHz straps. The latest beta also includes the 13MHz straps. Boo!


I think I'll try that out later. 310.33 is really unstable, battefield crashes all the time. I hope 306.23 works better as I can't even benchmark in heaven... Even battlefield (on low) stables the core clock...not on ultra with everything on for some reason, any of you guys know why?


----------



## JTHMfreak

Just orederd ASUS PCI-E N GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II, looking to OC once it arrives


----------



## glyph0reo

I hate that nvidia are limiting us this much...

I might regret that I bought asus dcII, can't get it past 1120 boost clock without it crashing on me...:/ I think my kepler boost is about 150 though, which I'm really happy about!

Seems that everybody else is getting a better clock than myself...
Just for reference, when people share their clock speeds, are they referring to their boost clock or their max boost ?


----------



## Daredevil 720

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *glyph0reo*
> 
> I hate that nvidia are limiting us this much...
> I might regret that I bought asus dcII, can't get it past 1120 boost clock without it crashing on me...:/ I think my kepler boost is about 150 though, which I'm really happy about!
> Seems that everybody else is getting a better clock than myself...
> Just for reference, when people share their clock speeds, are they referring to their boost clock or their max boost ?


I'm using the same terminology presented by the OP. The 1280MHz I mentioned above is my Max Boost (or Max Boosted Frequency/MBF), which is my Boost Clock + Kepler Boost.

According to your sayings your Max Boost should be around 1270MHz, which is pretty close to mine and what most people get. Not bad at all!

If your temps are good you could try the voltage unlock mod to give more than 1.175V to your GPU and up the clocks a bit more. However this involves flashing a new BIOS to the GPU, which could f*ck **** up if something happens during the flash. Your choice. I would stay there.


----------



## Schenkelklopfer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cakewalk_S*
> 
> Question guys: Just got my 670...
> Why is my Power % only around 33%? The max is 45% power %...I'm using afterburner...
> 
> Power % is below the screen showing but its from 30-33% when benching on heaven...


Hi Guys,
I have the same issue with my ASUS card. All used tools show the same value as described by Cakewalk_S.
Someone knows the reason?


----------



## Daredevil 720

I'm currently trying to find my maximum memory boost and right now I'm at +600 and going. What the hell? Is it safe to keep going? (EVGA FTW)


----------



## Cakewalk_S

This open box 670 wasn't great. Probably worst core overclocker ever...


Interestingly enough. The memory chips get hotter than the VRM's do...I tightened the VRM heatsink which seriously the screws were on dang loose. But I definitely have to have a fan blowing on the PCB to keep the memory chips cool. Still working on overclock. I believe 1150Core is stable with 500+ memory, still working on memory though. Trying 600 700 mem...see what happens.

Notice my temp! hahah. Thats the modded thermaltake water 2.0 with the 240 rad. First time I booted it was idling at 65C







then realized the zipties wern't tight...


----------



## Daredevil 720

While Unigine run perfectly multiple times at +600 Memory Offset, 3DMark11 threw some blue and red artifacts on test 3. Reverted back to +500 and it seems fine now. Kinda not sure on how to test though. The artifacts weren't always there.

@Cakewalk_S: Awesome temps there buddy, volt mod the **** out of it!


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Daredevil 720*
> 
> While Unigine run perfectly multiple times at +600 Memory Offset, 3DMark11 threw some blue and red artifacts on test 3. Reverted back to +500 and it seems fine now. Kinda not sure on how to test though. The artifacts weren't always there.
> @Cakewalk_S: Awesome temps there buddy, volt mod the **** out of it!


Eh. Not sure i want to. I want a card that'll last and overvolting over 1.2V is a little iffy for me. I can get stable 1163MHz and so far +600 memory. But yea, 35C while playing BF3 aint bad...aint bad at all..


----------



## Daredevil 720

After quite a few hours I think I've reached some stable clocks.

*GPU: EVGA GTX 670 FTW 2GB
Max Boost (Core): 1280MHz (from 1215)
Memory (Effective): 7200MHz (from 6208)*

Setting the core to 1293MHz (one step up) leads to driver crash, and 7400MHz effective memory gives me a couple of artifacts in 3DMark11, so I decided to give it some space and also stress the card less to avoid the 80°C mark.

These settings work flawlessly in Heaven and 3DMark11, while FurMark stresses the GPU to about 75°C dropping the core to 1267MHz, which is fine by me as long as it doesn't reach the second throttling point. (I hope no game does!) If only we could set the fan above 80% without flashing an unofficial BIOS...

*Unigine 'Heaven' Benchmark 3.0 (All Max @ 1080p) - Stock:*

FPS: 47.2
Scores: 1190
Min FPS: 22.9
Max FPS: 121.5

*Unigine 'Heaven' Benchmark 3.0 (All Max @ 1080p) - OC:*

FPS: 51.8
Scores: 1304
Min FPS: 25.1
Max FPS: 133.0

*FutureMark 3DMark11 Basic v1.0.3 (Performance Mode) - Stock:*

GPU Score: 9788
Link: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4774154

*FutureMark 3DMark11 Basic v1.0.3 (Performance Mode) - OC:*

GPU Score: 10201
Link: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4773658

Are these scores satisfying? How would they reflect in games? (Haven't tested yet.)


----------



## glyph0reo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Daredevil 720*
> 
> I'm using the same terminology presented by the OP. The 1280MHz I mentioned above is my Max Boost (or Max Boosted Frequency/MBF), which is my Boost Clock + Kepler Boost.
> According to your sayings your Max Boost should be around 1270MHz, which is pretty close to mine and what most people get. Not bad at all!
> If your temps are good you could try the voltage unlock mod to give more than 1.175V to your GPU and up the clocks a bit more. However this involves flashing a new BIOS to the GPU, which could f*ck **** up if something happens during the flash. Your choice. I would stay there.


My max boost is 1254 I think, haven't really tested a lot after that since I'm using the 310.33 and it keeps crashing, even on stock. I'm pleased with my temps, the highest I've seen it hit is 62c, give or take. Where would I get the bios?

In all honest I'd rather like a card that was stable, than an extreme oc'ed one. I can't benchmark in heaven, the card just downclocks itself. Hoping that it's because of the drivers and not the card!


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Daredevil 720*
> 
> After quite a few hours I think I've reached some stable clocks.
> *GPU: EVGA GTX 670 FTW 2GB
> Max Boost (Core): 1280MHz (from 1215)
> Memory (Effective): 7200MHz (from 6208)*
> Setting the core to 1293MHz (one step up) leads to driver crash, and 7400MHz effective memory gives me a couple of artifacts in 3DMark11, so I decided to give it some space and also stress the card less to avoid the 80°C mark.
> These settings work flawlessly in Heaven and 3DMark11, while FurMark stresses the GPU to about 75°C dropping the core to 1267MHz, which is fine by me as long as it doesn't reach the second throttling point. (I hope no game does!) If only we could set the fan above 80% without flashing an unofficial BIOS...
> 
> *FutureMark 3DMark11 Basic v1.0.3 (Performance Mode) - Stock:*
> GPU Score: 9788
> Link: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4774154
> *FutureMark 3DMark11 Basic v1.0.3 (Performance Mode) - OC:*
> GPU Score: 10201
> Link: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4773658
> Are these scores satisfying? How would they reflect in games? (Haven't tested yet.)


Awesome score friends,







...but I want to know, how much your max stable OC for now? what the setting do you use? Core voltage, Offset core clock and Offset memory?

btw, here's mine : http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4773386


----------



## Daredevil 720

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *glyph0reo*
> 
> My max boost is 1254 I think, haven't really tested a lot after that since I'm using the 310.33 and it keeps crashing, even on stock. I'm pleased with my temps, the highest I've seen it hit is 62c, give or take. Where would I get the bios?
> In all honest I'd rather like a card that was stable, than an extreme oc'ed one. I can't benchmark in heaven, the card just downclocks itself. Hoping that it's because of the drivers and not the card!


There is a thread in this forum somewhere regarding the unlocked voltage BIOS, search it up. Beware of the dangers though!!

Why don't you just roll back to an older driver and enjoy your card?








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> Awesome score friends,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...but I want to know, how much your max stable OC for now? what the setting do you use? Core voltage, Offset core clock and Offset memory?
> btw, here's mine : http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4773386


Wow, that's an awesome score man, about double the performance gain I got! What 670 is that and what are your settings? Mine are exactly as I mentioned in the post you quoted:

Stock Core Clock: 1006MHz
Stock Mem Clock: 1552MHz
Stock Boost Clock: 1085MHz
Max Kepler Boost: 130MHz

So that was 1215MHz Core and 6208MHz Mem (effective) under full load without OC, out of the box.

From there on I set the voltage to the max (1.175V), Core Clock Offset to +66 to increase my Boost Clock to 1151MHz (which in theory gives me 1281MHz core clock with Kepler Boost), and Memory Clock Offset to +496 to round my Mem Clock at 1800MHz.

I get 1280MHz instead of 1281MHz because I'm running on the 306.97 driver, which only allows Core Clock increments of 13MHz. (1280-1215=65=5*13) So now you must be asking yourself why I set the offset to +66 and not +65. Well, that's because at +65 the core clocked at 1267MHz, 13MHz below... I know, ****ty drivers...


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Daredevil 720*
> 
> There is a thread in this forum somewhere regarding the unlocked voltage BIOS, search it up. Beware of the dangers though!!
> Why don't you just roll back to an older driver and enjoy your card?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, that's an awesome score man, about double the performance gain I got! What 670 is that and what are your settings? Mine are exactly as I mentioned in the post you quoted:
> Stock Core Clock: 1006MHz
> Stock Mem Clock: 1552MHz
> Stock Boost Clock: 1085MHz
> Max Kepler Boost: 130MHz
> So that was 1215MHz Core and 6208MHz Mem (effective) under full load without OC, out of the box.
> From there on I set the voltage to the max (1.175V), Core Clock Offset to +66 to increase my Boost Clock to 1151MHz (which in theory gives me 1281MHz core clock with Kepler Boost), and Memory Clock Offset to +496 to round my Mem Clock at 1800MHz.
> I get 1280MHz instead of 1281MHz because I'm running on the 306.97 driver, which only allows Core Clock increments of 13MHz. (1280-1215=65=5*13) So now you must be asking yourself why I set the offset to +66 and not +65. Well, that's because at +65 the core clocked at 1267MHz, 13MHz below... I know, ****ty drivers...


Stock Core Clock : 1019 Mhz
Stock Mem Clock : 1502 Mhz
Stock Boost Clock : 1097 Mhz
Max Kepler Boost : + 53 Mhz (so small) = 1150 Mhz

hmmm, maybe I got a bad card, because my offset core clock is +171 on core clock, and +651 on memory clock, with full voltage, with MSI GTX 670 Power Edition...and I can get 1320 Mhz on that settings...with 4.4 ghz i5 processor, I think I can get higher, if I set my processor into at least 4.6 ghz, but I am still biased with that argument....I see some people with the same card as me, can get 1360 Mhz on heaven benchmark, insane speed IMO, and make me so sad....

and under full load, with nothing change, I can get 1150 Mhz with kepler boost when playing battlefield 3 ( again, I see some people can get 1241 Mhz out of the box with the same card as me)....


----------



## Schnitter

Just got me a GIGABYTE Windforce GTX 670. I've overclocked my CPU's before, but never my video cards. Seeing how this Video card runs at 60 degrees under load (Max Payne 3 all max) I see a big headroom for overclocking... so I guess it might be worth it now. I previously had a 5870 HD which reached 80 degrees under load so no point in overclocking there.


----------



## glyph0reo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Daredevil 720*
> 
> There is a thread in this forum somewhere regarding the unlocked voltage BIOS, search it up. Beware of the dangers though!!
> Why don't you just roll back to an older driver and enjoy your card?


I'm gonna roll back my drivers today, would 306.23 be the best?


----------



## glyph0reo

Rolled back my drivers to 306.23 but I still can't benchmark in Heaven as the card stables at a core clock of 980 or lower. This is with PX, with Afterburner my system gets a bluescreen apparently, or rather my screen goes black, my monitor can't find a signal and I have to restart my computer. When I get to my desktop, there is a message about the sudden crash/bluescreen.

You guys have an idea of what I should do?


----------



## glyph0reo

With 306.23 I'm unstable in Battlefield as well.... Think I'm just gonna stick to 306.97 for now.


----------



## Daredevil 720

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> Stock Core Clock : 1019 Mhz
> Stock Mem Clock : 1502 Mhz
> Stock Boost Clock : 1097 Mhz
> Max Kepler Boost : + 53 Mhz (so small) = 1150 Mhz
> hmmm, maybe I got a bad card, because my offset core clock is +171 on core clock, and +651 on memory clock, with full voltage, with MSI GTX 670 Power Edition...and I can get 1320 Mhz on that settings...with 4.4 ghz i5 processor, I think I can get higher, if I set my processor into at least 4.6 ghz, but I am still biased with that argument....I see some people with the same card as me, can get 1360 Mhz on heaven benchmark, insane speed IMO, and make me so sad....
> and under full load, with nothing change, I can get 1150 Mhz with kepler boost when playing battlefield 3 ( again, I see some people can get 1241 Mhz out of the box with the same card as me)....


You have a low Kepler Boost but an insanely high core clock offset! I mean, +171? Really? And you're sad?







You go 40MHz more than I do. And you clock your memory higher too.

Don't get addicted to benchmarking! You bought the card to have a good gaming experience, not to score some points higher in a benchmark. Find out your max stable OC, make a nice profile along with an efficient fan curve and start gaming dude!
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *glyph0reo*
> 
> Rolled back my drivers to 306.23 but I still can't benchmark in Heaven as the card stables at a core clock of 980 or lower. This is with PX, with Afterburner my system gets a bluescreen apparently, or rather my screen goes black, my monitor can't find a signal and I have to restart my computer. When I get to my desktop, there is a message about the sudden crash/bluescreen.
> You guys have an idea of what I should do?


I read your posts in this thread and I really think you should start again from scratch. Make sure you fully understand the guide. Your first post indicated otherwise.

Also I would suggest using the 306.97 driver, or the newest beta one which is said to be better.


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Daredevil 720*
> 
> You have a low Kepler Boost but an insanely high core clock offset! I mean, +171? Really? And you're sad?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You go 40MHz more than I do. And you clock your memory higher too.
> Don't get addicted to benchmarking! You bought the card to have a good gaming experience, not to score some points higher in a benchmark. Find out your max stable OC, make a nice profile along with an efficient fan curve and start gaming dude!


yeah I know that, I just want to know about the *true potential* of my graphics cards, without modded bios








thanks for remembering me dude, enjoy


----------



## Schnitter

Typing this on iPad while doing it. I have a few questions.

1- if I overclock my CPU would it be possible to get better video card overclock?
2- once I find my stable overclock can I reset the voltage or is it ok to leave it at max?
3- for some reason, I was able to complete a +101 benchmark and now after trying to up the mem, it crashes. I removed the mem overclock and re-ran the benchmark and now it crashes on 101 when it did not before. (always crashes at the end when it is dark).

EDIT dropped CPU to 81 and upped mem to 100 and test completed. Scored 1111 vs the 1101 when test completed at +101.


----------



## Daredevil 720

1) The CPU frequency has nothing to do with GPU overclocking potential. It may bottleneck the overall performance though, but that's not relevant here.

2) Lowering the voltage could render a stable OC unstable. It is wise to leave it at 1.175V. The card will still chew about 0.988V at idle, and 1.175V is totally safe for 24/7 use, don't worry about that.

3) Two things could be happening here. Case one is that you were lucky to finish the benchmark the first time, and case two is that you're going through a burn-in phase where your card requires more voltage to stay clocked the same. (Kinda like the Sandy Bridge CPUs. I don't believe in hardware degradation.)

What is your Max Boost (Boost Clock + Kepler Boost) at +101 Offset?


----------



## Schnitter

^ thanks for the fast reply.

I think I found the error, after one of the crashes, the voltage got reset. I upped the volt to max again and did a +101 gpu and +100 on the mem.

Precision x shows GPU Boost at 1215 and mem 3105 as Max. Is this acceptable OC or can I go higher?

EDIT +101 and +100 gives me a heaven mark of 1117. I think the first crash I saw was going from +101 to +121 so I guess my GPU max is somewhere in between that now that I upped the volt again.


----------



## Schnitter

Oh and another question.... Do I have to run precision x every time I restart PC?


----------



## Daredevil 720

My EVGA GTX 670 FTW had these exact same clocks out of the box. 1215MHz core and 3105MHz memory under full load.

Is that a reference Gigabyte card? If so it's good, but it could be better. You should be able to up the memory more quite a few!

BTW, my FTW with these exact same clocks scored 1190 on Unigine (all maxed @ 1080p). You might want to repeat that.

And about PrecisionX, go to Settings and tick the first two boxes (Start with Windows/Start minimized). Also tick the "WINDOWS START UP" box below the offsets, and PX should start up minimized with your voltage/power target/offsets set.


----------



## Schnitter

So I just ran heaven on stock on my windforce GTX 670 and GPU-Z shows the GPU Core Clock MAX in the sensor tab to reach 1123.5 when OP example shows his reaching 1250+

So my stock boost is 1059 and my max (stock) is 1123.5 that means my Kepler boost rounded is 64! Did I just get the crappiest windforce ever or is OP's method to determine Kepler boost done after reaching your most stable overclock?

EDIT: GPU temp never went past 60 degrees so it isn't throttling. Am I getting bad overclocking results because I don't have PCI 3.0 or is my card just a bottom binner?

EDIT2: I guess I am on the latest BIOS version for this card too. Should I re-flash it just in case?


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!















BTW I used Driver Sweeper to remove all AMD and NVIDIA drivers so as to perform a CLEAN install of drivers so it cant be driver issues.


----------



## Daredevil 720

Well your previous post mentions 1215MHz as the max boost, so your card is definitely not a good overclocker. It ain't bad though! Don't bother with the stock clocks or the kepler boost, what really matters is your max stable boost after OC. If that's 1215MHz then it's not bad for games. Increase the memory clock like I told you (you should be able to do at least +300) and you'll be OK.

As for the PCI-E, it doesn't really matter as long as you're running at PCI-E2.0 16x. Neither a BIOS flash will help you from what I can tell.

BTW, you should run FurMark at OP's settings to determine your real max temps. They are about 10°C more than while running Heaven.


----------



## glyph0reo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Daredevil 720*
> 
> You have a low Kepler Boost but an insanely high core clock offset! I mean, +171? Really? And you're sad?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You go 40MHz more than I do. And you clock your memory higher too.
> Don't get addicted to benchmarking! You bought the card to have a good gaming experience, not to score some points higher in a benchmark. Find out your max stable OC, make a nice profile along with an efficient fan curve and start gaming dude!
> I read your posts in this thread and I really think you should start again from scratch. Make sure you fully understand the guide. Your first post indicated otherwise.
> Also I would suggest using the 306.97 driver, or the newest beta one which is said to be better.


I think I will, thanks. Just need some more time on my hands. As for now, I'm keeping it on stock with 306.97.


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Guys quick question:

So I'm new to Kepler...
Using evga precision I've found out a few things with my 670
The voltage tuner doesn't work....no matter what voltage I set the tuner at, its locked at 1.175v when under load...
The Power Target doesn't do anything too. I can set it to 75% or 122% and neither do anything...

The only thing that really matters for my card is the core offset and memory offset.

Is power target or voltage tuner for something relating to temperatures if they become an issue? My card under water won't go over 35C and I I've found the voltage tuner and power target to be completely useless...


----------



## Schnitter

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Daredevil 720*
> 
> Well your previous post mentions 1215MHz as the max boost, so your card is definitely not a good overclocker. It ain't bad though! Don't bother with the stock clocks or the kepler boost, what really matters is your max stable boost after OC. If that's 1215MHz then it's not bad for games. Increase the memory clock like I told you (you should be able to do at least +300) and you'll be OK.
> 
> As for the PCI-E, it doesn't really matter as long as you're running at PCI-E2.0 16x. Neither a BIOS flash will help you from what I can tell.
> 
> BTW, you should run FurMark at OP's settings to determine your real max temps. They are about 10°C more than while running Heaven.


Will try Future mark. I tired +81 boost and +90 (Mem +400 on both scenarios) and both were stable. The difference in Futuremark score with 81GPU 400MEM vs 91GPU 400MEM was minimal

FPS: 45.7
Scores: 1152
Min FPS: 20.4
Max FPS: 113.3

VS

FPS: 45.8
Scores: 1154
Min FPS: 19.8
Max FPS: 114.3

Anyway, I game at 1920x1200 and there is no game I can't run on all Ultra. When new Metro game comes or if a higher res monitor comes out that I might like better than my UltraSharp U2410, I might try to Flash that Unlocked BIOS I saw in some other thread. If my temps on Futuremark are 60 degrees still, do you think flashing that unlocked BIOS to up the voltage would be ok?


----------



## ckWL

MSI GTX 670 OC PE @ 1254 / 3360

Heaven 3.0 score was 1227


----------



## Sharchaster

MSI GTX 670 PE @1320 / 1800 Mem, on 3D MARK 11 with i5 3570K @4.4 Ghz, haven't test Heaven Benchmark yet, because I don't have the [email protected]


----------



## ckWL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> MSI GTX 670 PE @1320 / 1800 Mem, on 3D MARK 11 with i5 3570K @4.4 Ghz, haven't test Heaven Benchmark yet, because I don't have the [email protected]


im jelous! 1254 / 3370 is the max im getting.


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ckWL*
> 
> im jelous! 1254 / 3370 is the max im getting.


on 3dmark 11 or heaven benchmark? Because I think, Heaven and 3dmark 11 have a different method (algorithm) for testing the card.


----------



## ViTosS

I tested my MSI 670 PE in Heaven with 1333Mhz and it was stable, I think I can go more furter than that


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Well if I get an actual working GTX670 I'm definitely bios modding the card.

Does the Asus directCUII non-top or TOP version display correctly in GPUz? Like it doesn't show like weird numbers and crap in it? I figure if I can keep the card under 40C @ 1.175V, there should be no worry having the card @ 1.2V...hopefully


----------



## jonathan1107

Quick Question: I have 2x Asus direct cu ii 670 2gb... and they have 2 different Kepler boosts...

Can I use the full potential of the 2x different keplers boosts... or must I adjust the Core Clock offset so that when the kepler boosts Kick in, both cards run @ the same Max Boost ???


----------



## Fallout323f

precision x and asus gtx670 non top

I used to put my voltage tuner to 1175mV.
But noticed a huge score profit at 3d mark 11.
If i put it on 1125Mv.
Finally a 10.000+ score.
Or is it just a coincidence.


----------



## rexbinary

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jonathan1107*
> 
> Quick Question: I have 2x Asus direct cu ii 670 2gb... and they have 2 different Kepler boosts...
> Can I use the full potential of the 2x different keplers boosts... or must I adjust the Core Clock offset so that when the kepler boosts Kick in, both cards run @ the same Max Boost ???


The clocks on each card do not need to be in synch with each other. You can and I would recommend OCing each one to it's fullest to get the most benefit.


----------



## beekermartin

I would like to see some results using the most current drivers 306.97 from other users. I have ran 3DMark11 many times using 306.97 and I am averaging 46.3 fps. I was averaging much higher using the older drivers. I am very curious if you guys are getting similar results using the most recent drivers under windows 7...


----------



## glyph0reo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Fallout323f*
> 
> precision x and asus gtx670 non top
> I used to put my voltage tuner to 1175mV.
> But noticed a huge score profit at 3d mark 11.
> If i put it on 1125Mv.
> Finally a 10.000+ score.
> Or is it just a coincidence.


Which driver version are you using?

I have the exact same thing going on for my card, except I'm using Heaven.

I'm using a non-TOP too btw.


----------



## andy4theherd

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *beekermartin*
> 
> I would like to see some results using the most current drivers 306.97 from other users. I have ran 3DMark11 many times using 306.97 and I am averaging 46.3 fps. I was averaging much higher using the older drivers. I am very curious if you guys are getting similar results using the most recent drivers under windows 7...


what voltage setting are you using?

i have read reports of people getting a lower score with the voltage manually set to 1.175 and then getting a better score by going back to the default voltage with these drivers. try that and see what happens.

these cards and drivers are still very odd at times....


----------



## Fallout323f

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *glyph0reo*
> 
> Which driver version are you using?
> I have the exact same thing going on for my card, except I'm using Heaven.
> I'm using a non-TOP too btw.


306.97


----------



## jigglywiggly

I don't get it.
OC passes heaven and furmark
5 seconds of BF3 and i crash...

Only +50 on core


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jigglywiggly*
> 
> I don't get it.
> OC passes heaven and furmark
> 5 seconds of BF3 and i crash...
> Only +50 on core


RMA it! Sounds bad! Try new drivers though...


----------



## jigglywiggly

okay nevermind.... black screen at stock
MSI
you...

crashed after like 10 minutes

on oc'd setings, heaven and 3dmark11 pass no problems

CS GO crashes INSTANTLY

something can't be right

Well it doesn't crash if I take my oc off, well not right away anyway.

You guys think I have a defective card?

EDIT: It doesn't crash if I don't have any oc program running. Like even if I am not oc'd, they crash my GPU.


----------



## jason4207

Still playing, but I'm at 1358/7250 on Heaven right now. I have the Asus D2C TOP and have done the BIOS mod to get 1.212v and 145% power. Changed the TIM to Gelid GC-Extreme. Also removed the stock fans and strapped (2) GT-2150 fans on there for slightly cooler temps. Max temp is 55°C.

I've been running Crysis2 benchmark (DX11 + HD Pack) to get more game stable settings. I think I'm getting close at 1344/7250, but this may change as I game more and ambient temps change. Crysis2 is stable at 1358/7250. Played for a couple hours last night w/o a hiccup. Temps maxed at 47°C.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Daredevil 720*
> 
> 1) The CPU frequency has nothing to do with GPU overclocking potential. It may bottleneck the overall performance though, but that's not relevant here.
> 2) Lowering the voltage could render a stable OC unstable. It is wise to leave it at 1.175V. The card will still chew about 0.988V at idle, and 1.175V is totally safe for 24/7 use, don't worry about that.
> 3) Two things could be happening here. Case one is that you were lucky to finish the benchmark the first time, and case two is that you're going through a burn-in phase where your card requires more voltage to stay clocked the same. (Kinda like the Sandy Bridge CPUs. *I don't believe in hardware degradation*.)
> What is your Max Boost (Boost Clock + Kepler Boost) at +101 Offset?


You don't believe in electromigration? It's not a religion.









Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cakewalk_S*
> 
> Guys quick question:
> So I'm new to Kepler...
> Using evga precision I've found out a few things with my 670
> The voltage tuner doesn't work....no matter what voltage I set the tuner at, its locked at 1.175v when under load...
> The Power Target doesn't do anything too. I can set it to 75% or 122% and neither do anything...
> The only thing that really matters for my card is the core offset and memory offset.
> Is power target or voltage tuner for something relating to temperatures if they become an issue? My card under water won't go over 35C and I I've found the voltage tuner and power target to be completely useless...


Voltage Tuner doesn't work the way you think it does. It's been mentioned several times in this thread, but it will always go to 1.175v under load. If you select 1.175v in VT it will stay locked at 1.175v under load whereas if you select something lower it will drop the voltage when load isn't as high, but still go to 1.175v as the max. Locking it at 1.175v usually will be your best bet, but if your speed keeps dipping under heavy load with power % maxxed then it is advised to try and reduce the VT slider to lower power %. This might keep your clocks high, but also may introduce instability. VT does something...just not much.

Power Target works too. But if you're not hitting the max it won't matter. If you're hitting the max then you want to increase it, so your max is higher.









The colder the temps are the lower the power % will be. Your temps are so low there is basically no effect since you're not hitting the ceiling. What is the max power % your hitting in the graphs when running Heaven or 3DMark11?

Edit:


----------



## gwgeek

Hello

I appologize, if this is not the right place to ask my question...but I think its right here.

Yesterday I tried your great 30minute guide very carefully but finally I decided not to use the new settings, as I did not feel a big difference.  Ok maybee I was too carefull..;-) however, its my first time to oc. All the time the OSD was active and I was able to SEE that the temperature never exceeds 66°C. Finally I decided to reset all settings to default and I tried to optimize the software-controlled fan (by using your hints) a bit to find a silent mode for me. I found some nice settings and wanted to test them finally in GW2. The temperature was ok but I wanted to give more tolerance to ensure no overheating. I used alt-tab to switch to precision but during this context switch GW2 crashed. I restarted GW2, but the OSD showes that the fan is on 10% by increasing temp! Of course I stopped GW2 to check out what I did. I tried to activate the hardware fan controller in precision, but it did not work. At the moment it seems that my card only will survive with software controlled fan. :-( not good. Is it possible to deactivate the hardware controlled fan? Just in case that precision crashes or I forget to start it...omg..dont think about it. Please help! I bought this card just three weeks ago and hope ... that it would be changed if it is a defect instead of a human failure. Thank you so much!

ASUS GTX670 DirectCUII 2048MB
980MHz
1049Mhz
1502
100% 988mV

Software-Fan Control



Hardware-Fan Control



with regards gwgeek


----------



## glyph0reo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jigglywiggly*
> 
> okay nevermind.... black screen at stock
> MSI
> you...
> crashed after like 10 minutes
> on oc'd setings, heaven and 3dmark11 pass no problems
> CS GO crashes INSTANTLY
> something can't be right
> Well it doesn't crash if I take my oc off, well not right away anyway.
> You guys think I have a defective card?
> EDIT: It doesn't crash if I don't have any oc program running. Like even if I am not oc'd, they crash my GPU.


Seems like you may have the same issue as I'm having.. except my card crashes in heaven as well.


----------



## AlienBorn

My 1st post.

I just got my 2nd EVGA GeForce GTX 670 and I'm running the Heaven Benchmark. I have the Logitech G510 keyboard with the LCD screen and I'm seeing my 2nd GPU running 10% higher and about 8 degrees higher than GPU_1. GPU_2 hit 72 degrees. Also I have the 2 cards "SYNC" turned on in Precision X and everything turned up in the NVIDIA Control Panel. In the Overclocking where it says to
increase the offset to +120 so the GPU clock reads 1100MHz, I type in 120 or even higher but the MHZ stays the same. Before I got the second card I got it to 1100. I don't know what's up with that.
But anyway, can I get some advice on how to proceed?

Thx,
Dave


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gwgeek*
> 
> Hello
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> I appologize, if this is not the right place to ask my question...but I think its right here.
> Yesterday I tried your great 30minute guide very carefully but finally I decided not to use the new settings, as I did not feel a big difference.  Ok maybee I was too carefull..;-) however, its my first time to oc. All the time the OSD was active and I was able to SEE that the temperature never exceeds 66°C. Finally I decided to reset all settings to default and I tried to optimize the software-controlled fan (by using your hints) a bit to find a silent mode for me. I found some nice settings and wanted to test them finally in GW2. The temperature was ok but I wanted to give more tolerance to ensure no overheating. I used alt-tab to switch to precision but during this context switch GW2 crashed. I restarted GW2, but the OSD showes that the fan is on 10% by increasing temp! Of course I stopped GW2 to check out what I did. I tried to activate the hardware fan controller in precision, but it did not work. At the moment it seems that my card only will survive with software controlled fan. :-( not good. Is it possible to deactivate the hardware controlled fan? Just in case that precision crashes or I forget to start it...omg..dont think about it. Please help! I bought this card just three weeks ago and hope ... that it would be changed if it is a defect instead of a human failure. Thank you so much!
> ASUS GTX670 DirectCUII 2048MB
> 980MHz
> 1049Mhz
> 1502
> 100% 988mV
> Software-Fan Control
> 
> 
> Hardware-Fan Control
> 
> 
> 
> 
> with regards gwgeek


It sounds like your drivers crashed, software acts weird when they do and you have to close and reopen it to fix the problem. You can simply uninstall it if you do not like the hole fan curve or uncheck "Enable software etc etc control"... which you have unchecked, which means it is using the manufacturer fan profile.


----------



## nismofreak

Gwgeek, dial down the OC for gw2. As an example, my heaven clocks are 1280/3649. For gw2 I need 1267/3600 to be stable there. I found that different programs handle the GPU OC differently to be stable. Heaven and 3DMark11 are not the absolute test of GPU stability at a given OC. Always play your games to validate the OC and adjust if necessary.

When you have a driver crash, especially a bad one, in gw2, you may have restart the game at a minimum. I have seen performance come back are going into an instance or through a portal/waypoint. YMMV. Good luck!


----------



## ViTosS

GTX [email protected] 1346/3400Mhz:


----------



## gwgeek

hi General123,

thank you for replying!

I deinstalled and reinstalled the actual nvidia driver..as supposed..no changes.

Just to clarify, I posted two setting:
1. Software-Fan controlled active: everythings works fine.
2. Hardware-Fan controlled active: fan stucks at 10% ...not fine.

Question:
1. Does some one had the same problem?
2. How to check whether the hardwarefan-controller-chip is damaged?


----------



## gwgeek

Hi nismofreak,

thanks for your replay,

but..actaully NO OCs are active nore they have been during the crash(!). My setting are the defaults. HOwever, at the moment I have to use a software controlled fan in order to provide any cooling :-( :-( ^^

greetings


----------



## jason4207

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gwgeek*
> 
> Hi nismofreak,
> thanks for your replay,
> but..actaully NO OCs are active nore they have been during the crash(!). My setting are the defaults. HOwever, at the moment I have to use a software controlled fan in order to provide any cooling :-( :-( ^^
> greetings


When I got my GTX280 I used to use Precision X to dial in my OC and then flashed the cards BIOS to those settings. From then on I didn't even need to run a GPU OC program to get my desired speed, voltage, and fan speeds.

I actually like the Asus GPU Tweak tool better for my recently acquired D2C TOP. Once the new nibitor is done I can go a similar route as I did in the past, but for now I like the way the voltage adjustment is integrated in the Asus tool vs the way PX implements it as basically a separate program with a shortcut in the PX interface.

I haven't had any issues with the Asus tool. PX seemed was more temperamental with my card.


----------



## nismofreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gwgeek*
> 
> Hi nismofreak,
> thanks for your replay,
> but..actaully NO OCs are active nore they have been during the crash(!). My setting are the defaults. HOwever, at the moment I have to use a software controlled fan in order to provide any cooling :-( :-( ^^
> greetings


Ah. If you are crashing at stock, then you should probably RMA the card. Doing negative offset may give you stability but that shouldn't have to do. It's a non-TOP, correct? I've seen in the Asus thread that there were issues with the TOP cards where the fix was to down lock the cards with a bios update.

Were you ever able to OC the card successfully?


----------



## jason4207

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nismofreak*
> 
> Ah. If you are crashing at stock, then you should probably RMA the card. Doing negative offset may give you stability but that shouldn't have to do. It's a non-TOP, correct? I've seen in the Asus thread that there were issues with the TOP cards where the fix was to down lock the cards with a bios update.
> Were you ever able to OC the card successfully?


My TOP was crashing at stock. I just cranked the fan to 100%, and all was well. Since then I've done a few mods and have been able to get a lot more out of it.









My experience w/ RMAs is that I always get a worse card.


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gwgeek*
> 
> hi General123,
> thank you for replying!
> I deinstalled and reinstalled the actual nvidia driver..as supposed..no changes.
> Just to clarify, I posted two setting:
> 1. Software-Fan controlled active: everythings works fine.
> 2. Hardware-Fan controlled active: fan stucks at 10% ...not fine.
> Question:
> 1. Does some one had the same problem?
> 2. How to check whether the hardwarefan-controller-chip is damaged?


it is stuck? Did you click the auto box? If that does not work just uninstall the program, not the drivers that most likely wont help.


----------



## bladexngt

My 2 Gigabyte GTX670s in SLI with i7-3770k @4.5:
Boost Clock: 1110
Mem: 6032


----------



## gwgeek

Hey...thanks for all the answeres...

just out of time reasons ..very short:

@nismofrak its a NON-Top. I OCed the card sucessfully but I only wanted to know what it possible.. I turned back to "default"

@jason427 I dont want that 100%







I prefere a gracard that auto adjusts the fan for sure but not at 100% this is not that much good for your fan I think

@General123 stuck is maybee the wrong word..but the card is not increasing fan speed above 10%. YES I activated the auto-box during for Hardware controled fan but instantly the card lowers the fan speed to 10%. In the evening I will try to reinstall precisionX.. thx!! hope that helps.

bye!


----------



## Nuvola84

I have a fast question: if running unigine heaven 3 all settings maxed as the guide said i register a power consumption of 35% (peak value) overclocked or not , do i have a serious problem with psu right? is an old 800 watt psu with the fan broken, i am using an external one to pump in some air
Thx for your time


----------



## Nuvola84

Power Target 122%
Gpu Clock Offset +75 Mhz
Memo Clock Offset +0 Mhz
Voltage 1175 mv
Vsync Nvdia Panel Disabled
Fan curve exactly as guide
Unigine Heaven with no sound and all settings as guide, here the results(Peak Levels):
Power Consumption 36%
Gpu clock 1137
Memory clock 3005
Gpu Temp 73-74
Gpu Usage 98-99
Memory usage 962
Gpu Voltage 1,175
Fan speed 91%
Fan tachometer 3240

I need to understand why my psw pump so low energy to the video card...both 6*2 pins linked to the card

Asus gtx 670 Dc2 No Top ( tested on old computer with core due e8400 800 watt psw tagan and 4 gb ram single channel)


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Nuvola84*
> 
> Power Target 122%
> Gpu Clock Offset +75 Mhz
> Memo Clock Offset +0 Mhz
> Voltage 1175 mv
> Vsync Nvdia Panel Disabled
> Fan curve exactly as guide
> Unigine Heaven with no sound and all settings as guide, here the results(Peak Levels):
> Power Consumption 36%
> Gpu clock 1137
> Memory clock 3005
> Gpu Temp 73-74
> Gpu Usage 98-99
> Memory usage 962
> Gpu Voltage 1,175
> Fan speed 91%
> Fan tachometer 3240
> I need to understand why my psw pump so low energy to the video card...both 6*2 pins linked to the card
> Asus gtx 670 Dc2 No Top ( tested on old computer with core due e8400 800 watt psw tagan and 4 gb ram single channel)


Is that the max overclock you get with the DCII? Only 1137MHz core?

Yea, I think its a faulty power reading but the non-top will register a power % around 30-34% usage. Its weird and you can just ignore it.


----------



## Nuvola84

Yea, I think its a faulty power reading but the non-top will register a power % around 30-34% usage. Its weird and you can just ignore it.

What u mean with this? is not my max overclock i just am increasing it time to time...what is an average oc for this? 120 mhz Gpu clock?


----------



## Fooom

Hi guys, im new to this forum and new to overclocking. My card is EVGA gtx 670 FTW LE... I tried overclocking today and here are my results.. and after reading some posts here in the forums, i find my scores very low compared to others.



http://imgur.com/XBVLp




http://imgur.com/2n5iD




http://imgur.com/KArH6


I'm on i5-3570k @ 4.0 ghz

3dmark score is 8918
graphic score 9593
physicss score 7389
combined 7327


----------



## Schenkelklopfer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cakewalk_S*
> 
> Is that the max overclock you get with the DCII? Only 1137MHz core?
> Yea, I think its a faulty power reading but the non-top will register a power % around 30-34% usage. Its weird and you can just ignore it.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Nuvola84*
> 
> Yea, I think its a faulty power reading but the non-top will register a power % around 30-34% usage. Its weird and you can just ignore it.
> What u mean with this? is not my max overclock i just am increasing it time to time...what is an average oc for this? 120 mhz Gpu clock?


I sent my card back to ASUS and got back a new card from the RMA with the same BIOS and power consumption show same value (around 30-34%) as before. I think it's a BIOS bug.
My max overclocking was +130 Mhz with the old and new card. It does not matter whether I set +120, +125 or +130 Mhz the max boost is always 1215 Mhz. Ungine Heaven benchmark crashes, if the boost goes higher than 1215 Mhz. That happens from a value of +135 Mhz.
I would like to try an older BIOS version but i do not want to lose my warranty.









Edit: power target was always set at 100%


----------



## Nuvola84

but is a visual bug or it truly goes with only 35% power consumption? in theory should be impossible


----------



## jason4207

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Schenkelklopfer*
> 
> I sent my card back to ASUS and got back a new card from the RMA with the same BIOS and power consumption show same value (around 30-34%) as before. I think it's a BIOS bug.
> My max overclocking was +130 Mhz with the old and new card. It does not matter whether I set +120, +125 or +130 Mhz the max boost is always 1215 Mhz. Ungine Heaven benchmark crashes, if the boost goes higher than 1215 Mhz. That happens from a value of +135 Mhz.
> I would like to try an older BIOS version but i do not want to lose my warranty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Edit: power target was always set at 100%


What kind of score are you getting in Heaven? If it's super low it could indicate another issue like low PCIe link-width.

Have you tried another program like Asus GPU Tweak?


----------



## jason4207

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gwgeek*
> 
> Hey...thanks for all the answeres...
> just out of time reasons ..very short:
> @nismofrak its a NON-Top. I OCed the card sucessfully but I only wanted to know what it possible.. I turned back to "default"
> @jason427 I dont want that 100%
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I prefere a gracard that auto adjusts the fan for sure but not at 100% this is not that much good for your fan I think
> @General123 stuck is maybee the wrong word..but the card is not increasing fan speed above 10%. YES I activated the auto-box during for Hardware controled fan but instantly the card lowers the fan speed to 10%. In the evening I will try to reinstall precisionX.. thx!! hope that helps.
> bye!


Running a fan at 100% is perfectly fine. They are designed to run that speed. Fan maintenance is much more important than fan speed as far as long term durability. Clean the dust out regularly, and oil the bearing.

For my fan I listened to it at various speeds and determined that 50% is where I can't hear it above my case fans on low, so that is where my base fan speed is. When gaming or benching I turn my fans up, so I had it jump to 75% at 45°C and jump to 100% at 55°C.

Yes you want to keep the temps below 70°C to prevent throttling, but the lower you can get those temps the higher you can OC. I went so far as to remove the stock fans and strap 2 GT-2150 fans to the HS. I also changed the TIM. It made a respectable difference and now my max OC is the same for all benches and games. 1 tick higher on the core or mem gives me an instant crash now, but where its at is stable in anything for any amount of time. Temps max at 47°C in Crysis2 and 55°C in Heaven. Cooler temps also result in lower power% usage.

Think of it this way. Do you care more about the fan which is fairly easy to replace or do you care more about the GPU which is next to impossible to replace.

And if your only doing this to see what is possible then it only makes sense to run the fan @ 100% during this experiment.

Did reinstalling PX work for you? Did you ever try using Asus GPU Tweak?


----------



## Fooom

Hi guys, can you help me on my GPU, My max gpu is only 50-55 and max mem offset is only 60-70. If i go any higher, its not stable anymore.. And what is the normal temp while playing a game? For example counterstrike global offensive? My max temp on that game is 61-62 on 75%fan speed. Is that ok?


----------



## Schenkelklopfer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Nuvola84*
> 
> but is a visual bug or it truly goes with only 35% power consumption? in theory should be impossible


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jason4207*
> 
> What kind of score are you getting in Heaven? If it's super low it could indicate another issue like low PCIe link-width.
> Have you tried another program like Asus GPU Tweak?


I tried GPU-Z, Nvidia Inspector, MSI Afterburner, EVGA Precision, ASUS GPU Tweak, HWinfo64 and all show same % at power consumption.
No improvement after reinstall of Win7


----------



## jason4207

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Schenkelklopfer*
> 
> I tried GPU-Z, Nvidia Inspector, MSI Afterburner, EVGA Precision, ASUS GPU Tweak, HWinfo64 and all show same % at power consumption.
> No improvement after reinstall of Win7


Try a higher power target and see what happens.

I'm curious as to what effect a modded BIOS would have, but if you don't feel comfortable doing that I understand.


----------



## Schenkelklopfer

same result...


----------



## Inveramsay

Thanks for this guide, it really helped me out trying to understand how to clock this thing. It certainly was easier in the olden days. It seems my card clocks pretty well though


----------



## nismofreak

Certainly a "golden" card! Enjoy...


----------



## JTHMfreak




----------



## jason4207

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JTHMfreak*


What is your KB? We can't see what she clocked up to unless you include the monitor window.


----------



## frankietown

this is my first benchmark stock. is this good? how much better will it be if i overclock it?


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *frankietown*
> 
> this is my first benchmark stock. is this good? how much better will it be if i overclock it?


Only one way to find out..


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jason4207*
> 
> What is your KB? We can't see what she clocked up to unless you include the monitor window.


KB? sorry, I don't quite know what that is or where to find it?


----------



## jason4207

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JTHMfreak*
> 
> KB? sorry, I don't quite know what that is or where to find it?


Read the guide at the beginning of this thread. It'll explain everything.


----------



## JTHMfreak

Ok, I think I did it right this time.

So, do I want the KB number to be lower or higher. If it means what I think it means, it's that a lower KB means that you have manually tuned the card better. I could be horribly horribly wrong though. Anyway, another question, after a pc restart all my oc settings are saved except for the voltage, any clue as to why?


----------



## Fooom

@JTHMfreak

What kind of GTX 670 are you using? Just the reference model? Im having problems with my EVGA GTX 670 FTW LE.. For it to be stable, the maximum gpu offset i can put is only 50-55, memory offset is only 50+ too. Going higher than those numbers it wont be stable on heaven or sometimes when i play CS:GO, My screen just hangs and blackens for about 2-3 seconds then goes to normal again.

And also guys, if i get the GTX 670 FTW edition not the LE version for SLI will that be OK?


----------



## JTHMfreak

I'm using a FTW


----------



## jason4207

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JTHMfreak*
> 
> Ok, I think I did it right this time.
> 
> So, do I want the KB number to be lower or higher. If it means what I think it means, it's that a lower KB means that you have manually tuned the card better. I could be horribly horribly wrong though. Anyway, another question, after a pc restart all my oc settings are saved except for the voltage, any clue as to why?


If you have to ask you didn't read the guide very well.









KB is Keplar Boost. It is set in stone for each card and set that way from the factory. Under 3D load your card will clock as high as the base freq + boost freq + KB to get to it's max boost (if conditions are right) . A higher KB typically means your card can OC higher, but not always. It's still a lottery as to how good your GPU is.

It looks like your base clock is 1006MHz, your boost clock is 1085MHz or +79MHz, and your KB is 1167 or +82MHz. You have added 100MHz to all these freq with your changes in PX. I didn't think your max boost would appear in PX, though. Not really sure...I'm using Asus GPU Tweak. And I thought KB had to be a multiple of 13MHz, so that is also a little weird.

Maybe someone else more familiar with PX knows and can chime in.

Read the full guide again. Hopefully, it will start to make more sense. It doesn't sound like you understand everything yet.

As for the voltage, that is just the way PX works. The voltage option is actually a separate program that just has a shortcut in the PX interface.


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jason4207*
> 
> If you have to ask you didn't read the guide very well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KB is Keplar Boost. It is set in stone for each card and set that way from the factory. Under 3D load your card will clock as high as the base freq + boost freq + KB to get to it's max boost (if conditions are right) . A higher KB typically means your card can OC higher, but not always. It's still a lottery as to how good your GPU is.
> It looks like your base clock is 1006MHz, your boost clock is 1085MHz or +79MHz, and your KB is 1167 or +82MHz. You have added 100MHz to all these freq with your changes in PX. I didn't think your max boost would appear in PX, though. Not really sure...I'm using Asus GPU Tweak. And I thought KB had to be a multiple of 13MHz, so that is also a little weird.
> Maybe someone else more familiar with PX knows and can chime in.
> Read the full guide again. Hopefully, it will start to make more sense. It doesn't sound like you understand everything yet.
> As for the voltage, that is just the way PX works. The voltage option is actually a separate program that just has a shortcut in the PX interface.


I definitely do not understand everything yet, as overclocking seems more ork than it used to be, just trying to get the most out of my card


----------



## jason4207

Let me know exactly which parts of the guide you don't understand and I'll try to make them more clear.









It looks like you are off to a great start, though! If you want even more you'll most likely have to try flashing a BIOS that allows higher voltage.


----------



## General123

Getting tired of these new drivers really fast... +137 would give me 1330, but now it gives me 1332 which is unstable.. and since the new drivers overclock in increments of 13, Its either 1332(which crashes) or 1319, which is just stupid when I can do more.


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jason4207*
> 
> Let me know exactly which parts of the guide you don't understand and I'll try to make them more clear.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It looks like you are off to a great start, though! If you want even more you'll most likely have to try flashing a BIOS that allows higher voltage.


I'm just used to overclocking the way it was with my 480s


----------



## jason4207

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JTHMfreak*
> 
> I'm just used to overclocking the way it was with my 480s


This is pretty new to me too. I've only had this card a few weeks.

Previous cards are 450, 280, 8800GTS-512. Also 4850 on ATI.

It's a little challenging at first, but I actually like the way you have to watch the monitor to make sure your OC is actually staying peaked. Getting those dips to level off is priceless!


----------



## nismofreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> Getting tired of these new drivers really fast... +137 would give me 1330, but now it gives me 1332 which is unstable.. and since the new drivers overclock in increments of 13, Its either 1332(which crashes) or 1319, which is just stupid when I can do more.


+1. This is why I'm still running 306.23


----------



## JTHMfreak

So, I think I am at the max I can push my 670 FTW, whenever I seem to increase any of the values beyond what I have saved when I do the Heaven benchmark I get some jacked up results. One run I made it to test #26 of 26 before the screen blacked out on me.


----------



## Wuest3nFuchs

Hi OCN !

Thumbs up for this very good masterguide here.

I owned a GTX 670 FTW !

Mine is doing it well @ 1176 out of the box !









coming back later ,to tired from working .


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wuest3nFuchs*
> 
> Hi OCN !
> Thumbs up for this very good masterguide here.
> I owned a GTX 670 FTW !
> Mine is doing it well @ 1176 out of the box !
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> coming back later ,to tired from working .


Hey. Great card you have there for stock, mine does 1152. Have you tried overclocking







?


----------



## frankietown

guys i'm really confused:

1. setting power target and adjusting voltage to max just means that it CAN use that much power and voltage up until it reaches whatever maximum OC that you do correct? it doesn't mean that it will start consuming XX% of power or volt up to XX mV correct? so it will only volt up or consume as much power as needed, but i'm just raising the ceiling it CAN go up? please tell me if this is correct or not

1.a would it matter to just have power target and voltage at max at all times?

edit: nvm re-read it again. #1 and 1a are my only questions

thanks i really wanna start my first OC.. but this is slightly confusing.

p.s. is it good or bad to run OC 24/7? or does it depend how much you are OC'ing?


----------



## invincibler

1. Setting power target to max just means you'll allow your GPU to use more juice than normal, if needed. For example, if your GPU while rendering most games uses ~98% power target, you have to raise it otherwise you will not be able to overclock. As for voltage offset, I think it just forces the voltage to be at the max when max clock is achieved. Not 100% certain about this point though.

1a. It will matter depending on what you want to do. Though with Nvidia's GPUs these days, even if you max out both of them you'll still get downclocking to save power anyway.

Now, my questions. Why do you need to find out by the MHz? I've noticed that the max clock tends to jump at certain clock offset values for the core clock, so as long as your max Kepler boost is stable and highest it can go then it shouldn't matter if your offset is 90 or 95 when both gives you 1280MHz, for example.

I'd agree doing that for the memory clock since it works differently, but why the core clock?


----------



## frankietown

i have no idea what i am doing but this seems to finish heaven just fine. thoughts?





also my cards are different in mhz... one is at 1215 and the other is at 1277... does it mean my 2nd card is awesome out of the box? so maybe i shouldn't sync it and find their own separate OC offsets?

now time to play some games...


----------



## jason4207

I was running my OC profile w/ max voltage and max power 24/7, but then I discovered that when watching a video the card would jump to 914MHz and 1.212v. Since I turn all my fans to low most of the time the GPU was getting fairly warm. So, I made a 2nd profile that has min voltage and stock clocks. Now it goes to 0.987v at 914MHz while watching video. I left power target at max b/c that shouldn't even come into play.

frankietown, make sure to keep a monitor window going in the background so you can make sure your max boost isn't throttling. Once the bench finishes look at the graph and make sure your top speed stays pegged. Occasional dips are normal during scene changes, but make sure the speed doesn't drop and plateau during tough scenes once the card heats up.

And once you do start playing games make sure to check the graph when you exit the game. It'll allow you to dial in your OC better. If you get sustained speed droops increase fan/cooling, increase power target (my BIOS does 145%), or reduce OC.


----------



## HondaCop

Hey guys, just curious... Can a 680 card have ZERO KB? I tried following the guide to figure out what my KB is and even after setting the power on PX to 134% and upping the voltage to 1.175, it will not go higher than my boost speed. This is at stock settings.

My card is an EVGA 680 FTW LE 4GB


----------



## invincibler

I think theoretically it can. If you're running something like Furmark it'll probably not have much KB. Zero is a bit extreme though.

What program did you run?


----------



## HondaCop

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *invincibler*
> 
> I think theoretically it can. If you're running something like Furmark it'll probably not have much KB. Zero is a bit extreme though.
> What program did you run?


This was with Heaven... I will try tomorrow with PX's test and 3DMark11...


----------



## HondaCop

Hey guys, I was able to flash a modified BIOS to my 680 FTW 4GB card and now I am business! I also was able to determine what my KB is and it's 130.

Anyway, I followed the OC guide and ended up with the maximum stable INDIVIDUAL values @ 1.212v :

Power - 150%
GPU Core - 1320 mhz (45+ offset)
Memory - 6880 mhz (350+ offset)

I then tried to use the above settings together but Heaven was crashing on me. I had to leave for work so tomorrow I guess I will begin to play with these settings and find a happy medium.

I think the above is great considering it's a 4GB card. Should I aim to try and keep my GPU core at 1320 and reduce only memory until stable or viceversa, reduce GPU core and keep memory at 6880 or reduce both at once?

BTW, never did my temps go above 42C!!!!







But this is with a push/pull config on my H80 and FULL SPEEDS. Sounds like a leaf blower! hahahaha Once I find my stable combined speeds, then I will lower the fans and hopefully be able to quiet them down considerably and keep temps in the low 60s under full load.


----------



## nuno_p

This is a great kepler Overclock guide.

I came from a HD4770 and i wasn´t sure about how to overclock my gtx660ti power editon and ti guide helped me a LOT.









Thanks for the awesome guide.


----------



## Fooom

Hi guys, Can you check my screenshots? My power % is going up to 300+ with my power target set only to 110%. Is that normal? And heaven keeps on crashing with these settings.

GTX 670 FTW LE
i5-3570k. @ 4.2











http://imgur.com/ydcyX




http://imgur.com/MzZ5n


----------



## General123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Fooom*
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> Hi guys, Can you check my screenshots? My power % is going up to 300+ with my power target set only to 110%. Is that normal? And heaven keeps on crashing with these settings.
> GTX 670 FTW LE
> i5-3570k. @ 4.2
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://imgur.com/ydcyX
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://imgur.com/MzZ5n


Try to increase your memory by 4-500 and see if that is stable. And it is possible your core is not stable, have you updated your gpu?
Make sure your on the latest firmware.
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?&m=1703680&mpage=1


----------



## Fooom

Thanks for the tip! Who elese has gtx 670 ftw LE? Can you please tell me yout max overclock? Im having a hard time overclocking mine... if i put 80 offset .. not stable.. if 50 memory offset also nt stable. After seing your screenshots with big offsets im thinking on selling this onr and get the ftw edition.


----------



## Cakewalk_S

My new Asus Direct CUII making a charge! Overclocking is working like a champ!
85.6% ASIC score on this chip:


Look at those temps!

But the bad news...my thermal guy caught the memory chips from 64-67C!!!!!!!!!!







so I think I'll have to put some heatsinks on the memory chips before I intend to do more overclocking to the memory, but I don;'t think it really matters for more MHz on memory, only volts increase memory temps....

Still haven't hit my max OC. Going for 1300Mhz!


----------



## Skelos

Just wanted to say thanks for the great guide, really informative and made it very easy to overclock. It definitely took some time for me to find the right combination of bios + drivers. Finally nailed down the right combo for me.

Evga 670 sc+ 4gb edition:

drivers: newest beta ones from nvidia
bios: TeckFreaks 670 4gb sc+ bios (not the evga one)

Here is the results of my max possible overclock:




Still have yet to really test it in any games so hopefully it stays true!


----------



## Gregster

Great guide and explanation of each setting. Nice Sean


----------



## JTHMfreak

Having some problems trying to tighten my results. I have setting which are higher that pass heaven, while my lower settings that provide better scores don't pass. I have followed the guide to a "T", but it still happens, any input?


----------



## Skelos

did u make sure to close and re open precision x every time heaven crashes and then reapply your clocks? Sometimes precision x is finicky when drivers crash.


----------



## Sharchaster

when I try to found a new settings to make my result better, I got some error on 3dmark 11

Like this :










what does that mean?

thanks for any help


----------



## jason4207

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cakewalk_S*
> 
> My new Asus Direct CUII making a charge! Overclocking is working like a champ!
> 85.6% ASIC score on this chip:
> 
> 
> Look at those temps!
> But the bad news...my thermal guy caught the memory chips from 64-67C!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> so I think I'll have to put some heatsinks on the memory chips before I intend to do more overclocking to the memory, but I don;'t think it really matters for more MHz on memory, only volts increase memory temps....
> Still haven't hit my max OC. Going for 1300Mhz!


Wow! Now I'm curious how hot my RAM is getting. I wonder what kind of memory speeds you can get with RAMsinks installed.

Frequency does increase thermal output as current increases even though voltage stays relatively flat. But it is more of a linear increase as opposed to an exponential increase that you get with voltage increase.


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Man this card is rockin!
Haven't worked on ram heatsinks yet...Bios flashed my motherboard which fixed the sleep mode issue.


Had to ditch the new beta drivers after the bios update. Crashing in BF3 and couldn't figure out why...

I'm quite happy with this card! Maybe some heatsinks on the memory chips and that'll give me some piece of mind.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cakewalk_S*
> 
> Man this card is rockin!
> Haven't worked on ram heatsinks yet...Bios flashed my motherboard which fixed the sleep mode issue.
> 
> Had to ditch the new beta drivers after the bios update. Crashing in BF3 and couldn't figure out why...
> I'm quite happy with this card! Maybe some heatsinks on the memory chips and that'll give me some piece of mind.


Is it only the Asus gtx 670 that doesn't have heatsinks on the vram? I thought vram chips are supposed to handle very hot temps?


----------



## Wuest3nFuchs

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *General123*
> 
> Hey. Great card you have there for stock, mine does 1152. Have you tried overclocking
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ?


...no not yet but currently i'm doing some Test's !


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Is it only the Asus gtx 670 that doesn't have heatsinks on the vram? I thought vram chips are supposed to handle very hot temps?


Some other cards don't have memory heatsinks on them. Generally stock clocks memory doesn't get too hot but I guess 7GHz memory and up does... I'll definitely add some heatsinks soon. I've gotta pull the card out and cut the heatsinks to fit since the MOD doesn't quite give you room for full size heatsinks on them. I think I'll mix epoxy and ceramique paste for the bonding agent.

The Gigabyte 5 40mm fan card has memory heatsinks build in with the vapor chamber plate and from overclocking reviews, i've seen that cooler memory overclocks higher....


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cakewalk_S*
> 
> Some other cards don't have memory heatsinks on them. Generally stock clocks memory doesn't get too hot but I guess 7GHz memory and up does... I'll definitely add some heatsinks soon. I've gotta pull the card out and cut the heatsinks to fit since the MOD doesn't quite give you room for full size heatsinks on them. I think I'll mix epoxy and ceramique paste for the bonding agent.
> The Gigabyte 5 40mm fan card has memory heatsinks build in with the vapor chamber plate and from overclocking reviews, i've seen that cooler memory overclocks higher....


Which gtx 670 does have memory heatsinks? And what temp is considered hot for memory chips?

Is the MOD that you are talking about the one with water blocks? Why do you need to do this for the asus gtx 670?


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Which gtx 670 does have memory heatsinks? And what temp is considered hot for memory chips?
> Is the MOD that you are talking about the one with water blocks? Why do you need to do this for the asus gtx 670?


The gigabyte board has mem sinks: 

Most don't have heatsinks, but the other gigabyte 680 does have heatsinks for it...not the 670. whops...

Yes, Antec 620 mod aka "The Mod"...

Card is out of case, I only have to sand down 2 of the 4 heatsinks, but the only downside to the backplate. I think I have a thick enough thermal pads to get the memory chips on the top of the PCB to connect to the backplate. So we'll see....

I appear to be stable at 1293MHz core and +650memory sofar. Pretty darn good overclocker I must say....


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Skelos*
> 
> did u make sure to close and re open precision x every time heaven crashes and then reapply your clocks? Sometimes precision x is finicky when drivers crash.


Yeah, even went so far as to restart the pc to make sure everything gets cleared out


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cakewalk_S*
> 
> The gigabyte board has mem sinks:
> Most don't have heatsinks, but the other gigabyte 680 does have heatsinks for it...not the 670. whops...
> Yes, Antec 620 mod aka "The Mod"...
> Card is out of case, I only have to sand down 2 of the 4 heatsinks, but the only downside to the backplate. I think I have a thick enough thermal pads to get the memory chips on the top of the PCB to connect to the backplate. So we'll see....
> I appear to be stable at 1293MHz core and +650memory sofar. Pretty darn good overclocker I must say....


So without modding, the gigabyte gtx 670 is better than its asus variant?


----------



## Wuest3nFuchs

Hi OCN !
I've a strange problem with starting Heaven Bench 3.0 .
Before i changed to the 670 i had a 570 which it worked flawlessly .
So I've tried running it on stock and OC'd settings and tried different versions of the nvidia drivers and I get the same errors everytime no matter what my settings are.

Can't set video mode

Direct3D11 error: 0x087A0001

D3D11AppWindow::create_content0: CreateSwapChain0: failed Engine::video_restart0: can't set 1920x1080 fullscreen video mode


----------



## jason4207

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wuest3nFuchs*
> 
> Hi OCN !
> I've a strange problem with starting Heaven Bench 3.0 .
> Before i changed to the 670 i had a 570 which it worked flawlessly .
> So I've tried running it on stock and OC'd settings and tried different versions of the nvidia drivers and I get the same errors everytime no matter what my settings are.
> Can't set video mode
> Direct3D11 error: 0x087A0001
> D3D11AppWindow::create_content0: CreateSwapChain0: failed Engine::video_restart0: can't set 1920x1080 fullscreen video mode


Don't use custom. pick 1 of the pre-sets. You might be trying to run a resolution different than the desktop setting, and so windows is asking you to confirm the resolution change, but its behind heaven and you can't see it to confirm.

Disable any extra monitors and set the desktop resolution to the same resolution you are going to run the bench at.


----------



## skyn3t

windows 8 pro suck for cpu and vga OC with 3Dmark, I can't pass 13k and 3Dmark only read CPU 1600MHz something is very wrong.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> So without modding, the gigabyte gtx 670 is better than its asus variant?


Bump!


----------



## Wuest3nFuchs

whatever i take the same error comes again .








btw i'm using a Single Monitor !

*EDIT :*

*The bad guy in my case,called MSI AB 2.2.5.beta and the error is caused by the rtss.exe ,that's what i've seen !*


----------



## Cakewalk_S

I always get that error message when I try to start heaven in full screen mode. I always have to start heaven windowed, then I can hit ESC and go to full screen once the program has loaded...its so frustrating...


----------



## Wuest3nFuchs

Are u using Afterburner or something else that uses the RTSS.exe?

If i stop the rtss.exe it starts as it should !


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wuest3nFuchs*
> 
> Are u using Afterburner or something else that uses the RTSS.exe?
> If i stop the rtss.exe it starts as it should !


wow...fixed it. Such a weird bug. No OSD in Heaven3.0 and its fixed! Thanks man!


----------



## Wuest3nFuchs

NO problem !


----------



## twitchyzero

I did a fresh win7 install and is currently using this latest beta driver 310.61 along with Precison X 3.0.4

I've noticed the same core offset that I had in Precision 3.0.3 and 301.42 WHQL driver are now about 9MHz lower for max boost frequency shown in the new OSD. I have to increase it by 5MHz to see any improvement and the boost frequency jumps up by 13MHz. I also recall seeing memory in the 7000's...but the value shows 3000's in the OSD.

My fan curve in Precision X 3.0.4 also seems to be broken...auto works fine though. I've tried Heaven 3.0 and Max Payne and it seems to stay at 54% fan speed while the temp keeps climbing. Tried to check/uncheck 'force fanspeed update on each period' under Precision settings...no luck

Any ideas?


----------



## viva4201

here is what i got


----------



## JTHMfreak

After about an hour or so of gaming my OC on my 670 FTW seems to go crap, any ideas?
My stats are:
Power target: +145%
GPU Plus offset: 106%
MEM clock offset : +409%
My "boost seems to be 82ish
my temps are good with voltage at 1125
heaven runs have no artifacts or anyof that, but after about an hour of gaming my drivers crash, I am using the 306.97 drivers. And Win 7n 64 bit if that helps


----------



## gdeputy

question guys.. new to overclocking.

I'm running 2560x1440.

first, heaven gives me tons of problems.. it crashes all the time even trying to open it. I fixed it by opening it before any OC program.. but its annoying.

Anyways, i got to 1215 core 3206 mem after all boosting etc and those seem to be as high as im going on gigabyte 670.

I'm fine with that. It was stable through 3 passes on heaven.

Question:

Why do I need to keep voltage at 1.175? will it harm my card in any way?

Why do I have target power slider maxed? will that harm my card in any way? I have it at like 112% precision says.

It increased my heaven score a fair amount, but i dont want to hurt my card doing this.


----------



## emidas

I've followed it to a T, however I am seeing some odd results. For instance, I can't push my 670 to more than +102 core offset, +482 memory offset without my drivers crashing while running Heaven DX11. Yet, I never see my GPU temp go above 47C. The guide talks about finding what fan% you need to keep your stable OC at 69C, but I can't get my card temps that high - which leads me to believe I am leaving a TON of OC overhead on the table.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423 is the card in question.

According to GPU-Z, my current Clock/Memory/Boost is 1082/1743/1161.

I am using the newest beta drivers, which has actually gotten me a little bit better results than the previous beta drivers did.


----------



## MatheriA

Need help

http://www.overclock.net/t/1333212/gigabyte-gtx-670-gv-n670wf2-2gd-default-and-overlocking-small-core-drops-need-help

Thanks


----------



## Draknareth

Managed to get 1130 boost (1215 with Kepler boost) Memory clock to 1902 on a gigabyte windforce OC. I'm pretty happy with it, the overall score came out at 1301 top FPS 130.1 min 24.5 average 51.9.
Great guide, really easy to understand and great results







Thankyou


----------



## Bebop

Thanks so much dude for this awesome guide. It was my first time ocing a gpu and yo made it real simple. However I must say, that took a lot longer than 3hrs D I have watched Heaven benchmark so many times I think I have it memorized. I even know the 3 visual glitches that are in every run (when the loop around the dragon right before blue flag, on the top right there is a flash of a grey acute triangle pointing down; right before we go down the planks to the ship, when we reach the shed, there is a 3 line light glitch towards the left side; when we go down to the ship, the clouds "pop" in in a 3-stage fashion).

I have a Gigabyte Windforce 670 and I was able to increase GPU clock by 117 and Memory clock by 661.

My windforce has this annoying rattle that sets in after 65% fan speed, but according to the burn in at my tolerable range of 55% the card doesnt get over 63C. I made my fan curve reflect this and only had it go up to 65% and above if I hit over this mark.

*My only question* not addressed by this guide is: do I leave the power target and the voltage at max when I am done?


----------



## VodkaAndBeer

First off thanks for an fantastic guide









Im having trouble with my asus gtx 670 non top.

Problem: gpu load low on battlefield 3 (30 - 50 %) tried diffrent drivers no go. no problem in benchmarking programs.
This results in very low fps (30-40) with low settings(tried em all). Using gpuz for monitoring and im seeing gpu core down in the 800s mhz.
Sometimes boost kicks in and i get 1095mhz.

With my GTX 570 i had much higher fps than this.

Also my Power% reaches only 26 - 30 % (when boosted) not up to a 100% wich most of u guys have, and have tried powerlimit 122% but still only 26-30% in gpu-z , msi afterburner and evga precision x(run seperatly ofc)
Is this normal ?

Additional info:

Temp: 60
Cpu: oced to hell and back(its fast) anyways for bf3 it doesnt need to be http://www.techspot.com/review/458-battlefield-3-performance/page7.html
Stock settings (makes no diffrence in BF3 if i overclock it or not, but overclock works in benches)
Drivers: multiple 301, 304, 306 ,310

Im at my wits end, tried everything (even disabling gpu throtteling).

Bum card ? it overclocks great in benchmarks...

help!


----------



## Rayce185

Thanks again for the guide!

After finishing up my cooling mods, the GPU never even reaches 40C under load. I would've hoped that'd give me more headroom to OC, but I could only go from 1280 to 1293 MHz...

I'm already running an unlocked BIOS with 1212mV Vcore and 150% power target... Is there any other way to get the card stable? Clearly temps aren't the issue...


----------



## junp31

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rayce185*
> 
> Thanks again for the guide!
> After finishing up my cooling mods, the GPU never even reaches 40C under load. I would've hoped that'd give me more headroom to OC, but I could only go from 1280 to 1293 MHz...
> I'm already running an unlocked BIOS with 1212mV Vcore and 150% power target... Is there any other way to get the card stable? Clearly temps aren't the issue...


How did you manage that temperature? My stock MSI GTX 670 reaches 70C under full load... Before trying to OC, I want to get that temp to a minimum...


----------



## Rayce185

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *junp31*
> 
> How did you manage that temperature? My stock MSI GTX 670 reaches 70C under full load... Before trying to OC, I want to get that temp to a minimum...


http://www.overclock.net/t/1203528/official-nvidia-gpu-mod-club-aka-the-mod/2620#post_18754943


----------



## frankietown

sorry to bother you guys.. but i have a few questions (i am running everything in 1440p)

1) is it normal for the gpu not to reach its max clock automatically? like in unigine benchmark, it takes a little while before it maxes out the clock... or same as bf3, it takes time. my 2nd card however just jumps to max. this phenomenon happens both in stock and OC. i understand that the cards downclock depending on the load, but how come it takes awhile for the first card not to go to its max core clock when i am pushing it in games or benchmarks?

2) gpu usage is never stable at 99%.. it is all over the place. less so in unigine benchmark, but it does fluctuate from time to time.. is this normal?

3) i was able to OC +75/+400 sync, and can finish runs. i can't tell though in games if anomalies that happen are because of instability or not. can you clarify more what instability to look for during OC? the obvious crashes and crazy artifacts are obvious, but are there not so obvious ones that show instability? i get flickering textures with or without OC, so i can't even tell if that is normal behavior or if that is just the game being weird. could you guys explain other phenomenons that would explain instability?

thanks, i hope some people can shed some light!


----------



## pc-illiterate

stopped reading at post 750. will continue on when i have more time.

not everyone has artifacts at the dragon statue in heaven. i have no artifacts at all in the entire benchmark run when i have stable clocks. artifacts are caused my memory being overclocked past stability.


----------



## lilchronic

boost clock of 1359mhz hasnt crashed in 2 hours of gaming Farcry 3







670 FTW
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5161051


----------



## lilchronic

boost clock out of box 1242mhz 670 ftw


----------



## andy4theherd

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> stopped reading at post 750. will continue on when i have more time.
> not everyone has artifacts at the dragon statue in heaven. i have no artifacts at all in the entire benchmark run when i have stable clocks. artifacts are caused my memory being overclocked past stability.


"everybody" may not get artifacts, but it is still a well known issue in the program. http://www.overclock.net/t/1277184/gtx-670-ftw-always-showing-artifacts-in-the-same-stage-unigine-heaven

i get the black artifacts on a single GTX 460, SLI 460's, and on my 670 all at stock clocks.


----------



## Paddywan

Started trying to push my card after sitting on the base overclock for awhile and I'm running into temperature problems. The guide is amazing and made the whole thing simple but I just cant seem to solve the temp problems.

I have the Gigabyte Windforce I have taken it to +88 core +200 mem which started pushing temps above 85 degrees. On my stock settings it reaches 75 degrees. It idles at 25% fan speed at about 30-35 my ambient is 27-30. I have considered replacing the TIM but i'm not 100% confident in doing it and some people seem to suggest it makes a minimal difference not the 10 degrees I seem to need. Perhaps it is just a hot card but would love to see if there is a solution out there.

My case is the HAF 932 so I wouldn't expect airflow problems and my CPU temps are fine but perhaps something is going on I'm not noticing. If it is just a hot card should I avoid overclocking it at all? Does the throttling have that much of an impact or if I were able to fine settings that kept it below 80 would it still be worthwhile to clock it ?

Thanks


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Paddywan*
> 
> Started trying to push my card after sitting on the base overclock for awhile and I'm running into temperature problems. The guide is amazing and made the whole thing simple but I just cant seem to solve the temp problems.
> I have the Gigabyte Windforce I have taken it to +88 core +200 mem which started pushing temps above 85 degrees. On my stock settings it reaches 75 degrees. It idles at 25% fan speed at about 30-35 my ambient is 27-30. I have considered replacing the TIM but i'm not 100% confident in doing it and some people seem to suggest it makes a minimal difference not the 10 degrees I seem to need. Perhaps it is just a hot card but would love to see if there is a solution out there.
> My case is the HAF 932 so I wouldn't expect airflow problems and my CPU temps are fine but perhaps something is going on I'm not noticing. If it is just a hot card should I avoid overclocking it at all? Does the throttling have that much of an impact or if I were able to fine settings that kept it below 80 would it still be worthwhile to clock it ?
> Thanks


From what ive read it throttles 13mhz at 70* and another 13mhz.at 80*


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> From what ive read it throttles 13mhz at 70* and another 13mhz.at 80*


And I think that overclocking the card would outweigh that 13MHz downclock past 70C, right? So it's still recommended to overclock and don't take into consideration that 13MHz downclock?


----------



## pc-illiterate

if stock settings are going over 75* i would rma it. there is no way i would keep a card that throttles at stock. Bad.Card.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> if stock settings are going over 75* i would rma it. there is no way i would keep a card that throttles at stock. Bad.Card.


How about 65 at stock with an ambien temp of around 33C. Is this fairly normal?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *andy4theherd*
> 
> "everybody" may not get artifacts, but it is still a well known issue in the program. http://www.overclock.net/t/1277184/gtx-670-ftw-always-showing-artifacts-in-the-same-stage-unigine-heaven
> i get the black artifacts on a single GTX 460, SLI 460's, and on my 670 all at stock clocks.


no reason to put everyone in quotes. it is a fact not everyone gets those artifacts. that would be like me doing "some" people get black artifacts. anyone try a complete uninstall and redownload from somewhere else ? may be a borked download. i also wouldnt be so quick to blame heaven itself for the fact that not everyone has the problem, not 'issue'. bad download, bad install, bad hardware. you can try to debate that all you want. if it was the program itself, ALL cards would be doing it. it doesnt like something all problem havers have in common.
before you go off on some kind of explanation, gather some proof that no one has anything at all in common besides the 670. my 275, 5850, 670 ALL run it with no artifacts unless im unstable. as i said, maybe a bad download ? or even an install on an unstable cpu overclock causing a corrupted install. also as i said, you can not instantly blame heaven when everyone is not getting the problem.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> How about 65 at stock with an ambien temp of around 33C. Is this fairly normal?


make a custom fan profile. get good case airflow. run the a/c. its up to the user. i dont know what normal card behavior is. first thing i do is set up a fan profile while making sure i have video out and the card works. then its overclock city. same with my cpu's. i didnt buy anything to run stock.


----------



## lilchronic

S#@t my 670 ftw never goes past 65c @1359mhz
ambient temps 21c


----------



## TriNitro

So, I got my Asus 670 DCII (non TOP) yesterday and with no experience overclocking GPUs I counted myself real lucky to find this awesome thread. Didnt really have much time to play around with it though before I had to get to work. But I did all the initial settings with setting voltage, powertarget etc that is mentioned in the guide but when I run the benchmark (the right settings, max res) I had to settle at ~1215 max boost because any higher the benchmark would shutdown.

The weird thing though, or atleast what I think is weird is that my Power Consumption peaks at 36,9TDP. Shouldnt that be alot higher? Granted I havent gotten around to playing with memoryOC yet but surely that doesnt account for the majority of the TDP?

At work right now so cant post any screens, just thought Id try get an answer if thats normal so I know right out of the gate tomorrow when I start trying with the memoryOC









edit: Just remembered in the little window where I set the Voltage to max there was a thing that could be checked that said something like k-boost, I didnt check that one though since the guide had no mention of it. Doubt thats the problem though?


----------



## junp31

My stock GTX 670 reaches 81C when playing Max Payne 3 at the highest settings... should I be worried?


----------



## lilchronic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *junp31*
> 
> My stock GTX 670 reaches 81C when playing Max Payne 3 at the highest settings... should I be worried?


yea did u take off the sticker on the fan maybe its blocking air flow


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> make a custom fan profile. get good case airflow. run the a/c. its up to the user. i dont know what normal card behavior is. first thing i do is set up a fan profile while making sure i have video out and the card works. then its overclock city. same with my cpu's. i didnt buy anything to run stock.


I will try making a custom fan profile. My case airflow is already superb as I concentrated on optimizing a positive airflow/pressure with this using TY140 fans.

To all, is a 104MHz KB the average KB for most Gigabyte Windforce X3 owners here? Is KB that important in rating if a card is good?


----------



## macwin2012

Zotac Gtx 670 AMP :





Are these results good ?

Macwin


----------



## junp31

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lilchronic*
> 
> yea did u take off the sticker on the fan maybe its blocking air flow


I don't have the box with me card's box with me ATM, but I was looking up my credit card bills, and apparently the card I got was the MSI GTX *OC* edition. Maybe its original cooler isn't that good and that's why I'm getting such high temps?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macwin2012*
> 
> Zotac Gtx 670 AMP :
> 
> 
> Are these results good ?
> Macwin


would love to know how you get 600 points higher than i do with the same clocks. whats your secret ?


----------



## TheMalazan

First, thanks for the excellent OC guide! Very well done, indeed.

Second, I have a question or two that I hope someone can help me with.

I used Precision X to dial up my card and create the fan profile as instructed. Unfortunately, I can't use Precision X while using ENB (www.enbdev.com) lighting mods in Skyrim. I don't know the technical details, but ENB and Precision X don't get along and it's an immediate CTD upon starting the game (this is documented in ENB, but they don't explain why). ENB does work well with NVIDIA Inspector, however, but I can't get the nice fan profile in that app as I can in Precision X. If I run the game without Precision X in the background, I don't get the fan control, so typically, I just crank the fan up to 80% and leave it there if I'm using Inspector. All that is a bit besides the point, though, as my main question involves the Performance Level settings in Inspector. First, what does all those arcane numbers actually mean (eg, Peformance Level 0 - P8)? Second, if I create an OC profile in Precision X, open Inspector and save the settings I created in Precision X as a profile shortcut, which performance level should I use as a base? Currently, I am using Performance level 3 - P0, but I don't know if that's the best option.

Thanks!


----------



## nismofreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Paddywan*
> 
> Started trying to push my card after sitting on the base overclock for awhile and I'm running into temperature problems. The guide is amazing and made the whole thing simple but I just cant seem to solve the temp problems.
> I have the Gigabyte Windforce I have taken it to +88 core +200 mem which started pushing temps above 85 degrees. On my stock settings it reaches 75 degrees. It idles at 25% fan speed at about 30-35 my ambient is 27-30. I have considered replacing the TIM but i'm not 100% confident in doing it and some people seem to suggest it makes a minimal difference not the 10 degrees I seem to need. Perhaps it is just a hot card but would love to see if there is a solution out there.
> My case is the HAF 932 so I wouldn't expect airflow problems and my CPU temps are fine but perhaps something is going on I'm not noticing. If it is just a hot card should I avoid overclocking it at all? Does the throttling have that much of an impact or if I were able to fine settings that kept it below 80 would it still be worthwhile to clock it ?
> Thanks


I have the same card and case as you. Since you read the guide, I'm assuming that you are running a custom fan profile. My profile is fairly aggressive. Min fan:40% and then +10% rpm per degree C. (Ie. 50c = 60% fan). My card idles at 26c with that and an ambient of 20c. I NEVER see higher than 55c and only that during Heaven benchies.

Have you changed the flow direction of any of the fans? Is the card installed in the PCI Gen3 slot? How's your cable management? How is your CPU cooled? What is the temp of your CPU? (Trying to get a sense of any air flow issues here)

If after all that and your card is just "hot", I would take the suggestion and RMA it. There's no reason for it to run that hot.


----------



## bevo

Found my answer. Max voltage, max power all the time.


----------



## Paddywan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nismofreak*
> 
> I have the same card and case as you. Since you read the guide, I'm assuming that you are running a custom fan profile. My profile is fairly aggressive. Min fan:40% and then +10% rpm per degree C. (Ie. 50c = 60% fan). My card idles at 26c with that and an ambient of 20c. I NEVER see higher than 55c and only that during Heaven benchies.
> Have you changed the flow direction of any of the fans? Is the card installed in the PCI Gen3 slot? How's your cable management? How is your CPU cooled? What is the temp of your CPU? (Trying to get a sense of any air flow issues here)
> If after all that and your card is just "hot", I would take the suggestion and RMA it. There's no reason for it to run that hot.


Thanks for the reply, no obvious airflow issues that I noticed and no discernible difference between case open / closed. The only thing I can think of is the fans cooling the CPU heatsink but they are venting towards the back of the case which I'm assuming is the correct way. I'm running the fan profile from the guide but even if I leave it at 100% constantly it still rises above 80 with just the base overclock within precision x. Haven't touched the fans on the card, its in the gen 3 slot and the case is pretty clear of cables. CPU is air cooled with an older thermalright heatsink similar to the archon 2 out atm. CPU temp idles around 30 never really gets higher than 45.

I have contacted Gigabyte but haven't heard back as yet looks like its just a hot card I was debating replacing the TIM but with the difference in temperature something else is probably at fault.


----------



## xpsycho87x

Hi, I recently bought a Gigabyte GTX 670 Windforce 2x. The highest boost that I've seen it's at 1110Mhz. Now I've overclocked only the core clock following the guide and I obtained a stable +100 offset. I didn't crash in any bench and my temps are max 63 degrees. I get (with 115% power target) costant 1202mhz in games. Now I just want to know if this 1202mhz core clock is safe for 24/7 use or it will decrease the gpu's lifespan and break the card? (Voltage is costantly @ 1.175v


----------



## frankietown

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheMalazan*
> 
> First, thanks for the excellent OC guide! Very well done, indeed.
> Second, I have a question or two that I hope someone can help me with.
> I used Precision X to dial up my card and create the fan profile as instructed. Unfortunately, I can't use Precision X while using ENB (www.enbdev.com) lighting mods in Skyrim. I don't know the technical details, but ENB and Precision X don't get along and it's an immediate CTD upon starting the game (this is documented in ENB, but they don't explain why). ENB does work well with NVIDIA Inspector, however, but I can't get the nice fan profile in that app as I can in Precision X. If I run the game without Precision X in the background, I don't get the fan control, so typically, I just crank the fan up to 80% and leave it there if I'm using Inspector. All that is a bit besides the point, though, as my main question involves the Performance Level settings in Inspector. First, what does all those arcane numbers actually mean (eg, Peformance Level 0 - P8)? Second, if I create an OC profile in Precision X, open Inspector and save the settings I created in Precision X as a profile shortcut, which performance level should I use as a base? Currently, I am using Performance level 3 - P0, but I don't know if that's the best option.
> Thanks!


if you have OSD on with precision x, open it up (the OSD icon in your tray that shows up because you have OSD options selected, not the precision x main one) and in the settings there is "compatibility" and check that.

after that enb will work just fine with skyrim and won't crash when you try to load









your're welcome ^_^


----------



## PTCB

This is truely one of the better contributions OCN has lately. REP+ though I haven't even tried it out yet. But from a readthrough, it's well written and I understood the whole thing the first time I read it. Well done, sir!


----------



## TheMalazan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *frankietown*
> 
> if you have OSD on with precision x, open it up (the OSD icon in your tray that shows up because you have OSD options selected, not the precision x main one) and in the settings there is "compatibility" and check that.
> after that enb will work just fine with skyrim and won't crash when you try to load
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> your're welcome ^_^


First, thanks for taking the time to reply. Second...I'm confused...heh

I opened the Precision X settings (the cog wheels in the upper right). I then chose the OSD tab. On the first page there are only 3 check boxes, the top and bottom ones were unchecked and the middle one checked (Show System Time). Then I clicked on the "More" tab on bottom right which open up "Riva Tuner Statistics....". I then clicked on the "wrench" emblem in the top right and that opened the "EVGA On-Screen Display server properties". The second option is "Compatibility properties".

If that box is enabled, Skyrim will not load ENB. The game will run but no ENB lighting effects. If that box isn't enabled, Skyrim will load ENB, and the game may run for a bit, but eventually crashes, especially when transferring locations (indoors-outdoors or reverse, going through doors, etc).

EDIT: After asking on the ENB site, I removed the "wrapper" version (the modified d3d9 file) and installed the "injector" version. So far, I've not had any crashes using the injector version with Precision X.


----------



## bevo

I have a question about OCing SLI. I have another 670 on the way. When I go to OC them should I do them one at a time and get each of them as high as I can, or should I hit the sync button or whatever it's called and OC them together so that any changes I make effect both cards at the same time?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Both cards will run at the speed of the slowest card.


----------



## ThisMaySting

Absolutely brilliant write up! Well thought out, structured, and, well, best of all it worked flawlessly!









I just got my EVGA GTX 670 FTW the other day and ran it at the stock overclock until the Arctic came in (today). Just spent about 2.5 hours using the 3 hour method and I am happy as a pig in mud!

+ Rep all the way man, wish I could spam it!


----------



## macwin2012

Any users using 27inch at 1080p how does it fee like ?


----------



## andy4theherd

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macwin2012*
> 
> Any users using 27inch at 1080p how does it fee like ?


not sure i understand your question

the physical size of the screen has no bearing on how the card will perform. the resolution is what matters. it takes the same GPU power to display a 1920x1080 image on a 19" screen as it does a 55" screen. for the last 3 years i used a Sony Bravia 32" 1080p LCD as my PC monitor. in Sept. i got an Achivia Shimian 27" 2560x1440 IPS. i lost on average of 20 fps going up in resolution. the difference in picture quality was like going from standard defintion 480 television to 1080p Blu Ray though...


----------



## TriNitro

OK, so I've played around some with my Asus 670 DCII (not top). The one thing I dont understand though is how the TDP is so damn low? 37,6% as its highest in the test I ran below. Highest Ive seen it go is 38,5 or so in another test that ended up crashing


----------



## ThisMaySting

Here is a screenshot of, well, everything after running Heaven. This is my sweet spot. Actually, a little bit of a lie, it's probably within 4-5 GPU ticks and 10-15 memory ticks of of my sweet spot. I didn't fine tune all that much. I know that at 155 GPU Heaven crashed, at 150 it was fine. At 800 memory oc it crashed, at 750 it was fine. I combined the two and ran it twice, both came out flawlessly and with the first score was only one point higher than the second, I am posting the second.


----------



## pc-illiterate

nice card sting. who made the card ? is it an evga ? you got 400 more mem than i got. too bad im selling mine.


----------



## ThisMaySting

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> nice card sting. who made the card ? is it an evga ? you got 400 more mem than i got. too bad im selling mine.


Yes this happens to be the EVGA FTW Edition. I had been using ATI/AMD for the last 10 years, maybe longer. I had ordered an XFX HD7970 Double D Black Edition initially and it had come defective, grossly defective. I sent it back to Newegg for an RMA at first, then I checked into NVidia, just for the heck of it at first.

I know that in my research here on this site it is stated that a 7970 clocks faster than the GTX 670, but I wanted to give NVidia another shot after having been so long with ATI.

I am glad I did. This is really a solid card. I know it's not the "newest" technology, and I know the price tag was obviously more than that of my original 7970, but I love this thing! Even though in my head I am already considering a 690, I may just keep this one for a while, at this point it comes down to "need", and I don't necessarily "need" a 690 at the moment.









I was impressed myself with the overall overclock of this card. I have already invested more than 3 hours of straight game time in Skyrim with everything maxed, including all reflections turned on, and it seems this card is laughing at me. This is another reason why spending the extra on a 690 seems a little overkill for me to do at the moment.

Thanks for the reply though! Appreciated!


----------



## Roch

Great Guide, using it i've got both my evga FTWs up to 1280, stable in Heaven and 3D Mark 11, a bit loud for my tastes though with the performance fan profile so I might have a play to see how far I can go with the quiet one.


----------



## oasp102

This guide was thoroughly helpful. I'd never over-clocked a gpu until following this guide to a T. The core clock stabilized on my asus gtx 670 at +145Mhz and the memory at +62 Mhz. I've noticed a notable bump in performance and temperatures have not exceeded 60 degrees Celsius. Thanks for making the process so painless.


----------



## shremi

So my new card just arrived I plan on going sli ... Just one question do you need to get both cards under the same clocks ???? Because my gigabyte clocks way higher than my evga so would there be any problems by not having the same clocks on both cards ????


----------



## pc-illiterate

last i read, both cards will run at the slowest cards clocks.


----------



## frankietown

can someone explain me this:

i did +75core +400mem

my first card maxed out at 1202
my second card maxed out at 1267

i turn it down to +70 +400mem

my first card maxed out at 1202
my second card maxed out at 1267

i turn it down to +65 +400mem

my first card maxed out at 1202
my second card maxed out at 1256

isn't that kind of weird?


----------



## shremi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> last i read, both cards will run at the slowest cards clocks.


Really ???? what a shame there is almost 100 mhz in difference between the cards.... well i guess i am sending back my card


----------



## TheMalazan

@frankietown
That's pretty much the same for me. I'm sitting at +70 and +200 because although it would go higher, doing so got no extra benefit in my scores. Temperature and power-wise I feel the card has a lot of room left, but why push it up if it's not going to make a difference? I've been too busy lately to spend time OCing my CPU. At some point I'll do that then see if pushing my GPU makes any difference.

BTW...I'm using an EVGA 670 4GB SC model. Maybe the factory OC limits what I can do...dunno. Overall, I'm very satisfied with the card as I can run Skyrim on Ultra with several hi-res texture packs, a full ENB SSAO mod installed and get 45-60 FPS.


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ThisMaySting*
> 
> Here is a screenshot of, well, everything after running Heaven. This is my sweet spot. Actually, a little bit of a lie, it's probably within 4-5 GPU ticks and 10-15 memory ticks of of my sweet spot. I didn't fine tune all that much. I know that at 155 GPU Heaven crashed, at 150 it was fine. At 800 memory oc it crashed, at 750 it was fine. I combined the two and ran it twice, both came out flawlessly and with the first score was only one point higher than the second, I am posting the second.


NICE CLOCKS! My FTW only got too +100 on the core and +400 on the mem


----------



## Hideko

currently fine tuning my MSI PE 670 at 51 on the base clock and 510 on the memory. Kinda sad to see so many people getting much higher base clocks but at least my memory is doing decently?


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheMalazan*
> 
> @frankietown
> That's pretty much the same for me. I'm sitting at +70 and +200 because although it would go higher, doing so got no extra benefit in my scores. Temperature and power-wise I feel the card has a lot of room left, but why push it up if it's not going to make a difference? I've been too busy lately to spend time OCing my CPU. At some point I'll do that then see if pushing my GPU makes any difference.
> BTW...I'm using an EVGA 670 4GB SC model. Maybe the factory OC limits what I can do...dunno. Overall, I'm very satisfied with the card as I can run Skyrim on Ultra with several hi-res texture packs, a full ENB SSAO mod installed and get 45-60 FPS.


Are the numbers posted by frankietown benchmark scores or actual max core clocks of the GPU after OC'ing?


----------



## TheMalazan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Are the numbers posted by frankietown benchmark scores or actual max core clocks of the GPU after OC'ing?


They appear to be max core clocks to me. From his post I inferred that his card had hit the wall in performance. It's a bit of an apple and an orange comparing my situation with his, but it appears we both aren't getting the results others in this thread are achieving.


----------



## TheMalazan

Well, that settles it....

I ran numerous benchmarks on my card today and finally had the empirical evidence to prove what has been discussed on the EVGA forums. Their 670 4GB SC won't OC. I mean it can, but it won't make any difference at all in performance. I get good temps and no crashes running at a base of 80+ with a memory boost of 300, but the Heaven scores are no better (actually a bit worse) than running the card straight stock (ie, power target 100%, no increase in voltage, 0, 0). So, if you're into tinkering with a card, this isn't the one for you. However, as I said previously, I like the card. It runs cool and gets the job done, but you're not going to be able to stand up and brag about how much boost you've given it.



Heaven stats for stock (average of 3 runs with everything in Heaven maxed): 1213, 48.1



Heaven stats for max, max, 80, 300: 1182, 46.9

The Heaven BM is all I ran. Maybe another option would show different results? Maybe the 4GB of memory limits what I can do? Those are questions for someone with more experience at this than I have. If I'm missing something obvious in my analysis, please let me know...you won't hurt my feelings.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheMalazan*
> 
> They appear to be max core clocks to me. From his post I inferred that his card had hit the wall in performance. It's a bit of an apple and an orange comparing my situation with his, but it appears we both aren't getting the results others in this thread are achieving.


So you mean having difference + values for the core clock on his/your card overclocks the card but doesn't produce better Heaven benchmark scores?


----------



## TheMalazan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> So you mean having difference + values for the core clock on his/your card overclocks the card but doesn't produce better Heaven benchmark scores?


Yeah, it's there in black and white, or that's that way it appears to me, anyway. If you look at the two screens I posted you can see the memory clock went up as it should (+300), but the Heaven score went down. One of the odd things to me is how the base clock behaved. It's a much flatter line at stock, with a lot more variance when the voltage and power target is maxed. Regardless, the best score I received in Heaven was running the card at the stock-out-of-the-box settings. Again, my findings mirror what I've seen on the EVGA forums. If anyone has any insight as to what's going on, I'd be glad to hear it.


----------



## frankietown

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Are the numbers posted by frankietown benchmark scores or actual max core clocks of the GPU after OC'ing?


sorry i didn't see that anyone answered, yes this is just a max core clocks i achieved after OC'ing. so basically increasing it in the precision X never really made the core clocks go higher than 1202 for the first card and 1267 on the second card. if i try to add more it just crashes...

does that mean i have hit the wall as high as it will go?

also.. my first card it sticks to 1189 for the longest time before it clocks to 1202... its as if its being really forced to go up. does it mean thats not stable? the 2nd card just jumps to 1267 all the time.. but the first one takes its time.

btw to explain more:

- the max i have upped my clocks are +75/+400. this finishes the unigine and gives me a great score.

- i reduce the clock to +70 or +65 or +60, it WILL reduce the scores on unigine, BUT the clocks doesn't change. meaning, between +65 to +75 OC my first card will sit at 1202mhz max.

- at +65 my 2nd card finally drops in max clock acheived (to 1256). when i drop it to +60, my first card drops to 1189mhz, and i think my 2nd card drops more as well.

- so basically it allows me to OC higher than +60, and it WILL increase my unigine score, but it doesnt increase my MAX CLOCK at all... its sooo weird. for the first card it stops going up after +60, and for my 2nd card it will stop going up after +65.

my question is why am i increasing clocks, when it doesnt actually increase my clocks but does improve my unigine scores? its weird. why would it "allow" me to keep increasing the core clock, but then not really increase the max clock? and why would it let me improve the unigine score?


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheMalazan*
> 
> Yeah, it's there in black and white, or that's that way it appears to me, anyway. If you look at the two screens I posted you can see the memory clock went up as it should (+300), but the Heaven score went down. One of the odd things to me is how the base clock behaved. It's a much flatter line at stock, with a lot more variance when the voltage and power target is maxed. Regardless, the best score I received in Heaven was running the card at the stock-out-of-the-box settings. Again, my findings mirror what I've seen on the EVGA forums. If anyone has any insight as to what's going on, I'd be glad to hear it.


Interesting. I have a Gigabyte GTX 670 that I haven't tried ovdrclock yet though. It's weird that higher clocks produce lower bench scores.


----------



## beastmith

Many people had already asked this question but no-one has given a straight answer, so do we leave our Voltage and Power Target at MAX at all time?
For my case, my MAX Voltage is 1.1750V according to GPU-Z, and MAX Power Target is 112% according to EVGA Precision X.
Here's my settings: +138MHz on Core and +537MHz on Mem. Max Clock was at 1280MHz


For some reason, my old OC setting scores way better than the one I got from this guide. On this OC setting, Voltage and Power Target are all on stock; +124MHz on Core and +785MHz on Mem. Max Clock was at 1267MHz


Can anyone tell me what's going on here?


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *beastmith*
> 
> Many people had already asked this question but no-one has given a straight answer, so do we leave our Voltage and Power Target at MAX at all time?
> For my case, my MAX Voltage is 1.1750V according to GPU-Z, and MAX Power Target is 112% according to EVGA Precision X.
> Here's my settings: *+138MHz on Core and +537MHz on Mem. Max Clock was at 1280MHz*
> 
> For some reason, my old OC setting scores way better than the one I got from this guide. On this OC setting, Voltage and Power Target are all on stock; *+124MHz on Core and +785MHz on Mem. Max Clock was at 1267MHz*
> 
> Can anyone tell me what's going on here?


I believe it's because your "Old" OC settings is +785 on mem..


----------



## beastmith

I see that, Mr. Obvious








I'm just wondering how come it performs better, even with stock voltage and power target. I would think having more core would give more fps..


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *beastmith*
> 
> I see that, Mr. Obvious
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm just wondering how come it performs better, even with stock voltage and power target. I would think having more core would give more fps..


AFAIK, maybe heaven is prefer a memory overclock instead of core CMIIW


----------



## macwin2012

Gtx 670 amp are these decent overclocks ?


----------



## andy4theherd

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheMalazan*
> 
> Well, that settles it....
> I ran numerous benchmarks on my card today and finally had the empirical evidence to prove what has been discussed on the EVGA forums. Their 670 4GB SC won't OC. I mean it can, but it won't make any difference at all in performance. I get good temps and no crashes running at a base of 80+ with a memory boost of 300, but the Heaven scores are no better (actually a bit worse) than running the card straight stock (ie, power target 100%, no increase in voltage, 0, 0). So, if you're into tinkering with a card, this isn't the one for you. However, as I said previously, I like the card. It runs cool and gets the job done, but you're not going to be able to stand up and brag about how much boost you've given it.
> 
> Heaven stats for stock (average of 3 runs with everything in Heaven maxed): 1213, 48.1
> 
> Heaven stats for max, max, 80, 300: 1182, 46.9
> The Heaven BM is all I ran. Maybe another option would show different results? Maybe the 4GB of memory limits what I can do? Those are questions for someone with more experience at this than I have. If I'm missing something obvious in my analysis, please let me know...you won't hurt my feelings.


what kind of cpu/motherboard do you have?

i ask because i wonder if you have run into a bottleneck with other hardware.

for those worried about low stable OC's, don't be. OC'g a cpu/gpu is like playing the lottery. some OC extremely well, while others minimul if at all. i have a reference EVGA GTX 670. i currently have it at +30 core and +300 memory. i still get a driver crash in heaven about 1 in 5 runs even setting the memory to default. i've tried everything and this card will not get through Heaven consistantly with the slightest overclock. however, i have never had a driver crash in any game i've played. until a couple of weeks ago i was just using my default clocks as every game i played maxed out at decent frame rates. i picked up Far Cry 3 on release and on Ultra settings at 2560x1440 was only getting around 30-40fps. i plugged my "mostly stable" according to Heaven OC back in and jumped to 40-50 fps. i've played well over 30 hours of FC3 and 20 hours of Black Ops 2 and never had a problem.

in summary, some gpus will not overclock very well. if you actually need a few more FPS to make a game playable find a reasonable OC and play the game. what doesn't work in Heaven might be ok in your game.


----------



## TheMalazan

@Beastsmith
Yes, you can leave it maxed out. I've read this entire thread from start to finish and that question has been asked several times and the answer from the author and a couple of different moderators has been "yes" each time.

@andy...
There could be a bottleneck somewhere, that's why I'm hoping someone will come along and analyze those numbers. However, as I mentioned, there have been other owners of this card complain of the same thing (on the EVGA forum), so I'm thinking that when EVGA factory OCed this card they did...something...to limit it in some way.

My hardware elsewhere is an ASRock X79 E4, i7-3820, and Kingston Hyper X 2133 4 x 4.

Thanks for the reply.


----------



## ThisMaySting

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JTHMfreak*
> 
> NICE CLOCKS! My FTW only got too +100 on the core and +400 on the mem


Thanks, according to what I have seen posted after this, I suppose I got a bit lucky with the card that was sent to me. For this, I am happy!
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *beastmith*
> 
> Many people had already asked this question but no-one has given a straight answer, so do we leave our Voltage and Power Target at MAX at all time?


The most recent answer I searched for was here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1265110/the-gtx-670-overclocking-master-guide/20

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanPoe*
> 
> Yes, it's safe. Technically the voltage slider doesn't increase the voltage, it just locks it at the max when the card is under heavy load. When the GPU isn't under load, the voltage still throttles down like it should even when the voltage slider is maxed out in Precision-X. So there's nothing to be worried about.


----------



## Bebop

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> AFAIK, maybe heaven is prefer a memory overclock instead of core CMIIW


from my experience, and having the same gigabyte card as his, yes memory oc gives better results on heaven than core.

those are impressive ocs nonetheless, and stable? quite surprising. here i thought the evga ftw was the best ocing 670


----------



## Captainslow

Hi Everyone...I just had a quick question regarding this overclocking. I'm not the smartest person when it comes to this so that's why I'm a bit confused. I started following the directions and I was able to get the following Heaven benchmark score with the GPU offset at +120 and memory at 0:

FPS:
46.4
Scores:
1168
Min FPS:
23.1
Max FPS:
120.6

This was the good point for me to I went on to determine the best memory setting which was +485MHz and I got:

FPS:
28.1
Scores:
709
Min FPS:
14.7
Max FPS:
78.0

So now that everything was stable I went to combine them and this is where I ran into issues....After I ran the benchmark I got:

FPS:
32.5
Scores:
819
Min FPS:
14.8
Max FPS:
88.1

with +120 MHz GPU and +485MHz memory with all the power settings maxed. I found that result very odd because I was assuming that when I combine them the final score would be greater but it's a lot less. I checked the graphs and everything looked good (as per the directions) so I thought that maybe something happened so I just tried to run 120-000 again. Unfortunately after running that multiple times I'm no where near hitting what I originally got with those same settings. Now I'm getting:

FPS:
26.6
Scores:
670
Min FPS:
13.8
Max FPS:
72.5

Does anyone have any idea what's going on? I don't know why with the same settings of 120 MHz and power maxed I got an FPS score of 46.4 originally and now I'm getting 26.6. GPU-Z is showing that my clocks are set to what I want them to be. I have no idea what's going on.


----------



## beastmith

Thank you guys, I had to be honest that I didn't get to read the whole thread. So leaving everything on MAX will keep it much stable, right??


----------



## Captainslow

A reboot seems to fix the clock speed temporarily but it still shows those issues I described in my previous post.

Anyways, after going through the tutorial and setting everything up I had to eventually drop my core from 120 MHz to 70 MHz because of the heat generated. I hate fan noise but the fan curve I created based on directions was very tolerable and didn't raise my temperature above 80 degrees. I fired up Sleeping Dogs and it crashed. GPU-Z logged temperatures at around 90-92 so I'm guessing that the temperature caused the problem. Before when I would get crashes it would just be the display driver getting angry and it would be a graceful lock (i.e. game locks but OS is functional). Now it locks hard and I have to reboot.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Yeah 90 is way too hot. Nvidia wants you too keep em below 70 if at all possible. I would lock up crash if you got me in a locked room at 90


----------



## Bebop

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Captainslow*
> 
> Hi Everyone...I just had a quick question regarding this overclocking. I'm not the smartest person when it comes to this so that's why I'm a bit confused. I started following the directions and I was able to get the following Heaven benchmark score with the GPU offset at +120 and memory at 0:
> FPS:
> 46.4
> Scores:
> 1168
> Min FPS:
> 23.1
> Max FPS:
> 120.6
> This was the good point for me to I went on to determine the best memory setting which was +485MHz and I got:
> FPS:
> 28.1
> Scores:
> 709
> Min FPS:
> 14.7
> Max FPS:
> 78.0


just looking at this I think ur memory OC was too high as is evident by the drop in fps vs the core oc. i noticed in my testing that as i got very high i saw much worse performance, along the lines of what i quotes above and had to go down in memory oc. try fiddling with memory oc again.


----------



## Sharchaster

hello all

I want to hear some input from you all,

For you all who overclocked your graphics card at the games, what are you doing to increase your FPS on the games? I am running @1306/7020 (with +160 Core offset and +507 Memory Offset), at the first time I test it, I got stable for 30 minutes, then get crashes...but now I was not be able to get stable again at those clock, what's going on? I ran my CPU @4.4 Ghz,........ does my CPU Overclock is not stable or not enough to handle 1306 Mhz?, and how IF I decrease my mem clock, will my card get bottleneck, because of too low memory overclock?

Now I am running at 1280/7020...but I want to push it again to 1300, it would be amazing IF I can run my GC at those clock.

Thanks


----------



## macwin2012

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> hello all
> I want to hear some input from you all,
> For you all who overclocked your graphics card at the games, what are you doing to increase your FPS on the games? I am running @1306/7020 (with +160 Core offset and +507 Memory Offset), at the first time I test it, I got stable for 30 minutes, then get crashes...but now I was not be able to get stable again at those clock, what's going on? I ran my CPU @4.4 Ghz,........ does my CPU Overclock is not stable or not enough to handle 1306 Mhz?, and how IF I decrease my mem clock, will my card get bottleneck, because of too low memory overclock?
> Now I am running at 1280/7020...but I want to push it again to 1300, it would be amazing IF I can run my GC at those clock.
> Thanks


Try reducing Memory clock and u can get some boost on core clock .


----------



## lilchronic

mine came 1215 boost clock out of the box. current oc 1346mhz core and 3502mhz memory stable for hours of far cry 3 dx11 maxed out but no msaa never dips below 60fps. if i use 2x msaa i get dips to 50 fps


----------



## A-Baby

So I am currently trying this, and am getting issues with throttling. If you look at the picture you'll see, I have v-sync off, the power target maxed, and the voltage maxed; yet it dips the voltage itself in the picture. Any help?

What is going on.jpg 382k .jpg file


EDIT: I should probably post my system:

I7 2700k 4.3ghz.
8gb Corsair Vengeance Ram 1600mhz
240gb Corsair Force GT SSD
HAF X942 Case
Corsair AX 850 Power supply
EVGA GTX 670 (stock)
Corsair H80 CPU Cooler.
Motherboard: ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macwin2012*
> 
> Try reducing Memory clock and u can get some boost on core clock .


you mean increase the memory clock, will reduce my FPS?


----------



## lilchronic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> you mean increase the memory clock, will reduce my FPS?


no


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lilchronic*
> 
> no


so, what is the advantage of decrease and increase the mem clock for games?


----------



## lilchronic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> so, what is the advantage of decrease and increase the mem clock for games?


memory speed? from what i can tell it doesnt . need some 1 that knows more than i do to tell us


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lilchronic*
> 
> memory speed? from what i can tell it doesnt . need some 1 that knows more than i do to tell us


memory clock I mean, sorry...on afterburner


----------



## JTHMfreak

It could be your drivers. 306.97 is the only set that will be stable with my OC. All the others crash anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour into gaming.


----------



## pc-illiterate

i think i read in 1 of the gtx 670 threads, 20-30mhz in mem = 1(?) mhz in core freq


----------



## TheMalazan

Guys, I'll wrap up my involvement in this thread by once again offering my thanks to the OP and his excellent guide. And in case someone floats by who is considering a purchase of a 670 card, I would recommend they buy the FTW version of the 670 and not the model I have (EVGA 670 4GB SC). My card is somewhat reasonable if you have no interest in OC'ing (which is probably not why you're reading this thread), but the factory overclock on my card results in very little, if any, room to boost. So, if you're here to learn how to tweak and are trying to decide which card to buy, get one that you can have fun with.

Thanks.


----------



## KungMartin90

Hey all, I'm new here. I registered to post my result =)

Here's what I managed to finally pull off thanks to this awesome guide.





Thanks SeanPoe, you're a god to me!!


----------



## Frankrizzo

Can anyone recommend a youtube video? I tried to google some and couldn't find any that were decent. I am looking for a complete guide that I can follow step by step.

I have this card by have yet to overclock it because i can't figure out the guide.

GIGABYTE GV-N670OC-2GD GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423

If anyone wants to help it would be much appreciated.

Or if someone could recommend a low overclock setting id take that too. I think i figured out the fan curve. Though not really sure if i got the alarm setting right.


----------



## kevindd992002

What is the difference between the GV-N670WF3-2GD and GV-N670OC-2GD?


----------



## Frankrizzo

Boost clock OC to 1058MHz vs Core Clock: Base / Boost clock： 915 / 980 MHz
http://www.gigabyte.eu/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4435#ov
http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4211#ov


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Frankrizzo*
> 
> Boost clock OC to 1058MHz vs Core Clock: Base / Boost clock： 915 / 980 MHz
> http://www.gigabyte.eu/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4435#ov
> http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4211#ov


Ah, I thought so. So the OC is a factory overclocked version of the WF3 and they have the same cooler? Other than that, no more difference? Then the OC is better?


----------



## KungMartin90

Well apparently my previous score was on an unstable clock. The clock failed after about 5-10 min of assasin's creed 3. So this is my new stable OC result:


----------



## Bebop

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *A-Baby*
> 
> So I am currently trying this, and am getting issues with throttling. If you look at the picture you'll see, I have v-sync off, the power target maxed, and the voltage maxed; yet it dips the voltage itself in the picture. Any help?
> 
> What is going on.jpg 382k .jpg file
> 
> EDIT: I should probably post my system:
> I7 2700k 4.3ghz.
> 8gb Corsair Vengeance Ram 1600mhz
> 240gb Corsair Force GT SSD
> HAF X942 Case
> Corsair AX 850 Power supply
> EVGA GTX 670 (stock)
> Corsair H80 CPU Cooler.
> Motherboard: ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z


ur reading the graphs wrong.

from your picture the voltage is at a steady 1.175v. It is you gpu clock that is fluctuating, and this is happening because your gpu temperature keps going up to 70C, at which point it will automatically throttle as is stated in the OP. You need to setup you fan curves to keep the gpu away from 70C and also probably try lower OC.


----------



## Bebop

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Frankrizzo*
> 
> Can anyone recommend a youtube video? I tried to google some and couldn't find any that were decent. I am looking for a complete guide that I can follow step by step.
> I have this card by have yet to overclock it because i can't figure out the guide.
> GIGABYTE GV-N670OC-2GD GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423
> If anyone wants to help it would be much appreciated.
> Or if someone could recommend a low overclock setting id take that too. I think i figured out the fan curve. Though not really sure if i got the alarm setting right.


Read the OP. i have the same card, never did an gpu OC before, it was really easy. he even offers you two different versions (long or short). i did the long one and found no difficulty


----------



## A-Baby

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bebop*
> 
> ur reading the graphs wrong.
> from your picture the voltage is at a steady 1.175v. It is you gpu clock that is fluctuating, and this is happening because your gpu temperature keps going up to 70C, at which point it will automatically throttle as is stated in the OP. You need to setup you fan curves to keep the gpu away from 70C and also probably try lower OC.


My temps are at 68 I thought? It says max 68, and it stayed at 68; Isn't that fine?


----------



## KungMartin90

68 should be fine. but try highering the fan speed a bit so that it doesn't go above say atleast 65. because i think the throttling could happen at about 68.

i'd say anything under 60 is perfect.


----------



## Wuest3nFuchs

Hi all !

What does the Asic Quality really mean ?

Had a GTX 670 FTW with 73,4 % .

Is this good or bad and good for overclocking ?!

Cheers Fox


----------



## lilchronic

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5293164


----------



## Frankrizzo

After I OC my card should I remove the cap on my FPS in BF3? I increased it to 180. Thinking about removing it altogether in my BF3 profile.


----------



## AlphaWolf7

Hi,
I just got an EVGA 670 FTW and decided to Overclock it. I'm still new, so go easy









My issue is that my GPU clock does not go over 993 when running Heaven. At the end of the test it will use the "real" clock, but only whilst the program is closing.

My boost clock is 1252 according to NVIDIA Inspector.
I _think_ my MAx Boost is 1396. This is also from NVIDIA Inspector and is the value in my Precision X graph.
My memory clock has a boost of 21. Showing default as 3104 and (boost?) of 3145. I don't really get this, sorry.
My power and voltage settings are max; 145% and 1.175V.

Graph:


Spoiler: Graph






I'm not sure what more to say really. Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction


----------



## pc-illiterate

sorry alpha but cant tell much about anything with your graph except max figures.
if the driver crashed, you have to restart your pc or you will max out at 'normal' clocks.


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *AlphaWolf7*
> 
> Hi,
> I just got an EVGA 670 FTW and decided to Overclock it. I'm still new, so go easy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My issue is that my GPU clock does not go over 993 when running Heaven. At the end of the test it will use the "real" clock, but only whilst the program is closing.
> My boost clock is 1252 according to NVIDIA Inspector.
> I _think_ my MAx Boost is 1396. This is also from NVIDIA Inspector and is the value in my Precision X graph.
> My memory clock has a boost of 21. Showing default as 3104 and (boost?) of 3145. I don't really get this, sorry.
> My power and voltage settings are max; 145% and 1.175V.
> Graph:
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Graph
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure what more to say really. Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction


Highest I got my core was 1280, your 1385 is nice


----------



## Sharchaster

310.70 WHQL is just like a magic for me and my card, now I can get 1333 Mhz with this driver...want to push more...on 3DMARK11, want to add the link in here...when I come to home.


----------



## spirit21

hey guys, i've been overclocking my gigabyte 670 for quite some time but only with the core and memory. lately i've been thinking of increasing the voltage to get higher clocks because the default is at 988 and maximum of 1175 on evga precision. the video card never exceeds 60 celsius nor it ever gets close to it, so i was wondering, is it okay to increase the voltage to 1175? and how about for leaving it for 24/7 when idling, watching videos, and playing games? and the temperature of the voltage increase can be monitored correct? i'm assuming it's along with gpu temperature when monitoring.

thanks


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spirit21*
> 
> hey guys, i've been overclocking my gigabyte 670 for quite some time but only with the core and memory. lately i've been thinking of increasing the voltage to get higher clocks because the default is at 988 and maximum of 1175 on evga precision. the video card never exceeds 60 celsius nor it ever gets close to it, so i was wondering, is it okay to increase the voltage to 1175? and how about for leaving it for 24/7 when idling, watching videos, and playing games? and the temperature of the voltage increase can be monitored correct? i'm assuming it's along with gpu temperature when monitoring.
> thanks


increase the max voltage and power target to max. it doesnt hurt anything. its totally fine.


----------



## ballnuts

Well, I have 2 x GTX 670 4GB in SLI, and my scores pretty much *SUCK.*

My boost clock at stock was 1046.

*I was able to get 129Mhz GPU offset with no Mem clock stable for the heaven score below:*




*Then I was able to get 750Mhz Mem Clock offset with no GPU clock offset for the score below:*




Then I combined the 2, and it immediately crashed. The next stable setup was 114/550 GPU/Mem, scores sucked




Then I figured out that the performance was better when I lowered the GPU clock significantly.

I ended up going with 100/600 GPU/mem

Heaven score was 2379

3dMark score below


Updated with CPU OC'd to 4.7GHZ


----------



## alpertuner

Hello everybody Ive 2xGTX670s running in SLI
I followed your guide and did some benchmarks with Heaven
The highest score i was able to achieve without crashing was 96.1 fps
The driver I used is 310.70
My GTX670s are reference models.
One is Zotac and other one is MSI OC edition which is reference edition also but has a little higher base and turbo clock.
Here is what i have done to achieve it and thank you all for your helpful information which helped me to do it












Here are the other results










Here are the base and boost clocks of both cards
MSI 965 (Boost Clock: 1045)
Zotac 915 (Boost Clock: 980)

This is my Rig





Asus Rampage IV Formula Motherboard
i7 3820 running @ 5 GHZ
16GB Quad Channel RAM running @ 2 GHZ
2x OCed GTX 670s running in SLI
Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium HD
12TB HDD ( 4X3TB)
2X Corsair Force GT 120 GB SSDs in RAID 0 Array 1GBps Read & Write
Corsair 1200W PSU
Corsair 800D Full Tower Case
Corsair H100 Extreme Liquid CPU Cooler
Zalman MFC3 Fan Controller
2X Aerocool Touch 2000 Fan Controller
4x Xigmatek 140mm LED FAN 65CFM
6x Xigmatek 120mm LED FAN 63CFM
Corsair 120mm FAN 105 CFM
3x Sunbeam RGB LEDS with Remote ( 6 RGB LED Stripes in Total )
Samsung BX2350 23" LED Monitor
Logitech Z906 500W Speaker System
Logitech C920 1080p Webcam
Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard
Logitech Dinovo Edge Wireless Keyboard
Logitech MX Revolution Wireless Mouse
Razer Mamba 5600 DPI Wireless Gaming Mouse
Razer Megasome Mousepad


----------



## twitchyzero

Hi,

I am curious if anyone has tested their Heaven results from old drivers to the latest ones.

Back when I first started OCing I was on 301.42 WHQL
I could do 96fps 2400 score at 1080p maxed out
this is at 1250MHz core/1866Mhz mem 120% Power draw 1.175V

then 310.61 beta
I could do 80fps 2050 score at 1080p maxed out
this is at 1250MHz core/1866Mhz mem 120% Power draw 1.175V

Now 310.70WHQL
I could do 83fps 2400 score at 1080p maxed out
this is at 1300MHz core/1866Mhz mem 145% Power draw 1.215V

Have people been noticing their Heaven score/performance dropping significantly after new drivers?? All temps were comparable to each other so there's no thermal throttle...


----------



## alpertuner

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *twitchyzero*
> 
> Hi,
> I am curious if anyone has tested their Heaven results from old drivers to the latest ones.
> Back when I first started OCing I was on 301.42 WHQL
> I could do 96fps 2400 score at 1080p maxed out
> this is at 1250MHz core/1866Mhz mem 120% Power draw 1.175V
> then 310.61 beta
> I could do 80fps 2050 score at 1080p maxed out
> this is at 1250MHz core/1866Mhz mem 120% Power draw 1.175V
> Now 310.70WHQL
> I could do 83fps 2400 score at 1080p maxed out
> this is at 1300MHz core/1866Mhz mem 145% Power draw 1.215V
> Have people been noticing their Heaven score/performance dropping significantly after new drivers?? All temps were comparable to each other so there's no thermal throttle...


Hello I did it by using the latest driver which is 310.70
I have managed to reach 96.6 fps


----------



## twitchyzero

^ I've noticed my SLI usage between the GPUs fluctuate quite a bit...70-90% like as if it's locked in 2D mode....it used to run 98-99% on both GPUs on old drivers.

I had to Alt-Tab to "fix" the issue to get my GPUs running in the 90-99% range...my fps is more comparable to my old performance levels but still a little lacking

with the alt-tab I'm now at 93fps 2350score...it used to be like 95-96fps? 2400 score


----------



## A-Baby

So my throttling, after testing MULTIPLE times, is because my card throttles itself when it's at 63 degrees C. Is it supposed to do that? When I read this, he said it wouldn't throttle until 70.


----------



## ropd

I have a reference Asus 670 GTX. I started to OC the card using the quick method. I set up everything according to the instructions and ran Heaven using an offset of 120. It went through fine. I increased the offset to 140. Heaven ran for about 5 seconds and the computer shut off. Problem is how do I get it to post back up. I turn the power supply off and on and let it sit for a minute. Then I hit the power button and it comes comes on for a second and quits. How can I get this sucker to post back up so I can change my GPU settings?

Rich


----------



## error-id10t

You might need to reset cmos, that puts everything to stock.. odd that it refuses the boot after GPU falling over from OC though.


----------



## Arbatrix

Hi there!

Complete noob at overclocking (going to be my first time). I have a few quick questions that I'd like to know before continuing on.









1) I have an ASUS GTX680 Direct-CUii GPU, but I can still follow this, except for the original clock values since the 680 is faster than the 670, right?
2) I have no idea what to look for for artifacts in Heaven... 



 is this what I should be looking out for? As well as the black/white shapes that people describe?
3) How many artifacts is considered acceptable in a full Heaven run? Or is one artifact already too many?








4a) I heard that screwing around with the voltage is a bad thing if you're new to overclocking, like me, so I just want to clarify... In Precision X, I click "Adjust Voltage" on the left, then drag the Voltage Tuner up to 1175, then drag "Power Target" up to 159, then hit "Apply"?
4b) Can I leave the voltage/power target values adjusted permanently for gaming? Or should I revert back to the default levels?
5) Finally, is it safe to leave a GPU overclocked? I've heard conflicting opinions. Some say that it is safe to leave the increased values for everything, and some say that you should only raise values before gaming, and revert them after. Which is correct?

Thanks in advance! I know that these are probably dumb questions to most of you, but hey, we all have to start somewhere!

Edit: Is there any way to show the actual numerical values of the GPU Clock and Memory Clock in Precision X? All I can see are the two triangles that point on the speedometer-like display.


----------



## pc-illiterate

first, welcome to ocn
to answer your questions in a 1-heap-answer:
max both voltage and power sliders. there isnt anything wrong with it and it wont hurt your card at all. it will help it not crash. if it crashes, your core clock is too high. leave them cranked. why ? tell you at the end.
artifacts are caused by memory being overclocked too far. 1 is too many in my book. 2 is acceptable for some. some people get black artifacts at the dragon scene in heaven, when the camera circles the dragon statue. i never did until i got my 2nd 670. NOW i see those black 'daggers'. usual artifacting is red or green 'sunbursts' from what ive seen and read.
to have your clocks show up in heaven, or anything else you do, open prec-x and go to the monitor tab. scroll down through the different/available items to monitor(core clock speed, memory speed, power, voltage, blah-blah) what you want/need to monitor. just make sure there is a checkmark beside it. too have it show on-screen in heaven or anything else, look at the bottom of options on monitoring tab. click the box that says, show on screen display. you have to do this for each item you want to show on screen. back up in the item list, it will say "in OSD" in the properties column if you have it checked off in the right item.


you can leave voltage and clocks and all set at your overclock because your card downclocks in 2d mode. it will still get 1.175v but that isnt a problem. the gpu can easily handle it.


----------



## Arbatrix

Thanks for the reply!

So if I see something like those blue-ish flashes that cover quite a large part of the screen, like those in the youtube video, those aren't artifacts?

I'm currently at +140 MHz for the Core Clock, and I haven't seen anything that look like sunbursts or the "daggers", like you described, but I did get 2 of those blue flashes that were seen in the Youtube video I linked. Should I bump the Clock down?


----------



## pc-illiterate

ive never seen anything like that video before. looks more like a glitch or something than artifacting.






i only get a few bursts. nowhere near the amount this guy does. back off the mem some until they go away.

*EDIT* watched it infull screen. yeah, severe artifacting.


----------



## James N

Hey i am stuck at overclocking my Gtx 670 windforce,

Core Clock 1250
Memory clock 3600

Whenever i go above those values the drivers are crashing and i get this power spike in the graph  , is that anything i need to be concerned about and is there are fix for it so i can overclock further? I raised the max voltage to 1175 and power taget to 112% (this is the highest selectable value in Precision-x). Can someone help me?


----------



## Xboxmember1978

The only was that I know if to get more headroom for overclocking with all 600 series is to unlock your voltage with a BIOS mod. Then you will have to watch your temps because at 70C it will start to thermal throttle


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *James N*
> 
> Hey i am stuck at overclocking my Gtx 670 windforce,
> Core Clock 1250
> Memory clock 3600
> Whenever i go above those values the drivers are crashing and i get this power spike in the graph  , is that anything i need to be concerned about and is there are fix for it so i can overclock further? I raised the max voltage to 1175 and power taget to 112% (this is the highest selectable value in Precision-x). Can someone help me?


prec-x says max power was 260 for that spike. no you dont have more headroom. the drivers crashed because the core clock was too high.


----------



## James N

So i pretty much got a ****tie card ? Because when i read results here with guys ocing to 1300 even 1400 than 1250 core and +600 mem is kinda poor isnt it?


----------



## Xboxmember1978

Do you have a reference card or aftermarket? All cards overclock differently, some might hit 1300-1400 but seems rare, I know it's the "need for speed" that drives us to overclock but just enjoy your card with the best overclock you can get

P.S.Keep in mind that people getting really high overclocks have watercooling and most likely unlocked their BIOS to allow more voltage.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *James N*
> 
> So i pretty much got a ****tie card ? Because when i read results here with guys ocing to 1300 even 1400 than 1250 core and +600 mem is kinda poor isnt it?


People with at higher overclock, are more likely to brag about it i guess. From what i see, about 1250-1280ish is average for stock voltage on a reference card.

Also, many people overvolt their cards (with a modded bios), to achieve even higher overclocks


----------



## pc-illiterate

a lot of people also only get a max of 1200mhz stable. some get less. it is luck of the draw my friend.

and a +600 on mem is really good. i only get a +447 to give me 3456mhz


----------



## xSociety

Card 1 was at 1280 during the test and the other was at 1240?









Also curious as the why both of my cards sit at 50% in BF3?


----------



## James N

I have a gigabyte windforce. Well yea i am satisfied with it now that i read that people who get 1300+ mostly managed to do so with the voltage bios mod and that it is rare as well!

A friend managed to score 1470 and 700 on mem with a zotac amp , so i thought my card was kinda weak compared to that!


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *James N*
> 
> So i pretty much got a ****tie card ? Because when i read results here with guys ocing to 1300 even 1400 than 1250 core and +600 mem is kinda poor isnt it?


1250 isn't bad at all bro, everyone in here can get higher clock because they modded BIOS to achieve that...it's lucky of draw I think, there's no guarantee everyone can get "golden" chip...

my boost clock + kepler boost only 1150 Mhz, when the other people who have the same card as mine, can get 1215 Mhz...but I'm surprised I can get 1333 Mhz (sometimes 1346 Mhz) WITHOUT modding BIOS, maybe can get higher than that IF i modded my BIOS, but I don't need that *now*.


----------



## twitchyzero

yep as everyone's been saying it's up luck of the draw

I do feel that sub-1300 core for non-reference designs are kinda bummer though

i couldn't break 1250 on both of my FTWs without overvolting which was underwhelming for me to push surround resolution


----------



## vrdubin6

Same story here. I picked up an open box DCII and I can only hit 1150. I figure someone returned it due to the poor OC, but I can't complain for the price I paid.


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vrdubin6*
> 
> Same story here. I picked up an open box DCII and I can only hit 1150. *I figure someone returned it due to the poor OC*, but I can't complain for the price I paid.


you can do that? that's amazing...


----------



## vrdubin6

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> you can do that? that's amazing...


I would assume as long as you return it within the 30 day period Newegg gives you and you want to go through the hassle of paying to ship it back and a 15% restocking fee.


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vrdubin6*
> 
> I would assume as long as you return it within the 30 day period Newegg gives you and you want to go through the hassle of paying to ship it back and a 15% restocking fee.


you mean pay for shipping, and pay 15% extra to get the card again?


----------



## vrdubin6

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> you mean pay for shipping, and pay 15% extra to get the card again?


If you return for a cash refund I think it's a 15% restocking fee.


----------



## iRandomize

In Denmark it is devises by law, that you Can return a online purchase within 30 days, free of charge. Lovely


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vrdubin6*
> 
> If you return for a cash refund I think it's a 15% restocking fee.


Last, so you can return a card, and get your cash/cost back again? Sorry, It's something new for me, because something like that doesn't exist on my country.


----------



## vrdubin6

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> Last, so you can return a card, and get your cash/cost back again? Sorry, It's something new for me, because something like that doesn't exist on my country.


Correct. It depends on the retailer, but I usually purchase from Newegg and you can return anything within 30 days of purchase.


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vrdubin6*
> 
> Correct. It depends on the retailer, but I usually purchase from Newegg and you can return anything within 30 days of purchase.


Wow. I almost can't believe people can do that things...Trying a card for 30 days, and IF the card get a poor OC, you can back it again to retailer, and get your cash back again...Thanks anyway


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> Wow. I almost can't believe people can do that things...Trying a card for 30 days, and IF the card get a poor OC, you can back it again to retailer, and get your cash back again...Thanks anyway


Although i can, i wouldn't. It seems wrong...


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Although i can, i wouldn't. It seems wrong...


Yep I agree, It's not fair, IMO...but maybe I'm wrong...


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> Yep I agree, It's not fair, IMO...but maybe I'm wrong...


It's unethical, my 2500K sucks, and I would be more likely to buy a new one, than return that one!

Some people order 5 CPU's, and only keep the best one, returning the remaining 4


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Although i can, i wouldn't. It seems wrong...


it is wrong. people who do this have no morals, respect or sense of self-honor. you buy computer parts expecting them to work. if they do, you keep it. because it doesnt overclock as high as you HOPE it will, you sit back and say " crap. oh well, i got what i paid for."

retailers need to start checking to make see if things work before returning the payment. change policies so that you cant return something that works. it costs everyone money in the end.


----------



## iRandomize

Damn you, phone...


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> it is wrong. people who do this have no morals, respect or sense of self-honor. you buy computer parts expecting them to work. if they do, you keep it. because it doesnt overclock as high as you HOPE it will, you sit back and say " crap. oh well, i got what i paid for."
> retailers need to start checking to make see if things work before returning the payment. change policies so that you cant return something that works. it costs everyone money in the end.


In Denmark, manufactures MUST accept it, when people return stuff within the first 30 days. People abuse this, and it makes me sick. I can only agree with what you said!


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> *it is wrong. people who do this have no morals, respect or sense of self-honor. you buy computer parts expecting them to work. if they do, you keep it. because it doesnt overclock as high as you HOPE it will, you sit back and say " crap. oh well, i got what i paid for."*
> retailers need to start checking to make see if things work before returning the payment. change policies so that you cant return something that works. it costs everyone money in the end.


This ^


----------



## mrtee001

Thanks for the great post. Quick question though. Do you leave your voltage and power target at maximum all the time once your done finding your OC max? Or do you just turn them on while gaming?

Apologies if this has been answered before but i couldnt see the answer









Thanks in advance.


----------



## pc-illiterate

yep. leave em both at max. causes no problems at all except maybe a few degrees of heat in your case


----------



## mrtee001

Thanks for the quick reply. Just about finished oc my zotac gtx 670 amp! cant wait to start playing!!


----------



## Frankrizzo

anyone have a problem where you oc your card but in bf3 will just crash all of a sudden? I get the error that your display drivers recovered from the fatal error.


----------



## Xboxmember1978

BF3 has issues with overclocks. It has been discussed before. I don't know why but it hates overclocked GPU's


----------



## Tagkaman

Hey, I tried to do some overclocking on my Asus GTX 670 DCII non-TOP, and it was going well for a while, but at a point I started getting flickering shadows and semi transparent white bars appearing while running heaven. I tried to down clock it, but the weird things were still there, so I went back to stock. I, however, still get these things every now and again in some of my games.

The games are still far from unplayable, but should I be worried about this?


----------



## Xboxmember1978

You shouldn't be seeing anything like that with stock settings, I'd be looking into that


----------



## mrtee001

Yeh im having issues too. OC'ing went good then when i tried playing bf3, it would crash. so started bumping down mem clock offset till i find a stable gameplay. Had to drop it by a fair bit so far which sux >.<

I have a ZOTAC GTX 670 AMP


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mrtee001*
> 
> Yeh im having issues too. OC'ing went good then when i tried playing bf3, it would crash. so started bumping down mem clock offset till i find a stable gameplay. Had to drop it by a fair bit so far which sux >.<
> I have a ZOTAC GTX 670 AMP


Did you have to drop the core clock? I only had to drop the memory by about 100mhz, which has resultet in about a .2 drop in FPS in BF3, and .5 in Far Cry 3. I found that generally speaking, BF3 seems to scale more with clock than memory, compared to other games/benchmarks


----------



## Mozz13

Hi all,

Sorry to butt in but I'm just curious with my OC since this is my first time doing it. Is this result okay or a bit low?

AGT 160-550.docx 763k .docx file
.
it's a GTX670-DC2-2GD5 with GPU clock +160, Memory clock +550 and all stock voltages & power target. If it makes any difference, CPU i7 3770K OC'd to 4.5Ghz. Personally, I didn't see any gains in FPS while playing MOH Warfighter. Did I do something wrong? At GPU clock +170, it would crash heaven half way or even sooner and that even with max power target and voltages. This is using the 310.70 driver already.
1 more thing, even at stock or OC, I keep seeing flickering shadows and semi transparent white bars during heaven just like Tagkaman.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mozz13*
> 
> Hi all,
> Sorry to butt in but I'm just curious with my OC since this is my first time doing it. Is this result okay or a bit low?
> 
> AGT 160-550.docx 763k .docx file
> .
> it's a GTX670-DC2-2GD5 with GPU clock +160, Memory clock +550 and all stock voltages & power target. If it makes any difference, CPU i7 3770K OC'd to 4.5Ghz. Personally, I didn't see any gains in FPS while playing MOH Warfighter. Did I do something wrong? At GPU clock +170, it would crash heaven half way or even sooner and that even with max power target and voltages. This is using the 310.70 driver already.
> 1 more thing, even at stock or OC, I keep seeing flickering shadows and semi transparent white bars during heaven just like Tagkaman.


You should max out your power target nomatter what, and i would love to see a screenshot of GPU Tweak while the GPU is under load (mid Heaven).
The voltage slider doesen't really do anything, so just keep that one at stock.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Gpu teeak causes problems. Aftrrburner and prec-x are better even though i get different results using either 1 at the same clocks


----------



## Cygone

Just been OCing my 670SLI,

I've actually got 4 670s.

2x EVGA Standard
2x EVGA Signature 2s

They are/were in SLI Pairs, so results as per below,

Standard EVGA
1190 Core (Inc. Boost / KBoost and OC)
6120 Mem
1.175v

Signature 2s (680PCB)
1280 Core - Unlocked KBoost BIOS with +150% Power Target and 0-100% Fan
6400 Mem
1.2120v

Even with voltage tweeking the Standard EVGA pair WOULD NOT go over 1190core and the OC on the Memory was SHOCKINGLY bad. So they are here with an RMA number awaiting return,

The Signature 2's are quieter and about 25deg C COOLER than the Standard cards, yes the fans can still get noisy but because they are cooler the fan wont kick into high gears so often


----------



## Frankrizzo

What should i increase my memory to? Or should i leave it at 200?

If anyone knows of better settings please let me know. volts and power target are maxed out

Settings
http://postimage.org/image/a87mc93zp/

Here is my benchmark
http://postimage.org/image/mt83fo4mt/


----------



## pc-illiterate

no one can tell you what settings to use except max out the power target and voltage sliders. every card clocks differently on both the core and memory.

rerun heaven with everything maxed and 1920x1080.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cygone*
> 
> Even with voltage tweeking the Standard EVGA pair WOULD NOT go over 1190core and the OC on the Memory was SHOCKINGLY bad. So they are here with an RMA number awaiting return


So, you RMA'ed two 670s because you were not satisfied by the overclock?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Frankrizzo*
> 
> What should i increase my memory to? Or should i leave it at 200?
> If anyone knows of better settings please let me know. volts and power target are maxed out
> Settings
> http://postimage.org/image/a87mc93zp/
> Here is my benchmark
> http://postimage.org/image/mt83fo4mt/


You need to run the Heaven resolution at your max resolution. And you should keep raising your Memory, until you see artifacts/crashes


----------



## Frankrizzo

keep increasing memory by how much?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Frankrizzo*
> 
> keep increasing memory by how much?


i would go 25mhz at a time. it steps up in increments, maybe by 13mhz a step like the core does. dont remember reading and never tested. if you get artifacts, back it down by 10mhz and test again...


----------



## Mozz13

As requested,

AGT 170-550.docx 981k .docx file
. I couldn't get heaven in the same screen with the others







. I maxed out on the power target and crashed mid way (I think around stage 8 or 9 out of 26). I will try use the same settings (+160 and +170 with same mem clock) on precision-x and report back. Thanks for the help!


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> You should max out your power target nomatter what, and i would love to see a screenshot of GPU Tweak while the GPU is under load (mid Heaven).
> The voltage slider doesen't really do anything, so just keep that one at stock.


actually yes the voltage slider does do something. it keeps the voltage from dropping and causing a crash when it goes from low load to high load, the card doesnt apply full voltage quick enough.
max out both the voltage and power sliders...
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mozz13*
> 
> As requested,
> 
> AGT 170-550.docx 981k .docx file
> . I couldn't get heaven in the same screen with the others
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . I maxed out on the power target and crashed mid way (I think around stage 8 or 9 out of 26). I will try use the same settings (+160 and +170 with same mem clock) on precision-x and report back. Thanks for the help!


use afterburner after that. exact same clocks and watch your score change. its awesomely funny


----------



## Iannotti

Awesome guide....Thanks for this~ I spent all night (until 5 AM) overclocking both of my MSI 670 OC PE cards and got a stable clock at 1306mhz on 1 card and 1260ish on other. Anyhow, I had the case cover off since I botched the correct placement of the fans and was able to hold stead at 69 C. Ran through many 3d heavens, 3dmark vantage etc ... No issues at all.

My DX11 3DMark Vantage Score from last night: http://www.3dmark.com/3dmv/4480206

So today I decided to fix the fan placement and add 1 120MM fan to the side, anyways, after I put everything back I ran 3DHeaven max settings at the same OC speeds and crashed. I can't even get half the OC I had last night and my temps are even lower now!!!!!

I'm using the 306.97 Nvidia drivers...

My system:

I7-I2700k OC to 4.5
Corsair 650HX PSU
16GB Vengeance 1866 Ram
2 x MSI 670 OC PE 2Gb cards at 1175Mv per
Asus Sabertooth z77
OCZ 256 SSD

This doesn't make any sense at all to me... Any help guys?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Iannotti*
> 
> Awesome guide....Thanks for this~ I spent all night (until 5 AM) overclocking both of my MSI 670 OC PE cards and got a stable clock at 1306mhz on 1 card and 1260ish on other. Anyhow, I had the case cover off since I botched the correct placement of the fans and was able to hold stead at 69 C. Ran through many 3d heavens, 3dmark vantage etc ... No issues at all.
> My DX11 3DMark Vantage Score from last night: http://www.3dmark.com/3dmv/4480206
> So today I decided to fix the fan placement and add 1 120MM fan to the side, anyways, after I put everything back I ran 3DHeaven max settings at the same OC speeds and crashed. I can't even get half the OC I had last night and my temps are even lower now!!!!!
> I'm using the 306.97 Nvidia drivers...
> My system:
> I7-I2700k OC to 4.5
> Corsair 650HX PSU
> 16GB Vengeance 1866 Ram
> 2 x MSI 670 OC PE 2Gb cards at 1175Mv per
> Asus Sabertooth z77
> OCZ 256 SSD
> This doesn't make any sense at all to me... Any help guys?


what are you using to overclock ?


----------



## Iannotti

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> what are you using to overclock ?


I used a few different programs before reading the guide, but settled on eVGA precision X for last nights overclock.

I just noticed during a stress test one of my cards voltage is dropping to 1.162 but goes back to 1.175 after the test, other card is maintaining 1.175 ...I sure the hell hope it doesn't mean the PSU..HX650 should be plenty. Also the CPU freezes now as soon as I hit reboot button. I reinstalled the drivers yesterday when that happened and it seemed to fix it then.


----------



## Mozz13

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> actually yes the voltage slider does do something. it keeps the voltage from dropping and causing a crash when it goes from low load to high load, the card doesnt apply full voltage quick enough.
> max out both the voltage and power sliders...
> use afterburner after that. exact same clocks and watch your score change. its awesomely funny


I did it using Precision X and yes the result is funny. Using the same +160 and +550 but I got better result.

PX 160-550.docx 656k .docx file
. I even managed to complete heaven on +170 and +550 with Precision X but with what I think 3 artifacts (bright big red dots for around half second).

PX 170-550.docx 646k .docx file
.
I didn't get these red dots thing on +160 and +550 so should I push the card even more?
Another thing with the voltage is that I didn't change anything in the settings and keeping it at default but at the end of the run, GPU Z reported max of 1.175 v. Weird eh..


----------



## pc-illiterate

those red dots are artifacts, usually (99%) caused by memory clock too high. core clocks cause the driver to crash which requires a restart to get the driver working again.


----------



## Mozz13

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> those red dots are artifacts, usually (99%) caused by memory clock too high. core clocks cause the driver to crash which requires a restart to get the driver working again.


So basically, I still can push the GPU clock higher while decreasing the memory clock?


----------



## pc-illiterate

til the driver crashes.
every 23-25mhz memory boost = 1mhz core from what i read somewhere.


----------



## Cygone

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> So, you RMA'ed two 670s because you were not satisfied by the overclock?


Umm YES!


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cygone*
> 
> Umm YES!


despicable


----------



## cam51037

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cygone*
> 
> Umm YES!


So what exactly did you say to RMA it?

No offence but that kind of is a jerk move IMO. Do the best with what you have is what I say, you might think differently though, lol.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Iannotti*
> 
> I used a few different programs before reading the guide, but settled on eVGA precision X for last nights overclock.
> I just noticed during a stress test one of my cards voltage is dropping to 1.162 but goes back to 1.175 after the test, other card is maintaining 1.175 ...I sure the hell hope it doesn't mean the PSU..HX650 should be plenty. Also the CPU freezes now as soon as I hit reboot button. I reinstalled the drivers yesterday when that happened and it seemed to fix it then.


For the GTX 670 Power Edition, you need to use MSI Afterburner v2.2.3, that one supports overvolting (up to 1.3ish), although it wont show up in the monitor, it is running at a higher voltage, when overvolting








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cygone*
> 
> Umm YES!


Please get off these forums, you are making us look bad....
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> til the driver crashes.
> every 23-25mhz memory boost = 1mhz core from what i read somewhere.


Too me, that depends. In BF3 i see near no difference from 300 to 500 on the memory, but it has a much more noticable impact on Heaven? Also, memory overclocking makes BF3 crash beyond 550, in Heaven im stable at 700 :O


----------



## Iannotti

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> For the GTX 670 Power Edition, you need to use MSI Afterburner v2.2.3, that one supports overvolting (up to 1.3ish), although it wont show up in the monitor, it is running at a higher voltage, when overvolting


?? I used Precision X to get the 1306Mhz OC last night...


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Iannotti*
> 
> ?? I used Precision X to get the 1306Mhz OC last night...


The Power Edition has triple overvoltage, only supported by Afterburner 2.2.3. If you want even more performance, you can overvolt the GPU and Memory







PrecisionX works just fine for stock voltages. I was able to hit 1293 with PrecisionX, now i am at 1359 using Afterburner







(Just keep in mind, that your temperatures will go nuts :S)


----------



## Iannotti

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> The Power Edition has triple overvoltage, only supported by Afterburner 2.2.3. If you want even more performance, you can overvolt the GPU and Memory
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PrecisionX works just fine for stock voltages. I was able to hit 1293 with PrecisionX, now i am at 1359 using Afterburner
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (Just keep in mind, that your temperatures will go nuts :S)


LOL...This is freaking crazy.... I have that version of AB already and for some reason always got low OC's. Anyways, I reset settings in precision and opened up AB.... Some reason, it wouldn't let me adjust mem voltage?? It just reset back to 0 when I offset it.... I just playd with it a week ago and it worked... strange..

Now I'm getting about the same score as I did last night in Heaven 3D, BUT....GPU-Z is showing my clock to be much lower than last night... MSI AB graph shows a completely different max clock speed as GPU-Z......How silly is this?

Last Heaven3D was 2423 at max setting..Last night I was at around 2450...Gonna see how far I can push it in AB....

Yeah temps are up...Almost hit 70 on 1 card with the side panel off.... How the hell can you keep them cool?


----------



## Iannotti

Looking at my log, I beat last nights score by 3 points... Should I keep pushing it??









AB says one of my clocks maxed at 1320, the other clock only 1254.. Wonder if I should start playing with them individually and turn off sync settings...


----------



## Mozz13

Okay. I don't think I can push my card beyond +170 on the GPU clock. +170and +550 will complete the heaven with artifacts so I settled down on +160 and +550. Weird enough there wasn't any artifacts throughout heaven. Someone care enough or can explain it to me? 1 last thing, How is my result? Any feedback will be great. Cheers.









PX 160-550.docx 656k .docx file


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> For the GTX 670 Power Edition, you need to use MSI Afterburner v2.2.3, *that one supports overvolting (up to 1.3ish)*, although it wont show up in the monitor, it is running at a higher voltage, when overvolting


with modded BIOS?


----------



## Iannotti

Anyone know why my 2nd card voltage will not stay at 1.175 and goes up and down?? The core clock also is at 1319 at start and throttles like hell to low/mid/high 1200's.... Temp is low 60's...

1st cards voltage and clock stable...

This all while running 3d heaven


----------



## pc-illiterate

anyone else having their 670 drop voltage from 1.175v to 1.162v ?



iannotti, everything set to performance in nv control panel ? are you using afterburner or prec-x ?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mozz13*
> 
> Okay. I don't think I can push my card beyond +170 on the GPU clock. +170and +550 will complete the heaven with artifacts so I settled down on +160 and +550. Weird enough there wasn't any artifacts throughout heaven. Someone care enough or can explain it to me? 1 last thing, How is my result? Any feedback will be great. Cheers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PX 160-550.docx 656k .docx file


Artifacts are most likely caused by your memory being clocked too high, but i have seen the GPU clock causing it as well. It is completely normal, and just means you hit your overclock limit







. You got a fairly average overclock on that card, no reason to be disappointed








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Iannotti*
> 
> LOL...This is freaking crazy.... I have that version of AB already and for some reason always got low OC's. Anyways, I reset settings in precision and opened up AB.... Some reason, it wouldn't let me adjust mem voltage?? It just reset back to 0 when I offset it.... I just playd with it a week ago and it worked... strange..
> Now I'm getting about the same score as I did last night in Heaven 3D, BUT....GPU-Z is showing my clock to be much lower than last night... MSI AB graph shows a completely different max clock speed as GPU-Z......How silly is this?
> Last Heaven3D was 2423 at max setting..Last night I was at around 2450...Gonna see how far I can push it in AB....
> Yeah temps are up...Almost hit 70 on 1 card with the side panel off.... How the hell can you keep them cool?


In heaven i max out at around 71C (i don't get any throtlleing, so i don't care). I got a 180MM fan blowing straight at the GPU, along with 2 Gentle Typhoons in the front @ 1450rpm, so it is in no way starving for air :S. I am considering doing The Mod, since the card is pretty noisy :S
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> with modded BIOS?


Doesen't matter, as long as it is a 670 Power Edition BIOS, it should work


----------



## Mozz13

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Artifacts are most likely caused by your memory being clocked too high, but i have seen the GPU clock causing it as well. It is completely normal, and just means you hit your overclock limit
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . You got a fairly average overclock on that card, no reason to be disappointed


Thanks! That's a bit assuring as I don't have anything to compare it on







. Is it true that if you OC your 670 mildly you can get a par performance as the 680?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Iannotti*
> 
> Anyone know why my 2nd card voltage will not stay at 1.175 and goes up and down?? The core clock also is at 1319 at start and throttles like hell to low/mid/high 1200's.... Temp is low 60's...
> 1st cards voltage and clock stable...
> This all while running 3d heaven


Is the 2nd card running at full load?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mozz13*
> 
> Thanks! That's a bit assuring as I don't have anything to compare it on
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . Is it true that if you OC your 670 mildly you can get a par performance as the 680?


You can indeed, but as soon as you overclock the 680, the gap stays the same









I found this thread pretty interesting, as it shows just how big a difference lies in the PCB alone, and what the 670 chip is actually capable of (it should be mentioned, that the 670 he got, was pretty damn nice):
http://www.overclock.net/t/1258755/overclocking-and-benchmarking-gtx-670-vs-gtx-680


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Doesen't matter, as long as it is a 670 Power Edition BIOS, it should work


wow, If what are you talking about is true, I'm *quite* disappointed that I only reach 1333 Mhz @1.3v
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> anyone else having their 670 drop voltage from 1.175v to 1.162v ?
> 
> iannotti, everything set to performance in nv control panel ? are you using afterburner or prec-x ?


Maybe my search skills, but how you can enable the voltage monitoring on your afterburner? I search that feature on mine, but didn't found it.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> wow, If what are you talking about is true, I'm *quite* disappointed that I only reach 1333 Mhz @1.3v


My multimeter says 1.306








I got to 1359, i would love to do The Mod, and see if lowering the temperatures will allow me to go even higher (anything beyond +60 voltage doesen't allow me to go higher on my overclock, although it still adds more voltage, i fear that the GPU is very sensitive to high temperatures :S)
Just make sure you are using Afterburner 2.2.3, that is the only version that supports overvolting (later versions had it removed, and previous versions didn't support it).
If you are using the Twin Frozr cooler, you should hit very high temperatures, when overvolting on this card. If you are able to stay below 70C on air, you are probably not overvolted.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> Maybe my search skills, but how you can enable the voltage monitoring on your afterburner? I search that feature on mine, but didn't found it.


are you using ab 2.2.3 ? its right on the first tab of settings.


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> are you using ab 2.2.3 ? its right on the first tab of settings.


Yes, I am using 2.2.3, and Yes, I was doing it too, but the voltage monitoring didn't appear on the monitoring tab.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> My multimeter says 1.306
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I got to 1359, i would love to do The Mod, and see if lowering the temperatures will allow me to go even higher (anything beyond +60 voltage doesen't allow me to go higher on my overclock, although it still adds more voltage, i fear that the GPU is very sensitive to high temperatures :S)
> Just make sure you are using Afterburner 2.2.3, that is the only version that supports overvolting (later versions had it removed, and previous versions didn't support it).
> If you are using the Twin Frozr cooler, you should hit very high temperatures, when overvolting on this card. If you are able to stay below 70C on air, you are probably not overvolted.


Maybe I should test it myself, to make sure my voltage is beyond 1.175v. I remember on the 670 PE thread, someone test his PE, and the voltage is not beyond 1.175v

and Yes, I always using 2.2.3 since that AB is the only one which is the best for the PE 670 card.


----------



## Sharchaster

double post, I'm sorry.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> Yes, I am using 2.2.3, and Yes, I was doing it too, but the voltage monitoring didn't appear on the monitoring tab.
> Maybe I should test it myself, to make sure my voltage is beyond 1.175v. I remember on the 670 PE thread, someone test his PE, and the voltage is not beyond 1.175v
> and Yes, I always using 2.2.3 since that AB is the only one which is the best for the PE 670 card.


I don't get voltage monitoring in AB either :S But what do i care, GPU-Z shows 1.175/1.212 nomatter what







and i know that is wrong. Why do you even need to monitor voltage?

There has been so many issues with the 670 Power Edition..... my card (along with many others) was unable to break 104% power usage, on the stock bios. Had to use a Gigabyte bios for that...


----------



## Iannotti

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> anyone else having their 670 drop voltage from 1.175v to 1.162v ?
> 
> iannotti, everything set to performance in nv control panel ? are you using afterburner or prec-x ?


Yeah, and using Afterburner.... Other night I was able to lock it with K-boost from precision x, although that is not working anymore for it..


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> I don't get voltage monitoring in AB either :S But what do i care, GPU-Z shows 1.175/1.212 nomatter what
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> and i know that is wrong. Why do you even need to monitor voltage?
> There has been so many issues with the 670 Power Edition..... my card (along with many others) was unable to break 104% power usage, on the stock bios. Had to use a Gigabyte bios for that...


It would be nice too, IF I can monitor the voltage, to make sure, the voltage is not go down to something like 1.160v, or less.

hmm, strange, I never had a problem with the Power Limit, it always stay at 109 - 114 %, on the games, and sometimes 126 % at 3dmark11, lol


----------



## Iannotti

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Is the 2nd card running at full load?


Yeah it is, the one that is completely stable is at 1.175 and 33% load


----------



## 0CALEFACTION0

I appear to be stable at 1306.5MHz GPU and 1701.0MHz Memory on my 670 FTW. I'm contented. Thanks OP.


----------



## Iannotti

Sooooooooo...After ******* with this for a few more hours..I figured out why 1 of my cards was throttling BIGTIME....So I've read some cards do that....BULL****...

The cards core voltage needs to be lowered.Don't just max it out at 100Mv and think your all good...REGARDLESS of what GPU-Z is reporting which is was reporting Low 1's for me. (which I find to be way way off and I turned it off all together)

Now the cards core clock is rock steady @1280 and Im working my way up...


----------



## Frankrizzo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> So, you RMA'ed two 670s because you were not satisfied by the overclock?
> You need to run the Heaven resolution at your max resolution. And you should keep raising your Memory, until you see artifacts/crashes


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> no one can tell you what settings to use except max out the power target and voltage sliders. every card clocks differently on both the core and memory.
> rerun heaven with everything maxed and 1920x1080.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> i would go 25mhz at a time. it steps up in increments, maybe by 13mhz a step like the core does. dont remember reading and never tested. if you get artifacts, back it down by 10mhz and test again...


see attached i guess i could go higher on my memory. I lowered my clock to 1293 just to be safe.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Frankrizzo*
> 
> see attached i guess i could go higher on my memory. I lowered my clock to 1293 just to be safe.


now max all the settings including tess frank so we can get an idea how your card actually runs. everyone posting heaven sets everything maxed at 1920x1080.
for reference, i get 96.1fps 2420points on my best run.


----------



## Rampage24

I picked up a PNY 670. It came with a stock boost of 1137. I got it clocked to +150/+600 which is 1280/3602 with a max temp of 70. I can go more but the temps are at 70 so I won't bother as it's already throttling. I'm running stock voltage.


----------



## Mozz13

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> You can indeed, but as soon as you overclock the 680, the gap stays the same
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I found this thread pretty interesting, as it shows just how big a difference lies in the PCB alone, and what the 670 chip is actually capable of (it should be mentioned, that the 670 he got, was pretty damn nice):
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1258755/overclocking-and-benchmarking-gtx-670-vs-gtx-680


Wow. 1354 Mhz on 670 is great! It was a good read. Thanks for that!







+rep for putting up on my questions.


----------



## Tarnix

Good guide, currently applying this on my GTX660. Rep+

However, I'm a bit concerned about the furmark setting. 228 x 228? My card barely touches 888MHz on this tiny resolution.

Model: *ASUS GTX660-DC2O-2GD5*
Boost Clock: *Stock=1085MHz // OC=1173*
Max Boost: *Stock=1137 // OC= 1215Mhz*
Memory Clock: *3420MHz (6840 effective) (+420)*
Power Target and Voltage setting: *+110% (maxed) // 1.175v* (still in OC RnD mode)


----------



## KungMartin90

Well after a bunch of troubleshooting here's my final 100% stable OC:





it's decent


----------



## cam51037

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *KungMartin90*
> 
> Well after a bunch of troubleshooting here's my final 100% stable OC:
> 
> 
> it's decent


How much of an increase was that over stock for you?


----------



## KungMartin90

I actually don't remember my stock score. Think it was low 1100's. And I remember getting like 19-20 minimum fps.


----------



## Frankrizzo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> now max all the settings including tess frank so we can get an idea how your card actually runs. everyone posting heaven sets everything maxed at 1920x1080.
> for reference, i get 96.1fps 2420points on my best run.


prolly could get a few more out of it but this is good enough.if i increase memory and volts by ten it crashes









New Bitmap Image (7).bmp 3625k .bmp file


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Frankrizzo*
> 
> prolly could get a few more out of it but this is good enough.if i increase memory and volts by ten it crashes
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> New Bitmap Image (7).bmp 3625k .bmp file


i meant max out aa and af and tess in heaven. everyones scores here are set to maxed out heaven settings at 1920x1080 so everyone knows where everyone stands. clock speeds on the cpu are supposed to be irrelevant in heaven. it is purely gfx card based.

*EDIT* just checked your pic. sorry i didnt first...
good score, definitely.
my asus non-top does 1280core and 3456mhz mem. with all nvidia control panel options set for performance, i got 52.1 fps. i think thats what it was. i dont feel like looking through all my pictures. tiny little pics they are...


----------



## trader54

My boost throttles on my MSI 670 PE even at the stock OC settings. It should have nothing to do with the TDP or temperature because it has never reached 70 C or gotten even close to the 114% max TDP that I have it set to in Afterburner. It quits throttling if I get the power percentage down to the low 90's, but I have to downclock it to 915core in order for it to do this. Once the power percentage reaches the high 90's, it throttles. I can get it to 1150 core and 1228 boost without Heaven crashing but the boost speed is all over the place, ranging from 1241-1333mhz. The voltage throttles along with the boost. I get the exact same performance in Heaven with the power slider at 90% or 114% and it doesn't matter if the voltage is set to -100 or +100. The throttling is even worse when I play Far Cry 3. What is wrong with this thing?

GPU Clock: 1150 MHZ Memory: 1697 MHZ Boost: 1228 MHZ

Heaven - score 1212, ave. FPS - 48.1


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *trader54*
> 
> My boost throttles on my MSI 670 PE even at the stock OC settings. It should have nothing to do with the TDP or temperature because it has never reached 70 C or gotten even close to the 114% max TDP that I have it set to in Afterburner. It quits throttling if I get the power percentage down to the low 90's, but I have to downclock it to 915core in order for it to do this. Once the power percentage reaches the high 90's, it throttles. I can get it to 1150 core and 1228 boost without Heaven crashing but the boost speed is all over the place, ranging from 1241-1333mhz. The voltage throttles along with the boost. I get the exact same performance in Heaven with the power slider at 90% or 114% and it doesn't matter if the voltage is set to -100 or +100. The throttling is even worse when I play Far Cry 3. What is wrong with this thing?
> GPU Clock: 1150 MHZ Memory: 1697 MHZ Boost: 1228 MHZ
> Heaven - score 1212, ave. FPS - 48.1


What is the max power% readout in Afterburner? Some (many) 670 PE's has issues with the power limit, this can be fixed using a modfied BIOS (attached below)

GTX670GC.zip 56k .zip file

(this is a mixture of a Gigabyte and the PE bios, you need to make a custom Fan profile, everything else works just fine)


----------



## trader54

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> What is the max power% readout in Afterburner? Some (many) 670 PE's has issues with the power limit, this can be fixed using a modfied BIOS (attached below)
> 
> GTX670GC.zip 56k .zip file
> 
> (this is a mixture of a Gigabyte and the PE bios, you need to make a custom Fan profile, everything else works just fine)


Thanks for your reply. The slider will go to 114% but during gaming or Heaven it stays in the range of about 97-102%. Occasionally it will go higher but never to the limit. It throttles even when the power % is in the upper 90's. The only way it doesn't throttle is if the power percent is in the lower to mid 90's, but I have to downclock it to lower speeds than it came with for that to happen. I don't notice any performance drops in Heaven until I set the slider to the minimum power level, which is 80%, but it is only a mild drop (0.7 FPS).

Do you think the bios would fix this? Also, does changing the bios void the warranty?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *trader54*
> 
> Thanks for your reply. The slider will go to 114% but during gaming or Heaven it stays in the range of about 97-102%. Occasionally it will go higher but never to the limit. It throttles even when the power % is in the upper 90's. The only way it doesn't throttle is if the power percent is in the lower to mid 90's, but I have to downclock it to lower speeds than it came with for that to happen. I don't notice any performance drops in Heaven until I set the slider to the minimum power level, which is 80%, but it is only a mild drop (0.7 FPS).
> Do you think the bios would fix this? Also, does changing the bios void the warranty?


The BIOS will fix it, many people have suffered this (including me)
Flashing a BIOS will void your warrenty - if they see it. Just flash the stock BIOS, if you need to RMA it. (the stock BIOS can be saved from GPU-Z, using the icon to the right of the BIOS version field)


----------



## Cygone

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *cam51037*
> 
> So what exactly did you say to RMA it?
> No offence but that kind of is a jerk move IMO. Do the best with what you have is what I say, you might think differently though, lol.


Their are some advantages of living in the UK, we have what is called 'The Distance Sellers Regulation' it gives anyone the right to return any product bought (without physically seeing it) for any reason what so ever inside 7 working days.

The original cards I purchased were the standard edition EVGA ones, I did actually mean to buy either the FTW or the Sig2 Cards, Dunno if I would have RMAd them if I got good Overclocks on the originals cards, but given the fact I purchased the wrong ones AND they didnt OC well. I wanted to RMA them,

And frankly if im spending the best part of £650 on GPUs then I want / expect the BEST performace I can get for that money. I think anyone who settles for less needs to evalute that thesis.

Though it might be the case that these new ones have to be returned anyway; as im getting constant 'Monitor Out of Range' signals when I change between SLI / Surround / Activate all Displays.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cygone*
> 
> Their are some advantages of living in the UK, we have what is called 'The Distance Sellers Regulation' it gives anyone the right to return any product bought (without physically seeing it) for any reason what so ever inside 7 working days.
> And frankly if im spending the best part of £650 on GPUs then I want / expect the BEST performace I can get for that money. I think anyone who settles for less needs to evalute that thesis.
> Though it might be the case that these new ones have to be returned anyway; as im getting constant 'Monitor Out of Range' signals when I change between SLI / Surround / Activate all Displays.


In Denmark it's 14 days, still doesen't change the fact that i got the product i ordered, however much it overclocks.


----------



## Iannotti

Thats a good bios, too bad it doesn't work in SLI....But I was able to get 1340+ Mhz without any issue ....Voltage showed 1.285...Clock speeds were stable as well....Sure wished it was SLI friendly bios.


----------



## trader54

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> What is the max power% readout in Afterburner? Some (many) 670 PE's has issues with the power limit, this can be fixed using a modfied BIOS (attached below)
> 
> GTX670GC.zip 56k .zip file
> 
> (this is a mixture of a Gigabyte and the PE bios, you need to make a custom Fan profile, everything else works just fine)


Repped!

Thanks for that Bios! The card now runs stable at 1354mhz max boost and +450 memory. It was stable in Heaven at 1372mhz but crashed in Far Cry 3. My Heaven score is 1320 with an average FPS of 52.4 @ 1080P. The only thing that is strange with the new bios is that gpu-z says my base clock is 1354mhz and boost is 1229mhz. The temp also runs alot hotter but I think that is because it bumped up the voltage. According to GPU-Z, the voltage is 1.212 under load instead of the usual 1.175. I can keep it around 70C with an aggressive fan profile, although it does not throttle at 70C. I might turn down the fans a bit because the sound is annoying (they are over 70% @ 70C) and let the temps go a little higher, but I don't know how high I should let it go.

If it wasn't for that Bios you gave me, I was going to RMA this card and get a 680 because it was junk with the original bios and I didn't want to risk getting another 670 that had similar problems or didn't OC well. I've noticed that there is an older bios for the MSI 670 PE. I wonder if that also would fix the problems that the new stock bios has. Iannotti was saying that this modded bios won't work with SLI. If that is true and I want to upgrade to SLI sometime, I will need a different bios because my stock bios is no good.


----------



## Sharchaster

Does running 1293/7200 (mem offset + 600) are safe for 24/7 for PE card? note : I only run that offset when I gaming.


----------



## pc-illiterate

the cards downclock when they go into 2d mode. you can leave the offsets set, 24/7


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *trader54*
> 
> Repped!
> Thanks for that Bios! The card now runs stable at 1354mhz max boost and +450 memory. It was stable in Heaven at 1372mhz but crashed in Far Cry 3. My Heaven score is 1320 with an average FPS of 52.4 @ 1080P. The only thing that is strange with the new bios is that gpu-z says my base clock is 1354mhz and boost is 1229mhz. The temp also runs alot hotter but I think that is because it bumped up the voltage. According to GPU-Z, the voltage is 1.212 under load instead of the usual 1.175. I can keep it around 70C with an aggressive fan profile, although it does not throttle at 70C. I might turn down the fans a bit because the sound is annoying (they are over 70% @ 70C) and let the temps go a little higher, but I don't know how high I should let it go.
> If it wasn't for that Bios you gave me, I was going to RMA this card and get a 680 because it was junk with the original bios and I didn't want to risk getting another 670 that had similar problems or didn't OC well. I've noticed that there is an older bios for the MSI 670 PE. I wonder if that also would fix the problems that the new stock bios has. Iannotti was saying that this modded bios won't work with SLI. If that is true and I want to upgrade to SLI sometime, I will need a different bios because my stock bios is no good.


If you want me to, i can lower the voltage on the BIOS (this will help on temperatures, but also give less of a overclock), and please do report back with your findings on other BIOSes, as i might be in the market for SLI as well. (if it does not work, i might upgrade to a 700 series card instead, when those gets released, but for now, the single 670 is an amazing card)


----------



## trader54

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> If you want me to, i can lower the voltage on the BIOS (this will help on temperatures, but also give less of a overclock), and please do report back with your findings on other BIOSes, as i might be in the market for SLI as well. (if it does not work, i might upgrade to a 700 series card instead, when those gets released, but for now, the single 670 is an amazing card)


Have you tested to see was the voltage is? It says 1.212 in Afterburner and GPU-Z but I read that software programs don't give accurate voltage readings.

It looks like the card is throttling around 70C (71 or 72 according to AB). The temps got up to 72 in Far Cry 3 and the GPU downclocked from 1356 all the way down to 1296 and stayed there, even when the temps dropped. I thought it was only supposed to go down by 13mhz when it hits 70C and then back to the normal speed when it cools down. I increased the fan speeds to keep it below 70 and didn't get anymore throttling. So far, I've played BF3, Crysis, Crysis 2 benchmark @ max settings, and Far Cry 3, and Far Cry 3 is the only one that makes the temps go above 70.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *trader54*
> 
> Have you tested to see was the voltage is? It says 1.212 in Afterburner and GPU-Z but I read that software programs don't give accurate voltage readings.
> It looks like the card is throttling around 70C (71 or 72 according to AB). The temps got up to 72 in Far Cry 3 and the GPU downclocked from 1356 all the way down to 1296 and stayed there, even when the temps dropped. I thought it was only supposed to go down by 13mhz when it hits 70C and then back to the normal speed when it cools down. I increased the fan speeds to keep it below 70 and didn't get anymore throttling. So far, I've played BF3, Crysis, Crysis 2 benchmark @ max settings, and Far Cry 3, and Far Cry 3 is the only one that makes the temps go above 70.


When i max out my voltage slider in AB, i get a reading of 1.301-1.306. This card sure gets very hot on those voltages, if i had any thermal paste, i would have mounted my H100 on my GPU







. I really would love to do The Mod, but i really CBA spending another 100$ just to cool a card, that really does cover all my needs on air


----------



## trader54

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> When i max out my voltage slider in AB, i get a reading of 1.301-1.306. This card sure gets very hot on those voltages, if i had any thermal paste, i would have mounted my H100 on my GPU
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . I really would love to do The Mod, but i really CBA spending another 100$ just to cool a card, that really does cover all my needs on air


Wow, 1.3+ volts sounds pretty high. Does the voltage slider in Afterburner actually lower and raise the voltage with this bios or does it just stabilize the voltage when it's at +100? I know it does something, because in Heaven, I could only get it to work at 1372mhz when the voltage was at +100. The voltage slider was not functional with my old bios. When I have time, I might drop the voltage offset and see if I can make it stable at 1359mhz or maybe lower.

Does high voltage only damage a card if it causes it to run too hot or are there other factors involved? 1.3+ volts makes me a bit uneasy, although I don't really know enough about graphics cards to know if I should be concerned about this.


----------



## Iannotti

I have 2 different bios from MSI...one is a Legacy bios, other is a hybrid bios. What a BIG difference there is when both cards run the same BIOS.. Higher OC and MUCH more stable...Hoping someone can sort out that bios above, would love to use that in SLI...

When I tried the first time, I pushed it to far and bricked both my cards and flashed the bios using a bootable dos USB. After that, I tried to run Heaven 3D without overclocking or touching anything ..Just in SLI and got a red screen both time... Since put the legacy bios back on my cards, stable is roughly 1290 on the core and +550 on the memory for both cards...


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *trader54*
> 
> Wow, 1.3+ volts sounds pretty high. Does the voltage slider in Afterburner actually lower and raise the voltage with this bios or does it just stabilize the voltage when it's at +100? I know it does something, because in Heaven, I could only get it to work at 1372mhz when the voltage was at +100. The voltage slider was not functional with my old bios. When I have time, I might drop the voltage offset and see if I can make it stable at 1359mhz or maybe lower.
> Does high voltage only damage a card if it causes it to run too hot or are there other factors involved? 1.3+ volts makes me a bit uneasy, although I don't really know enough about graphics cards to know if I should be concerned about this.


1.3 is a lot, sure will increase wear on the GPU. I only run a 1.26v at the moment, since i don't have sufficient cooling to run at 1.3v. I reach 1359 on 1.26 and only 13 more on 1.3, so not really worth the 0.04v









I don't tend to keep my GPU's for more than a year, so i don't really care about wear, however the performance of the 670 is amazing, so i might skip the next generation GPU, and get a 880 or whatever it will be







However, it should be just fine until then, it's not like my GPU is maxed out 24/7.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Iannotti*
> 
> I have 2 different bios from MSI...one is a Legacy bios, other is a hybrid bios. What a BIG difference there is when both cards run the same BIOS.. Higher OC and MUCH more stable...Hoping someone can sort out that bios above, would love to use that in SLI...
> When I tried the first time, I pushed it to far and bricked both my cards and flashed the bios using a bootable dos USB. After that, I tried to run Heaven 3D without overclocking or touching anything ..Just in SLI and got a red screen both time... Since put the legacy bios back on my cards, stable is roughly 1290 on the core and +550 on the memory for both cards...


Sadly, you won't be running SLI on this BIOS, it is not even a MSI BIOS. However, at 1080p, i doubt you will need more than stock clocks on two 670's!


----------



## Frankrizzo

Anyone get any power issues? I had an issue were if I charge my Iphone and play bf3 with my card oc'ed to the max it will give me a power surge error in my USB device.









I guess ill have to charge it through my USB on my TV or in the outlet for now.


----------



## trader54

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> 1.3 is a lot, sure will increase wear on the GPU. I only run a 1.26v at the moment, since i don't have sufficient cooling to run at 1.3v. I reach 1359 on 1.26 and only 13 more on 1.3, so not really worth the 0.04v
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't tend to keep my GPU's for more than a year, so i don't really care about wear, however the performance of the 670 is amazing, so i might skip the next generation GPU, and get a 880 or whatever it will be
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> However, it should be just fine until then, it's not like my GPU is maxed out 24/7.


I can get Heaven to run stable with less voltage, but Far Cry 3 crashes unless I keep the voltage slider at +100mv. I haven't tried adjusting the voltages in BF3, but that game doesn't run as hot anyway. It seemed like there was minimal difference in temperature between +70mv and +100mv. I can keep the temps below 70C with a fan profile that reaches about 70% fan speed. I'm guessing that the 1.3 volts isn't hurting my GPU because the temps aren't getting hot... unless increased voltage by itself without hot temps is hard on the gpu . . .


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *trader54*
> 
> I can get Heaven to run stable with less voltage, but Far Cry 3 crashes unless I keep the voltage slider at +100mv. I haven't tried adjusting the voltages in BF3, but that game doesn't run as hot anyway. It seemed like there was minimal difference in temperature between +70mv and +100mv. I can keep the temps below 70C with a fan profile that reaches about 70% fan speed. I'm guessing that the 1.3 volts isn't hurting my GPU because the temps aren't getting hot... unless increased voltage by itself without hot temps is hard on the gpu . . .


Raising voltages by itself, nomatter the temperatures, will increase wear on your GPU. Honestly, if you wish to keep your GPU for a while, i would stay below +60mv. Personally i don't care - whenever i break something it's merely an excuse to get something new!
That being said, it's most unlikely that you will break your GPU, you might just have to tune down your OC a little.


----------



## Iannotti

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Sadly, you won't be running SLI on this BIOS, it is not even a MSI BIOS. However, at 1080p, i doubt you will need more than stock clocks on two 670's!


Hell I got it to work first time around, but I went by the readings in GPU-Z and gave the cards way to much boost and bricked em, 2nd try around, wouldn't run without crashing system.


----------



## rogeshoe57

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rampage24*
> 
> I picked up a PNY 670. It came with a stock boost of 1137. I got it clocked to +150/+600 which is 1280/3602 with a max temp of 70. I can go more but the temps are at 70 so I won't bother as it's already throttling. I'm running stock voltage.


I ordered a PNY GTX 670 reference card off newegg. I am not sure if I did the overclock correctly. Can someone please comment on my overclocks. I feel I got a poor OC card. Anyone else get a whirling whine sound at idle with their cards?

I got a stable max overclock with the Heaven Benchmark 1920x1200.

Dell XPS 8500 with PNY GTX 670 Reference Card

GPU Core Clocking from 1097 stock to 1241 overclocked with Precision X:
+155 Boost Clock
+550 Video Memory Boost (3524 Memory Clock)
Kelpar is +106 (My math came out to 106 which isn't a multiple of 13.)
122% Power
No Voltage Change (After maxing voltage I put it back at stock voltage and it was still stable)
Custom Fan Curve: Max Temp 69C/Max Fan Speed 80%


----------



## Frankrizzo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rogeshoe57*
> 
> I ordered a PNY GTX 670 reference card off newegg. I am not sure if I did the overclock correctly. Can someone please comment on my overclocks. I feel I got a poor OC card. Anyone else get a whirling whine sound at idle with their cards?
> I got a stable max overclock with the Heaven Benchmark 1920x1200.
> Dell XPS 8500 with PNY GTX 670 Reference Card
> GPU Core Clocking from 1097 stock to 1241 overclocked with Precision X:
> +155 Boost Clock
> +550 Video Memory Boost (3524 Memory Clock)
> Kelpar is +106 (My math came out to 106 which isn't a multiple of 13.)
> 122% Power
> No Voltage Change (After maxing voltage I put it back at stock voltage and it was still stable)
> Custom Fan Curve: Max Temp 69C/Max Fan Speed 80%


Manup and put power to max and volts to max then the real overclocking begins.


----------



## Rampage24

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rogeshoe57*
> 
> I ordered a PNY GTX 670 reference card off newegg. I am not sure if I did the overclock correctly. Can someone please comment on my overclocks. I feel I got a poor OC card. Anyone else get a whirling whine sound at idle with their cards?
> I got a stable max overclock with the Heaven Benchmark 1920x1200.
> Dell XPS 8500 with PNY GTX 670 Reference Card
> GPU Core Clocking from 1097 stock to 1241 overclocked with Precision X:
> +155 Boost Clock
> +550 Video Memory Boost (3524 Memory Clock)
> Kelpar is +106 (My math came out to 106 which isn't a multiple of 13.)
> 122% Power
> No Voltage Change (After maxing voltage I put it back at stock voltage and it was still stable)
> Custom Fan Curve: Max Temp 69C/Max Fan Speed 80%


I haven't noticed any whine sound from mine.

It's strange that we both found it was stable with stock voltage even after tuning it with max. One issue I've noticed with my card is with my power target at 122% it goes up to 130% power causing throttling even when under 70 degrees. No matter what speed, voltage, or temp the card runs it will always shoot over the power target and throttle at some point in a bench mark. Kind of frustrating.


----------



## pc-illiterate

by wf3 doesnt hit 90% power limit but i crash at 1250mhz core. i know it does it 1228mhz stable. i dont think it even reaches 80% power limit. im super frustrated. but im ok with it for now. nothing maxes 1202mhz sli 670s


----------



## kevindd992002

For the GTX 670, what is the TDP power limit before it starts to throttle?


----------



## Mreim76

I can't seem to increase my GPU clock offset much more then this without heaven freezing at some point.
What am I missing here?


----------



## pc-illiterate

1202mhz is still more than enough in sli. i run a 72hz monitor and everything is smooth as silk. i can max every game with ingame settings and have every nv cp setting set to max quality. dont worry about the clocks until you cant max everything and still get 120fps. i know i wont. i run the same core clock with 3456mhz memory.


----------



## rogeshoe57

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mreim76*
> 
> I can't seem to increase my GPU clock offset much more then this without heaven freezing at some point.
> What am I missing here?


One of your cards may be bad for OC. I would test out each card individually.


----------



## rogeshoe57

.


----------



## rogeshoe57

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rampage24*
> 
> I haven't noticed any whine sound from mine.
> It's strange that we both found it was stable with stock voltage even after tuning it with max. One issue I've noticed with my card is with my power target at 122% it goes up to 130% power causing throttling even when under 70 degrees. No matter what speed, voltage, or temp the card runs it will always shoot over the power target and throttle at some point in a bench mark. Kind of frustrating.


I havent had an issue with the power going above 118. I have only had the PNY GTX 670 for two weeks tho. Anyone else have this 130 power issue? What game or program is causing the issue?


----------



## genidoi

Just finished OCing my Gigabyte WFx3 670 thanks to this guide, pretty happy with the performance increase in both Heaven and BF3.

Keep in mind I'm using a 1440p monitor







.

Got the following results:



Max Boost: 1254mhz (~ 1176mhz + 78mhz)
Mem: 1822mhz

Offsets: +117/+650

I'm only somewhat dissapointed in the kepler boost my 670 has. Only 78mhz? Could this be an error in calculations or really my real kepler boost?

Also, is it ok to tick "Windows Startup" and thereby have these settings run whenever I'm using my computer for gaming or will there be long term damages from running OC settings for extended periods of time (including when I'm torrenting/not on the PC).


----------



## Zehel

Hey guys. Maybe y'all might have a few ideas for me... So two days ago I began to overclock my card. I read through the guide a few times before starting so I wouldn't mess anything up. Well something went wrong. I had just got to +160MHz on the offset and started to run Heaven Benchmark when it crashed. It had crashed before so I thought no big deal, I'll just reboot, lower the offset and try again. Well I was never able to. After the crash Windows wouldn't start. After the Windows splash screen everything goes black and never loads, it's like the system just freezes before the log on screen. If I switch to on-board graphics Windows will boot. I opened Precision and made a default profile and applied it. Closed/Re-opened Precision then rebooted, switched back to PCI-E graphics and it did the same thing. I've un-installed the drivers, used Drive Sweeper to make sure everything was un-installed. The weird thing is that I have video with the card right up till after boot. I can get into the BIOS and Safe Mode with the card it's just after boot that I get no video. Nothing has fixed it. Would flashing the BIOS be a plausible fix? Any suggestions are welcome. If you need any information just let me know.

EVGA GTX 670
Power Target 122%
Voltage Max
K-boost On
Water Cooled
GPU Offset +160 (last stable +140)
Mem Stock

Edit: I forgot one thing. When I boot with the integrated video and it boots, I can use the gtx 670 as a second monitor.


----------



## pc-illiterate

@genidoi-it will only use the 3d clocks during a. "3d" app/prpgram. Desktop and such use 2d clocks
@zehel- did you unapply at windows.startup?


----------



## Zehel

I have Precision set to not start on boot. Is that what you mean?

********************************************************************
Edit:

Everything is good now! Believe it or not it actually was the Motherboard's BIOS that caused the problem.
I re-flashed the most current BIOS and it stared working. I also updated the firmware on the 670 but that didn't help.


----------



## theelviscerator

Got my 670 in and oc'd at 1228 boost +400 mem and card wont go near 100 % power? seems to run about 80% tops in Heaven..

Getting 49.1 fps in Heaven at those settings..


----------



## pc-illiterate

thats all ive seen wf3 run at. i cant get over 1225(not as high as i can find. havent tried higher). 1250 crashes and im pretty sure i could go higher on the core if it would get to at least 100% power target


----------



## pansona214

Curious to know if everything looks ok my first time overclocking.Also curious do I lower the Power target or the voltage after Overclocking?

Gtx 670 FTW
1160MHZ Boost Clock
1267.3MHz Max Boost
1702MHz Memory
145% Power Target with 1.175 Voltage Slider





Also thanks for the easy to follow guide!


----------



## macwin2012

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pansona214*
> 
> Curious to know if everything looks ok my first time overclocking.Also curious do I lower the Power target or the voltage after Overclocking?
> Gtx 670 FTW
> 1160MHZ Boost Clock
> 1267.3MHz Max Boost
> 1702MHz Memory
> 145% Power Target with 1.175 Voltage Slider
> 
> 
> Also thanks for the easy to follow guide!


at 1267 mhz your score should be 51 fps .

U have not overclocked properly i think

Macwin


----------



## pc-illiterate

No macwin. It depends.on the settings in nvidia control panel.


----------



## Bebop

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *genidoi*
> 
> Just finished OCing my Gigabyte WFx3 670 thanks to this guide, pretty happy with the performance increase in both Heaven and BF3.
> 
> Keep in mind I'm using a 1440p monitor
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .
> 
> Got the following results:
> 
> 
> 
> Max Boost: 1254mhz (~ 1176mhz + 78mhz)
> Mem: 1822mhz
> 
> Offsets: +117/+650
> 
> I'm only somewhat dissapointed in the kepler boost my 670 has. Only 78mhz? Could this be an error in calculations or really my real kepler boost?
> 
> Also, is it ok to tick "Windows Startup" and thereby have these settings run whenever I'm using my computer for gaming or will there be long term damages from running OC settings for extended periods of time (including when I'm torrenting/not on the PC).


Thats almost exactly the same offsets I was able to achieve on the same card. Maybe we both need to be dissapointed


----------



## DrunkEconomist

Question, after we have finished our overclocking, do we keep the voltage at 1.175 or revert it back to default? This is the voltage I used to obtain my offsets, which were +130/+250, I think I overclocked wrong because looking through the pages I see people up to +600 in the memory offset. Any tips? Thanks!


----------



## pc-illiterate

You can leave the voltage set. It goes up when 3d clocks are needed. This question is asked 3 times a week in this thread...


----------



## genidoi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bebop*
> 
> Thats almost exactly the same offsets I was able to achieve on the same card. Maybe we both need to be dissapointed


Its not the offsets I am unhappy about but moreso the kepler boost, I mean 78mhz... comon







. My friend has a KB of 143Mhz, and gets some amazing clock boosts on top of that. I think his max in the lower-mid 1300s and ironically he only has a FTW version which has the blower fan cooling.

Nevertheless, its always dissapointing to buy a card with an overclocking design and it ends up beind a dud OCer.

Still not as bad as getting a $600 matrix 7970 and it barely being OCable haha.


----------



## SpaceUnicorn9

Hey, dumb question, what's the best way to take a screenshot of everything running at full speed? is there a preferred kb shortcut and render test in precision x?


----------



## charliew

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *genidoi*
> 
> Its not the offsets I am unhappy about but moreso the kepler boost, I mean 78mhz... comon
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . My friend has a KB of 143Mhz, and gets some amazing clock boosts on top of that. I think his max in the lower-mid 1300s and ironically he _*only has a FTW version*_ which has the blower fan cooling.
> 
> Nevertheless, its always dissapointing to buy a card with an overclocking design and it ends up beind a dud OCer.
> 
> Still not as bad as getting a $600 matrix 7970 and it barely being OCable haha.


----------



## lilchronic

670FTW 1398mhz
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5496897


----------



## Bebop

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *genidoi*
> 
> Its not the offsets I am unhappy about but moreso the kepler boost, I mean 78mhz... comon
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . My friend has a KB of 143Mhz, and gets some amazing clock boosts on top of that. I think his max in the lower-mid 1300s and ironically he only has a FTW version which has the blower fan cooling.
> 
> Nevertheless, its always dissapointing to buy a card with an overclocking design and it ends up beind a dud OCer.
> 
> Still not as bad as getting a $600 matrix 7970 and it barely being OCable haha.


from what ive read on this forum, the FTW card OC more than the gigabytes. I think it has to do with the higher power target they can set and perhaps they also tweak voltage in bios (which this guide neither mentions nor shows step on how to)


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bebop*
> 
> from what ive read on this forum, the FTW card OC more than the gigabytes. I think it has to do with the higher power target they can set and perhaps they also tweak voltage in bios (which this guide neither mentions nor shows step on how to)


They are more or less the same cards... If i recall correctly, the FTW is a 680 PCB with a 670 chip, and the WF3 is a custom PCB, with 680 components.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> They are more or less the same cards... If i recall correctly, the FTW is a 680 PCB with a 670 chip, and the WF3 is a custom PCB, with 680 components.


Both the FTW and WF3 use the 680 PCB and with a 670 chip.


----------



## lynxxyarly

I got my max overclock down great with this guide, but I was wondering, what do we do with the core voltage slider and the power limit slider when we are done overclocking?

Do we just leave them both at max? I tried searching, but couldn't find much luck because I wasn't sure how to word it to find a relevant search result.


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lilchronic*
> 
> 670FTW 1398mhz
> http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5496897


NICE! My ftw max so far is only 1280


----------



## sanj

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lynxxyarly*
> 
> I got my max overclock down great with this guide, but I was wondering, what do we do with the core voltage slider and the power limit slider when we are done overclocking?
> 
> Do we just leave them both at max? I tried searching, but couldn't find much luck because I wasn't sure how to word it to find a relevant search result.


According to guide, i would say, that after finding stable max overclock, you can run heaven becnhcmark and see the max power percent in evga monitor and set power target according to that value.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sanj*
> 
> According to guide, i would say, that after finding stable max overclock, you can run heaven becnhcmark and see the max power percent in evga monitor and set power target according to that value.


Don't do that, just max it out. A higher power target will not affect your GPUs power draw - just because you allow it to draw 300watt, doesent mean it draws 300watts, it only draws what it needs.
If you do what sanj says, you will see throttleing in Far Cry 3, as it demands much more power draw than Heaven


----------



## Rayce185

I have a question.

Lets say there is no issue about voltage and temperature when overclocking. Would the power supply be the bottleneck?
1x PCIe x16 port and 2x 6pin PCIe connectors = 225W. If my cards TDP is 150W, that means I Have 75W headroom left, or 150%.
In MHz: 915MHz (nvidia spec) x150% = 1372MHz maximum possible clock speed.

Is this theory correct or am I missing something?


----------



## charliew

Sounds fishy. The GTX670 4gb FTW has a TDP of 195W, if the lines only gave it 225W it would be very close to max as is.

Doesnt this have a bit to do with the amps on the 12v rail?


----------



## Rayce185

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *charliew*
> 
> Sounds fishy. The GTX670 4gb FTW has a TDP of 195W, if the lines only gave it 225W it would be very close to max as is.
> 
> Doesnt this have a bit to do with the amps on the 12v rail?


Maybe it means the base clock and not the boost clock... nvidia doesn't say what clock spec is used for the TDP.


----------



## macwin2012

Gtx 670 Amp edition Voltage unlocked .


----------



## lynxxyarly

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sanj*
> 
> According to guide, i would say, that after finding stable max overclock, you can run heaven becnhcmark and see the max power percent in evga monitor and set power target according to that value.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Don't do that, just max it out. A higher power target will not affect your GPUs power draw - just because you allow it to draw 300watt, doesent mean it draws 300watts, it only draws what it needs.
> If you do what sanj says, you will see throttleing in Far Cry 3, as it demands much more power draw than Heaven


Thanks for your input, both of you. Randomize basically confirmed what I was already thinking myself. It doesn't hurt to leave it up all the way (as fara s power target)

However, I still see the gpu using 1.175v if I cap it at max, however - I have yet to test what it would actually use as max volts if I didn't cap it. There doesn't seem to be an easy way to actually find out what the max voltage use is other than dropping it slowly, running my max OC and waiting for failure.

Or am I just crazy and there is a way that I didn't describe?


----------



## grunion

Is the 690 throttling different?
I don't get any clock throttling >70°c.


----------



## Punkbuster

Hello,

i tried to overclock my Zotac GTX 670 OC, but some things are pretty confusing...

So first I cant adjust my clock 1 by 1, I can only get for example a Max Boost of 1189 or next step 1201. Even if I adjust the Core Offset 1 by 1. Is this normal?

And is it possible that my highest stable "Max Boost" is 1189? Unigine Heaven is always crashing with 1201. My TDP is only on 80% under full load and the Card is max 45° hot (watercooled). Voltage is at 1.175.

I hope someone can help me. And sorry for my bad english, I'm from Austria


----------



## k33g0rz

hey guys!

I've been getting great advice from this site for a while and finally joined!

I've been trying to follow this guide but something strange happened. I have a MSI gtx 670 (lowest model) and it ran great but i was looking to overclock it after getting the last drivers. I got it to run through the benchmarks at +94 core clock and everything else stock, but now no matter what i set the core clock to it crashes, even +5. The strangest part is that on Power % it says 370% everytime it crashes, regardless of core clock. I have a Corsair 750x ps.

I really tried to read through all 134 pages of this thread but if someone could help me sort myself i would greatly appreciate it.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lynxxyarly*
> 
> Thanks for your input, both of you. Randomize basically confirmed what I was already thinking myself. It doesn't hurt to leave it up all the way (as fara s power target)
> 
> However, I still see the gpu using 1.175v if I cap it at max, however - I have yet to test what it would actually use as max volts if I didn't cap it. There doesn't seem to be an easy way to actually find out what the max voltage use is other than dropping it slowly, running my max OC and waiting for failure.
> 
> Or am I just crazy and there is a way that I didn't describe?


in both prec-x and afterburner there is a monitoring option for voltage. as long as it has a check beside it, it will show in the graph.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Punkbuster*
> 
> Hello,
> 
> i tried to overclock my Zotac GTX 670 OC, but some things are pretty confusing...
> 
> So first I cant adjust my clock 1 by 1, I can only get for example a Max Boost of 1189 or next step 1201. Even if I adjust the Core Offset 1 by 1. Is this normal?
> 
> And is it possible that my highest stable "Max Boost" is 1189? Unigine Heaven is always crashing with 1201. My TDP is only on 80% under full load and the Card is max 45° hot (watercooled). Voltage is at 1.175.
> 
> I hope someone can help me. And sorry for my bad english, I'm from Austria


kepler boosts in increments. some boost in 13mhz increments. apparantly, yours doesnt. your english is fine. better than others who 'speak' english natively.


----------



## kevindd992002

Is there a possibility that an ASUS GTX 670 non-TOP is producing artifacts in BF3 at stock clocks?


----------



## nismofreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> kepler boosts in increments. some boost in 13mhz increments. apparantly, yours doesnt. your english is fine. better than others who 'speak' english natively.


It's all the same architecture. They all boost in ~13MHz increments. There does seem to be some kind of rounding though. So it might really be 12.5 or sumthing.


----------



## KungMartin90

I have a question about the Kepler Boost. Mine kicks in after atleast 4-5 minutes of gaming. Is this normal, considering my card never goes above 57C in temperature?


----------



## Bebop

Quick question guys. If I'm changing to a different monitor with a higher resolution do I need to revisit my stable overclock? I'm going from a 22in to a 27in 1440p res


----------



## Rayce185

http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=148273.0

I wish he could add full Kepler support soon... That's a hell of a nice tool!


----------



## macwin2012

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bebop*
> 
> Quick question guys. If I'm changing to a different monitor with a higher resolution do I need to revisit my stable overclock? I'm going from a 22in to a 27in 1440p res


Nope settings won't change on your stable clocks .

You will have improved image quality at cost of few less frames .

Macwin


----------



## Bebop

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macwin2012*
> 
> Nope settings won't change on your stable clocks .
> 
> You will have improved image quality at cost of few less frames .
> 
> Macwin


well, that is the first piece of good news ive heard all day. thanks


----------



## Xtremelyevil

I seem to only get to 1189Mhz that's with +60Mhz in Precision X.
Everything higher crashes the driver or gives me the device removed error.
Power % while running Heaven is only 80 % and I'm not sure if that is normal








Also the gpu never goes above +-60 C while running Heaven


----------



## macwin2012

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtremelyevil*
> 
> I seem to only get to 1189Mhz that's with +60Mhz in Precision X.
> Everything higher crashes the driver or gives me the device removed error.
> Power % while running Heaven is only 80 % and I'm not sure if that is normal
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Also the gpu never goes above +-60 C while running Heaven


That mean's you have reached your Gpu Clock offset limit work now on Mem clock offset .
If its showing Gpu usage 99% then should be fine .
Also i heard for few people new drivers are unstable but u get better frames in games









Macwin


----------



## RaleighStClair

Contribootin. MSI 670 PE + AMD Athlon 2 x4 640 @ 3.3g ( don't laugh, I'm upgrading soon)



These Keplers really are not ideal for OC'ng it seems.


----------



## Xtremelyevil

Gpu usage is indeed at 100% but i'm just wondering why I can only overclock so little?
Oh and these are the scores I reach in Heaven


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RaleighStClair*
> 
> Contribootin. MSI 670 PE + AMD Athlon 2 x4 640 @ 3.3g ( don't laugh, I'm upgrading soon)
> 
> 
> 
> These Keplers really are not ideal for OC'ng it seems.


You do understand that you are adding an OC to an already prexisting factory OC, right?


----------



## RaleighStClair

Yeah but my boost is still low, in the 1220 range, which isn't exactly that great. Compared to the OC ability of competing AMD cards (read: 7950), these Keplers are lacking.

Don't get me wrong I love this card, especially when I get a new mobo + CPU, but I still feel like it has so much more potential.

Maybe I should flash to the older unlocked voltage BIOS?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RaleighStClair*
> 
> Yeah but my boost is still low, in the 1220 range, which isn't exactly that great. Compared to the OC ability of competing AMD cards (read: 7950), these Keplers are lacking.
> 
> Don't get me wrong I love this card, especially when I get a new mobo + CPU, but I still feel like it has so much more potential.
> 
> Maybe I should flash to the older unlocked voltage BIOS?


Were you limited by instability (crashes, artifacts) or throttleing?

1) Get afterburner 2.2.3, it supports overvoltage on that particular card (no other version of AB does)
2) When you get AB 2.2.3, dont just max out the voltage. This will make your voltage 1.3-ish, which is very high for these cards, and will give a lot of heat. I got mine at +60, and i see no real difference in the last +40.
3) Show the graphs of your run, that card is bugged with the stock bios, and will not rise above 104% TDP (atleast, this happens in most cases)

I manage 1359mhz stable on 1.26v and a custom bios (gigabyte bios with PE header and stock voltage), to solve the power throttleing issue. This card is a GREAT overclocker!


----------



## RaleighStClair

AH, interesting. I was using 2.3, and my OC was crashing anything higher than what show above. I'll give 2.2.3 a shot and report.

Thanks for info though, I wasn't aware that 2.2.3 is the only AB we can use for volt changes.


----------



## Xtremelyevil

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Were you limited by instability (crashes, artifacts) or throttleing?
> 
> 1) Get afterburner 2.2.3, it supports overvoltage on that particular card (no other version of AB does)
> 2) When you get AB 2.2.3, dont just max out the voltage. This will make your voltage 1.3-ish, which is very high for these cards, and will give a lot of heat. I got mine at +60, and i see no real difference in the last +40.
> 3) Show the graphs of your run, that card is bugged with the stock bios, and will not rise above 104% TDP (atleast, this happens in most cases)
> 
> I manage 1359mhz stable on 1.26v and a custom bios (gigabyte bios with PE header and stock voltage), to solve the power throttleing issue. This card is a GREAT overclocker!


I'll just join in here since you are able to achieve high OC.
I just can't with stock BIOS i can only do +60Mhz and +600 on Memory so I never go above 1189Mhz.
Every single time my gpu goes above +-1200 My display drivers crashes or I get the Device Removed error.
Do you have any idea why?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtremelyevil*
> 
> I'll just join in here since you are able to achieve high OC.
> I just can't with stock BIOS i can only do +60Mhz and +600 on Memory so I never go above 1189Mhz.
> Every single time my gpu goes above +-1200 My display drivers crashes or I get the Device Removed error.
> Do you have any idea why?
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


It's called luck of draw. We have no control of the overclocking capabilities of our cards. 1189 is sadly a low overclock (i suppose its a reference design card?), but the card will still be fast at those speeds, an additional 30-40 mhz won't result in a noticable improvement anyways. On this chip you most likely wont get huge results if you unlock the BIOS, but i don't know, every card acts differently.

That being said, your memory overclock is pretty good (higher than mine too), and these cards seem to scale decently with memory as well. Be satisfied.


----------



## Xtremelyevil

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> It's called luck of draw. We have no control of the overclocking capabilities of our cards. 1189 is sadly a low overclock (i suppose its a reference design card?), but the card will still be fast at those speeds, an additional 30-40 mhz won't result in a noticable improvement anyways. On this chip you most likely wont get huge results if you unlock the BIOS, but i don't know, every card acts differently.
> 
> That being said, your memory overclock is pretty good (higher than mine too), and these cards seem to scale decently with memory as well. Be satisfied.


Nope it's a Windforce 3x Gigabyte card, but yes Im happy with it.
Ow, and something else, is there anything specific I should enable/disable in Nvidia Settings?


----------



## pc-illiterate

I also have a wf3 and it isnt a great clocker. I know 1228 is stable with +447 on memory. It wont do 1250mhz. It doesnt matter. These cards eat every game you throw at em. Be happy you got the coolest and quietest 670 made.


----------



## Xtremelyevil

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> I also have a wf3 and it isnt a great clocker. I know 1228 is stable with +447 on memory. It wont do 1250mhz. It doesnt matter. These cards eat every game you throw at em. Be happy you got the coolest and quietest 670 made.


Yeah, But I just encoutered something strange yesterday it all went fine while runnign planetside2 but now it just crashes every single time.
Could it be some kind of setting in the Nvidia control panel? gpu temp isnt going above 65
And now I tried running 3Dmark, Heaven and OCCT an all of them stopped responding on STOCK clocks, this must be something software related


----------



## RaleighStClair

Using these settings I got a 51 FPS on Heaven, and 1293 boost, not too shabby. This will probably get better once i get my z77 mobo + 3750k CPU. My Athlon is really holding this card back.

Thanks for info, again iRandomize. I'll mess around with the clocks more when I upgrade my other hardware.


----------



## Draknareth

Yeah i've also got a gigabyte windforce x3 OC, and it doesn't get a massive OC, but when I fire up a game and get a minimum of 60 fps I really can't complain. Skyrim runs at an average of 100 fps or so, AC3 i'm not sure what it tops out at as i've left v-sync on. In the end a higher OC would only really give me bragging rights through really high benchmark runs. I love my card


----------



## pc-illiterate

avg 100fps in skyrim ? its locked at 60fps. how ?

*EDIT* nvm, i found posts to show how to remove the built in vsync...


----------



## RaleighStClair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Draknareth*
> 
> Yeah i've also got a gigabyte windforce x3 OC, and it doesn't get a massive OC, but when I fire up a game and get a minimum of 60 fps I really can't complain. Skyrim runs at an average of 100 fps or so, AC3 i'm not sure what it tops out at as i've left v-sync on. In the end a higher OC would only really give me bragging rights through really high benchmark runs. I love my card


Yeah AC3 is really the only game I get low GPU usage. I read the it is an optimized POS and very cpu dependent. And my CPU sucks,lol. I just rolled through Crysis 2 Ultra + Dx11+HD textures @1080p, it ran smooth as butter. Can't wait to get a 3750k, or an i7 (still pondering) so that I can see this beast of a card stretch its legs.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RaleighStClair*
> 
> Using these settings I got a 51 FPS on Heaven, and 1293 boost, not too shabby. This will probably get better once i get my z77 mobo + 3750k CPU. My Athlon is really holding this card back.
> 
> Thanks for info, again iRandomize. I'll mess around with the clocks more when I upgrade my other hardware.


You are not seeing any throttling at all, at those settings? Any chance you could upload a copy of your BIOS?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RaleighStClair*
> 
> Can't wait to get a 3750k, or an i7 (still pondering) so that I can see this beast of a card stretch its legs.


3570k?


----------



## nismofreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RaleighStClair*
> 
> Using these settings I got a 51 FPS on Heaven, and 1293 boost, not too shabby. This will probably get better once i get my z77 mobo + 3750k CPU. My Athlon is really holding this card back.
> 
> Thanks for info, again iRandomize. I'll mess around with the clocks more when I upgrade my other hardware.


Heaven is pretty much GPU bound, as it should be. You'll see little difference in Heaven once you upgrade. Where you'll see a massive change is 3DMark11. The CPU and faster memory (I assume you'll be issuing at least 1866) will really boost your scores there. Heaven doesn't care much at all for the rest of your system.


----------



## RaleighStClair

Yeah my cpu is holding this card back so badly. I just played Bf3 for the first time with this new 670 and gpu usage is between 50-70%, and I get a lot of microstuttering ( strafing left-to-right causes frame skips). far cry 3 also does this. It is so strange and am told it is caused by cpu bottlenecking. Making it unplayable untill i get a new cpu.

Here is the BIOS dump. 
file storage online


----------



## lilchronic

heaven benchmark GTX 670FTW oc to 1385mhz [email protected]


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lilchronic*
> 
> heaven benchmark GTX 670FTW oc to 1385mhz [email protected]


not too impressive for a 100mhz core bump and 50mhz more on memory AND running in a pci-e 3.0 slot IN MY OPINION. read this post for my score: http://www.overclock.net/t/1291789/upgrade-urges-are-taking-over/90#post_17981965

and the next post is what a 7970 was doing at 1200mhz core. guess amd wanted to lull nvidia into a false sense of security. and to think gk104 was to be the mid performance tier of kepler's debut...


----------



## kevindd992002

How would one know if their GPU is bottlenecked by their CPU?


----------



## lharvince

Got my brandnew ASUS GTX670 Non-top from kevindd992002








Very happy with the stock performance and it really runs cool (26C idle and 56 on load).

It's not a good overclocker though








Can only get +145 on core. maximum boost clock is 1202.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lharvince*
> 
> Got my brandnew ASUS GTX670 Non-top from kevindd992002
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Very happy with the stock performance and it really runs cool (26C idle and 56 on load).
> 
> It's not a good overclocker though
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can only get +145 on core. maximum boost clock is 1202.


First post mate! Lol. Thanks for the compliment.

How can you manage a 26C idle if our average ambient temps here in our country is 30~32C?







Are you running the AC when you tested those temps?

For my Gigabyte GTX 670, I get around 34C idle and 64C load and this card is considered cooler than the ASUS.


----------



## lharvince

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> First post mate! Lol. Thanks for the compliment.
> 
> How can you manage a 26C idle if our average ambient temps here in our country is 30~32C?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you running the AC when you tested those temps?
> 
> For my Gigabyte GTX 670, I get around 34C idle and 64C load and this card is considered cooler than the ASUS.


yeah AC is on and room temp is around 25-27C. If AC is off i get 30C on idle and 60C on load at 50% fan speed.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lharvince*
> 
> yeah AC is on and room temp is around 25-27C. If AC is off i get 30C on idle and 60C on load at 50% fan speed.


Oh ok and I remember you told me that you modified your fan curve already. Enjoy!


----------



## Draknareth

Well if usually you're FPS is relatively high (let's say 60+) and then for some reason you drop to 30 but your GPU usage is only 40-50% at that point the CPU is the bottleneck.
Most commonly this occurs in games that don't optimise multi-core very well. Like Guild Wars 2







But that being said, a mild OC to say 4.5GHz usually reduces the problem significantly, which is what I found.


----------



## RaleighStClair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> How would one know if their GPU is bottlenecked by their CPU?


CPU usage ingames will be 90-100%, and GPU usage will be 40-70%, fluctuating. I have watched youtube videos of people playing the same games I do and they get 98-99% gpu usage constant, while i will get dips to the 40% sometimes. It's either my craptastic Athlon or the new GPU i have is faulty.

Considering GPU dependent tests such as 3dmark11 GP score and Heaven give me 99% constant usage and give me scores relative to other with 670 gtx. It must be my CPU. Also my 3dmark 11 CPU Physx score is ~ 3400, which is about a 1/3rd of what newer cpu's such as the 3rdgen i5 and i7.

Here is my 3dmark 11 score with a 670 (Stock Clocks) + Athlon 2 x4 640 @ 3.3g : 

As you can see relative to others my gpu seems fine and in range while my cpu is severely lacking. It is what hlding this card back.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RaleighStClair*
> 
> CPU usage ingames will be 90-100%, and GPU usage will be 40-70%, fluctuating. I have watched youtube videos of people playing the same games I do and they get 98-99% gpu usage constant, while i will get dips to the 40% sometimes. It's either my craptastic Athlon or the new GPU i have is faulty.
> 
> Considering GPU dependent tests such as 3dmark11 GP score and Heaven give me 99% constant usage and give me scores relative to other with 670 gtx. It must be my CPU. Also my 3dmark 11 CPU Physx score is ~ 3400, which is about a 1/3rd of what newer cpu's such as the 3rdgen i5 and i7.
> 
> Here is my 3dmark 11 score with a 670 (Stock Clocks) + Athlon 2 x4 640 @ 3.3g :
> 
> As you can see relative to others my gpu seems fine and in range while my cpu is severely lacking. It is what hlding this card back.


How do you monitor CPU usage when runnnig 3DMark11 and Heaven?

So for my CPU overclocked to around 4.5GHz I will less likely to have this problem?


----------



## RaleighStClair

Yeah @ 4.5 you should have no issues. To monitor CPU usage in-game is rather easy, here is a video how-to :


----------



## Kinru

So I finally got around to OCing my gtx 670 FTW and I feel like mine is extremely unusual. I followed the long way of doing it and got to +74 core and +895 mem all on stock voltage (1.175v).

The mem OC is making me a little worried, but I never noticed a single artifact until I hit 1000 (with +0 core, following the guide). At 1000 it crashed so I backed down to 900 and there were no artifacts. I then turned my core to +75 (which was the highest stable I could get when doing core only) and noticed some artifacts with +75 and +900. I backed down to +74 and +895 and didn't notice anything.

I did all of this running Heaven benchmark. Before the OC I had a score of 1315 with 52.2 avg FPS and after the OC I had a score of 1493 with 59.3 avg FPS. My score/FPS never decreased while I was increasing both mem and core. In the hardware monitor, my voltage, core, and mem are all completely flat lines and don't fluctuate at all.

I'm running on water so my temps never went above 33 C. I haven't run any other benchmarks yet. Does this seem alright to everyone?


----------



## Drake.L

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Kinru*
> 
> So I finally got around to OCing my gtx 670 FTW and I feel like mine is extremely unusual. I followed the long way of doing it and got to +74 core and +895 mem all on stock voltage (1.175v).
> 
> The mem OC is making me a little worried, but I never noticed a single artifact until I hit 1000 (with +0 core, following the guide). At 1000 it crashed so I backed down to 900 and there were no artifacts. I then turned my core to +75 (which was the highest stable I could get when doing core only) and noticed some artifacts with +75 and +900. I backed down to +74 and +895 and didn't notice anything.
> 
> I did all of this running Heaven benchmark. Before the OC I had a score of 1315 with 52.2 avg FPS and after the OC I had a score of 1493 with 59.3 avg FPS. My score/FPS never decreased while I was increasing both mem and core. In the hardware monitor, my voltage, core, and mem are all completely flat lines and don't fluctuate at all.
> 
> I'm running on water so my temps never went above 33 C. I haven't run any other benchmarks yet. Does this seem alright to everyone?


What settings of Heaven are you using? 52.2 FPS before OC is really high already..

Here are my before and afters on my 670.


----------



## Kinru

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Drake.L*
> 
> What settings of Heaven are you using? 52.2 FPS before OC is really high already..
> 
> Here are my before and afters on my 670.


Ah I forgot to mention that my resolution is only 1680 x 1050 (my good monitor is at school and I'm home on vacation). All settings are maxed out.


----------



## Drake.L

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Kinru*
> 
> Ah I forgot to mention that my resolution is only 1680 x 1050 (my good monitor is at school and I'm home on vacation). All settings are maxed out.


Ah okay, don't worry about it then, those are decent clocks. Some are better than others but no biggie


----------



## pc-illiterate

and please dont say +this and +that because it tells us nothing. every card has different boost values. what is your max core clock ? we already know your mem clock is 3100 stock so, 8000mhz total memory clock ? what ?


----------



## Kinru

Max core clock is 1280
Max mem clock is 4001.


----------



## lilchronic




----------



## pc-illiterate

yes chronic, we saw that yesterday


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> yes chronic, we saw that yesterday


Haha, posting a picture without any text with it.


----------



## lilchronic

lol








i want another


----------



## k33g0rz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *k33g0rz*
> 
> hey guys!
> 
> I've been getting great advice from this site for a while and finally joined!
> 
> I've been trying to follow this guide but something strange happened. I have a MSI gtx 670 (lowest model) and it ran great but i was looking to overclock it after getting the last drivers. I got it to run through the benchmarks at +94 core clock and everything else stock, but now no matter what i set the core clock to it crashes, even +5. The strangest part is that on Power % it says 370% everytime it crashes, regardless of core clock. I have a Corsair 750x ps.
> 
> I really tried to read through all 134 pages of this thread but if someone could help me sort myself i would greatly appreciate it.


Not to be a bother but does anyone have any suggestions? I can raise my mem clock fine but any non stock core clock results in a 370% power output spike :/


----------



## rogeshoe57

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rampage24*
> 
> I haven't noticed any whine sound from mine.
> 
> It's strange that we both found it was stable with stock voltage even after tuning it with max. One issue I've noticed with my card is with my power target at 122% it goes up to 130% power causing throttling even when under 70 degrees. No matter what speed, voltage, or temp the card runs it will always shoot over the power target and throttle at some point in a bench mark. Kind of frustrating.


Rampage I tested out my PNY GTX 670 with reference cooler more and my power does go above 122% too. I ended up swapping out the PNY reference cooler to a Artic Twin Turbo because of the load noise. My idle temperature with the Artic Twin Turbo is around 23 and max load at 52 with no sound. Fan speed only scale to up around 50s max. This is overclocked at 1240 MHz stable. I do not see power jumping above 122% now.

I decided to unlock the voltage to 1.21 on the PNY GTX 670 using the KGB method as I am running windows 8. http://www.overclock.net/t/1289489/gtx-600-series-unlocked-voltage-bios-downloads-and-tools. I jumped an additional 40 MHz stable at 1280 MHz. Max load at 54 temp. Your card seems to be a better OC than mine. Also, I switched from precision to Afterburner version 2.2.3 allows for the voltage bump and power to go to 150%. I am not sure if this will fix your problem. I do not see any throttle on the graphs because of my low temps. Let me know if you decide to voltage unlock your PNY GTX 670. I wanted to see what your new boost would be. I bet you would clear 1300s easily.


----------



## Solonowarion

Can I turn the fan off if I am watercooling. I have read the thread but may have missed it.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Solonowarion*
> 
> Can I turn the fan off if I am watercooling. I have read the thread but may have missed it.


Unplug it


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rogeshoe57*
> 
> Rampage I tested out my PNY GTX 670 with reference cooler more and my power does go above 122% too. I ended up swapping out the PNY reference cooler to a Artic Twin Turbo because of the load noise. My idle temperature with the Artic Twin Turbo is around 23 and max load at 52 with no sound. Fan speed only scale to up around 50s max. This is overclocked at 1240 MHz stable. I do not see power jumping above 122% now.
> 
> I decided to unlock the voltage to 1.21 on the PNY GTX 670 using the KGB method as I am running windows 8. http://www.overclock.net/t/1289489/gtx-600-series-unlocked-voltage-bios-downloads-and-tools. I jumped an additional 40 MHz stable at 1280 MHz. Max load at 54 temp. Your card seems to be a better OC than mine. Also, I switched from precision to *Afterburner version 2.2.3 allows for the voltage bump* and power to go to 150%. I am not sure if this will fix your problem. I do not see any throttle on the graphs because of my low temps. Let me know if you decide to voltage unlock your PNY GTX 670. I wanted to see what your new boost would be. I bet you would clear 1300s easily.


Only works on power edition cards (670 Power Edition and 680 Lightning). As far as i can read, you only got a reference card, hence 2.2.3 will not do anything for you







. Use an update version of AB or PrecisionX, no reason to use outdated software


----------



## cam51037

I'm in the process of OCing my EVGA 670 Sig2, and currently I'm at +75 MHz, so something like 1150 MHz or something? Looking good so far, going to keep testing later.


----------



## Solonowarion

nevermind


----------



## macwin2012

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *cam51037*
> 
> I'm in the process of OCing my EVGA 670 Sig2, and currently I'm at +75 MHz, so something like 1150 MHz or something? Looking good so far, going to keep testing later.


Nice keep pushing more till heaven crashes at extreme settings and then reduce 10-15 till it stable and start working on offset memory clock


----------



## Frenky91

macwin2012 can you give me your email... or some contact so i can ask you some more questions because pm only allows 2 messages. per. day.


----------



## sanj

i am overclocking now gigabyte gtx670 oc-2gd, i did the first guide step, i am on 1100mhz now and eveything is perfect in precision graphs after running heaven bench on extreme, but one thing that is weird is power percent, i have it around 65%, thats too low. It is ok or something is bad?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sanj*
> 
> i am overclocking now gigabyte gtx670 oc-2gd, i did the first guide step, i am on 1100mhz now and eveything is perfect in precision graphs after running heaven bench on extreme, but one thing that is weird is power percent, i have it around 65%, thats too low. It is ok or something is bad?


Don't worry, everything is fine! Keep going, you should still have a while to go on that card


----------



## szlose

Im at this stage of overclocking. Seems OK'ish but i would appreciate answer for a few questions.

1st. As you can see, the power % load NEVER goes above 80% - from what ive read this means that there is potential for more overclocking. However, when i go above +120 mhz, the benchmark crashes. Should i just continue with mem clock offset until bad things happen? Im asking because i dont see much performance increase as i overclock the memory.

2nd. Should i change the bios or is it fine the way it is now? I mean i cannot change power target over 112% and i cannot change voltage.

3rd. Anybody can throw some tips just from looking at the screenshot?









And yes, ive read the guide/tutorial but im just looking for more ;d


----------



## sanj

overclocking successfull, i ended at +110/+750 on GIGABYTE N670OC-2GD, heaven score at max settings is 52,8/1330. Could be better, but still i am satisfied. Great guide, thanks.


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sanj*
> 
> overclocking successfull, i ended at +110/+750 on GIGABYTE N670OC-2GD, heaven score at max settings is 52,8/1330. Could be better, but still i am satisfied. Great guide, thanks.


Isn't this violating ToS? lol jkjkjkjk. Here at OCN, you'll get the bug and realize that you need to take EVERYTHING to the max! Max overclock!!!!!! Moar powwa!


----------



## pc-illiterate

@szlose- gigabyte card? If.it is, it wont hit 100% power target so it isnt going to go hivher. When it tops.out and starts crashing or artifacting, youre done. I hit 99% in 3dmark11 and no where else, not heaven or gaming
Just stop overclocking when you hit max stable. Bummer cards...


----------



## Solonowarion

When I am done overclocking and have it stable do I keep my power target at 150 and voltage at 1.212?


----------



## Frenky91

My score in Heaven is good for def.. settings.. now i tried to oc but only stable is 1254mhz and +500 on memory.. so any sugestions....
Zotac gtx 670 Amp
1176 Boost Clock
1202 Max Boost
3305 Memory
100% Power Target with 1.187 Voltage slider and im using moded bios for voltage defult is 1.175

Heaven 98k .jpg file


evga precision x 158k .jpg file


Link to gupz http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/13/01/17/fvu.png


----------



## Solonowarion

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Frenky91*
> 
> My score in Heaven is good for def.. settings.. now i tried to oc but only stable is 1254mhz and +500 on memory.. so any sugestions....
> Zotac gtx 670 Amp
> 1176 Boost Clock
> 1202 Max Boost
> 3305 Memory
> 100% Power Target with 1.187 Voltage slider and im using moded bios for voltage defult is 1.175
> 
> Heaven 98k .jpg file
> 
> 
> evga precision x 158k .jpg file
> 
> 
> Link to gupz http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/13/01/17/fvu.png


Have you compared with max power target?


----------



## szlose

Yes, it is Gigabyte.
So there is nothing i can do to improve the performance even more? Is modded bios not a solution?
Its really sad because all i can get from my Gigabyte 670 now is +115mhz cpu clock (1228 mhz max) and + 250 mhz memory clock (6502 max).

Thanks anyways.


----------



## Frenky91

Yes i did and it is the same max boost


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *szlose*
> 
> Yes, it is Gigabyte.
> So there is nothing i can do to improve the performance even more? Is modded bios not a solution?
> Its really sad because all i can get from my Gigabyte 670 now is +115mhz cpu clock (1228 mhz max) and + 250 mhz memory clock (6502 max).
> 
> Thanks anyways.


i get 1241 max and 3456 mem. we still have the coolest quietest cards even if they arent the fastest. imagine how i feel, i can hit 1280 core on my asus. i cant even match that in sli. i have to drop my fast card down and run it in the second pcie slot cause it gets too warm...


----------



## szlose

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> i get 1241 max and 3456 mem. we still have the coolest quietest cards even if they arent the fastest. imagine how i feel, i can hit 1280 core on my asus. i cant even match that in sli. i have to drop my fast card down and run it in the second pcie slot cause it gets too warm...


Yeah i understand the pros/cons of Gigabyte graphics card and I wont rage or cry if i cannot tweak it more.

All im doing at this point, is asking whether using a custom bios will allow me to overclock even more.

tldr: will custom bios help me oc more / possibly allowing my card to use more % power than now (around 80%)


----------



## pc-illiterate

im not 1 to give advice on modded bios. i went sli to make sure i had enough power down the road


----------



## JTHMfreak

A modded bios would allow more voltage which _*might*_ allow more oc. I am not terribly certain as I have not done it on my card. But with more voltage usually comes more heat.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *szlose*
> 
> Yeah i understand the pros/cons of Gigabyte graphics card and I wont rage or cry if i cannot tweak it more.
> 
> All im doing at this point, is asking whether using a custom bios will allow me to overclock even more.
> 
> tldr: will custom bios help me oc more / possibly allowing my card to use more % power than now (around 80%)


30-40mhz, and it will use more power. No idea how much :S


----------



## phate1337

reference evga gtx 670 2gb. stock voltage, power level 110%, gpu ofset 120 (1100 mhz effective), memory offset 650 (3649 mhz effective), max temp 60 degrees. stock heaven score of 2504, increased to 2760. will continue to push. how am i doing so far? heaven running at max everything with 640x480 res, justing on an old monitor atm, will update when i have a better one.


----------



## Frenky91

Any help or suggestion?


----------



## Draknareth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *phate1337*
> 
> reference evga gtx 670 2gb. stock voltage, power level 110%, gpu ofset 120 (1100 mhz effective), memory offset 650 (3649 mhz effective), max temp 60 degrees. stock heaven score of 2504, increased to 2760. will continue to push. how am i doing so far? heaven running at max everything with 640x480 res, justing on an old monitor atm, will update when i have a better one.


Can't really comment on your scores as I can't compare mine as the resolutions are different. Wait until you're at a more common resolution (1920x1080) and then the results can be compared with others


----------



## Heraclides

I got always 25-30 FPS in all test







how can I change and increase my fps?







please help








my resolution 1920x1080


----------



## cam51037

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Heraclides*
> 
> I got always 25-30 FPS in all test
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> how can I change and increase my fps?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> please help
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> my resolution 1920x1080


Did you disable vsync in the NVIDIA control panel? Sounds like that might be the problem.

On another hand, I have a question: I have my power target set to the max (145%) and the voltage as well (1.175V) on my 670 Sig2.

It seems whenever I OC it to anything, like right now the core is at +195, mem is stock, while folding, the card decides to downclock to 705 MHz, instead of the 1360+ it should be at. Any ideas on fixing this? I've tried K-Boost and it seems to do absolutely nothing for the card. Any ideas of what my problem is?


----------



## Heraclides

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *cam51037*
> 
> Did you disable vsync in the NVIDIA control panel? Sounds like that might be the problem.
> ?


Yes vsync disabled in nvidia cp







.


----------



## Heraclides

Guys, i managed to do this settings and get 50 fps and score 1327 (once): cpu offset +120 and mem clock +760, power target 112%

But when I ran the same settings second time the fps dropped














what went wrong? the third time the same no 50 fps anymore


----------



## pc-illiterate

is the driver crashing and restarting ? if it crashes you must reboot to fully restart the driver


----------



## Drake.L

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Heraclides*
> 
> Guys, i managed to do this settings and get 50 fps and score 1327 (once): cpu offset +120 and mem clock +760, power target 112%
> 
> But when I ran the same settings second time the fps dropped
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> what went wrong? the third time the same no 50 fps anymore


Max your power usage and voltage out. You won't burn your card out so don't worry about it.


----------



## BadBoy2K7

Windows 7 64-bit, Nvidia Driver 310.90, MSi Afterburner 2.3.0

Gigabyte GTX 670OC 2GB @ 1149 MHz Core Clock, 3005 MHz Memory Clock.

Stabe Overclock @ 1293 MHz Core Clock, 3602 MHz Memory Clock.

Settings Adjustments @ +144 MHz Core Clock, +600 MHz Memory Clock.

Additional Notes:

@ 70 C the Core Clock decreases by 13 MHz to 1280 MHz. Increased fan speed to keep temperatures below that point to solve this.

Can only increment settings by +13 MHz after 105 MHz. Crashes occurred @ + 157 MHz.

Tested several games and MSi Kombuster. No crashes occurred @ +144 MHz.


----------



## Heraclides

I think I found my sweet spot. It's stable with heaven also stable with 3DMark11 (dont have network connection yet to send results from 3DMark11). I will test those settings with BF3 and GW2, we will see if it crashed, but for now this is the best results I got as so far with my video card.

PS: Don't pay attention to the CPU temperature, I didn't OC it yet but I will do. I just got a new pc and for now I OCed my GPU card. Time for CPU


----------



## nismofreak

I wanna see if your max Heaven stable works in GW2. For me, I had to back off my mem by 37 and lowered my core from 1280 to 1267 to gain stability in GW2.


----------



## tcung82

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Heraclides*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think I found my sweet spot. It's stable with heaven also stable with 3DMark11 (dont have network connection yet to send results from 3DMark11). I will test those settings with BF3 and GW2, we will see if it crashed, but for now this is the best results I got as so far with my video card.
> 
> PS: Don't pay attention to the CPU temperature, I didn't OC it yet but I will do. I just got a new pc and for now I OCed my GPU card. Time for CPU


what was the max temperature your gpu hit with those OC settings running ur benchmarks?


----------



## Dimaggio1103

My GTX 670 with no OC at all wont down clock. Usually they downclock to like 300MHz or something but mine is not doing so. Nothing is running not even a browser. Is this the result of flashing the bios? All I did was unlock it.


----------



## HeadlessKnight

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dimaggio1103*
> 
> My GTX 670 with no OC at all wont down clock. Usually they downclock to like 300MHz or something but mine is not doing so. Nothing is running not even a browser. Is this the result of flashing the bios? All I did was unlock it.


Make sure K-boost in EVGA Precision is disabled.


----------



## Drake.L

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tcung82*
> 
> what was the max temperature your gpu hit with those OC settings running ur benchmarks?


According to his graph, 50C


----------



## estabya

I'm having trouble getting a stable OC on my 670 FTW and was hoping to find some help here. I think I should be able to get A LOT more out of my GPU than it's giving me. Here is a screenshot of Afterburner (was using precisionx but it wouldn't save some of my settings randomly). With the OC shown, I am around 90-95% power usage, but when it crashes it dips to 40% and then peaks to 330%... is that normal? and considering my low power usage and temps (usually around 50-55), why am I not able to get a higher OC...? Thanks in advance.


----------



## pc-illiterate

have you tried maxing both power limit and voltage ? your ss shows you havent...

if you have an h80 modded to it, you need to figure out why your temps are so high. 60* is hot for an h80 on it. im on air and dont hit 62*


----------



## beekermartin

I have come across a strange issue. I found a max overclock on my Gigabyte GTX 670 to be +105 core and +600 memory. I can run Heaven and 3dmark11 all day long and temps never break the low 50's. It is 100% stable except for Crysis.

Every once and awhile Crysis would crash to the desktop. I left Precision X up while playing to hopefully see why. Well at +105 core I am usally running at 1202mhz while under load. That is stable for everything I have tested. Well the last time Crysis crashed I noticed that my max boost jumped to 1215mhz??? I know that if I run it that high it will crash. So for some reason Crysis is causing it to run at a higher frequency for a split second which causes the crash.

I then backed my max overclock to +104 core. Now I am running at a max clock of 1189 of course.

Well guess what? Crysis crashed again. This time I noticed the max clock had jumped to 1202 mhz when it crashed.

So something in Crysis is causing my card to run faster randomly for a split second and causing crashes. I assume this is driver related but I find that odd for such an old game. I am currently running 306.97 drivers. Every other game is stable that I have played and so are all benchmarks. I know temps aren't the problem but something is causing this random spike in core clock.


----------



## estabya

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> have you tried maxing both power limit and voltage ? your ss shows you havent...
> 
> if you have an h80 modded to it, you need to figure out why your temps are so high. 60* is hot for an h80 on it. im on air and dont hit 62*


I get the same results no matter what the voltage and power target are at. And I'm not sure where you got 60°. The screenshot shows 50 although sometimes (rarely) I may see up to 55. Also I run my system with the fans as low as I can for the quiet factor. If I max my fans I usually don't break 45.


----------



## pc-illiterate

double check your pic. max temp 60* i dont care what it shows in the screenshot at its present time. that isnt the max. the max it reached was 60* as afterburner shows.
that clock makes you wish you had bought a different brand and saved some cash doesnt it ? seriously though, the evga ftw cards are supposed to binned to be great clockers. either bs or youre doing something wrong somewhere. i have no idea which it is


----------



## Heraclides

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tcung82*
> 
> what was the max temperature your gpu hit with those OC settings running ur benchmarks?


Like u saw in my graphs temp max 50*C


----------



## estabya

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> double check your pic. max temp 60* i dont care what it shows in the screenshot at its present time. that isnt the max. the max it reached was 60* as afterburner shows.
> that clock makes you wish you had bought a different brand and saved some cash doesnt it ? seriously though, the evga ftw cards are supposed to binned to be great clockers. either bs or youre doing something wrong somewhere. i have no idea which it is


I have no idea where you are getting 60. In the screen shot I have the cursor over the peak of the temps right before the crash and it shows 50... So I don't understand where you are getting 60 degrees from at all.

EDIT: haha Ok I see where you got the 60. I'm a moron








That temp was from when I was messing with it with the radiator fan off just to see what I would get lol. Like I said it usually stays in the low 50s at most.

I don't necessarily wish I would have gotten a different card. I like evga for their warranty and customer service. Also, my card isn't terrible,just not great. I still get KB clocks of 1228 which is descent. It performs on par with my buddy's 680 SC so that's not too bad.


----------



## trickeh2k

I've just got this card and followed this guide, superbly well written!







After spedning about 5 hours (3 hours, lol?) to get maximum stable core and mem clock i went to the last step of the guide, adjusting fan levels. Here's where i encountered problems... running Furmark it produced a lot of heat and i barerly got the card at 69 degrees with the fan running at 100%.

Temperature got slighlty to high which meant it declocked itself to 1280 instead of 1293. One other thing too which i couldnt really figure out - when running Furmark, having the card at 1.175 mv made it insanely unstable and it jumped like a jojo up and down in mhz. DECREASING the voltage back to stock actually go it stable, the less i had, the more stable the card was at the higher clocks.

Using the settings to decrease the clock still showed that the card was running at 1.175 though, bouth in precision-x and gpu-z. It's just Furmark that seems to kill my card with heat, I got the settings to run stable without any artifacts in both uninge and 3d mark 11.

Card runs at about 34 degrees idle. Now, most games wont stress my card so much that it will run so warm but at least to run at 60% fan speed etc. 100% fan speed is loud, lol. My case should be fine. My CPU stays at 28-29 idle. What might be one cause of the het problems is that it's very close to the wall and unluckely my PSU is quite warm and runs as high as 40 degrees idle.

What do you recommend me to do?


----------



## trickeh2k

-double post-


----------



## beekermartin

Does anyone have any idea why Crysis is causing my Kepler boost clock to spike higher than any other game or benchmark? Please read my post above for more information.


----------



## theelviscerator

I had a similar issue in Crysis 2, CTD outta the blue temps good, but my clocks are not very high so I think its the game, although at stock clocks I dont remember CTD. System is loafing and it closes itself out...easy....wth..So I back down the clocks on core about 20 and it quits.

I havent reinstalled crysis (1), back yet either though. 310.90 drivers.


----------



## RoyGeeBiv

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> i get 1241 max and 3456 mem. we still have the coolest quietest cards even if they arent the fastest. imagine how i feel, i can hit 1280 core on my asus. i cant even match that in sli. i have to drop my fast card down and run it in the second pcie slot cause it gets too warm...


I get those exact same numbers. Bummer indeed.

So then would it be more effective to find a card that can be overclocked higher, and run it in the primary PCIE slot while the Gigabyte runs as slave? (And of course getting the joy of SLI)


----------



## theelviscerator

Ran at 1215/3515 @ 4.5GHZ on the 2600k...(daily driver).


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheMadFapper*
> 
> I get those exact same numbers. Bummer indeed.
> 
> So then would it be more effective to find a card that can be overclocked higher, and run it in the primary PCIE slot while the Gigabyte runs as slave? (And of course getting the joy of SLI)


the thing is, you would need to find a card that runs as cool as the gb wf3. my asus was hitting 68-70* in the top slot in sli. it was always 62* or below running single. my gb runs about 63* max temps in the top slot


----------



## estabya

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> have you tried maxing both power limit and voltage ? your ss shows you havent...
> 
> if you have an h80 modded to it, you need to figure out why your temps are so high. 60* is hot for an h80 on it. im on air and dont hit 62*


Well looks like you were right about the H80. I was thinking about it, and I thought maybe my radiator placement was doing it. I had the radiator blowing in from the bottom of the case, which would cause any air in the loop to sit right on the block. I moved the radiator to the back of the case and my max temps are 44-46









Also, I did a clean driver install, fresh PrecisionX install, and reset all my settings to do a Re-OC. I couldn't get any higher on the core, but I somehow got my memory offset from +155 to +600! I am very happy with that. Gave me a heaven score of:

FPS: 50.9
Score: 1283

I am so stoked







I was rocking some BF3 maxed with 4xAA and frames didn't drop below 70, max temp 44!


----------



## Drake.L

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *estabya*
> 
> Well looks like you were right about the H80. I was thinking about it, and I thought maybe my radiator placement was doing it. I had the radiator blowing in from the bottom of the case, which would cause any air in the loop to sit right on the block. I moved the radiator to the back of the case and my max temps are 44-46
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Also, I did a clean driver install, fresh PrecisionX install, and reset all my settings to do a Re-OC. I couldn't get any higher on the core, but I somehow got my memory offset from +155 to +600! I am very happy with that. Gave me a heaven score of:
> 
> FPS: 50.9
> Score: 1283
> 
> I am so stoked
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was rocking some BF3 maxed with 4xAA and frames didn't drop below 70, max temp 44!


Nice temps, what fan speed are you running?


----------



## estabya

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Drake.L*
> 
> Nice temps, what fan speed are you running?


I have a Corsair H80 on it with one of dwoods bracket from triptcc.com


----------



## lilchronic

i have a problem where my gtx 670 ftw down clocks when i turn on MSAA in all of my games. does anyone have an idea what this is or cold be my temps never go over 65c


----------



## shaolin95

Hello all!

Basically my card is not that good a OCer I am afraid.
I did the Max Core I could get and was -59 (modded bios) and while it had zero drops on the Core just a steady 1163 line, after a few more mhz, Heaven will just freeze. Guess there is not much more out of it is it?
So currently my max 1163Mhz and +400 for memory.

BTW, I tested with heaven at max settings 1080p with 3D vision on since that is what I use for gaming so I am sure that made it extra hard.

Your card's model Gigabyte GV-N66TWF2-2GD
Your Boost Clock 961Mhz (due to the modded kernel this is lower than "stock 1020")
Your Max Boost (This is your Boost Clock + Kepler Boost) = 1163Mhz
Your Memory Clock= +400 ( tried +500 and failed but did not try to squeeze the max on memory yet).
Your Power Target and Voltage setting = 150% and Max in Precision which shows 1.212 on the hardware monitor.

I am going to work on the memory now but I am just surprised is so low seeing so many 1200+ results here.


----------



## macwin2012

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *shaolin95*
> 
> Hello all!
> 
> Basically my card is not that good a OCer I am afraid.
> I did the Max Core I could get and was -59 (modded bios) and while it had zero drops on the Core just a steady 1163 line, after a few more mhz, Heaven will just freeze. Guess there is not much more out of it is it?
> So currently my max 1163Mhz and +400 for memory.
> 
> BTW, I tested with heaven at max settings 1080p with 3D vision on since that is what I use for gaming so I am sure that made it extra hard.
> 
> Your card's model Gigabyte GV-N66TWF2-2GD
> Your Boost Clock 961Mhz (due to the modded kernel this is lower than "stock 1020")
> Your Max Boost (This is your Boost Clock + Kepler Boost) = 1163Mhz
> Your Memory Clock= +400 ( tried +500 and failed but did not try to squeeze the max on memory yet).
> Your Power Target and Voltage setting = 150% and Max in Precision which shows 1.212 on the hardware monitor.
> 
> I am going to work on the memory now but I am just surprised is so low seeing so many 1200+ results here.


Also remember that top Overclockers are stable in Heaven and other few benchmarks ... If u plan on using voltage mod while gaming you gpu temps are bound to go above 70 C .

Happy overclocking


----------



## shaolin95

Well my Temp was always very cool, not even 60 so that is one of the reasons I got shocked when it suddenly just refused to go any higher.
At least games all run without crashing so the speed is indeed stable if just a bit lame lol


----------



## Mr Mari0o

is it possible to have a K boost of 1? if not i'm doing something way wrong lol. im taking my boost clock which is 1046 and subtracting my max boost which gpu-z is telling me is 1045


----------



## Mr Mari0o

i have a evga gtx 670 sc 4gb
p8z77-i deluxe
ripjaw x 2133 cas 9 8gb
i5-3570k oc 4.2


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mr Mari0o*
> 
> is it possible to have a K boost of 1? if not i'm doing something way wrong lol. im taking my boost clock which is 1046 and subtracting my max boost which gpu-z is telling me is 1045


I don't think so because 13MHz should be the interval between these two values. And if you did it right, you actually have a K boost of -1, lol. In most cases, the max boost clock should be higher than the boost clock displayed in GPU-Z.


----------



## error-id10t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *beekermartin*
> 
> Well guess what? Crysis crashed again. This time I noticed the max clock had jumped to 1202 mhz when it crashed.
> 
> So something in Crysis is causing my card to run faster randomly for a split second and causing crashes. I assume this is driver related but I find that odd for such an old game.


You're not listing temps but I've seen this across 3 cards now (out of 4) so it's not uncommon. My first card appear to run 1097Mhz for it to then suddenly jump to 1110Mhz when the temps hit ~62 degrees. Of course once I put it under water, I never saw that temperature and I never saw that 1110Mhz again (this is with no OC obviously).

Since then I've RMAed both my cards and now both exhibit this same behaviour but thankfully already at around ~38 degrees which even under water they reach.

I've seen others mention this too but all that said - this weird jump didn't cause a BSOD or game falling over (for me) and wasn't specific to a game.


----------



## Mr Mari0o

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> I don't think so because 13MHz should be the interval between these two values. And if you did it right, you actually have a K boost of -1, lol. In most cases, the max boost clock should be higher than the boost clock displayed in GPU-Z.


well i just ran the test 3 times and i keep getting 1045.2 as my max boost and my boost is 1046


----------



## Uzanar

This guide looks very good but why does the OP tell you to MAX your Vcore/Power target? I have read most of the guide but I still don't fully understand. Wouldn't the card burn up instantly if I were to set the Vcore to max?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Uzanar*
> 
> This guide looks very good but why does the OP tell you to MAX your Vcore/Power target? I have read most of the guide but I still don't fully understand. Wouldn't the card burn up instantly if I were to set the Vcore to max?


You can not overvolt these cards, without either a BIOS or Hardware mod. The voltage slider merely changes how the voltage reacts to load. Maxing out the voltage slider will make the average voltage be higher, and it will max out on a lesser load. This increases stability, but does not increase voltage.

In regards to the power target; there is no reason not to max it. You might get the same results on 105% as 110%, but setting it to 110% won't increase the power draw. Max it out, so that you do not need to worry about it at all, the card will only draw as much power as it needs, nomatter what your power limit is set to.


----------



## writer21

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> You can not overvolt these cards, without either a BIOS or Hardware mod. The voltage slider merely changes how the voltage reacts to load. Maxing out the voltage slider will make the average voltage be higher, and it will max out on a lesser load. This increases stability, but does not increase voltage.
> 
> In regards to the power target; there is no reason not to max it. You might get the same results on 105% as 110%, but setting it to 110% won't increase the power draw. Max it out, so that you do not need to worry about it at all, the card will only draw as much power as it needs, nomatter what your power limit is set to.


Not saying you're wrong or anything but you have any proof to this claim? I've been stuck at 1163 stock max core for the longest until I started messing with the core voltage slider. With +50 I was able to reach 1267 without crashing so far. Only reason I don't leave it there is because I don't know if the actual voltage is being increased past what is monitored. I've read the pe 670 cards can't be monitored. Just wondering because I don't want to kill my card but if it doesn't really raise voltage but instead stabilizes the voltage to to 1.175 would make me not have to worry as much.


----------



## pc-illiterate

just raise it. raise them both. its perfectly fine and safe. no one has killed their card running full power target nor full voltage adjustment.


----------



## KungMartin90

My advice to fellow 670 overclockers:

core offset is overrated. Memory offset can do equally much difference. So if you guys are having a hard time finding a stable core offset that isn't too low, try lowering the offset a lot, and highering the memory offset instead.

Like in my case: I thought I had a stable overclock at +65 and +565 on memory, but no. After like hours of playing AC3, the graphics drivers finally crashed And I just didn't want to go lower than +65 (I had tried only lowering the memory offset and leaving it at +65 many times, but it just didn't want to be stable at +65 no matter how much I lowered memory offset), so what I did was I lowered my gpu offset to +53, and highered my memory all the way up to +705, and that proved to be 100% stable with even better performance results than on my +65 on core.

Yeah, that's my advice of the day xD


----------



## JTHMfreak

In Far cry 3 my mhz jumps all over the place but it stays fixed and stable in Heaven. Any ideas why?


----------



## writer21

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> just raise it. raise them both. its perfectly fine and safe. no one has killed their card running full power target nor full voltage adjustment.


I only use msi afterburner would this apply to that program as well?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *writer21*
> 
> Not saying you're wrong or anything but you have any proof to this claim? I've been stuck at 1163 stock max core for the longest until I started messing with the core voltage slider. With +50 I was able to reach 1267 without crashing so far. Only reason I don't leave it there is because I don't know if the actual voltage is being increased past what is monitored. I've read the pe 670 cards can't be monitored. Just wondering because I don't want to kill my card but if it doesn't really raise voltage but instead stabilizes the voltage to to 1.175 would make me not have to worry as much.


The Power Edition and Lightning cards can be overvolted, and my comment does not apply to those. Also, the voltage reading on those are wrong. I run my card at +90v, and I have been fine so far. +90 equals about 1.295v on my card.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *writer21*
> 
> I only use msi afterburner would this apply to that program as well?


Unless you are using a Power Edition or Lightning card, the same applies. If you are using one of those cards, you may want to be gentle with the voltage slider.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> The Power Edition and Lightning cards can be overvolted, and my comment does not apply to those. Also, the voltage reading on those are wrong. I run my card at +90v, and I have been fine so far. +90 equals about 1.295v on my card.
> Unless you are using a Power Edition or Lightning card, the same applies. If you are using one of those cards, you may want to be gentle with the voltage slider.


You mean +90*m*V, lol!


----------



## Lycoth

Thanks for a great guide,

I'm pretty new to this and have a few questions so please forgive my lack of knowledge ^_^

I passed all benchmarks up until +196 GPU Clock Offset, however, from about 190+ the benchmark scores never changed. They didn't drop, but they just stayed the same. Is this fairly normal?

Also, I've had a few "Display Driver has stopped working and recovered" whilst playing less stressful games, such as World of Warcraft, (I haven't had time to test it on anymore more graphically demanding" so each time I've been lowering the GPU Clock Offset by 1, and the Memory Clock Offset by 5 (As was explained in the guide), Is this a common thing for me to see and related to the fact that my benchmarks didn't improve from increasing the gpu clock offset past 190?

My temps are fine, under full load i'm hitting about 66 degrees C, and my Power Consumption hasn't gone past 40% TDP.

And lastly, when I lower the GPU Clock Offset, I still get 1280.3 Mhz GPU Core Clock in GPU-Z. Shouldn't this be going down as i'm decreasing the clock offset?

Thanks


----------



## catacavaco

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lycoth*
> 
> Thanks for a great guide,
> 
> I'm pretty new to this and have a few questions so please forgive my lack of knowledge ^_^
> 
> I passed all benchmarks up until +196 GPU Clock Offset, however, from about 190+ the benchmark scores never changed. They didn't drop, but they just stayed the same. Is this fairly normal?
> 
> Also, I've had a few "Display Driver has stopped working and recovered" whilst playing less stressful games, such as World of Warcraft, (I haven't had time to test it on anymore more graphically demanding" so each time I've been lowering the GPU Clock Offset by 1, and the Memory Clock Offset by 5 (As was explained in the guide), Is this a common thing for me to see and related to the fact that my benchmarks didn't improve from increasing the gpu clock offset past 190?
> 
> My temps are fine, under full load i'm hitting about 66 degrees C, and my Power Consumption hasn't gone past 40% TDP.
> 
> And lastly, when I lower the GPU Clock Offset, I still get 1280.3 Mhz GPU Core Clock in GPU-Z. Shouldn't this be going down as i'm decreasing the clock offset?
> 
> Thanks


You sir have a diamond picked gtx670, nice job.


----------



## Lycoth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *catacavaco*
> 
> You sir have a diamond picked gtx670, nice job.


Eh? Do tell more!









I just thought something horrifically bad was wrong D:

I assume the failures i'm having are simply because of the overclock being unstable (even though it passed the benchmarks that doesn't mean it's stable). And i imagine this also explains why the benchmarks did not improve past +190, even though I didn't experience any issues, is that right?

But still very confused about the Core Clock staying the same even when i'm reducing the Clock offset.

Sorry for being a noob here D:


----------



## catacavaco

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lycoth*
> 
> Eh? Do tell more!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just thought something horrifically bad was wrong D:
> 
> I assume the failures i'm having are simply because of the overclock being unstable (even though it passed the benchmarks that doesn't mean it's stable). And i imagine this also explains why the benchmarks did not improve past +190, even though I didn't experience any issues, is that right?
> 
> But still very confused about the Core Clock staying the same even when i'm reducing the Clock offset.
> 
> Sorry for being a noob here D:


What happens with the Keplers is that when they reach a specific temperature, usually 70 degrees celsius, they start to throttle their core clock and voltage to "bearable" limits to avoid damage, so if your card reaches 70 degrees it will start decreasing its core clock by 13mhz steps until it finds a "comfortable" spot to operate.


----------



## Lycoth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *catacavaco*
> 
> What happens with the Keplers is that when they reach a specific temperature, usually 70 degrees celsius, they start to throttle their core clock and voltage to "bearable" limits to avoid damage, so if your card reaches 70 degrees it will start decreasing its core clock by 13mhz steps until it finds a "comfortable" spot to operate.


But i've never been touching 70, so even when i was clocked higher it wasn't getting too hot, so I still don't understand why it's not dropped from 1280 core clock when I lowered the Clock offset. I imagined that before the 1280 was my card running at it's maximum kepler boost.

Or am I missing the point? ^_^


----------



## Costcosaurus

Can anybody help me out?

I followed the guide from the OP and I used the 30 minute version. I just finished the overclocking portion, but is the fans information that follows that necessary to complete the overclock? The main problem I seem to have with how my overclock turned out is as follows:

GPU boost actually went DOWN to -3 MHz instead of the default after Unigine benchmark testing.

Memory boost only went up +62 MHz.

This seems completely wrong and is not something I was looking forward to in the overclock. I followed the guide step by step and I ended with those results. If anyone wants to know my build, you can find out here:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zBdG


----------



## error-id10t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lycoth*
> 
> My temps are fine, under full load i'm hitting about 66 degrees C, and my Power Consumption hasn't gone past 40% TDP.
> 
> And lastly, when I lower the GPU Clock Offset, I still get 1280.3 Mhz GPU Core Clock in GPU-Z. Shouldn't this be going down as i'm decreasing the clock offset?
> 
> Thanks


I don't know your card but not seeing TDP rise above 40% sounds wrong especially at those clocks. Regarding the offset, you need to drop it more to see the clocks actually change (~13Mhz from memory now, I haven't tried with the latest drivers though). If dropping it by 1Mhz and it brings stability, great, leave it there.

Why you're not seeing an increased score above +190, maybe because you're very close to instability already, pushing it. If your bench results are good then be happy with it.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Costcosaurus*
> 
> but is the fans information that follows that necessary to complete the overclock?


If it's overheating (that special Nvidia number; +70 degrees) then yeap...


----------



## Lycoth

Okay thanks, that really clears things up.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *error-id10t*
> 
> I don't know your card but not seeing TDP rise above 40% sounds wrong especially at those clocks.


I guess I'm slightly concerned about the TDP then. I just did a Heaven Benchmark on full and the highest TDP was 36%. Maybe somebody else has anything to add? Other than that I guess i'm pretty happy with the card and the overclock. My memory seems slightly below average, but my Core Clock seems higher than most at 1280 so definitely happy with it.


----------



## kevindd992002

According to the OP, the KB (therefore Max Boost) is not consistent and differs for every card even for the same model. I have three Gigaybyte GTX 670 WF3 OC with me and all of them have a Max Boost of 1162.7MHz when plugged in my system. What does that mean? Isn't the Max Boost limited for a single system and not by different cards of the same model? Or are those Max Boosts only a coincidence (which I doubt)?


----------



## justanoldman

Hello fellow 670 owners.
Finished overclocking my chip, but this is my first time overclocking a GPU:
EVGA GTX 670 FTW LE

Could someone let me know if these numbers look reasonable, or might I be doing something wrong? Using Precision X, GPU +92 MHz, Memory + 726 MHz.

Base 941 + offset 92 = 1033, boost= 1112, max while testing = 1163

Base 1502 * 2= 3004 + offset 726 = 3730, max while testing = 3734

Heaven with everything maxed, and 1920x1080, gives me 48.8 fps and a score of 1230. I hit 66c max temp and max Power % of 102.

3DMARK11 gives p9751, graph 9808, phy 10982, comb 8050, using a 3770k at 4.6.

I don't really know if these are bad or good numbers. Thanks for any help or advice.


----------



## GingerStubble

Hi all. New here but was a religious reader until my Gigabyte GTX670 arrived last Friday. I've been trying to find the perfect overclock for the last few days and have finally settled on the numbers below. To be honest I am a little disappointed with the results as I am seeing so many other people get much bigger clocks than mine.

One thing I did notice is that anytime my card pushed its core clock to 1215, it would crash. This happened at +104, but at +103 it would stay constantly at 1201.9 and not crash. I'm guessing it simply can't handle another step up beyond that. The temperature *never* goes above 58 degrees so I know heat isn't throttling it. Power consumption is at 80.1% max. Just a shame I didn't get a better chip! BIOS and all chipset and graphics drivers are up to date. I am using the F12 firmware.

My memory clock is stable at +280 but not at +285.

Tested 10 times consecutively in Heaven, once in 3D Mark 11 and a half hour burn in test using Kombuster to make absolutely certain it is stable.

If anyone can help me improve on these do feel free to suggest it









GPU Clock: 1083
Memory: 1642
Boost: 1162

Core Voltage: +100
Power Limit: 112%
Core Clock: +103
Memory Clock: +280


----------



## ghjjf

hey, really appreciate this thread

got my gtx 670 ftw today, bios flash was able to let me get stable at 1306 mhz







just needed a small amount extra voltage









heaven fps is 35.5 fps in 1440p, very awesome

mem is being a little twitchy at +550, so I just lowered it to 450 for now and it's fine. heaven just drives me nuts so i'll get around to it later

thanks again


----------



## estabya

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ghjjf*
> 
> hey, really appreciate this thread
> 
> got my gtx 670 ftw today, bios flash was able to let me get stable at 1306 mhz
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> just needed a small amount extra voltage
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> heaven fps is 35.5 fps in 1440p, very awesome
> 
> mem is being a little twitchy at +550, so I just lowered it to 450 for now and it's fine. heaven just drives me nuts so i'll get around to it later
> 
> thanks again


Dang 1306! I'm kinda jealous







mine crashes at anything above 1228.


----------



## kitoxx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GingerStubble*
> 
> Hi all. New here but was a religious reader until my Gigabyte GTX670 arrived last Friday. I've been trying to find the perfect overclock for the last few days and have finally settled on the numbers below. To be honest I am a little disappointed with the results as I am seeing so many other people get much bigger clocks than mine.
> 
> One thing I did notice is that anytime my card pushed its core clock to 1215, it would crash. This happened at +104, but at +103 it would stay constantly at 1201.9 and not crash. I'm guessing it simply can't handle another step up beyond that. The temperature *never* goes above 58 degrees so I know heat isn't throttling it. Power consumption is at 80.1% max. Just a shame I didn't get a better chip! BIOS and all chipset and graphics drivers are up to date. I am using the F12 firmware.
> 
> My memory clock is stable at +280 but not at +285.
> 
> Tested 10 times consecutively in Heaven, once in 3D Mark 11 and a half hour burn in test using Kombuster to make absolutely certain it is stable.
> 
> If anyone can help me improve on these do feel free to suggest it
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> GPU Clock: 1083
> Memory: 1642
> Boost: 1162
> 
> Core Voltage: +100
> Power Limit: 112%
> Core Clock: +103
> Memory Clock: +280


i am having this exact same issue (low stable clocks with no thermal or power throttling) but with slightly higher clocks....i think it may just be our chips/cards

my card: Gigabyte GTX 670 WF3 OC
my max stable atm:

Core v: +100
Power limit: 112%
Core clock: +113
Memory Clock: +351

i had issues getting my memory clock above 200 which i thought was strange but even more strange was that upon pushing it above 300 i found it became more stable (+100-200 stable) (+200-300 unstable) (+300-350 stable) all played around with while core clock was at +111 or +113.

maybe just try one run @ +331 or something...(also found having an odd number can help with stability with core clock and mem clock)


----------



## JTHMfreak

I'm no expert by far, but some of you gotta remember that every card is different. My last 670 FTW easily went up to 1280mhz and was very stable. The one I have now, not so much. It's all luck of the draw. Also I find that doing an hour+ long gaming session is a better indicator for me on stability, since I'll pass in heaven time and time again yet as soon as I fire up Far Cry 3 or Borderlands 2 I crash within 10-15 minutes.


----------



## kitoxx

i agree.. my most testing games tend to be Assassins Creed 3, Battlefield 3 and Far Cry 3......good things come in 3's it seems.... so i run heaven bench maxxed a few times then 20-30 mins of kombuster or furmark for max temps/stability then games for stability in different circumstances......only then does it pass as stable in my eyes..

i realise each chip will have different max clocks however just like many others here i am constantly in pursuit of mOAR







i still love my card


----------



## Vuzer

Do you guys think OC the VRAM that has no heatsink on can be done without the need to worry it getting fried in the long run?

Is what holding me from finding out the max capability of my card for the moment.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> According to the OP, the KB (therefore Max Boost) is not consistent and differs for every card even for the same model. I have three Gigaybyte GTX 670 WF3 OC with me and all of them have a Max Boost of 1162.7MHz when plugged in my system. What does that mean? Isn't the Max Boost limited for a single system and not by different cards of the same model? Or are those Max Boosts only a coincidence (which I doubt)?


Guys please help me on this?


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Vuzer*
> 
> Do you guys think OC the VRAM that has no heatsink on can be done without the need to worry it getting fried in the long run?
> 
> Is what holding me from finding out the max capability of my card for the moment.


I OC'ed my mem into the 700 range. From my personal exp you won't damage a card when trying to OC. One of several things will happen. Your drivers will crash. The program will crash. Or you will artifact and then crash. I have had all three happen time and time again while trying to find a stable OC and my card is still fine. You won't break your card unless you do something stupid like I did, and then you RMA it and get a replacement.


----------



## Draknareth

You don't have a bad card, you just chose the wrong card for a big OC. From what i've read pretty much all Gigabyte 670's have low stable OC's. Either 1202 max or 1215. Mine is usually stable at 1215 but I have to run at 1202 for BF3. Essentially if you want a great OC buy a different card (I know it's a bit late for that now) If you want really low temps without having to watercool it the gigabyte rocks


----------



## Vuzer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JTHMfreak*
> 
> You won't break your card unless you do something stupid like I did, and then you RMA it and get a replacement.


Thanks for the info, but what did you do to your card?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Draknareth*
> 
> You don't have a bad card, you just chose the wrong card for a big OC. From what i've read pretty much all Gigabyte 670's have low stable OC's. Either 1202 max or 1215. Mine is usually stable at 1215 but I have to run at 1202 for BF3. Essentially if you want a great OC buy a different card (I know it's a bit late for that now) If you want really low temps without having to watercool it the gigabyte rocks


actually the gigabyte wf3 was the best overclocking cards you could find until evga got their mess with the ftw cards straightened out. 75-80% of all wf3 cards seemed to be pulling the highest clocks. i dont know what gigabyte changed that turned their cards into low clockers.


----------



## TheDoctor46

Well my testing of my 2 MSi GTX670 PE's has basically told me that they will not overclock at all on the core. I got it to +60, it crashed, and started backing down to +40 which passed the first time and it still crashed, eventually I was just pleased to get it to pass at stock again. They are boosting to about 1190 and 1165 with just the power target set to 115%. Any higher and it's not worth the instability for 1.5fps increase.

Might try the memory but it's hardly going to change the world.

The numbers in the monitor were good though. Only at about 85% power percentage, steady clock and voltage graphs... just seems the chips won't do it.

Edit: The only thing I can hope is that this rather disappointing overclocking performance is due to the 313.95 driver that I am using and maybe it being unstable (probably a forlorn hope though). Every crash was this display driver becoming unresponsive. On older cards that I've clocked, pushing it too far just caused either the benchmark to lock-up, or artifacts/corruption. None of which were present this time.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheDoctor46*
> 
> Well my testing of my 2 MSi GTX670 PE's has basically told me that they will not overclock at all on the core. I got it to +60, it crashed, and started backing down to +40 which passed the first time and it still crashed, eventually I was just pleased to get it to pass at stock again. They are boosting to about 1190 and 1165 with just the power target set to 115%. Any higher and it's not worth the instability for 1.5fps increase.
> 
> Might try the memory but it's hardly going to change the world.
> 
> The numbers in the monitor were good though. Only at about 85% power percentage, steady clock and voltage graphs... just seems the chips won't do it.
> 
> Edit: The only thing I can hope is that this rather disappointing overclocking performance is due to the 313.95 driver that I am using and maybe it being unstable (probably a forlorn hope though). Every crash was this display driver becoming unresponsive. On older cards that I've clocked, pushing it too far just caused either the benchmark to lock-up, or artifacts/corruption. None of which were present this time.


What are you using to overclock your card? Use Afterburner 2.2.3, that version supports overvolting. I run my 670PE at 1.294v @ 1359mhz


----------



## TheDoctor46

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> What are you using to overclock your card? Use Afterburner 2.2.3, that version supports overvolting. I run my 670PE at 1.294v @ 1359mhz


I was using AVGA precision as per this guide's recommendation which also supports overvoltage.

I'll give afterburner a go, but I thought the maximum was 1.175V? Is 1.294V some sort of BIOS mod you're running?

Edit: I don't get it. If you read the voltage graphs the card hits 1.175V before you add any voltage offset. Adding voltage offset doesn't make the voltage go any higher and the card still crashes at +40core which is around 1200-1220 max core boost.... the overclockability of these cards is non-existent. I suppose they sell them as factory overclocked and that's where all the additional performance has gone... it's just usually I found that factory overclocked could still be decently overclocked by the user as well.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheDoctor46*
> 
> I was using AVGA precision as per this guide's recommendation which also supports overvoltage.
> 
> I'll give afterburner a go, but I thought the maximum was 1.175V? Is 1.294V some sort of BIOS mod you're running?
> 
> Edit: I don't get it. If you read the voltage graphs the card hits 1.175V before you add any voltage offset. Adding voltage offset doesn't make the voltage go any higher and the card still crashes at +40core which is around 1200-1220 max core boost.... the overclockability of these cards is non-existent. I suppose they sell them as factory overclocked and that's where all the additional performance has gone... it's just usually I found that factory overclocked could still be decently overclocked by the user as well.


This card supported overvolting when it was released, but the feature was later removed by request of nVidia. Afterburner 2.2.3 is the only version of the software, that is able to overvolt the GPU, EVGA doesen't support overvolting on the PE cards at all. The voltage readings are wrong, i did mine by multimeter. They might, however, have removed the overvolting feature from later cards, i am not sure.

While PrecisionX might be superior, Afterburner has all the same features, on a different User Interface.


----------



## TheDoctor46

So the newer versions of AB don't support overvoltage... even though they say that they do and have all the buttons?

Edit: I see that later versions of this card have a BIOS that locks the voltage regardless of which version of AB you use. What BIOS is your card? mine is 80.04.31.00.46.

Edit2: "apparently" the unlocked BIOS' are 80.04.19.00.36 and 80.04.31.00.46.... we'll see.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheDoctor46*
> 
> So the newer versions of AB don't support overvoltage... even though they say that they do and have all the buttons?
> 
> Edit: I see that later versions of this card have a BIOS that locks the voltage regardless of which version of AB you use. What BIOS is your card? mine is 80.04.31.00.46.
> 
> Edit2: "apparently" the unlocked BIOS' are 80.04.19.00.36 and 80.04.31.00.46.... we'll see.


Correct, only 2.2.3 supports the overvoltage. And for the BIOS, i am not sure. I use a third party BIOS, that is a hybrid between a WF3 and the PE BIOS, due to a bug on my card (not allowing the power target to raise beyond 104%)

If you are out of luck, you might want to test out my BIOS, it has a messed up fan profile, so you WILL need to set up a custom profile. As always, remember to back up your original BIOS.

GCPESTOCKV.zip 56k .zip file


----------



## TheDoctor46

I think that my BIOS probably does allow overvolting, but it seems a lot of wear and tear for a small gain. Looks like I'll need all of the 100mv to get about 80 on the core ... I sort of get the impression that most people are able to get 100 on the core *without* overvolting?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheDoctor46*
> 
> I think that my BIOS probably does allow overvolting, but it seems a lot of wear and tear for a small gain. Looks like I'll need all of the 100mv to get about 80 on the core ... I sort of get the impression that most people are able to get 100 on the core *without* overvolting?


People reach from 1200 to 1280 on stock voltage. Some only reach low 1100's. luck of draw.


----------



## catacavaco

My problem is not even getting to an specific clock, is to maitin it without throttling using the stock cooler, which is not that great.


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Vuzer*
> 
> Thanks for the info, but what did you do to your card?


I tried to do a physical mod of putting an antec 620 kuhler on my other one, I didn't know there was a slight gap between the cooler and the gpu, it overheated.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JTHMfreak*
> 
> I tried to do a physical mod of putting an antec 620 kuhler on my other one, I didn't know there was a slight gap between the cooler and the gpu, it overheated.


Sorry, but I had to laugh







too bad! Were you able to RMA?


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Sorry, but I had to laugh
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> too bad! Were you able to RMA?


Yes I got RMA, EVGA rules. That card was a great clocker though. OC'ed to 1280mhz


----------



## justanoldman

Sorry if this is dumb question, but why does everyone just talk about the core clock when talking about o.c. ability? With some of these cards it seems the memory clock is able to go much higher and that adds to your fps. So is it possible to have a card with less than a great core number but a good memory number that produces more fps than a card with high core but low memory?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *justanoldman*
> 
> Sorry if this is dumb question, but why does everyone just talk about the core clock when talking about o.c. ability? With some of these cards it seems the memory clock is able to go much higher and that adds to your fps. So is it possible to have a card with less than a great core number but a good memory number that produces more fps than a card with high core but low memory?


Absolutely correct! But, core speed sounds better than memory speeds







the truth is, that these cards benefits greatly from memory overclocks (especially in memory intensive games, such as BF3).


----------



## pc-illiterate

someone else on here stated that every 13mhz memory overclock was worth 1mhz core clock. i have no idea. my wf3 is a dud overclocker and severely 'bottlenecks' my asus. no it isnt the right term but, it fits the profile of a bottleneck...


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *justanoldman*
> 
> Sorry if this is dumb question, but why does everyone just talk about the core clock when talking about o.c. ability? With some of these cards it seems the memory clock is able to go much higher and that adds to your fps. *So is it possible to have a card with less than a great core number but a good memory number that produces more fps than a card with high core but low memory?*


http://hardocp.com/article/2012/05/10/nvidia_geforce_gtx_670_video_card_review/7

"In our testing, *we saw more of an advantage overclocking the GPU frequency, than we did the memory*. The memory was actually able to overclock higher, but doing so hurt our maximum GPU core clock headroom. We'd rather have as high of a core clock frequency as possible."

I think it depends of the game though, some games prefer core, when the others prefer memory.


----------



## GingerStubble

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kitoxx*
> 
> i am having this exact same issue (low stable clocks with no thermal or power throttling) but with slightly higher clocks....i think it may just be our chips/cards
> 
> my card: Gigabyte GTX 670 WF3 OC
> my max stable atm:
> 
> Core v: +100
> Power limit: 112%
> Core clock: +113
> Memory Clock: +351
> 
> i had issues getting my memory clock above 200 which i thought was strange but even more strange was that upon pushing it above 300 i found it became more stable (+100-200 stable) (+200-300 unstable) (+300-350 stable) all played around with while core clock was at +111 or +113.
> 
> maybe just try one run @ +331 or something...(also found having an odd number can help with stability with core clock and mem clock)


What I have noticed is that the max GPU core clock only goes to 1215 (where it crashes) after pushing the numbers up beyond +103. For example, between about 95 and 103 it will never go up there and indeed will stay at 1201.9mhz, but between 104 and about 112 I think, it does go up. After that it pushes it even higher. The same applies to the max GPU memory clock which, in GPUZ anyway, goes to max the moment you set it - so I know +281 is the max stable memory as at +282 it pushes into the next "step" which makes it unstable on my card when testing. This step stays the same from +282 to about +295, so its really not about what score you can push up to in your overclocking tool, its more about what the speed is in GPUZ as it tends to stay the same between two points when you define it on your OC tool. Im a bit drunk so I hope this made sense. If I knew the formula for each step it would be easier but alas I don't.

Over the next few days Im going to test pushing it way further and seeing if I can get out of this unstable range but if not I won't be too fussed. My Heaven score sits at about 1212-1215 now which is strange because at a lower clock (about 3 less GPU and 10 less memory) I was getting 1222 consistently so I might actually downclock after testing if these results ring true.


----------



## kitoxx

yer im still getting my simple head around these keplers, but i get what you mean about the ranges and about how what you set in the OC tool can vary from what is displayed in GPU-Z....

keep me posted with how you go...

more testing to be done here too...


----------



## justanoldman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> http://hardocp.com/article/2012/05/10/nvidia_geforce_gtx_670_video_card_review/7
> 
> "In our testing, *we saw more of an advantage overclocking the GPU frequency, than we did the memory*. The memory was actually able to overclock higher, but doing so hurt our maximum GPU core clock headroom. We'd rather have as high of a core clock frequency as possible."
> 
> I think it depends of the game though, some games prefer core, when the others prefer memory.


Thanks for the info. It just seems like my $339 card that only does 1163, which is quite bad from what I read, can do 49.3 fps in Heaven with all maxed settings at 1920x1080 which doesn't seem that bad. I guess I am just trying to figure all this out.


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *justanoldman*
> 
> Thanks for the info. It just seems like my $339 card that only does 1163, which is quite bad from what I read, can do 49.3 fps in Heaven with all maxed settings at 1920x1080 which doesn't seem that bad. I guess I am just trying to figure all this out.


maybe you should try your OC on the games like FC3 or BF3, you will know what is the more important between core and memory.


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *justanoldman*
> 
> Thanks for the info. It just seems like my $339 card that only does 1163, which is quite bad from what I read, can do 49.3 fps in Heaven with all maxed settings at 1920x1080 which doesn't seem that bad. I guess I am just trying to figure all this out.


How far a card can oc is all luck of the draw. You can however use a modded bios to get more voltage which may allow you to have a higher stable oc. With a modded bios I can have stable heaven runs at 1280 mhz. Crashes in games though, FC3 and BL2. Bios mod is easy, reversible, and worth a shot if you are willing to do a few more hours of tweaking your card.


----------



## kitoxx

this seems to be all i can squeeze out of it....... i'm relatively happy with 1228/6696 (i can run any game i choose without crashes and Kombuster and Furmark doesn't get to 70C) i have managed runs of heaven with higher scores at higher clocks but it wasn't what i would consider 100% stable (if i remember correctly BF3 didn't like it..)


----------



## JTHMfreak

When I OC my second 670 FTW when it comes in will I need them at the same or similar clocks? Or can I have each at whatever it is that they will do max separately?


----------



## pc-illiterate

the fastest card will be downclocked to the slowest cards speeds


----------



## GingerStubble

This is really quite strange. So at +281 memory clock, its stable. At +282 it crashes. It crashes anywhere after that too, up to about +300. I just pushed it all the way to +350 and it was stable in four Heaven runs! Pushed it to +400 and it crashed on the third run.

Not sure if I can be bothered to test beyond that and might just move it down to +281 to be on the safe side. I spent hours and hours getting to the "perfect" +281 clock. Dont like the idea of doing all of that again from everywhere between +350 and the maximum!


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GingerStubble*
> 
> This is really quite strange. So at +281 memory clock, its stable. At +282 it crashes. It crashes anywhere after that too, up to about +300. I just pushed it all the way to +350 and it was stable in four Heaven runs! Pushed it to +400 and it crashed on the third run.
> 
> Not sure if I can be bothered to test beyond that and might just move it down to +281 to be on the safe side. I spent hours and hours getting to the "perfect" +281 clock. Dont like the idea of doing all of that again from everywhere between +350 and the maximum!


I have had stable heaven runs but crash in game. Try an OC with some good game time on something like BF3 or Far Cry 3.


----------



## TheDoctor46

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GingerStubble*
> 
> This is really quite strange. So at +281 memory clock, its stable. At +282 it crashes. It crashes anywhere after that too, up to about +300. I just pushed it all the way to +350 and it was stable in four Heaven runs! Pushed it to +400 and it crashed on the third run.
> 
> Not sure if I can be bothered to test beyond that and might just move it down to +281 to be on the safe side. I spent hours and hours getting to the "perfect" +281 clock. Dont like the idea of doing all of that again from everywhere between +350 and the maximum!


If it's crashing (even once every 4 runs) then IMO it's not a good clock. Certainly not one you'd want to play games with 24/7. A crash in a 5 minute benchmark is still a pretty unstable clock I think, even if it does take 4 runs to crash it, that's only 20 minutes and not exactly a massively long gaming session. What you lose in performance by backing off from the max "stable" overclock by about 10% will make very little difference to perceived performance vs the annoyance that having a marginally stable overclock will cause.


----------



## catacavaco

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheDoctor46*
> 
> If it's crashing (even once every 4 runs) then IMO it's not a good clock. Certainly not one you'd want to play games with 24/7. A crash in a 5 minute benchmark is still a pretty unstable clock I think, even if it does take 4 runs to crash it, that's only 20 minutes and not exactly a massively long gaming session. What you lose in performance by backing off from the max "stable" overclock by about 10% will make very little difference to perceived performance vs the annoyance that having a marginally stable overclock will cause.


this


----------



## theelviscerator

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JTHMfreak*
> 
> I OC'ed my mem into the 700 range. From my personal exp you won't damage a card when trying to OC. One of several things will happen. Your drivers will crash. The program will crash. Or you will artifact and then crash. I have had all three happen time and time again while trying to find a stable OC and my card is still fine. You won't break your card unless you do something stupid like I did, and then you RMA it and get a replacement.


Ethical people however do NOT RMA, when they break their own stuff. RMA is for MFR defects.


----------



## mpompino

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *theelviscerator*
> 
> Ethical people however do NOT RMA, when they break their own stuff. RMA is for MFR defects.


^^ However it is hard for the company to detect that.

I just received my second Evga GTX 670 FTW in the mail and was wondering if anyone has had problems with SLI in Farcry 3. I post this in here because I'm wondering if overclocking the card past their clocks would help. I've heard it's issues with the engine but wanted some more input. I'm running on the most recent beta drivers 313.96


----------



## TheDoctor46

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mpompino*
> 
> ^^ However it is hard for the company to detect that.
> 
> I just received my second Evga GTX 670 FTW in the mail and was wondering if anyone has had problems with SLI in Farcry 3. I post this in here because I'm wondering if overclocking the card past their clocks would help. I've heard it's issues with the engine but wanted some more input. I'm running on the most recent beta drivers 313.96


What issues are you speaking of?

I'm of the impression that (whilst FarCry 3 is obviously a very demanding game) the optimisation in the game is less than stellar.

I'm playing with 313.95 and have it running on SLi GTX670's and the SLi is working properly in terms of core utilisation. About 55fps minimum with eveything maxed at 1920x1080.

I did play it today with my Video Ram clocked to about 7000MHz and I think it helps a bit, but it's not going to make the world of difference, just maybe give you 5 fps more in those situations where the framerate is liable to dip too low for my tastes.


----------



## estabya

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheDoctor46*
> 
> What issues are you speaking of?
> 
> I'm of the impression that (whilst FarCry 3 is obviously a very demanding game) the optimisation in the game is less than stellar.
> 
> I'm playing with 313.95 and have it running on SLi GTX670's and the SLi is working properly in terms of core utilisation. About 55fps minimum with eveything maxed at 1920x1080.
> 
> I did play it today with my Video Ram clocked to about 7000MHz and I think it helps a bit, but it's not going to make the world of difference, just maybe give you 5 fps more in those situations where the framerate is liable to dip too low for my tastes.


It seems like you should see higher frames than that with SLI. I play with the card in my sigrig at Ultra with 2x AA and I don't think it's gone below 50 FPS once.


----------



## TheDoctor46

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *estabya*
> 
> It seems like you should see higher frames than that with SLI. I play with the card in my sigrig at Ultra with 2x AA and I don't think it's gone below 50 FPS once.


I'm using 8xAA and both cores are being fully utilised according to afterburner's monitoring. A low of about 55 and obviously well above that most of the time depending on the situation.

I've no doubt the cards are doing what they are meant to... maybe the scaling for SLi isn't very good in farcry 3?


----------



## pc-illiterate

how are those drivers in everything else Doc ? im running everything well except maxxing planetside2. that game kills the fps with everything FULLY maxxed.


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *theelviscerator*
> 
> Ethical people however do NOT RMA, when they break their own stuff. RMA is for MFR defects.


Well EVGA has no problem with people outfitting their products with other parts, the part I used with mine didn't fit quite right which caused mine to fail. I described what happened to my card and EVGA still issued an RMA to me, I was not unethical at all.


----------



## FloJoe6669

i gotta question...

so i have a _Gigabyte Geforce GTX 670 OC 4GB_ and it is set on its default factory settings. HOWEVER when running GPU-Z i can see that in a stressful situation such as a benchmark the voltage will go up to *1.175V* and the core clock will go quite high as well (often *1189 MHz*).
In Gigabyte's OC Guru i can see the cores base/boost clock is *980/1059 MHz*. so it appears its overclocking itself, but i thought the gpu clock was limited by the boost clock...
I'm not sure why its doing it, I'm not unhappy at all though, I'm just curious as to why this is.if anybody could shed light on my potential blonde-moment it would be much appreciated, thanks.


----------



## pc-illiterate

flojoe, welcome to the technology known as kepler. every card boost like that. they just dont all boost to the same level.
judging by that max boost, you might have a good clocking card


----------



## FloJoe6669

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> flojoe, welcome to the technology known as kepler. every card boost like that. they just dont all boost to the same level.
> judging by that max boost, you might have a good clocking card


thanks for the info!







i thought the set boost clock of 1059MHz was the max the card would go to unless i decided to clock it higher, guess not.

I'm running 1293MHz max boost (sub-60c i think) @ 1.175V stable in Unigine Heaven. That good?


----------



## TheDoctor46

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> how are those drivers in everything else Doc ? im running everything well except maxxing planetside2. that game kills the fps with everything FULLY maxxed.


I've only tried them in Farcry 3 and Crysis 3 for which they are the recommended drivers as they supposedly offer much better performance than the official release at the moment, according to the notes.


----------



## pc-illiterate

yeah but ac3 got the huge kick in the pants boost. 28%. thats a monstrous improvement.


----------



## pc-illiterate

whooooooooooooooooooooooooo! finally broke 15,000 in 3dm11
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5800708
now to figure out how to get my graphics score higher. max gpu clocks with 'max' cpu clock lowers the gpu score.

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/5800708/3dm11/5653874

#106 valid results and #147 all results.
cant get higher gpu clocks. im not pushing my 2500k past 4.8ghz. ram is fast as i can get stable at 1866 10-10-10-27-1t.
bah! crappy wf3 keeping from spot #100


----------



## ccmoreaucc

Hey guys, I'm new here and so, I wanted to post my experience with my 670 up till now. I have a GTX 670 DirectCu II Non-Top. I'm not on my computer right now but from the top of my head, here's my benchmarking numbers from GPU Tweak. All this was done using the Unigine Heaven benchmark.

GPU Core Clock Boost = 1058MHz
GPU Core Clock Boost with KB = 1137MHz
GPU Memory Clock (untouched) = 3004MHz
Power Target Status = 34%
Fan Speed = 50%
Temperature (max) = 61C
Volatage (max) = 1.175V

That's all the important stuff. The power target definitely concerns me since other people have low power targets but 34% is really, really low. Is this a bad thing or a good thing?


----------



## TheDoctor46

Reading the ASIC quality of these MSI 670 PE's tells a story.

1 card is 74% the other is 67%. They will only clock about +20 on the core bringing them to 1200 or just below on one of them. The memory clocks fine of course.

For something that is billed as an "overclockers" card with voltage adjustment (even though that's now defunct) I'm not very happy about those cores. Those must have been metaphorically hanging around at the bottom of the reject bin.

Obviously their performance is still good, but those cores are pretty shoddy for a £300 card when I could have got the same performance from a reference card for £50 less each.


----------



## SightUp

I do not want to add anymore voltage to this overclock as the card runs hot already. I started off with GPU Clock Offset and found that +105 MHz was about 6 hours Heaven stable. Is that enough time to test it? Now I am working on the Mem Clock Offset. Currently it is testing for +600 MHz. It is going good. Is this normal? Are you supposed to find your GPU Clock Offset before you find your Mem Clock Offset? Or does it matter?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SightUp*
> 
> I do not want to add anymore voltage to this overclock as the card runs hot already. I started off with GPU Clock Offset and found that +105 MHz was about 6 hours Heaven stable. Is that enough time to test it? Now I am working on the Mem Clock Offset. Currently it is testing for +600 MHz. It is going good. Is this normal? Are you supposed to find your GPU Clock Offset before you find your Mem Clock Offset? Or does it matter?


Try Battlefield 3, Far Cry 3 or Crysis 3 Beta. You might be Heaven stable, but these games are very demanding! In my experience, BF3 stresses the memory very hard, Far Cry 3 is hard on the core, and Crysis just crashes everything! :S


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Try Battlefield 3, Far Cry 3 or Crysis 3 Beta. You might be Heaven stable, but these games are very demanding! In my experience, BF3 stresses the memory very hard, Far Cry 3 is hard on the core, and Crysis just crashes everything! :S


^This. I had plenty of stable heaven runs only to have a game crash it within 15 minutes.


----------



## iRandomize

Does anyone else have issues with Crysis 3? 13mhz overclock crashes in Crysis on 313.96 drivers......... Rock solid stable in everything else at a 220mhz overclock :S


----------



## Draknareth

Not played the Crysis 3 beta yet but bear in mind practically all Betas have issues, Guildwars 2 beta was a prime example.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Draknareth*
> 
> Not played the Crysis 3 beta yet but bear in mind practically all Betas have issues, Guildwars 2 beta was a prime example.


Play it! ITS AMAZING! Best ever stress test! I'm back at 1280!


----------



## iRandomize

Double post... sorry


----------



## theelviscerator

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> whooooooooooooooooooooooooo! finally broke 15,000 in 3dm11
> http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5800708
> now to figure out how to get my graphics score higher. max gpu clocks with 'max' cpu clock lowers the gpu score.
> 
> http://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/5800708/3dm11/5653874
> 
> #106 valid results and #147 all results.
> cant get higher gpu clocks. im not pushing my 2500k past 4.8ghz. ram is fast as i can get stable at 1866 10-10-10-27-1t.
> bah! crappy wf3 keeping from spot #100


I got my pair over 16k on my 2600k on lower clocks...

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5676471

Yep its your ram, too much ram and too slow I run 7-8-7-24 clocks...more ram is bad for benching... slows your rig down actually. I run 4 gb ram only..more is a waste and a drag.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> whooooooooooooooooooooooooo! finally broke 15,000 in 3dm11
> http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5800708
> now to figure out how to get my graphics score higher. max gpu clocks with 'max' cpu clock lowers the gpu score.
> 
> http://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/5800708/3dm11/5653874
> 
> #106 valid results and #147 all results.
> cant get higher gpu clocks. im not pushing my 2500k past 4.8ghz. ram is fast as i can get stable at 1866 10-10-10-27-1t.
> bah! crappy wf3 keeping from spot #100


That's weird. Why would a higher CPU clock produce less overall score in 3DMark?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *theelviscerator*
> 
> I got my pair over 16k on my 2600k on lower clocks...
> 
> http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5676471
> 
> Yep its your ram, too much ram and too slow I run 7-8-7-24 clocks...more ram is bad for benching... slows your rig down actually. I run 4 gb ram only..more is a waste and a drag.


and ht helps a hell of a lot. and higher clocked 670s help just as much


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> That's weird. Why would a higher CPU clock produce less overall score in 3DMark?


pc-illiterate, do you see my question here?


----------



## pc-illiterate

yeah, because it didnt. its all in the gpu clocks. the higher my gpu clocks the lower my overall score. its pretty screwed up. i can either have a high gpu clock and gpu scores with lower cpu scores or a lower gpu clocks with lower gpu scores and higher cpu scores.
im thinking this is what that guy a while back was telling us when i wanted to know how a gpu clock can limit a cpu clock. he meant in benchmark scoring and i meant actual core clock limiting.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> yeah, because it didnt. its all in the gpu clocks. the higher my gpu clocks the lower my overall score. its pretty screwed up. i can either have a high gpu clock and gpu scores with lower cpu scores or a lower gpu clocks with lower gpu scores and higher cpu scores.
> im thinking this is what that guy a while back was telling us when i wanted to know how a gpu clock can limit a cpu clock. he meant in benchmark scoring and i meant actual core clock limiting.


Ah ok. How high of a CPU clock did you notice a drop in your 3DMark scores?


----------



## pc-illiterate

its not the 2500k. its my 670s clocks doing it. the higher the 670s are clocked, the lower the cpu scores. i can get 19,800+ points for graphics but physics and combined are mid 8,000. with lower gpu clocks, i score 19,300-19,500+ graphics and cpu and physics scores are 8,900-9,000+. these were with 4.5ghz.
im now at 4.8ghz and scores are better across the board. thinking maybe a new 3820 instead of a 3770k. newegg has the asrock x79 extreme6 for less than $200 right now. that puts me at $420 + tax and gas cost. microcenter has the 3820 for $230 still. its an hour drive away...

night night kev


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> its not the 2500k. its my 670s clocks doing it. the higher the 670s are clocked, the lower the cpu scores. i can get 19,800+ points for graphics but physics and combined are mid 8,000. with lower gpu clocks, i score 19,300-19,500+ graphics and cpu and physics scores are 8,900-9,000+. these were with 4.5ghz.
> im now at 4.8ghz and scores are better across the board. thinking maybe a new 3820 instead of a 3770k. newegg has the asrock x79 extreme6 for less than $200 right now. that puts me at $420 + tax and gas cost. microcenter has the 3820 for $230 still. its an hour drive away...
> 
> night night kev


Ah but what they guy is actually saying in the other thread is that if you want to get higher gpu benchmark scores you have to lower your CPU OC.


----------



## twitchyzero

How's everyone's OC in Far Cry 3 on 310.90 drivers?

I love how the game really pushes my card....temps go up to 71 and power draws hit 133% (no throttling because I'm on higher voltage)

I already crashed twice within 3 hours of gameplay...just seeing if anyone's been having similar problem before I try the game again on stock clocks.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *twitchyzero*
> 
> How's everyone's OC in Far Cry 3 on 310.90 drivers?
> 
> I love how the game really pushes my card....temps go up to 71 and power draws hit 133% (no throttling because I'm on higher voltage)
> 
> I already crashed twice within 3 hours of gameplay...just seeing if anyone's been having similar problem before I try the game again on stock clocks.


Way higher than Crysis 3 on 313.96 drivers


----------



## twitchyzero

^ awesome....I'm not gonna touch that game until I OC my CPU and RAM even if its' gonna be 98% GPU bound haha

what temps and power draw you getting in C3?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *twitchyzero*
> 
> ^ awesome....I'm not gonna touch that game until I OC my CPU and RAM even if its' gonna be 98% GPU bound haha
> 
> what temps and power draw you getting in C3?


Running at stock speeds whenever i play C3. I get 90fps with my settings, when i disabled vsync. Normally i run at 60C (with vsync). I have yet to fully test out my GPU on Crysis 3 (the game is too awesome to spend time on overclocking!)


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Running at stock speeds whenever i play C3. I get 90fps with my settings, when i disabled vsync. Normally i run at 60C (with vsync). I have yet to fully test out my GPU on Crysis 3 (the game is too awesome to spend time on overclocking!)


You can get 90 FPS on Crysis 3 beta? what are the settings did you use?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> You can get 90 FPS on Crysis 3 beta? what are the settings did you use?


Anything at low, medium AA.

This thread is pretty interesting too, these are really brilliant settings:
http://www.mycrysis.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=57804&sid=58bb1fab9841ec22b3a818f2af5e491a


----------



## kevindd992002

So which driver is best for overclocking currently?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> So which driver is best for overclocking currently?


It's not all about overclocking.... real world performance matters as well! Newer drivers will generally perform better. I am able to reach the same overclock regardless of the driver, with the exception of Crysis 3


----------



## effendi360

Guys quick question. Does anyone have ASUS GTX 670 non TOP version witch bios from TOP applied ? In theory this would work right ? But I'd like to get some confirmation.


----------



## pc-illiterate

as far as i know, the bios will do nothing but raise your clocks to levels that are lower than you can overclock them to yourself.


----------



## effendi360

Yes but would not to be better having same bios in both cards ?


----------



## TheDoctor46

FarCry3 makes my two MSi GTX670 hover around the 60-65 degree mark. I use a pretty aggressive fan profile though where at 60 degrees the fan will be spinning 75%. At 65degrees the fan will be spinning about 83%.

FarCry locks up for me in the mission "saving Oliver" where you have to reach a vantage point and identify Oliver through the camera. No fix for that so that looks like the end of the game for me :|


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> It's not all about overclocking.... real world performance matters as well! Newer drivers will generally perform better. I am able to reach the same overclock regardless of the driver, with the exception of Crysis 3


What happens with C3?


----------



## Hey_Hi_Hello

Hey guys, could somebody please run 3DMark13 "Fire Strike" benchmark at default settings and report the graphics score of a completely stock GTX670 (915/6008) with the latest beta drivers? I'd really appreciate that!


----------



## effendi360

You sould get around 6000 on stock 670. I'm getting 6500 on [email protected] and asus 670 at 1250Hmz on core.

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/25283


----------



## effendi360

Guys can U tell me is boosting memory clock on gpu gives any real boost performance ? And what ate 'safe' clocks for memory ?


----------



## TheDoctor46

With the way Kepler boost works there isn't really such a thing as a "stock" score because that 915 base clock number doesn't really mean anything and the card will boost to whatever it can when under load, so the score will vary from card to card depending on the extent of the boost.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *effendi360*
> 
> Guys can U tell me is boosting memory clock on gpu gives any real boost performance ? And what ate 'safe' clocks for memory ?


It certainly does help, I gained about 5fps (from about 88 to 93) using a max setting run on Heaven.

I have my memory offset +550 in afterburner which gives me an effective memory clock of around 7100MHz. It'll probably go a bit further, but of course will vary card to card.


----------



## Hey_Hi_Hello

Yeah I know that, however, the maximum boost speed from "default" 915MHz wouldn't vary very much across different brand cards.


----------



## effendi360

Whoa ! 7100MHz on mem








I was on 7000 today just for benchmark







So You think being around 7k is safe of course if the card can handle it ?


----------



## effendi360

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hey_Hi_Hello*
> 
> Yeah I know that, however, the maximum boost speed from "default" 915MHz wouldn't vary very much across different brand cards.


Yes You're right. Before on my old bios asus dcu2 top was jumping from 1137 to almost 1250MHz. Now after update I'm getting with boost around 1160/1170HMz on core with factory OC of course. The best is to check after test, or switch on demanding game and when playing just quick alt+tab and check what are your top clock when card is in full load


----------



## TheDoctor46

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *effendi360*
> 
> Whoa ! 7100MHz on mem
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was on 7000 today just for benchmark
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So You think being around 7k is safe of course if the card can handle it ?


Whilst obviously you do so at your own risk I don't see that increasing the clock speed is going to cause anything more terminal than instability. I can't profess to know the exact layout the the PCB and exactly what cooling the memory has, but one would have to assume even indirectly it is probably getting a fair bit of air. Increasing the clock does tend to increase temperature but at stock voltage it ought to be ok. I don't overclock with the intention of actually damaging things that's why I'm staying away from raising the GPU core voltage because I think it's pretty unknown whether that is really safe.

I'm running mine at 7100MHz all the time and am yet to have a benchmark or game crash because of it. I'm going to push it a bit further, I just haven't gotten around to testing it, and I assume that it's getting towards the limit. 7200MHz is probably possible on some cards for 24/7use.. but the gains over what I am using are going to be minimal anyway.


----------



## effendi360

How about core clock ?


----------



## effendi360

I did some benches and would like to share the scores.

DCU2T Stock



Only memory boosted to 7000MHz



Core on 1254MHz (effective) Memory 7000Mhz


----------



## TheDoctor46

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *effendi360*
> 
> How about core clock ?


My cards (MSi GTX670's) won't overclock on the core much at all, literally 20MHz which is pretty unacceptable if I'm honest seeing as they are meant to be "overclockers" cards. They boost to about 1190 and 1170 stock and with the +20 offset they're around 1200ish.

People do manage to run high memory and core overclocks together though. certainly 6800 and a 1280 clock shouldn't be out of the question if your card can do those figures at all. Possibly more on the memory, it just depends how the settings balance on your card and what effect they have on each other. Some cards come factory overclocked at 6600 on the memory so you'd kind of assume there's some margin left there.


----------



## effendi360

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheDoctor46*
> 
> My cards (MSi GTX670's) won't overclock on the core much at all, literally 20MHz which is pretty unacceptable if I'm honest seeing as they are meant to be "overclockers" cards. They boost to about 1190 and 1170 stock and with the +20 offset they're around 1200ish.


You don't worry my friend







Buddy of mine from other forum has *Asus Matrix 7970* and he's sample overclocks on core only up to 1150MHz







Imagine how badly upset he is









Today I did some testing and from what I saw, I was able to play crysis 3 beta for like 20minutes with all max settings, vsync off and 1250MHz effective on core and 7000Mhz on memory without noticing any instability. Just want to compare with others. Usualy stock clocks are more than enough to get rock solid 60 fps in most games. I want to use OC only for more demanding titles lice far cry 3, crysis 3 etc.


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *twitchyzero*
> 
> How's everyone's OC in Far Cry 3 on 310.90 drivers?
> 
> I love how the game really pushes my card....temps go up to 71 and power draws hit 133% (no throttling because I'm on higher voltage)
> 
> I already crashed twice within 3 hours of gameplay...just seeing if anyone's been having similar problem before I try the game again on stock clocks.


FC 3 crashes my oc quite easily, the longest run I had was about 45 min I think.


----------



## twitchyzero

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JTHMfreak*
> 
> FC 3 crashes my oc quite easily, the longest run I had was about 45 min I think.


Thanks for your response..what are your OC figures?
same drivers?


----------



## TheDoctor46

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *effendi360*
> 
> You don't worry my friend
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Buddy of mine from other forum has *Asus Matrix 7970* and he's sample overclocks on core only up to 1150MHz
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Imagine how badly upset he is
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Today I did some testing and from what I saw, I was able to play crysis 3 beta for like 20minutes with all max settings, vsync off and 1250MHz effective on core and 7000Mhz on memory without noticing any instability. Just want to compare with others. Usually stock clocks are more than enough to get rock solid 60 fps in most games. I want to use OC only for more demanding titles lice far cry 3, crysis 3 etc.


Crysis3 crashed (twice) my marginal RAM overclock.. I say that it was RAM because I can't determine that it was anything else given the instant reset that it caused. It evidently was a very minor undervolt that I've yet to try to rectify as I've been trying to isolate it. Need more VDimm IMO. It's a long-term stability issue.. memtest etc don't pick it up.

Crysis 3 definitely gives the system a workout. I run an aggressive GPU fan profile so my temps max at 65 degrees Celsius and that's with Sli cards poisoning the case with hot air.

FarCry 3 is similar.. they both put my CPU into the 70's because the case temperature goes from a typical 30 degrees C when stress testing with prime, to about 45 degrees when the GFX cards are filling the case with hot air... obviously the delta between heatsink and ambient temp is less once the GFX cards are working as opposed to something which is solely CPU dependent.


----------



## effendi360

I've had before SLI with two 570s. If you want to get decent temps on both card I sugest move them to motherboard with allows U to connect them both and have at least two slots of empty space between. With my two reference evga 570s on evga p55 mobo in my HAF.X my temps where so good that lower card was actualy hotter then top one - the same model but maybe they used diffrent thermal compound or something.








Check out how I'v had them connected before.


----------



## TheDoctor46

I actually don't have the problem of the bottom card being starved of air that most people have. My cards are upside-down drawing "clean" air with a full slot between them.. my card-to-card temperatures are good.. given that one is the master and one is the "Slave".

My temperature issues are not GPU related. I can force them down with the GPU fan profile. The temp issues I have are the air-cooled CPU can only cool as effectively as it has cool air going into it.

Those Dual 670's poison the case with hot air... and that Delta T between case air and CPU is everything.

It's not critical.. Maybe I'll get one of those Corsair "all-in-one" watercoolers for the CPU for my birthday...

Can't really do custom loop.... phantom 410.... not enough knowledge... etc.


----------



## effendi360

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheDoctor46*
> 
> It's not critical.. Maybe I'll get one of those Corsair "all-in-one" watercoolers for the CPU for my birthday...


You absolutelly (i dont know if I spelled that right :0 ) DO NOT buy one of this coolers. Friend of main is a serios expert of WC and he alwais saiz that they are worth ****. This piece of garbage cost U at least 100 bucks and performance it gives are on the level of half priced air coolers. I'm going to get some water into my case as I moved to biostart mobo, having there Silver Arrow makes impossible to connect card to top pciex slot (check out foto in my profile). In that case if I'm getting second card I HAVE TO WC my CPU, and I'm thinking about bigger radiator 3x120 to buy some blocks for the card in the future.


----------



## effendi360

Remember - even 'ready to go' 'all in one' cooling systems like ones from XSPC are no good as they have pump and reservoir combined and when you mount them to 3.5bays they almost in all cases cause anoying vibrations of your case.


----------



## pc-illiterate

swiftech releases the h220 later this month. best 'all-in-one' ever...


----------



## effendi360

My friend. Be serious. Is it better if U buy all-in-one computer from supermarket or U prefer to build it from custom parts ? If you don't know how to start with WC ask someone. It is not that hard. 3x120 radiator U can get only for 50 USD (or cheaper cause I'm talking about prices in Poland and here we have 23% VAT :/ ) plus nice 3 fans for example from enermax and U get silence and temps that U'll never able to acheve with mendioned above "cooling systems".

Sory for engilsh; hope U understand what I meant.


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *effendi360*
> 
> You absolutelly (i dont know if I spelled that right :0 ) DO NOT buy one of this coolers. Friend of main is a serios expert of WC and he alwais saiz that they are worth ****. This piece of garbage cost U at least 100 bucks and performance it gives are on the level of half priced air coolers. I'm going to get some water into my case as I moved to biostart mobo, having there Silver Arrow makes impossible to connect card to top pciex slot (check out foto in my profile). In that case if I'm getting second card I HAVE TO WC my CPU, and I'm thinking about bigger radiator 3x120 to buy some blocks for the card in the future.


My all in one cooler for my cpu works quite well. Gonna buy more for a mod to gpu cooling.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *effendi360*
> 
> My friend. Be serious. Is it better if U buy all-in-one computer from supermarket or U prefer to build it from custom parts ? If you don't know how to start with WC ask someone. It is not that hard. 3x120 radiator U can get only for 50 USD (or cheaper cause I'm talking about prices in Poland and here we have 23% VAT :/ ) plus nice 3 fans for example from enermax and U get silence and temps that U'll never able to acheve with mendioned above "cooling systems".
> 
> Sory for engilsh; hope U understand what I meant.


first, i have yet to see a 360 rad for $50.
second, google swiftech h220.
third, thank me for showing you an 'all-in-one' to rule them all.


----------



## effendi360

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> first, i have yet to see a 360 rad for $50.
> second, google swiftech h220.
> third, thank me for showing you an 'all-in-one' to rule them all.


This rad 3x120 costs exaclly 61 usd in Poland now

With 23% extra of VAT. So calculate for yourself how much it would be in US.
Second, I googled it. The temps and noise levels it provides I was able to acheve on air cooler fo 40 USD. If you saying this works well for U I'm assuming that U never saw proper custom WC and how it performs...


----------



## Draknareth

Not all cases are equipped to deal with custom loops or kits. And as for the closed loops from Corsair, the newer versions (H60 2013, H80i and H100i) are all bloody good. My 3770k is OC'd to 4.6GHz and I don't see temps over 75 in Prime or IBT. At stock speeds I was down to about 45


----------



## effendi360

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Draknareth*
> 
> Not all cases are equipped to deal with custom loops or kits.


Hehe yes but I'm assuming that if someone has cash for gtx 670 and i5/i7 he would spare some extra money to put them into proper and big case.
My friend, on my AIR cooler right now Silver Arrow witch is cheaper than for example H100 you mentioned on 2600K wit HT on @[email protected] I have 28 deg in IDLE and 67 deg in full load in LinX after one hour of testing witch both fans staying around 1100rpm all the time...


----------



## effendi360

With proper custom loop of WC you can easly go down to around 60 deg in full load witch fans staying around 800/900rpm. For me this kind of performance is unquestionable.


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *effendi360*
> 
> With proper custom loop of WC you can easly go down to around 60 deg in full load witch fans staying around 800/900rpm. For me this kind of performance is unquestionable.


Yes, but not everyone has that kind of money to spend. The AIO coolers do a great job for the price you pay.


----------



## effendi360

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JTHMfreak*
> 
> The AIO coolers do a great job for the price you pay.


Compare yourself price and performance of thic AIO coolers to top AIR collers like Noctua, Silver Arrow etc
WC costs, I agree but once you spend this money all you have to do in the future is changing cpu/gpu blocks and that is it. With AiO coolers not always you have this possibility...


----------



## TheDoctor46

In my situation the biggest advantage of having a custom loop would be that I could cool the GFX cards. Having two 670's it is actually those which cause the biggest problem because they raise the case temperature which in turn reduces the effectiveness of the air-cooled CPU heatsink.

In my situation I'm not too sure that having one of these AIO water coolers would make much difference to CPU temps; because the radiator can only be cooled by the air coming from inside the case, and with the 670's running that air is reasonably hot.

I've got loads of case fans. I think it's just the reality of having two big cards blowing hot air into a case. It's not a massive problem. It's not like it's causing throttling or anything.


----------



## effendi360

When I had my 570s someone told me that for SLI reference cards are actualy better as their turbines blowing the air straight way out from the case.
For two 670s my friend sais that rad 3x120 on the top of the case and 1x120 on the back of it- if you can manage to fit them can easly handle OCed CPU and two OCed cards with fans staying on the level witch is bearly audible.


----------



## JulioCesarSF

Very nice! You need to change topic name to "The GTX 6xx Overclocking Master-Guide".


----------



## effendi360

Hehe You're right. We went bit too far with off topic. Sorry about that.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *effendi360*
> 
> This rad 3x120 costs exaclly 61 usd in Poland now
> 
> With 23% extra of VAT. So calculate for yourself how much it would be in US.
> Second, I googled it. The temps and noise levels it provides I was able to acheve on air cooler fo 40 USD. If you saying this works well for U I'm assuming that U never saw proper custom WC and how it performs...


you did not google it. you would have seen the video. you would know that it is watercooling. you would see you will not get those temps with a $40 cooler.
$150 for an expandable pre-filled loop. actually google it and check it out. that is a swiftech mcr-220 qp rad. its actually a swiftech apogee drive 2 with a 3000 rpm limiter.









that rad is $62 usd.
you need to realize, with a custom loop you still need a cpu block, a rez, a pump, fittings and tubing. youre looking at minimum $200 plus the radiator.


----------



## catacavaco

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *effendi360*
> 
> Hehe yes but I'm assuming that if someone has cash for gtx 670 and i5/i7 he would spare some extra money to put them into proper and big case.
> My friend, on my AIR cooler right now Silver Arrow witch is cheaper than for example H100 you mentioned on 2600K wit HT on @[email protected] I have 28 deg in IDLE and 67 deg in full load in LinX after one hour of testing witch both fans staying around 1100rpm all the time...


Well that might be true for low ambient temperature scenarios, here in Brazil its prohibitive to rely on air cooling when overclocking stuff, if you dont go water you're going to fry some serious chips.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *effendi360*
> 
> Compare yourself price and performance of thic AIO coolers to top AIR collers like Noctua, Silver Arrow etc
> WC costs, I agree but once you spend this money all you have to do in the future is changing cpu/gpu blocks and that is it. With AiO coolers not always you have this possibility...


In Denmark, the Noctua NH-D14 and the (old) Corsair H100 is a 10% price difference. Temperatures on my CPU using the Noctua NH-D14: 82C full [email protected] fans. Corsair H100 is [email protected] with NF-F12 fans. (It will easily beat the NH-D14 with its stock fans too, but those are LOUD, and one of mine is broken).

I have both, and i am gonna sell the Noctua.

I am running a bit lower voltage on the H100 (it was stable at -0.01v at those temperatures, and with an optimized PLL voltage)

On newegg the price difference is 25% though :S


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *effendi360*
> 
> Compare yourself price and performance of thic AIO coolers to top AIR collers like Noctua, Silver Arrow etc
> WC costs, I agree but once you spend this money all you have to do in the future is changing cpu/gpu blocks and that is it. With AiO coolers not always you have this possibility...


Tests show the h100i cools 4 degrees cooler than the nh-d14, but the nh-d14 is 7 db quieter and also $20 cheaper. It definitely is a give and take.


----------



## Xtreme512

sometimes my Power target jumps up to enourmous levels like 300% and driver crashes.. is it because of the OC ing ? Will mod my max power target to even more help this issue ?


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtreme512*
> 
> *sometimes my Power target jumps up to enourmous levels like 300% and driver crashes.. is it because of the OC ing ?* Will mod my max power target to even more help this issue ?


Yup, mine jump to 294% when got crash....


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> Yup, mine jump to 294% when got crash....


so its bad OC ing ?.. and how to fix it ?dont tell me to reduce OC







because its already low.. about 1202/6700 MHz and its very stable but like I said I got the crash in crysis 3







(very very rare) but it annoyed me !









edit: I usually get this crash while OC ing more like 1250 MHz. So do I need more power or voltage ? if I need power, how much is the safe limit for a zotac gtx 670 -60301 short pcb reference- ?


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtreme512*
> 
> so its bad OC ing ?.. and how to fix it ?dont tell me to reduce OC
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> because its already low.. about 1202/6700 MHz and its very stable but like I said I got the crash in crysis 3
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (very very rare) but it annoyed me !
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> edit: I usually get this crash while OC ing more like 1250 MHz. So do I need more power or voltage ? if I need power, how much is the safe limit for a zotac gtx 670 -60301 short pcb reference- ?


What about BF3, FC3? Are you still got crash with your current 1202? If not, I assume maybe the game is very demanding...If you don't want to reduce your OC, try increasing the voltage...

and always maxing out your power limit...


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> What about BF3, FC3? Are you still got crash with your current 1202? If not, I assume maybe the game is very demanding...If you don't want to reduce your OC, try increasing the voltage...
> 
> and always maxing out your power limit...


I always put power lmit at max 122% when Im gaming.. and it automatically increases the voltage to max 1.175 and reduces it when hits 70 C degree. I cant max voltage to 1175 all the time.


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtreme512*
> 
> I always put power lmit at max 122% when Im gaming.. and it automatically increases the voltage to max 1.175 and reduces it when hits 70 C degree. I cant max voltage to 1175 all the time.


mod your BIOS maybe?


----------



## d-block

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtreme512*
> 
> I always put power lmit at max 122% when Im gaming.. and it automatically increases the voltage to max 1.175 and reduces it when hits 70 C degree. I cant max voltage to 1175 all the time.


You can try evga precision and turn on k boost.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *d-block*
> 
> You can try evga precision and turn on k boost.


What does K boost do?


----------



## estabya

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> What does K boost do?


It forces max voltage and frequency (for both core and memory) whether the card is under load or not. basically disables downclocking so it's running at max clock no matter what.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *estabya*
> 
> It forces max voltage and frequency (for both core and memory) whether the card is under load or not. basically disables downclocking so it's running at max clock no matter what.


Ah. Is that recommended to be enabled all the time?


----------



## estabya

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Ah. Is that recommended to be enabled all the time?


As far as I know it helps some people get a higher/more stable OC. It didn't help me personally though. And word of warning it will cause your card to idle hot.


----------



## twitchyzero

300% power draw is most likely a false reading

i remember getting that too in GPU-Z when it crashes.

If it happens once or twice..i wouldnt worry about it.

If it keeps happening...sucks to say your card doesn't wanna be in the 1200+/6700+ range


----------



## kitoxx

i am having this same issue (when it crashes its the power limit that goes through the roof ~285%) but with a mild clock it does fine.... i am using AB with power limit set to max and voltage @ +100...... just wondering what everyone who is having this issue is using to impliment OC ??? (AB, precision, tweak, GPU-z).....


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kitoxx*
> 
> i am having this same issue (when it crashes its the power limit that goes through the roof ~285%) but with a mild clock it does fine.... i am using AB with power limit set to max and voltage @ +100...... just wondering what everyone who is having this issue is using to impliment OC ??? (AB, precision, tweak, GPU-z).....


I thought the voltage setting in AB doesn't work for Kepler cards?


----------



## kitoxx

seems to work fine tho doesn't allow for a very big increase......stock voltage is 0.99v AB allows 100mv increase and my GPU observer gadget and other monitoring software shows 1.09v.....


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kitoxx*
> 
> seems to work fine tho doesn't allow for a very big increase......stock voltage is 0.99v AB allows 100mv increase and my GPU observer gadget and other monitoring software shows 1.09v.....


Seems odd, as the stock voltage on the GK104 cards is 1.175v. I believe the voltage slider only makes a difference in terms of how the voltage throttleing works. (something with a higher minimum voltage, giving a higher average voltage, which can increase stability)


----------



## kitoxx

i recant my previous posts as they were submitted in a moment of pure noobishness








... and concur with iRandomize....... i still get the power % spikes and am unsure as to whether or not the crashes are a cause or an symptom of the spikes....


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Seems odd, as the stock voltage on the GK104 cards is 1.175v. I believe the voltage slider only makes a difference in terms of how the voltage throttleing works. (something with a higher minimum voltage, giving a higher average voltage, which can increase stability)


Is it recommended not tp move the voltage slider at all when you voltage unlock the vBIOS of your card?


----------



## writer21

I was able to get to one complete run maxed settings in heaven with voltage slider at +100mV with a core clock of 1320. Thing is it seems to drop to 1306 every 10-15 seconds then jumps back up. Temps never go over 60c and power target is at 114% on slider. TDP power max reaches 101% while running and constant 99% load. Wondering why it is throttling. Also is that a safe OC? It seems I could push it even more but is that safe voltage?

Also what is better to oc with the 670 cards? Memory or core clock? Seems like very little performance gain with core clock in some gains and huge gains in others.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Is it recommended not tp move the voltage slider at all when you voltage unlock the vBIOS of your card?


Yes and no, if you are stable without upping the voltage slider, leave it stock. If you need it upped to get stable, just go for it.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *writer21*
> 
> I was able to get to one complete run maxed settings in heaven with voltage slider at +100mV with a core clock of 1320. Thing is it seems to drop to 1306 every 10-15 seconds then jumps back up. Temps never go over 60c and power target is at 114% on slider. TDP power max reaches 101% while running and constant 99% load. Wondering why it is throttling. Also is that a safe OC? It seems I could push it even more but is that safe voltage?
> 
> Also what is better to oc with the 670 cards? Memory or core clock? Seems like very little performance gain with core clock in some gains and huge gains in others.


Which card are you using? The MSI GTX 670 Power Edition?


----------



## writer21

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Yes and no, if you are stable without upping the voltage slider, leave it stock. If you need it upped to get stable, just go for it.
> Which card are you using? The MSI GTX 670 Power Edition?


Yeah


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *twitchyzero*
> 
> 300% power draw is most likely a false reading
> 
> i remember getting that too in GPU-Z when it crashes.
> 
> If it happens once or twice..i wouldnt worry about it.
> 
> If it keeps happening...sucks to say your card doesn't wanna be in the 1200+/6700+ range


its very rare that I got crashes and its only in crysis 3 so far.. but again its pretty rare because 1200/6700 is not a heavy OC guys







BUT if it happens again Im gonna do mod power target and voltage so I can even get it stable up to 1300/6700 .. maybe mem will be higher than 6700.

So lets say it happened.. what is the safe voltage and pow rlimit I can go up tu with the MOD for my card ? my card has reference and short PCB.. code is *ZOTAC 60301.* which means weakest gtx 670 on the planet ever


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *writer21*
> 
> I was able to get to one complete run maxed settings in heaven with voltage slider at +100mV with a core clock of 1320. Thing is it seems to drop to 1306 every 10-15 seconds then jumps back up. Temps never go over 60c and power target is at 114% on slider. TDP power max reaches 101% while running and constant 99% load. Wondering why it is throttling. Also is that a safe OC? It seems I could push it even more but is that safe voltage?
> 
> *Also what is better to oc with the 670 cards? Memory or core clock?* Seems like very little performance gain with core clock in some gains and huge gains in others.


don't worry it's safe, btw congrats....1300+ without modding BIOS is impressive....and I prefer core TBH


----------



## Mreim76

Just for my own curiosity sake, when you guys freeze in heaven does the music keep playing?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mreim76*
> 
> Just for my own curiosity sake, when you guys freeze in heaven does the music keep playing?


yes


----------



## writer21

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mreim76*
> 
> Just for my own curiosity sake, when you guys freeze in heaven does the music keep playing?


Mines just crashes back to desktop with error then I have to reboot. Usually I max everything do one run at least and if it does one run most of the time it's stable in games.


----------



## writer21

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> don't worry it's safe, btw congrats....1300+ without modding BIOS is impressive....and I prefer core TBH


Thanks man. Should I run that OC everytime I play or would you back it down? To be honest I feel I could get higher because I didn't even touch aux voltage yet. Just wondering if I should run that core clock everytime I game. Some of my games I don't need it but games like BF3 could be very useful.

Also why would it be throttling at 99% load? Temps never went over 60 and power max was 102%.


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *writer21*
> 
> Thanks man. Should I run that OC everytime I play or would you back it down? To be honest I feel I could get higher because I didn't even touch aux voltage yet. Just wondering if I should run that core clock everytime I game. Some of my games I don't need it but games like BF3 could be very useful.
> 
> Also why would it be throttling at 99% load? Temps never went over 60 and power max was 102%.


I'm not sure about power limit though...Because I never had any experience for that problem....my power limit is always max when I OC the card like crazy....now I can't OC to 1300+ on games because I'm got a lack of power limit...always throttle....

Test your OC on Crysis 2 with High Res Textures...I recommend...


----------



## kevindd992002

Is it always to run Heaven in Benchmark mode when stress testing and OC stability testing?


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Is it always to run Heaven in Benchmark mode when stress testing and OC stability testing?


The best benchmark ever is games....


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> The best benchmark ever is games....


Not related to my question at all.


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Not related to my question at all.


Ok good luck....


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> Ok good luck....


Did you understand why I said that your answer was not related to my question? My question was very simple and it was concerning a setting in Heaven and not for other benchmarks.


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Did you understand why I said that your answer was not related to my question? My question was very simple and it was concerning a setting in Heaven and not for other benchmarks.


Yes I understand your question....


----------



## JTHMfreak

For the people who have core fluctuations, the author says at the beginning that if the core clock jumps around than the OC is not stable. For the weird usage spikes, I would get those when my OC failed as well, my core would jump to 1293, and I would no longer hear my fan.


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Is it always to run Heaven in Benchmark mode when stress testing and OC stability testing?


I would say that heaven is a "halfway decent" oc stability test. The reason I say this is because I have had countless passes in heaven, only to have a crash in a game, and it was multiple games too. Maybe heaven isn't so great for gpu oc testing and we need something else maybe.


----------



## EaquitasAbsum

Hey guys recently overclocked GPU to 1150/1280kepler boost and Memory to 6333/6686kepler boost voltage 1.175v power target 122%
make gigabyte Windforce 2 I have two monitors one 720p the other 1080p and after reaching this clock I decided that because I normally use SLI mode and my GPU clock usually doesn't go over 940 on each card while playing, but I recently got a RSOD without any print on both monitors.

I recently swapped my 4170 for a 6300, just in case this has any possible relevancy to my problem
and have noticed significant Vdroop.

I have read reviews saying that there is some problems with this on my make of card, mostly a memory problem, but I also have heard it could be faulty A/V cables(HDMI in my case)/burnt out LCD lamps, to faulty BIOS chips or malfunctioning motherboards and faulty CPU's

Any help and all help with my current dilemma would be greatly appreciated thanks in advance.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Is it always to run Heaven in Benchmark mode when stress testing and OC stability testing?


from my understanding, when you use heaven in benchmark mode, it runs and records the min and max frames. if you just let it run, it will loop until you stop it. this is how people say they are stable for 2 hours in heaven.
as far as stability testing, the best stability tests are the most gpu demanding games you have. you can run heaven for 2 hours and still crash in a game.
3dmark11 was no good for max stable benchmarking. i could run with my memory at 3800mhz and run it yet crash with anything over 3475mhz. some people pass heaven and crash in games as youve read here.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JTHMfreak*
> 
> I would say that heaven is a "halfway decent" oc stability test. The reason I say this is because I have had countless passes in heaven, only to have a crash in a game, and it was multiple games too. Maybe heaven isn't so great for gpu oc testing and we need something else maybe.


You're right and I know about that. Anyways, what would be your answer regarding the setting that I was asking in my question though?


----------



## writer21

I was having fluctuating core when I hit 102% power. So I tried increasing aux to 30max and now Heaven crashed. Why would the core fluctuate once hitting 102% when I set powerlimit to the max of 114%.


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> *3dmark11 was no good for max stable benchmarking*


I believe about 3DMARK11 testing to be honest, and from my understanding it will test your Core instead of memory....Like you said, you can run your memory @7600 Mhz, me too....but when I raise the clock by only 6 Mhz (from 1320 to 1326), I got crashes....even I reduce my memory

Just putting my experience here....


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> You're right and I know about that. Anyways, what would be your answer regarding the setting that I was asking in my question though?


What "setting" are you referring to?
The part that I responded to only had: "Is it always to run Heaven in Benchmark mode when stress testing and OC stability testing?" written by you


----------



## writer21

I'm getting throttling once I hit over 100% power and up. Very frustrating and my temps are 60 and under.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JTHMfreak*
> 
> What "setting" are you referring to?
> The part that I responded to only had: "Is it always to run Heaven in Benchmark mode when stress testing and OC stability testing?" written by you


I mean the "Benchmark" setting of Heaven. Does it have to to be enabled always when I use Heaven as a benchmarking/stability test tool?


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> I mean the "Benchmark" setting of Heaven. Does it have to to be enabled always when I use Heaven as a benchmarking/stability test tool?


I think I know what you're getting at. You can just let heaven run as your gpu and cpu will still be under the same amount of stress as they would in the benchmark mode, but if you don't do the benchmark setting you won't get a score or info of your min/max fps. It'll simply loop over and over until you exit. Do, if you have a stable run with a great score you could then re-run heaven out of the benchmark mode for any amount of time you like to see if the oc is stable enough to survive long multiple heaven runs. I personally feel that gaming is the best way to tell for gpu oc stability though. Did that help?


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JTHMfreak*
> 
> I think I know what you're getting at. You can just let heaven run as your gpu and cpu will still be under the same amount of stress as they would in the benchmark mode, but if you don't do the benchmark setting you won't get a score or info of your min/max fps. It'll simply loop over and over until you exit. Do, if you have a stable run with a great score you could then re-run heaven out of the benchmark mode for any amount of time you like to see if the oc is stable enough to survive long multiple heaven runs. I personally feel that gaming is the best way to tell for gpu oc stability though. Did that help?


Yes it did. Thanks for the info!


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Yes it did. Thanks for the info!


But please consider, that Heaven is a crappy stability test. According to heaven I'm stable at almost 1400mhz. In Crysis i crash even before it finishes loading at those speeds. Heaven is a decent starting point, but don't spend hours on end tweaking the perfect clock in Heaven, because it will most likely be unstable as soon as you launch a demanding game (BF3, FC3, Crysis 3).


----------



## effendi360

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> I'm stable at almost 1400mhz. In Crysis i crash even before it finishes loading at those speeds.


Can U share all of your settings ? U using custom bios ?
I'm on asus dcu II top. Just started to play with custom bios. The higest I've managed on core is 1319MHz when boosted but my v core is on 1.21v.


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> But please consider, that Heaven is a crappy stability test. According to heaven I'm stable at almost 1400mhz. In Crysis i crash even before it finishes loading at those speeds. Heaven is a decent starting point, but don't spend hours on end tweaking the perfect clock in Heaven, because it will most likely be unstable as soon as you launch a demanding game (BF3, FC3, Crysis 3).


How much your max stable overclock on the games?


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> But please consider, that Heaven is a crappy stability test. According to heaven I'm stable at almost 1400mhz. In Crysis i crash even before it finishes loading at those speeds. Heaven is a decent starting point, but don't spend hours on end tweaking the perfect clock in Heaven, because it will most likely be unstable as soon as you launch a demanding game (BF3, FC3, Crysis 3).


Gotcha. Are there demo of these demanding games that I can use so that I won't install them fully if I just want to test stability?


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Gotcha. Are there demo of these demanding games that I can use so that I won't install them fully if I just want to test stability?


if its stable at crysis 3 beta when firing swarmer close and sometihng like that needs more power than you are stable at everything !









for me Im stable at 1202/6600 at most (not stable on 1215/6700 on crysis 3 beta rare crashes only when firing swarmer







lol)).. So I need bios mod for more and asked General already


----------



## kevindd992002

Oh ok. So which really has more effect, core or memory OC?

Oh and btw, where can I download C3?


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Oh ok. So which really has more effect, core or memory OC?


yes I can answer that because I tested it yesterday night









I experineced that increasing memory by 300+ MHz increase FPS s by 4 FPS for crysis 3 .. (but its could be different in other games because it may utilize memory more than crysis 3 etc)..

Increasing core by 10+ MHz dont affect FPS.. it should be at least 30+ Mhz on core to see real gains in FPS.

altough its for crysis 3 beta, it may give an idea for other games too..

note: inreasing mem too much can cause instabilites in core overclock..


----------



## twitchyzero

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> But please consider, that Heaven is a crappy stability test. According to heaven I'm stable at almost 1400mhz. In Crysis i crash even before it finishes loading at those speeds. Heaven is a decent starting point, but don't spend hours on end tweaking the perfect clock in Heaven, because it will most likely be unstable as soon as you launch a demanding game (BF3, FC3, Crysis 3).


agreed..and sometimes its the opposite for me

games run pretty well but heaven crashes easily. I guess in the end games ar emore impotant


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *twitchyzero*
> 
> agreed..and sometimes its the opposite for me
> 
> games run pretty well but heaven crashes easily. I guess in the end games ar emore impotant


if its crysis 3 beta very high 1080p stable with enourmous fire powers and sprinting all around the map then I would call its rock hard solid stable !!







believe me


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *effendi360*
> 
> Can U share all of your settings ? U using custom bios ?
> I'm on asus dcu II top. Just started to play with custom bios. The higest I've managed on core is 1319MHz when boosted but my v core is on 1.21v.


Custom BIOS on a 670 PE card. It is all about the chip, not the settings







And 1319mhz is a very nice overclock! Do not complain!
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> How much your max stable overclock on the games?


In my sig, 1359mhz and +450ram
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Gotcha. Are there demo of these demanding games that I can use so that I won't install them fully if I just want to test stability?


Crysis 3 is currently in an open beta :S.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtreme512*
> 
> if its crysis 3 beta very high 1080p stable with enourmous fire powers and sprinting all around the map then I would call its rock hard solid stable !!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> believe me


That. But use 313.96 drivers


----------



## Xtreme512

@iRandomize: Im using 313.96 BETA drivers since the very first day of crysis 3 beta


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Oh ok. So which really has more effect, core or memory OC?


I have heard that some games benefit more from a core oc and some benefit more from a mem oc. I would say try to retain as high of a clock as you can for each.


----------



## effendi360

In 3dmark11 I've had 1 point diffrence on score at 7400 over 7000MHz









Guys is there any way to switch off core boost ?


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> In my sig, 1359mhz and +450ram


Wow Impressive, make me pretty jealous compared to my *1306 Mhz* on games....Congrats....


----------



## lharvince

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtreme512*
> 
> if its crysis 3 beta very high 1080p stable with enourmous fire powers and sprinting all around the map then I would call its rock hard solid stable !!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> believe me


I'm stable with Crysis 3 and BF3 at +150 core (1065 GPU clock, 1202 max boost) and +600 on memory (7208 memory clock). Also, heaven and 3dmark11 is stable at this overclock. Then, I installed the new 3DMark, and it crashes while on Ice Storm demo. I can complete the benchmark for Cloud Gate and Fire Strike. I wonder why I passed the DirectX11(Fire Strike) but crashes on DirectX9 (Ice Storm).
Crysis 2 also crashes at +150 core and +600 memory after 30mins of playing.

Lowering my memory overclock would yield same results on Ice Storm so I decided to lower my core clock and finally pass all benchmark at +140 core and +600 memory. Played more than an hour on Crysis 2 and have yet to encounter a crash. Hopefully this is my stable overclock. I'm using 310.70 drivers by the way.


----------



## EAPidgeon

I want to push higher, but i'm wondering if there would be minimal gains, i'm trying to push as high as possible without modifying voltage.

I'm a MSI GTX 670 PE and at present i'm using Afterburner to OC

GPU-Z is reporting a core clock of 1050 (+30)

Memory Clock of 1701 (+398/2=+199)

Currently these settings seem to be pretty stable after about a 4 hour session of Witcher 2 Maxed with everything but ubersampling (naturally) would it be wise to push the Memory Clock and Core Clock higher or would I see diminishing returns, i'm slightly wary of pushing a Memory Clock higher as i've heard a few tales of Memory Heat Damage.


----------



## estabya

Well because of my previous disappointing OC on my 670FTW I decided to flash a modded bios. It ended up giving me great results! I had to lower the memory from +580 to +450, but I managed to get the core up from 1215 max boost to 1267 max boost. So my effective memory is 7114Mhz, with a max KB of 1267







Plus it stays nice and cool with an H80 on it, even being overvolted.

I am much more satisfied now


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *estabya*
> 
> Well because of my previous disappointing OC on my 670FTW I decided to flash a modded bios. *It ended up giving me great results! I had to lower the memory from +580 to +450, but I managed to get the core up from 1215 max boost to 1267 max boost. So my effective memory is 7114Mhz, with a max KB of 1267*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Plus it stays nice and cool with an H80 on it, even being overvolted.
> 
> I am much more satisfied now


Very good indeed, congrats....


----------



## lharvince

After another 2 hour session of Crysis 2, the game crashed! I suddenly returned to the desktop and my OC was reset. This is strange as it is only happening on crysis 2.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lharvince*
> 
> After another 2 hour session of Crysis 2, the game crashed! I suddenly returned to the desktop and my OC was reset. This is strange as it is only happening on crysis 2.


Simply means you aren't stable yet. Dropped your OC a bit and try again.


----------



## effendi360

Guys do you think that asus 670 top would work with FTW bios ?


----------



## kitoxx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *effendi360*
> 
> Guys do you think that asus 670 top would work with FTW bios ?


somehow i feel that it would not be a good idea......i may be wrong......
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *estabya*
> 
> Well because of my previous disappointing OC on my 670FTW I decided to flash a modded bios. It ended up giving me great results! I had to lower the memory from +580 to +450, but I managed to get the core up from 1215 max boost to 1267 max boost. So my effective memory is 7114Mhz, with a max KB of 1267
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Plus it stays nice and cool with an H80 on it, even being overvolted.
> 
> I am much more satisfied now


similar results here however i didn't have to reduce my mem clock as it is pretty mild, i was getting 1215/6750 game stable on my stock bios and after the vmodded bios i'm getting 1254/6750 game stable... temps are still ok as i have a pretty aggressive fan curve and the windforce 3 coolers are great from the get go..

this is as far as i've pushed it so far but i cant help but feel there is some headroom in there somewhere..


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *effendi360*
> 
> In 3dmark11 I've had 1 point diffrence on score at 7400 over 7000MHz
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Guys is there any way to switch off core boost ?


Synthetic benchmarks...... you will have a great boost in BF3. And there is a way, somewhere, but that would require the GPU to run at it's max clock all the time (also when idleing).
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> Wow Impressive, make me pretty jealous compared to my *1306 Mhz* on games....Congrats....


1306 is fine... not much of a difference tbh :S Sadly i could only reach 400 on my memory, i hoped i could get a little higher :'(


----------



## Fallout323f

my gtx 670 overclocking day's are over.
3 different drivers and gtx keeps on crashing on stock speeds


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> 1306 is fine... not much of a difference tbh :S Sadly i could only reach 400 on my memory, i hoped i could get a little higher :'(


I think lowering your core clock a little bit will help increase the stability of your memory clock. My 1306 Mhz on games can do +500 (7 Ghz effective) *without raising the mem/aux voltage*....


----------



## Draknareth

My max core clock is a little naff (1215 for Guildwars 2 1202 everything else) but my memory clock is nice at 7300 MHz







Works lovely for BF3


----------



## nismofreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Fallout323f*
> 
> my gtx 670 overclocking day's are over.
> 3 different drivers and gtx keeps on crashing on stock speeds


Who's card do you have? How old is it? Was it crashing as stock setting right out the box? Do you have a modded bios on it?


----------



## Fallout323f

Code:

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nismofreak*
> 
> Who's card do you have? How old is it? Was it crashing as stock setting right out the box? Do you have a modded bios on it?


Asus dc notop.
Not right out of the box. But the first initial crash was on stock speed.
Card is now 7 months could it be degrading. who knows. Or just a bad kepler lottery ticket
Original bios so no overvoltage.


----------



## pc-illiterate

if its crashing on stock settings, make sure it isnt a driver issue, rma it. with the low cocks they have stock, its bad if its crashing.


----------



## nismofreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Fallout323f*
> 
> Asus dc notop.
> Not right out of the box. But the first initial crash was on stock speed.
> Card is now 7 months could it be degrading. who knows. Or just a bad kepler lottery ticket
> Original bios so no overvoltage.


Not saying you should keep it but do you get stability with a negative offset?

I would most definitely RMA it. Either try another brand (EVGA, MSI, gigabyte, etc) or wait for a 780/770.

Good luck!


----------



## RoWeBaLLz

Hey guys need some help,

i think i have a decent card for overclocking but im hitting a wall sort of. My card is a Gigabyte Windforce, On Afterburner my settings are 112% power, +156 core ( for 1280 boost), memory clock at +200.
When i run kombuster on 2x screens(i use surround for 3x27in) i hit 1280 core at 65degrees constant for about 107-110% TDP. But when i play games it only uses about 80% TDP and only boosts to 1267. Am I missing something here? Love the card btw, running bf3 on high across 3x27s at good frame rates.


----------



## Xtreme512

why everyone has weird power target issues ?? I have no issue at all at that.. for example, I can play crysis 3 at max power target 150% and it even goes up to 157% !!!

Just try your OC settings in crysis 3 open beta and you wil lse your GPU and PC melting really cevat yerli said it and I lol ed









by the way my settings are 1260/6600 .. 6700 crashes my core oc on crysis 3 open beta.. SO SO much demanding game !

edit: if you dont see max power target again on crysis 3 so the only answer is that your card doesnt need much power for your OC settings.. try increasing your OC then







but I warned you for crysis 3







..


----------



## TheDoctor46

My card barely touches 90% power usage.

What it uses doesn't matter as long as it's below the configured max so that it isn't be throttled.

As long as temps are below 70 degrees and the power usage is below the max set, you will be getting maximum performance.

Even when I overvolted my card (and it definitely did overvolt as I was using afterburner 2.2.3 and my card is running one of the two original BIOS that allow overvolting) my Power usage only went into the high 90's. With a better overclock it would have been in the low hundreds, but still well below 114%.


----------



## writer21

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheDoctor46*
> 
> My card barely touches 90% power usage.
> 
> What it uses doesn't matter as long as it's below the configured max so that it isn't be throttled.
> 
> As long as temps are below 70 degrees and the power usage is below the max set, you will be getting maximum performance.
> 
> Even when I overvolted my card (and it definitely did overvolt as I was using afterburner 2.2.3 and my card is running one of the two original BIOS that allow overvolting) my Power usage only went into the high 90's. With a better overclock it would have been in the low hundreds, but still well below 114%.


My card throttles at 102% with custom 60c no matter what power max setting. If it stays under 60c it doesn't throttle at 102%. These cards are so weird. Also if I don't use custom fan profile my card boost up an extra 13mhz over max boost. With custom profile on it stays at the clock speed I set.


----------



## Coppernicus

Great job! +Rep. The GTX 670 is my first Nvidia card since owning a GeForce2 MX a long time ago... thanks for getting me on the right track to over clock nirvana!


----------



## twitchyzero

^ nice...my 670 is also my first green card in 9 years since the GeForce 2 MX

If I had to buy again now I would still have gone AMD though now that they are so much bang for much...ala Tahiti LE

BTW I never had throttle issues before or after overvolting
I've seen TDP hit 135% and temps in the low 70's


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtreme512*
> 
> why everyone has weird power target issues ?? I have no issue at all at that.. for example, I can play crysis 3 at max power target 150% and it even goes up to 157% !!!


pay attention to what cards are having 'strange power target issues'. its gigabyte windforce cards. as stated earlier, i dont get over 80% target 99% of the time. and my oc tops out at 1228mhz on the core. i have it 1241 a few times but i cant figure out how to get and keep it there.


----------



## Coppernicus

twitchy,

I would have also gone AMD again, but I need the CUDA cores for Adobe Premiere Pro / After Effects rendering. Unfortunately, non-green cards are slower than molasses for most preview/rendering of effects in videos


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> pay attention to what cards are having 'strange power target issues'. its gigabyte windforce cards. as stated earlier, i dont get over 80% target 99% of the time. and my oc tops out at 1228mhz on the core. i have it 1241 a few times but i cant figure out how to get and keep it there.


What do you mean?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> I think lowering your core clock a little bit will help increase the stability of your memory clock. My 1306 Mhz on games can do +500 (7 Ghz effective) *without raising the mem/aux voltage*....


Lowering the core to stock results in 420mhz on the memory. 500 is about average, and not that much more than my 400, the additional 50mhz makes up for it








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtreme512*
> 
> why everyone has weird power target issues ?? I have no issue at all at that.. for example, I can play crysis 3 at max power target 150% and it even goes up to 157% !!!
> 
> Just try your OC settings in crysis 3 open beta and you wil lse your GPU and PC melting really cevat yerli said it and I lol ed
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> by the way my settings are 1260/6600 .. 6700 crashes my core oc on crysis 3 open beta.. SO SO much demanding game !
> 
> edit: if you dont see max power target again on crysis 3 so the only answer is that your card doesnt need much power for your OC settings.. try increasing your OC then
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> but I warned you for crysis 3
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ..


Those power target readings are wrong







Your card is physically limited to about 140%. Software readouts can never be 100% accurate.


----------



## Xtreme512

@iRandomize: no not wrong.. I have modded my BIOS to General123.. and its now taking 225 Watts instead of 172 watts at full load. .and 225 watts = 160% POWER target


----------



## writer21

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> pay attention to what cards are having 'strange power target issues'. its gigabyte windforce cards. as stated earlier, i dont get over 80% target 99% of the time. and my oc tops out at 1228mhz on the core. i have it 1241 a few times but i cant figure out how to get and keep it there.


I'm having power target issues with my card as well. Soon as I hit 102% with max 114% power target slider my core drops. I'm on MSI PE card.


----------



## writer21

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtreme512*
> 
> @iRandomize: no not wrong.. I have modded my BIOS to General123.. and its now taking 225 Watts instead of 172 watts at full load. .and 225 watts = 160% POWER target


What card you using? Is it safe to mod MSI pe bios? I'm having power target issues soon as it reaches 102%.


----------



## effendi360

At the moment on my 670 TOP Im on 1241 1.21v when in load. This is 110% stable, card is working like this thanx to moded bios this one in attachment if you want to try. I scored 6971 in 3dmark runing @1293 @7400 100% stable.









effendi360.zip 56k .zip file


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtreme512*
> 
> @iRandomize: no not wrong.. I have modded my BIOS to General123.. and its now taking 225 Watts instead of 172 watts at full load. .and 225 watts = 160% POWER target


What card is that? :O on the reference cards, 147% is 225watt :S
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *writer21*
> 
> What card you using? Is it safe to mod MSI pe bios? I'm having power target issues soon as it reaches 102%.


The PE card is broken. There has been plenty of posts regarding the power target issues on that card (not being able to break 102% nomatter what). The "fix" that i am currently using, is by using a customized mixture of a Gigabyte and the MSI BIOS, fixing the power target bug.


----------



## Xtreme512

Well if its 225 Watt at 147% then Im using way more than that at 160% lol







its reference short pcb zotac gtx 670 (60301) see my Rig below









and thanks again to *General123* who made it possible for me


----------



## ThoobHertz

Hi fellas. What is the best way to to overclock these cards in SLI. I followed the guide and everything went good on one card. I have received my 2nd card today and want to add it in, but for overclocking, do I need to do it all over again with SLI enabled?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ThoobHertz*
> 
> Hi fellas. What is the best way to to overclock these cards in SLI. I followed the guide and everything went good on one card. I have received my 2nd card today and want to add it in, but for overclocking, do I need to do it all over again with SLI enabled?


yes. and dont be depressed if you lose A LOT of oc on your first card or even both in sli. NOTHING will max these cards in sli except planetside 2.


----------



## ThoobHertz

How about BF3 on 3 24" monitors? 6060x1080
I would argue your statement about not maxing the cards. I don't think I will be able to play Ultra full AA with these 2 cards at an acceptable fps. My acceptable fps is 75 minimum.


----------



## pc-illiterate

ok, not a single game will max these cards on a single monitor. forgot to clarify as everyone/almost everyone tries to disprove everything when you make a general statement.

and you should have bought either the 4gb variants or an amd pair, in my OPINION. btw, at straight 1080p @72hz, i totally max bf3(no motion blur) at 72fps adaptive vsync locked on a 48 man server with a single card clocked at 1285/3456. thats also with quality settings in nvidia cp.


----------



## ThoobHertz

lol, I don't try to disprove anything. I just wanted to make it clear what I had. By the way they are indeed the 4GB cards. Thank you for the info.
Now I still kind of have a question. How do we overclock them for SLI. I still have the option in Precision X to change each card individually. Should they not be overclocking together? I have my "sync" checked. Am I missing something somewhere else?
Just noticed they move together regardless of which one I move. Ok, on to overclocking them again. Thank you much and thank you very much to SeanPoe (Topic creator)


----------



## lilchronic

my card throttles with unlocked bios







but here is my stock bios
334% tdp and only 1.162 v


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lilchronic*
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> my card throttles with unlocked bios
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> but here is my stock bios
> 334% tdp and only 1.162 v


334% tdp? lol*** :S Those readings are messed up








Do you achieve a higher overclock when running an overvolted bios, compared to stock voltages?


----------



## lilchronic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> 334% tdp? lol*** :S Those readings are messed up
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you achieve a higher overclock when running an overvolted bios, compared to stock voltages?


yes i can get 1398mhz but it throttles with any unlocked bios ive tried 3 different bios versions and all seem to throttle


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lilchronic*
> 
> yes i can get 1398mhz but it throttles with any unlocked bios ive tried 3 different bios versions and all seem to throttle


You are most likely running into physical limitations of your card then. I would go for the highest possible clock that gives you no throttleing. You obviously can not rely on the software readings. For the love of god, do not RMA the card!


----------



## Razpor

this is how my harware monitor graph looks lik e after oc ing it to a modest 1100 boost clock.
my card asus gtx 670 dc 2 (non top)


my power % always seems to be below 31%..even after running heaven bench marks..and that cant be right surely ?? everything else seems normal and perfomance seems to have increased a bit .

heaven score at 1100 mhz boost clock: 1185
at factory settings:1116

i just wanted to make sure if nothing is wrong with my card,cause having power 5 below 31 in while running heaven seems to be utterly wrong,does any one else have the same problem???


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Razpor*
> 
> this is how my harware monitor graph looks lik e after oc ing it to a modest 1100 boost clock.
> my card asus gtx 670 dc 2 (non top)
> 
> 
> my power % always seems to be below 31%..even after running heaven bench marks..and that cant be right surely ?? everything else seems normal and perfomance seems to have increased a bit .
> 
> heaven score at 1100 mhz boost clock: 1185
> at factory settings:1116
> 
> i just wanted to make sure if nothing is wrong with my card,cause having power 5 below 31 in while running heaven seems to be utterly wrong,does any one else have the same problem???


There is nothing wrong with your card, the power readings on these cards are very inconsistent. Software readings aren't particularly accurate, and can be utterly and completely wrong. This will not impact performance at all.


----------



## Pacal89

I've been having an issue with my Gigabyte GTX 670 recently; I've started folding again with CPU + GPU and I've found that after a while the power % just drops to 0 according to Precision X though everything else looks fine. It doesn't outright crash but things get really laggy and the estimated times on the workloads in [email protected] go from like 5 hours to 12 hours. Is the power % drop caused by anything in particular? My core is offset by 130 (for a total of 1280 according to Precision X) and my memory offset by 850 (seems to be stable after many heaven runs)


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Pacal89*
> 
> I've been having an issue with my Gigabyte GTX 670 recently; I've started folding again with CPU + GPU and I've found that after a while the power % just drops to 0 according to Precision X though everything else looks fine. It doesn't outright crash but things get really laggy and the estimated times on the workloads in [email protected] go from like 5 hours to 12 hours. Is the power % drop caused by anything in particular? My core is offset by 130 (for a total of 1280 according to Precision X) and my memory offset by 850 (seems to be stable after many heaven runs)


"seems to be stable after many heaven runs", do you play games? BF3? FC3? Crysis 3? Does the same happen on stock clocks?


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> "seems to be stable after many heaven runs", do you play games? BF3? FC3? Crysis 3? Does the same happen on stock clocks?


Sorry wrong thread


----------



## Pacal89

haha on that subject, I haven't done any extended gaming recently but I did play the Crysis 2 super HD mod that just came out (http://maldotex.blogspot.com/2013/02/maldohd-40-final-version.html) for a few hours last night and it has seemed to run just fine. I am on the most recent beta drivers however so I think that might have something to do with it.


----------



## Razpor

thanks for the reply,was just trying to be careful as this is my first gpu overclock ever.








any ways this was the best i could do -


ran heaven 3 times with 0 artifacts or crashes or osscilations in heaven( 1 test on 3d mark 11 as well with a graphics score of close to 11000,dont exactly remember)) till now thankfully,but will try testing again with other benches to be doubly sure.

however there is this one problem ,when i try to run furmark at the settings mentioned in the guide ,i seem to get oscillations of about 13 to 15 mhz continously,is that normal or should i bring down my offsets to stabilize it ??

my max boost sits at 1179 mhz,
max kepler boost at 1306 mhz and
memoffset at +675 mhz


----------



## Degree

Ok so first time overclocking and I ended up with

GPU +87
MEM +186

Boost 1185 MHz

Does this look correct/right?

Should I leave the Power Target at 114% and Voltage at 1150 mV? (Max)


----------



## error-id10t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Razpor*
> 
> ran heaven 3 times with 0 artifacts or crashes or osscilations in heaven( 1 test on 3d mark 11 as well with a graphics score of close to 11000,
> 
> however there is this one problem ,when i try to run furmark at the settings mentioned in the guide ,i seem to get oscillations of about 13 to 15 mhz continously,is that normal or should i bring down my offsets to stabilize it ??
> 
> my max boost sits at 1179 mhz,
> max kepler boost at 1306 mhz and
> memoffset at +675 mhz


Nice score and yeap looks good. Ignore Furmark completely and get it dirty by playing some games








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Degree*
> 
> Ok so first time overclocking and I ended up with
> 
> GPU +87
> MEM +186
> 
> Boost 1185 MHz
> 
> Does this look correct/right?
> 
> Should I leave the Power Target at 114% and Voltage at 1150 mV? (Max)


Max them out. You have a PE card so AFAIK you can go beyond 'normal' using AB 2.2.3 (from memory). Someone will update...


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Degree*
> 
> Ok so first time overclocking and I ended up with
> 
> GPU +87
> MEM +186
> 
> Boost 1185 MHz
> 
> Does this look correct/right?
> 
> Should I leave the Power Target at 114% and Voltage at 1150 mV? (Max)


As the owner of PE card, I can say that +186 on memory for PE is too low..with Triple Control Voltage, you can at least reach +500 Mhz offset on memory...


----------



## Degree

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> As the owner of PE card, I can say that +186 on memory for PE is too low..with Triple Control Voltage, you can at least reach +500 Mhz offset on memory...


Well dang.. tomorrow I'll try messing with it some more. Heaven kept crashing towards the middle, i don't know if 1440p plays a big part of it, the first daytime scenes are laggy especially the first one with the pebble road besides the night scenes


----------



## lilchronic

i wish my 670 FTW used the 680 classified pcb with all the extra transistors and ****








might help me with the unlocked bios and throttling issue


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Degree*
> 
> Well dang.. tomorrow I'll try messing with it some more. Heaven kept crashing towards the middle, i don't know if 1440p plays a big part of it, the first daytime scenes are laggy especially the first one with the pebble road besides the night scenes


If you set your resolution on heaven at 2560 x 1440, yes that's a big part....a lot of people in here are set their resolution on heaven at 1920 x 1080 @8 x AA.


----------



## Degree

Here is the Heaven on
GPU +87
MEM +186


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> If you set your resolution on heaven at 2560 x 1440, yes that's a big part....a lot of people in here are set their resolution on heaven at 1920 x 1080 @8 x AA.


So I should just set my resolution to 1920 x 1080 in Heaven right? Even though I will be using 1440p for every game, or should I just stay with 2560 x 1440 since it is what I'm using all the time?

Also, since you also have a PE, do you use Precision or Afterburner? Isn't the Triple Voltage only on Afterburner?


----------



## Draknareth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Degree*
> 
> Here is the Heaven on
> GPU +87
> MEM +186
> 
> 
> So I should just set my resolution to 1920 x 1080 in Heaven right? Even though I will be using 1440p for every game, or should I just stay with 2560 x 1440 since it is what I'm using all the time?
> 
> Also, since you also have a PE, do you use Precision or Afterburner? Isn't the Triple Voltage only on Afterburner?


Use 1080p to get a comparable result (because most people use 1080p so there are more results to compare with and we can see if it's on par) and then play your games in 1440p


----------



## Subvibes

Okay, so I've just tweaked my 2x Asus gtx 660 ti DCii's...

Should I be happy with this???


----------



## pc-illiterate

i think somethings wrong subvibe. i could be wrong but i get that on a single 670. i thought sli 660TI would be significantly faster.


----------



## kevindd992002

For a Gigabyte GTX 670 WF3 card, is it really beneficial to max out the voltage slider in either Precision or Afterburner? What does it do anyway if I already unlock the card with KGB?


----------



## PF85

So this is my first time really trying to OC my GPU, so give me a chance









Card: *Gigabyte GV-N670OC-2GD (2 GB)*
GPU clock: *+118*
Mem: *+50*
Power target: *112%*
Voltage: *1150 (max)*

This is what I can get when going for a stable OC. Does that seem right?
Also, should I keep power target and voltage on max as said in the guide?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> For a Gigabyte GTX 670 WF3 card, is it really beneficial to max out the voltage slider in either Precision or Afterburner? What does it do anyway if I already unlock the card with KGB?


Even if it isn't beneficial, it certainly doesn't hurt. On a normal card maxing the slider will keep the card from power throttling under heavy load, and so it is beneficial. I don't know what affect it has on a BIO-modded card, but it should be pretty easy to check. Just run Heaven 4.0 in a window (luckily that's now the default) while watching Afterburner and see what the clock speed does at stock power limit and maxed power limit. I know on my card it'll throttle if the power limit is at 100% (Heaven reaches about 120% on mine).
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PF85*
> 
> So this is my first time really trying to OC my GPU, so give me a chance
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Card: *Gigabyte GV-N670OC-2GD (2 GB)*
> GPU clock: *+118*
> Mem: *+50*
> Power target: *112%*
> Voltage: *1150 (max)*
> 
> This is what I can get when going for a stable OC. Does that seem right?
> Also, should I keep power target and voltage on max as said in the guide?


Can you post the actual clock speed? Just posting the core offset doesn't tell us much, since each card has a different clock speed that is applied to. You should be able to get the memory offset higher - almost all cards can do +200. Keep the power target on max, but on your card the voltage change isn't going to do much for you.


----------



## PF85

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Even if it isn't beneficial, it certainly doesn't hurt. On a normal card maxing the slider will keep the card from power throttling under heavy load, and so it is beneficial. I don't know what affect it has on a BIO-modded card, but it should be pretty easy to check. Just run Heaven 4.0 in a window (luckily that's now the default) while watching Afterburner and see what the clock speed does at stock power limit and maxed power limit. I know on my card it'll throttle if the power limit is at 100% (Heaven reaches about 120% on mine).
> Can you post the actual clock speed? Just posting the core offset doesn't tell us much, since each card has a different clock speed that is applied to. You should be able to get the memory offset higher - almost all cards can do +200. Keep the power target on max, but on your card the voltage change isn't going to do much for you.


I'm trying to understand what you mean. When you say actual clock speed, I assume you mean before OC?

This is what GPU-z tells me:


----------



## Draknareth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PF85*
> 
> I'm trying to understand what you mean. When you say actual clock speed, I assume you mean before OC?
> 
> This is what GPU-z tells me:


No he means after. Open GPU-Z with your OC active and see what the core clock is, or see what your max core clock is in afterburner or precision X


----------



## PF85

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Draknareth*
> 
> No he means after. Open GPU-Z with your OC active and see what the core clock is, or see what your max core clock is in afterburner or precision X


I'm really trying to get what you guys means, but its hard when English isnt your native language








So I took a SS!


----------



## Subvibes

Thanks for the heads-up.









I'm not sure where the prob might be, but here's my Afterburner settings...


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PF85*
> 
> I'm really trying to get what you guys means, but its hard when English isnt your native language
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So I took a SS!


Put a load on the card (like windowed Heaven) and then tell us what Precision says where it now says 324 MHz. That'll be your actual clock speed (I'm guessing around 1230 or so).


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Subvibes*
> 
> Thanks for the heads-up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure where the prob might be, but here's my Afterburner settings...


set up a fan profile. your top card is getting hot. if you keep them as cool as you can, they WILL run better.
have you tried different power targets and voltage offsets ? try turning the voltage all the way up and see if you get a higher score. its possible its throttling by running out of juice. dunno for sure. all i can say for sure is you should be pulling a lot more points.
did you set all nvidia control panel options to performance or high performance ? i know i can get a lot better idea what your score is compared to mine...


----------



## justanoldman

Any of you guys water cool your GTX 670?
I am thinking of water cooling an EVGA 670 FTW, so I think I would use a 680 water block. I was just wondering if anyone here does it and could give me a recommendation for which type or brand of water block you use.


----------



## pc-illiterate

unfortunately i have to use an ek block for my dc2. reviews on it say the flow is good. guess i'll find out in a month or two.
you need to check with evga about block fitment. if its a 680 reference board it will/should work but someone else found out they change board designs right before they got theirs.


----------



## PF85

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Put a load on the card (like windowed Heaven) and then tell us what Precision says where it now says 324 MHz. That'll be your actual clock speed (I'm guessing around 1230 or so).


It says 1242 > 1254


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PF85*
> 
> It says 1242 > 1254


That's the right number, and a pretty nice overclock. I'd try to work the memory clock up a bit if you can, just watch for articacts.


----------



## PF85

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> That's the right number, and a pretty nice overclock. I'd try to work the memory clock up a bit if you can, just watch for articacts.


Thats the highest memory clock I could get it to. And it dosent seem stable anyway, since it just crashed in BF3. I tested it in BF3 as well before, but somehow it crashed this time.

I'll try and get the GPU clock down a notch and the memory up.


----------



## Kakya

This guide is great, even if it is time-consuming (a function of overclocking really). Got my GTX 670 FTW up to 1254 MHz core clock and 1790 MHz memory clock and it is absolutely destroying Borderlands 2 (>100 FPS) with everything turned up to high. Thanks for the great guide!


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Even if it isn't beneficial, it certainly doesn't hurt. On a normal card maxing the slider will keep the card from power throttling under heavy load, and so it is beneficial. I don't know what affect it has on a BIO-modded card, but it should be pretty easy to check. Just run Heaven 4.0 in a window (luckily that's now the default) while watching Afterburner and see what the clock speed does at stock power limit and maxed power limit. I know on my card it'll throttle if the power limit is at 100% (Heaven reaches about 120% on mine).
> Can you post the actual clock speed? Just posting the core offset doesn't tell us much, since each card has a different clock speed that is applied to. You should be able to get the memory offset higher - almost all cards can do +200. Keep the power target on max, but on your card the voltage change isn't going to do much for you.


Ah. So if I never experience any throttling then the voltage slider doesn't really help?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *justanoldman*
> 
> Any of you guys water cool your GTX 670?
> I am thinking of water cooling an EVGA 670 FTW, so I think I would use a 680 water block. I was just wondering if anyone here does it and could give me a recommendation for which type or brand of water block you use.


I do u se an Accelero Hybrid Cooler AIO on my Gigabyte GTX 670 and man I love the temps. Full load of Heaven 4.0 at 1.212V 1267MHz core clock tops at 50C only.


----------



## Forceman

Some people have reported that the 100% power limit will keep the card from boosting as high, even if it isn't throttling specifically. Mine just keeps it from throttling though.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Some people have reported that the 100% power limit will keep the card from boosting as high, even if it isn't throttling specifically. Mine just keeps it from throttling though.


I got my card to 150% power limit though because of the unlocked BIOS. And by default, my card is set to 200W as its 100% power limit since it uses 6+8 PCIE connectors.


----------



## Subvibes

Thanks for that.









I've set up a fan profile and it's running a lot cooler...

Here's some WEIRD results... Notice how my OC results are hardly much better than stock???

TEST 1:
Afterburner settings and Heaven results





TEST 2:





If i set the core any higher it just crashes, even with the Volts that high (and even set to MAX), and the Mem Clock doesn't like being so high either so I lowered it a bit...

I'm getting really frustrated now, and don't know what to do...
Got any other tips?


----------



## SpecNL

I got a question regarding the power usage.
My power usage never goes higher then 35 in the graph. Can this be a faulty sensor of a driver issue? Im running the latest beta driver now (313.96)


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SpecNL*
> 
> I got a question regarding the power usage.
> My power usage never goes higher then 35 in the graph. Can this be a faulty sensor of a driver issue? Im running the latest beta driver now (313.96)


are you using a gigabyte wf3? i bet you are...


----------



## SpecNL

Sorry i completely forgot to mention my harware:

i5 [email protected],5Ghz
ASUS MAximus V Gene
8GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical 1600MHz
ASUS 670GTX Direct CUII (Standard version)
SAMSUNG 840 Pro 128GB

I can overclock pretty good but the power never goes over 35 in the graph so i got no clue about the power usage.
as said im using the latest beta driver from nvidia


----------



## writer21

So did nvidia drop the max voltage down with latest beta drivers? Nvidia inspector showing 1.1162 max offset when it used to be 1.185.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SpecNL*
> 
> Sorry i completely forgot to mention my harware:
> 
> i5 [email protected],5Ghz
> ASUS MAximus V Gene
> 8GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical 1600MHz
> ASUS 670GTX Direct CUII (Standard version)
> SAMSUNG 840 Pro 128GB
> 
> I can overclock pretty good but the power never goes over 35 in the graph so i got no clue about the power usage.
> as said im using the latest beta driver from nvidia


no idea on that. my dc2 reads fine on the power target. its my gb wf3 that wont go over 80%
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *writer21*
> 
> So did nvidia drop the max voltage down with latest beta drivers? Nvidia inspector showing 1.1162 max offset when it used to be 1.185.


did you restart after a crash? i assume that when you noticed the lower max voltage. thats the only time ive ever seen the voltage max that low before.


----------



## Viagrapolice

Things seem to be going well for me, but I wanted to check if my clocks are okay. I was able to push my mem clock offset to +600mhz without any issues. That seemed a little high to me based on the instructions (100mhz increments). My GPU temps hovered around 63 degrees C during the Heavan 11 benchmark. When I went to +700mhz mem clock offset, I got an error on the desktop before even starting the benchmark saying my display driver crashed, so I set it back to 600mhz.

Is the +600mhz mem offlock setting okay? Sorry if this sounds noobish. I'm new to overclocking.

EVGA GTX 670 SC 4GB + Backplate
1016 mhz Gpu clock
1095 mhz Gpu boost clock
1802 mhz Mem Clock
122% power target
1000mV


----------



## PF85

So this is what I ended up with as a stabile OC.


----------



## Subvibes

Hi!

I'm finding it difficult to get a decent result with my 660Ti's - DCII in SLI.

Posted some results here...

http://www.overclock.net/t/1265110/the-gtx-670-overclocking-master-guide/1720#post_19303897

Got any suggestions??


----------



## Pazta

Firstly, GREAT guide!
I'm a first time OCer my system specs are:
*Mobo:* GA-X79-UD3 (F11 bios)
*CPU:* i7 3820 3.6Ghz
*RAM:* 4x4 G. Skill 1600Mhz

*GPU:* Gigabyte GTX 670 *Boost 1059Mhz + 96Mhz* in precision X with *max at 1293Mhz*.
*Memory is +595Mhz yielding 3600Mhz.*
*Power target 112% and 1.175mv.*
I run 310.90 drivers but I think I will update them to 313.96.
Have I reached my maximum OC or would it be possible to squeeze out a little extra from my components?
I had the CPU OCed during the 3Dmark 11 run (4.2Ghz) but as you can see in the pictures it showed 1.2Ghz and I have no idea why. Same thing with the RAM that show as 800Mhz.

Here's the pictures:


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!









Where it only says Core +94 or +98 the mem is set to +0.
I also wonder whether I should first find max Core and then set it to +0 while checking max Mem. clock. I used the quick guide but read through the long one today which makes me suspect this is the case
I found max Core and with max core set I kept increasing mem as instructed reaching the posted results.

Judging from the pictures would it seem I have any more headroom OCing? How should I safely OC my CPU? I used software OC when I had 4.2 which I have now reverted.


----------



## jonathan1107

Hi there, I read your guide and been runnin with the tweaks great ever since. One question:

How can I have my main Card at "constant boost" while the other is turned off?

Because here's the deal: Since I normally run SLI, I set up my .bat files to force constant boost or force minimum... BUT sometimes I run in Single Card config (with games that have terrible sli support)...

When I do this, both my cards kick in High clocks even though I'm only using one... I guess I should Create a THIRD .bat file... but I wouldn't know what to put in it...

Any tips?


----------



## pc-illiterate

disable the second card in device manager after you disable sli in nvidia cp.


----------



## Dorikin

Can someone please explain to me why I cannot get a score higher than 950+- in Heaven...

I see tons of people even with i5 and 8GB of ram get well above 1000 score in Heaven...

I followed this article to the T, spent over 6 hours and still Heaven crashes if i boost it above 150+ GPU

I'm writting this on my Mac but i will add screenshots of the settings tomorrow... Has anybody ever run into this problem?

My Specs
Intel Core i7 - 1337 Ivy Bridge
16GB G-Skill Ram
Asus P8Z77-V Pro Motherboard
Asus gForce GTX 670 (Non-TOP)

My highest Heaven was 975 @ +150 GPU and +500 Mem

Thanks guys.


----------



## Draknareth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dorikin*
> 
> Can someone please explain to me why I cannot get a score higher than 950+- in Heaven...
> 
> I see tons of people even with i5 and 8GB of ram get well above 1000 score in Heaven...
> 
> I followed this article to the T, spent over 6 hours and still Heaven crashes if i boost it above 150+ GPU
> 
> I'm writting this on my Mac but i will add screenshots of the settings tomorrow... Has anybody ever run into this problem?
> 
> My Specs
> Intel Core i7 - 1337 Ivy Bridge
> 16GB G-Skill Ram
> Asus P8Z77-V Pro Motherboard
> Asus gForce GTX 670 (Non-TOP)
> 
> My highest Heaven was 975 @ +150 GPU and +500 Mem
> 
> Thanks guys.


What resolution are you running in? Make sure you run in 1920x1080, this is what most people are running in, if you are running a higher resolution you will see lower fps and lower scores.


----------



## Dorikin

Thanks for your reply, Yes, I made sure it was on 1080, tried both Windowed and Full Screen...

I also forgot to mention that I am running the latest version of the driver 314 is it ?!

And yesterday I went as far as re installing windows 7 and trying it on both Win 7 and 8... Same results...


----------



## Xtremelyevil

Hey guys
I find it strange that whatever I do I can't get my GPU above 1202Mhz Boost
I have a Gigabyte GTX670 my settings in Precision X are
+50 on Core
+610 on Memory

Does anybody know why the hell I can't get "high" Clocks ?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtremelyevil*
> 
> Does anybody know why the hell I can't get "high" Clocks ?


because your particular card doesnt want to get any higher.
1202mhz is pretty damned high as it is. and 600+ on the memory, is really good. its great even.


----------



## Xtremelyevil

Oh okay








And is it just because it was made that way or would it be able to go higher with some Watercooling ?


----------



## pc-illiterate

heat only causes kepler to throttle. in reality, it doesnt limit the overclock. you just set a custom fan profile. people only water cool these cards because either they dont like the fans noise or they just want to.


----------



## Xtremelyevil

So I could try to put my fans on 100 procent or somethuing like it and see if that makes any difference?
But I guess it wont work since my GPU never goes above 67 degrees even while running Heaven.
Btw watercooling was just an example


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> heat only causes kepler to throttle. in reality, it doesnt limit the overclock. you just set a custom fan profile. people only water cool these cards because either they dont like the fans noise or they just want to.


And because people live in tropical countries


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> And because people live in tropical countries


touche


----------



## Draknareth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtremelyevil*
> 
> Hey guys
> I find it strange that whatever I do I can't get my GPU above 1202Mhz Boost
> I have a Gigabyte GTX670 my settings in Precision X are
> +50 on Core
> +610 on Memory
> 
> Does anybody know why the hell I can't get "high" Clocks ?


1202 is about right for a gigabyte windforce, mine is also 1202 for gaming, I can stay stable at 1215 in Guildwars 2 but that is the absolute limit. Cooling the card further won't help at all, set a decent fan profile and leave it be. Your memory overclock is excellent anyway







mine is usually +650 in my 1202 OC and I have to drop the memory clock for my Guildwars OC down to +550.
The gigabyte cards just aren't massive core overclockers, but they are great cards, the 3 fans keep them very very cool with the right fan profile and let's face it they look freakin sweet








Anyway, 1202 isn't exactly low


----------



## Landfried

7 hours later and I've got a stable +118/+353. Thanks for the awesome guide -PNY Enthusiast Edition GTX 670


----------



## catacavaco

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> touche


precisely, i dont feel comfortable with my vga reaching 70º C all the time, definitively going for this mod as soon as i get my psu back


----------



## lemorce

Hello guys,
I'm just testing my new graphic card ( GTX670-DC2-2GD5 ), the "problem" are the values of the GPU clock, supposedly my card should have a boost of 980 MHz, but the card runs at 1071 MHz under load (see image). this is normal ?, how this may affect overclocking ?, the working voltages are correct ? why the "power target" can have a value greater than 100% if I have not changed yet ?. THANK !!

LOAD

IDLE


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lemorce*
> 
> Hello guys,
> I'm just testing my new graphic card ( GTX670-DC2-2GD5 ), the "problem" are the values of the GPU clock, supposedly my card should have a boost of 980 MHz, but the card runs at 1071 MHz under load (see image). this is normal ?, how this may affect overclocking ?, the working voltages are correct ? why the "power target" can have a value greater than 100% if I have not changed yet ?. THANK !!


Yes, it's normal. Each card has it's own boost clock speed that it will run at - the number on the box is just the average boost speed. It won't really affect your overclocking, the offset you add (via the sliders) will just get added to whatever the card's boost clock is. So for you +100 would give you 1171, while +100 might give someone else 1150.

Not sure what you mean about the power target. You can adjust it to allow the card to draw more than the standard amount of power, which will allow the card to boost to a higher clock (well, actually just keep it from throttling, but same difference). It is best just to put that over to the max and leave it there. If you are talking about it being 100.6%, that's just a minor blip above 100% since the card can't react instantaneously to increased power draw (it is reacting, not predicting).


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lemorce*
> 
> Hello guys,
> I'm just testing my new graphic card ( GTX670-DC2-2GD5 ), the "problem" are the values of the GPU clock, supposedly my card should have a boost of 980 MHz, but the card runs at 1071 MHz under load (see image). this is normal ?, how this may affect overclocking ?, the working voltages are correct ? why the "power target" can have a value greater than 100% if I have not changed yet ?. THANK !!
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> LOAD
> 
> IDLE


This is completely normal. The 980mhz value specified by Asus, is the minimum guaranteed speed your card will run at, under all circumstances. The rest is caused by nVidias boost technology, allowing your card to run faster, when withing certain power consumption and/or temperature limits. (other limits factor in, but these are the two most commond).

The power target is known to fluctuate around your maximum value, on average, the card won't pass the 100% limit anyways. The power slider shoud always be maxed, if you are overclocked.

These are not "problems" but results of the nVidia Boost 1.0 technology. Just wait for Boost 2.0, when the voltage will be all over as well


----------



## PinballWizard2

Great article. I just have a couple of questions:

In the 'Quick' version of the overclocking process, it says set the power target and voltage both to maximum, temporarily. But then there's nothing afterwards about reducing them back down. Does anyone have any suggestions about this? I'm guessing leaving them both at maximum may impact on the card's lifespan?

Also, for SLI users, what is the best way to go about overclocking? Just sync the card settings in Precision?

Many thanks in advance.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PinballWizard2*
> 
> Great article. I just have a couple of questions:
> 
> In the 'Quick' version of the overclocking process, it says set the power target and voltage both to maximum, temporarily. But then there's nothing afterwards about reducing them back down. Does anyone have any suggestions about this? I'm guessing leaving them both at maximum may impact on the card's lifespan?
> 
> Also, for SLI users, what is the best way to go about overclocking? Just sync the card settings in Precision?
> 
> Many thanks in advance.


try lowering them after you found the max stable clock. reduce a little then test, reduce more then test. repeat this until you found your lowest slider settings.
no it wont hurt the lifespan of the card. this is what it does naturally except the voltage doesnt react quick enough to keep from crashing when a load is instantly applied.
the only way you can sync overclock is if both cards have identical power targets and max power sliders(aka, identical stock and max voltage). basically, if you have the same cards in sli.


----------



## PinballWizard2

Thanks for the reply pc-illiterate!

So what would the disadvantage be to leaving the power target and voltage sliders at maximum?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PinballWizard2*
> 
> Thanks for the reply pc-illiterate!
> 
> So what would the disadvantage be to leaving the power target and voltage sliders at maximum?


some people have had crashes with voltage slider left at max and crashes went away after dropping it down. no clue why or who it was. they posted in this thread though.
other than that, there really isnt any disadvantages and totally as far as anyone knows. i dont know of any reported problems since the cards were released.


----------



## justanoldman

Can anyone with an EVGA GTX 670 FTW tell me if these numbers make any sense?

I tried three different cards in two machines and the best of them was able to take +50, and +650 in Precision X. The max numbers in the Precision monitor were 1215 for GPU clock and 3758 for memory clock. The cards also would go up to 130% power which seems high.

The best they could do was 51 to 52 fps in Heaven 3.0 with max settings at 1080p. Are any of these numbers somewhat normal?

The only thing I can think of is there are a lot of poor EVGA FTW cards out there, and that is why they are on sale: $349 with rebate.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PinballWizard2*
> 
> Thanks for the reply pc-illiterate!
> 
> So what would the disadvantage be to leaving the power target and voltage sliders at maximum?


The power target should be left on max. The card won't draw more power regardless of this setting, it only controls throttling. Some games might require more power than the ones you were testing on.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *justanoldman*
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> Can anyone with an EVGA GTX 670 FTW tell me if these numbers make any sense?
> 
> I tried three different cards in two machines and the best of them was able to take +50, and +650 in Precision X. The max numbers in the Precision monitor were 1215 for GPU clock and 3758 for memory clock. The cards also would go up to 130% power which seems high.
> 
> The best they could do was 51 to 52 fps in Heaven 3.0 with max settings at 1080p. Are any of these numbers somewhat normal?
> 
> The only thing I can think of is there are a lot of poor EVGA FTW cards out there, and that is why they are on sale: $349 with rebate.


The 670 are some of the best (if not the best) clocking cards.


----------



## justanoldman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> The 670 are some of the best (if not the best) clocking cards.


Which 670? If you are referring to EVGA 670 FTW, I think I just showed that they are not good at overclocking now.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *justanoldman*
> 
> Which 670? If you are referring to EVGA 670 FTW, I think I just showed that they are not good at overclocking now.


the gigabyte windforce3 were the best overclockers at 1 time. quite a few people getting 1300 or more. they no longer clock as well as they used to. mine only does 1241mhz max...


----------



## brandon88tube

I've browsed this thread multiple times since I got my 670 back in June of 2012, but I never really saw anyone post results for a "670 Shorty" (EVGA 670 with small PCB as I like to put it). Just wondering what kind of overclocks they were able to get.


----------



## Orc Warlord

My GTX 670 OC settings with Heaven 3.0 make Heaven 4.0 crash!

Is this normal? The new heaven seems either useless because I have to use lower OC settings to run it.

I was able to run Heaven 3.0 @ 1242/7200 and BF3 @ 1242/6800.

Now I can only run Heaven 4.0 @ 1202/6000. My BF3 profile of 1242/6800 causes crash.

My score is 868.... I'm using 1920x1080 with everything maxxed out unlike the noobs using lower resolutions. Is my score normal? I had to set memory clock to default (6000) and 1202 core.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *justanoldman*
> 
> Which 670? If you are referring to EVGA 670 FTW, I think I just showed that they are not good at overclocking now.


Sorry, the FTW cards yes. Those are the only binned chips. You must have been unlucky


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Orc Warlord*
> 
> My GTX 670 OC settings with Heaven 3.0 make Heaven 4.0 crash!
> 
> Is this normal? The new heaven seems either useless because I have to use lower OC settings to run it.
> 
> I was able to run Heaven 3.0 @ 1242/7200 and BF3 @ 1242/6800.
> 
> Now I can only run Heaven 4.0 @ 1202/6000. My BF3 profile of 1242/6800 causes crash.
> 
> My score is 868.... I'm using 1920x1080 with everything maxxed out unlike the noobs using lower resolutions. Is my score normal? I had to set memory clock to default (6000) and 1202 core.


you need bios mod extra voltage and power !!! yeah.


----------



## pc-illiterate

heaven 4 stresses cards to the max compared to heaven 3. MOST everyone has had to lower their clocks because they werent stable this time around. its nothing abnormal.


----------



## Draknareth

I appear to be scoring a max of 949 in heaven 4, core clock 1202 (was 1215) memory +650 (same as before) this is in 1920 x 1080 extreme setting


----------



## Orc Warlord

with volt mod my card doesnt like moar memory what the hell


----------



## Pacal89

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Orc Warlord*
> 
> My GTX 670 OC settings with Heaven 3.0 make Heaven 4.0 crash!
> 
> Is this normal? The new heaven seems either useless because I have to use lower OC settings to run it.
> 
> I was able to run Heaven 3.0 @ 1242/7200 and BF3 @ 1242/6800.
> 
> Now I can only run Heaven 4.0 @ 1202/6000. My BF3 profile of 1242/6800 causes crash.
> 
> My score is 868.... I'm using 1920x1080 with everything maxxed out unlike the noobs using lower resolutions. Is my score normal? I had to set memory clock to default (6000) and 1202 core.


I'm starting to wonder how good of a benchmark Heaven 4.0 is for OC testing. I have my gigabyte windforce at 1280 and the memory at +500 or so and played Crysis 2 + MaLDoHD mod (absolutely beautful btw) and Hard Reset at 1920 x 1080 for hours with no issues, but those settings won't make it through a Heaven 4.0 run. Maybe Heaven 4.0 is better for testing how stable your numbers are for more demanding future games?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Yep. Heaven 4 is made tostress todays cards for demanding games. They state that in the description on their homepage


----------



## error-id10t

I personally think both of the new Unique tests are crap at the moment (hope some mod doesn't think that profanity).

At the end of the day, they're 1.0 versions with no updates done to them yet and no driver optimisations either. I take those 2 tests with a grain of salt until I see an updated version which includes bug fixes as no SW comes out perfect on day 1.


----------



## Pacal89

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> Yep. Heaven 4 is made tostress todays cards for demanding games. They state that in the description on their homepage


What games will stress my card equivalently to Heaven 4.0? The craziest thing I've run so far is Metro 2033 but that was before I started OCing.


----------



## Forceman

BF3 and FC3 are both very tough on overclocks.


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Pacal89*
> 
> *What games will stress my card equivalently to Heaven 4.0?* The craziest thing I've run so far is Metro 2033 but that was before I started OCing.


Battlefield 3, Crysis 3, Far Cry 3.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Pacal89*
> 
> What games will stress my card equivalently to Heaven 4.0? The craziest thing I've run so far is Metro 2033 but that was before I started OCing.


crysis 3 is hard on cards. there are also 3 big and highly anticipated games on their way:
metro last light , arma 3 im not in a mood to go look for more.
even far cry 3 beats the crap outta cards. max payne also. just because a 560ti can run it, it doesnt mean it runs it well. the people buying the high end cards and actually caring about the results of these benchmarks are people who want great frame rates at big resolutions. 120 fps on a 1080p doesnt mean squat to a guy that has 7680x1600 resolution on his triple set-up.
^ that and the fact they live to benchmark and never actually play a game...


----------



## Punkbuster

Hey guys,

why does my 670 not boost to my full OCed Max Boost Clock when playing Crysis 3? It fluctuates very much...
Temp is not going over 50° (watercooling) and Power never was over 100%.
I think i could run Crysis better if it would boost normaly.

And another question, my card always toggles to 2D mode when I start Valley in 1440p, not in 1080p. This sometimes happens also in other games.
Here is a screen what happens:



Nothing changes except the Power and the Framerate.

I hope you can help me, thanks!


----------



## Punker1234

Hey folks.

Just picked up a Galaxy 670 GC with a fantastic cooler. I've managed to get it overclock so I'm gaining about a 30% performance increase on 3dmark over my 460 SLI.

However, I'm a little curious about my 670. I can only get it to a clock speed of 1212 but I can get my memory way up there to +650 at 3653. Now, a 1212 gpu clock seems kind of slow, and my temps are amazing, at 64 degrees with only a fan speed of 50%. I guessing that I just got a little unlucky with my card only being able to clock 1212? Are there known cards that clock much much higher? I know 1300 is unrealistic, and idk how much 50 ghz would make a difference FPS wise, but it just the first time I've had so much cooling and power and I can't go beyond this point. Thoughts?


----------



## Forceman

I'd say that's an average to low-side of average core clock for a 670. Have you tried turning down the memory clock and seeing if that lets you get any higher on the core? Without voltage control there isn't much you can do to push it farther without modding the BIOS.


----------



## Punker1234

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> I'd say that's an average to low-side of average core clock for a 670. Have you tried turning down the memory clock and seeing if that lets you get any higher on the core? Without voltage control there isn't much you can do to push it farther without modding the BIOS.


I did try to clock the GPU first and the highest I could go was 1212. Whats the average for memory? I don't notice any artifacting up to 700, except in one spot in Heaven version 3. Its there regardless if I put my clock speeds at stock or with a boost. Maybe I'll try downclocking to see if that makes a different.


----------



## charliew

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *justanoldman*
> 
> Can anyone with an EVGA GTX 670 FTW tell me if these numbers make any sense?
> 
> I tried three different cards in two machines and the best of them was able to take +50, and +650 in Precision X. The max numbers in the Precision monitor were 1215 for GPU clock and 3758 for memory clock. The cards also would go up to 130% power which seems high.
> 
> The best they could do was 51 to 52 fps in Heaven 3.0 with max settings at 1080p. Are any of these numbers somewhat normal?
> 
> The only thing I can think of is there are a lot of poor EVGA FTW cards out there, and that is why they are on sale: $349 with rebate.


My card does 1280/3550, but it gets very hot over 1250 core... Im talking 100c on stock profile almost 80c on a quiet setting (65% max). If youre looking to buy a gtx 670 Id say go for gigabyte.

Ive been sooo happy with my 670. Really no "issues" at all. I bought a Gigabyte version for my girlfriend tho, and the other day we had to move her rig (small Sugo SG07 HTPC-ish pc) because our wireless mouse died). I removed some dust and ran heaven 4.0 since I havent had a chance to feel her pc up since it came out. Ive never really tried to OC that card before, but OH MY GOD. 20c cooler than mine and I only had it for about an hour and still hit this:



Check the temperature, and were talking inaudible-ish fan-speeds.


----------



## Punker1234

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Punker1234*
> 
> I did try to clock the GPU first and the highest I could go was 1212. Whats the average for memory? I don't notice any artifacting up to 700, except in one spot in Heaven version 3. Its there regardless if I put my clock speeds at stock or with a boost. Maybe I'll try downclocking to see if that makes a different.


So I underclocked my GPU speed and memory speed and i still only get artifacts in one spot on Heaven 3 benchmark when it's doing a 360 around the dragon statue. Should I be worried?


----------



## Forceman

What kind opf artifact? Could just be a corrupted texture or something. I would just go with the overclock you had and see how it responds in games. BF3 and FC3 are both pretty tough on overclocks, so if you have those you could do 30 minutes or so and see how it fares.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Punker1234*
> 
> So I underclocked my GPU speed and memory speed and i still only get artifacts in one spot on Heaven 3 benchmark when it's doing a 360 around the dragon statue. Should I be worried?


a lot of people get that artifact. i thought everyone was crazy and had bad overclocks cause i never saw it, ever, on my asus. my gigabyte, yep, its there.


----------



## digiadventures

Quick tip: If you think Heaven 4 is stressing your card, try to loop 3dmark06 Canyon Flight.. I found it to be much more stressful then even Heaven 4 !


----------



## Punker1234

I did some research too and it looks like a lot of cards get that artifact. So I'm pleased about myemory overclocking capabilities. I just wish i could get a little over the 1213 mark. Oh well. 50 mhz is probably good for about 1 fps in a real game scenario (not Heaven)?


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Punkbuster*
> 
> Hey guys,
> 
> why does my 670 not boost to my full OCed Max Boost Clock when playing Crysis 3? It fluctuates very much...
> Temp is not going over 50° (watercooling) and Power never was over 100%.
> I think i could run Crysis better if it would boost normaly.
> 
> And another question, my card always toggles to 2D mode when I start Valley in 1440p, not in 1080p. This sometimes happens also in other games.
> Here is a screen what happens:
> 
> 
> 
> Nothing changes except the Power and the Framerate.
> 
> I hope you can help me, thanks!


Which GTX 670 do you have?


----------



## Xymox007

Thought I'd chime in. I would appreciate some feed back on my recent OC. I'm running a GIGABYTE Windforce GTX 670 OC (GV-N670OC-2GD). After some stress testing in Heaven I found stability at +110 on the core and +584 on the mem (using the recommended EVGA Precision).

Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0
FPS: 34.4
Score: 867
Min FPS: 16.7
Max FPS: 75.8

System
Platform: Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1) 64bit
CPU model: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz (3292MHz) x4
GPU model: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 9.18.13.1407 (2047MB) x1

Settings
Render: Direct3D11
Mode: 1920x1200 8xAA fullscreen
Preset: Custom
Quality: Ultra
Tessellation: Extreme

Am I doing something incorrectly? It's my understanding the Gigabyte cards are voltage locked and that may be some of my modest results. However, my numbers/scores really don't measure up to what I'm finding in this thread. Any suggestions? Thanks.


----------



## Forceman

What's the actual clock speed (not the offset) under load? I got a 36.3 at the same settings.


----------



## Xymox007

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> What's the actual clock speed (not the offset) under load?


1228. I'm not even breaking into the 50s on my temps.

EDIT: Perhaps it's time I OC my 2500K :3


----------



## Punkbuster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Which GTX 670 do you have?


I have a Zotac GTX670 OC with a modded bios for max voltage, max boost clock and memory set, so i dont need afterburner anymore.

Does someone have a solution?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xymox007*
> 
> 1228. I'm not even breaking into the 50s on my temps.
> 
> EDIT: Perhaps it's time I OC my 2500K :3


I'm getting even worse OC, I have my BIOS modded so I can get 1,212 Volt but I cant get over 1228 Max Boost Clock in Heaven. And in BF3 i have to turn down the Max Boost Clock to 1178 to get it stable -.-
I was looking forward to Overclock the 670 very high with watercooling, but I'm very disappointed.


----------



## Forceman

Maybe the modded BIOS is the problem - I thought I had seen some complaints of weird boost behavior with modded BIOSes (but I haven't really been paying that much attention). VRMs getting enough cooling?


----------



## Punkbuster

It's weird because in every other Game it works perfectly, but I will try the original BIOS today.

I hope they get enough cooling, can I read out the Temp somehow? But I hope that this is not a Problem.

And what do you think about a max Boost Clock of 1176 with 1,212Volt?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Punkbuster*
> 
> It's weird because in every other Game it works perfectly, but I will try the original BIOS today.
> 
> I hope they get enough cooling, can I read out the Temp somehow? But I hope that this is not a Problem.
> 
> And what do you think about a max Boost Clock of 1176 with 1,212Volt?


That seems low. I would expect that kind of clock speed with the normal voltage - something in the 1200s with a modded one. Is it a full coverage water block, or one of the AIO mod-jobs?


----------



## Punkbuster

Yea that seems low to me too...

I have a full coverage from Aquacomputer. It is a 680 waterblock because my card has a 680 Ref. Design Board.

http://www.aquatuning.at/product_info.php/info/p13219_Aquacomputer-aquagrafx-GTX-680-G1-4.html


----------



## Xymox007

I'm also wondering if I should try seating the card in a different PCI-E slot. Or perhaps my GPU to PSU connections are array. I mean, could be a hardware misconfiguration causing the low scores in Heaven, no?


----------



## Xymox007

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Punkbuster*
> 
> I'm getting even worse OC, I have my BIOS modded so I can get 1,212 Volt but I cant get over 1228 Max Boost Clock in Heaven. And in BF3 i have to turn down the Max Boost Clock to 1178 to get it stable -.-
> I was looking forward to Overclock the 670 very high with watercooling, but I'm very disappointed.


I would be equally frustrated if I spent the time/money modding the BIOS and adding watercooling only to see such poor returns. I specifically went with the Gigabyte Windforce 670 because everyone was raving about how great the cooling and OC abilities are. I suppose since I have a later revision (purchased in 09/12) I was one of the unlucky OCers.


----------



## Xymox007

Just an update. I decided to play with the OSD in EVGA Precision (a much better tool than Gigabyte OC Guru II which I was previously using) while playing Crysis 3. Again using +110 on the core and +584 on the mem. with a 112% on the power target. No voltage tweaks, because I'm unfortunately voltage locked.

CRYSIS 3
1920x1200
Fullscreen
Antialiasing: FXAA
Texture Resolution: Very High
V-Sync: No
Game Effects: Very High
Object: Very High
Particles: Very High
Post Processing: Very High
Shading: High
Shadows: High
Water: Very High
Anisotropic Filtering: 16X
Motion Blur Amount: Disabled
Lens Flares: Yes

OSD
GPU peaking at 78%, 1124 MHz
MEM 3005 MHz
FPS fluctuates anywhere between low 50s to 80+. But usually consistently in the 60 range.

I noticed a good bit of frame drops if I was zooming in-and-out with the higher scopes. Testing w/ a XBOX 360 gamepad exacerbated the drops in frames (though I'm not sure why). Simply just didn't play as smoothly as with the mouse/keyboard. Feel free to stone me for mentioning I sometimes play FPS with a gamepad.







The three fans were rather busy and roared a fair amount. I want to do a bit more testing and add more graphs to the OSD during gameplay.


----------



## Punkbuster

Your GPU is peaking at 78% what? Load or Power?

And why is your MEM at 3005 though you Overclocked the MEM +584? Isnt 3005 standard clock?

But i think that your Performance in Crysis is ok. I play it in 2560x1440, Textures: Very High, All other: High and get about 50 FPS.

Furthermore is my Card now boosting normaly with stock BIOS


----------



## furiannn

Hi guys, just read the guide and had a go at OCing my EVGA shorty 670. Having a LOT of trouble getting anything stable past 1130 on the GPU. Have just registered here to ask for some help, as I am at a loss as to why this card is not overclocking anywhere near what you guys have achieved.

My system:
i5 2500K @ 4.4
8GB
P8Z68V
EVGA 670 (6+6 pin) (BIOS rev. 80.04.4B.00.70)
Corsair AX850 PSU

My attempted clocks:
Offset +50 --> around max boost of 1130
Power target 122%
Voltage Max 1.175v
Memory 600+ (Not bad clock on memory admittedly)

The problem is with gaming, because heaven will run fine with these settings. Games after a while the screen will flash and I'll be booted back to desktop with an error. Stock GPU speed is fine with no crashes, so I dont think it's driver related.

Ive also tried modding my own bios with higher Power limit and voltage increase (160% to get to 225w my 6+6pin allows and 1.212v). When I run heaven, with power limit up to 160% and voltage cranked to 1.212, I get max boost of 1202 and heaven crashes after about 30 seconds to a minute!

I have no idea why this thing is such a poor clocker, maybe I just got unlucky? Am I overlooking something? Is it a bios revision issue?

Any help greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I am watercooling this card, so temps never go above 45 @ load.


----------



## charliew

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *furiannn*
> 
> Hi guys, just read the guide and had a go at OCing my EVGA shorty 670. Having a LOT of trouble getting anything stable past 1130 on the GPU. Have just registered here to ask for some help, as I am at a loss as to why this card is not overclocking anywhere near what you guys have achieved.
> 
> My system:
> i5 2500K @ 4.4
> 8GB
> P8Z68V
> EVGA 670 (6+6 pin) (BIOS rev. 80.04.4B.00.70)
> Corsair AX850 PSU
> 
> My attempted clocks:
> Offset +50 --> around max boost of 1130
> Power target 122%
> Voltage Max 1.125v
> Memory 600+ (Not bad clock on memory admittedly)
> 
> The problem is with gaming, because heaven will run fine with these settings. Games after a while the screen will flash and I'll be booted back to desktop with an error. Stock GPU speed is fine with no crashes, so I dont think it's driver related.
> 
> Ive also tried modding my own bios with higher Power limit and voltage increase (160% to get to 225w my 6+6pin allows and 1.212v). When I run heaven, with power limit up to 160% and voltage cranked to 1.212, I get max boost of 1202 and heaven crashes after about 30 seconds to a minute!
> 
> I have no idea why this thing is such a poor clocker, maybe I just got unlucky? Am I overlooking something? Is it a bios revision issue?
> 
> Any help greatly appreciated.
> 
> EDIT: Forgot to mention, I am watercooling this card, so temps never go above 45 @ load.


Id say it might be your memclock offset that screws it up. Lower memclock, do your coreclock seperately untill you hit your cap, back off 15-20mhz and do your mem. Also, your limit powertarget wont be hit unless something baaaaaahd happens. My max is 125% and I rarely if ever, even when benchmarking, hit my powertarget.

Same card, same CPU, same RAM, same overclocks (except card goes higher ofc, OLOLOL), no watercooling only air. My memory wont go above +350 if Im doing core-clock overclocking at the same time.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *furiannn*
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> Hi guys, just read the guide and had a go at OCing my EVGA shorty 670. Having a LOT of trouble getting anything stable past 1130 on the GPU. Have just registered here to ask for some help, as I am at a loss as to why this card is not overclocking anywhere near what you guys have achieved.
> 
> My system:
> i5 2500K @ 4.4
> 8GB
> P8Z68V
> EVGA 670 (6+6 pin) (BIOS rev. 80.04.4B.00.70)
> Corsair AX850 PSU
> 
> My attempted clocks:
> Offset +50 --> around max boost of 1130
> Power target 122%
> Voltage Max 1.125v
> Memory 600+ (Not bad clock on memory admittedly)
> 
> The problem is with gaming, because heaven will run fine with these settings. Games after a while the screen will flash and I'll be booted back to desktop with an error. Stock GPU speed is fine with no crashes, so I dont think it's driver related.
> 
> Ive also tried modding my own bios with higher Power limit and voltage increase (160% to get to 225w my 6+6pin allows and 1.212v). When I run heaven, with power limit up to 160% and voltage cranked to 1.212, I get max boost of 1202 and heaven crashes after about 30 seconds to a minute!
> 
> I have no idea why this thing is such a poor clocker, maybe I just got unlucky? Am I overlooking something? Is it a bios revision issue?
> 
> Any help greatly appreciated.
> 
> EDIT: Forgot to mention, I am watercooling this card, so temps never go above 45 @ load.


From what you explained, you are doing everything brilliantly right, you just seem to have lost the silicon lottery. Your card seems to be a terrible overclocker, i'm sorry!

When overvolting the GPU, it will automaticly boost higher. Many people have had to underclock their GPU, when overvolting (you will still see a performance increase)


----------



## furiannn

Hi thanks for the quick reply









Well I just tried +120 offset (Max boost 1202) on its own, which did pass heaven when I first got the card. Cranked voltage to 1.175 and power % to 122 and it now crashes within seconds. Same for when Power % is 100%. I have noticed in PrecisionX that just before the crash there is a massive spike in Power % up to some ridiculous number of 31608160!

What is your BIOS revision, charliew?

EDIT: with the side of the case off I can also hear the capacitors ticking fairly fast. I guess for those that dont WC you probably couldn't tell me if that's normal or not anyway


----------



## charliew

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *furiannn*
> 
> Hi thanks for the quick reply
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well I just tried +120 offset (Max boost 1202) on its own, which did pass heaven when I first got the card. Cranked voltage to 1.175 and power % to 122 and it now crashes within seconds. Same for when Power % is 100%. I have noticed in PrecisionX that just before the crash there is a massive spike in Power % up to some ridiculous number of 31608160!
> 
> What is your BIOS revision, charliew?


Im at work atm so I cant see : /. Latest from EVGA I think. Only thing it did was up my idle-temperature and lower my load temps by a bit, didnt impact my overclocking performance from stock. Maybe you just lost the lottery as someone else said, but 1202 max coreclock seems a bit low in my book. I thought you had a bad card if you didnt hit 1300 with 1.2v :S.

Still, pretty good comparison between us since were using the exact same rig pretty much







.


----------



## ASUSfreak

sub'd


----------



## furiannn

Thanks for the help guys, Ive emailed EVGA to see what they say. Hopefully they'll swap it out, you dont know if you dont ask, I did buy the 10year guarantee after all! They can always say yes









Been looking at the SuperClocked 2GB version, wondering about stepping up to that version. Any reports on the numbers they clock to?


----------



## Punkbuster

Hey furiannn, i have the exact same problem, my card also won't go over 1202 even with 1,21V. But nice to see that I'm not the only one









And I can hear the capacitors also, on the desktop when I move the mouse it is pretty loud.

Tell me what EVGA writes back, so I'll try it with my Zotac too.


----------



## furiannn

Will do mate.

Just weird thing I have noticed now. I can run the EVGA OC Scanner at 1175mhz GPU and 200 memory and not have any artifact or crashing. The moment I open up Heaven benchmark on same settings it crashes back to desktop with driver error.

In OC Scanner it shows Power % of around 110 and in Heaven it never goes above 105. *** is going on? Maybe this is driver related??

I'll try older ones to test.


----------



## omega2551

Ok, my first time overclocking here. I'm using Heaven 4.0 at 1920x1080 with everything maxed and v sync off, last score was 966 (for some reason this time it also listed my iGPU in the results whereas every other run it did not). Anyway I'm using Precision and I can't seem to get stable past +150 core (1130MHz) but I can take memory up to +750-800 (1877-1902MHz) just fine. Is it normal to be able to get memory so high? And I keep seeing all these people taking core to like 1200+ easily...what's the deal? Should I try to lower the memory and raise the core? My temps aren't getting above 64C.

Also running an i7 3770K @ 4.6GHz, Windows 7 64-bit.


----------



## omega2551

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *omega2551*
> 
> Ok, my first time overclocking here. I'm using Heaven 4.0 at 1920x1080 with everything maxed and v sync off, last score was 966 (for some reason this time it also listed my iGPU in the results whereas every other run it did not). Anyway I'm using Precision and I can't seem to get stable past +150 core (1130MHz) but I can take memory up to +750-800 (1877-1902MHz) just fine. Is it normal to be able to get memory so high? And I keep seeing all these people taking core to like 1200+ easily...what's the deal? Should I try to lower the memory and raise the core? My temps aren't getting above 64C.
> 
> Also running an i7 3770K @ 4.6GHz, Windows 7 64-bit.


Well never mind, I wasn't adding in my Kepler boost which appears to be 130. I tinkered some more and got my max boost to 1280 with 1837 memory (+170 & +670). It's weird though, sometimes I get a pretty wide variance in Heaven with the exact same settings and it's not temperature throttling. The first time I got +170 & +670 to work, I ended up with a score of 970. I played around some more to try and get it higher but it wasn't working, so I went back to the +170 & +670 but then my score was only 938.

It should be noted that sometimes on Heaven, my temp will peak at 60-61 and other times it will peak at 64. When I got the 970 score it peaked at 64, and when I got the 938 it peaked at 60. What's up with that? Is that normal variance?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *omega2551*
> 
> Well never mind, I wasn't adding in my Kepler boost which appears to be 130. I tinkered some more and got my max boost to 1280 with 1837 memory (+170 & +670). It's weird though, sometimes I get a pretty wide variance in Heaven with the exact same settings and it's not temperature throttling. The first time I got +170 & +670 to work, I ended up with a score of 970. I played around some more to try and get it higher but it wasn't working, so I went back to the +170 & +670 but then my score was only 938.
> 
> It should be noted that sometimes on Heaven, my temp will peak at 60-61 and other times it will peak at 64. When I got the 970 score it peaked at 64, and when I got the 938 it peaked at 60. What's up with that? Is that normal variance?


It'll have higher temps when the clocks are higher, so that's normal. Have you tried dropping the memory overclock a little and retrying Heaven? If you put the memory too high you can lose performance because of the error correction, so check to see if your memory overclock is actually adding performance. It also helps to use Enter to cycle through all the Heaven zones before you start the benchmark - helps prevent the crazy low mins you sometimes get when it starts a new zone the first time, and that can help your score also.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> It'll have higher temps when the clocks are higher, so that's normal. Have you tried dropping the memory overclock a little and retrying Heaven? If you put the memory too high you can lose performance because of the error correction, so check to see if your memory overclock is actually adding performance. It also helps to use Enter to cycle through all the Heaven zones before you start the benchmark - helps prevent the crazy low mins you sometimes get when it starts a new zone the first time, and that can help your score also.


What do you mean about using Enter to cycle through all the Heaven zones?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> What do you mean about using Enter to cycle through all the Heaven zones?


When it first goes to the actual test and starts doing the fly through, you can press Enter and it will cycle through all the scenes. Then when you get back to the first scene again, press F9 to start the actual benchmark.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> When it first goes to the actual test and starts doing the fly through, you can press Enter and it will cycle through all the scenes. Then when you get back to the first scene again, press F9 to start the actual benchmark.


Ah. Why do you need to do that though?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Ah. Why do you need to do that though?


It helps prevent the really low min FPS you sometimes get and provides a more consistent (and higher) score.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> It helps prevent the really low min FPS you sometimes get and provides a more consistent (and higher) score.


Ah you meant those low min FPS during the loading stage (start) of the Heaven loop?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Ah you meant those low min FPS during the loading stage (start) of the Heaven loop?


I mean the low FPS you get when you run the benchmark. So instead of a min FPS of 22 FPS, you'd get a min of 26 FPS (for example). Here's what I'm talking about. Same settings, but one run was just load it and press F9, the other was load it, cycle through with enter, then hit F9. I just got tired of running them, and sometimes for no reason you'd get a min FPS that was like 7.5 or something. Doing the Enter thing seems to prevent that.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> I mean the low FPS you get when you run the benchmark. So instead of a min FPS of 22 FPS, you'd get a min of 26 FPS (for example). Here's what I'm talking about. Same settings, but one run was just load it and press F9, the other was load it, cycle through with enter, then hit F9. I just got tired of running them, and sometimes for no reason you'd get a min FPS that was like 7.5 or something. Doing the Enter thing seems to prevent that.


Oh ok. Got it, thanks.


----------



## omega2551

The Kepler Boost is a static number per card right? Because last night I was ending up with a Kepler Boost of 130 (+170 for 1150 boost pegged off at 1280, unstable) and 117 (+165 for 1145 boost, pegged off at 1262, stable). I never went above 65C so it wasn't thermal throttling. Is there something else that would cause it to throttle? I'm at max power target and voltage in Precision. Is a varying Kepler boost a sign of instability, or am I doing something wrong and my true Kepler boost really is 130?

At +170, I was trying to play around with my mem clock between +660-680 to get it stable and I was able to get through Heaven but it was crashing on other things (ended up at +170 +675). So I dropped the core to +165 and seem to be stable with +673 mem clock. My Kepler boost is 117 like this.


----------



## omega2551

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> It'll have higher temps when the clocks are higher, so that's normal. Have you tried dropping the memory overclock a little and retrying Heaven? If you put the memory too high you can lose performance because of the error correction, so check to see if your memory overclock is actually adding performance. It also helps to use Enter to cycle through all the Heaven zones before you start the benchmark - helps prevent the crazy low mins you sometimes get when it starts a new zone the first time, and that can help your score also.


No I mean the temps and performance changed when the settings were identical. That's why I was saying it seemed weird that I would get the higher score when my temp pegged off higher. Maybe it does have to do with the enter thing though, but my min between the 2 was exactly the same only the max changed.


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *omega2551*
> 
> The Kepler Boost is a static number per card right? Because last night I was ending up with a Kepler Boost of 130 (+170 for 1150 boost pegged off at 1280, unstable) and 117 (+165 for 1145 boost, pegged off at 1262, stable). I never went above 65C so it wasn't thermal throttling. Is there something else that would cause it to throttle? I'm at max power target and voltage in Precision. Is a varying Kepler boost a sign of instability, or am I doing something wrong and my true Kepler boost really is 130?
> 
> At +170, I was trying to play around with my mem clock between +660-680 to get it stable and I was able to get through Heaven but it was crashing on other things (ended up at +170 +675). So I dropped the core to +165 and seem to be stable with +673 mem clock. My Kepler boost is 117 like this.


There's no need to worry about what the Kepler boost is on your card, just worry about the final load clock speed. The clock speeds work on 13MHz levels, so if you had 1280 with +170, then even going to +169 might drop the clock speed all the way to 1267 if it puts it at the next level down. That sounds like what is happening to you, since you had +170/1280 and +165/1262 (which is 5+13 below 1280).


----------



## anon123

Hi, First time OCing so i have a few questions, managed to +135MHz on core clock and +435 on memory clock and found them to be my stable amounts however when attempting the furmark benchmark i had driver crashes, is heaven not a reliable benchmark tool any more? also after restarting my computer i realised that precision x's settings were default again do i need to put in the clock speeds,power target and voltage in the nvidia drivers themselves?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *anon123*
> 
> Hi, First time OCing so i have a few questions, managed to +135MHz on core clock and +435 on memory clock and found them to be my stable amounts however when attempting the furmark benchmark i had driver crashes, is heaven not a reliable benchmark tool any more? also after restarting my computer i realised that precision x's settings were default again do i need to put in the clock speeds,power target and voltage in the nvidia drivers themselves?


Post your actual clockspeed instead of the offsets, since every card boost differently the offset alone doesn't tell much. Are you talking abotu Furmark or Heaven, because your sentence mentions both. I owuldn't use Furmark, but Heaven is still a pretty decent initial test for stability. If it is crashing in Heaven it will probably also crash in games, so you probably need to turn down the offset a little. Make sure you check the apply on startup box in Precision, it should keep the settings over a restart.


----------



## anon123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Post your actual clockspeed instead of the offsets, since every card boost differently the offset alone doesn't tell much. Are you talking abotu Furmark or Heaven, because your sentence mentions both. I owuldn't use Furmark, but Heaven is still a pretty decent initial test for stability. If it is crashing in Heaven it will probably also crash in games, so you probably need to turn down the offset a little. Make sure you check the apply on startup box in Precision, it should keep the settings over a restart.


Ah, sorry. My core clock is stable at 1220 MHz and my memory is at 1765, I mentioned both furmark and heaven because as said in the guide i ran heaven to find my ideal clockspeeds then went to furmark to find ideal fanspeeds. It ran heaven fine at these settings but it crashed on furmark, covering my screen with artefacts then the drivers would crash and restore.

Another noob question is do i keep my power target and voltage maxed out constantly or should I revert them?


----------



## Forceman

1220 is a pretty good overclock. I would leave the power limit maxed, but, unless you have one of a few cards, increasing the voltage doesn't really do anything so I would just set that back to default.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Setting the voltage at max does do something. It keeps the voltage at 1.175v during 3d clocks so you dont get crashes because the chip wants more voltage quick fast and in a hurry. If it cant respond fast enough it will crash. Keeping them maxed helps prevent this. I know for a fact i crash at max overclocks without the voltage slider maxed.


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> *Setting the voltage at max does do something. It keeps the voltage at 1.175v during 3d clocks so you dont get crashes because the chip wants more voltage quick fast and in a hurry*. If it cant respond fast enough it will crash. Keeping them maxed helps prevent this. I know for a fact i crash at max overclocks without the voltage slider maxed.


Agreed with this.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> Setting the voltage at max does do something. It keeps the voltage at 1.175v during 3d clocks so you dont get crashes because the chip wants more voltage quick fast and in a hurry. If it cant respond fast enough it will crash. Keeping them maxed helps prevent this. I know for a fact i crash at max overclocks without the voltage slider maxed.


Would modifying the BIOS to 1.212V be the same as maxing out the voltage slider though?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> Setting the voltage at max does do something. It keeps the voltage at 1.175v during 3d clocks so you dont get crashes because the chip wants more voltage quick fast and in a hurry. If it cant respond fast enough it will crash. Keeping them maxed helps prevent this. I know for a fact i crash at max overclocks without the voltage slider maxed.


Have they fixed that in Afterburner? It used to reset every time you went back to 2D clocks, so I stopped messing with it.


----------



## furiannn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Have they fixed that in Afterburner? It used to reset every time you went back to 2D clocks, so I stopped messing with it.


Only does that for me if I crash. If I quit then settings stay the same. Same effect in PrecisionX.

Ofcourse the graphs show that it downclocks when in 2d mode, but thats because most defaults set to adaptive power mode rather than constant.


----------



## JML10166

@ SeanPoe

THANKS for the great guide! I can't wait to get down to OCing my 670s. It will be my first time OCing video cards, so I really appreciate having such a thorough guide.

Before I begin, I do have a question: When I run benchmarks like Heaven or 3DMark11, my cards (EVGA GTX 670 FTW 4GB cards, so they do already have something of an overclock on them) already heat up to about 80C. So, I'm a little worried about temperatures. I seem to recall in various forums that some folks say cards shouldn't be allowed much past 80C. Should I be too worried if OCing further results in temps past 80C? 85C?

Thanks,
JML


----------



## b.walker36

I have beer, buffalo chicken pizza and wings. Giving my 670 OC another shot. Be back later with the results.


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JML10166*
> 
> @ SeanPoe
> Should I be too worried if OCing further results in temps past 80C? 85C?
> 
> Thanks,
> JML


not at all.. but above 87 degrees you should be worry


----------



## b.walker36

For some reason my voltage slider is wont go to 1.175 anymore. I can only choose 1.15. Any ideas?

Edit: Turns out even though I can only choose 1.15 as long as I'm within TDP it will still push the 1.175v.


----------



## Safeh

Hi!
First time OCing, thank you for the guide!
My setting:

EVGA 670 FTW 2GB
1173 Boost Clock
1202 Max Boost
1865 Memory
126% Power Target with 1.150 Voltage slider (VDCC reaches 1.175 though)

GPU-Z screens:


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!








I'm pretty satisfied with temperature and memory OC, but I kinda expected (maybe wrongly) a higher clock boost.
Every time I tried higher clock boost , power reached a 330% peak and Heaven crashed.
My top for clock offset is +90 (+88 when combined with +625 mem).

These are my results, what do you think about them? Are they good enough? Shoud I have expected better ones?

Unigine benchmarks:


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Would modifying the BIOS to 1.212V be the same as maxing out the voltage slider though?


Anyone?


----------



## Forceman

Not sure what you mean. On most cards maxing the voltage slider still won't let the card go past 1.175V, so only the modded BIOS will give you 1.21V. If you mod the BIOS I don't know what the slider does (but I'm planning to flash mine tonight, so I'll find out).


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Anyone?


no, maxing the voltage slider on stock bios does nothing unless you need 7/24 fix voltage and its up to 1.150 or 1.175.. but when you mod the bios with voltage unlock you get 1.21 V and card boost it when it needs or you just fix the voltage to 1.21 in voltage slider.

note: voltage slider only sets the min votlage not the max voltage.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Not sure what you mean. On most cards maxing the voltage slider still won't let the card go past 1.175V, so only the modded BIOS will give you 1.21V. If you mod the BIOS I don't know what the slider does (but I'm planning to flash mine tonight, so I'll find out).


Oh ok. What I actually want to ask is what you mentioned in your last sentence that if you mod the BIOS to 1.212V then would the slider be of any use if it is maxed out? I hope someone can confirm this.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Oh ok. What I actually want to ask is what you mentioned in your last sentence that if you mod the BIOS to 1.212V then would the slider be of any use if it is maxed out? I hope someone can confirm this.


I don't *think* it will.


----------



## error-id10t

^^ I don't see any difference.

Take AB Beta 6 for example. that is broken on it (as in, you cannot put volts up) - it still behaves exactly the same way with volts in games.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> I don't *think* it will.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *error-id10t*
> 
> ^^ I don't see any difference.
> 
> Take AB Beta 6 for example. that is broken on it (as in, you cannot put volts up) - it still behaves exactly the same way with volts in games.


Thanks!


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Oh ok. What I actually want to ask is what you mentioned in your last sentence that if you mod the BIOS to 1.212V then would the slider be of any use if it is maxed out? I hope someone can confirm this.


Just flashed the straight KGB unlock BIOS and the voltage slider doesn't appear to do anything any longer. It sticks at 1.21V no matter what the slider is (even if I put it all the way down). I kind of wish I could use it to lower it actually, not sure I want the full 1.21V all the time under load. The flash was easy though and boosted my overclock, so far, from 1280 to 1333 - still pushing, although it crashed earlier at 1359 so I might be close.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Just flashed the straight KGB unlock BIOS and the voltage slider doesn't appear to do anything any longer. It sticks at 1.21V no matter what the slider is (even if I put it all the way down). I kind of wish I could use it to lower it actually, not sure I want the full 1.21V all the time under load. The flash was easy though and boosted my overclock, so far, from 1280 to 1333 - still pushing, although it crashed earlier at 1359 so I might be close.


Thanks for the confirmation. You can do, however, make your BIOS mod not stay at the full 1.21V all the time under load. Try to set the voltage to 1.1875V, it will still ramp up to 1.21V if needed. Not sure which between 1.875V or 1.212V is better though.


----------



## EliTeCC4

Remove


----------



## SirShello

First of all: Thank you very very much for this guide! With your help I was able to overclock my GPU for the first time. And I'm a total newbie to OC!

But I have a question... Since I've overclocked my GPU, the GPU clock is at a constant 1202 MHz (without OC it should be at 980) and the temperature is about 47°C all the time. Even right after starting my PC with the default Precision-X settings and without any processes running I have a permanently high GPU clock and temperature.

This can't be very healthy for my card, can't it? And how can I fix this?

When I was initially doing the OC with Heaven and running FurMark etc., this wasn't the case. The GPU clock and temperature immediately dropped after I closed the programs. I can't tell when this thing started, I just noticed it after playing for a while.

Thank you very much for your help!

PS: I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but as I told you, I'm a total newbie ;-)


----------



## Tranquil

Great guide. Got 10k + 3dmark11 graphics score following it... still working on memory/CPU overclocks.

Very detailed, follow the long method, it's worth it!


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SirShello*
> 
> First of all: Thank you very very much for this guide! With your help I was able to overclock my GPU for the first time. And I'm a total newbie to OC!
> 
> But I have a question... Since I've overclocked my GPU, the GPU clock is at a constant 1202 MHz (without OC it should be at 980) and the temperature is about 47°C all the time. Even right after starting my PC with the default Precision-X settings and without any processes running I have a permanently high GPU clock and temperature.
> 
> This can't be very healthy for my card, can't it? And how can I fix this?
> 
> When I was initially doing the OC with Heaven and running FurMark etc., this wasn't the case. The GPU clock and temperature immediately dropped after I closed the programs. I can't tell when this thing started, I just noticed it after playing for a while.
> 
> Thank you very much for your help!
> 
> PS: I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but as I told you, I'm a total newbie ;-)


You didn't accidentally enable K-Boost in the Precision settings, did you? Thats' the only thing I can think of off-hand that might cause it to stay at full clocks all the time.


----------



## jonathan1107

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> disable the second card in device manager after you disable sli in nvidia cp.


I did this to have on of my cards running a "constant boost" while the other is disabled (to save power and whatnot) but now that I did this: My readings in EVGA precision Monitoring are off... It says my clocks are 706mhz when all the other programs say 1150mhz (like it used to be before I touched the Device manager)...

What happened?


----------



## Tavar

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what this error means, and why it is popping up when running Heaven Benchmark even on stock clocks? Was attempting to OC my EVGA Reference 670 and tried to run Heaven at stock to get a base score and it popped up every time.


----------



## charliew

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tavar*
> 
> Out of curiosity, does anyone know what this error means, and why it is popping up when running Heaven Benchmark even on stock clocks? Was attempting to OC my EVGA Reference 670 and tried to run Heaven at stock to get a base score and it popped up every time.


Basically... bad overclock







. You can get all matters of happy-fun-time errors when your nvidia crashes and burns on you.

EDIT:

TADAAAAA

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6102320

EDIT2 :

TADAAAAA


----------



## SirShello

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> You didn't accidentally enable K-Boost in the Precision settings, did you? Thats' the only thing I can think of off-hand that might cause it to stay at full clocks all the time.


That, was it, easy as that. I must have enabled it by accident.

Thank you!


----------



## CJeffB

Hello, one and all!

First-time poster, but I'm not what you would call a "noob". (I'm a bit too old for that...







)

I've started on my 670 OC journey, and encountered a "problem" pretty early on. I haven't read the entire thread, having only made it about a third of the way through. I tried searching, but, either my questions are no good, or I'm a special case... (Based on the length of the thread so far, I figured I'd better ask my question, and hope that it hasn't been answered already, rather than taking a week to finish up the reading...)

I've had my cards since early last year (2x EVGA 4GB Superclocked+), and have just been running them stock. The default clock speeds on this card are a base of 967, and a boost of 1046. (IIRC, the KB is somewhere around 117, 113, 107 or something like that...)
I haven't begun messing with the second card in my SLI setup, wanting to do them one at a time...

My numbers aren't 100% exact, since I'm not at home at the moment, but they should be pretty close...

I can max the voltage sliders without a problem (the card will occasionally hit 110% TDP, but no higher, consistently hangs around 107% or so), and I can quite easily keep the temp at 60-ish. I can up my boost to anywhere from 1058 - 1061, and have absolutely no problems. Much higher, and Heaven hangs. I can alt-tab out of it, no problem.

Now, my understanding is that I'm hitting the max OC on my card. This isn't my issue. My question is, my clock speed maxes out (stays 100% consistently flat) ar 1172 (or whatever).

Changing the OC from 1055 to 1061 does nothing to impact the max clock.

I can't figure that one out... Shouldn't altering the boost OC do something to the max frequency?

Now, I only had a couple hours to mess with it, so I still have a whole lot more experimenting to do, but this struck me as odd, and I spent an absurd amount of time playing with it last night.

Am I off my rocker? (At least, as far as this is concerned... Anything else is totally subjective...)
Should I just accept that the max is 1172 (or whatever), and set the boost OC to the minimum (or maximum, whichever) that stably gives me this speed?
Or is there some other route I need to look at?

Thanks!

-Jeff B.

(And now I'm back to reading the thread...)


----------



## Chunin

Is this any good? The temp got that high after running EVGA OC Scanner X for 6 minutes and then stayed there flat for another 10 minutes i let it run.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chunin*
> 
> Is this any good? The temp got that high after running EVGA OC Scanner X for 6 minutes and then stayed there flat for another 10 minutes i let it run.


It would be nice to see a picture of the monitoring window, but from what i can see, your temperatures are too high. You really want to stay below 69C to avoid throttleing. (Again, i can't see if you are hurt by throttleing, because i can not see your monitoring graphs)


----------



## pc-illiterate

welcome cjeffb, kepler boosts in increments of 13mhz on core. so you may have to go up higher in raising the added boost. i dont know if this is what you meant.
are you maxing the power target and voltage? it could be the reason you arent getting any higher. also, the 4gb cards dont clock as high. you might be better on vram overclock after you find your max core clock.
make sure to reboot after every crash. the driver wont fully re-initialize until you do. also make sure you have your best card in the top for best non-sli performance. also, since you have identical cards, you may as well sync the sliders. it will make things a little quicker to find max sli overclocks.
hope i helped...


----------



## Xymox007

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> make sure to reboot after every crash. the driver wont fully re-initialize until you do. also make sure you have your best card in the top for best non-sli performance. hope i helped...


Helped me. I never knew either of those points of advice. Thanks!


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xymox007*
> 
> Thanks!


youre very welcome.


----------



## Chunin

@iRandomize

Yes i tried testing it few more times and i run into problems when the throttle went into effect and clocked the card down. Also the TDP is mostly around 110% of the max 112% allowed by Precision. Guess ill have to stick to +110 on the core. Thanks for the reply.


----------



## Chunin

So this kept bugging me and i tried again. After many failures over and over again something struck me... all of my case fans were turned off and the heat inside when the card was being tested get so high you could feel it on the panel of the case... So i turned then all on and tried again with much more luck this time. I was able to get stable +130 Mhz on the core and +450 Mhz RAM with flat temp of 65C.

Now theres one thing that i find weird and wonder if anyone can explain it to me. How in the previous pic i posted before the speed of the core was 1267 Mhz with +125 and now that its at +130 the max speed of the core was 1254 Mhz and it wouldnt move either way for the entire duration of the test. How exactly and when does the boost apply?

Heres a pic:



Im a new member of the forums so im sorry if post after post is seen as bad manners or something.


----------



## Tagkaman

Hey, I was running heaven 4 for a bit, and then this happened:



Power Consumption 367.5%!?!?!?!?!?!? This wasn't just in GPU-Z, it was also in the monitor in Precision X. It warped me to my desktop (Heaven didn't crash).


----------



## Chunin

Thats a sign of an OC crash whenever i get a crash my power consumption jumps to 260% for a split second. When that happens heaven doesnt crash for me either it jumps back to desktop you can hear it running in the background but you cant get back to it, i have to force close it from task manager.


----------



## FlipnPanda

Hello, I'm new to overclocking gpus and have spent several hours trying to find a stable oc. I ran heaven with +20 core clock but then crashed on the second benchmark. Idk if this is normal or if I'm doing something wrong. I've played with the settings in MSI afterburner several times. Hopefully I can find some help here, thanks









MSI GTX 660 TI OC Power Edition
1118 Boost Clock
1228 Max Boost
1502 Memory Clock
114 Power Target and +100 Voltage setting
(crashed 2nd run on Heaven)


Spoiler: Afterburner Chart









Spoiler: Gpu-z









Spoiler: Everything









Spoiler: Heaven


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chunin*
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> So this kept bugging me and i tried again. After many failures over and over again something struck me... all of my case fans were turned off and the heat inside when the card was being tested get so high you could feel it on the panel of the case... So i turned then all on and tried again with much more luck this time. I was able to get stable +130 Mhz on the core and +450 Mhz RAM with flat temp of 65C.
> 
> Now theres one thing that i find weird and wonder if anyone can explain it to me. How in the previous pic i posted before the speed of the core was 1267 Mhz with +125 and now that its at +130 the max speed of the core was 1254 Mhz and it wouldnt move either way for the entire duration of the test. How exactly and when does the boost apply?
> 
> Heres a pic:
> 
> 
> 
> Im a new member of the forums so im sorry if post after post is seen as bad manners or something.


Could you please try using Heaven 4.0 to do your stresstesting instead? The GPU downclocks itself in "burn tests" similar to FurMark, to prevent damage, and this type of test has become very unreliable on recent graphics processors.
This has also made stability testing very challenging, since it is no longer guarenteed that FurMark (or similar) will push your card to the absolute maximum. Heaven 4.0 is a very popular replacement, but it is not perfect, and cards can still be unstable in games, although they might be stable in Heaven or FurMark.


----------



## pc-illiterate

furmark doesnt do anything but heat your card to hell. its intel burn test for a graphics card.
run heaven 3 if you want to compare it to others cards. be sure to use 1080p and all settings maxed.
@panda, max both your power target and voltage sliders and give it another go. you might be able to use evga precision x instead of afterburner to overclock your card. i know i found better stability with prec-x over ab.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> furmark doesnt do anything but heat your card to hell. its intel burn test for a graphics card.
> run heaven 3 if you want to compare it to others cards. be sure to use 1080p and all settings maxed.
> @panda, max both your power target and voltage sliders and give it another go. you might be able to use evga precision x instead of afterburner to overclock your card. i know i found better stability with prec-x over ab.


Heaven 4.0 is the new black!


----------



## Tagkaman

I prefer Heaven 4, it's a lot more stable for me (in 3 i was getting flickers galore even on stock settings, and there were no such things in other games).


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Heaven 4.0 is the new black!


do you or do you not see "if you want to compare your card to others"? this thread is full of heaven 3 scores not heaven 4.


----------



## Draknareth

Kinda pointless using Heaven 4 at the mo anyway, since scores seem to vary so much


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Draknareth*
> 
> Kinda pointless using Heaven 4 at the mo anyway, since scores seem to vary so much


Yeah but for stability purposes it seems to be better than 3.0. For benchmark scores, I agree that 3.0 would be the norm.


----------



## Draknareth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Yeah but for stability purposes it seems to be better than 4.0. For benchmark scores, I agree that 3.0 would be the norm.


Do you mean better than 3? for stability?


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Draknareth*
> 
> Do you mean better than 3? for stability?


Oops, yes I meant better than 3.


----------



## Jodiuh

Great job op! Learned a lot!


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> do you or do you not see "if you want to compare your card to others"? this thread is full of heaven 3 scores not heaven 4.


Heaven 4.0 has presets, making benchmarks simpler to specify and compare. In time, we will be able to create a proper database of Heaven 4.0 benchmarks, making it just as useful for comparisons.

Heaven 3.0 benchmarks has been done on 500 different drivers, making 80% of all Heaven benchmarks not comparable. Although drivers don't specify benchmark optimizations, they do get better optimized, since benchmark scores sell


----------



## FlipnPanda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> furmark doesnt do anything but heat your card to hell. its intel burn test for a graphics card.
> run heaven 3 if you want to compare it to others cards. be sure to use 1080p and all settings maxed.
> @panda, max both your power target and voltage sliders and give it another go. you might be able to use evga precision x instead of afterburner to overclock your card. i know i found better stability with prec-x over ab.


Thanks for the reply!
Well I tried using precision and the same thing happens.. I run heaven fine with +20 but any higher it crashes and goes back to stock settings. Could it be my power supply? Ultra LSP 750 Watt


----------



## pc-illiterate

i'll admit i dont like ultra psu's. i heard a good while back, dont know why, they arent that great. have you read any reviews of them?
a few posts about your particular psu
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5671

you could just google your psu. it turns up a few results. pretty much all of them have the same thing to say.


----------



## FlipnPanda

Could that be why it's difficult to overclock? Or is it possible for some cards to just be un-overclockable? Lol


----------



## meeklo062704

I just wanted to make sure, but am I seeing this right? I just put my 670 ftw in last night, and my clock scores seem pretty low out of the box compared to OP's clocks on the front page. Here's a shot of GPU-Z with everything stock fresh out of the box.

gpuz.gif 29k .gif file


So after I changed the fan speed and power target, I ran some benchmarks and came up with this.

gpuz2.gif 109k .gif file


I'm guessing 1 of 3 things: 670 ftw have a big variance on clock capabilities, I made a mistake somewhere, or I got a funky card. Can someone throw me some advice so I can see if I goofed or if I need to go pick up a different card? Any help would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## error-id10t

Well if you did it all right, then the boost isn't the greatest (not bad though). Not everyone gets great boosting cards that are >1200Mhz so what you do now is OC. See how far you get while keeping stability.


----------



## Chunin

That little room to OC seems odd really. I was able to get +110 on the core and +450 memory, All the guides and reviews of the card suggest you should be able to hit anything close to +100 at the very least without modding the bios.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chunin*
> 
> That little room to OC seems odd really. I was able to get +110 on the core and +450 memory, All the guides and reviews of the card suggest you should be able to hit anything close to +100 at the very least without modding the bios.


It is not odd. Overclocking is luck of the draw. Unfortunately, you are on the unlucky side.


----------



## meeklo062704

I guess worst case scenario, I could just try and find a reason to get frys to exchange it.


----------



## Chunin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> It is not odd. Overclocking is luck of the draw. Unfortunately, you are on the unlucky side.


I ment that at the guy who said his card crashes at +20 on the core.


----------



## FlipnPanda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chunin*
> 
> I ment that at the guy who said his card crashes at +20 on the core.


Ya, it is odd. I don't think I'm doing anything wrong either. Could it possibly be my power supply? I've had it for around 10 months and I know ULTRA isn't really a good brand. But I was also wondering if it could be my card aswell?


----------



## Avetisov

Anything to know about SLI? I have two reference cards, EVGA. Should the overclocks be the same on both cards, even if one can go farther than the other? Anything else to look out for?


----------



## pc-illiterate

the fastest card will clock down to the slowest cards speed. i dont know how non-sli would work for games that dont support sli and you disable it.


----------



## batman900

Finally got around to overclocking my 2 Gigabyte gtx 670's and I gotta say I think I'm pretty lucky. I've had these cards for a few months but never really messed with OC until now. I was able to hit 1326mhz max boost on both cards with no crashing and a few artifacts in 3dmark11. Backed it down to 1302mhz and it was stable but I decided to leave them both at 1267 to just be on the safe side "being they cost me $700" and because they are fine there with the stock power target at 100%. Temps never hit 60C even on my hottest card with a cramped case and only 2 fans. Don't plan to mess with the memory. With my 3570k at 4.4 I get a 3dmark11 score of 15147 with the gfx card score of 20800.

Not bad not bad at all.


----------



## HeyYoWL

Hey all, I just had a question about all this. So my max boost is 1306, and when I turn on OSD for Precision X, when Heaven is running I see the OSD reads GPU is at 1306, whether I have the GPU clock offset at 110-115, but then if I do 120 it says 1320. Does that mean that from 110-115 it's always running at 1302 then? I'm a bit confused on that part. I currently have GPU Offset at 110, and Memory Offset at 400, so does that mean I'm at 1090/1600?


----------



## Chunin

Your clock is whatever GPU-Z says GPU Clock is set at. With +110 offset it should be at 1090 Mhz and if its anything like mine boost to 1228 Mhz when needed. Again if its anything like mine, your card should do +550 on ram without a sweat.


----------



## HeyYoWL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chunin*
> 
> Your clock is whatever GPU-Z says GPU Clock is set at. With +110 offset it should be at 1090 Mhz and if its anything like mine boost to 1228 Mhz when needed. Again if its anything like mine, your card should do +550 on ram without a sweat.


I see. Mine reads 1174 MHz. Mine will crash if I try setting my memory higher. Might be because I have fans on lower settings since I prefer trading performance for more quiet. Good enough for me anyways! It'd be a difference of a few FPS I won't even notice versus louder fans I absolutely would notice.


----------



## Chunin

1174 Mhz is the GPU Clock in GPU-Z or the boost clock when you run heaven?


----------



## HeyYoWL

1174 is what it reads in GPU-Z. 1306 is what it reads in the top left corner of Heaven from the Precision X OSD.


----------



## Chunin

Your offseit is at +115 then. I tried running it with +130 but sometimes id pass heaven sometimes not so i figured +110 is the safe max for me. As for the memory i started with +250 and worked my way up to +550 and its stable 24/7 overclock.


----------



## HeyYoWL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chunin*
> 
> Your offseit is at +115 then. I tried running it with +130 but sometimes id pass heaven sometimes not so i figured +110 is the safe max for me. As for the memory i started with +250 and worked my way up to +550 and its stable 24/7 overclock.


Sorry, my bad I changed it to 115. But I'm sure it's 110. It's just that the number on the OSD reads really high which is why I'm confused. Here's what GPU-Z looks like for me:



And here's what Precision X looks like:



And Precision X Hardware Monitor:



Am I missing something? This can't be right can it? I don't see how if I change the offset from 110-115 it's 1306, but 120 it's 1320?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HeyYoWL*
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, my bad I changed it to 115. But I'm sure it's 110. It's just that the number on the OSD reads really high which is why I'm confused. Here's what GPU-Z looks like for me:
> 
> 
> 
> And here's what Precision X looks like:
> 
> 
> 
> And Precision X Hardware Monitor:
> 
> 
> 
> Am I missing something? This can't be right can it? I don't see how if I change the offset from 110-115 it's 1306, but 120 it's 1320?


Read the original post. The Kepler cards only overclock in 13 mhz steps. Everybody gets this.


----------



## HeyYoWL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Read the original post. The Kepler cards only overclock in 13 mhz steps. Everybody gets this.


Ahh. Then is there any explaining my OC is saying 1302 in Precision X?


----------



## mrod

Is it better to overclock the core clock more vs overclocking the memory when it comes to gaming and fps or is it better to overclock the memory more ?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mrod*
> 
> Is it better to overclock the core clock more vs overclocking the memory when it comes to gaming and fps or is it better to overclock the memory more ?


It depends on the game. But since overclocking one doesn't normally have too much impact on the other (at least at reasonable levels) you can pretty much just max them both out. You don't really have to choose one or the other.


----------



## Draknareth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mrod*
> 
> Is it better to overclock the core clock more vs overclocking the memory when it comes to gaming and fps or is it better to overclock the memory more ?


Different games benefit differently from core and memory, but generally we go for max on both and then it's optimal.
BF3 as far as i'm aware really likes memory clocks, which i'm happy about since my windforce card doesn't go very high on core but does +650 on memory


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HeyYoWL*
> 
> Ahh. Then is there any explaining my OC is saying 1302 in Precision X?


It should say 1306 :S


----------



## Xtreme512

I enabled K-BOOST today for crysis 3 and gpu core clock still drops from max boost speed.. why is that ? !


----------



## Chunin

"This latest release adds to the 'Adjust Voltage' section a new feature called K-Boost which allows users to lock their GeForce GTX 600 cards to Boost Clock/Voltage, even in 2D mode. K-Boost needs to be disabled when installing/uninstalling the graphics driver and when enabling SLI (once SLI is enabled K-Boost can be activated)."

That means it doesnt make your card faster in games but forces it to be the same when not playing which is essentialy useless from what i understand. If the Mhz of the core drops something is throttling it. Either you are hitting 70C temp or the max available TDP. When i used the MSI Kombustor with just +130 on the core i was hitting 112-113% TDP and card was throttling hard.


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chunin*
> 
> "This latest release adds to the 'Adjust Voltage' section a new feature called K-Boost which allows users to lock their GeForce GTX 600 cards to Boost Clock/Voltage, even in 2D mode. K-Boost needs to be disabled when installing/uninstalling the graphics driver and when enabling SLI (once SLI is enabled K-Boost can be activated)."
> 
> That means it doesnt make your card faster in games but forces it to be the same when not playing which is essentialy useless from what i understand. If the Mhz of the core drops something is throttling it. Either you are hitting 70C temp or the max available TDP. When i used the MSI Kombustor with just +130 on the core i was hitting 112-113% TDP and card was throttling hard.


ok so its useless while playing game as the clocks will be same.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtreme512*
> 
> ok so its useless while playing game as the clocks will be same.


It's a useless piece of **** feature, that should never have been implemented, and must never be enabled.


----------



## jimskeet2002

Hi
I just got a DC2 GTX670 and managed to get stable overclock with those settings.
I could be stable in HEAVEN even at +180 +620 but i crashed in Tomb raider so i decreased the settings to this point.
What is interesting though is that my Temps never go over 60c and my fan speed is at 72% in HEAVEN
Does this mean that i have headroom for more overclock if i try overvoltage?


----------



## pc-illiterate

but jimskeet, what is your max clocks? showing the offset means nothing as each cards max clocks is different depending on each individual cards kepler boost.


----------



## jimskeet2002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> but jimskeet, what is your max clocks? showing the offset means nothing as each cards max clocks is different depending on each individual cards kepler boost.


Oh yes.
Here is a Screen shot from my monitor graphs


My kepler boost is 104 since it runs at 1084 without any OC instead of 980 that the card's normal boost speed is.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> It's a useless piece of **** feature, that should never have been implemented, and must never be enabled.


^ This!


----------



## brandon88tube

Is it normal for your Kepler Boost to drop when you go higher on the GPU Clock Offset? I was trying to test for a higher clock, but Heaven 4.0 crashed and I figured I would check the max GPU Core Clock just for the heck of it. The max reached was 1241 and GPU-Z said the new boost was 1105, which is closer to 130 for the Kepler Boost. Now on my old overclock I got 1215 and a boost of 1071, which is closer to 143. So, my question is why did it drop 13MHz?

Edit: I'm going to do some testing and post some results.


----------



## Safeh

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Safeh*
> 
> Hi!
> First time OCing, thank you for the guide!
> My setting:
> 
> EVGA 670 FTW 2GB
> 1173 Boost Clock
> 1202 Max Boost
> 1865 Memory
> 126% Power Target with 1.150 Voltage slider (VDCC reaches 1.175 though)
> 
> GPU-Z screens:
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm pretty satisfied with temperature and memory OC, but I kinda expected (maybe wrongly) a higher clock boost.
> Every time I tried higher clock boost , power reached a 330% peak and Heaven crashed.
> My top for clock offset is +90 (+88 when combined with +625 mem).
> 
> These are my results, what do you think about them? Are they good enough? Shoud I have expected better ones?
> 
> Unigine benchmarks:
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


Any thoughts?

I've read you say that heaven 4 is useless for comparing by the time, these are my heaven 3 results:


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


----------



## neoroy

Hello guys







just wanna ask is it OK to set daily with max power slider (125%) and max voltage (+100mv) ?? Temp got 76c at max ... I can't keep it under 70c








Thx.


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *neoroy*
> 
> Hello guys
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> just wanna ask is it OK to set daily with max power slider (125%) and max voltage (+100mv) ?? Temp got 76c at max ... I can't keep it under 70c
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thx.


Turning the power slider up all the way is fine, but increasing the voltage is going to make it harder to keep cool, so you might be better off putting that back to stock.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *neoroy*
> 
> Hello guys
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> just wanna ask is it OK to set daily with max power slider (125%) and max voltage (+100mv) ?? Temp got 76c at max ... I can't keep it under 70c
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thx.


Considering you are running on an "Acrylic Benchtable", either your ambients must be rediculously high, the JetStream cooler impressingly inefficient, or your card broken. It is a dual-fan cooler :S. The stock cooler can manage to keep the GPU below 70C without voltage mod... I would probably try replacing the thermal paste on that one!

You NEED to stay below 70C. You can safely max both the voltage and power sliders.


----------



## Xtreme512

Guys I have 211 watt max tdp with 150% on my zotac reference 670 mob bios. is it safe to mod this up to say 250 watts or 300 watts ?


----------



## Klindworth

can't get my gtx 670 GPU voltage higher than 1.15V with precision X since the last nvidia update. any solutions how i get my voltage to 1.175V without flashing my card or similar?


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Klindworth*
> 
> can't get my gtx 670 GPU voltage higher than 1.15V with precision X since the last nvidia update. any solutions how i get my voltage to 1.175V without flashing my card or similar?


yes It was the issue for me as well.. but in game card can up the voltage to max 1.175 if it needs.. But if you want it to manually set to max yo uhave to mod the bios









by the way, why you guys adjust the voltage manually ? just leave it default as the card adjusts it very wel ldepending on scenes.


----------



## Klindworth

If you set the voltage manually the overclocking becomes more stable. with voltage set to 1.15V it goes up to 1.175v in games for sure but if the needed performance drops (for example if you go inside a house or a cave in an open world game like farcry 3) my card tries to lower the voltage too early and becomes unstable.

i don't want to flash my bios because auf warranty reasons and finding a stable overclocking frequenzy at a jumping voltage is more complicated because testing under full load isn't enough.

doesn't exist a config or something like that where i can set the maximum voltage? because the driver update of nvidia can't have changed the bios or am i wrong?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtreme512*
> 
> Guys I have 211 watt max tdp with 150% on my zotac reference 670 mob bios. is it safe to mod this up to say 250 watts or 300 watts ?


It is safe, but you wont be able to get more than ~218 watt at max.


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Klindworth*
> 
> If you set the voltage manually the overclocking becomes more stable. with voltage set to 1.15V it goes up to 1.175v in games for sure but if the needed performance drops (for example if you go inside a house or a cave in an open world game like farcry 3) my card tries to lower the voltage too early and becomes unstable.
> 
> i don't want to flash my bios because auf warranty reasons and finding a stable overclocking frequenzy at a jumping voltage is more complicated because testing under full load isn't enough.
> 
> doesn't exist a config or something like that where i can set the maximum voltage? because the driver update of nvidia can't have changed the bios or am i wrong?


dont be afraid just mod it and you will OC even more too







besides yo ucan always revert back to stock bios anytime you want even if you brick your card.


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> It is safe, but you wont be able to get more than ~218 watt at max.


are yo usure ? because my friend had zotac 670 using gtx 680 pcb (mine uses short pcb) and his card has 225 watt tdp max by default ! OMG. and he modded his bios and using 250 watt at max right now.. ? why 218 watt limit ? I dont understand.


----------



## Klindworth

i would prefer the software way on OS level because changing card bios after its broken is complicated and loosen screws may also lead to a lost of warranty. I also don't need more performance at the moment my asus gtx 670 DCII runs really silent on 1254 Mhz GPU an 6606Mhz Memory speed with 1.175V and i don't want a noisy pc ^^


----------



## Razpor

guys i have a question regarding the voltage settings.
I have now been running my asus stock gtx 670 at a overclock of +190 gpu clock offset (max kepler 1293,i have stayed at that even though its pretty stable at 1306 mhz as well)
and +450 mem offset.
i can go higher but i dont really need it ,it works pretty good this way.
Now the question is should i lower my voltage to 1.1 v,cause my overclock runs pretty stable at that too,heck it runs well enough on 1.075 too,so why keep it at max of 1.175??
does it degrade my gpu overtime if i keep it at very high voltages ,should i try lower voltages??


----------



## Klindworth

Your card will set the voltage under full load to 1.175V by itself. setting the voltage higher guarantees an higher voltage even under lower workloads. the voltage settings with tools like precision x don't set an offset voltage. if your card runs with this settings stable (there is no pretty stable, it's like beeing pregnant) good for you, but if there are crashes in games because of changing workload it could help to keep the voltage up or you have to lower the clock.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Razpor*
> 
> guys i have a question regarding the voltage settings.
> I have now been running my asus stock gtx 670 at a overclock of +190 gpu clock offset (max kepler 1293,i have stayed at that even though its pretty stable at 1306 mhz as well)
> and +450 mem offset.
> i can go higher but i dont really need it ,it works pretty good this way.
> Now the question is should i lower my voltage to 1.1 v,cause my overclock runs pretty stable at that too,heck it runs well enough on 1.075 too,so why keep it at max of 1.175??
> does it degrade my gpu overtime if i keep it at very high voltages ,should i try lower voltages??


I don't think it will degrade. Noone has had these cards for long enough, to know about "long term degradation". You may as well lower it, it will no doubt reduce wear, but i doubt you will ever notice it. Grats on the amazing card btw


----------



## brandon88tube

I would like to share some test results I've gathered and hopefully help people understand some points that were not really covered in the original guide. If it proves useful, then hopefully it could be added to the original.

I will probably update this with a better explanation, but for now I'll just dump the info I've gathered.

The goal of this is to hit the "sweet spot" on the GPU Clock. I call the "sweet spot" the point at which you raise your GPU Clock just enough that it hits that next incremental point and raises your Max GPU Clock. The problem is that there is a range at which you get a certain max and will stay at that point until you hit the next incremental point or "sweet spot". So, even though you may have added ~12MHz to your GPU Clock or more, you are actually not seeing any return. All you're really doing at that point is making it more likely to be unstable and maybe even raise temperatures if you have reached your max offset. So, my idea is to do a quick test to see how much you need to offset the GPU Clock in order to get to the next boost point. It should be between 12-14MHz for each increment, but the numbers at which they do so may vary on each card. Then from there, take what you believe to be your highest STABLE GPU Clock offset, see what the Max on the GPU Clock is and then adjust your offset to be at the "sweet spot" for that MHz range.

EDIT: I figured I should give an example to make my rambling a little more understandable.

Example: Let's say the MAX STABLE offset I can get on the GPU is +129 MHz resulting in a Max GPU Clock of 1241 MHz. According to my tests, I should drop that to +118 MHz instead because from +118 to +130 MHz I'm getting exactly the same Max GPU Clock and it will never go higher until I go with an offset of +131 MHz.

Code:



Code:


EVGA GTX 670 Reference Board:
=============================
Stock GPU Clock: 915 MHz
Stock Memory Clock: 1502 MHz
Stock Boost: 980 MHz
Stock Max GPU Clock: 1124 MHz
Stock Kepler Boost: 144 MHz
BIOS: 80.04.19.00.70

Driver/Software:
================
Driver: 314.07
GPU-Z: 0.6.8
EVGA Precision X: 4.0.0

Max GPU Clocks (GPU Clock Offset):
==================================
+000 MHz = 1124 MHz <- Stock
+013 MHz = 1137 MHz
+026 MHz = 1150 MHz
+039 MHz = 1163 MHz
+052 MHz = 1176 MHz
+065 MHz = 1189 MHz
+078 MHz = 1202 MHz
+091 MHz = 1215 MHz
+105 MHz = 1228 MHz <- Notice 14 MHz increase
+118 MHz = 1241 MHz <- Heaven 4.0 immediately crashed
+131 MHz = 1254 MHz
+144 MHz = 1267 MHz
+157 MHz = 1280 MHz <- Heaven 3.0 immediately crashed

Kepler Boost Amounts (GPU Clock Offset):
========================================
+000 MHz = 144 MHz
+012 MHz = 132 MHz
------------------
+013 MHz = 144 MHz
+025 MHz = 132 MHz
------------------
+026 MHz = 144 MHz
+038 MHz = 132 MHz
------------------
+039 MHz = 144 MHz
+051 MHz = 132 MHz
------------------
+052 MHz = 144 MHz
+064 MHz = 132 MHz
------------------
+065 MHz = 144 MHz
+077 MHz = 132 MHz
------------------
+078 MHz = 144 MHz
+090 MHz = 132 MHz
------------------
+091 MHz = 144 MHz
+104 MHz = 131 MHz <- Beginning of boost drop
------------------
+105 MHz = 143 MHz
+117 MHz = 131 MHz
------------------
+118 MHz = 143 MHz
+130 MHz = 131 MHz
------------------
+131 MHz = 143 MHz
+143 MHz = 131 MHz
------------------
+144 MHz = 143 MHz
+156 MHz = 131 MHz
------------------
+157 MHz = 143 MHz

Now for the memory... well I don't understand it enough yet, nor have I done enough testing, but if someone would like to help me out with that please let me know. It would be nice to find a good incremental number like 13MHz is for the GPU Clock.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtreme512*
> 
> are yo usure ? because my friend had zotac 670 using gtx 680 pcb (mine uses short pcb) and his card has 225 watt tdp max by default ! OMG. and he modded his bios and using 250 watt at max right now.. ? why 218 watt limit ? I dont understand.


Yes, we are perfectly sure that it is safe and it won't draw more. Power limit is a LIMIT. You cannot force any video card to draw more current if you just increase the power limit.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Klindworth*
> 
> i would prefer the software way on OS level because changing card bios after its broken is complicated and loosen screws may also lead to a lost of warranty. I also don't need more performance at the moment my asus gtx 670 DCII runs really silent on 1254 Mhz GPU an 6606Mhz Memory speed with 1.175V and i don't want a noisy pc ^^


A vBIOS flash mod for these cards is really very easy to do. It is always better to have an overclock by flashing the vBIOS instead of going with software, think of it as a direct overclock instead of still going through one more barrier (software).


----------



## Razpor

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> I don't think it will degrade. Noone has had these cards for long enough, to know about "long term degradation". You may as well lower it, it will no doubt reduce wear, but i doubt you will ever notice it. Grats on the amazing card btw


yeah thats true ,no one knows,i guess i ll keep it at maz,its not like i am gonna need this card 4 years from now anyway,








and thanks,yeah this card has been a pretty good overclocker.








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Klindworth*
> 
> Your card will set the voltage under full load to 1.175V by itself. setting the voltage higher guarantees an higher voltage even under lower workloads. the voltage settings with tools like precision x don't set an offset voltage. if your card runs with this settings stable (there is no pretty stable, it's like beeing pregnant) good for you, but if there are crashes in games because of changing workload it could help to keep the voltage up or you have to lower the clock.


oh ok thanks for clearing up.


----------



## Klindworth

Ok now i flashed my bios and set the voltage to 1.175 V with the kgb tool an nvflash:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?284014-KGB-Kepler-BIOS-Editor-Unlocker
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2133/NVFlash_5.118_for_Windows.html

and now i'm able to set the load voltage to 1.175V BUT under full load my card goes up to 1.2V and boosts the gpu further and becomes unstable. suggestions where this comes from? and what is the difference between voltage table 1 and voltage table 2?


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Klindworth*
> 
> Ok now i flashed my bios and set the voltage to 1.175 V with the kgb tool an nvflash:
> 
> http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?284014-KGB-Kepler-BIOS-Editor-Unlocker
> http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2133/NVFlash_5.118_for_Windows.html
> 
> and now i'm able to set the load voltage to 1.175V BUT under full load my card goes up to 1.2V and boosts the gpu further and becomes unstable. suggestions where this comes from? and what is the difference between voltage table 1 and voltage table 2?


1.21 is OK. dont worry, OC Hard, play games.


----------



## Klindworth

I don't worry about the voltage, i want to set the loadvoltage manually to the maximum my card goes to for stable overclocking. with jumping voltages i have to go to lower clocks to get my card stable


----------



## seithan

Have two things to comment.

Firstly, the Heaven benchmark is highly instable for me.

Sometimes i can run with +140Mhz core clock, others will crash even with +0 core clock.

Another issue with Heaven, once it crashes, i have to restart computer in order to load again, otherwise it chain crashes.

I backed up on Furmark, with 8MSAA.

Reading your first post it said that it will throttle down for some reason. Well for some reason it doesnt throttle down on me. I get 1257 core clock on +200Mhz core boost along with 32%TDP

I have a question concerning the voltage.

It seems that the video card auto boosts to 1.17v

No matter where i put the volt slider in the Precision-X (it maxes out at 1.15v) the card will auto throttle to 1.17 and remain there. So it strikes me a bit of a useless trick to do. It *DOES* boost non-throttled core to my specified voltage though, i guess that brings stability in the desktop, when the card throttles down?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Klindworth*
> 
> I don't worry about the voltage, i want to set the loadvoltage manually to the maximum my card goes to for stable overclocking. with jumping voltages i have to go to lower clocks to get my card stable


When the voltage is increased with the modded BIOS the boost is also automatically increased, and it sounds like your card is now boosting to an unstable level. So you probably need to put in a negative offset in Afterburner.

The main point of the BIOS mod is to unlock the extra voltage, so if you aren't going to use that because it makes your card unstable then you may as well just flash back to the stock BIOS. You could put the modded BIOS voltage back to stock instead of 1.21V, but the only advantage of doing that would be to apply your overclock through the BIOS instead of through Afterburner/driver, and I don't know if that's worth the hassle or not.


----------



## JML10166

Howdy all,

I've started on the journey of overclocking my EVGA GTX 670 FTW 4GBs and am having a ball! I need to do some more testing, but I seem to have the first card running stable with a decent OC: it hits 1280MHz max core and 7600MHz on the memory (am I multiply that right?) while setting at about 61 degrees C.

One of the tests I have run is 3DMark11 and I've noticed that the card hits about 130% TPD in that instance. Although it doesn't throttle, is that a safe power range for the card to hit? For that matter, is there a general power target that its best not to exceed? Precision-X 3.x will let me ratchet it up to 145%. But should I, with regularity...?

Also, do the fan profiles in Precision-X only work so long as the application is running? Or will it program the profile into the cards?

Thanks,
JML


----------



## error-id10t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Klindworth*
> 
> now i'm able to set the load voltage to 1.175V BUT under full load my card goes up to 1.2V and boosts the gpu further and becomes unstable. suggestions where this comes from?


They are "linked" so your problem is not new and many have seen it before. What you should now do is find a stable OC with the increased volts and then re-flash using KGB (I personally would use the stock vBIOS and not already modded vBIOS) and set the boost limit (max. boost frequency in the .cfg file) to whatever stable OC you found with the 1.21v.

That removes your boost problem.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JML10166*
> 
> One of the tests I have run is 3DMark11 and I've noticed that the card hits about 130% TPD in that instance. Although it doesn't throttle, is that a safe power range for the card to hit? For that matter, is there a general power target that its best not to exceed? Precision-X 3.x will let me ratchet it up to 145%. But should I, with regularity...?
> JML


All that is how much power it's allowed to draw, taking a guess that 145% is ~205W which is below the max. it can with the 6+6 power connectors. AFAIK there's no reason not to max it out but that said, there is no reason to max it out either unless you have to.


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JML10166*
> 
> Howdy all,
> 
> I've started on the journey of overclocking my EVGA GTX 670 FTW 4GBs and am having a ball! I need to do some more testing, but I seem to have the first card running stable with a decent OC: it hits 1280MHz max core and 7600MHz on the memory (am I multiply that right?) while setting at about 61 degrees C.
> 
> One of the tests I have run is 3DMark11 and I've noticed that the card hits about 130% TPD in that instance. Although it doesn't throttle, is that a safe power range for the card to hit? For that matter, is there a general power target that its best not to exceed? Precision-X 3.x will let me ratchet it up to 145%. But should I, with regularity...?
> 
> Also, do the fan profiles in Precision-X only work so long as the application is running? Or will it program the profile into the cards?
> 
> Thanks,
> JML


130% power shouldn't hurt anything, and you shouldn't need to bump it to 145% unless the card starts power throttling.

The changes you make in PRecision/Afterburner are applied at the driver level, so they will be effective even if the application isn't running as long as you set it to apply them at startup.


----------



## seithan

My card hardly goes over 32% TDP, i wonder how you people manage a 45%?

Ive connected a 6pin and a modded 8pin into 6pin









Although my prior power setup was 6pin + 6pin through dual peripheral molex - the OC results were the same.


----------



## seithan

I did a small bench with the buildin feature in TombRaider2013:

Graphical Setting were: 1080p // Everything on Max // Tessalation:OFF // AA:FXAA

*stock reference clocks*
1 )24-42=35.4
2) 30-42=35.8
3 )28.2-44=36
4 )28-44=35.8

worst: 24-42=35.4
best: 30-44=36

*
Core+120 and Mem+600// Max Core Freq: 1176*
1) 32.9-48=41.3
2) 32-48=40.8
3) 34-48=41.1
4) 34-48=41.3

worst: 32-48=40.8
best: 34-48=41.3

It seems like even taking the worst case numbers, there is an increase of 8 frames (24vs32) comparing the lowest fps and a smaller increase in the max FPS, (44vs48) of 4 fps.

The average difference between both lower output runs and highest output runs is a difference of 5fps.

Conclussion? It worths it.

Gonna try testing core+140 aswell.

Edit:

The results with *Core+140 and Mem+600 // Max Core Freq 1189:*

1) 31-50=40.9
2) 32-48=41.2
3) 32.9-50=41
4) 32.9-48=41.1

Worst: 31-48=40.9
Best: 32.9-50=41.1

Now this is interesting: Boosting the Core even further, i get a decrease in minimum framerate of up to 2 points but an increase in max framerate of 2pts. The averages are about the same.

Also, while i boosted the clock by an additional 20Mhz, from +120 to +140, the actual gain was *13*Mhz

Gonna give it one more round with +150 Core clock

Edit:

Tried with +150 core but the boost would not get higher so i gave it +156 instead:

*Core +156 and Mem +600 // Core Freq: 1215*

1) 31-48=39.9
2) 31-46=39.7
3) 32-48=40
4) 32-46=40.2

The results buffle me. In every case, there is a decrease in perfomance even comparing with to the +120Core @ 1176

Im not sure what happening but its just strikes me wierd.

So the conclussion is:

On my machine, a 2500k @ 4kGhz , the GTX670 perfoms better with +120 core compared to anything else. There is a neglible gain when boosted to +140 core, but only on the max FPS, with an actual decrease in the min FPS.

Higher frequencies resulted to no gain or even decreased perfomance.


----------



## EarlZ

I just recently got a Forsa GTX680 reference design and Im pretty new to this Kepler overclocking...

Im using MSI-AB Beta 3.xx , would it be safe to leave the Power Limit (%) to 132? I would suppose this is 32% for the other tools, I also have the core clock at +130 while memory clock at +400.. My custom fan settings include the fan to ramp up to 75% when it hits 67c. for several runs with heaven 4.0 it only hits about 60c

My question is though there are times when I change the coreclock to another value and my core clocks for both cards will drop and peg at 1006Mhz, is this normal?

Also my bottom card is always 13Mhz higher, is this also normal ?


----------



## sepheroth003

I don't overclock GPUs anymore but thought this might be a good place to ask a question on my new GPU.
http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-2673-KR

Last night I ran this GPU for about 90 minutes with 100% load (rendering) and according to MSI Afterburner it was running at 1147mhz which is higher than my boost and loading to 61C. Do these numbers look right? Why would it clock higher than EVGA says the boost is? The fan never went above 30%. So I'm thinking I either have overclocking headroom, or the ability to make it cooler and quieter.


----------



## brandon88tube

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *seithan*
> 
> Also, while i boosted the clock by an additional 20Mhz, from +120 to +140, the actual gain was 13Mhz
> 
> The results buffle me. In every case, there is a decrease in perfomance even comparing with to the +120Core @ 1176
> 
> Im not sure what happening but its just strikes me wierd.
> 
> So the conclussion is:
> 
> On my machine, a 2500k @ 4kGhz , the GTX670 perfoms better with +120 core compared to anything else. There is a neglible gain when boosted to +140 core, but only on the max FPS, with an actual decrease in the min FPS.
> 
> Higher frequencies resulted to no gain or even decreased perfomance.


My post http://www.overclock.net/t/1265110/the-gtx-670-overclocking-master-guide/1920#post_19501357 explains some of what you were experiencing.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sepheroth003*
> 
> I don't overclock GPUs anymore but thought this might be a good place to ask a question on my new GPU.
> http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-2673-KR
> 
> Last night I ran this GPU for about 90 minutes with 100% load (rendering) and according to MSI Afterburner it was running at 1147mhz which is higher than my boost and loading to 61C. Do these numbers look right? Why would it clock higher than EVGA says the boost is? The fan never went above 30%. So I'm thinking I either have overclocking headroom, or the ability to make it cooler and quieter.


the 1046mhz evga clais on specs is minimum boost. EVERY card boosts to different levels under load. that is the reason everyone is told to list their max boost clock under load. you may have headroom galore or you ay have 13mhz headroom on core. you may have 50mhz or 600mhz headroom on memory. neither clock has a specific max frequency. gotta love kepler...
just follow the guide if you decide to overclock it. and from what i heard, the 4gb cards dont overclock as well. no idea on the validity of this statement.


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> I just recently got a Forsa GTX680 reference design and Im pretty new to this Kepler overclocking...
> 
> Im using MSI-AB Beta 3.xx , would it be safe to leave the Power Limit (%) to 132? I would suppose this is 32% for the other tools, I also have the core clock at +130 while memory clock at +400.. My custom fan settings include the fan to ramp up to 75% when it hits 67c. for several runs with heaven 4.0 it only hits about 60c
> 
> My question is though there are times when I change the coreclock to another value and my core clocks for both cards will drop and peg at 1006Mhz, is this normal?
> 
> Also my bottom card is always 13Mhz higher, is this also normal ?


It's safe to leave it at 132%, the card will still only draw what it needs.

Not sure why it would drop the clcok speeds like that - sounds like it is disabling the overclock or something. Does restarting Afterburner fix it? I have seen my card get stuck in a low power state (526 MHz) but never from changing settings.

It's normal for th cards to boost to different levels - you should be able to adjust the offset for the lower card to bring it up to the same speed, or you can try the sync cards control but I'm not sure that really works.


----------



## pc-illiterate

nope syncing wont work. it only sets the offsets the same for both cards, or at least to my cards.


----------



## sepheroth003

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> the 1046mhz evga clais on specs is minimum boost. EVERY card boosts to different levels under load. that is the reason everyone is told to list their max boost clock under load. you may have headroom galore or you ay have 13mhz headroom on core. you may have 50mhz or 600mhz headroom on memory. neither clock has a specific max frequency. gotta love kepler...
> just follow the guide if you decide to overclock it. and from what i heard, the 4gb cards dont overclock as well. no idea on the validity of this statement.


Thanks, I was reading through more of the guide. Seems keplar really is a strange beast.


----------



## seithan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brandon88tube*
> 
> My post http://www.overclock.net/t/1265110/the-gtx-670-overclocking-master-guide/1920#post_19501357 explains some of what you were experiencing.


Hi, i read your post before and found it interesting. Although it doesnt answer why i was getting lower perfomance or no perfomance gain at all with higher clocks.


----------



## seithan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> It's safe to leave it at 132%, the card will still only draw what it needs.


132%? are you talking about the Power Limit % slider in MSI AB? Mine goes to +22% at max setting, although i see +30-34% on the MSI overlay, when running games.


----------



## omega2551

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brandon88tube*
> 
> I would like to share some test results I've gathered and hopefully help people understand some points that were not really covered in the original guide. If it proves useful, then hopefully it could be added to the original.
> 
> I will probably update this with a better explanation, but for now I'll just dump the info I've gathered.
> 
> The goal of this is to hit the "sweet spot" on the GPU Clock. I call the "sweet spot" the point at which you raise your GPU Clock just enough that it hits that next incremental point and raises your Max GPU Clock. The problem is that there is a range at which you get a certain max and will stay at that point until you hit the next incremental point or "sweet spot". So, even though you may have added ~12MHz to your GPU Clock or more, you are actually not seeing any return. All you're really doing at that point is making it more likely to be unstable and maybe even raise temperatures if you have reached your max offset. So, my idea is to do a quick test to see how much you need to offset the GPU Clock in order to get to the next boost point. It should be between 12-14MHz for each increment, but the numbers at which they do so may vary on each card. Then from there, take what you believe to be your highest STABLE GPU Clock offset, see what the Max on the GPU Clock is and then adjust your offset to be at the "sweet spot" for that MHz range.
> 
> EDIT: I figured I should give an example to make my rambling a little more understandable.
> 
> Example: Let's say the MAX STABLE offset I can get on the GPU is +129 MHz resulting in a Max GPU Clock of 1241 MHz. According to my tests, I should drop that to +118 MHz instead because from +118 to +130 MHz I'm getting exactly the same Max GPU Clock and it will never go higher until I go with an offset of +131 MHz.
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> EVGA GTX 670 Reference Board:
> =============================
> Stock GPU Clock: 915 MHz
> Stock Memory Clock: 1502 MHz
> Stock Boost: 980 MHz
> Stock Max GPU Clock: 1124 MHz
> Stock Kepler Boost: 144 MHz
> BIOS: 80.04.19.00.70
> 
> Driver/Software:
> ================
> Driver: 314.07
> GPU-Z: 0.6.8
> EVGA Precision X: 4.0.0
> 
> Max GPU Clocks (GPU Clock Offset):
> ==================================
> +000 MHz = 1124 MHz <- Stock
> +013 MHz = 1137 MHz
> +026 MHz = 1150 MHz
> +039 MHz = 1163 MHz
> +052 MHz = 1176 MHz
> +065 MHz = 1189 MHz
> +078 MHz = 1202 MHz
> +091 MHz = 1215 MHz
> +105 MHz = 1228 MHz <- Notice 14 MHz increase
> +118 MHz = 1241 MHz <- Heaven 4.0 immediately crashed
> +131 MHz = 1254 MHz
> +144 MHz = 1267 MHz
> +157 MHz = 1280 MHz <- Heaven 3.0 immediately crashed
> 
> Kepler Boost Amounts (GPU Clock Offset):
> ========================================
> +000 MHz = 144 MHz
> +012 MHz = 132 MHz
> ------------------
> +013 MHz = 144 MHz
> +025 MHz = 132 MHz
> ------------------
> +026 MHz = 144 MHz
> +038 MHz = 132 MHz
> ------------------
> +039 MHz = 144 MHz
> +051 MHz = 132 MHz
> ------------------
> +052 MHz = 144 MHz
> +064 MHz = 132 MHz
> ------------------
> +065 MHz = 144 MHz
> +077 MHz = 132 MHz
> ------------------
> +078 MHz = 144 MHz
> +090 MHz = 132 MHz
> ------------------
> +091 MHz = 144 MHz
> +104 MHz = 131 MHz <- Beginning of boost drop
> ------------------
> +105 MHz = 143 MHz
> +117 MHz = 131 MHz
> ------------------
> +118 MHz = 143 MHz
> +130 MHz = 131 MHz
> ------------------
> +131 MHz = 143 MHz
> +143 MHz = 131 MHz
> ------------------
> +144 MHz = 143 MHz
> +156 MHz = 131 MHz
> ------------------
> +157 MHz = 143 MHz
> 
> Now for the memory... well I don't understand it enough yet, nor have I done enough testing, but if someone would like to help me out with that please let me know. It would be nice to find a good incremental number like 13MHz is for the GPU Clock.


I've noticed this as well. For the longest time, I was wondering why sometimes my Kepler boost would come out to not be a multiple of 13 while other times it would be dead on. It had me wondering what my true Kepler boost was because it would come out to be anywhere between 117 and 130 MHz. Well, when I am on one of these "sweet spots" my Kepler boost always comes out to be 130 MHz.

It turns out that for my particular card, these "sweet spots" are at +131, +144, +157 and +170 offsets (maybe more but I haven't tested outside these yet).


----------



## brandon88tube

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *omega2551*
> 
> I've noticed this as well. For the longest time, I was wondering why sometimes my Kepler boost would come out to not be a multiple of 13 while other times it would be dead on. It had me wondering what my true Kepler boost was because it would come out to be anywhere between 117 and 130 MHz. Well, when I am on one of these "sweet spots" my Kepler boost always comes out to be 130 MHz.
> 
> It turns out that for my particular card, these "sweet spots" are at +131, +144, +157 and +170 offsets (maybe more but I haven't tested outside these yet).


I'm glad my data dump and rambling were of some help to someone.


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *seithan*
> 
> 132%? are you talking about the Power Limit % slider in MSI AB? Mine goes to +22% at max setting, although i see +30-34% on the MSI overlay, when running games.


Yeah, the power limit slider. It shows 132% on mine, not 32%, but I'm using an older version so maybe they changed it.


----------



## Icarian

Been trying to fine tune my GPU overclock and all this talk about TDP made me think if this is normal



After running Valley 1.0, I've ran many other benchmarks and games but I've never seen the TDP reach 90%, could this be a problem when overclocking? Kinda disappointed with the Core OC and I'm trying to look if I can get it any higher


----------



## kevindd992002

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brandon88tube*
> 
> I would like to share some test results I've gathered and hopefully help people understand some points that were not really covered in the original guide. If it proves useful, then hopefully it could be added to the original.
> 
> I will probably update this with a better explanation, but for now I'll just dump the info I've gathered.
> 
> The goal of this is to hit the "sweet spot" on the GPU Clock. I call the "sweet spot" the point at which you raise your GPU Clock just enough that it hits that next incremental point and raises your Max GPU Clock. The problem is that there is a range at which you get a certain max and will stay at that point until you hit the next incremental point or "sweet spot". So, even though you may have added ~12MHz to your GPU Clock or more, you are actually not seeing any return. All you're really doing at that point is making it more likely to be unstable and maybe even raise temperatures if you have reached your max offset. So, my idea is to do a quick test to see how much you need to offset the GPU Clock in order to get to the next boost point. It should be between 12-14MHz for each increment, but the numbers at which they do so may vary on each card. Then from there, take what you believe to be your highest STABLE GPU Clock offset, see what the Max on the GPU Clock is and then adjust your offset to be at the "sweet spot" for that MHz range.
> 
> EDIT: I figured I should give an example to make my rambling a little more understandable.
> 
> Example: Let's say the MAX STABLE offset I can get on the GPU is +129 MHz resulting in a Max GPU Clock of 1241 MHz. According to my tests, I should drop that to +118 MHz instead because from +118 to +130 MHz I'm getting exactly the same Max GPU Clock and it will never go higher until I go with an offset of +131 MHz.
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> EVGA GTX 670 Reference Board:
> =============================
> Stock GPU Clock: 915 MHz
> Stock Memory Clock: 1502 MHz
> Stock Boost: 980 MHz
> Stock Max GPU Clock: 1124 MHz
> Stock Kepler Boost: 144 MHz
> BIOS: 80.04.19.00.70
> 
> Driver/Software:
> ================
> Driver: 314.07
> GPU-Z: 0.6.8
> EVGA Precision X: 4.0.0
> 
> Max GPU Clocks (GPU Clock Offset):
> ==================================
> +000 MHz = 1124 MHz <- Stock
> +013 MHz = 1137 MHz
> +026 MHz = 1150 MHz
> +039 MHz = 1163 MHz
> +052 MHz = 1176 MHz
> +065 MHz = 1189 MHz
> +078 MHz = 1202 MHz
> +091 MHz = 1215 MHz
> +105 MHz = 1228 MHz <- Notice 14 MHz increase
> +118 MHz = 1241 MHz <- Heaven 4.0 immediately crashed
> +131 MHz = 1254 MHz
> +144 MHz = 1267 MHz
> +157 MHz = 1280 MHz <- Heaven 3.0 immediately crashed
> 
> Kepler Boost Amounts (GPU Clock Offset):
> ========================================
> +000 MHz = 144 MHz
> +012 MHz = 132 MHz
> ------------------
> +013 MHz = 144 MHz
> +025 MHz = 132 MHz
> ------------------
> +026 MHz = 144 MHz
> +038 MHz = 132 MHz
> ------------------
> +039 MHz = 144 MHz
> +051 MHz = 132 MHz
> ------------------
> +052 MHz = 144 MHz
> +064 MHz = 132 MHz
> ------------------
> +065 MHz = 144 MHz
> +077 MHz = 132 MHz
> ------------------
> +078 MHz = 144 MHz
> +090 MHz = 132 MHz
> ------------------
> +091 MHz = 144 MHz
> +104 MHz = 131 MHz <- Beginning of boost drop
> ------------------
> +105 MHz = 143 MHz
> +117 MHz = 131 MHz
> ------------------
> +118 MHz = 143 MHz
> +130 MHz = 131 MHz
> ------------------
> +131 MHz = 143 MHz
> +143 MHz = 131 MHz
> ------------------
> +144 MHz = 143 MHz
> +156 MHz = 131 MHz
> ------------------
> +157 MHz = 143 MHz
> 
> Now for the memory... well I don't understand it enough yet, nor have I done enough testing, but if someone would like to help me out with that please let me know. It would be nice to find a good incremental number like 13MHz is for the GPU Clock.






So you're saying that n you tests, the Kepler boost would only be 132MHz (less than the original 144MHz) if the Offset you applied via software is not a multiple of 13MHz?


----------



## brandon88tube

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> 
> So you're saying that n you tests, the Kepler boost would only be 132MHz (less than the original 144MHz) if the Offset you applied via software is not a multiple of 13MHz?


Actually, it dropped to 131 MHz from 144 MHz, but there is a certain range at which your card will go in 13 MHz increments and anything in between that first point and the next point will start to give you diminishing returns. It may not exactly be at the same offsets mine are at, but in general it should go by ~13 MHz for each new stepping point. I hope I explained that well enough as I tend to not be the best at describing things sometimes.


----------



## omega2551

I've been messing around with Brandon's theory, and I can't seem to find any pattern in memory offset. From my limited tests, I was seeing wild changes in mem clock compared to the changes in offset. Sometimes the mem clock would only go up by 1 MHz within a range of 10 offset whereas other times it would jump 15MHz with a change of only 1 offset.

I was however able to remain stable at +170 core (one of my "sweet spots") +0 mem, but every memory offset I tried with that from 50-800 just made me crash. I know it's not ideal to only change one of the offsets when trying to get stable, but since these 13MHz increments seem to be stable for the core I didn't want to mess with that. I ended up dropping from +170 to +157 core offset (1280 to 1267MHz) and seem to be stable with 500-550 mem offset (1752 to 1777 MHz).


----------



## brandon88tube

I did say I wasn't sure on the memory part, but I did notice something with my recent tests the other day so I'll share. I did a bunch of benchmarks in Heaven and was working with +118 MHz on my GPU Clock as it seemed to be the highest without me crashing and I went from 0 - 400 MHz on the memory, which crashed it, but I noticed something. Everything at +118 GPU Clock was actually scoring just as high as what I was getting score wise when running at +105 on my GPU Clock. Sometimes the score was even quite a bit lower. So, even though I dropped my GPU offset to a lower level and ran my memory a little lower, I was scoring about the same. Since you are introducing higher memory speeds to your MAX GPU Clock, you will obviously be less stable. Just as in the original guide you may need to back off on the GPU offset in order to get a little higher on the memory side.

EDIT: Giving an example for more clarification.

Code:



Code:


GPU Clock Offset: +118 MHz, Memory Clock Offset: 0, Heaven 3.0 Score: 1168
GPU Clock Offset: +118 MHz, Memory Clock Offset: +100 MHz, Heaven 3.0 Score: 1194
GPU Clock Offset: +118 MHz, Memory Clock Offset: +200 MHz, Heaven 3.0 Score: 1198
GPU Clock Offset: +118 MHz, Memory Clock Offset: +300 MHz, Heaven 3.0 Score: 1223

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GPU Clock Offset: +105 MHz, Memory Clock Offset: +300 MHz, Heaven 3.0 Score: 1220
GPU Clock Offset: +105 MHz, Memory Clock Offset: +325 MHz, Heaven 3.0 Score: 1222
GPU Clock Offset: +105 MHz, Memory Clock Offset: +350 MHz, Heaven 3.0 Score: 1223
GPU Clock Offset: +105 MHz, Memory Clock Offset: +375 MHz, Heaven 3.0 Score: 1228

So, going to +105 and +300 was pretty much the same as if I went +118 and +300. The only difference is that I was way more stable at +105


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brandon88tube*
> 
> Actually, it dropped to 131 MHz from 144 MHz, but there is a certain range at which your card will go in 13 MHz increments and anything in between that first point and the next point will start to give you diminishing returns. It may not exactly be at the same offsets mine are at, but in general it should go by ~13 MHz for each new stepping point. I hope I explained that well enough as I tend to not be the best at describing things sometimes.


But how do you measure diminishing returns? Through benchmarks? I still don't understand you regarding the 13MHz increments, sorry, no pun intended here.


----------



## Draknareth

My second Windforce x3 is on the way








SLi time


----------



## batman900

^You will love that Gigabyte SLI, thats what I have, runs super cool in my cramped case to.

I have a question, does overclocking the memory really have much of a benefit? Also is overclocking the mem just as safe as OC'ing the core on stock volts and good temps? I have never overclocked memory on anything and always heard it doesn't do much but carried more risk than core OC. I can get the core on both my 670s to 1281mhz max boost stable, I tried bumping the memory +100mhz on both cards and ran 3dmark11 but actually lost 100 points. Probably need to drop the core or something? But after seeing that I was like meh at the memory.

Any info is appreciated, TY


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> It's safe to leave it at 132%, the card will still only draw what it needs.
> 
> Not sure why it would drop the clcok speeds like that - sounds like it is disabling the overclock or something. Does restarting Afterburner fix it? I have seen my card get stuck in a low power state (526 MHz) but never from changing settings.
> 
> It's normal for th cards to boost to different levels - you should be able to adjust the offset for the lower card to bring it up to the same speed, or you can try the sync cards control but I'm not sure that really works.


I am using sync settings, I restarted my PC and both cards properly run at the expected speed but if I do any changes I have to do them TWICE because it will drop to 1006 then go up at the offset speed.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *omega2551*
> 
> I've noticed this as well. For the longest time, I was wondering why sometimes my Kepler boost would come out to not be a multiple of 13 while other times it would be dead on. It had me wondering what my true Kepler boost was because it would come out to be anywhere between 117 and 130 MHz. Well, when I am on one of these "sweet spots" my Kepler boost always comes out to be 130 MHz.
> 
> It turns out that for my particular card, these "sweet spots" are at +131, +144, +157 and +170 offsets (maybe more but I haven't tested outside these yet).


The kepler boost is 13.065 increments, the decimals are not shown in most software. Use GPU-Z to get one additional decimal.


----------



## Draknareth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *batman900*
> 
> ^You will love that Gigabyte SLI, thats what I have, runs super cool in my cramped case to.
> 
> I have a question, does overclocking the memory really have much of a benefit? Also is overclocking the mem just as safe as OC'ing the core on stock volts and good temps? I have never overclocked memory on anything and always heard it doesn't do much but carried more risk than core OC. I can get the core on both my 670s to 1281mhz max boost stable, I tried bumping the memory +100mhz on both cards and ran 3dmark11 but actually lost 100 points. Probably need to drop the core or something? But after seeing that I was like meh at the memory.
> 
> Any info is appreciated, TY


OC'ing memory does help, it depends on the game as to how effective it is. BF3 is a good example of a game that loves memory OC. It isn't any more dangerous than OCing core, it's either stable or it isn't. Just OC both get them both stable and enjoy








Found that my new card reaches a higher max core than my first one and has a higher kepler boost (kinda annoying since it runs at the slowest cards speed) but with 2 cards running I don't really think it matters too much


----------



## brandon88tube

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> But how do you measure diminishing returns? Through benchmarks? I still don't understand you regarding the 13MHz increments, sorry, no pun intended here.


To calculate this I used GPU-Z 0.6.8 and would take my Max GPU Clock that I got from Precision X / GPU-Z and then subtract the number from the what it was reporting as the new boost, which is the third box in the GPU Clock row labeled Boost. That gives you your Kepler Boost that I was using for part of my tests.

You also could go off your benchmark scores in a program such as Heaven to see actual performance gains/losses.


----------



## batman900

Thanks Drak, I've always OC'd the core and CPU but never touched any memory. $750 worth of cards makes me nervous before getting all the facts.







I'm being a bit more proactive with my OC now that I ordered a 120hz monitor.

So one more question because this is how I look at Gfx card overclocking. On stock voltage with good temps can u pretty much OC as far as stable allows and it's basically reprocussion free performance for years to come? And the reason they don't come this way from the factory in the first place is because not all cards are garunteed to run at these speeds? I've always done processor OC but Gfx card makes me more nervous. Thanks again!


----------



## justanoldman

I am not sure it is "dangerous" to oc the core or memory. I believe the worst that happens is your drivers crash. Unless you have a modified bios and/or hard mods that can push through more voltage I don't think anything you do with Precision X or Afterburner can hurt your cards.

I tested a number of 670s and they seemed to love the memory offset more than the core. Getting +150 on the core is not always easy but +500 or more on the memory was not hard at all.


----------



## Chunin

I dont think you can damage you card by raising the clocks to a stable level because you cant set a higher VCORE than 1.175V. Theres no chance of overvoltage since thats the max allowed by the bios that the cards comes with and i believe its tested to work else theyd lower it by default. The only other concern are the temps. Ive got my card OCed by +110 on the core and +550 memory and i never go above 65C with fan set to auto. Im not sure how the reference cards handle the heat but Gigabyte did an awesome job with their Windforce x3.

I might be wrong on that so dont take my word for it. Its just my reasoning. Maybe someone more with knowledge will speak on this.


----------



## seithan

So i unlocked the bios with more voltage and more boost.

Setting the Powerslider to 150% // Voltage to 100% // Core clock to 0%

i get
1202 core clock

1.212 Voltage

and 34-37% power.

The best of all, first time it run stable.

The card needs more voltage for anything higher than +120core with 122% stock power boost for sure.


----------



## jimskeet2002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *seithan*
> 
> So i unlocked the bios with more voltage and more boost.
> 
> Setting the Powerslider to 150% // Voltage to 100% // Core clock to 0%
> 
> i get
> 1202 core clock
> 
> 1.212 Voltage
> 
> and 34-37% power.
> 
> The best of all, first time it run stable.
> 
> The card needs more voltage for anything higher than +120core with 122% stock power boost for sure.


Not really... I run stable at +180 and +575 on my gtx. 60C my max temp with those settings.
My core clock runs nice at 1254Mhz
With stock Voltages. Just maxed the slider to 1.15V


----------



## Solonowarion

How would you reccomend to OC with valley . Same?


----------



## jimskeet2002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Solonowarion*
> 
> How would you reccomend to OC with valley . Same?


I think that this guide applies to any card. It is a nice guide that makes it easy to get a nice OC on your card


----------



## seithan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jimskeet2002*
> 
> Not really... I run stable at +180 and +575 on my gtx. 60C my max temp with those settings.
> My core clock runs nice at 1254Mhz
> With stock Voltages. Just maxed the slider to 1.15V


Doesnt run good for me. It runs good with +120 at max volt power (it caps to 1.17v anyway, whatever u do with stock bios) and maybe 156 - but not always stable.

But with +156 i was boosting about 1180sh (i think) while now with +0 on core but with +150 on power, i go over 1.2k


----------



## jimskeet2002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *seithan*
> 
> Doesnt run good for me. It runs good with +120 at max volt power (it caps to 1.17v anyway, whatever u do with stock bios) and maybe 156 - but not always stable.
> 
> But with +156 i was boosting about 1180sh (i think) while now with +0 on core but with +150 on power, i go over 1.2k


hmm strange :/ I have placed mine on 170 cause it runs at the same exact speed with 180 anyway. 1254mhz on core. and it runs stable. it is able to run with 200 on core but 000 on memory but it crashes when i OC the memory too... Yep the voltage caps at 1.175 what ever setting i choose


----------



## EarlZ

Meh, I really get crappy OC for memory so far +500 gave me glitches so I just dropped it down to +400 dunno which is the weaker card though if its top or bottom. Im not even sure if there are real benefits of overclocking cards in SLI XD


----------



## kevindd992002

Can a nvlddmkm.sys BSOD be a cause of too much overclock? I experienced this BSOD after updating to 314.07 with my card. Or is this just unstability with the driver?


----------



## Draknareth

Installed my second 670 yesterday, just ran a load of benchmarks and here are the results using a 3770k (4.6 GHz), 16GB vengeance ram (1600 MHz) and 2 670 Windforce OC's (1202, 7200)

3DMark11 X6675 (g score 6422, physics 10971, combined 6204)
3DMark11 P16302 (g score 20081, physics 10989, combined 9671)
Heaven 3 97.6 FPS 2458 score min fps 46.7 max 249.3
heaven 4 72.8 score 1834 min fps 34.2 max 163.0

I'm pretty happy with this, kinda disappointed that my first card was such a low clocker considering my new card has a much higher top core clock that I'll never get to use, but nevermind


----------



## EarlZ

I used thhe Kepler unlocker and set my boost voltage to 1.200v while keeping the temps under 68c, is this safe for 24/7 ?


----------



## JML10166

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Draknareth*
> 
> Installed my second 670 yesterday, just ran a load of benchmarks and here are the results using a 3770k (4.6 GHz), 16GB vengeance ram (1600 MHz) and 2 670 Windforce OC's (1202, 7200)
> 
> 3DMark11 X6675 (g score 6422, physics 10971, combined 6204)
> 3DMark11 P16302 (g score 20081, physics 10989, combined 9671)
> Heaven 3 97.6 FPS 2458 score min fps 46.7 max 249.3
> heaven 4 72.8 score 1834 min fps 34.2 max 163.0
> 
> I'm pretty happy with this, kinda disappointed that my first card was such a low clocker considering my new card has a much higher top core clock that I'll never get to use, but nevermind


Congrats! Glad you're happy with your purchase. I just did my first OC and will share my results, too.

Happy gaming!

JML


----------



## JML10166

I think I am getting the hang of overclocking Kepler. I've had a lot of fun trying and testing and tweaking and am happy to say I have the first of my two cards stable with a decent-seeming OC.

Card: EVGA GTX760 FTW 4GB
CPU: Intel core-i7 3930K @4.5GHz
RAM: 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum @ 2133MHz

GPU overclock--Offsets: +95 gpu clock, +800 mem clock... Results--max core: 1280MHz; mem: 3802MHz

3DMark11, Performance: 10385
3DMark11, Extreme: 3748
Heaven 4.0, 1080p, max settings: 39.3fps, 991 score

These results seem fairly decent to me, but I'm new to gpu overclocking, so please tell me if I'm wrong. And now, to OC my other card! W00T!

JML


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> I used thhe Kepler unlocker and set my boost voltage to 1.200v while keeping the temps under 68c, is this safe for 24/7 ?


I don't think anyone knows for sure. Nvidia limited the voltage for a reason so there is probably some risk there, but it's a pretty small voltage change (and the MSI PE cards could go higher) so I'd say it's probably a risk worth taking, especially if it gives you good performance increases. As long as it is only at that voltage while boosting and not at idle I think it would be fine.


----------



## Draknareth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JML10166*
> 
> I think I am getting the hang of overclocking Kepler. I've had a lot of fun trying and testing and tweaking and am happy to say I have the first of my two cards stable with a decent-seeming OC.
> 
> Card: EVGA GTX760 FTW 4GB
> CPU: Intel core-i7 3930K @4.5GHz
> RAM: 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum @ 2133MHz
> 
> GPU overclock--Offsets: +95 gpu clock, +800 mem clock... Results--max core: 1280MHz; mem: 3802MHz
> 
> 3DMark11, Performance: 10385
> 3DMark11, Extreme: 3748
> Heaven 4.0, 1080p, max settings: 39.3fps, 991 score
> 
> These results seem fairly decent to me, but I'm new to gpu overclocking, so please tell me if I'm wrong. And now, to OC my other card! W00T!
> 
> JML


Looking good to me mate


----------



## omega2551

Well, I seemed to be stable at +157 but memory was being finicky. Eventually I was getting through benchmarks at +157 and +300, but any game I tried to play would crash or just completely lock up my computer. So I tried to lower the core again to around +140 (about 1250 max clock) and then get the memory stable but it was crashing in benchmarks again, even at like +50 memory offset. After that I said screw the memory and just boosted my core and I've been running smooth all day. It's unfortunate because I noticed substantial improvements in benchmark scores with the memory OC'd but if it's not stable in actual games then it's kind of pointless. Are there any real tricks to boosting the memory? What should my ratio of core to memory offset look like?

Also, idk if i'm blind or what but I never see artifacts during Heaven with a high memory clock.


----------



## Subut

Stuck at 1241 any tips?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> I used thhe Kepler unlocker and set my boost voltage to 1.200v while keeping the temps under 68c, is this safe for 24/7 ?


Yes.


----------



## Draknareth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Subut*
> 
> Stuck at 1241 any tips?


That could well be your max clock mate.
Go for the memory next


----------



## Subut

Im stuck at 1241any suggestions?


----------



## Draknareth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Subut*
> 
> Im stuck at 1241any suggestions?


1241 may be your MAX core clock, you can't force it up if that is the maximum
my max clock on my slot 1 card is 1215
max on second is 1260 something, it's luck of the draw.


----------



## cam51037

I got my GTX 670 Sig2 stable at +127/+375, which is alright for me, and passes the 2k score mark in Valley.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *cam51037*
> 
> I got my GTX 670 Sig2 stable at +127/+375, which is alright for me, and passes the 2k score mark in Valley.


What is the max boost clock? The offset values doesn't mean anything when comparing, really


----------



## kix

Hi guys, my GPU is constantly running at 80% power usage, i have no idea and have tried everything.

Here is the thread, please have a look and help me out thank you!

http://www.overclock.net/t/1371936/evga-gtx680-overclocking-help/0_40


----------



## ZeVo

First time overclocking a GPU.

I am confused on the oscillation part. If mine increased from 1150 to 1163MHz for about five seconds during Heaven, is that bad?



Bumped the offset by 5 and it seems better, but I still saw two tiny jumps from 1137 to 1150MHz:


----------



## JML10166

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Draknareth*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Subut*
> 
> Im stuck at 1241any suggestions?
> 
> 
> 
> 1241 may be your MAX core clock, you can't force it up if that is the maximum
> my max clock on my slot 1 card is 1215
> max on second is 1260 something, it's luck of the draw.
Click to expand...

I'm having just that experience myself. My first 670 clocked pretty nicely (1280 max core, 3800 memory). My second one, not as well. Just can't get past max core of 1254 and memory of 3600. So, it will be the limiting factor when I run them in SLI. Luck of the draw, as you say. I did take a step back and consider that compared to stock, its still a decent improvement.

@Subut... Stock boost = 980. 1241 - 980 = 261MHz, a ~27% increase if I'm doing my math right. I totally understand wanting more and I hope you get it somehow! However, 27% is more than a lot of people are getting, who don't bother to overclock at all.









JML


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Yes.


Thanks another question though, the kepler unlocker has a boost clock limit configuration my second cards go 1202 and 1215 with a +100 offset, I want the second card to also stay in 1202 would flashing its bios to limit the boost clock to 1202 work ?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Thanks another question though, the kepler unlocker has a boost clock limit configuration my second cards go 1202 and 1215 with a +100 offset, I want the second card to also stay in 1202 would flashing its bios to limit the boost clock to 1202 work ?


I don't think so. That would most easily be achieved by modifying the boost table. Are the two cards the same?


----------



## johnnycass

Hi is this score very low im using a single gtx 670 gigabyte windforce with a core 1267mhz mem 3516 max voltage and power target.

also i seem to be only getting an average of 23.6 fps and from reading i should be getting 45fps average.

Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0
FPS:
23.9
Score:
602
Min FPS:
11.8
Max FPS:
49.4
System
Platform:
Windows NT 6.2 (build 9200) 64bit
CPU model:
AMD FX(tm)-8150 Eight-Core Processor (3612MHz) x4
GPU model:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 9.18.13.1407 (2047MB) x1

Settings
Render:
Direct3D11
Mode:
1920x1080 8xAA fullscreen
Preset
Custom
Quality
Ultra
Tessellation:
Extreme

Powered by UNIGINE Engine

Unigine Corp. © 2005-2013


----------



## brandon88tube

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> First time overclocking a GPU.
> 
> I am confused on the oscillation part. If mine increased from 1150 to 1163MHz for about five seconds during Heaven, is that bad?
> 
> Bumped the offset by 5 and it seems better, but I still saw two tiny jumps from 1137 to 1150MHz:


You actually want it to go higher when you max out your gpu usage unless you are seeing some performance drops in scores when you go that high.


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brandon88tube*
> 
> You actually want it to go higher when you max out your gpu usage unless you are seeing some performance drops in scores when you go that high.


Oh. So this is a normal thing? My score is actually increasing which means it's stable? The increases also aren't for a long time. Two to three seconds at most.

I was told I should update BIOS just to make sure. Is the one in the description the latest one?


----------



## brandon88tube

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> Oh. So this is a normal thing? My score is actually increasing which means it's stable? The increases also aren't for a long time. Two to three seconds at most.
> 
> I was told I should update BIOS just to make sure. Is the one in the description the latest one?


Seems odd that it's only for a few seconds. What card do you have and can I get a screenshot of gpu-z? I'm kind of curious


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brandon88tube*
> 
> Seems odd that it's only for a few seconds. What card do you have and can I get a screenshot of gpu-z? I'm kind of curious


It's an Asus 670 DC2 non TOP edition. I will get you a screenshot in a couple of minutes.

EDIT: Just updated to 314.27 drivers. I've read on EVGA forums many users with Titans are also having this problem.


----------



## ZeVo

My God I figured it out somehow.. I used this guide:

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=1770296&mpage=1

I then disabled K-Boost as it was spiking my voltage at a constant 1.075v. I will run a few more benchmarks just to make sure.


----------



## brandon88tube

You should never run K-Boost. It is pointless and just runs your card high for no reason. If your card needs to run high it will do it automatically, otherwise it will clock down to what is needed at that time. There are also known issues when turning it on and they tell you to turn it off before installing new drivers etc.


----------



## JML10166

Followed the guide and it worked pretty nicely. Also allowed me to figure out a few things and develop my own overclocking methodology, which is a slight variant on the guidelines presented here. Thanks again for the great guide!

Now that I seem to have found pretty decent stable overclocks for both my cards, I do have a few questions that still aren't clear to me. Maybe I missed the explanations?

The voltage slider. I maxxed it while overclocking, as instructed. But I'm not sure: does it set a voltage that the card WILL go to when under load? Or does it set a max voltage that it can jump to? My voltage did always jump to the max when I was tinkering, but will it always do that under load or was it because the loads were so extreme?

Also, I seem to recall that the voltage control is technically a separate application. If that's correct, does it reset every time it closes, or will checking the "Windows Start Up" box also preserve the voltage setting?

Ditto for fan profiles, are they saved as well? I seem to recall someone stating that Precision-X has to be running for the fan curves to be active. That seems odd, but is it right?

Thanks,
JML


----------



## brandon88tube

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JML10166*
> 
> The voltage slider. I maxxed it while overclocking, as instructed. But I'm not sure: does it set a voltage that the card WILL go to when under load? Or does it set a max voltage that it can jump to? My voltage did always jump to the max when I was tinkering, but will it always do that under load or was it because the loads were so extreme?
> 
> Also, I seem to recall that the voltage control is technically a separate application. If that's correct, does it reset every time it closes, or will checking the "Windows Start Up" box also preserve the voltage setting?
> 
> Ditto for fan profiles, are they saved as well? I seem to recall someone stating that Precision-X has to be running for the fan curves to be active. That seems odd, but is it right?
> 
> Thanks,
> JML


I honestly don't see the need to set your voltage on the card unless you are having issues with it fluctuating under load and causing you to be unstable. For me at least, the voltage stays at 1.175 when it is under full load and drops down when it is not needed just using the default voltage setting. Now, this may not be the same for all cards and if you feel that leaving it higher will makes you more stable then do so.

In older versions of Precision and After Burner, the voltage always seemed to reset itself, but I believe in newer versions that we're able to save what you had. Now, none of this will actually be used unless you are running the application. So, to have it automatically start you need to check the start on windows option.

I believe the fan profiles are the same as the above mentioned.


----------



## JML10166

Um...

So, the voltage control sets the voltage, or sets a max? That's what I'm asking.

And the "Windows Start Up" actually launches the application, rather than just making the settings active on the cards?

In a nutshell, these are the questions I'm just trying to get straight forward answers on.

Thanks,
JML


----------



## JML10166

W00T!!!

How many times can I say THANKS for this guide? Well, consider this one more.









Here are my final results. The system seems stable at these numbers and with these results.

CPU: Intel Core-i7 3930K @ 4.5MHz
GPUs: EVGA GTX 670 FTW 4GB, 2x SLI
GPU Max Core = 1254MHz, GPU Memory = 3604MHz, GPU Max Temp = 72 degrees, GPU Max TPD = 128%
Note: Clock did NOT throttle down when temps crossed 70 degrees

Heaven 4.0, SLI scaling = 94.5%


3DMark11 Performance, SLI scaling = 92.3%


3DMark11 Extreme, SLI scaling = 94.1%


I'm pretty happy for my first time overclocking video cards.







Thanks to all who have offered advice and answered questions, in addition to this most helpful guide.

JML


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JML10166*
> 
> Um...
> 
> So, the voltage control sets the voltage, or sets a max? That's what I'm asking.
> 
> And the "Windows Start Up" actually launches the application, rather than just making the settings active on the cards?
> 
> In a nutshell, these are the questions I'm just trying to get straight forward answers on.
> 
> Thanks,
> JML


On most cards the voltage control just keeps the voltage from dropping when the card throttles, it doesn't change the actual voltage going to the card, which is locked to 1.175 unless you mod the BIOS.

And the apply at startup command doesn't automatically run the application, it just applies the settings. Once you set it you don't need the application running any longer since it makes the changes at the driver level.


----------



## EarlZ

14.6k Physics score at 4.5Ghz? Im only getting 9.2k on my 2600K at 4.8Ghz.. so something is wrong with my setup or my CPU is probably under performing? ( no throttling )

Another thing on my GPU, not sure if this is caused by MSI-AB but there are times that my card does not properly accept the offset GPU values and just locks it self to 1006Mhz core but it bumps the memory, temps are well under 60c


----------



## Draknareth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> 14.6k Physics score at 4.5Ghz? Im only getting 9.2k on my 2600K at 4.8Ghz.. so something is wrong with my setup or my CPU is probably under performing? ( no throttling )
> 
> Another thing on my GPU, not sure if this is caused by MSI-AB but there are times that my card does not properly accept the offset GPU values and just locks it self to 1006Mhz core but it bumps the memory, temps are well under 60c


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> 14.6k Physics score at 4.5Ghz? Im only getting 9.2k on my 2600K at 4.8Ghz.. so something is wrong with my setup or my CPU is probably under performing? ( no throttling )
> 
> Another thing on my GPU, not sure if this is caused by MSI-AB but there are times that my card does not properly accept the offset GPU values and just locks it self to 1006Mhz core but it bumps the memory, temps are well under 60c


No mate, he's using a hexcore, your CPU is fine


----------



## EarlZ

Ive seen some 2600K's that also do about 11-12k at the same or lower clock speeds.. is 9200 really the expected CPU score for Physics?


----------



## neoroy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Turning the power slider up all the way is fine, but increasing the voltage is going to make it harder to keep cool, so you might be better off putting that back to stock.


Yup now I set it back to stock







thx Forceman.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Considering you are running on an "Acrylic Benchtable", either your ambients must be rediculously high, the JetStream cooler impressingly inefficient, or your card broken. It is a dual-fan cooler :S. The stock cooler can manage to keep the GPU below 70C without voltage mod... I would probably try replacing the thermal paste on that one!
> 
> You NEED to stay below 70C. You can safely max both the voltage and power sliders.


With modified fan curve I can get max temp under 70c but only at stock clock, when comes to OC it will goes beyond 70c, I live in a HOT country so I can't hold this higher temp while OCing unless I got an AC in my room


----------



## Draknareth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Ive seen some 2600K's that also do about 11-12k at the same or lower clock speeds.. is 9200 really the expected CPU score for Physics?


2600K's at 5 GHz tend to only just break 11.5k, some only just reach 11k at that speed.


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Draknareth*
> 
> 2600K's at 5 GHz tend to only just break 11.5k, some only just reach 11k at that speed.


I dont think that 200Mhz that im missing is gonna give me 2300 points more, dunno whats wrong though..


----------



## mokmoki

I have a Palit Jetstream GTX670, and i tried this guide. I only managed to squeeze out a small bit out of it.

*Stock:*
Boost Clock: 1085
Memory Clock: 1527
Max Boost: 1150 (just around 65 Kepler boost







)

*OC:*
Boost Clock: 1140 (+50 offset)
Memory Clock: 1652 (+250 offset)
Max Boost: 1202 (this goes down to 1189 at full load for prolonged periods because temps go beyond 70c)

What do you guys think of the results? This card runs quite hot, I only managed to setup my fan profile to Quiet because when I try to follow the Performance curve, it goes above 70c anyway.

Also, I don't know if I'm identifying artifacts correctly, haha. My only idea of artifacts are the ones I see in youtube where the artifacting is so blatantly obvious. I don't know if I missed any artifacts in Heaven benchmark while testing..


----------



## pc-illiterate

all the artifacts ive seen are red or green sunbursts.
hows your airflow? with a good fan profile, you shouldnt get that hot.


----------



## mokmoki

well... I only have stock NZXT Phantom 410 case fans and the fans of my h100i mounted up top..

1 x 140mm at the front (intake)
1 x 120mm at the bottom (intake)
1 x 120mm at the rear (exhaust)
2 x 120mm at the top for the H100i radiator (exhaust)

when i load tested my GPU using the overclock settings, i get temps above 70c even with the fans set at max (90%). it might be the ambient temps here, i live in the Philippines and it's quite hot here. my idle GPU temp hovers at 35~36c.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mokmoki*
> 
> I have a Palit Jetstream GTX670, and i tried this guide. I only managed to squeeze out a small bit out of it.
> 
> *Stock:*
> Boost Clock: 1085
> Memory Clock: 1527
> Max Boost: 1150 (just around 65 Kepler boost
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> )
> 
> *OC:*
> Boost Clock: 1140 (+50 offset)
> Memory Clock: 1652 (+250 offset)
> Max Boost: 1202 (this goes down to 1189 at full load for prolonged periods because temps go beyond 70c)
> 
> What do you guys think of the results? This card runs quite hot, I only managed to setup my fan profile to Quiet because when I try to follow the Performance curve, it goes above 70c anyway.
> 
> Also, I don't know if I'm identifying artifacts correctly, haha. My only idea of artifacts are the ones I see in youtube where the artifacting is so blatantly obvious. I don't know if I missed any artifacts in Heaven benchmark while testing..


Gotta love the Jetstream. They did a brilliant job of making a dual fan cooler as inefficient as possible!


----------



## EarlZ

Is there a way that I can limit my second card to 1202, because it goes upto 1215 and it bugs the hell out of me and I want it to stay at 1202 just like my first card.. Maybe this is doable with the kepler bios unlock?

Im currently using MSI-AB to overclock my cards and I have them at +100Core offset, if I dont sync the cards though one of them will fail to apply the overclock after a reboot.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Is there a way that I can limit my second card to 1202, because it goes upto 1215 and it bugs the hell out of me and I want it to stay at 1202 just like my first card.. Maybe this is doable with the kepler bios unlock?
> 
> Im currently using MSI-AB to overclock my cards and I have them at +100Core offset, if I dont sync the cards though one of them will fail to apply the overclock after a reboot.


Yes, use KBT to specify your BIOS' max boost clock to 1202 and flash.


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Yes, use KBT to specify your BIOS' max boost clock to 1202 and flash.


Im currently using KGB from xtreme systems, it has an option to limit the max boost but it does not seem to work properly. I'll try this. thanks!

So after checking with this tool the boost limit on both cards are already at 1202. Not sure why the second card is doing 1215.. but it moves down the back up from time to time.


----------



## Sutenvulf

Hello

Excellent guide, however I have a couple of questions if anyone can help as I've not overclocked anything before.

I'm running 2 Gigabyte 4gb 670's SLI which are connected to 3 120hz monitors, I've turned sync off and I am going to OC one after the other, I'm following the quick guide and got to the first benchmark, setting a custom resolution and apart from selecting Multi monitor in Heaven, everything is as it is in the guide.

However when the benchmark begins I can see everything but it is as if there is a thin veil of blue mist over the screens, this only happens in the benchmark not in a normal run through, is it normal or am I doing it all wrong?

Thanks in advance for any advice.


----------



## jimskeet2002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sutenvulf*
> 
> Hello
> 
> Excellent guide, however I have a couple of questions if anyone can help as I've not overclocked anything before.
> 
> I'm running 2 Gigabyte 4gb 670's SLI which are connected to 3 120hz monitors, I've turned sync off and I am going to OC one after the other, I'm following the quick guide and got to the first benchmark, setting a custom resolution and apart from selecting Multi monitor in Heaven, everything is as it is in the guide.
> 
> However when the benchmark begins I can see everything but it is as if there is a thin veil of blue mist over the screens, this only happens in the benchmark not in a normal run through, is it normal or am I doing it all wrong?
> 
> Thanks in advance for any advice.


Hi there.
I think when running SLI you have to overclock both cards together and at the same speeds of the lower card.... You can't have one card run at 1200mhz and one at 1100. They have to run at the same speeds.


----------



## Draknareth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jimskeet2002*
> 
> Hi there.
> I think when running SLI you have to overclock both cards together and at the same speeds of the lower card.... You can't have one card run at 1200mhz and one at 1100. They have to run at the same speeds.


This is true, but overclocking the cards separately (with SLi off) can be a good way to see how each individual card OC's, then you know the max SLi OC based on your lowest cards stable clock.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Draknareth*
> 
> This is true, but overclocking the cards separately (with SLi off) can be a good way to see how each individual card OC's, then you know the max SLi OC based on your lowest cards stable clock.


and you can also find out which card you want in your top slot for those times sli isnt supported and you run just 1 card enabled


----------



## JML10166

I have three cards in my rig. Two of them are EVGA GTX 670s FTW 4GBs in SLI. They seem to have a minimum fan speed of 30% and a maximum of 80%. The other card is an EVGA GTX 660 SC 2GB and it has min and max of 30% and 75%, respectively.

Are these set in the BIOS of the cards? Or can I adjust them somehow in Precision-X?

The guide in this thread shows min and max of 10% and 100% and the fan curve creation guide seems to count on these values. So, I can't really follow the guide as written unless I can alter the min/max properties on these cards.

I'm fine with adapting my approach if need be. But I figured first it would be best to see if these floors and ceilings can be modified in the software. I don't plan to mess with the BIOS of the cards.

Thanks,
JML


----------



## mokmoki

Hi All!

So I posted my OC results of the Palit Jetstream earlier (quite unimpressive really).

I was wondering if lowering the voltage slider on the Precision X utility will help with the temps I'm getting? Because as it is, I could not run a "Maximum Performance" fan profile so I resorted to the "Quiet" profile in the guide. My card runs beyond 70c even with the fans turned up at max (90%).

Maybe lowering the voltage but keeping the same offsets will help with my temperatures, but I don't know if it will help at all... Any advice?


----------



## mokmoki

Whoa, sorry, internet fail resulted to double post... Sorry!


----------



## JML10166

Anyone got experience with FluidMark? Or know where to find a decent guide to using it?

I'd like to really get some sense of how well my PhysX setup is working, but I don't find the software terribly intuitive and they don't seem to have a manual.

Thanks,
JML


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JML10166*
> 
> I have three cards in my rig. Two of them are EVGA GTX 670s FTW 4GBs in SLI. They seem to have a minimum fan speed of 30% and a maximum of 80%. The other card is an EVGA GTX 660 SC 2GB and it has min and max of 30% and 75%, respectively.
> 
> Are these set in the BIOS of the cards? Or can I adjust them somehow in Precision-X?
> 
> The guide in this thread shows min and max of 10% and 100% and the fan curve creation guide seems to count on these values. So, I can't really follow the guide as written unless I can alter the min/max properties on these cards.
> 
> I'm fine with adapting my approach if need be. But I figured first it would be best to see if these floors and ceilings can be modified in the software. I don't plan to mess with the BIOS of the cards.
> 
> Thanks,
> JML


This can be modified in BIOS. However, you should be able to follow the guide either ways. 100% is your highest possible fan speed, and not necessarily 100%, the same goes for the lowest fan speed. Whenever you are asked to put your fan speed at 100%, put it on 75%, and start from there.


----------



## JML10166

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> This can be modified in BIOS. However, you should be able to follow the guide either ways. 100% is your highest possible fan speed, and not necessarily 100%, the same goes for the lowest fan speed. Whenever you are asked to put your fan speed at 100%, put it on 75%, and start from there.


Yeah, that's what I meant about adapting my approach if need be.

JML


----------



## Mephic

Small question from me - I own a GTX 660Ti Power Edition but this guide suits me very well.

I got my final Kepler Boost clock at 1333 MHz on core and 7400 MHz on memory. For 24/7 I decided to back down memory to 7200 MHz.

I'm using MSI Afterburner because in Power Edition cards it lets You overvolt the card over 1,175v. So I added +60mv voltage.

Now I have a weird problem:

In Heaven or Valley benchmarks I get high GPU usage, I'm around 100% power target (whenever it goes higher than 102-103% card declocks itself, although i set power target to 114% which is maximum for my card - same with EVGA Precision X) and the clock is stable at 1333 MHz on core.

But for example when I run 3dmark 11 I get 105% power usage sometimes and also low GPU usage which results in card declocking itself even to 1150 MHz.

In games it depends on a game - In Far Cry 3: constant 100% gpu usage, clocks 1333 MHz on core = good performance
Skyrim: GPU usage rarely goes over 70%, power % max 80-90% = good performance although sometimes it drops from 60 to 45 FPS (I use loads of mods but max 1,8 GB Vram) - clock varies from 1150-1333 MHz
World of tanks: GPU usage:50% power% 80% = mediocre performance - often see FPS drops although can't find the reason why GPU usage is so low (everything maxed out). FPS 60 stable but during fights they drop to 40 and than I see stuttering. And I can't find the reason why gpu usage is so low - on gtx 560 Ti it was 90-95% although I couldn't run the game at max settings. Clock varies (goes down even to minimum 1080MHz)

CPU: Core i5 3570K @4,5 GHz

Any advices on this? My temps never went higher than 60 degrees with 50% fan (got nice fan profile, and very well cooled case).


----------



## jimskeet2002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mephic*
> 
> Small question from me - I own a GTX 660Ti Power Edition but this guide suits me very well.
> 
> I got my final Kepler Boost clock at 1333 MHz on core and 7400 MHz on memory. For 24/7 I decided to back down memory to 7200 MHz.
> 
> I'm using MSI Afterburner because in Power Edition cards it lets You overvolt the card over 1,175v. So I added +60mv voltage.
> 
> Now I have a weird problem:
> 
> In Heaven or Valley benchmarks I get high GPU usage, I'm around 100% power target (whenever it goes higher than 102-103% card declocks itself, although i set power target to 114% which is maximum for my card - same with EVGA Precision X) and the clock is stable at 1333 MHz on core.
> 
> But for example when I run 3dmark 11 I get 105% power usage sometimes and also low GPU usage which results in card declocking itself even to 1150 MHz.
> 
> In games it depends on a game - In Far Cry 3: constant 100% gpu usage, clocks 1333 MHz on core = good performance
> Skyrim: GPU usage rarely goes over 70%, power % max 80-90% = good performance although sometimes it drops from 60 to 45 FPS (I use loads of mods but max 1,8 GB Vram) - clock varies from 1150-1333 MHz
> World of tanks: GPU usage:50% power% 80% = mediocre performance - often see FPS drops although can't find the reason why GPU usage is so low (everything maxed out). FPS 60 stable but during fights they drop to 40 and than I see stuttering. And I can't find the reason why gpu usage is so low - on gtx 560 Ti it was 90-95% although I couldn't run the game at max settings. Clock varies (goes down even to minimum 1080MHz)
> 
> CPU: Core i5 3570K @4,5 GHz
> 
> Any advices on this? My temps never went higher than 60 degrees with 50% fan (got nice fan profile, and very well cooled case).


When your fps drop and your GPU is not at full load that usually means you get Cpu bottleneck at that moment. Also wolrd of tanks being and mmo kinda is cpu heavy. Check your Cpu load during the fps drops.


----------



## Mephic

What You mean is that i5 3570k clocked to 4,5 GHz may cause bottleneck??? Dear God... That is weird. I had 7950 before (it died right after I bought it) but I didn't have this problem there in WOT. I also did some more voltage tweaking today and got myself 1346 Kepler boost and 7400 mem stable again - but the problem persists.


----------



## ZeVo

I am confused..

So I set my core offset to +120MHz. My boost clock is 980MHz. When I run Heaven, Precision shows me it's running at 1150MHz.

What is going on? Both my voltage and power target are set to max. Card reaches a max of 53C on Heaven. Highest TDP was 36%.


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> I am confused..
> 
> So I set my core offset to +120MHz. My boost clock is 980MHz. When I run Heaven, Precision shows me it's running at 1150MHz.
> 
> What is going on? Both my voltage and power target are set to max. Card reaches a max of 53C on Heaven. Highest TDP was 36%.


Never trust what Haven tells you in terms of boost clock or gpu clock.
Check it for example with GPU-Z on Sensors tab while stress testing.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Im currently using KGB from xtreme systems, it has an option to limit the max boost but it does not seem to work properly. I'll try this. thanks!
> 
> So after checking with this tool the boost limit on both cards are already at 1202. Not sure why the second card is doing 1215.. but it moves down the back up from time to time.


When using Kepler Bios Tweaker you need to change boost table to the same as max boost you're setting,


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*
> 
> Never trust what Haven tells you in terms of boost clock or gpu clock.
> Check it for example with GPU-Z on Sensors tab while stress testing.


Checked in GPU-Z and it showed the same thing. If my boost clock is at 980 and I increase the core offset to +120, shouldn't it be at 1100MHz, not 1150?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> Checked in GPU-Z and it showed the same thing. If my boost clock is at 980 and I increase the core offset to +120, shouldn't it be at 1100MHz, not 1150?


No. Every card has their own boost clock - the 980 is just the "reference" boost clock. Your card sounds like it would boost to 1030 at stock.


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> No. Every card has their own boost clock - the 980 is just the "reference" boost clock. Your card sounds like it would boost to 1030 at stock.


While playing PlanetSide 2 I did notice when under 58C it runs at 1032MHz constant unless of course I go into menu. However, if it goes past 58C it automatically goes up 13MHz to 1045 until the card goes under 58C.


----------



## Jinto

So I'm in the preliminary stages of overclocking my EVGA GTX 670 and currently I'm working on finding my stable core offset. When running Heaven 3.0 with maxed out settings @1080p I was able to complete the benchmark with a core offset of +123MHz, anything higher and I crashed to desktop. I noticed that I was using an out of date Heaven benchmark and proceeded to download the newer 4.0 benchmark. I noticed some of the settings were slightly different but overall the same. Rather than choose the "Extreme" setting I selected "Custom" because the extreme setting forces a resolution of 1600x900. So after maxing out all settings under custom and choosing the 1080p resolution I proceeded to start the benchmark. However, within only a few seconds of the start of the benchmark I crash to desktop even though I'm using the same +123MHz core offset that got me through successfully before.

Can anyone shed some light as to whether or not the new 4.0 benchmark is more demanding or what else could be the problem?


----------



## pc-illiterate

yes its more demanding. its made for this and future generations of cards.


----------



## Jinto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> yes its more demanding. its made for this and future generations of cards.


So should I stick to using Heaven 3.0? Or should I use the new "Valley" benchmark?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jinto*
> 
> So should I stick to using Heaven 3.0? Or should I use the new "Valley" benchmark?


You should probably continue to use Heaven 4.0 and turn your overclock down so you are stable. Although Valley is nice also.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> You should probably continue to use Heaven 4.0 and turn your overclock down so you are stable. Although Valley is nice also.


I thought Valley and Heaven 4.0 uses the same exact engine? In my case, the max temp I get for both programs is roughly the same.


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> You should probably continue to use Heaven 4.0 and turn your overclock down so you are stable. Although Valley is nice also.


Valley is nice but let's you run higher clocks than Heaven, for me it was even 2 jumps difference. For Heaven I can run 1228mhz and for Valley 1254mhz. Haven crashed at anything more than 1228mhz.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> I thought Valley and Heaven 4.0 uses the same exact engine? In my case, the max temp I get for both programs is roughly the same.


I found Heaven 4 to be most demanding and crash vurnerable so I test with it. I never experienced stable in Heaven 4 and crash in games. When Haven 4 is stable for me, games will be too.

@kevindd992002
Corrected Heaven ;d


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*
> 
> Valley is nice but let's you run higher clocks than Haven, for me it was even 2 jumps difference. For Haven I can run 1228mhz and for Valley 1254mhz. Haven crashed at anything more than 1228mhz.
> I found Haven 4 to be most demanding and crash vurnerable so I test with it. I never experienced stable in Haven 4 and crash in games. When Haven 4 is stable for me, games will be too.


Thanks for the info. It's actually Heaven though not Haven


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*
> 
> Valley is nice but let's you run higher clocks than Heaven, for me it was even 2 jumps difference. For Heaven I can run 1228mhz and for Valley 1254mhz. Haven crashed at anything more than 1228mhz.
> I found Heaven 4 to be most demanding and crash vurnerable so I test with it. I never experienced stable in Heaven 4 and crash in games. When Haven 4 is stable for me, games will be too.
> 
> @kevindd992002
> Corrected Heaven ;d


Fair enough, but my point was more that the solution to crashing in Heaven 4.0 is not to stop using it to test the cards, but to fix the instability instead.


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Fair enough, but my point was more that the solution to crashing in Heaven 4.0 is not to stop using it to test the cards, but to fix the instability instead.


I never said to stop using Heaven 4, I still use it (second part of my last post) as it is most demanding ie good for stability testing. Personally I wouldn't recommend dropping tool because it's more demanding...


----------



## Jinto

Well then I guess I'm going to have to lower my core offset considerably. It's like they injected Heaven with steroids for 4.0.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*
> 
> I never said to stop using Heaven 4, I still use it (second part of my last post) as it is most demanding ie good for stability testing. Personally I wouldn't recommend dropping tool because it's more demanding...


I think Forceman wasn't referring to you regarding stopping using Heaven.


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> I think Forceman wasn't referring to you regarding stopping using Heaven.


You're right, I was referring to Jinto's post. Sorry xonare - I didn't realize it could be read that way (my intent was clear in my mind







).


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jinto*
> 
> Well then I guess I'm going to have to lower my core offset considerably. It's like they injected Heaven with steroids for 4.0.


Kinda, it's machine killer. I got 38.5 fps in Heaven with maxed out OC on my card. I don't know what I'd have to do to get higher, probably SLI the 670.


----------



## de4ler

hey

are u guys thing we gtx 670 owners gona have some bios update in the future what gona unlock the Overvoltage thing ? because its pointles buying MSI GTX 670 whit triple overvoltage


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jinto*
> 
> So I'm in the preliminary stages of overclocking my EVGA GTX 670 and currently I'm working on finding my stable core offset. When running Heaven 3.0 with maxed out settings @1080p I was able to complete the benchmark with a core offset of +123MHz, anything higher and I crashed to desktop. I noticed that I was using an out of date Heaven benchmark and proceeded to download the newer 4.0 benchmark. I noticed some of the settings were slightly different but overall the same. Rather than choose the "Extreme" setting I selected "Custom" because the extreme setting forces a resolution of 1600x900. So after maxing out all settings under custom and choosing the 1080p resolution I proceeded to start the benchmark. However, within only a few seconds of the start of the benchmark I crash to desktop even though I'm using the same +123MHz core offset that got me through successfully before.
> 
> Can anyone shed some light as to whether or not the new 4.0 benchmark is more demanding or what else could be the problem?


Whats your GPU core speed at that offset? maybe also try something that is divisible by 13.. 117 or 130 perhaps?


----------



## Uzanar

Really nice guide but can someone explain why you wouldn't set the power target to maximum all of the time to ensure that the card isn't bottlenecked by power? I always use 117% power target, should I not do that?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Uzanar*
> 
> Really nice guide but can someone explain why you wouldn't set the power target to maximum all of the time to ensure that the card isn't bottlenecked by power? I always use 117% power target, should I not do that?


No, there's no reason not to max the power slider. The card is still only going to draw what it needs, and they are hardware limited anyway, so there's really no downside.


----------



## Uzanar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> No, there's no reason not to max the power slider. The card is still only going to draw what it needs, and they are hardware limited anyway, so there's really no downside.


Ok, because the OP tells you how to "find your power target" so I find it kind of weird to find it if it doesn't really matter anyway?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Uzanar*
> 
> Ok, because the OP tells you how to "find your power target" so I find it kind of weird to find it if it doesn't really matter anyway?


I think that is in reference to the power use, not the power limit itself.


----------



## ZeVo

Guys, is it normal if my 670 only reaches a max TDP of 34%? No matter what I run (Heaven + Kombuster) it doesn't increase any higher.


----------



## Juraat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> Guys, is it normal if my 670 only reaches a max TDP of 34%? No matter what I run (Heaven + Kombuster) it doesn't increase any higher.


No that is definitly not normal, mine goes to 138% when fully overclocked to [email protected] and [email protected]

EDIT: at stock it should go to 100% i guess (since this is the set limit at stock)


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> Guys, is it normal if my 670 only reaches a max TDP of 34%? No matter what I run (Heaven + Kombuster) it doesn't increase any higher.


There have been a few people reporting the same issue - sounds like a reporting bug or issue with the software. If you were really only using 34% GPU power you'd notice it in the performance.


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> There have been a few people reporting the same issue - sounds like a reporting bug or issue with the software. If you were really only using 34% GPU power you'd notice it in the performance.


Exactly what I thought. Every game I play runs fine, no performance drops.

Thanks for the quick response -- was worrying I'd have to deal with ASUS RMA.


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *de4ler*
> 
> hey
> 
> are u guys thing we gtx 670 owners gona have some bios update in the future what gona unlock the Overvoltage thing ? because its pointles buying MSI GTX 670 whit triple overvoltage


I think you got a new version of PE though.


----------



## Mephic

Maybe it's just showing You power % offset? I mean extra power % over 100? What's the value in idle?


----------



## Jinto

So after doing several more tests of trying to find my stable core offset and memory offset settings I started to notice that my GPU emits this slight squealing or low pitched whine. The thing that scares me is that my card is water cooled under a EK Acetal+Nickel block. It only begins to make this noise when I run a benchmark such as Heaven, 3D Mark 11 or FurMark. Any idea what this noise could be?


----------



## Mephic

@up - it's a coil whine probably. It can appear and go away but some people decide to RMA.


----------



## de4ler

I have that noise to but only if i play GW 2 . Its not loud but i dont like it . Is that only nvidia card have or amd have it too ?


----------



## de4ler

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> I think you got a new version of PE though.


Yeah its new :/ but why are they lock the voltage ? we have soo mutch room for O.C. .


----------



## Jinto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mephic*
> 
> @up - it's a coil whine probably. It can appear and go away but some people decide to RMA.


I thought coil whine was only a problem with stock air-cooled cards? How can there be coil whine with a water block?


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *de4ler*
> 
> Yeah its new :/ but why are they lock the voltage ? we have soo mutch room for O.C. .


Wait, but you still can see an increase to 1.175 volt right?

Try to flash your BIOS use this one : http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/127481/MSI.GTX670.2048.120528.html OR you can use the unlocked (1.2 Volt) BIOS from the people in here.

Those BIOS are the first BIOS of PE when the card has released at the beginning.

Good Luck.


----------



## xonare

Could I go higher than 1.212V (boost) with Gigabyte card only using modded bios? Now I got 1.187V (1.212V boost) and I thought that is max cause I read that it's locked anyway at 1.212V somewhere.


----------



## de4ler

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sharchaster*
> 
> Wait, but you still can see an increase to 1.175 volt right?
> 
> Try to flash your BIOS use this one : http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/127481/MSI.GTX670.2048.120528.html OR you can use the unlocked (1.2 Volt) BIOS from the people in here.
> 
> Those BIOS are the first BIOS of PE when the card has released at the beginning.
> 
> Good Luck.


Yeah i was reading about flashing the bios but im scread and i dont have experience whit bios :/
But thx 4 the tip maybe next month im gona try it after i read more about it .


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *de4ler*
> 
> Yeah i was reading about flashing the bios but im scread and i dont have experience whit bios :/
> But thx 4 the tip maybe next month im gona try it after i read more about it .


Flashing bios on graphic card only looks scary, but it's easy after you read some tutorials.


----------



## Mephic

There is absolutely no need to flash Power Edition cards. Install MSI AB 2.2.3 - this one gives You voltage straight to GPU omiting the driver lock. You won't see the extra voltage in GPU-z nor MSI AB (it will show 1.175) but it is there for sure (I can max out my 660Ti on much higher clocks than on any other version of AB). And this heat...









Just try it out.


----------



## EarlZ

So I edited the bios on my cards to have a limited boost clock of only 1215 and it still goes over that value, the bottom card is always +13Mhz higher than the top card. I am not sure what is going on lol!


----------



## Mephic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jinto*
> 
> I thought coil whine was only a problem with stock air-cooled cards? How can there be coil whine with a water block?


Woot? What does the cooler have to do with whining coils? It's not connected to cooler.


----------



## de4ler

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mephic*
> 
> There is absolutely no need to flash Power Edition cards. Install MSI AB 2.2.3 - this one gives You voltage straight to GPU omiting the driver lock. You won't see the extra voltage in GPU-z nor MSI AB (it will show 1.175) but it is there for sure (I can max out my 660Ti on much higher clocks than on any other version of AB). And this heat...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just try it out.


wow THX im gona try it now


----------



## Mephic

Just be careful when using it and monitor Your temps because You won't be able to actually monitor the voltage.

My final clocks on my 660Ti using AB are:

Core Voltage: +60mV (according to what I've read it gives me around 1,233v on GPU)
Memory Voltage: +30mV
Aux Voltage: stock

GPU clock +120MHz
Memory offset +700MHz

adding that to my boost clock it gives me keppler boost on 1348MHz/7400MHz on full load - Far Cry 3, everything on Ultra, 4xMSAA, Ultra view range stable 45-50 FPS, with 8xMSAA it goes down to 35 with memory clocked but still is playable.

But bear in mind that I really got a cherry picked chip.


----------



## EarlZ

Is there a way to have these chips always run at full speed when in 3d? I noticed a lot of time in bioshock infinite where i initially get about 30-40fps in the scene and it ramps up to 60fps as the card clocks ramp from 800+Mhz to my overclocked speed of 1215


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Is there a way to have these chips always run at full speed when in 3d? I noticed a lot of time in bioshock infinite where i initially get about 30-40fps in the scene and it ramps up to 60fps as the card clocks ramp from 800+Mhz to my overclocked speed of 1215


Check out this topic: http://www.overclock.net/t/1267918/guide-nvidia-inspector-gtx670-680-disable-boost-fixed-clock-speed-undervolting


----------



## neoroy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *de4ler*
> 
> Yeah i was reading about flashing the bios but im scread and i dont have experience whit bios :/
> But thx 4 the tip maybe next month im gona try it after i read more about it .


Or you may use KGB that thing will max your powerlimit to 150% and max core voltage to 1.212v (only for GK104) also max your fan to 100%, here is the thread on XtremeSystems. I saw this tool also in this forum, you may try to look at it.
I've done it with Nvidia Flash in Windows but it became unstable







so I rolled back to ori VBIOS.


----------



## neoroy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mokmoki*
> 
> I have a Palit Jetstream GTX670, and i tried this guide. I only managed to squeeze out a small bit out of it.
> 
> *Stock:*
> Boost Clock: 1085
> Memory Clock: 1527
> Max Boost: 1150 (just around 65 Kepler boost
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> )
> 
> *OC:*
> Boost Clock: 1140 (+50 offset)
> Memory Clock: 1652 (+250 offset)
> Max Boost: 1202 (this goes down to 1189 at full load for prolonged periods because temps go beyond 70c)
> 
> What do you guys think of the results? This card runs quite hot, I only managed to setup my fan profile to Quiet because when I try to follow the Performance curve, it goes above 70c anyway.
> 
> Also, I don't know if I'm identifying artifacts correctly, haha. My only idea of artifacts are the ones I see in youtube where the artifacting is so blatantly obvious. I don't know if I missed any artifacts in Heaven benchmark while testing..


We have similar card *mokmoki*








Yeah this cooller is not that good







even with dual fan and custom heatsink (but only 3 heatpipes) it reaches 80c when I benchmark Vantage Pmode at stock clock also I use open rig/no case. Ambient temp is quite cool at night in myplace but not cool enough like in europe


----------



## Jinto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mephic*
> 
> Woot? What does the cooler have to do with whining coils? It's not connected to cooler.


I was under the impression "coil whine" was associated with the turbine in standard blower type air cooled cards. What I'm asking is, what could possibly be making noise if my card is under a water block? Again, this sound only emits once I run a benchmark but immediately stops afterwards.


----------



## pc-illiterate

it is the power coils (what the vrm feed) squealing. easiest way to explain this. if it isnt a super duper clocker, you could just rma it. tell them it squeals like a pig under load.


----------



## Forceman

Coil whine is associated with the coils on the card, not the cooler type. The coils are there whether you have a water block or a fan - it could even be worse with the water block because the fan noise on a normal cooler might cover them up somewhat.


----------



## Br3ach

Great post







Just to chip in here (admittedly I didn't read through all 200 pages of follow-up so apologies if this has been mentioned already.

Relating to memory overclocking I've found out that using MemtestCL is much better to locate memory instabilities than the good old 'watch out for artifacts method'. Even when I though I was 100% stable this tool was finding 1 error / 4 hours of running so I had to decrease the frequency a notch. Now I'm 100% stable ;-)


----------



## Jinto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> it is the power coils (what the vrm feed) squealing. easiest way to explain this. if it isnt a super duper clocker, you could just rma it. tell them it squeals like a pig under load.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Coil whine is associated with the coils on the card, not the cooler type. The coils are there whether you have a water block or a fan - it could even be worse with the water block because the fan noise on a normal cooler might cover them up somewhat.


Ah okay, I never knew this. In your guys opinion should I RMA this card?


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*
> 
> Check out this topic: http://www.overclock.net/t/1267918/guide-nvidia-inspector-gtx670-680-disable-boost-fixed-clock-speed-undervolting


Thanks but it looks like too much work is involved and it is not done automatically. Its somewhat annoying that the card does not ramp up fast enough.


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jinto*
> 
> Ah okay, I never knew this. In your guys opinion should I RMA this card?


Depends how bad it is and what your tolerance for it is. It normally gets better over time, not worse, but if it is really bad then it is worthy of an RMA. You normally only hear it in loading screens or other places with insanely high FPS though, not in games themselves.


----------



## ZeVo

Can anyone help me with my TDP being stuck at 34%?

I don't think it's driver related as I went to drivers 306.97 and got the same result.

I flashed BIOS with a newer one and got the same thing.


----------



## Forceman

Have you tried both Afterburner and Precision? It's a reporting glitch, not an actual card problem which you'd notice right away with decreased performance, but I haven't seen any definitive fix yet.


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Have you tried both Afterburner and Precision? It's a reporting glitch, not an actual card problem which you'd notice right away with decreased performance, but I haven't seen any definitive fix yet.


Tried both. Same issue. As much as I don't want to, going to try GPU Tweak.

Would this be a valid reason for RMA? It may just be a glitch, but annoying as hell. I can't even overclock because I don't know if I'm hitting my TPD limit.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> Tried both. Same issue. As much as I don't want to, going to try GPU Tweak.
> 
> Would this be a valid reason for RMA? It may just be a glitch, but annoying as hell. I can't even overclock because I don't know if I'm hitting my TPD limit.


you could always ship me your dc2 and me ship you my wf3







hahahahahaha


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> you could always ship me your dc2 and me ship you my wf3
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> hahahahahaha


If it wouldn't have the same issue as mine I'd be happy too if NCIX doesn't accept it!


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> you could always ship me your dc2 and me ship you my wf3
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> hahahahahaha


Double post bug..


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> Tried both. Same issue. As much as I don't want to, going to try GPU Tweak.
> 
> Would this be a valid reason for RMA? It may just be a glitch, but annoying as hell. I can't even overclock because I don't know if I'm hitting my TPD limit.


All the Power limit is going to do is cause the card to throttle, it isn't going to affect yuor overclocking in any other way (what I mean is that it shouldn't stop you from overclocking). Put the power limit all the way up and just overclock as normal - what the power number actually says is kind of irrelevant unless you have actual issues like throttling. And everything I've seen elsewhere shows it as a software bug, not a card bug.


----------



## kevindd992002

So anyone know about the MemtestCL program posted by someone above?


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> All the Power limit is going to do is cause the card to throttle, it isn't going to affect yuor overclocking in any other way (what I mean is that it shouldn't stop you from overclocking). Put the power limit all the way up and just overclock as normal - what the power number actually says is kind of irrelevant unless you have actual issues like throttling. And everything I've seen elsewhere shows it as a software bug, not a card bug.


Thanks for the explanation. It actually went up from 34% to 40% so I guess that's progress.









Got a quick question though regarding oscillation:

If my line is a stable 1150MHz then for a couple of settings it goes up to 1163Mhz and back to 1150, is that a sign of instability?


----------



## Forceman

No, that's normal. It is either temp or power (or load) changing the boost clock.


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> No, that's normal. It is either temp or power (or load) changing the boost clock.


So when do I tell if it is the bad type of oscillation? Instead of going up 13MHz, would it drop down 13? Would I also see if repeatedly instead of the couple of seconds I saw it for?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> So when do I tell if it is the bad type of oscillation? Instead of going up 13MHz, would it drop down 13? Would I also see if repeatedly instead of the couple of seconds I saw it for?


It would drop from 1163 to 1063 or 924 or something. The small 13Mhz steps are no big issue. Can't really see from your screenshot, but did you increase the power target in Precision? You normally see those 13MHz drops when you hit 70C, or when you hit the power limit.


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> It would drop from 1163 to 1063 or 924 or something. The small 13Mhz steps are no big issue. Can't really see from your screenshot, but did you increase the power target in Precision? You normally see those 13MHz drops when you hit 70C, or when you hit the power limit.


Yup. Set to 122%. And thanks for the explanation. Temps never exceed 59C.


----------



## rv8000

I have a reference EVGA 670, power target in precision x can only be set to 122% while my friends 670 ftw can be set to 148. Does this have to do with the bios? Also default voltage seems to peak @ 1.15, which is also the max when i go to change the voltage through the tweaks menu.


----------



## ZeVo

Odd.. should it be doing that? I'm just browsing the web.


----------



## Forceman

Yeah, the clock speed is pretty dynamic and will jump around some. That looks kind of periodic, but if there is flash or something on the webpages that could be kicking it up.


----------



## bluewr

Is this a OK oc for a Asus GTX 670 4gb, I was able to get higher clock speed on a 7870XT, but it didn't really fit in my case that well.
And a score of P7129 on 3Dmark 11
Is there other thing I can do to try to get a higher OC
And what is these two setting Nvidia Inspector?
power and temperature target,
Voltage Offset, I did a search on google, but still not understanding.
Thank yo ufor any help.


----------



## rv8000

Is it normal for a 670 to hit 122% + tdp in 3dmark 11 while at default clocks (including whatever boost it may go to)?


----------



## Mephic

@bluewr

3dmark11 score seems to be very low but it is probably due to the fact that Your CPU is bottlenecking this 670. If Your CPU is not overclocked than do it, because in heaven 4.0 I get almost same score with my overclocked 660Ti (842 points with maximum overclock and 830 points with overclock made for 24/7) - Plus Your minimum FPS is lower than on my 660Ti.. Check the valley 1.0 benchmark - it is almost not CPU dependant and will let me see if this is caused by CPU or GPU. In Valley 1.0 on the newest drivers I got around 40 FPS, on the older ones 41,5.


----------



## pc-illiterate

blue, are all settings in nvidia control panel set to performance? reset nvid inspect to default also. did you run 3d mark11 in stretched mode? did you restart your pc after the driver crashes?
those are all i can think of to show a low score.


----------



## xonare

New question:
There is hard limit in GTX 670 at 1.212V as I've read somewhere on the forums. Why can we set in bios higher than 1.875V noboost (1.212V boost) then?
There is a reason for it?


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*
> 
> New question:
> There is hard limit in GTX 670 at 1.212V as I've read somewhere on the forums. Why can we set in bios higher than 1.875V noboost (1.212V boost) then?
> There is a reason for it?


There is no reason for it, on the GK104 chip. The GK106 does not boost the voltage, and therefore they need to set the voltage to 1.2125v.

(this belongs in the Unlocked Voltage Bios thread, and not here...)


----------



## Mephic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> blue, are all settings in nvidia control panel set to performance? reset nvid inspect to default also. did you run 3d mark11 in stretched mode? did you restart your pc after the driver crashes?
> those are all i can think of to show a low score.


I can't agree with setting everything to performance. Every test I run here (and I suppose every test run by other people) is made on DEFAULT settings (which doesn't set options to performance mode).

So if he will get such low score on performance settings I don't want to know what he will get on default ones.


----------



## de4ler

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mephic*
> 
> There is absolutely no need to flash Power Edition cards. Install MSI AB 2.2.3 - this one gives You voltage straight to GPU omiting the driver lock. You won't see the extra voltage in GPU-z nor MSI AB (it will show 1.175) but it is there for sure (I can max out my 660Ti on much higher clocks than on any other version of AB). And this heat...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just try it out.


Yo dude . it working







AWESOME







it making more coil whine noise but hey ... its working .

Core = 1293MHz
Memory = 3206MHz
max temp 75C*


----------



## th3illusiveman

Which is the best GTX670 to get for overclocking - one with the least throttling, powertarget issues before/after a bios flash?

One thing i do not like about Kepler is this throttling stuff but it seems it happens when the GPU goes over 70c? so i'm guessing the better clocking GTX670s have better coolers? I was thinking MSI GTX670 PE or Asus DCII 670 would be at the top?


----------



## de4ler

Msi gtx 670 pe oc


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *th3illusiveman*
> 
> Which is the best GTX670 to get for overclocking - one with the least throttling, powertarget issues before/after a bios flash?
> 
> One thing i do not like about Kepler is this throttling stuff but it seems it happens when the GPU goes over 70c? so i'm guessing the better clocking GTX670s have better coolers? I was thinking MSI GTX670 PE or Asus DCII 670 would be at the top?


Overclocking is still and forever will be based on luck of the draw. The coolest-running GTX 670 is thte Gigabyte GTX 670 but it is not necessarily the best overclocker. Any of the models can be better/worse than the same or different model, it's just the way it is.


----------



## bluewr

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mephic*
> 
> @bluewr
> 
> 3dmark11 score seems to be very low but it is probably due to the fact that Your CPU is bottlenecking this 670. If Your CPU is not overclocked than do it, because in heaven 4.0 I get almost same score with my overclocked 660Ti (842 points with maximum overclock and 830 points with overclock made for 24/7) - Plus Your minimum FPS is lower than on my 660Ti.. Check the valley 1.0 benchmark - it is almost not CPU dependant and will let me see if this is caused by CPU or GPU. In Valley 1.0 on the newest drivers I got around 40 FPS, on the older ones 41,5.


My CPU can't be OCed alot, most likely because I have 2 2x stick of different ram. I can only do
3.6ghz CPU, 1333 DDR3 ram, if I go to 3.8ghz, 3DMark always crash at the physic, if I go 3.6ghz and 1600 ram, 50% to just bsod randomly.
But I do plan to do a platform change later this year, still waiting to see what TIM Haswell will be using.

I unlocked the bios on my GPU too, it is faster then my previous card, but I'm just not really seeing much change in Ocing the card, unlike my previous GTX 460 and AMD 7870 XT, in which I'm wondering if it's just my card, or the whole GTX 600 serie isn't good for overclocking.

But here's my valley score, any other score you need?


----------



## Sharchaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *th3illusiveman*
> 
> Which is the best GTX670 to get for overclocking - one with the least throttling, powertarget issues before/after a bios flash?
> 
> One thing i do not like about Kepler is this throttling stuff but it seems it happens when the GPU goes over 70c? so i'm guessing the better clocking GTX670s have better coolers? I was thinking *MSI GTX670 PE* or Asus DCII 670 would be at the top?


+ AB 2.2.3


----------



## Mephic

Score in valley is much better. It is CPU bottleneck than.


----------



## Juraat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mephic*
> 
> Score in valley is much better. It is CPU bottleneck than.


My 670 FTW does 1800+ in Valley on stock and 2000+ overclocked (ExtremeHD settings). So either the CPU is also bottlenecking in Valley, or the card isn't performing as good (maybe due to custom NV-controlpanel settings?)

Edit: oops, forgot the custom unlocked bios overclocks to 1200+ even on default settings. So naturally i would get higher scores. The Valley-scores seem about right then i guess.


----------



## LuminatX

Wow the valley benchmark is so much better looking than the Heaven one.
Here's my score stock, and then with my OC.
*Stock*


*OC* - (Power 120%, Core +97, Mem +460)


----------



## bluewr

OK, I decided to redo some of the test with default setting, and oc difference and I am also wondering, is it normal to have such large FPS diference?
Here are the default settings[






Here is the OC, thanks for bring it out


----------



## Mephic

Phenom II x4 965 has Unlocked multiplier so what does ram have to do with oc ing it?


----------



## bluewr

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mephic*
> 
> Phenom II x4 965 has Unlocked multiplier so what does ram have to do with oc ing it?


That's an earlier topic, but my phenom cannot go past 3.6ghz, even with voltage uped to 1.55, it is not stable, unable to run 3dmark 11 physic or prime95.
I had asked earlier in another topic awhile back, most people seem to say, it's because I run 2 stick of Corsair, and 2 stick of OCZ ram, each having different timing, etc.
But this is mainly about the GTX 670, and I'll be getting a platform change, once the real info on Haswell is out, and the information on the type of TIM it uses.


----------



## de4ler

is this coil whine noise gona go away ?


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *de4ler*
> 
> is this coil whine noise gona go away ?


I'll bet that it won't go away for the lifetime of the card. It's just how electronics work.


----------



## Mephic

You can always rma when your card has coil whine. And You have every right to get a new one because it's not a standard for all cards.


----------



## de4ler

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> I'll bet that it won't go away for the lifetime of the card. It's just how electronics work.


and what about the premium cards like Lightning/Matrix ?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mephic*
> 
> You can always rma when your card has coil whine. And You have every right to get a new one because it's not a standard for all cards.


and what about AMD card ?


----------



## Mephic

My both 7950 didnt have coil whine. Its not a standard and in my country every seller treat it is as a flaw.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *de4ler*
> 
> and what about the premium cards like Lightning/Matrix ?
> and what about AMD card ?


They all have the "chance" to experience coil whine just like any other PSU in the market.


----------



## Subut

can i ask you a question. or you can say advice as well. im using a 670ftw with a custom bios (letting me to increase my voltage to 1.212 and changing my default clocks and i changed from a lot of different bios's and the one im currently using is the best from me. on with my point) from evga as my gpu precx 4.0 and heaven 4.0 as my benchmarking and overclocking software. my question is: my default clock is 1202 from the bios. my kepler boost is 143 if it matters or not im not sure. when i set my gpu clock offset to +47 for example i should get a clock speed of 1202+42=1244 but suprisingly i got 1241 i taught this was something to do with the weird kepler stuf and left it as it is. but later i wanted to go further so i started increasing and started crashing i said well i need to go slowly and started to increase my offset +2 at a time. so i did +44 but the problem starts now. my clock is supposed to be 1246 but it didnt it stayed 1241. my benchmark score was the same. by going 2 by 2 i went up to 50 but i still keep getting 1241 and the same score, why am i stuck at 1241 i dont understand. to test if this was a problem i went on and set my offset to +62 i got something higher then 1241 that crashed in the benchmark but i saw that i can go higher then 1241 at least. why am i stuck at 1241 help pls =)


----------



## EarlZ

Has anyone here tried limiting their boost clocks using bios editing tools, do they actually work? Since I want to limit my card to boost to a certain clock only.. 1 of the 2 cards I have will always boost 13Mhz higher.


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Subut*
> 
> can i ask you a question. or you can say advice as well. im using a 670ftw with a custom bios (letting me to increase my voltage to 1.212 and changing my default clocks and i changed from a lot of different bios's and the one im currently using is the best from me. on with my point) from evga as my gpu precx 4.0 and heaven 4.0 as my benchmarking and overclocking software. my question is: my default clock is 1202 from the bios. my kepler boost is 143 if it matters or not im not sure. when i set my gpu clock offset to +47 for example i should get a clock speed of 1202+42=1244 but suprisingly i got 1241 i taught this was something to do with the weird kepler stuf and left it as it is. but later i wanted to go further so i started increasing and started crashing i said well i need to go slowly and started to increase my offset +2 at a time. so i did +44 but the problem starts now. my clock is supposed to be 1246 but it didnt it stayed 1241. my benchmark score was the same. by going 2 by 2 i went up to 50 but i still keep getting 1241 and the same score, why am i stuck at 1241 i dont understand. to test if this was a problem i went on and set my offset to +62 i got something higher then 1241 that crashed in the benchmark but i saw that i can go higher then 1241 at least. why am i stuck at 1241 help pls =)


It increases by 13mhz, so next step woudl be 1254Mhz. Doesn't matter if you settle with anything less than1254Mhz, it will stay on 1241Mhz, if go over 1254Mhz it will be 1254Mhz until next increase which is 1267Mhz.
If you crash at 1254Mhz, then your max is 1241Mhz, you're still lucky. Mine was stuck at 1228Mhz.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Has anyone here tried limiting their boost clocks using bios editing tools, do they actually work? Since I want to limit my card to boost to a certain clock only.. 1 of the 2 cards I have will always boost 13Mhz higher.


Try Kepler Bios Tweaker, you can set "Boost tables" there when modyfing bios. Imo should do the trick.


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Subut*
> 
> can i ask you a question. or you can say advice as well. im using a 670ftw with a custom bios (letting me to increase my voltage to 1.212 and changing my default clocks and i changed from a lot of different bios's and the one im currently using is the best from me. on with my point) from evga as my gpu precx 4.0 and heaven 4.0 as my benchmarking and overclocking software. my question is: my default clock is 1202 from the bios. my kepler boost is 143 if it matters or not im not sure. when i set my gpu clock offset to +47 for example i should get a clock speed of 1202+42=1244 but suprisingly i got 1241 i taught this was something to do with the weird kepler stuf and left it as it is. but later i wanted to go further so i started increasing and started crashing i said well i need to go slowly and started to increase my offset +2 at a time. so i did +44 but the problem starts now. my clock is supposed to be 1246 but it didnt it stayed 1241. my benchmark score was the same. by going 2 by 2 i went up to 50 but i still keep getting 1241 and the same score, why am i stuck at 1241 i dont understand. to test if this was a problem i went on and set my offset to +62 i got something higher then 1241 that crashed in the benchmark but i saw that i can go higher then 1241 at least. why am i stuck at 1241 help pls =)


The Kepler cards overclock in 13.065 MHz steps, 1241 and 1254mhz are two of those steps, you can not run anything in between those values


----------



## Byrre

Hey ! I bought gigabyte gtx 670 oc windforce gpu and overclocked it.
It went well except the fact that only my memory clock went up but my core clock stayed normal??

So if someone got any advise or reason why this is happening it would be great if you could tell me here!
Pic was so small so i decided to explain better. So originally 670 gpu is at 980 and oc to 1058mz when play or etc but even after i oc it more it shows on msi settings and on gpu-z to be 1080-1164mz but on msi monitor it shows to be excatly same as out of box.


----------



## Forceman

Go by what Afterburner reports - the MSI monitor may only be pulling the stock card clocks off the BIOS and not the actual clock speeds.


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Byrre*
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> Hey ! I bought gigabyte gtx 670 oc windforce gpu and overclocked it.
> It went well except the fact that only my memory clock went up but my core clock stayed normal??
> 
> So if someone got any advise or reason why this is happening it would be great if you could tell me here!
> Pic was so small so i decided to explain better. So originally 670 gpu is at 980 and oc to 1058mz when play or etc but even after i oc it more it shows on msi settings and on gpu-z to be 1080-1164mz but on msi monitor it shows to be excatly same as out of box.


Hello fellow GB owner








First of all I don't recommend Gigabyte software to do OC. Theoreticaly it does the same, but for me was more unclear so stick with Afterburner.
For readings go to Sensor Tab in GPU-Z and set to show Highest Reading, do some bench (ie. Valley or Heaven) and see what it reported.

By the way...
With this card you can go way more than 100Mhz on memory. I'm on unlocked voltage on +700Mhz, before unlocking was +616Mhz.


----------



## Byrre

Problem solved ! MSI Monitor just didnt refresh clocks but heaven and gpu-z showed them properly







Thanks anyways guys!


----------



## pc-illiterate

im trying to figure out what other 670 sli owners are getting in unigine valley. i dont think im getting anywhere near the score i should be. something isnt right.
core at 1228mhz and mem at 3456mhz
any help from other sli users ?


----------



## HesterDW

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> im trying to figure out what other 670 sli owners are getting in unigine valley. i dont think im getting anywhere near the score i should be. something isnt right.
> core at 1228mhz and mem at 3456mhz
> any help from other sli users ?
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


We have pretty similar systems. I'll run it and post my results.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Thanks hester. I appreciate the help and effort.


----------



## HesterDW

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> Thanks hester. I appreciate the help and effort.




Well it would appear there is a problem somewhere. My clocks are completely stock so I don't think you should be getting such a low score. However I'm not familiar enough with GPU overclocking to know what questions to ask you next.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Thanks hester. It might not be utilizing sli at all.
I guess i need to check my motherboard and make sure its ok first. Maybe something isnt right with it. Thats my gut feeling


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> im trying to figure out what other 670 sli owners are getting in unigine valley. i dont think im getting anywhere near the score i should be. something isnt right.
> core at 1228mhz and mem at 3456mhz
> any help from other sli users ?
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


http://www.overclock.net/t/1360884/official-top-30-unigine-valley-benchmark-1-0-fill-the-form-single-and-multi-monitors/3200 - look here for comparison to other results
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> Thanks hester. It might not be utilizing sli at all.
> I guess i need to check my motherboard and make sure its ok first. Maybe something isnt right with it. Thats my gut feeling


Check drivers - SLI on, try window mode, compatibility. In topic linked above Regex had similar problem with gtx 660 sli, he needed to turn on compatibility mode for valley.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*
> 
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1360884/official-top-30-unigine-valley-benchmark-1-0-fill-the-form-single-and-multi-monitors/3200 - look here for comparison to other results
> Check drivers - SLI on, try window mode, compatibility. In topic linked above Regex had similar problem with gtx 660 sli, he needed to turn on compatibility mode for valley.


i need to run xp compatible also apparently. thank you also.
lower clocks 1215mhz core


----------



## HesterDW

Glad it's solved. Much better!


----------



## pc-illiterate

i knew something was wrong but would have never expected that. now to get my 3dmark11 scores up


----------



## 50l170n

Thank you very much for this guide! really helped me out. I think I have gotten my 660ti to a reputable place. I wanted to conirm, it is ok (and recommended after oc) to leaver your power target slider and voltage all the way up? I have attatched a screenshot of my gpuz and precision. If anything seems off let me know, Im still learning this stuff!


----------



## HesterDW

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> i knew something was wrong but would have never expected that. now to get my 3dmark11 scores up


What are your idle temps looking like? My cards idle around 45*c with ~24c* ambient temps.


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Has anyone here tried limiting their boost clocks using bios editing tools, do they actually work? Since I want to limit my card to boost to a certain clock only.. 1 of the 2 cards I have will always boost 13Mhz higher.


Anyone ?


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *50l170n*
> 
> Thank you very much for this guide! really helped me out. I think I have gotten my 660ti to a reputable place. I wanted to conirm, it is ok (and recommended after oc) to leaver your power target slider and voltage all the way up? I have attatched a screenshot of my gpuz and precision. If anything seems off let me know, Im still learning this stuff!


123% is fine. Is your voltage also maxed at 1155mV?


----------



## phxtravis

sub'd


----------



## 50l170n

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> 123% is fine. Is your voltage also maxed at 1155mV?


Yup it is maxed out. That is OK right?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HesterDW*
> 
> What are your idle temps looking like? My cards idle around 45*c with ~24c* ambient temps.


29 and 32*C with 22.4*C ambient. they never really go over 62* under load either. im waiting for my blocks before i do any more. i got a good score in valley, broke 15000 on 3dmark11 and got a graphics over 20000 in mark11 graphics(2 separate runs) and got a good score in heaven3. im happy for now.

thanks to both of you for helping me out


----------



## HesterDW

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> 29 and 32*C with 22.4*C ambient. they never really go over 62* under load either. im waiting for my blocks before i do any more. i got a good score in valley, broke 15000 on 3dmark11 and got a graphics over 20000 in mark11 graphics(2 separate runs) and got a good score in heaven3. im happy for now.
> 
> thanks to both of you for helping me out


Pretty good temps. Mine do idle slightly high because of my cases design. And no problem, congrats on those benches. Im feeling pretty inspired to OC now after seeing your valley score!


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *50l170n*
> 
> Yup it is maxed out. That is OK right?


Perfectly fine. When your cars is under heavy load it'll max out at 1155mV regardless.

Enjoy that nice overclock!


----------



## HesterDW

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> i need to run xp compatible also apparently. thank you also.
> lower clocks 1215mhz core
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


Is your CPU what's making your FPS so much higher than mine?

Core at 1267/Mem at 3506


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Anyone ?


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Has anyone here tried limiting their boost clocks using bios editing tools, do they actually work? Since I want to limit my card to boost to a certain clock only.. 1 of the 2 cards I have will always boost 13Mhz higher.
> 
> 
> 
> Try Kepler Bios Tweaker, you can set "Boost tables" there when modyfing bios. Imo should do the trick.
Click to expand...


----------



## AndyG

Fantastic Guide, thanks SEAN POE - rep added! Just stumbled across this. I forgot that I had signed up to post in this forum and have just been reading for months!









BTW I have the Gigabyte Windforce 3 GTX 670 on a Gigabyte Z77 (77X-UP4 TH) board and ivy i7 3770.

Good board for cpu OCs. Now down to some serious GPU clocking with the help of this excellent guide!


----------



## 50l170n

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> Perfectly fine. When your cars is under heavy load it'll max out at 1155mV regardless.
> 
> Enjoy that nice overclock!


Thanx for the reply! Cheers


----------



## laro22

Hello, my english is very bad







I have MSI 670 pe and this card is throttle in heaven ,games... my Oc is set to 1300 but is throttle 1300-1250 ,I have flash this bios-
http://www.fastshare.cz/2072205/gtx670gf.rom
it is work, gpu clock is 1349 stable but temp is so high 80°C it is so much...
can anyone help me? sorry for english...


----------



## Forceman

Well, if you are hitting 80C then it is going to be throttling for temperatue - it'll drop the clock speed at 70C and then again at 80C, so that could be what you are seeing. It might also be throttling for power if you haven't increased the power limit, so make sure to max that out in Afterburner/Precision.


----------



## laro22

I have 80°C with flashed bios whitch is stable-no throtting! 1349 on core is stable! but the temp make my sad...
with default bios i had 70°C but max oc is 1270 on core , so i searching for compomise ...some moded bios or what...
Hello from Slovakia


----------



## Forceman

Just make a custom fan profile in Afterburner/Precision. Best of both worlds.


----------



## laro22

I Try, but it is so loud


----------



## Forceman

You could always go with the AIO water cooler mod and put a Kuhler 620 or H60 on there, it works a treat.


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HesterDW*
> 
> Is your CPU what's making your FPS so much higher than mine?
> 
> Core at 1267/Mem at 3506
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


Very stupid proposition: try compatibility mode?
Otherwise, pc-illiterate has SSD. I'm not sure if Heaven Valley does some additional texture loading while benchmarking.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *laro22*
> 
> I Try, but it is so loud


That's why I love my GB GTX670 card, while playing 65% fan is not too loud to make your experience bad and is enough to keep that card below 60*C








For you laro22, if sound of card is annoying you should either drop the OC and stay with low fan speed or invest in water cooling as Forceman suggested. I personally never used water cooling, want to try it in future.
Though I heard you need to buy new water cooler for each card you get because you can almost never use it with new generation for example.


----------



## pc-illiterate

i cheat hester. all settings in nv cp are set to performance.


----------



## Subut

Is your guide valid also for sli 670?


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Subut*
> 
> Is your guide valid also for sli 670?


It is valid for SLI, but I think in SLI both cards need to run same clocks I think? (I got no experience with SLI)

"SLI works fine on cards with different clock speeds. You are just limiting the setup to the slowest card."
From: https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/515193/sli-ing-cards-with-different-clocks/


----------



## Subut

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*
> 
> It is valid for SLI, but I think in SLI both cards need to run same clocks I think? (I got no experience with SLI)
> 
> "SLI works fine on cards with different clock speeds. You are just limiting the setup to the slowest card."
> From: https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/515193/sli-ing-cards-with-different-clocks/


So so i set my cards separately or do i find a sweet spot that suits both of the cards and use that


----------



## de4ler

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *laro22*
> 
> Hello, my english is very bad
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have MSI 670 pe and this card is throttle in heaven ,games... my Oc is set to 1300 but is throttle 1300-1250 ,I have flash this bios-
> http://www.fastshare.cz/2072205/gtx670gf.rom
> it is work, gpu clock is 1349 stable but temp is so high 80°C it is so much...
> can anyone help me? sorry for english...


1 : Play whit Vsync
2. use custrom fan speed in AF
3 add some fans for GPU cooling


----------



## laro22

With vsync on is OC better but fps is lower
Custom fan speed is loud an tem is stell about 80°C
What do you mean - add some fans for gpu cooling?


----------



## de4ler

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *laro22*
> 
> With vsync on is OC better but fps is lower
> Custom fan speed is loud an tem is stell about 80°C
> What do you mean - add some fans for gpu cooling?


u dont need more then 60FPS for 60Hz monitor
then buy water coling kit or lisen some loud music when u playing
put some fans in u Case


----------



## HesterDW

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> i cheat hester. all settings in nv cp are set to performance.


Oh hehe, thanks for being honest.










Increased my Heaven score a bit. My first 670 already boosted to 1215 out of the box so went up to 1267/3506 stable. I've got my 670s linked in PrecisionX although when I benchmark my second card only boosts to 1150. Don't know if its normal for one card to do less work.

stock


1267/3506


----------



## kiegs

Whats up folk! First post here. Currently following the guide to OC my Gigabyte gtx670 oc.
On step 2 "Increasing the offset", I notice that my power percent is maxing out at 65% on Heaven and 85% on 3DMark 11. Everything else looks normal temps are well below 70c and gpu clock is stable.
Precision X power target set at 112%.

Unigine Heaven 4.0 score: 1452

3Dmark 11 score: 8878 3DMarks

What is holding the power percent back?


----------



## laro22

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *de4ler*
> 
> u dont need more then 60FPS for 60Hz monitor
> then buy water coling kit or lisen some loud music when u playing
> put some fans in u Case


I don´t want to buy water coling...
and fans are so loud - no loud musi can help








I must live with default bios and max oc 1280 ...or buy 680 lighting


----------



## Chunin

Its normal only the testing tools of evga precision and msi afteeburner will ever use more than 100% of the TDP. At least this is how it worked for me with my low resolution of 1680×1050.


----------



## Chunin

Your case must be really cramped. My Gigabyte never goes above 65C while gaming and even then with fan set to auto its super quiet.


----------



## laro22

My case is SILVERSTONE SST-PS05B Precision + 7xEnermax T.B.Silence, UCTB12 , it is good cooling cas with default bios is my msi 670pe about 66°C and it´s silent...but with flash bios it is bad...


----------



## kiegs

Hey Chunin, thanks for the quick reply! I took your advice and ran OC scanner. Now we are getting somewhere!
106% tdp and 69c on furry-tessy stress test. That solves that.
Something else happened that bothered me. When I boost my clock offset from +61 to +81 and run heaven benchmark my display adapter crashes and the gpu clock scales back 100 mhz. Is that telling me Ive reached the peak clock speed or could it be something else. As I said in my original post their was still a lot of headroom in the temps and power, ect.


----------



## Chunin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *laro22*
> 
> My case is SILVERSTONE SST-PS05B Precision + 7xEnermax T.B.Silence, UCTB12 , it is good cooling cas with default bios is my msi 670pe about 66°C and it´s silent...but with flash bios it is bad...


My mistake then for not paying enough attention. Im typing from a hospital using my phone ive been reading every new post out of boredom. But i might have been too distracted when i replied


----------



## laro22

It´s Ok


----------



## Chunin

Did it crash in heaven benchmark or when testing with precision x? Is your cards memory also OCed? For me when i crashed in heaven 4 it was pretty much it for my card and i had to go back to lower core offset. My memory headroom is decent tho, i can do +600 Mhz with ease. At higher core id usually pass precision test but fail heaven.


----------



## laro22

It is throttling in many games too- Crysis 3,Bf3,Tomb Rider ...


----------



## Chunin

Itll throttle whenever your card hits 72C i believe and will keep doing so until it goes down to 70C.


----------



## laro22

No does not metter how high temp is...i need idit my bios or what
- default bios throttle
-I fwas download edit bios whitch is not throttle but temp is so high


----------



## Chunin

What exactly do you mean by throttle? Does it run lower speed than you set or it goes all the way there but downlocks by small amounts of 13 Mhz? My Gigabytes speed keeps fluctuating when the card isnt used 100% its running slower. For example in LoL it only goes to 780 Mhz was it? Even in Tomb Raider it jumps around as needed.


----------



## laro22

I mean this- i set oc to 1306 on core but it´s jumping betwen 1306 and 1254...


----------



## Chunin

What about the TDP? Maybe you are hitting the max power level and that is why it is throttling.


----------



## laro22

I set oc with Afterburner 2.2.3, power limit is only 114% -in default bios


----------



## kiegs

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chunin*
> 
> Did it crash in heaven benchmark or when testing with precision x? Is your cards memory also OCed? For me when i crashed in heaven 4 it was pretty much it for my card and i had to go back to lower core offset. My memory headroom is decent tho, i can do +600 Mhz with ease. At higher core id usually pass precision test but fail heaven.


It does not crash, a message pops up saying display driver has crashed it then resets the display driver and the benchmark continues to run, only the gpu clock gets scaled back to stock levels.
Pretty strange huh? As for gpu memory, havent touched it yet. Just trying to take my time, step by step. Im currently replaying Bioshock Infinite on 1999 this time. Seems stable so far







.But gonna get right back to OC' ing soon.
If anyone has experienced the display driver crashing while oc'ing feel free to chime in.


----------



## Chunin

Yes. That was exactly the same for me when i reached my max OC. The driver crashes but heaven is running in the background but i was never able to get back to it always had to force close it from task manager. I read when driver crashes you have to restart precision before trying again because changes are made on the driver level and it locks up.


----------



## kiegs

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chunin*
> 
> Yes. That was exactly the same for me when i reached my max OC. The driver crashes but heaven is running in the background but i was never able to get back to it always had to force close it from task manager. I read when driver crashes you have to restart precision before trying again because changes are made on the driver level and it locks up.


Well not exactly. Heaven does not freeze up and I can still perform the benchmark, albeit at stock clocks.
You said earlier you are at the hospital, may I ask what you are there for?


----------



## Chunin

I could ask you the same







In six months ive gone from cancer, intestin inflamation (cant be bothered to google if i spelled that right) to crohns. Be my guest go ahead and choose hehe.


----------



## Chunin

And to answer the first part. My 285 would crash and lock up like that when i played games ive tried every driver available and i never figured what was causing it other than blame LoL because that was the only game that could reproduce it on daily basis.


----------



## kiegs

Wow, thats heavy, I hope you get well soon. I really appreciate the help.


----------



## Chunin

Thanks. Im much better now actually but itd be nice to know what the hell is wrong with me for once hehe.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kiegs*
> 
> It does not crash, a message pops up saying display driver has crashed it then resets the display driver and the benchmark continues to run, only the gpu clock gets scaled back to stock levels.
> Pretty strange huh? As for gpu memory, havent touched it yet. Just trying to take my time, step by step. Im currently replaying Bioshock Infinite on 1999 this time. Seems stable so far
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .But gonna get right back to OC' ing soon.
> If anyone has experienced the display driver crashing while oc'ing feel free to chime in.


you hit your max core clock. unless nvidia changed something in the bios, you have to restart your pc to get full driver back. drop the offset a little and crank on the memory.
youre actually lucky it only drops the clocks and you still have your monitor. i had to do a hard reset every time my card crashed. pita to restart 20 times in 30 minutes.


----------



## kiegs

Damnit, I was hoping that wasnt the case as my I calculated my keplar boost at 40mhz, when the average is around 130mhz. Either I got screwed in the silicon lottery or Im missing something...









Disabled Intel Speed Step and will run Heaven again at the "unstable" offset to see if that makes a difference. The issue is that the "display driver stopped responding" message could be anything.


----------



## pc-illiterate

kiegs, whats you max clocks under load? every card boosts to different levels.


----------



## kiegs

1163
Quote:


>


----------



## AndyG

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *kiegs*
> 
> It does not crash, a message pops up saying display driver has crashed it then resets the display driver and the benchmark continues to run, only the gpu clock gets scaled back to stock levels.
> Pretty strange huh? As for gpu memory, havent touched it yet. Just trying to take my time, step by step. Im currently replaying Bioshock Infinite on 1999 this time. Seems stable so far
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .But gonna get right back to OC' ing soon.
> If anyone has experienced the display driver crashing while oc'ing feel free to chime in.
> 
> 
> 
> you hit your max core clock. unless nvidia changed something in the bios, you have to restart your pc to get full driver back. drop the offset a little and crank on the memory.
> youre actually lucky it only drops the clocks and you still have your monitor. i had to do a hard reset every time my card crashed. pita to restart 20 times in 30 minutes.
Click to expand...

Yep, happens to me all the time until I get close to an appropriate OC. Has happened with all my cards. Currently using GB GTX 670 windforce 3. The quietest cooler I've come across already on the card. Pretty effective cooling too. All in all very happy with the Gigabyte windforce 3 OC edition of the 670. (They put it on a 680 PCB in case anyone didn't know - actually with the OC and great cooling the GB 670 beats a vanilla 680 on several benches.







Plenty of reviews on line for the GB card with bench results listed.


----------



## kiegs

Yup, thats the card I have. + 71 clock offset seems to be the magic number.
Running furry evga stress test now 88% Tdp, 62c, 76% fan speed. Can hardly hear it over case fans







. Great acoustics.


----------



## LuminatX

how come so many people are limited to 112%-122% power target? my card out the box can go to 145%


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *LuminatX*
> 
> how come so many people are limited to 112%-122% power target? my card out the box can go to 145%


Different cards have different limits.


----------



## LuminatX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Different cards have different limits.


As in models, or luck of the draw sort of deal.


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *LuminatX*
> 
> As in models, or luck of the draw sort of deal.


Models. It depends on what the manufacturer wants to set as the limit, and also what the card has as a default power limit (some have higher defaults, so the max is lower). Of course, you can always do a BIOS mod if you want to increase the power (and the voltage).


----------



## hurricane28

Hey guy!

how is my score?http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6312510

i think its kinda low for my max overclock don't u guys think?

this is how i done it:

Core voltage to +100

aux voltage +30

Memory voltage to +50

power limit to +114

memory clock to +625

core clock to +130

i saw some people who get 9600 score and even on msi site he had like 10k score so is there something i did not do right or maybe some setting in nvidia control panel?

Please give me some advice because i want to learn how this works.


----------



## de4ler

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *laro22*
> 
> It is throttling in many games too- Crysis 3,Bf3,Tomb Rider ...


use vSync


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hurricane28*
> 
> Hey guy!
> 
> how is my score?http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6312510
> 
> i think its kinda low for my max overclock don't u guys think?
> 
> this is how i done it:
> 
> Core voltage to +100
> 
> aux voltage +30
> 
> Memory voltage to +50
> 
> power limit to +114
> 
> memory clock to +625
> 
> core clock to +130
> 
> i saw some people who get 9600 score and even on msi site he had like 10k score so is there something i did not do right or maybe some setting in nvidia control panel?
> 
> Please give me some advice because i want to learn how this works.


We dont know your max clocks so we cant advise


----------



## hurricane28

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> We dont know your max clocks so we cant advise


oh sorry!

my core clock is: 1346 boost clock and memory is 3649

but i think it is the voltage i use to much voltage i think.

i am doing several tests now and i get better score with lower voltage.


----------



## hurricane28

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6323946

this is one of my best scores.

also what should i enable or disable in nvidia control panel?


----------



## laro22

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *de4ler*
> 
> use vSync


In crysis 3 , still throling with vsync...
looks like i have very bad bios... do you have better?Anyone?


----------



## de4ler

its close to mine http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6324179
lolz 660ti vs 670


----------



## hurricane28

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *de4ler*
> 
> its close to mine http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6324179
> lolz 660ti vs 670


This is my final score i think i can get out of this card: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6324199

also i get higher physics score than your i5


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Subut*
> 
> So so i set my cards separately or do i find a sweet spot that suits both of the cards and use that


You find highest OC for one card, then for the second card then use the lower one for both cards = "...limiting the setup to the slowest card."
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hurricane28*
> 
> This is my final score i think i can get out of this card: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6324199
> 
> also i get higher physics score than your i5


http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6272918 - this is mine, you use GPU or CPU for physx?


----------



## de4ler

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*
> 
> You find highest OC for one card, then for the second card then use the lower one for both cards = "...limiting the setup to the slowest card."
> http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6272918 - this is mine, you use GPU or CPU for physx?


YOUR RESULT HAS THE FOLLOWING PROBLEM(S):
Graphics driver is not approved (What is this?)

???????


----------



## hurricane28

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*
> 
> You find highest OC for one card, then for the second card then use the lower one for both cards = "...limiting the setup to the slowest card."
> http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6272918 - this is mine, you use GPU or CPU for physx?


http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6324424

this is my last score









i set it to automatic i did not gain more performance on cpu or gpu so i set it to auto.


----------



## hurricane28

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *de4ler*
> 
> YOUR RESULT HAS THE FOLLOWING PROBLEM(S):
> Graphics driver is not approved (What is this?)
> 
> ???????


download the latest drivers form nvidia http://www.nvidia.com/object/win8-win7-winvista-64bit-314.22-whql-driver.html


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hurricane28*
> 
> download the latest drivers form nvidia http://www.nvidia.com/object/win8-win7-winvista-64bit-314.22-whql-driver.html


I use the newest beta drivers available through GeForce Experience and I always get that "Driver not approved" from 3d Mark ^.^


----------



## hurricane28

hmm oke strangem, i heard from some one that has the same issues and he said it was driver problem

o well as long you get good scores its ok i guess


----------



## de4ler

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *laro22*
> 
> In crysis 3 , still throling with vsync...
> looks like i have very bad bios... do you have better?Anyone?


i dont change my bios and i have 1300 core and its ok 74/76 C´


----------



## laro22

can you post your bios here please? do you have msi 670 pe ?


----------



## de4ler

like a sad i dont tuch my bios i just use AF 2.2.3 thats all


----------



## laro22

I understand, but a want try yuor bios, can ju send it to me?


----------



## de4ler

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *laro22*
> 
> I understand, but a want try yuor bios, can ju send it to me?


No . I dont no how to do this bios thing . And why u neex mine ? Ist the default for msi gtx 670 pe oc


----------



## laro22

bioses are diferent..


----------



## de4ler

No they are not there is 2 tipesof bioses for this . 1 locked and 1 unlocked whit what have high core clock .


----------



## Subut

Yup
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chunin*
> 
> Yes. That was exactly the same for me when i reached my max OC. The driver crashes but heaven is running in the background but i was never able to get back to it always had to force close it from task manager. I read when driver crashes you have to restart precision before trying again because changes are made on the driver level and it locks up.


Yupp i get the same thing


----------



## bluewr

I modded my bios, with the 150% Power limit, etc.
But I'm getting odd error, in which when I run heaven/Valley or Guru3d, sometime it'll clear fine, other time it'll crash, because the power limiter jumped to 300%
Is this because of bios or other problem?


----------



## Forceman

You sometimes get weird power readings when the driver crashes - I think the 300% thing is a symptom, not the cause. Sounds like you just aren't stable at that clock speed.


----------



## bluewr

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> You sometimes get weird power readings when the driver crashes - I think the 300% thing is a symptom, not the cause. Sounds like you just aren't stable at that clock speed.


Well the odd thing is, power% limit isn't that high previously, within 100~106%
And when I push the clock speed higher, it doesn't happen that often.
But most stable on my gtx 670
0% Power limit(Set to 150% in bio)
Most stable - 145 clock, 600 Memory
SOmetime get the 300% powerlimit, then crash
165mhz clock, 700 memory.
But if between 146~164 clock, it crashes very often.


----------



## Forceman

It's just unstable at those clock speeds. It is impossible to get to 300% power without hard-modding the card (even with a BIOS mod), so there is no way the software reading is accurate.


----------



## JTHMfreak

Getting some major all over the place throttling on my 670 FTW. Upping the voltage does not seem to help either. My card does not up the voltage by itself under load either, isn't it supposed to?
Edit: oops I forgot to offest the power target bar.








Anyone know the max safe temp region?


----------



## Chunin

No, thats an unstable OC. I get the same when your driver crashes your TDP jumps to odd numbers for me its usually 261%.


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JTHMfreak*
> 
> Anyone know the max safe temp region?


The cards throttle at 70C (and again at 80C), so try to keep it under that. It's safe a lot higher, but no sense throttling if you can avoid it.


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bluewr*
> 
> I modded my bios, with the 150% Power limit, etc.
> But I'm getting odd error, in which when I run heaven/Valley or Guru3d, sometime it'll clear fine, other time it'll crash, because the power limiter jumped to 300%
> Is this because of bios or other problem?


Had that problem too = too high clocks set, that was issue for me. Lowered them and it stopped.


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> The cards throttle at 70C (and again at 80C), so try to keep it under that. It's safe a lot higher, but no sense throttling if you can avoid it.


I realize and know that, but what is the temp that starts to deteriorate the cards?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JTHMfreak*
> 
> I realize and know that, but what is the temp that starts to deteriorate the cards?


I don't think anyone knows, at least not for sure, anymore than anyone knows the temperature a CPU starts to degrade. It's always degrading, it's just a matter of degree.

I'd keep it under 80C, but that's just a number I pulled out of my you-know-where. Some people say Kepler is prone to degradation and that's why Nvidia limited the voltage so much, so I'd err on the lower-temperature side.


----------



## Tom Brohanks

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*
> 
> Had that problem too = too high clocks set, that was issue for me. Lowered them and it stopped.


Yep. Had the issue today. I had to cut 50mhz off my memory OC offset to get to 1333mhz core stable. Anything higher on the core crashes in Valley.


----------



## JML10166

I'm wondering about the stability of my OC a bit as well. When I tested with various benchmarks the frequency stayed nice and steady under load.

Then, I decided to break in the cards with a classic: Crysis, maxxed to the gills. Game play seems just fine. I'm using adaptive v-sync and the image is great, neither a tear nor an artifact to speak of.

When I look at the Precision-X graphs after playing I see that temps are in the mid-to-upper 60s and TPD maxes at about 115%. So, everything seems to be under comfortable control.

But...

I do see the cards are occasionally throttling down. Usually just a step, but sometimes more. It doesn't seem to affect game play at all. Once in a while there's a pretty serious drop, but I am pretty sure that corresponds to times when I pause the game. Still, the little dips here and there bother me. Should they?

My GPU usage is rarely maxxed when playing the game; should I still see the line be nice and flat? Or is that normal if the game isn't being so demanding (OK, even six years on, that feels like a weird thing to say about Crysis lol)?

JML


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*


Not working on my end. It still boosts past 1202.


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Not working on my end. It still boosts past 1202.
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


Do you have any OC set in Precision X or something like this?


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Br3ach*
> 
> Great post
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just to chip in here (admittedly I didn't read through all 200 pages of follow-up so apologies if this has been mentioned already.
> 
> Relating to memory overclocking I've found out that using MemtestCL is much better to locate memory instabilities than the good old 'watch out for artifacts method'. Even when I though I was 100% stable this tool was finding 1 error / 4 hours of running so I had to decrease the frequency a notch. Now I'm 100% stable ;-)


Are you sure that MemtestCL doesn't produce any false positives?


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*
> 
> Do you have any OC set in Precision X or something like this?


Yes, how else would I reach 1202? I just decided not to link both cards settings and offset 13Mhz more on the top card to even both of them out.


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Yes, how else would I reach 1202? I just decided not to link both cards settings and offset 13Mhz more on the top card to even both of them out.


Hmm, I've got set 1228Mhz in boost tables/max boost and with 1.187V (1.212V boost) I have this 1228Mhz. No OC whatsoever on the GPU clock, because anything higher gets me to crash







while I'm playing / testing, card boosts to 1228Mhz according to set tables. If you have OC set in Precision X set on and tables for 1202Mhz with higher voltage than stock then I think it can go over this thus causing you to crash.

What do GPU-Z reads while you stress test?


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*
> 
> Hmm, I've got set 1228Mhz in boost tables/max boost and with 1.187V (1.212V boost) I have this 1228Mhz. No OC whatsoever on the GPU clock, because anything higher gets me to crash
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> while I'm playing / testing, card boosts to 1228Mhz according to set tables. If you have OC set in Precision X set on and tables for 1202Mhz with higher voltage than stock then I think it can go over this thus causing you to crash.
> 
> What do GPU-Z reads while you stress test?


1202 and 1215 on each card, I have no crashing issue, Im pretty stable upto 1280 on both cards but I wish to run them only at 1202 or BOTH at 1215. Im guessing that the max boost limit only applies if I dont have any offset values?


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> 1202 and 1215 on each card, I have no crashing issue, Im pretty stable upto 1280 on both cards but I wish to run them only at 1202 or BOTH at 1215. Im guessing that the max boost limit only applies if I dont have any offset values?


I'm not sure but from what I've tested I think that you add offset to the base, no to the boost. Meaning that you have let's say base 1000 and boost 1100, you add 30 then it is 1030 base and 1130 boost.
If I'm wrong somebody more experienced please correct


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*
> 
> I'm not sure but from what I've tested I think that you add offset to the base, no to the boost. Meaning that you have let's say base 1000 and boost 1100, you add 30 then it is 1030 base and 1130 boost.
> If I'm wrong somebody more experienced please correct


Im adding offset to the base using MSI-AB I am not aware of any ways to add offset to the boost. What I am talking about is say for example I have no offset at all and example I set the boost limit to 1006 I would suppose the boost limit ONLY works if you dont have any offset and would limit the clocks to 1006 but if you have an offset I would suppose it will go over the set boost limit.

At the end of t he day, my goal is to limit the clocks to 1215 with out using separate offsets for both GPU's one is at +113 while the other one is at +107.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xonare*
> 
> I'm not sure but from what I've tested I think that you add offset to the base, no to the boost. Meaning that you have let's say base 1000 and boost 1100, you add 30 then it is 1030 base and 1130 boost.
> If I'm wrong somebody more experienced please correct


Technically, yes you are adding the Offset to the Base Clock if you are using AB or Precision but they are exactly the same thing because the Kepler Boost (difference between Boost and and Base Clocks) is fixed. So adding 30MHz (Offset value) to 1000MHz (Base Clock) is the same as adding 30MHz to 1100MHz (Boost Clock) because the Kepler Boost is a fixed 100MHz (Boost Clock - Base Clock).

@EarlZ

If you were able to Offset the other card more to compensate for the difference in clocks, what else is your problem?


----------



## loneknives

Finally got a good and stable score ^^
thanks for the awesome guide

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6355837

modded my galaxy gtx 670 gc bios, and install Accelero hybrid cooler

1.187V 1306mhz max load temp 50C


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *loneknives*
> 
> Finally got a good and stable score ^^
> thanks for the awesome guide
> 
> http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6355837
> 
> modded my galaxy gtx 670 gc bios, and install Accelero hybrid cooler
> 
> 1.187V 1306mhz max load temp 50C


I hope you're enjoying the AC Hybrid Cooler like how I'm enjoying mine


----------



## loneknives

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> I hope you're enjoying the AC Hybrid Cooler like how I'm enjoying mine


love it! Took a while to fit on my cm storm scout case because my rear vent have the Antec Kuhler H20 cooler xD


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> I hope you're enjoying the AC Hybrid Cooler like how I'm enjoying mine


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *loneknives*
> 
> Finally got a good and stable score ^^
> thanks for the awesome guide
> 
> http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6355837
> 
> modded my galaxy gtx 670 gc bios, and install Accelero hybrid cooler
> 
> 1.187V 1306mhz max load temp 50C


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *loneknives*
> 
> love it! Took a while to fit on my cm storm scout case because my rear vent have the Antec Kuhler H20 cooler xD


I am using a Gigabyte P67AUD4-B3 motherboard and I am wondering if the Accelero Hybrid can still fit on the 2nd card if I have a PCI sound card also installed? Im also thinking of not installing its shroud and just use another fan to blow air past the heatsinks.


----------



## xonare

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *loneknives*
> 
> Finally got a good and stable score ^^
> thanks for the awesome guide
> 
> http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6355837
> 
> modded my galaxy gtx 670 gc bios, and install Accelero hybrid cooler
> 
> 1.187V 1306mhz max load temp 50C


I'm jealous of your GTX 670







Now I feel like mine 1228Mhz is lame after seeing 1300Mhz+


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> I am using a Gigabyte P67AUD4-B3 motherboard and I am wondering if the Accelero Hybrid can still fit on the 2nd card if I have a PCI sound card also installed? Im also thinking of not installing its shroud and just use another fan to blow air past the heatsinks.


Not really sure on that but why don't you want to use the shroud?


----------



## Chunin

How is P10125 even possible with a single 670 lol. I have my CPU at 4.5 Ghz and the card 1228 / 6900 Mhz and i cant even break 6500... ?


----------



## de4ler

6500 ? What cpu and gpu u have ?


----------



## mastercommander

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chunin*
> 
> How is P10125 even possible with a single 670 lol. I have my CPU at 4.5 Ghz and the card 1228 / 6900 Mhz and i cant even break 6500... ?


Well sorta broke in this thread but my 7950 at 1200mhz gets 10800p score and max temp at 67* with twinfrozr 3 and for less money than a Gtx 670


----------



## Chunin

Ugh, im ******ed. I thought its the 3d Mark 13 Fire Strike score.


----------



## de4ler

lol


----------



## Icarian

Fast question about core clock performance

Do higher clocks increase performance in a lineal way? Let's say I wanted to know what FPS I would be getting if my card could do 100Mhz more on the core, If I downclock my card 100 Mhz and get 3 FPS less, does that mean that If I were to increase them 100 Mhz I would be getting 3 FPS more?


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *loneknives*
> 
> Finally got a good and stable score ^^
> thanks for the awesome guide
> 
> http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6355837
> 
> modded my galaxy gtx 670 gc bios, and install Accelero hybrid cooler
> 
> 1.187V 1306mhz max load temp 50C


I would say that go for big.. as you have lots of headroom it seems in that way.. go for bigger


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mastercommander*
> 
> Well sorta broke in this thread but my 7950 at 1200mhz gets 10800p score and max temp at 67* with twinfrozr 3 and for less money than a Gtx 670


and your point is what? everyone knows amd wins benchmarks with new drivers.
i have physx. the only people who say physx aint squat are those running amd


----------



## Juraat

Here's my best 3DMark11 score:
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6367698
[email protected], [email protected] (with 1.21V)


----------



## Br3ach

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Are you sure that MemtestCL doesn't produce any false positives?


It doesn't. However I posted this before actually getting my GTX 670 ;-) 'Unfortunately' GDDR5 has error correction which kind of defeats the purpose of using memtestcl. It may seem stable at a certain clock speed while producing a ton of memory errors which the memory would correct... up to a point though. These are errors which you don't see and neither will memtestcl. So more can actually be less as error correction also reduces the speed (each error results in a repeated read), however from my own testing performance was always higher with higher mem clocks. The key problem I saw is that it may seem stable at +500 offset after 3 hours of Haven runs/folding, and then all of a sudden (meaning 2 days later while you're playing your favorite game) it would get a burst of errors which won't be corrected and you'll get artifacts/crash. Determining truly stable GDDR5 overclocks turns out a super PITA...


----------



## JTHMfreak

Now I noticed something weird a short while ago, and want to try to solve before I start flashing my bios. Was seeing how well the 670 I received from rma would oc, noticed that while core and men would reflect changed values that the gpu usage stayed at 0 for that card. Also noticed that sometimes the core would not go past 1006, it down clocked itself at the start of valley. Ya think my board is the issue? Sli is enabled, tried to run bioshock to see if I got a similar result and it was really really choppy


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Br3ach*
> 
> It doesn't. However I posted this before actually getting my GTX 670 ;-) 'Unfortunately' GDDR5 has error correction which kind of defeats the purpose of using memtestcl. It may seem stable at a certain clock speed while producing a ton of memory errors which the memory would correct... up to a point though. These are errors which you don't see and neither will memtestcl. So more can actually be less as error correction also reduces the speed (each error results in a repeated read), however from my own testing performance was always higher with higher mem clocks. The key problem I saw is that it may seem stable at +500 offset after 3 hours of Haven runs/folding, and then all of a sudden (meaning 2 days later while you're playing your favorite game) it would get a burst of errors which won't be corrected and you'll get artifacts/crash. Determining truly stable GDDR5 overclocks turns out a super PITA...


That's where benchmarks come into place. When overclocking your card's memory, sometimes less overclock produces a higher benchmark score than a higher overclock. That is a proof that error correction is working.


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Not really sure on that but why don't you want to use the shroud?


Not sure if it would fit on the bottom card since I a using a PCI sound card.. but for the cost of 2 of these I might go with a full watercooling instead


----------



## Br3ach

Theoretically yes, but as I mentioned based on my testing higher mem clock speeds always resulted in higher performance, see below:

Code:



Code:


Mem Offset   FPS     Score   Notes
0       39.8    1666    -
50      40      1676    -
100     40.5    1695    -
150     40.9    1710    -
200     41.2    1725    Artifacts
250     41.5    1738    -
300     41.9    1752    Artifacts
350     42.2    1767    Artifacts
400     42.3    1772    -
450     42.8    1791    Artifacts
500     43.1    1801    -
550     43.3    1814    -
600     24.1    1006    Artifacts then FPS drop


----------



## ZeVo

What do you guys consider a safe power target %?

I got my modded BIOS at it can go up to 150% but my guess is that it's way too much.


----------



## Juraat

You can leave the power target at maximum. The card won't draw more then it needs. For example, the most mine has ever drawn was 138% @1306 1.21V and mem overclocked as well. Usually it sits around 120% though in Valley.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Br3ach*
> 
> Theoretically yes, but as I mentioned based on my testing higher mem clock speeds always resulted in higher performance, see below:
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> Mem Offset   FPS     Score   Notes
> 0       39.8    1666    -
> 50      40      1676    -
> 100     40.5    1695    -
> 150     40.9    1710    -
> 200     41.2    1725    Artifacts
> 250     41.5    1738    -
> 300     41.9    1752    Artifacts
> 350     42.2    1767    Artifacts
> 400     42.3    1772    -
> 450     42.8    1791    Artifacts
> 500     43.1    1801    -
> 550     43.3    1814    -
> 600     24.1    1006    Artifacts then FPS drop


It's weird that you have artifacts with lower memory offsets and when you tried increasing the offset they went away.


----------



## EaquitasAbsum

Today I downloaded and installed the newest drivers and it changed the amount of voltage I can use to lower than before and I kept crashing in Heaven Benchmark, I must admit while it was running I as getting like 10 more FPS than with the older driver with a lesser voltage but it would crash to the point that I needed to reboot my computer. Should I just go back to the old driver? Or just unlock my bios? Cause it's not like I was getting up to the 70C mark I only got to like 57C with the lesser voltage cap, but 63C with the original stable clock, so there was overclocking room just not with the available voltage to even fill the power target.


----------



## Br3ach

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> It's weird that you have artifacts with lower memory offsets and when you tried increasing the offset they went away.


Another feature of GDDR5 - it decreases looses the mem timings under certain conditions...


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Br3ach*
> 
> Another feature of GDDR5 - it decreases looses the mem timings under certain conditions...


What do you mean?


----------



## Br3ach

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> What do you mean?


I have read that GDDR5 would loosen (increase) memory timings under 'certain circumstances' thus improving stability which would explain my observations.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Br3ach*
> 
> I have read that GDDR5 would loosen (increase) memory timings under 'certain circumstances' thus improving stability which would explain my observations.


DO you know what are those "certain circumstances"?


----------



## Tom Brohanks

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> DO you know what are those "certain circumstances"?


Just wanted to chime in and mention that there was a thread, I believe on Anandtech, where someone proved this out with an AMD card. When at a certain memory speed, the FPS would drop/artifacts. When set higher, the problem goes away. I'll try to find it.

Edit: Just skimmed first 12 pages of forum and didn't find the thread. I know it existed though! I think there was a deadzone at 1300mhz then at 1400mhz performance shot up.


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Juraat*
> 
> You can leave the power target at maximum. The card won't draw more then it needs. For example, the most mine has ever drawn was 138% @1306 1.21V and mem overclocked as well. Usually it sits around 120% though in Valley.


yes true !... and 150% equals different watts for each card, for me for example 150% is 211 Watts (zotac short pcb reference(60301) 670 2gb).. and I guess I can mod it up to 300 watts as someone answered me.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tom Brohanks*
> 
> Just wanted to chime in and mention that there was a thread, I believe on Anandtech, where someone proved this out with an AMD card. When at a certain memory speed, the FPS would drop/artifacts. When set higher, the problem goes away. I'll try to find it.
> 
> Edit: Just skimmed first 12 pages of forum and didn't find the thread. I know it existed though! I think there was a deadzone at 1300mhz then at 1400mhz performance shot up.


Hmmm, that is interesting. Increasing the mem offset more will make the artifacts go away but for the expense of higher latency then (which is bad)?


----------



## DeathMetroll

Hello all,

I tried to OC my GTX670 it's an ASUS NON Top DCU2.

My problem is : I have no fps difference ingame between before and after the OC (I tried on farcry 3).

Did I forget something ?

My config :

I7 [email protected]
Asus P6T
6Go pc16000

Thank you guys ...and girls


----------



## jakethesnake438

Hmmmm, My 670 sometimes doesn't boost, Just chills like a bawse at 966mhz. and then boosts SOMETIMES to 1123mhz
MSI Afterburner + 100mv, 122% Power limit, +120 Core, +350 Mem

I struggle to understand how it decided what to boost to

EDIT:
It boosts, but it doesn't overclock boost.
Re installed drivers. Changed between precision and afterburner more than twice


----------



## pc-illiterate

are you guys running vsync? whats the gpu usage?


----------



## Tom Brohanks

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Hmmm, that is interesting. Increasing the mem offset more will make the artifacts go away but for the expense of higher latency then (which is bad)?


There's the theory, but seeing as benchmarks went up with higher scores, the latency may not be that bad compared to the mhz change.


----------



## Tom Brohanks

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jakethesnake438*
> 
> Hmmmm, My 670 sometimes doesn't boost, Just chills like a bawse at 966mhz. and then boosts SOMETIMES to 1123mhz
> MSI Afterburner + 100mv, 122% Power limit, +120 Core, +350 Mem
> 
> I struggle to understand how it decided what to boost to
> 
> EDIT:
> It boosts, but it doesn't overclock boost.
> Re installed drivers. Changed between precision and afterburner more than twice


I had this problem a lot when Afterburner was installed. I uninstalled it and Precision X has been much more consistent. In regards to setting the boost, it seems to be something to do with measured power and temp over time along with GPU usage %....from my experience that is.


----------



## DeathMetroll

I did'nt precies that the GPU clock reach the OC clock (arround 1200Mhz) so I can say the OC worked but there's no difference in game









My OC config :

GPU clock : +120Mhz
Mem clock : + 600Mhz
Power : +122%
Voltage : to max limit.

Thank you.


----------



## EarlZ

Has anyone tried the Cool Laboratory Liquid Pro on the the 670/680, are they suitable for GPU use?


----------



## subsven

Got a nice steady OC going, 2x 670 FTW's both running at a steady 1254 Mhz at 29-30c temps. This equates to a GPU Clock Offest of +113 Mhz and a Mem Clock Offset of +275 Mhz.

Only real question I have is when using the 30 minute method (Within 5% is plenty for me, especially as we head into summer and my ambients are going to go up) what do I do with the Power Target once I find my clock? Is it irrelevant since my temps are so low? I know it won't over-volt (heck, in Heaven my top card only hits like 102% usage), but the top card hits like 134% when using the "Test" function in Precision X.


----------



## justanoldman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Has anyone tried the Cool Laboratory Liquid Pro on the the 670/680, are they suitable for GPU use?


CL ultra and pro are conductive/capacitive so you are strongly recommended not to use them on GPUs. If you get any of the TIM where it is not supposed to go you could ruin your card and will not have a warrenty.

That said, there are people who use liquid metal TIMs on GPUs, you just have to be very careful with it. Also note that they will destroy aluminum which some stock coolers contain. If you have to RMA the card you may have to clean it all up and put nonconductive paste on there.

In a nutshell, it will work better than some other pastes like MX-4 but only by a few c at most, and the risk and trouble may or may not be worth it to you.


----------



## Tagek

Hey I have some questions about this guide.

I tried some fairly small overclocks in terms of my clockspeed (unfortunately I crash at more than ~89 offset but I guess I have a weak card).
The thing is, my Heaven Benchmarks scores vary A LOT.

With a 54 offset I got a 1177 score, and with 74 I got 1190. However, later on I tried tried the same / similar settings again yet got MUCH lower scores (around 1140).

My question is:

Is this normal for Heaven Benchmark, and should I keep pushing the coreclock as long as I don't see artifacts and crashes?
Or should I worry about those strange score fluctuations?

Details:

670 GTX (factory OC'd by about 50 mhz)
I7 3770K @ 3,5 ghz stock.
My fan speed is at 80% and my temps don't go above 69 degrees celcius
Power limit at max allowed (122), voltage at max allowed (1150).
The program I used was EVGA Precision X (version 4.0)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tagek*
> 
> Hey I have some questions about this guide.
> 
> I tried some fairly small overclocks in terms of my clockspeed (unfortunately I crash at more than ~89 offset but I guess I have a weak card).
> The thing is, my Heaven Benchmarks scores vary A LOT.
> 
> With a 54 offset I got a 1177 score, and with 74 I got 1190. However, later on I tried tried the same / similar settings again yet got MUCH lower scores (around 1140).
> 
> My question is:
> 
> Is this normal for Heaven Benchmark, and should I keep pushing the coreclock as long as I don't see artifacts and crashes?
> Or should I worry about those strange score fluctuations?
> 
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Could be the card throttling due to heat, try to max out the fan speed then do the runs see if they vary.


----------



## Tagek

^
Already maxed (caps out at 80%), the temperature has never gone over 69 degrees celcius so far.


----------



## ez12a

going to water allowed me to drop my temps enough to move the gpu offset from 120 to 160. Not too shabby. Any higher and heaven crashes in the middle of the benchmark. Not seeing north of 50 C after going water (reference fan would go up to 70C and be as loud as a hairdryer). Thanks for the guide!


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tagek*
> 
> Hey I have some questions about this guide.
> 
> I tried some fairly small overclocks in terms of my clockspeed (unfortunately I crash at more than ~89 offset but I guess I have a weak card).
> The thing is, my Heaven Benchmarks scores vary A LOT.
> 
> With a 54 offset I got a 1177 score, and with 74 I got 1190. However, later on I tried tried the same / similar settings again yet got MUCH lower scores (around 1140).
> 
> My question is:
> 
> Is this normal for Heaven Benchmark, and should I keep pushing the coreclock as long as I don't see artifacts and crashes?
> Or should I worry about those strange score fluctuations?
> 
> Details:
> 
> 670 GTX (factory OC'd by about 50 mhz)
> I7 3770K @ 3,5 ghz stock.
> My fan speed is at 80% and my temps don't go above 69 degrees celcius
> Power limit at max allowed (122), voltage at max allowed (1150).
> The program I used was EVGA Precision X (version 4.0)
> 
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Always run Heaven twice, and take the second score. The first time through you will get crazy low min FPS scores as the benchmark loads the new scenes (or whatever it is doing). The second run will be higher and more consistent. You can also just use Enter to cycle through all the scenes before hitting F9 to start benchmarking.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Always run Heaven twice, and take the second score. The first time through you will get crazy low min FPS scores as the benchmark loads the new scenes (or whatever it is doing). The second run will be higher and more consistent. You can also just use Enter to cycle through all the scenes before hitting F9 to start benchmarking.


So initially, Enter through all scenes until you come back to the first scene and then press F9?


----------



## Forceman

That's how I do it. Seems to work better.


----------



## EarlZ

Are there any closed loop watercooling system for a CPU that can easily fit on the GTX680 with minimal modding ?


----------



## Forceman

You can use Dwood's bracket ( triptcc.com ) to mount some of the Asetek-made models easily. That fits the Corsair H series coolers, the Thermaltake Big Water series, and the Antec Kuhler series.


----------



## Juraat

This is what it looks like with Dwood's Bracket. I have the one where you can mount a 80mm fan as well. It really works perfectly.


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!






My card is a 670 FTW, which uses the 680's reference PCB.


----------



## jakethesnake438

my watercooled REF MSI 670 can only get like 1240 Stable at 1.23V.
I can get 1280 but It is only stable for the first run oh Valley. It fails the second run for some unknown reason.
I just recently did a clean install of win 7.

Should I not be getting higher clocks than this? Some users get around 1300
Unless my card is a crappy bin


----------



## pc-illiterate

jake, your card is a good clocker. those over 1300 cards are excellent cards. anything over 1200 is good. newer cards dont seem to be clocking as high either.


----------



## yawa

My EVGA FTW edition only gets +80 mhz on GPU and +100 mhz on Memory at max scaling voltage. Since I really don't want to mod this card's bios, though I may try it someday when I'm not as attached, I assume I should just accept that it's a lottery and deal eh?

Bleh and I was going to put this puppy under water. Eh, probably still will for the noise.


----------



## Chunin

You shouldnt be scared of flashing the BIOS. Ive done that about 10 times already trying 4 different BIOSes with my Gigabyte but since i didnt have any luck with the modded BIOS and the card run pretty much the same clocks ive just updated to the latest one released by Gigabyte that supposedly fixes some bugs in the earlier BIOS.


----------



## subsven

One of my 670 FTWs clocks like a dream, I can run it at 1280 no problem with over +300 on the mem, only problem is my top card will only do about 1241 with about +230 on the mem, and then it starts acting up if my temps hit about 40c. Thankfully I usually run 29-30c at load.

I clock both cards the same though, and leave them at a clock that sits very steady with no oscillation at 1241. This completely prevents any micro stutter and let's me play Borderlands 2 on max settings 6080x1200 at 80-90fps, and Battlefield 3 on High about 70-80fps at 6080x1200.


----------



## pel

thx for the guide


----------



## ClemC

I think my card is a bit of a dud. Well, it does what the box says and more, so I can't be too disappointed. But damn, I'm seeing lots of other people getting boosts of 1,200 - 1,300MHz.
The highest I can get to is 1050 which puts my max boost clock at 1150. Memory can't go very high, either, though I haven't played with it as much. I've got it 3204 and I don't think it goes much higher.

I can easily keep it under 70°c and have power limit set to 122% (though it refuses to go over ~106%).

I've got the ASUS DCU II version. Maybe I should have payed a bit more for the "OC" version.

Am I doing something wrong, or did I just have bad luck with the new nVidia overclocking lottery that we now have to deal with?


----------



## jakethesnake438

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ClemC*
> 
> I think my card is a bit of a dud. Well, it does what the box says and more, so I can't be too disappointed. But damn, I'm seeing lots of other people getting boosts of 1,200 - 1,300MHz.
> The highest I can get to is 1050 which puts my max boost clock at 1150. Memory can't go very high, either, though I haven't played with it as much. I've got it 3204 and I don't think it goes much higher.
> 
> I can easily keep it under 70°c and have power limit set to 122% (though it refuses to go over ~106%).
> 
> I've got the ASUS DCU II version. Maybe I should have payed a bit more for the "OC" version.
> 
> Am I doing something wrong, or did I just have bad luck with the new nVidia overclocking lottery that we now have to deal with?











Chuck some more volts at it








by re flashing it...


----------



## pc-illiterate

raise your power target ( done) and your voltage sliders to the max. how old is your asus ?


----------



## ClemC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> raise your power target ( done) and your voltage sliders to the max. how old is your asus ?


June or July last year. Is there any point in raising the voltage slider, I thought the voltage was locked?

I may try flashing a new BIOS onto it.


----------



## pc-illiterate

raising the voltage slider keeps the voltage from dropping when it goes to a light load. if going from a light load to heavy/full load, its possible for the card to not respond fast enough to keep the voltage at a needed amount causing a driver crash/black screen.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> raising the voltage slider keeps the voltage from dropping when it goes to a light load. if going from a light load to heavy/full load, its possible for the card to not respond fast enough to keep the voltage at a needed amount causing a driver crash/black screen.


Even when using a modified vBIOS?


----------



## pc-illiterate

i dont know kevin. as i said before, i havent messed with modded bios ause my dc2 wont take it. i have no idea. i havent read up on it either. would be knowledge i couldnt put to use.


----------



## Chunin

TDP is technically the max amount of power the cooling system needs to dissipate in order to keep the chip at or below its maximum temperature. The default for the 670 is 170W i believe and if you go higher than that the card will throttle to keep it cool so raising the TDP slider will let you go over that to prevent it from happening.


----------



## Mordy

Hey guys i have a problem similar to ClemC
I have a new ASUS GTX670-DC2-2GD5 with voltage seted to 1150 mV and power limit at 122% ( the poer limit never pass 100-103% in games or heaven benchmark ) the problem is that the card crash at lower core clocks in games/heaven benchmark but it can run at higher clocks in kombustor-evga oc scanner- occt 100% stable for hours. The only difference from games-heaven benchmark and kombustor-evgaocscanner is the power limit, on kombustor-evagocscanner go up to 128% and in games to 100-103%.
I'm using Windows 7 64bit - EVGA Precision 4.1 - Geforce Drivers 314.22
Any ideas?

Sorry for my horrible English!!


----------



## Chunin

I would say that neither the MSI nor the EVGA testing tools are of any use really. I can hit 1280 - 1306 Mhz while testing with them and Heaven 4 wont even load the test with anything above 1241 Mhz.


----------



## ChaosAD

All verions of asus gtx 670 dcuii non top can be flashed with top bios? My max oc is 1230, will i gain any more oc if i flash it with top?


----------



## pc-illiterate

no. TOP cards are nothing more than factory overclocked cards.


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> raising the voltage slider keeps the voltage from dropping when it goes to a light load. if going from a light load to heavy/full load, its possible for the card to not respond fast enough to keep the voltage at a needed amount causing a driver crash/black screen.


Can anyone confirm this ? I cant even get the voltage slider to do anything on my end


----------



## Tom Brohanks

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Juraat*
> 
> This is what it looks like with Dwood's Bracket. I have the one where you can mount a 80mm fan as well. It really works perfectly.
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My card is a 670 FTW, which uses the 680's reference PCB.


Looks like you have something blowing on to the card still to cool memory/vrm?

EDIT: Durr you said you have the bracket with the fan mount.


----------



## Rmerwede

Thanks for this guide!

I am in the process of using this on my new 670. I am a bit confused. I see 3 different clocks happening:

GPU-Z says my boost is 1140, but the sensor reads ~1251. Afterburner reads ~1215, and Valley 1.0 says ~1320. Which one is correct?

Thanks in advance!


----------



## JTHMfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rmerwede*
> 
> Thanks for this guide!
> 
> I am in the process of using this on my new 670. I am a bit confused. I see 3 different clocks happening:
> 
> GPU-Z says my boost is 1140, but the sensor reads ~1251. Afterburner reads ~1215, and Valley 1.0 says ~1320. Which one is correct?
> 
> Thanks in advance!


Valley reports higher clocks than they are, I myself use precision x for my readings.


----------



## TONYpepperon1

Hello! First off i want to say great guide! I am fairly new to this whole world of overclocking and it was a relief to see it simplified. I just have some questions and could use some assistance. I would like to know why im not getting a higher heaven score from my EVGA GTX 670 FTW. I have made sure to set v-sync off and have set performance and voltage sliders to max as well. i also have the latest drivers.

Boost clock = 1085
Keplar Boost = 104



I was able to run heaven at +106 gpu offset and +350 for my memory after a little tuning. Im also a little shaky on the word "Stable". I have never crashed when running heaven but i do get a little tearing. Can I continue to push my OC or is this strong sign of instability? I have seen scores from ppl well in the 1300's with the same exact set up as me. Why cant i achieve better results? Im also a little confused as to why heaven cant recognize windows 8 and calls it NT. I would really appreciate some help on this. Thanks!


----------



## iRandomize

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TONYpepperon1*
> 
> Hello! First off i want to say great guide! I am fairly new to this whole world of overclocking and it was a relief to see it simplified. I just have some questions and could use some assistance. I would like to know why im not getting a higher heaven score from my EVGA GTX 670 FTW. I have made sure to set v-sync off and have set performance and voltage sliders to max as well. i also have the latest drivers.
> 
> Boost clock = 1085
> Keplar Boost = 104
> 
> 
> 
> I was able to run heaven at +106 gpu offset and +350 for my memory after a little tuning. Im also a little shaky on the word "Stable". I have never crashed when running heaven but i do get a little tearing. Can I continue to push my OC or is this strong sign of instability? I have seen scores from ppl well in the 1300's with the same exact set up as me. Why cant i achieve better results? Im also a little confused as to why heaven cant recognize windows 8 and calls it NT. I would really appreciate some help on this. Thanks!


Windows NT 6.2 = Windows 8 / Windows Server 2012

You need to run the "Extreme HD" preset to make your scores comparable. Make sure you are running updated drivers.


----------



## EarlZ

I always though that my GPU OC of 1228 (24/7) was pretty weak seeing as a lot of people are getting 1300Mhz easy and even as high as +600 on the memory.. ( I only get + 400 )


----------



## Rmerwede

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> I always though that my GPU OC of 1228 (24/7) was pretty weak seeing as a lot of people are getting 1300Mhz easy and even as high as +600 on the memory.. ( I only get + 400 )


Im a new kepler owner, but it seems like a real mixed bag. I see some struggling to achieve any oc, and some running 1400/1800+!


----------



## TONYpepperon1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> Windows NT 6.2 = Windows 8 / Windows Server 2012
> 
> You need to run the "Extreme HD" preset to make your scores comparable. Make sure you are running updated drivers.


Yea sry about that. Heres my latest score:



No idea in hell why it has shot up so much compared to the 880 score I previously posted. I havent changed a thing since then.


----------



## Juraat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TONYpepperon1*
> 
> Yea sry about that. Heres my latest score:
> 
> 
> 
> No idea in hell why it has shot up so much compared to the 880 score I previously posted. I havent changed a thing since then.


The reason why your scores are alot higher this time, is because of the used resolution. The first screenshot you posted was at 1920x1080 while the last one was at 1600x900.
Heaven 4.0 has no Extreme HD preset, only the Extreme preset, which uses 1600x900.


----------



## deany123

I'm new here, I followed the tutorial and I get awful results.

I have MSI GTX 670 OC version (Not the Power/Oc one): http://www.msi.com/product/vga/N670GTX-PM2D2GD5-OC.html. Everytime I set the Power Target to the max (122%) and the Voltage to the max (1.50V) it doesn't show any good results. Without changing the GPU Clock Offset, I kept it on +0 Mhz, yet I'm getting unstable GPU Clock line on the graphs. I've set the fan speeds to what you've mentioned, and I usually get 75 degrees...

Your card's model : http://www.msi.com/product/vga/N670GTX-PM2D2GD5-OC.html GTX 670 OC MSI
Your Boost Clock : 1046 according to gpu-z. according to their site- 1045
Your Max Boost (This is your Boost Clock + Kepler Boost) - 142.9 is the kepler boost. max boost - 1188.9
Your Memory Clock - 1502 MHz.
Your Power Target and Voltage setting
The power has been set to 122%, and the volate to maximum (1.50V). When I looked for the kepler boost, I got the highest score- and I only put Power Limit at 122%. but when I also tuned up the voltage to it's maximum I never had a straight line in the GPU clock, there were always ups and downs. never stable, i'm talking about 20-200 changes...

Your Heaven score and a screenshot of the graphs after that same Heaven run. If you were unable to finish Heaven then mention that instead:
Please ignore the end of the graphs. This is the graphs after I onl set the power target to the max and kept the gpu **** offest+mem at the normal ones...
I forgot to pause it when I was done, was delayed a little.









 EDITED - includes the heaven results.

I was wondering if these results are too low, and also - would you like me to have a test with the voltage set to max and upload the results aswell..?

I might've misunderstood some stuff in all this. I know what everything means but I thought maximizing the Voltage should deny throttling , not **** up the results to new low scores..


----------



## error-id10t

You're seeing throttling due to temps though I'm not sure where you see up to 200 drops? Up the fan speed if you can.


----------



## deany123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *error-id10t*
> 
> You're seeing throttling due to temps though I'm not sure where you see up to 200 drops? Up the fan speed if you can.


I said I get drops like these when I put the voltage on the maximum.. on that test I kept the voltage on the default values and changed only the power target.. and you can also see the fan speed is on 75%?


----------



## WiSH2oo0

Quick question.

I plan on updating to Windows 8 this weekend. Will I need to retest my overclock settings or am I good to go with my current settings?

Ty


----------



## error-id10t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *deany123*
> 
> I said I get drops like these when I put the voltage on the maximum.. on that test I kept the voltage on the default values and changed only the power target.. and you can also see the fan speed is on 75%?


Ok so what about your fan speed of 75%? Like I said, raise it if you can. It's obviously not enough as you're clicking 80 degrees, at least that's what your graph shows = throttling. Throw in the fact you're exceeding the power target = more throttling (especially if it actually pull more than 1.1.75v when you change it.


----------



## deany123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *error-id10t*
> 
> Ok so what about your fan speed of 75%? Like I said, raise it if you can. It's obviously not enough as you're clicking 80 degrees, at least that's what your graph shows = throttling. Throw in the fact you're exceeding the power target = more throttling (especially if it actually pull more than 1.1.75v when you change it.


Even if I put it on 80% it's the same and it's the maximum I can set it to. It's when I'm using the power limit in 122% and not even changing the voltage, keeping it normal. What else should I do? should I just not overclock? because I got 80 degrees within 60% fan speed back then...


----------



## EarlZ

Whats the voltage slider for under MSI-AB ?


----------



## error-id10t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *deany123*
> 
> Even if I put it on 80% it's the same and it's the maximum I can set it to. It's when I'm using the power limit in 122% and not even changing the voltage, keeping it normal. What else should I do? should I just not overclock? because I got 80 degrees within 60% fan speed back then...


Ok so I think you may have a problem then, cause not known of course.

Do you have enough air-flow in the case or is something blocking the card, 80 degrees at that speed especially with fan cranked up sounds wrong.

Another option is to open it up, remove the stock paste and do it yourself - 99% guaranteed to give you better results. Last but not least, ask other MSI owners of your card or go to the forum if this is normal (I doubt it). ie: RMA for replacement card.


----------



## Rmerwede

Hi all,

So I got my second card, and installed it by itself to see how it clocks. It seems to OC about the same as the first, but It does not seem to break 1.1620v, while the other does the full 1.175v. Has anyone else experienced this? Any way to bump it up to 1.175?

Thanks in advance!


----------



## EarlZ

I noticed something odd today, my bottom card which runs always 2-3c hotter ( due to my sound card covering a small portion of the intake ) is now running about 2-3 cooler BUT the clocks on it will move between 1189 to 1215 even if the temps are merely 60c. Im not sure whats wrong


----------



## TONYpepperon1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Juraat*
> 
> The reason why your scores are alot higher this time, is because of the used resolution. The first screenshot you posted was at 1920x1080 while the last one was at 1600x900.
> Heaven 4.0 has no Extreme HD preset, only the Extreme preset, which uses 1600x900.


Hmm that makes sense. So then my previous screenshot with my score of 880 IS comparable as its set to the same standards as "Extreme HD". If this is the case then why cant I get my scores higher then that. My card never goes over 69 degrees so i dont think thermal throttling would play a part in this. Can I get some input please.


----------



## subsven

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> I noticed something odd today, my bottom card which runs always 2-3c hotter ( due to my sound card covering a small portion of the intake ) is now running about 2-3 cooler BUT the clocks on it will move between 1189 to 1215 even if the temps are merely 60c. Im not sure whats wrong


Play with the +MHz setting in PrecisionX. I know it sounds strange but set something like +100, apply, +101, apply, +100, apply and test. Also, set the voltage slider (assuming stock BIOS) as high as it will go. The boost works on multiples of 13, so I typically aim for the lowest +MHz setting I can get the boost I want out of. Your best clocks will be those that don't oscillate, but stay rock steady at max boost. If its oscillating it could mean a bad or less than perfect OC.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TONYpepperon1*
> 
> Hmm that makes sense. So then my previous screenshot with my score of 880 IS comparable as its set to the same standards as "Extreme HD". If this is the case then why cant I get my scores higher then that. My card never goes over 69 degrees so i dont think thermal throttling would play a part in this. Can I get some input please.


See above. Oscillating frequencies can have an effect find the most stable clock you can get, then stick with that. I have 2 670s and if I remember correctly I score in the 1100's at 5760x1200 (desktop resolution). The scores are only comparable when all things are equal, ie same settings, etc. Run the bench at stock settings 2 or 3 times, then follow the Quick 30 minute guide and see what sort of score changes you get WITHOUT changing the bench settings.


----------



## prospectjp

I own a Gigabyte GTX 670 OC, can't seem to get the GPU Clock past 110 Mhz, any ideas based on the graphs?

Crashes in Heaven



Hraven set at 3560*1440, 8X and Ultra

110 Mhz score was 1086


----------



## Forceman

You are at 1241 according to your screenshot, which is an okay overclock. That's probably just as high as your chip can go.


----------



## subsven

1241 is actually very good considering the base clock is only 905 or so for those chips.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *prospectjp*
> 
> I own a Gigabyte GTX 670 OC, can't seem to get the GPU Clock past 110 Mhz, any ideas based on the graphs?
> 
> Crashes in Heaven
> 
> 
> 
> Hraven set at 3560*1440, 8X and Ultra
> 
> 110 Mhz score was 1086


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> You are at 1241 according to your screenshot, which is an okay overclock. That's probably just as high as your chip can go.


i can do 1241mhz on my gb wf3 but i cant stress it heavily, it WILL crash. 1228mhz seems to be 99% stable. i know it'll crash i just dont know when it will.(no it hasnt crashed yet but my luck on this card says it will)
and as subseven said, thats a good clock at 1241.


----------



## Feild Scarecrow

Ever card I have had has always had extremely low temps(I have a side and bottom fan for the GPU) my 560ti was always under 60C and now my 670 is under 50C under full load.

I am wondering what damage I can do by increasing my voltage even more than 1.212v should I go until my temps are at the standard 70C? I messed 3570k by reading temps of AI suite and do not want to make that mistake again.

Should I flash my bios to 1.5v or something as long as my temps are under 70C?

This is my max stable overclock.
gigabyte 3x 670
at 1267(1275 +8 in afterburner)
1800
105% power at 1.212 volts

After a fully maxed(1080p) heaven 4.0 run in which I got 35.7fps


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Feild Scarecrow*
> 
> Ever card I have had has always had extremely low temps(I have a side and bottom fan for the GPU) my 560ti was always under 60C and now my 670 is under 50C under full load.
> 
> I am wondering what damage I can do by increasing my voltage even more than 1.212v should I go until my temps are at the standard 70C? I messed 3570k by reading temps of AI suite and do not want to make that mistake again.
> 
> Should I flash my bios to 1.5v or something as long as my temps are under 70C?
> 
> This is my max stable overclock.
> gigabyte 3x 670
> at 1267(1275 +8 in afterburner)
> 1800
> 105% power at 1.212 volts
> 
> After a fully maxed(1080p) heaven 4.0 run in which I got 35.7fps


1.21V is the maximum limit of overvolting through BIOS modification. You can go past 1.21V only if you do a hardware modification.


----------



## Feild Scarecrow

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> 1.21V is the maximum limit of overvolting through BIOS modification. You can go past 1.21V only if you do a hardware modification.


So why would anyone do watercooling for the 600 series? Also ty for your help and are my temps strange for air?


----------



## Forceman

To keep the cards from temp throttling, and to control the noise. Otherwise not a lot of advantage in water cooling them.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Feild Scarecrow*
> 
> So why would anyone do watercooling for the 600 series? Also ty for your help and are my temps strange for air?


As long as your temps don't reach 70C then you're good. For me, I really needed to watercool my GPU because my ambient temp is 33C (living in a tropical country).


----------



## subsven

There's a lot more to it than just that. For starters, my two 670 FTWs would squeal like banshees playing games like Far Cry 3. The noise drop was more than just a little. Also, the "stay under 70 and you'll be fine, there's no additional benefit isn't true. My 1254 OC on my top card is only stable under 40c, then I start getting screen glitches. Running at 30c I can run Heaven all day.

Just like with anything, core temps affect max clock speeds. To what degree varies from chip to chip, CPU to GPU etc, but cooler chips run stronger and last longer. This is why we water cool.


----------



## JayKthnx

I got my evga 670 ftw to 104-520 with this guide. Thanks for the info. +rep


----------



## alarinn

I just got my Asus 670 non-TOP and followed this guide and saw something really weird. First, I have the GPU Clock Offset at +150% and temps are around 60C and everything looks great. PT never goes above 107%, GPU Core holding steady at 1210, etc. Now if I add another 10 to the clock making it +160 and run Heaven again, sometimes it hangs and the culprit is the power % spiking from 107% all the way to 368.9%. Is that right? Up until now, the graphs and numbers look great indicating I have more OC headroom. I certainly don't want to fire anything since 369% seems like a really bad thing if true. Any ideas?


----------



## Forceman

That's just a glitch. When the driver fails (due to too high an overclock) you'll sometimes get strange power numbers. It's just a symptom of the crash.


----------



## Chunin

Its just a glitch when your video driver crashes due to unstable OC. I get the same but it shows 267%.


----------



## Darylrese

Overclocking the GTX 670 in SLI is a bit strange. No matter what i set the voltage to, my two cards always max out at 1.175 under load, never any less. Also no matter what you set the power target to, it always boosts past it.

Is that normal?

I'm limited because of my second card as it crashes past +80mhz core, my top card will do +150mhz core quite happily. I understand your limited to your slower card in SLI though, so even if i unsync the cards there's no point as the top will only run the same as the bottom. Is this true because EVGA Precision X still says its running at different speeds if you set them manually. For example if i overclock to +150mhz core on the top and +80mhz on the bottom, will the top card only run +80mhz dispite the performance log saying its running faster?

Also whats with K-BOOST in EVGA Precision X? It seems to lock my clocks at stock which is odd.


----------



## alarinn

Ok, thanks. Guess I need to keep dropping my GPU Core Boost until this stops. I ran it again at +150 and it crashed. Man, all the numbers look great until that crash.


----------



## subsven

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Darylrese*
> 
> Also whats with K-BOOST in EVGA Precision X? It seems to lock my clocks at stock which is odd.


The K-Boost is the Kepler boost, it's supposed to disable the throttling and lock your card at max boost. Precision X is a bit strange though, every time I change something I have to apply it twice or it drops to stock settings again.


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *subsven*
> 
> The K-Boost is the Kepler boost, it's supposed to disable the throttling and lock your card at max boost. Precision X is a bit strange though, every time I change something I have to apply it twice or it drops to stock settings again.


Same with MSI-AB, I like the sound of that K-boost... does it really work ?


----------



## subsven

I enabled it once without realizing it and spent 10 minutes trying to figure out why my bottom card wasn't idling, lol. So in my experience, yes, it does work.


----------



## DARKKi

*adding content soon*


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Same with MSI-AB, I like the sound of that K-boost... does it really work ?


useless still throttling occurs.. and no idling at 2d clocks.


----------



## EarlZ

BTW is it normal for the bottom card to always run warmer, I tried to swap my top and bottom card around under an open case scenario and the bottom card is always warmer and of my cards will just randomly throttle (-13Mhz) even if its jut 66c but would go back to its boosted clock at (70-72c)


----------



## DARKKi

I have Phantom GTX 670 and here is my results....



I could one go +5 offset with gpu without changing voltage and with max voltage to 15








Memory in otherhand is capable +450 offset.

Could my card be so crappy that it can only go +15 with max voltage (without bios mod)

Any help or comments would be helpful


----------



## Draknareth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> BTW is it normal for the bottom card to always run warmer, I tried to swap my top and bottom card around under an open case scenario and the bottom card is always warmer and of my cards will just randomly throttle (-13Mhz) even if its jut 66c but would go back to its boosted clock at (70-72c)


My top card is usually warmer than bottom, but i'm running Windforce x3's so different coolers will draw air differently.


----------



## mastercommander

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> BTW is it normal for the bottom card to always run warmer, I tried to swap my top and bottom card around under an open case scenario and the bottom card is always warmer and of my cards will just randomly throttle (-13Mhz) even if its jut 66c but would go back to its boosted clock at (70-72c)


Usually the top is always warmer because of sli, however air flow in the case can cause the opposite affect


----------



## TONYpepperon1

Ok im going seriously crazy. I can not figure out why boost clock keeps reverting back to the base clock. This screenshot was taken while playing bioshock infinte. I followed the LONG METHOD in this guide and got a stable clock but when im playing, it just keeps dipping back down. Can someone please offer a solution. I had a steady GPU clock line while running heaven but cant maintain it while playing games.


----------



## pc-illiterate

looks to me like your 670 isnt being fully utilized and thats why the clock is dropping. vsync on? what do your frames read when it drops clocks?


----------



## TONYpepperon1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> looks to me like your 670 isnt being fully utilized and thats why the clock is dropping. vsync on? what do your frames read when it drops clocks?


Not sure what the FPS are cause i havent downloaded fraps yet but yes i do have vsync on adaptive. I have everything set at ultra and it deff bogs down at times. though im confused about this because the GPU Clock drops as SOON as i start playing. the 1241 you see is when i tabbed out to the desktop to pause precision x. as soon as i hit the desktop it instantly shoots back up to 1241 and then immediately shoots back down to base clock when i go back to bioshock. How do i fix this?


----------



## Chunin

Turn off VSYNC and enjoy tearing or leave it turned on, play the game smootly and get over it. If the game needed your clocks to be higher to run better then itd do so.

I get the same and i dont care because even with 980 Mhz the game never runs less than 60 FPS and thats what its all about, aint it? Of course minus the occasional drops that are fault of the game itself or nvidia driver i didnt read much about whats causing it.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Juraat*
> 
> This is what it looks like with Dwood's Bracket. I have the one where you can mount a 80mm fan as well. It really works perfectly.
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My card is a 670 FTW, which uses the 680's reference PCB.


That is the the most charming looking PC i've ever seen


----------



## pc-illiterate

turn on fps in the monitoring tab of prec-x. do you also have k-boost on? turn it off, its crap.


----------



## Solonowarion

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> That is the the most charming looking PC i've ever seen


Yeah I wouldnt mind seeing a higher res pic.


----------



## Juraat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> That is the the most charming looking PC i've ever seen


Why thank you good Sir







. Those words truly mean alot to me!

If you want to look into higher res pics, I got the link to my build-log in my signature. Sadly it's not progressing atm, but I hope to pick up the works by early-mid may


----------



## TONYpepperon1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> turn on fps in the monitoring tab of prec-x. do you also have k-boost on? turn it off, its crap.


No i dont have k-boost on. My frame rate holds pretty steady at 60 but occasionaly drops to 30 for a second.


----------



## DARKKi

I just bought Gainward GF670 Phantom which in every review they said about that this product overclocks well..

I got my memory to +450 offset but even when maximizing voltage i cannot get more than +5-10 offset on core. Do i just have bad luck with my piece or is there something else wrong that i do not have noticed? I followed the guide to the point. I can post some screenshots if you need?

Just want to know that if this is normal or do i just have bad luck with my card.

Thanks in advance!


----------



## michael-ocn

don't really know... might be bad luck... but have you tried oc'ing core with 0 offset on mem?


----------



## DARKKi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> don't really know... might be bad luck... but have you tried oc'ing core with 0 offset on mem?


Yes i have, i tried multiple different tactics to get core up and only when i gave up then i oc'd memory


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DARKKi*
> 
> I just bought Gainward GF670 Phantom which in every review they said about that this product overclocks well..
> 
> I got my memory to +450 offset but even when maximizing voltage i cannot get more than +5-10 offset on core. Do i just have bad luck with my piece or is there something else wrong that i do not have noticed? I followed the guide to the point. I can post some screenshots if you need?
> 
> Just want to know that if this is normal or do i just have bad luck with my card.
> 
> Thanks in advance!


I would guess its all luck of the draw, even those Lightning edition cards are not guaranteed to clock more than the reference design but they do have some beefy power regulators to help extended the life of the card.


----------



## DARKKi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> I would guess its all luck of the draw, even those Lightning edition cards are not guaranteed to clock more than the reference design but they do have some beefy power regulators to help extended the life of the card.


Yeah, well. I have been always in bad luck with processors/graphics cards/memory i had buy'ed in means of overcloking which fails terribly. But sometimes golden ones pop in my hand too so i think it sort of events it out in my case









Atleast this one had nice OC by default, i got memory boosted to 1890 and the cards cooling is quiet as hell, you can barely notice the sound of cooler even if it is at 100% throttle. If i lower the chassis coolers to minimum it can be heard by then ofcourse.

So i like my card still for this price and its huge improvement from 560GTX in games


----------



## Orc Warlord

Does higher memory OC affect the board at all?

My card runs heaven 4.0 at 1176/6800. I am going to try pushing it further but will playing games at such a high memory clock cause problems to the card?


----------



## VindalooJim

Worth overclocking my two 670 FTWs? What kind of real world performance increase could I expect FPS wise? (I know that this varies chip to chip) but a rough estimate.


----------



## alex123fra

Here are my attempts with 2x Gigabyte GTX 670 OCs with a modest overclock on the CPU (3930 @4.7). Both have the bios that allows power up to 125% and slightly higher voltage.

So here they are:

*SLI score 2 x GTX 670s* - *P 18558* using 320.00 drivers

I am slightly bound by the second card which doesn't overclock well. If it was like my first card, 19k+ is easily achievable



http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6493071

*Single card GTX 670*, 3930 @ 4.7. This 670 flies at near enough 1400 MHz core (314.22 drivers) -*P 11535*



http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6488664


----------



## Orc Warlord

My attempt at my 670:

1176/7000!!


----------



## epoon2

delete


----------



## epoon2

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *VindalooJim*
> 
> Worth overclocking my two 670 FTWs? What kind of real world performance increase could I expect FPS wise? (I know that this varies chip to chip) but a rough estimate.


about 10%


----------



## Orc Warlord

why do i crash if i put my power target at 125?

it doesn't crash at 100 and i'm able to oc to 1176 boost and 7000 on memory


----------



## DARKKi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Orc Warlord*
> 
> Does higher memory OC affect the board at all?
> 
> My card runs heaven 4.0 at 1176/6800. I am going to try pushing it further but will playing games at such a high memory clock cause problems to the card?


You should see artifacts if the memorys are too high or voltage, in my experience i have not broken single memory in my lifetime. If it works that high then thats great









Mine memory runs that 1745 and no problems and i have seen higher scores too, but core oc is the one that makes the difference.


----------



## Draknareth

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DARKKi*
> 
> You should see artifacts if the memorys are too high or voltage, in my experience i have not broken single memory in my lifetime. If it works that high then thats great
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mine memory runs that 1745 and no problems and i have seen higher scores too, but core oc is the one that makes the difference.


Depends on the game, a lot of games strongly favour a high memory clock.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tom Brohanks*
> 
> Just wanted to chime in and mention that there was a thread, I believe on Anandtech, where someone proved this out with an AMD card. When at a certain memory speed, the FPS would drop/artifacts. When set higher, the problem goes away. I'll try to find it.
> 
> Edit: Just skimmed first 12 pages of forum and didn't find the thread. I know it existed though! I think there was a deadzone at 1300mhz then at 1400mhz performance shot up.


Hey mate, did you ever find that thread?


----------



## EarlZ

Dunno if anyone has noticed but even at 99% load on Heaven 4.0 there are times that the GPU will reduce its clocks ( not hitting the 70c mark ) I tested my cards with the nvidia demo and it locks it to 1228 for the entire duration (30mins)


----------



## newone757

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Dunno if anyone has noticed but even at 99% load on Heaven 4.0 there are times that the GPU will reduce its clocks ( not hitting the 70c mark ) I tested my cards with the nvidia demo and it locks it to 1228 for the entire duration (30mins)


mine doesnt do that on heaven


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Dunno if anyone has noticed but even at 99% load on Heaven 4.0 there are times that the GPU will reduce its clocks ( not hitting the 70c mark ) I tested my cards with the nvidia demo and it locks it to 1228 for the entire duration (30mins)


Might be throttling due to exceeding the power target. I haven't run heaven4, is load lighter in the brief periods between scenes?


----------



## VindalooJim

Is Core: 1071MHz / Boost: 1150MHz / Mem: 1640Mhz a respectable overclock for GTX 670 FTW?


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *newone757*
> 
> mine doesnt do that on heaven


Whats your total boost clock? Can you post a screenshot on the GPU core graph for an entire heaven benchmark run.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Might be throttling due to exceeding the power target. I haven't run heaven4, is load lighter in the brief periods between scenes?


I have the power target at 132%, its not even hitting 110%, So IDK. Other benchmarks lock it at 1228 since Im not hitting 70c.


----------



## fuhlemann

I'm a little disappointed by my Asus GTX670-DC2OG-2GD5 card. Watercooled (EKWB + backplate) and I'm currently running at 1228:1728 @1.187V .. highest load I ever managed to get out of it with those clocks were 100% (=230W)

Why did I mod the BIOS? Highest stable performance without extra tools + I can use it in MacOS X that way.

card doesn't really scale well at all. 1.212v didn't help either, neither did 1.200v .. can't really get much more out of it fully stable. Maybe another 13MHz step, but that would be the total top.

temps are idle around 28ish, load usually peaks at 53C at most!!!


----------



## newone757

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Whats your total boost clock? Can you post a screenshot on the GPU core graph for an entire heaven benchmark run.
> I have the power target at 132%, its not even hitting 110%, So IDK. Other benchmarks lock it at 1228 since Im not hitting 70c.


I have it set to 1120, but at load it sits at a constant 1163. Ill try to post a shot later if I get a chance


----------



## jessevale

Hey fellas, new to forums, long time lurker. Looking for some help.

Signed up to ask a few questions... been overclocking my Asus 4GB GTX670, and I've made several profiles that I'm experimenting with and tweaking to see which performs best.

160 gpu clock/625 mem clock for 1254 max boost is pretty much my max overclock, I can push memory much higher (but I also fail at noticing artifacts... are they supposed to be decently obvious because I honestly see none) but if I push gpu offset up a few it'll crash. Also, your max boost only increases in multiples of 13, but I noticed that I crash after 167 or so, which isn't another 13 past the last multiple (156). Curious as to why this is.

Anyway, power % throttles the hell out of me at that point, however... my performance is still better than any other configuration. I hit 1049 score even while throttling quite a lot. The next best I can hit is 1010-1020, but even those settings throttle by at least by 13 2-4 times throughout and a pretty decent sized 13-26 for a few seconds near the end.

The least throttled score I can get above 1000 is 130/400 offsets, and maybe 118/500 which I'm about to try out. Anything that is geared to not throttle at all puts me below 1000 score. At stock clocks, score was around 920, so I'm quite impressed with what I can do with this overclocking.

Anyway, my question then is, can I expect my performance to remain better with that throttling even in regular games? I've heard memory offset doesn't affect nearly as much, however it seems to help Heaven out a ton. Are games different? I also don't actually play the most intense modern games, really... Aside from extremely heavily modded Skyrim, which already ran like a dream before overclocking. Should I even out the throttling even at a performance hit, is there any benefit to this? The guide describes the benefit as better performance... but that doesn't seem to be the case. I wish I was one of the lucky ones not getting throttled by TDP%. 122% is max btw.

Next question, is it unsafe to raise voltages that high? Is it unsafe to offset the clocks regardless of voltages? What kind of life expectancy hit can I expect to take? I seem to be able to run stable at default or near default voltages... gotta leave it running for longer to test that out some more though.

tl;dr I want to know if I can safely keep my overclock on that max offset setting mentioned in order to achieve the best performance described, or should I take the performance hit & operate at a modest factory overclock style 120/? offset. I am confused by the discrepancies I've encountered and would like to learn more. Particularly why I haven't really noticed artifacts with such high mem overclocks - really, what is normal with a non-factory oc'd card?

Thanks in advance for any help given, sorry for the long post. Fairly new to this (but I did just totally whoop ass at my first CPU overclock...)

Edit: reading through here I notice people stating their power % never even gets that high. What causes high power use? Do PSUs have anything to do with this?

I will add that I recently put my AC back in the window now that winter's done, so my temps are lower. And even though I wasn't hitting 70 before, it seems my throttling has decreased. All the throttling would line up right with the power %, regardless of what the temp was, so it is power % causing it. The throttles happen in the same areas of the graph now too, but they just seem like they're less long or powerful after decreasing temps. Could temps below 70 help throttle? Or perhaps power use increases due to high temps? Something like that?


----------



## Forceman

You'll generally use less power in games than you do in benchmarking, so just because you are power throttling in benches doesn't mean you will in games. It's still a little strange that you ar epower throttling though, most cards don't run into that problem - maybe it's because you have a 4GB card. It's entirely dependent on the card though, nothing else in your system affects the power use.

In any case, you can't overvolt the cards without modding the BIOS (unless you have a Lightning card?), so there's no danger there (even with the BIOS mod you can still only get 1.21V). I would go ahead and run the card as high as you can get it stable, and not worry about the throttling unless it becomes a big problem. The other option is to mod you BIOS for a higher power limit, which you can easily do even if you don't want to also increase the voltage. That would eliminate your throttle concerns completely.

And all the cards are different on the memory overclocking, so it's not unusual that you might get a higher memory clock than others.


----------



## jessevale

Thanks for the reply.

Well I was playing neverwinter online yesterday just to check it out and noticed some weird stuff but mostly just horizontal lines moving up the screen, only a couple times. Like refresh rate looking stuff. That was with 120/500 I think so maybe that was artifacts, but it's also a really crappy open beta so idk.

I did notice the other weird stuff in the opening FMV... Which does seem like artifacts to me, because FMV shouldn't be silly like that I don't think? It's not even real time.

So I suppose I need to move on to testing in games. I'll continue fiddling with it and reading info here, if anyone has more thoughts on my questions it'd be nice to have some more insight. Thanks again.


----------



## Chunin

Theres a lot of texture flickering in that game so dont worry if you are not getting it in any other games then you are fine.


----------



## Forceman

The kind of artifacting you would be looking for is small dots flashing on and off on-screen, or weird looking blocky textures, or textures flashing. It's usually pretty noticeable when it happens, although the small dots can sometimes be hard to notice.


----------



## Chunin

That about describes how Neverwinter works except for the dots.


----------



## jessevale

I thought as much. I suppose I should turn on some skyrim to troubleshoot.

It really isn't odd that I can potentially do 160/600+ offsets? I just don't see numbers that high without being followed by others criticizing for certain choices (ie "I see all this crazy stuff in BF3, my oc is 180/800, it's never been unstable before!" Followed by people stating "uh, duh.")

I suppose a lot of people have ftw or top editions, so their numbers would be lower when talking offset and not max boost. Maybe that's where this question comes from.

So basically as long as I'm not crashing, overheating, or seeing artifacts, it is a stable oc that doesn't risk cutting short the lifespan of the card? I do love upgrading but I'm not rich so an upgrade is a big thing for me, meaning I want this card to last.

If everything else is okay but there are minor, tolerable artifacts, is it okay to run it like that if as a personal preference if you don't mind it, or do artifacts actually mean utter instability that is potentially contributing to card killing? Or is it just something that looks bad so you don't want it in your oc? Just wondering if I can balance better performance against a blip or two and some textures being ridiculous. It is very unlikely I would tolerate any artifacts anyway, so it is NOT my plan to do so, I'm more asking the mechanics of it.

Again, thanks for all the help and replies so far people.


----------



## EarlZ

There is a rendering artifact/glitch with the heaven benchmark right about the time where the screen rotates around the dragon statue.. I've seen that way back in previous versions and all nvidia cards I've tested.. even on video runs on youtube so take a look at that.


----------



## jessevale

Yup I noticed that and spent over an hour adjusting offsets to try to get rid of it since the only mention of it I read at the time was a youtube video mentioning it as a 'problem' and asking how to get rid of it. After looking into it and realizing the answer was "it always does that even in their promotional video" I kicked myself.

Idk why it never occurred to me to set it back to stock and run it and see if it was still there. Pretty much assumed "okay, this has got to be it... Nope, damn. Okay, THIS... Sigh." Haha


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> There is a rendering artifact/glitch with the heaven benchmark right about the time where the screen rotates around the dragon statue.. I've seen that way back in previous versions and all nvidia cards I've tested.. even on video runs on youtube so take a look at that.


Yes, as long as you see black flashing artifacts on the Dragon scene (stage 10 specifically) then you still know that your card is stable.


----------



## TheDude300

Hey guys.

I bought a Gigabyte GTX 670 OC 2GB Windforce 3x. It has been fantastic card so far. By far one of the best cooled cards and over clocking I have had since my Radeon HD 5770 1gb sapphire.

I'm curious to know if this is a good score:

Heaven 3.0 with guide settings max. I got to 1386 with +125 core, +400 mem. Giving my card 1184mhz core boost and 1702mhz mem and never above 60c temp.

From reading a few pages most can't make it past the 1200s. I managed to get there after many trial and errors. I get a very very slight white flicker every once in a while but as far as I can tell it didn't make a different.


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Yes, as long as you see black flashing artifacts on the Dragon scene (stage 10 specifically) then you still know that your card is stable.


I've always seen it flash even if the OC is unstable, what do you mean ?


----------



## jessevale

Are scores in heaven 3.0 typically higher than 4? Because I only get 1049 with my max oc like I said ... In version 4.

My 3Dmark 2011 is also 8700-8900 or so as well. It was 7700 at stock too. Running 4ghz oc i7 930. I was wondering how ppl obtained 1000+, though with my setup only 70 or so people have that score.

Am I supposed to be this low? I can't really find a definitive answer since I've seen so much variance among other people too, and I'm not sure if the person posted is a crazy overclocked everything modded bios etc... If most of them are only a simple oc like me then I'm a bit scared of my score.


----------



## Sanduleak

My GTX 670 is not going as strong ever since I reformatted my computer and I don't know why. I have my EVGA GTX 670 1GB, an i5 3570k, etc etc. In EVGA Precision X, I can't get either the GPU offset clock or the mem clock above 25. For reference, before reformatting my offset clock was 145 and my mem clock was 200. I get a score of literally like 880 in Heaven DX11 with all settings maxed out at 1920x1080 and I have no idea why. I've tried reinstalling my nvidia drivers, the precision program, etc.

Any of you guys have answers?


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> I've always seen it flash even if the OC is unstable, what do you mean ?


What I mean is the black artifacts are there even if your OC is stable or unstable. So if you're looking for stability and you saw no artifacts except for those black flashes, then you know you are stable.


----------



## pc-illiterate

i never saw the black 'artifacting' at the dragon statue with only my asus non-top. i thought everyone was crazy. i do have it since i added my gb wfx3. pretty crazy stuff in my opinion.
as far as that overclock on your 4gb asus, thats a very good overclock. from what ive read the 4gb cards dont overclock as well as the 2gb cards. im also used to only seeing evga 4gb card scores. they werent that great. i would say you have an exceptional 4gb 670


----------



## jessevale

Hmm, still makes me feel odd not detecting any indication of instability. We're sure overclocking is safe if it is stable?

And in case I'm not noticing artifacts, do they actually indicate instability as far as safety & card life goes, or are they just a personal preference, like you might simply hate seeing them so don't oc so high. Because I don't see any, but if I'm missing any and my card is trying to tell me to lay off, I'm worried.

I guess I'm just being too paranoid about this whole thing. And I guess I'm just quite lucky.


----------



## Ronin1

So heres a score of a ASUS 670 GTX 4GB with a mild OC +100/+200. Core clock keeps fluctuating everwhere between stock- boost clocks throughout the benchmark. All temps were ok, Voltage and Power target were maxed, and Max Performance setting on nvidia power controls. Anyone know what might be causing this or is this normal in 670 gtx gpu's.


----------



## michael-ocn

^ Looks like it's throttling due to exceeding the power target.

It hit a max of 131% in the graph and is at 127% at the time the screenshot was taken... but the target is 122%... so its stepping the clocks down to try to bring power usage back under the target.


----------



## jessevale

Mine typically throttles power at 128-131. It seems to be okay up to 129 sometimes and doesn't throttle, but after hitting higher than that, if it recently hit that high, even 127-128 seem to throttle sometimes. It's weird. But yeah it's power throttling for sure. Although it shouldn't throttle down anywhere near that much...

Checking screenshot again to make sure your gpu usage just isn't going back down. If the lowered boost occurs when gpu usage lowers, it's not actually throttling.


----------



## EarlZ

What do you guys run to get even above 110% power target? Maxed out heaven settings barely break 109%


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> What do you guys run to get even above 110% power target? Maxed out heaven settings barely break 109%


my wf3 doesnt break 95%


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> What do you guys run to get even above 110% power target? Maxed out heaven settings barely break 109%


With my everyday overclock, Valley (extremeHD) hits ~120% power usage. Some games like farcry3 and battlefield3 are very gpu intensive. I set the powertarget to 125% in precisionX to avoid throttling in demanding games like that.


----------



## jessevale

I guess the 4GB Asus uses more power. Always between 120-130 on heaven 4.0


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> With my everyday overclock, Valley (extremeHD) hits ~120% power usage. Some games like farcry3 and battlefield3 are very gpu intensive. I set the powertarget to 125% in precisionX to avoid throttling in demanding games like that.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jessevale*
> 
> I guess the 4GB Asus uses more power. Always between 120-130 on heaven 4.0


It shouldnt be that much of a difference. I have a 680 and both are clocked at 1228Mhz core and +400 on the VRAM. I dont get such a high power usage even if its set at 132%, maybe there is a hard limit on my board at 110% but this is just a reference design though..


----------



## jessevale

Yeah, it's suspicous to me too that nobody really seems to hit that... That's why in a previous post I asked what else might affect it, like psu or something.

X58A-UD3R rev 2 with i7 930 2.8 oc to 4.011 ... Precision x max power % is 122% ... It really must be the 4GB Asus.... No biggie cause it really only throttles on overclocks that are above average, though 3dmark seems to be all over the place on gpu clock


----------



## cam51037

Out of curiosity, it 1.175V a safe 24/7 voltage for 1.28GHz on the core clock with a 670? Temps are always below 67C.


----------



## pc-illiterate

unless the bios are borked a 670 wouldnt run 1.175v 24/7. they only pull that much voltage when it needs it, under load.


----------



## cam51037

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> unless the bios are borked a 670 wouldnt run 1.175v 24/7. they only pull that much voltage when it needs it, under load.


Well, I run [email protected] for like 12 hours a day on the GPU, so it is at 1.175V pretty much all the time it's on.


----------



## pc-illiterate

well then, i would say if its running that long at that voltage, its fine. nvidia set the max voltage low to help preserve the life of these cards. long term use, 3-4-5 years may be a different story.

please remember this is my opinion on what ive read. it is by no means fact. it may be fine for the next 20 years. it could die in a week


----------



## jessevale

Sorry double post.

I actually turned my oc off, set to default, including voltage of course, cause I am playing planescape: torment right now.

My temps went down 10~. With my ac on i idle at 29-32 depending on the temp I set on the ac, and with my biggest oc, during planescape it was sitting at 54. With no oc it was sitting at 44, never went above 55.

Voltages presumably increase temps, but why would they increase if its not needed under that load? Gpu clock sat in the 900s (915 maybe, but a single consistent number the whole time regardless).didnt check voltages or gpu use during this game, as it was something I only noticed after I turned the Oc off.


----------



## subsven

On my OC, my voltages typically only hit max when I am load testing; in most games even at 100% load my voltages rarely go much over 100% in fact, my better card usually sits at 98% power load while my slower one hits 102-104%, at 96-98% GPU load. The top card will hit 118% or so only when load testing. This is at 1215 MHz on 2 670 FTWs. My bottom card will do 1285 stable, but the top card starts crashing above 1215 over like 35c, I like running them at the same speed because I find it minimizes things like SLI stuttering.


----------



## willll162904

Will this work for an evga gtx 660ti?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jessevale*
> 
> Sorry double post.
> 
> I actually turned my oc off, set to default, including voltage of course, cause I am playing planescape: torment right now.
> 
> My temps went down 10~. With my ac on i idle at 29-32 depending on the temp I set on the ac, and with my biggest oc, during planescape it was sitting at 54. With no oc it was sitting at 44, never went above 55.
> 
> Voltages presumably increase temps, but why would they increase if its not needed under that load? Gpu clock sat in the 900s (915 maybe, but a single consistent number the whole time regardless).didnt check voltages or gpu use during this game, as it was something I only noticed after I turned the Oc off.


from what ive seen with my cards, any 3d load will put the cards at 100% of set voltage.


----------



## jessevale

Actually I left the graphs open and checked after playing some. With voltage at default it was running just over 1.0, like a step up from the default of 0.9whatever. Which it does with max too even like the guide says, max voltage is 1.15 but it runs at 1.175 on heaven (or 1.5 and 1.7 I forget the decimal). So basically we'll call that default voltage.

Gpu usage was ... 1-3. Planescape torment. Yeah, one. CPU usage sits at 24 or 26, something like that. Power # very low too, can't remember. Clock at default 915, which like I said it ran that on both default and max oc.

So the only variable was the 10 degrees temp when the oc is set with max voltage and power % and when it's all set to default offset, 100% power and default voltage.

It seems just setting an OC regardless of power used or voltage or gpu use increases temps. But that's weird because idle temp is still the same with oc on or off, 29-32 depending on how low I set my air conditioner.

Very odd. Also, crap to playing old games with such good hardware. Massive lag during spell casts, and outright glitch during the biggest spells (some thunderbolt just looks like a fat vertical bar of blocky blur colour depending on the area background colour). Also turns the screen black til I hit a button, but that may just be cause you're supposed to die when it hits you. Also, this is my first playthrough so if anyone is gonna comment on this specifically, no spoilers.

Edit: even more odd about power use during heaven compared to others is my monitor actually only does 1600x900. Should my results not me quite a fair bit higher? 1048 with max oc available to me really doesn't seem good... I see way better scores, though most use heaven 3.0 & are using high settings instead of ultra/extreme. At least in screenshots I find.

Sorry for all the rambling in my posts. I'm not exactly demanding answers, more putting things out there for others to stumble & compare themselves. A lot of learning this type of stuff and knowing if it's being done right is this circumstantial evidence from comparison. Sorry if the long posts bothers anyone.


----------



## Aussiejuggalo

So I got bored and started playing around with my graphic card, I just wanted to know is this voltage to high for 24/7 use?



Thanks


----------



## EarlZ

1.21v seems to be relatively safe as long as you can keep the GPU from hitting 80c.


----------



## Aussiejuggalo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> 1.21v seems to be relatively safe as long as you can keep the GPU from hitting 80c.


The temps seem to be fine, they hardly go over 70







. also is that voltage to high for my clock or just about right?


----------



## EarlZ

All of a sudden my OC is now unstable under heaven 4.0, It was running pretty fine for countless of runs at 1228Mhz core (1.20v) with +300 Mem offset. I had this running on Heaven 4.0 for multiple 2hrs run before and now it seems to randomly crash to desktop


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> All of a sudden my OC is now unstable under heaven 4.0, It was running pretty fine for countless of runs at 1228Mhz core (1.20v) with +300 Mem offset. I had this running on Heaven 4.0 for multiple 2hrs run before and now it seems to randomly crash to desktop


Did anything change recently, gpu bios or drivers? How long have you had the PSU?


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Did anything change recently, gpu bios or drivers? How long have you had the PSU?


Only driver update chages, This PSU is just 3 years old if I recall correctly.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Only driver update chages, This PSU is just 3 years old if I recall correctly.


I really don't know what it would be crashing on you, but some thoughts...

You could rule out (or in) the driver update as the cause by reverting to the older driver and seeing if still crashes or not.

Was curious about the PSU because i think they can degrade in performance over time and I'm really not sure of the rate of decay. I wonder how close you are to exceeding what the 850W unit can deal with give the SLI setup? Ways i can think of to test for that kind of possibility involve spare power supplies that are known to be good.

edit: Thought of a way to maybe help figure out if its the PSU w/o needing another PSU. Dial your cpu overclock way down (so its using lots less power). If gpu still crashes, probably not the PSU.


----------



## pc-illiterate

hes nowhere close to hitting max power draw on that psu. it also shouldnt be degraded anywhere near enough to cause much if any loss of power.

earlz, are you sure you have the voltage sliders still maxed? its the only reason i can think of unless your cards dudded out.


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> I really don't know what it would be crashing on you, but some thoughts...
> 
> You could rule out (or in) the driver update as the cause by reverting to the older driver and seeing if still crashes or not.
> 
> Was curious about the PSU because i think they can degrade in performance over time and I'm really not sure of the rate of decay. I wonder how close you are to exceeding what the 850W unit can deal with give the SLI setup? Ways i can think of to test for that kind of possibility involve spare power supplies that are known to be good.
> 
> edit: Thought of a way to maybe help figure out if its the PSU w/o needing another PSU. Dial your cpu overclock way down (so its using lots less power). If gpu still crashes, probably not the PSU.


No way this system is pulling close to 850watts, Im estimating about 600-650Wattstops! I used to have a GTX580 up until March of since I got this PSU, I understand that PSU's would decay but probably not this fast.

I will however keep in mind what you said, I'll try to dial down the CPU overclock and see what happens, I'll do this when I have the spare time over the week end perhaps.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> hes nowhere close to hitting max power draw on that psu. it also shouldnt be degraded anywhere near enough to cause much if any loss of power.
> 
> earlz, are you sure you have the voltage sliders still maxed? its the only reason i can think of unless your cards dudded out.


Voltage sliders on MSI-AB? I never touched them since they dont do anything for my card.. I just used a bios unlock to get to 1.20v. Do those sliders actually do anything ?


----------



## pc-illiterate

watch the voltage graph in ab. if it drops from 1.2v, then yes it matters.
i dont think the voltage graph/monitoring does anything after you mod the bios though. bah. you can always check.


----------



## michael-ocn

2x 680s and a pretty decent oc on the cpu, gotta be pulling north of 600... psu was just a thought


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> watch the voltage graph in ab. if it drops from 1.2v, then yes it matters.
> i dont think the voltage graph/monitoring does anything after you mod the bios though. bah. you can always check.


The only time it drops if I allow the fan to go into a lower speed making it hit 70C mark. What I've done so far is flash back to stock BIOS, then back to an unlocked one while limiting the overclock to 1189 for now. Its been stable for the last 2 hours. I'll try to do 1202, 1215 and finally 1228 later.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> 2x 680s and a pretty decent oc on the cpu, gotta be pulling north of 600... psu was just a thought


I'm still considering that but its very highly unlikely. When I change to mATX though I'll be using a Seasonic 1000Watts Platinum model.


----------



## EarlZ

In all of the games that I play, Dota 2 crashes randomly. I get a graphical garbage on the screen with some green squares, some squares are with blinking lines/dots but the game music continues. This only happens with dota 2. Im not sure if its the 320.14 or 320.18 drivers but im 100% sure this never happend with the 320.00 drivers. Lazy to revert for now since Im still playing Metro 2033. With dota the game only runs at 1006Mhz (single GPU mode )

I also tried the MSI-AB v3 Beta 10 and its reporting power usage as high as 189% WTH??


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> I also tried the MSI-AB v3 Beta 10 and its reporting power usage as high as 189% WTH??


Rainbow colored artifacts, sound like mem instability. If you underclock the mem, does that make a difference?

Does the 189% power usage get reported as a spike that coincides with the gpu crash? If so, probably just a bad sample taken at the time of the crash. I've seen spikes of ~300% in precX when my card has crashed in failed overclocking efforts, its not really using that much power... just bad samples.


----------



## NameMakingSux

I'd delete this post if I knew how, as it no long applies.


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Rainbow colored artifacts, sound like mem instability. If you underclock the mem, does that make a difference?
> 
> Does the 189% power usage get reported as a spike that coincides with the gpu crash? If so, probably just a bad sample taken at the time of the crash. I've seen spikes of ~300% in precX when my card has crashed in failed overclocking efforts, its not really using that much power... just bad samples.


Yes rainbow colored, full screen artifact, only happens in Dota2. Im using a +300 offset.. I'll try to turn it off and see what happens.
No the GPU usage does not increase when the crash happens, it actually does happen alot with the beta 10.. the readings are crazy spiking up and down so i reverted back to beta 9 for now.


----------



## John McClain

hi folks,

i'am new to oc but i really want to learn it









I read the guide and came up with this:



i'iam not sure on the power target and voltage oc. if you can see something terribel wrong in my config or maybe you have some opinions what to change please let me know.

thank you very much for any support.

just the best,
John

*edit*
I used the short method.


----------



## michael-ocn

I just ran this bench (1080p ultra with tess off) with my everyday OC that puts core/mem @1267/6840...

FPS: 51.2
Score: 1290
Min FPS: 25.0
Max FPS: 101.2

You have a much stronger cpu, but I'm getting 7 fps more... somethin ain't right?

Looking at your precX graphs, the core clock speed is jiggling all over the place (where i've got a solid horizontal line). Seems to be doing that jiggle because of power usage. I see a max reading of 137% in your charts (where i've got a max of 114%). Looks like when you exceed your power target, core clock is getting throttled.

The other thing i notice in your graphs are very wide gaps where clocks drop to idle clocks speeds and then pick up again? I don't understand those wide gaps at all. Does that occur while you're running this bench?

Here's what precx looks like for me, this is one full run thru the heaven4 bench...


----------



## John McClain

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> The other thing i notice in your graphs are very wide gaps where clocks drop to idle clocks speeds and then pick up again? I don't understand those wide gaps at all. Does that occur while you're running this bench?


sorry, my fault... i did some other tests befor and i set the milliseconds in hardware monitoring wrong

thanks for your info


----------



## neofury

I just wanted to post to say thank you. I'm new to this site and very new to overclocking and I couldn't have done it without this thread. My GTX 680's are getting much better scores now and in the future I may consider upgrading their coolers to get more out of them, especially when I see how beast the GTX 780's are now







Wish I had two of those.

I'm getting 40~ fps in metro last light with everything maxed out in 1080p, everything is the highest setting I can give it. Is that good?

Also figured I'd give you my stable results thus far with no crashing:

+48 +505 card #1 (runs 10-15c hotter)
+54 +514 card #2

I recognize my case has piss poor cooling and air flow, so I'm upgrading to a Rosewill Thor V2. I'm running an Antec Eleven Hundred, never buy this case. It's cheaply made and while the air flow should be decent it really isn't. Waste of 80$ if you ask me.

Also wanted to ask if my oc is low, medium or high. I'm pretty new to this and I only get 1940 on a heaven test, not sure if I'm maybe doing something wrong or not.


----------



## EarlZ

Anyone here good at making a bios setting using the Kepler Bios Tweaker? Id like to setup a profile that will not throttle even if I hit past 70c and will always run at 1228Mhz unless the card is idle. I've managed to make a setting that does what I need above but the voltages are always at 1.212v and I would need it to stay only at 1.200v and Im not sure how to change the power settings as well.


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Rainbow colored artifacts, sound like mem instability. If you underclock the mem, does that make a difference?
> 
> Does the 189% power usage get reported as a spike that coincides with the gpu crash? If so, probably just a bad sample taken at the time of the crash. I've seen spikes of ~300% in precX when my card has crashed in failed overclocking efforts, its not really using that much power... just bad samples.


So Ive been running the mem with no offsets and I no longer have issues with Dota 2.. Strange I never had issues with it before even when I used +400, probably one of the several mem chips could no longer OC? The cards are just 2 months old XD


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> So Ive been running the mem with no offsets and I no longer have issues with Dota 2.. Strange I never had issues with it before even when I used +400, probably one of the several mem chips could no longer OC? The cards are just 2 months old XD


I'm glad that you found a way to run Dota2 reliably, but it sucks that your card isn't performing like it used to.

I don't know about how ICs degrade over time exactly but i've read that higher voltages and temps can cause chips to 'wear out' faster. I wonder if you you're new chips got accelerated aging so to speak due to high temps or voltages? Are you running with a modded BIOS that lets you up voltages or did you run with the 'voltage tuner' in precX cranked all the way up?


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> I'm glad that you found a way to run Dota2 reliably, but it sucks that your card isn't performing like it used to.
> 
> I don't know about how ICs degrade over time exactly but i've read that higher voltages and temps can cause chips to 'wear out' faster. I wonder if you you're new chips got accelerated aging so to speak due to high temps or voltages? Are you running with a modded BIOS that lets you up voltages or did you run with the 'voltage tuner' in precX cranked all the way up?


Im running with a voltage unlocker, this is the first time though I've had something degrade on me if it actually did.. the only weird thing is that dota 2 seems to be the only game affected. My core speed is still running at 1228Mhz pretty fine even on Heaven 4.0

I've made sure that my GPU is running at less than 70c all the time, I guess its tough luck.


----------



## MAGNEZ

I dont know why but i just get my OC stable. It runs heaven, yeah ok. I can play BF for about 40 minutes and then it crashes at some point. Im doing ultra on everything with stable fps. In addition,. my card isnt even overclock alot, its just a little overclock. Im at the point of giving up my overclocking, its so flustrating...


----------



## exyia

just finished the first part (finding stable core and mem clocks - moving onto fan profiles, then gaming)

I ended up with:
GPU Clock - 1078MHz --- Memory - 1802MHz --- Boost - 1156MHz

MSi GTX 670 Power Edition, stock cooler, stock bios, ThermalTake Level 10 GT case

314.2x drivers sadly because Skyrim ENB is very bugged on later driver versions









I guess I did ok. haven't been into PC's since the 2000's - this is all so different these days


----------



## Avetisov

Need some clarification/help.

Reference EVGA GTX 670 SLI
HAF 922 (I'll explain the fan setup later)

Okay, so I got my offset to +95mhz, memory is still +0. My boost clock is 1075mhz for both cards according to GPU-Z.

Okay, so I'm breaking 70 C slightly, up to 72 C on GPU 1 and 74 C on GPU 2.

I have 3 200mm fans. One as an intake from the front, one from the side blowing onto the cards. The last is exhaust on top. I have a 120mm exhaust in back. And, I have 2 CPU fans in push/pull pointed at the rear 120mm exhaust fan. I could probably get it under 70 C if I swapped out the side 200m fan for 2 140mm's, and added an intake 140mm on the bottom of the case.

So I wanted to ask.

Why is (according to perf log in Precision X) GPU 1 running at a stable 1228mhz (-13mhz from the throttle) and GPU 2 at 1189mhz (-13mhz from the throttle)? Is it because their Kepler boosts are different between the cards? Does one card running at a lower stable speed limit the other card to that speed?

Another weird thing. GPU 1 only experienced 1 throttle of 13mhz (from 1228 to 1215). GPU 2, however, experienced 4 different speeds. The first, and the "stable" speed was 1189mhz, where it stayed about 95% of the time during stress. But when GPU 2 got throttled after 70 C, it oscillated between 1176, 1163, and 1150, even though GPU 2 only went up to 74 C. Normal? Keep in mind this is hardly visible in the graph I'm posting, but it occurs where it looks like the graph has 'shark teeth'. (GPU 2)

Also, hypothetically, if I just stick with this fan setup right now, would it be worth it to down clock to get me to a stable 70 C at this *current* fan setup? I don't expect my temps to fall below 70 C by removing 12mhz from my offset (gut feeling, but I'm still gonna try it). Anyway, how many people have overlocked and live with 70+ C temps for the sake of a higher overclock?

gpu z 95-000.gif 25k .gif file


perf log 95-000.png 111k .png file


perf log 95-000 run 2.png 107k .png file


----------



## Chunin

You cant live with 70+ temps. The card will always throttle down -13 Mhz once you hit 70C and will keep doing so if the temp doesnt get below 70C.


----------



## Avetisov

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chunin*
> 
> You cant live with 70+ temps. The card will always throttle down -13 Mhz once you hit 70C and will keep doing so if the temp doesnt get below 70C.


Ok, looks like I will be getting moar fans then.


----------



## EarlZ

Has anyone updated to MSI-AB Beta 10 and check if the power target readings are higher? I've noticed with beta 10 its pretty much maxed out as compared to beta 9. Not sure if beta 10 is accurate or something was wrong with beta 9.


----------



## Heiz

hello,

i try to disable the GPU Boost on my 670 GTX Gigabyte

i try to remove the 13mhz to 13 mhz overclock

i use already a modded bios ( found here ), but in KGB i dont know what to change ???

before I had a bios site mvktech that was, but I can not find it ( is called bios 670 ....X3.mod... ^^ )
and with that I did not have the gpu boost


----------



## Harx

Been playing WoT quite alot lately, and my GTX 670 Windforce has becoming more and more unstable, my frames become horrible or the game locks up, I tab out, check the temps and they are around 60-63c, no biggie. I lower the clocks and tab back into the game, some rounds later same problem. Still low temps... So I remove my clock completely and it seems to work now.

I never had more than 80'ish core clock + 300 on memory, always worked before... Could it be dying or something? Abit worried : /


----------



## Avetisov

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Harx*
> 
> Been playing WoT quite alot lately, and my GTX 670 Windforce has becoming more and more unstable, my frames become horrible or the game locks up, I tab out, check the temps and they are around 60-63c, no biggie. I lower the clocks and tab back into the game, some rounds later same problem. Still low temps... So I remove my clock completely and it seems to work now.
> 
> I never had more than 80'ish core clock + 300 on memory, always worked before... Could it be dying or something? Abit worried : /


Could it be that the clock is stable in Heaven, but not stable enough to run the game? OP did say to check your OC's in games you play to ensure that the clock is in fact stable.


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Harx*
> 
> Been playing WoT quite alot lately, and my GTX 670 Windforce has becoming more and more unstable, my frames become horrible or the game locks up, I tab out, check the temps and they are around 60-63c, no biggie. I lower the clocks and tab back into the game, some rounds later same problem. Still low temps... So I remove my clock completely and it seems to work now.
> 
> I never had more than 80'ish core clock + 300 on memory, always worked before... Could it be dying or something? Abit worried : /


Could be the same situation as mine, try to set the memory speed to stock and see if it still happens.


----------



## theyoungone10

So this is my first attempt at overclocking my Asus 660ti and I'm a little unsure of what to do moving forward. I started with a boost of 1100(+55) and got a score of 393 at 1440p in Unigine. Moving up to +75 I got a score of 400 and 403 respectively. At +95 I got scores of 394,403, and 395. At +115 I got a score of 401. Judging from the guide +75 is stable and should stay at that correct? Thanks for the help


----------



## H3avyM3tal

The performance log in PX does not show me a straight line, and my temps are below 70 (67-68). Power target is at +0, and boost clock it at 1100 per the op. Also, in the driver panel I set power target to max perf.

The clock is fluctuation 1080 1093 and such, never at a straight line. Is this SLI related or?


----------



## pc-illiterate

is it voltage or power throttling? or do you only get the 13mhz drop (1 step drop)? my wf3 goes up then down 13mhz every once in awhile under load. its done this since new. if it goes under hardcore load, it steps up for a bit then drops back down to match the dc2.
have you tried running it with both voltage and power targets maxed?


----------



## H3avyM3tal

Problem is taht PX lets me set max volts at 1.15, while under load both cards work at 1.175. Is it related to having sync on in PX?


----------



## pc-illiterate

yeah, thats how it works unless you use a modded vbios. but if you set nvcp at max performance and max the px voltage slider, it wont drop voltage until it throttles or crashes. it will keep the voltage spikes from happening and crashing when the vrms dont react quick enough to load being applied.
dont know how much of this you already knew but posting so anyone searching will see this. posted a lot in this thread but its buried now i assume(LMAO)


----------



## EarlZ

Does anyone know how to make a bios that will not throttle even at 80C ?


----------



## erickj92

I've followed all your steps but for some reason I can't get my power consumption to go above 100% TDP, even though I have it set in EVGA precision to go up to 150%. Is this limiting my overclock ability or does it not really make a difference?

Your card's model: GTX 660 TI
Your Boost Clock: GPU-Z says 980 Mhz, but during a bench mark I was hitting 1,202 Mhz
Your Max Boost (This is your Boost Clock + Kepler Boost): Not sure
Your Memory Clock: 3402 Mhz
Your Power Target and Voltage setting: 150% and 1212 mv

Thanks in advance for any help


----------



## michael-ocn

Sounds like you have a card that is *not* power hungry. That's a good thing, should help it run cooler. Sounds like you may have headroom to run with higher clocks.

You want it to be able to use as much power as is needed to run 'xyzbenchorgame' at the clock rates you have dialed in. By moving the power target up, you're allowing the card to use more power without throttling down. Valley isn't all that demanding in terms of power consumption compared to synthetic tests. To see how your card handles hitting the power limits, you can try some of the tests available in EVGA OC Scanner (Furry-Tessy Donut is intense).

But CAUTION: Sounds like you flashed a custom bios but it also sounds like you don't fully understand these things? I think that's a dicey combination. The voltage, power, and thermal limits are in place to protect the card from damage. You're removing safeguards, so be careful.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *erickj92*
> 
> I've followed all your steps but for some reason I can't get my power consumption to go above 100% TDP, even though I have it set in EVGA precision to go up to 150%. Is this limiting my overclock ability or does it not really make a difference?
> 
> Your card's model: GTX 660 TI
> Your Boost Clock: GPU-Z says 980 Mhz, but during a bench mark I was hitting 1,202 Mhz
> Your Max Boost (This is your Boost Clock + Kepler Boost): Not sure
> Your Memory Clock: 3402 Mhz
> Your Power Target and Voltage setting: 150% and 1212 mv
> 
> Thanks in advance for any help


----------



## H3avyM3tal

I am confused.

I have both cards at 1100 boost clock, but when I run a bench (3dm11 for instance), the clock is just going from 1113 to 1188 all the time, sometimes 1201, but never stays constant. Temps are in the 65 area, never getting above 66. I have the profile set at max power and is PX I have power at 120%.

What is going on?


----------



## erickj92

I did flash a custom BOIS and understand it. I upped the voltage, max power consumption and max boost clock to be able to get a higher OC. The only thing I'm not understanding is why my card is only using 100% of the power limit when I'm at my core clock limit. It's almost as if the card doesn't realise it can use more power. I'm also aware that I removed safeguards and am monitoring my temps very carefully








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Sounds like you have a card that is *not* power hungry. That's a good thing, should help it run cooler. Sounds like you may have headroom to run with higher clocks.
> 
> You want it to be able to use as much power as is needed to run 'xyzbenchorgame' at the clock rates you have dialed in. By moving the power target up, you're allowing the card to use more power without throttling down. Valley isn't all that demanding in terms of power consumption compared to synthetic tests. To see how your card handles hitting the power limits, you can try some of the tests available in EVGA OC Scanner (Furry-Tessy Donut is intense).
> 
> But CAUTION: Sounds like you flashed a custom bios but it also sounds like you don't fully understand these things? I think that's a dicey combination. The voltage, power, and thermal limits are in place to protect the card from damage. You're removing safeguards, so be careful.


----------



## michael-ocn

Are you asking it to do anything that would require it to use more power than it is? Is running all out, without throttling clocks, and just not needing any more power to run whatever it is that your running? If the core clock is a nice flat horizontal line at your max boost speed with 99% gpu utilization... great









That furry-tessy donut test is a real power monger, try that at 1024x640 with vsync turned off.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *erickj92*
> 
> I did flash a custom BOIS and understand it. I upped the voltage, max power consumption and max boost clock to be able to get a higher OC. The only thing I'm not understanding is why my card is only using 100% of the power limit when I'm at my core clock limit. It's almost as if the card doesn't realise it can use more power. I'm also aware that I removed safeguards and am monitoring my temps very carefully


----------



## erickj92

The test you spoke of did indeed bring it to about 130%. As far as the clock, it stutters a bit when it gets to it's peak. I'm not completely sure why, as I have the voltage up, my temps are under 70°C (About 60-65°C under load) and my TDP is set to 150%. I'm not too terribly concerned about the stuttering though, since I don't notice a performance impact and I'm not having any crashing issues or artifacts. If it wasn't for me staring at EVGA precision, I wouldn't even notice the fluctuations which are very small anyways.

I really appreciate your advice. I've overclocked many CPU's, but I have less experience with GPU's so issues like these are odd to me, especially when I follow things by the book and am giving the card plenty of power and keeping the temps in check.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Are you asking it to do anything that would require it to use more power than it is? Is running all out, without throttling clocks, and just not needing any more power to run whatever it is that your running? If the core clock is a nice flat horizontal line at your max boost speed with 99% gpu utilization... great
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That furry-tessy donut test is a real power monger, try that at 1024x640 with vsync turned off.


----------



## michael-ocn

^^^ your welcome, i just started fiddling with overclocking things last year. first some tickering with unlocked boost multis on my cpu, then voltages to get it stable, and then getting my 670 to handle farcry3 more satisfyingly. The tools for gpu oc'ing, well there are fewer knobs and levers with nvidia cards so its easier and i got familiar enough with precX and OCscanner to make sense out of them. I'm not so daring as to flash new bios's to alter voltages myself, just not for me (at least not yet)... individually configurable settings i'll fiddle with.

sounds like you have your card working well, there's a massive thread for "valley" benchmark results so you can see how your system is doing compared to similar and all kinds of other setups...
http://www.overclock.net/t/1360884/official-top-30-unigine-valley-benchmark-1-0-fill-the-form


----------



## H3avyM3tal

As a follow up - I maxed voltage slider (at 1.150 in PX), and it still fluctuates. Just like the GPU clock. Temps are fine. In the nvcp I set max perf and no go.

Mind you, the volts are going from 1.150 to 1.175 and so on, never stays still at max.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *H3avyM3tal*
> 
> As a follow up - I maxed voltage slider (at 1.150 in PX), and it still fluctuates. Just like the GPU clock. Temps are fine. In the nvcp I set max perf and no go.
> 
> Mind you, the volts are going from 1.150 to 1.175 and so on, never stays still at max.


You've got an SLI setup and i know nothing of that. But I do know there are at least two reasons these cards downclock themselves. The first is when exceeding thermal limits, clocks drop by 13mhz when hitting 70c and more when hitting 80c. You say temps are fine. The second reason is when exceeding the power limits. I don't know what regulates the voltages, maybe its a function of clocks and gpu usage. Anyway, you can use the graphs produced by precX preformance log to determine (to some degree) what's going on.

Do the drops in clocks coincide with rises in power usage up to your limit? Dbl click on the three displayed in the main window to open a tear-off window showing more graphs.

3dm11 causes mucho power usage on my card. It could be that you're just bumping into that too when running that particular benchmark. Valley and Heaven I think are more representative of the sort of load real games will put on your cards. 3dm11 seems more contrived (synthetic) in nature. A good bench, nice for a stability test too, but I don't fret about tuning things to run that bench, so i don't care if it hits my power target (which it does) particularly. Also that test does cycle thru different tests, if the dip and rises you see coincide with different tests stopping/starting then i think that could explain those particular dips/rises.


----------



## Mephic

Hi

Did anyone manage to find a fix for TDP throttling on Power Edition cards? I know that GTX 670 can be flashed with Galaxy BIOS and it's fixed, but I can't find any solution for 660Ti. It seems that MSI doesn't care about this problem at all. 2 months ago I didn't care, because I never suffered from TDP throttling in games, only in benchmarks. But lately I started to play Sleeping Dogs, maxed out and whenever TDP reaches 101% (and it happens often) card throttles like crazy (sometimes even 50-80 MHz). Temperature never goes over 64 degrees, it happens even without OC applied on stock voltage so now this became real issue and I'm thinking about RMA.

Offcourse I applied 114% power target but it doesn't change anything.


----------



## bent211

Hi, I'm new to this kinda stuff. I just overclocked my gtx 670 using the quick method and reached a +150Mhz GPU clock and a +487Mhz Memory clock. I got a heaven 4.0 score of 880 (753 without overcock). Is this considered good? Plus when I ran the test a few more times later, I got lower scores at around 850 to 870. I also, don't feel a big difference when I play other games. Could it be because of instability? Also, is it safe to keep the voltage at maximum? Thanks.


----------



## Xtreme512

yeah its safe..


----------



## ZeVo

As Xreme said, it's safe. It won't be running that voltage all the time, but only when you are playing an intense game.

And if your scores are lower than means either your core clock or memory clock are unstable. Try lowering by 5MHz on each of them until you see the scores go back. Also possible you are hitting the TDP limit.


----------



## Solonowarion

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bent211*
> 
> Hi, I'm new to this kinda stuff. I just overclocked my gtx 670 using the quick method and reached a +150Mhz GPU clock and a +487Mhz Memory clock. I got a heaven 4.0 score of 880 (753 without overcock). Is this considered good? Plus when I ran the test a few more times later, I got lower scores at around 850 to 870. I also, don't feel a big difference when I play other games. Could it be because of instability? Also, is it safe to keep the voltage at maximum? Thanks.


Absolutely safe but how are your temps?


----------



## bent211

Thanks for the replies. My temperatures are fine and don't go above 70 degrees. I've reduced the overclock to +132 on the GPU clock and +400 on the memory clock. I'm thinking it's because it's hitting the TDP limit. Even at these lower clockspeeds there are many occasions during the heaven 3.0 benchmark where I hit 122 to 124%. There are times where it gets to 125, 126% or even 127%. I got a score of 1049 on heaven 3.0 with +132 on the gpu and +500 on memory. Is this a good or bad result?


----------



## bent211

My GPU clock seems pretty unstable as well as there seems to be a little bit of oscillation in the graph. GPU voltage is at 1.175V for the most of the time during the heaven benchmark


----------



## Solonowarion

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bent211*
> 
> Thanks for the replies. My temperatures are fine and don't go above 70 degrees. I've reduced the overclock to +132 on the GPU clock and +400 on the memory clock. I'm thinking it's because it's hitting the TDP limit. Even at these lower clockspeeds there are many occasions during the heaven 3.0 benchmark where I hit 122 to 124%. There are times where it gets to 125, 126% or even 127%. I got a score of 1049 on heaven 3.0 with +132 on the gpu and +500 on memory. Is this a good or bad result?


that seems kind of low. I would follow the long method to a t +132 on the clock is quite a bit. and should net for a better score.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bent211*
> 
> ....
> I got a score of 1049 on heaven 3.0 with +132 on the gpu and +500 on memory. Is this a good or bad result?


Can you be more specific about the settings you ran the heaven 3 bench with? What resolution are you running at for example? For a comparison here's the score i got a while back and the settings used with an i7-875k @3.89 + GTX 670 @1267/6840.

FPS: 50.6
Scores: 1276
Min FPS: 29.4
Max FPS: 129.1
Render: direct3d11
Mode: 1920x1080 8xAA fullscreen
Shaders: high
Textures: high
Filter: trilinear
Anisotropy: 16x
Occlusion: enabled
Refraction: enabled
Volumetric: enabled
Tessellation: extreme


----------



## bent211

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Can you be more specific about the settings you ran the heaven 3 bench with? What resolution are you running at for example? For a comparison here's the score i got a while back and the settings used with an i7-875k @3.89 + GTX 670 @1267/6840.
> 
> FPS: 50.6
> Scores: 1276
> Min FPS: 29.4
> Max FPS: 129.1
> Render: direct3d11
> Mode: 1920x1080 8xAA fullscreen
> Shaders: high
> Textures: high
> Filter: trilinear
> Anisotropy: 16x
> Occlusion: enabled
> Refraction: enabled
> Volumetric: enabled
> Tessellation: extreme


i7 3770K @3.5 Ghz + Reference EVGA GTX 670 (GPU clock offset = +150, Memory clock offset = +500)

FPS: 41.7
Score: 1049
Min: 22.2
Max: 100.7
Resolution: 1920x1080
Anti-Aliasing: 8xAA
Tesselation: Extreme
Shaders: High
Anisotropy: 16x

This is the highest score I've got so far. It's not a stable overclock though. Could it be the lack of airflow and cooling? I have an antec 1100 case with a 200mm top fan and a rear 120mm fan both running on exhaust and two side panel fans running on intake.

I also tried a +150Mhz core clock offset and a +200Mhz memory clock offset and it got me these results:
FPS: 40.6
Score: 1024
Min: 20.8
Max: 100.3


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bent211*
> 
> i7 3770K @3.5 Ghz + Reference EVGA GTX 670 (GPU clock offset = +150, Memory clock offset = +500)
> 
> FPS: 41.7
> Score: 1049
> Min: 22.2
> Max: 100.7
> Resolution: 1920x1080
> Anti-Aliasing: 8xAA
> Tesselation: Extreme
> Shaders: High
> Anisotropy: 16x
> 
> This is the highest score I've got so far. It's not a stable overclock though. Could it be the lack of airflow and cooling? I have an antec 1100 case with a 200mm top fan and a rear 120mm fan both running on exhaust and two side panel fans running on intake.
> 
> I also tried a +150Mhz core clock offset and a +200Mhz memory clock offset and it got me these results:
> FPS: 40.6
> Score: 1024
> Min: 20.8
> Max: 100.3


Somethin seems off. I think you should be getting higher results. I do have the FTW card, but the difference seems larger than that could explain. I just ran Heaven3 with my clock set to stock, no adjustment to power target, and the default fan profile. Was probably throttling due to temps and maybe due to power usage (not sure because i wasn't monitoring those things). In this stock run, i got this score... FPS: 47.1 Scores: 1186 Min FPS: 22.8 Max FPS: 119.7

What does precx montoring tell you about what's going on? What are your temps? You will want to see nice flat horizontal lines for gpu and mem clocks for the duration of the run. If you see dips that coincide with temps exceeding 70 or if power usage exceeding your target, you'll want to do something to amp up the cooling (custom fan curve) and up the power target.
http://cdn.overclock.net/a/a5/a5b36674_Heaven4.png

Also, there's a point where increasing the mem clock can decrease performance. I think this is due memory errors happening, but they're correctable and get corrected, but sap overall system performance. You might be in that zone. I'd start with all default/stock settings to get a baseline. Look at the precx charts and adjust for temps and power. Then start upping clocks and discovering the max core, then max mem independently. Then putting them together. And then set things up under your maxes for your everyday overclock.


----------



## Nifelwind

Hi guys!

Im on:
i7 3770K @3.5 Ghz , Geforce GTX 680

All settings are on MAX and resolution is 1920x1080.
This is my result: http://i43.tinypic.com/9pnqsi.png (Also I dont know how to crop out my second screen, it doesnt show in the prtscreen in Paint







)

My offset is +110 and memory +200

The results arent that great huh? Also, are you guys seeing like, an instant of screen flicker at almost each changing scene? It disappears quickly, but its there for an instant. (Its there even with all Precision-X settings on default)

Cheers!


----------



## RickRockerr

Hi, first of all sorry for my bad english.
Just asking am I doing something wrong or do I just have bad card?
I have evga reference gtx 670. I do not manage to get more than +100 core offset and +120 mem offset stable.
I have tried voltage control (default-max) But there is no difference and the power target is on max.


----------



## pc-illiterate

ok guys, first no more of the 'my offset is +xxx". we need your max clocks because not all cards have the same max clock under boost stats.
second, we need all settings in heaven and nvidia control panel. some run with all nvcp settings at default and others with all set at high performance.


----------



## RickRockerr

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RickRockerr*
> 
> Hi, first of all sorry for my bad english.
> Just asking am I doing something wrong or do I just have bad card?
> I have evga reference gtx 670. I do not manage to get more than +100 core offset and +120 mem offset stable.
> I have tried voltage control (default-max) But there is no difference and the power target is on max.


my nvidia control panel is on default and my max boost is 1179Mhz. I run heaven on max.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Nifelwind*
> 
> Hi guys!
> 
> Im on:
> i7 3770K @3.5 Ghz , Geforce GTX 680
> 
> All settings are on MAX and resolution is 1920x1080.
> This is my result: http://i43.tinypic.com/9pnqsi.png (Also I dont know how to crop out my second screen, it doesnt show in the prtscreen in Paint
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> )
> 
> My offset is +110 and memory +200
> 
> The results arent that great huh? Also, are you guys seeing like, an instant of screen flicker at almost each changing scene? It disappears quickly, but its there for an instant. (Its there even with all Precision-X settings on default)
> 
> Cheers!


Those results look just fine for heaven4 with extreme tess on. This is what i got for that.
FPS:38.5 Score: 969 Min FPS: 22.3 Max FPS: 88.4

Also, might be better to use Valley instead of Heaven (3 or 4 what settings... yada, yada). There's an epic thread where hundreds of Valley extreme preset benchmark results are posted and put into a spreadsheet. Karlitos has generated dozens of graphs and charts from this data set. If you want to get an idea of how your card stacks up other 670s, that's a great place to look. You can also add to that large dataset.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1360884/official-top-30-unigine-valley-benchmark-1-0-fill-the-form


----------



## bent211

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Somethin seems off. I think you should be getting higher results. I do have the FTW card, but the difference seems larger than that could explain. I just ran Heaven3 with my clock set to stock, no adjustment to power target, and the default fan profile. Was probably throttling due to temps and maybe due to power usage (not sure because i wasn't monitoring those things). In this stock run, i got this score... FPS: 47.1 Scores: 1186 Min FPS: 22.8 Max FPS: 119.7
> 
> What does precx montoring tell you about what's going on? What are your temps? You will want to see nice flat horizontal lines for gpu and mem clocks for the duration of the run. If you see dips that coincide with temps exceeding 70 or if power usage exceeding your target, you'll want to do something to amp up the cooling (custom fan curve) and up the power target.
> http://cdn.overclock.net/a/a5/a5b36674_Heaven4.png
> 
> Also, there's a point where increasing the mem clock can decrease performance. I think this is due memory errors happening, but they're correctable and get corrected, but sap overall system performance. You might be in that zone. I'd start with all default/stock settings to get a baseline. Look at the precx charts and adjust for temps and power. Then start upping clocks and discovering the max core, then max mem independently. Then putting them together. And then set things up under your maxes for your everyday overclock.


Temps don't go above 70 degrees. It does reach 68 degrees max. The graphs for the memory clock seem fine. Horizontal through almost the whole duration of the benchmark. For the GPU clock there's a lot of oscillation. It could be the card hitting the TDP as there are many instances where it goes above 122%. Default boost clock is 980Mhz and Memory clock is 1502Mhz according ot GPU-Z. Also running on default nVidia settings except for vsync which is off. Running heaven 3.0 with everything maxed out at 1920x1080.


----------



## bent211

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Somethin seems off. I think you should be getting higher results. I do have the FTW card, but the difference seems larger than that could explain. I just ran Heaven3 with my clock set to stock, no adjustment to power target, and the default fan profile. Was probably throttling due to temps and maybe due to power usage (not sure because i wasn't monitoring those things). In this stock run, i got this score... FPS: 47.1 Scores: 1186 Min FPS: 22.8 Max FPS: 119.7
> 
> What does precx montoring tell you about what's going on? What are your temps? You will want to see nice flat horizontal lines for gpu and mem clocks for the duration of the run. If you see dips that coincide with temps exceeding 70 or if power usage exceeding your target, you'll want to do something to amp up the cooling (custom fan curve) and up the power target.
> http://cdn.overclock.net/a/a5/a5b36674_Heaven4.png
> 
> Also, there's a point where increasing the mem clock can decrease performance. I think this is due memory errors happening, but they're correctable and get corrected, but sap overall system performance. You might be in that zone. I'd start with all default/stock settings to get a baseline. Look at the precx charts and adjust for temps and power. Then start upping clocks and discovering the max core, then max mem independently. Then putting them together. And then set things up under your maxes for your everyday overclock.


I ran heaven 3 again without the overclock. Got these results:

FPS: 35.7
Score: 900
MIN: 18.1
MAX: 86.3

Strangely though it seems that the GPU clock is not stable. http://cdn.overclock.net/b/bb/bbf96c6b_evgaprecisionx.png Could there be any hardware damage?


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bent211*
> 
> I ran heaven 3 again without the overclock. Got these results:
> 
> FPS: 35.7
> Score: 900
> MIN: 18.1
> MAX: 86.3
> 
> Strangely though it seems that the GPU clock is not stable. http://cdn.overclock.net/b/bb/bbf96c6b_evgaprecisionx.png Could there be any hardware damage?


The twitches in clock speed are probably why you're getting low scores. Looks like as soon as the gpu started getting utilized, clocks started twitching down to ~1000. The max boost on the chart of 1110 is reasonable, but under load, you're never seeing that. If that run was with the power target at 100%, looks like it was doing a lot of throttling to stay under that target and killing perf.

If you increase the power target (max it out), while leaving clocks at zero offset, can you get it to run flat out at its max boost?

About damage, there's some variance in how particular chips behave. I'm not sure if what your seeing is outside of what would be expected, but looks like it may use more power than most at stock clocks. There's a forum over at evga.com, they know the ins and outs of evga cards more specifically. You might want to consult with them about this? http://www.evga.com/forums/tt.aspx?forumid=80


----------



## bent211

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> The twitches in clock speed are probably why you're getting low scores. Looks like as soon as the gpu started getting utilized, clocks started twitching down to ~1000. The max boost on the chart of 1110 is reasonable, but under load, you're never seeing that. If that run was with the power target at 100%, looks like it was doing a lot of throttling to stay under that target and killing perf.
> 
> If you increase the power target (max it out), while leaving clocks at zero offset, can you get it to run flat out at its max boost?
> 
> About damage, there's some variance in how particular chips behave. I'm not sure if what your seeing is outside of what would be expected, but looks like it may use more power than most at stock clocks. There's a forum over at evga.com, they know the ins and outs of evga cards more specifically. You might want to consult with them about this? http://www.evga.com/forums/tt.aspx?forumid=80


Hi again. I did as you said. Power target at max at 122%. Everything else on default including the voltage. Ran the heaven3 benchmark and strangely enough I got a better result than my overclock. Here are the results:

FPS: 45.6
Score: 1150
Min: 21.3
Max: 118.8

The GPU clock is much more stable than before but oscillates in some areas. http://cdn.overclock.net/4/4b/4b637587_precisionx.png Got flat lines in most areas at 1250Mhz.


----------



## paulzapanta156

tried modded bios today, Zotac GTX 670 AMP! edition

heres the result:
stable @
clock: 1267
mem clock: 3703

before w default bios:

clock:1228
memclock: 3648

its kinda low ,right?


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bent211*
> 
> Hi again. I did as you said. Power target at max at 122%. Everything else on default including the voltage. Ran the heaven3 benchmark and strangely enough I got a better result than my overclock. Here are the results:
> 
> FPS: 45.6
> Score: 1150
> Min: 21.3
> Max: 118.8
> 
> The GPU clock is much more stable than before but oscillates in some areas. http://cdn.overclock.net/4/4b/4b637587_precisionx.png Got flat lines in most areas at 1250Mhz.


Whoa, so stock clocks, ref 670, and it boosts to 1254... I think the "problem" may be you have a considerably faster than average chip









That's awesome. My ftw card didn't boost over 1175 until applying offsets for comparison. The wiggles down in clock on your latest run are due to power usage, you can see it topped out at 149% usage at some point, but the gpu clock is mostly flat at its max boost. Also got warmer running at these speeds but not too hot. So your gpu boost clocks up pretty high already with no offset, adding mem offset will help it do more work faster, but probably also increase power usage inducing throttling again. You're probably going to be held back somewhat by only being able to dial in 122% as the max power target. Your card looks like it varies in a good way


----------



## bent211

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Whoa, so stock clocks, ref 670, and it boosts to 1254... I think the "problem" may be you have a considerably faster than average chip
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's awesome. My ftw card didn't boost over 1175 until applying offsets for comparison. The wiggles down in clock on your latest run are due to power usage, you can see it topped out at 149% usage at some point, but the gpu clock is mostly flat at its max boost. Also got warmer running at these speeds but not too hot. So your gpu boost clocks up pretty high already with no offset, adding mem offset will help it do more work faster, but probably also increase power usage inducing throttling again. You're probably going to be held back somewhat by only being able to dial in 122% as the max power target. Your card looks like it varies in a good way


Haha, that's great to hear







Feeling more relieved now lol. Anyway what might be causing the card to go over the power target of 122%? Could it be because of the GPU boost?


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bent211*
> 
> Haha, that's great to hear
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Feeling more relieved now lol. Anyway what might be causing the card to go over the power target of 122%? Could it be because of the GPU boost?


I think so, it just uses more power to run at the higher speeds that it happily wants to boost up to. At least that's how it looks to me. I'm curious what gpuz reports as the ASIC quality of your chip? If you right-click the title bar in gpuz, there's a menu item that says "Read ASIC quality...". I'm guessing it will report a nice high number, but am curious to know what it really says. I got 73%. Also curious about what gpuz reports as your default and boost clocks?

I'm not one for patching bios's usually, but it may be that for you to get the absolute most out of the card you have, a bios that allows you to dial in a power target greater than 122% might be just the thing. A card that runs at 1254 at stock clocks seems pretty sweet to me. How you deal with overclocking it will be a little different than what most folks do. You realize that in many cases, the goal is more or less where you're starting.


----------



## bent211

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> I think so, it just uses more power to run at the higher speeds that it happily wants to boost up to. At least that's how it looks to me. I'm curious what gpuz reports as the ASIC quality of your chip? If you right-click the title bar in gpuz, there's a menu item that says "Read ASIC quality...". I'm guessing it will report a nice high number, but am curious to know what it really says. I got 73%. Also curious about what gpuz reports as your default and boost clocks?
> 
> I'm not one for patching bios's usually, but it may be that for you to get the absolute most out of the card you have, a bios that allows you to dial in a power target greater than 122% might be just the thing. A card that runs at 1254 at stock clocks seems pretty sweet to me. How you deal with overclocking it will be a little different than what most folks do. You realize that in many cases, the goal is more or less where you're starting.


Got an ASIC quality of 80.1%. Default Clock of 915Mhz and boost clock of 980Mhz. http://cdn.overclock.net/7/77/77fe7f4d_gpuz.png Wow, so you're saying that there's not much need for me to overclock?


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bent211*
> 
> Got an ASIC quality of 80.1%. Default Clock of 915Mhz and boost clock of 980Mhz. http://cdn.overclock.net/7/77/77fe7f4d_gpuz.png Wow, so you're saying that there's not much need for me to overclock?


Right, its already running pretty fast, but you might want to increase mem clock to balance things out.

Your card is practically running a +175 core offset already. It boosts to clocks that most people would need a hefty offset like that to reach.

Probably your gpu is capable of running at yet higher core clocks, can't know that w/o trying. But when trying you'll quickly run into your power target limit and it'll throttle (that's what happened on you when you tried to run up the clocks to start with).

For comparison, with my ftw card
at stock, default: 1006, boost: 1085 --> max realized boost 1175
at oc in sig, default: 1101, boost: 1180 --> max realized boost 1267
i put my power target at 130%, the factory ftw bios lets me run it up to 145%

You card's kepler boost is way better than mine.

Unless you want to void the warranty and flash a different bios, I think you might want to leave the core offset at zero (or only very small increments like +13 +26).


----------



## pc-illiterate

yes bent, see how high you can get your memory. start at 300mhz and run heaven 3 then heaven 4 then valley all at highest settings. see if any of those give you artifacts. post your results here. thats a pretty nice card. raising your memory clock will give a good boost.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *paulzapanta156*
> 
> tried modded bios today, Zotac GTX 670 AMP! edition
> 
> heres the result:
> stable @
> clock: 1267
> mem clock: 3703
> 
> before w default bios:
> 
> clock:1228
> memclock: 3648
> 
> its kinda low ,right?


seems like a hefty mem clock to me and core ain't bad at all, if you reduce mem can you get more on core?


----------



## bent211

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Whoa, so stock clocks, ref 670, and it boosts to 1254... I think the "problem" may be you have a considerably faster than average chip
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's awesome. My ftw card didn't boost over 1175 until applying offsets for comparison. The wiggles down in clock on your latest run are due to power usage, you can see it topped out at 149% usage at some point, but the gpu clock is mostly flat at its max boost. Also got warmer running at these speeds but not too hot. So your gpu boost clocks up pretty high already with no offset, adding mem offset will help it do more work faster, but probably also increase power usage inducing throttling again. You're probably going to be held back somewhat by only being able to dial in 122% as the max power target. Your card looks like it varies in a good way


I think there's been a mistake. If you look closely at the graph again the GPU clock cannot be at 1254 Mhz. If it was 1254 the line would be somewhere in the middle of the vertical axis. I did another run on heaven3 on default settings and here it is http://cdn.overclock.net/6/6c/6ccd8594_heaven3.png That reading of 1254 Mhz could have been an earlier reading. I still got the same result though.


----------



## bent211

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> yes bent, see how high you can get your memory. start at 300mhz and run heaven 3 then heaven 4 then valley all at highest settings. see if any of those give you artifacts. post your results here. thats a pretty nice card. raising your memory clock will give a good boost.


Hi, here are the results at default GPU clock and +300 memory clock:

Heaven 3:
FPS: 47.1 Score 1187 Min 22.7 Max 120.4

Heaven 4:
FPS: 34.9 Score 880 Min 17.3 Max 78.4

Valley 1.0:
FPS: 43.3 Score 1810 Min 24.3 Max 78.3

Are these results ok?


----------



## bent211

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Right, its already running pretty fast, but you might want to increase mem clock to balance things out.
> 
> Your card is practically running a +175 core offset already. It boosts to clocks that most people would need a hefty offset like that to reach.
> 
> Probably your gpu is capable of running at yet higher core clocks, can't know that w/o trying. But when trying you'll quickly run into your power target limit and it'll throttle (that's what happened on you when you tried to run up the clocks to start with).
> 
> For comparison, with my ftw card
> at stock, default: 1006, boost: 1085 --> max realized boost 1175
> at oc in sig, default: 1101, boost: 1180 --> max realized boost 1267
> i put my power target at 130%, the factory ftw bios lets me run it up to 145%
> 
> You card's kepler boost is way better than mine.
> 
> Unless you want to void the warranty and flash a different bios, I think you might want to leave the core offset at zero (or only very small increments like +13 +26).


I ran Heaven 3 again at +150 GPU clock offset, +200 Memory clock offset and got these results:

FPS: 49.1
Score: 1237
Min: 24.7
Max: 126.4

http://cdn.overclock.net/3/36/36e81913_Heaven3OC.png


----------



## pc-illiterate

Bent, what ARE you clocks at those offsets? They sometimes change at different offsets. I know both my cards will.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bent211*
> 
> Hi, here are the results at default GPU clock and +300 memory clock:
> Heaven 3:
> FPS: 47.1 Score 1187 Min 22.7 Max 120.4
> Heaven 4:
> FPS: 34.9 Score 880 Min 17.3 Max 78.4
> Valley 1.0:
> FPS: 43.3 Score 1810 Min 24.3 Max 78.3
> Are these results ok?


All those and the last one below look like reasonable scores. Unlike the first score you posted in this thread which looked way low.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bent211*
> 
> I think there's been a mistake. If you look closely at the graph again the GPU clock cannot be at 1254 Mhz. If it was 1254 the line would be somewhere in the middle of the vertical axis. I did another run on heaven3 on default settings and here it is http://cdn.overclock.net/6/6c/6ccd8594_heaven3.png That reading of 1254 Mhz could have been an earlier reading. I still got the same result though.


bummer, so you don't have the magical overboosting chip after all








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bent211*
> 
> I ran Heaven 3 again at +150 GPU clock offset, +200 Memory clock offset and got these results:
> FPS: 49.1
> Score: 1237
> Min: 24.7
> Max: 126.4
> http://cdn.overclock.net/3/36/36e81913_Heaven3OC.png


----------



## EnthusiastG4m3r

I've had my 2 EVGA GTX 670's since May of last year. I've had them overclocked off and on but am now deciding to stick with my current overclock 24/7. They are the 2GB version (I really wish i had got the 4GB versions) Gaming rig is in my signature.

I will also note that for some reason my cards don't seem to throttle until the 83C mark opposed to the 75c +/- mark other people experience They have the most recent bios but i haven't read anywhere that the throttle mark was changed with a bios release

Out of box, with no modification, other than EVGA K-Boost

Top Card = Core 1136MHz | Memory 3005MHz | Max Temp Full Load 68c | 320.18 Driver
Bottom Card = Core 1058MHz | Memory 3005MHz | Max Temp Full Load 59c | 320.18 Driver

Currently Overclocked , Sync Turned Off | EVGA K-Boost with EVGA Precision 4.2

Top Card = Core 1175MHz (+39 Core + 400 Memory)| Memory 3405MHz | Max Temp Full Load 75c | 320.18 Driver
Bottom Card = Core 1175MHz (+118 Core +400 Memory)| Memory 3405MHz | Max Temp Full Load 63c | 320.18 Driver

My current Heaven 3.0 Benchmark Result, Passed 3x with no problems on extreme settings *IN SLI,* with only a variance of .4 fps difference between each test.

Without the overclock i was scoring 81.5fps | 25+/- Min | 205+/- Max |

I ran 2 tests stable at +500 Memory, for a combined 7010MHz on the Memory Data Rate, with no problems, just to see if i could hit the 7000+ number stable.



I have ran the newer 4.0 Heaven tests, but they seem buggy in terms of consistency. So stuck with 3.0

To sum it up

*•Card #1 Stock•* Core = 915MHz | Memory 3005MHz | Power Target 100%
*•Card #1 Stock+Boost•* Core = 1136MHz | Memory 3005MHz | Power Target 122%
*•Card #1 OC•* Core = 1175MHz | Memory 3405MHz | Power Target 122%

*•Card #2 Stock•* Core = 915MHz | Memory 3005MHz | Power Target 100%
*•Card #2 Stock+Boost•* Core = 1058MHz | Memory 3005MHz | Power Target 122%
*•Card #2 OC•* Core = 1175MHz | Memory 3405MHz | Power Target 122%


----------



## bent211

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> Bent, what ARE you clocks at those offsets? They sometimes change at different offsets. I know both my cards will.


My max GPU clock is 1254 Mhz but it doesn't seem stable and keeps downclocking to lower clocks. Memory is 3206 throughout. Here are the results after running the heaven 3 benchmark http://cdn.overclock.net/2/25/252d20ac_Heaven3OC.png


----------



## thewishbone

hello,

I've done the long way of overclocking and i've passed all benchmarks such as furmark burn in test, 3d11 benchmark. This is my benchmark score on heavenbenchmark.



But my problem now is i played metro, and my screen freezes at a point. My system is still running because i can ctrl+alt+del and go to the desktop, but after a couple of minutes my system freezes too. i,ve checked EVGA precision X and its gone at stock speed and voltage at the point of freezing.
everything went good, temp was good, core speed was constant until the freeze point. then it was on 980 Mhz.

Please can someone help me?

GPU Clock Offset is 126+
MEM Clock Offset is 600+

My videocard is gigabyte geforce gtx 670 OC 2GB 3xwindforce


----------



## michael-ocn

^^ sounds like it may not be fully stable at those oc settings and the card crashes. Sure, it managed to make it thru your bench runs, but that doesn't mean its fully stable.


----------



## thewishbone

Thanks for your reply mate,

I've reduced mem clock with 10 Mhz, it seems to be stable now, we'll see









Oh and I play this on my TV on full HD 1920x1080 res 100Hz refresh rate, and I get tearing screen... With or without V-sync, in game setting and nvidia settings...
What can I do to get rid of this


----------



## EnthusiastG4m3r

Hello!. I've just spent the last 4-6hrs modding the latest official EVGA GTX 670 2GB bios, with the Kepler Bios Tweaker 1.25

I've successfully...

• Increased my Power Control wattages, and fail safe watt thresholds.
• Increased base Core speed to 1202MHz - No offsets needed
• Increased base Memory speed to 1552MHz/3105MHz- No offsets needed
• Removed Kepler *BOOST & THROTTLE*
• Unlocked fan speed to 100%
• Locked voltage to 1.175v

Basically i have my GTX 670's running at GTX 680 speeds now.

Passed Heaven 3.0 on Extreme 5 times in a row, 0 Boost/TDP throttle, 74C Max Temp. Will test out BF3 tomorrow.

I consider this a much better solution vs using EVGA K-boost or using an offset. It was a little bit of trial and error at first but all seems well now. It also allows you to see the GPU Utilization now







, If you use K-Boost it displays as 0 in error.


----------



## EnthusiastG4m3r

Has anyone experienced Heaven 4.0 producing horrible results vs Heaven 3.0?


----------



## bent211

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thewishbone*
> 
> Thanks for your reply mate,
> 
> I've reduced mem clock with 10 Mhz, it seems to be stable now, we'll see
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh and I play this on my TV on full HD 1920x1080 res 100Hz refresh rate, and I get tearing screen... With or without V-sync, in game setting and nvidia settings...
> What can I do to get rid of this


Are you referring to screen tearing in Metro 2033 or for all other games? I had that problem with Metro and the only way to enable V-Sync in that game is by using the D3DOverrider.


----------



## RickRockerr

Hi all, I was thinking that should I change evgas vrm heatsink when I install h2o 620? For memory I use Enzotech's copper heatsinks.


----------



## EnthusiastG4m3r

Quick question, for a constant 1137MHz core clock, would do you think the average voltage would be for it?. I have a hard time believing that 1.175v is needed for 1137Mhz when 0.987v can run the card at 915MHz

I don't want to run too high of a voltage unless i absolutely need to. And i know its trial and error.. Just looking for some feedback on what other users may think the required voltage would be.


----------



## ZeVo

Hey guys. I got a question about two unusual things I got with my card.

1) My 670, for whatever reason, only reaches a max of 70% power usage. I have done tests in BF3 with 64 players, did about 20 Valley/Heaven benchmarks, and it still only reaches 70%. Thing is, if I use any other driver besides 320.18, the power % goes down to 30%. I messaged ASUS and they said it shouldn't have any affect on performance, but how would I know if I was hitting the TDP limit if it shows an incorrect reading?

2) This question I believe has something to do with my first one. So far, I can only get +65 on my core offset without it showing me a ridiculous clock speed in games. So my card boosts up to 1032MHz if temps stay under 58C and boosts up another 13MHz when it goes over, so +65 makes my card go up to 1097MHz with temps below 58C, and once again boosts up 13MHz with temps over 58C to 1100MHz. I overclock by +13MHz each time, but if I go, for example +77 or +90 and continue with +13, my card goes up to 1150MHz. Isn't that odd? If I put +77 shouldn't it be at 1100MHz and then 1113MHz if my temps go past 58C?

I don't fully understand how to overclock Kepler 100% but I don't think that is normal behavior.

Any help?


----------



## Fallacy

I am confused as to how this process works. I increased my clock offset by increments of 20mhz and was checking gpu-z to see my core and boost clock. I eventually had my boost to around 1267mhz....but in unigine my card was running at around 1215mhz and then spiked to 1347mhz and crashed. How can the card exceed the boost clock I have set? Also, my power usage never goes above 80%, why is that? I see other people hitting like 120%


----------



## EnthusiastG4m3r

Rando question, how safe is to modify how many watts the card can pull with a bios edit? x2 6 pins +75w from mb pci-e slot = 225, 75 + 75 + 75. Is it safe to raise that to say 245w? Reason i ask cause my 1202Mhz core clock is border line stable i just need a little bit more on the power control side.


----------



## Forceman

Raising the power limit isn't going to help you get a higher stable overclock, all it is going to do is stop the card from throttling for power draw (which can also be accomplished by just increasing the power limit in Afterburner/Precision). The only thing that will help you stabalize a higher clock is modding the BIOS for more core voltage.


----------



## EnthusiastG4m3r

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Raising the power limit isn't going to help you get a higher stable overclock, all it is going to do is stop the card from throttling for power draw (which can also be accomplished by just increasing the power limit in Afterburner/Precision). The only thing that will help you stabalize a higher clock is modding the BIOS for more core voltage.


i probably said that wrong. What i meant to say was is i have a stable voltage. But my power draw is slightly throttling me. At max it takes 225w. Can i raise it safely to 250w+ without major concern?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EnthusiastG4m3r*
> 
> i probably said that wrong. What i meant to say was is i have a stable voltage. But my power draw is slightly throttling me. At max it takes 225w. Can i raise it safely to 250w+ without major concern?


Gotcha. There appears to be a hardware limit in place, so there shouldn't be any problems changing the BIOS to allow higher power draw. Lots of people have modded them to allow 150% (instead of 132%) for example. I probably wouldn't hard-mod the card, but I don't htink you are going to hurt anything with a software or BIOS mod. Surprising you are outdrawing the card though, since my 680 at 1315/1.21V never drew more than about 125% power - don't 670s have the same power limit?


----------



## EnthusiastG4m3r

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Gotcha. There appears to be a hardware limit in place, so there shouldn't be any problems changing the BIOS to allow higher power draw. Lots of people have modded them to allow 150% (instead of 132%) for example. I probably wouldn't hard-mod the card, but I don't htink you are going to hurt anything with a software or BIOS mod. Surprising you are outdrawing the card though, since my 680 at 1315/1.21V never drew more than about 125% power - don't 670s have the same power limit?


I have a modded bios with a forced voltage of 1.1875v and a constant clock with no boost at 1202Mhz on the core. I modded the power control targets to max out at 220w 5 below the cards official max, on min default and max so that there would be no fluctuation and it would be consistent.

Heres a pic



The numbers on the left are related to the watts for the power draw, numbers on the right are the fail safe settings.

I want to raise the last number on the left (max) higher so that it doesn't throttle with my current OC, but just wanted to make sure it was safe to do so and wouldn't fry anything.

I needed to raise my voltage from 1.175v which is stock max, to 1.1875v to run a stable 1202 on core and 3104 on memory.

Default the Power Control numbers are :

min - 100000 | min - 100000
def - 142500 | def - 172400
max - 172400 | max - 200000


----------



## Forceman

Yes, you can safely increase it. I'm not sure why you chose to do it that way, but you still aren't going to overdraw the card no matter what you set in there. Are you sure you are power limiting though? It's pretty unusual for power limit to be an issue once it is increased above the stock 100%.


----------



## EnthusiastG4m3r

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Yes, you can safely increase it. I'm not sure why you chose to do it that way, but you still aren't going to overdraw the card no matter what you set in there. Are you sure you are power limiting though? It's pretty unusual for power limit to be an issue once it is increased above the stock 100%.


With the way its currently set in there right now the max 220000 i just experienced power draw throttle briefly playing BF3. It wasn't temp related. And it wasnt voltage related. Which means it likely went above the 220000 max briefly. Which is why i was wondering if i could safely raise that a bit so it doesn't happen.

Glancing at precision, i saw the power target max out at 99%, for the most part it stayed around the 80's mid 70's. But seeing as i have the bios modded to only hit 99.9%/100% It wasn't able to draw any more power that it needed. Max being 220000, causing the throttle, when it might of needed say 221500. I just wanted to make sure that raise the stock max above 225w wouldn't blow my card up, my PSU can handle it

The reason i have the min def and max all set the same is so that there is no fluctuation, i always have a steady 225w+ coming into the cards.

When you have HBAO etc all the fancy stuff turned on playing a 64 man metro server with all the explosions on the stairs C4 etc, you would be shocked to see how much power is drawn. Its pretty insane.


----------



## Fallacy

I am confused as to how this process works. I increased my clock offset by increments of 20mhz and was checking gpu-z to see my core and boost clock. I eventually had my boost to around 1267mhz....but in unigine my card was running at around 1215mhz and then spiked to 1347mhz and crashed. How can the card exceed the boost clock I have set? Also, my power usage never goes above 80%, why is that? I see other people hitting like 120% or higher. Can someone explain this to me? My clock speeds are not completely constant either, they fluctuate a little bit, is that normal?

-Fallacy


----------



## kevindd992002

Will disabling GPU Boost (by making Base Clock, Boost Clock, and Boost Limit in KBT all the same) for the GTX 670 possibly contribute to overclocking stability?


----------



## asgiov

Thank you very much for the guide. Using the long method, I have what seems to be a very stable overclock.
Max Core Speed: 1228 MHz
Memory Clock: 3663 MHz

Graphics card is part of a liquid-cooling loop, so temperatures were no issue. Never got higher than 50~C

Some tips for others.
-Read the guide very carefully. (obvious)
-If you crash, I recommend doing a complete reboot of your system every time. The guide says to simply restart Precision-X.... this did not work for me.
-Have some patience. Consider this a project and give it some time (even with the 'Quick Method'). I spent about 6 hours doing my overclock.
-Take lots of notes and be methodical about your process.
-Overclocking is an on-going process. The guide gets you 99% of the way there. But over time, you may have to adjust numbers and lower clocks speeds as you may run into issues with games in the future. This is why taking notes is so important.

I've spent a lot of time going through my Steam games library now and everything seems to be running flawlessly.

I have the factory overclocked EVGA FTW Geforce 670. After the overclock and writing some numbers down, i seem to be getting an average boost of 5-6 FPS.


----------



## EarlZ

So I changed the stock TIM on my bottom 680 which runs about 3-4 hotter to a Cool Laboratory Liquid Pro and its now running 4-5c cooler than the top card at a fixed fan speed. I was very pleased by the temp difference but what shocked me is that the stock TIM so hardened and I had to use a card to scrape it off.


----------



## 00firebird

subbed!


----------



## 00firebird

I'm confused by this... shouldn't the core max show as 1050mhz or am i fudging two different numbers.


----------



## LuminatX

Any way to remove/disable the thermal throttling?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *00firebird*
> 
> I'm confused by this... shouldn't the core max show as 1050mhz or am i fudging two different numbers.


No. Each card boosts to a different speed, that's just the nature of the Kepler boost technology. So you have the base boost clock (which is what is on the box, so 1006 for GTX 680s, for example), then you have your card's actual boost clock speed (the difference from the base boost clock to your boost clock is called the Kepler boost by some), and then you have the overclocked speed, which is your card's boost clock plus the offset you specify in Afterburner/Precision.

In your case it looks like your base boost clock is 980, your card's actual boost clock is 1105, and your overclocked speed is 1175. The 1050 in the screenshot is just the base clock plus the offset, which is what non-aware software reports (it uses the base boost clock instead of your card's actual boost clock - so 980+70=1050).


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *LuminatX*
> 
> Any way to remove/disable the thermal throttling?


one way is to keep the temps under 70c with a good cooling solution


----------



## 00firebird

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> No. Each card boosts to a different speed, that's just the nature of the Kepler boost technology. So you have the base boost clock (which is what is on the box, so 1006 for GTX 680s, for example), then you have your card's actual boost clock speed (the difference from the base boost clock to your boost clock is called the Kepler boost by some), and then you have the overclocked speed, which is your card's boost clock plus the offset you specify in Afterburner/Precision.
> 
> In your case it looks like your base boost clock is 980, your card's actual boost clock is 1105, and your overclocked speed is 1175. The 1050 in the screenshot is just the base clock plus the offset, which is what non-aware software reports (it uses the base boost clock instead of your card's actual boost clock - so 980+70=1050).


Ahh that makes sense so my stock boost is +125. and a +70 overclock.
So when considering the maximum safe overclock is the 1105 number more important or the 1175 number? I'm not sure how far to take this thing, but it seems to be plenty reliable right now. I haven't touched the memory. What is generally considered safe to overclock to on these 670s and what starts to become risky?


----------



## LuminatX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> one way is to keep the temps under 70c with a good cooling solution


I know there is a way to do it by modding the bios.


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> Hey guys. I got a question about two unusual things I got with my card.
> 
> 1) My 670, for whatever reason, only reaches a max of 70% power usage. I have done tests in BF3 with 64 players, did about 20 Valley/Heaven benchmarks, and it still only reaches 70%. Thing is, if I use any other driver besides 320.18, the power % goes down to 30%. I messaged ASUS and they said it shouldn't have any affect on performance, but how would I know if I was hitting the TDP limit if it shows an incorrect reading?
> 
> 2) This question I believe has something to do with my first one. So far, I can only get +65 on my core offset without it showing me a ridiculous clock speed in games. So my card boosts up to 1032MHz if temps stay under 58C and boosts up another 13MHz when it goes over, so +65 makes my card go up to 1097MHz with temps below 58C, and once again boosts up 13MHz with temps over 58C to 1100MHz. I overclock by +13MHz each time, but if I go, for example +77 or +90 and continue with +13, my card goes up to 1150MHz. Isn't that odd? If I put +77 shouldn't it be at 1100MHz and then 1113MHz if my temps go past 58C?
> 
> I don't fully understand how to overclock Kepler 100% but I don't think that is normal behavior.
> 
> Any help?


Anyone?


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> Hey guys. I got a question about two unusual things I got with my card.
> 
> 1) My 670, for whatever reason, only reaches a max of 70% power usage. I have done tests in BF3 with 64 players, did about 20 Valley/Heaven benchmarks, and it still only reaches 70%. Thing is, if I use any other driver besides 320.18, the power % goes down to 30%. I messaged ASUS and they said it shouldn't have any affect on performance, but how would I know if I was hitting the TDP limit if it shows an incorrect reading?
> 
> 2) This question I believe has something to do with my first one. So far, I can only get +65 on my core offset without it showing me a ridiculous clock speed in games. So my card boosts up to 1032MHz if temps stay under 58C and boosts up another 13MHz when it goes over, so +65 makes my card go up to 1097MHz with temps below 58C, and once again boosts up 13MHz with temps over 58C to 1100MHz. I overclock by +13MHz each time, but if I go, for example +77 or +90 and continue with +13, my card goes up to 1150MHz. Isn't that odd? If I put +77 shouldn't it be at 1100MHz and then 1113MHz if my temps go past 58C?
> 
> I don't fully understand how to overclock Kepler 100% but I don't think that is normal behavior.
> 
> Any help?


I have a hard time understanding what you're saying, maybe nobody has replied because they don't get what you're saying either.

1) What are you gpu usage and clocks when power usage is low on a valley run? Pics of the precx performance log might help explain what's going on. What kind of score and framerate do you get on valley on the extremehd setting? Is it grossly underperforming?

2) 58c is not a thermal throttling point, above and below 58c mox nix... did you mean 70c? All that matters is max boost clock and that you run at that max boost by virtue of not exceeding temp or power limits. Sounds like you are no where near you power limit and you say your card clocks to 1150MHz... what's the problem with that?

> So far, I can only get +65 on my core offset without it showing me a ridiculous clock speed in games

What does "showing ridiculous clock speed in games" mean?


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> I have a hard time understanding what you're saying, maybe nobody has replied because they don't get what you're saying either.
> 
> 1) What are you gpu usage and clocks when power usage is low on a valley run? Pics of the precx performance log might help explain what's going on. What kind of score and framerate do you get on valley on the extremehd setting? Is it grossly underperforming?
> 
> 2) 58c is not a thermal throttling point, above and below 58c mox nix... did you mean 70c? All that matters is max boost clock and that you run at that max boost by virtue of not exceeding temp or power limits. Sounds like you are no where near you power limit and you say your card clocks to 1150MHz... what's the problem with that?
> 
> > So far, I can only get +65 on my core offset without it showing me a ridiculous clock speed in games
> 
> What does "showing ridiculous clock speed in games" mean?


Alright, sorry if I didn't include any pictures. Maybe I'll make more sense this time.

So I overclock by increments of +13 on the core clock. My boost clock is 980MHz while my max boost is 1032MHz with it going up to 1045MHz when temps reach 58C or higher. I don't know if this was mentioned in the guide, but it's not that I'm oscillating or downclocking. If my temps are under 58C on stock while not being OCed, my max core clock will be 1032MHz. If it goes over 58C, it boosts itself up 13MHz to 1045.

Now my issue with overclocking:



This imagine here looks perfectly fine to me. If my max boost is 1032, then adding +78 to the core gives me 1110MHz as it shows in Precision. No problems here.



This is where I get confused at. Like I said I overclock by +13, so I put +91 for my core now. Precision is still reporting 1110MHz.. if I added it by +13 shouldn't it be showing 1123MHz?



And finally this is where I stopped and asked myself what is going on. Adding +120 core now gives me a core clock of 1150MHz. In fact, adding anything over +120 still reports me at 1150MHz. If I am at +120, shouldn't my core clock be at 1152? I don't know if that 2MHz matters, but I'm confused as to why it still reports 1150MHz even if I put my OC at +140, for example.

I tried to keep it as short as I could but I am honestly lost as to why this is happening. It is probably nothing but I am not familiar with Kepler at all so hopefully you can help me out.


----------



## michael-ocn

Your focused on how kepler boost figures out where to boost to. I don't really care about that myself and haven't bothered understand how it gets to its max boost clock. It's all gonna change with boost 2.0 anyway. I just focus on making the max boost achieved under full load as high as possible and stable.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> .... My boost clock is 980MHz while my max boost is 1032MHz with it going up to 1045MHz when temps reach 58C or higher...


The important number is 1045 (at least to me). The others, meh. I think you've got causality reversed regarding temps and clocks. The higher temp does not cause the higher clock. When the GPU boost up to the higher speed due to demand... it gets hotter.

The really odd thing about your charts is how low the power usage is? What scores do you get on the valley bench mark if you run the full benchmark loop? Are they in the ballpark or completely off?


----------



## michael-ocn

The low power usage doesn't make sense. I think its worth understand that before delving into what overclocking offsets to dial in.

I don't know if this helps, but here's what i got for gpuz and precx. Results in a max boost of 1267.


----------



## 00firebird

I can compare numbers if you want to see my 670 4gb just post what you want screens of.


----------



## ZeVo

Ok, +78 on the GPU clock and +200 on the memory clock got me this:



Here is my GPU-Z:



And here is what Precision shows me after a run of Valley. No downlocking or anything odd:



As for the messed up power percent. I know that. I already talked with ASUS a while ago and they said if it has no affect on performance that I shouldn't worry.


----------



## 00firebird

I think you are fine. I will have to improve my scores now.


----------



## ZeVo

Good to know hehe.

Don't think I'll get any higher than that, but I'm happy. I can go quite a lot on the memory though. Been stable at +500 before but backed down to +200 as I don't really need all the extra performance (unless playing Crysis 3 of course.)


----------



## michael-ocn

Looks like your performance in valley is fairly consistent with the max boost that you got on that run, 1110, but the trouble is that 1110 is not so great of a max boost speed. Lucky 670s get up in the neighborhood of 1300. I'm not sure what unlucky 670s see. You said earlier, you got it to boost to 1150 (with a larger offset presumably) but then it just didn't boost any higher no matter how much offset you added. You are not near the temp throttle point of 70c. Hard to say if you're bumping into power throttle points since that readout is whacked, but precx 4 has additional readouts that might show why increases on core clock offset don't translate into an increase in the max boost.

* Temperature Limit - the card is at its temperature throttle point
* Power Limit - The card is at its global power/TDP limit
* Voltage Limit - The card is at its highest boost bin
* Overvoltage Max Limit - The card's absolute maximum voltage limit ("if this were to occur, you'd be at risk of frying your GPU")
* Utilization Limit - The current workload is not high enough that boosting is necessary

Those readouts show 0 or 1, when 1, that's why its not boosting. You might want to look closely at those readouts for some clues.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> Ok, +78 on the GPU clock and +200 on the memory clock got me this:
> 
> 
> 
> Here is my GPU-Z:
> 
> 
> 
> And here is what Precision shows me after a run of Valley. No downlocking or anything odd:
> 
> 
> 
> As for the messed up power percent. I know that. I already talked with ASUS a while ago and they said if it has no affect on performance that I shouldn't worry.


----------



## 00firebird

So how far should I take my card? I'm assuming your higher fps are coming from the processor end.
I'm at 1175 max boost and stable. memory is stock. what are "average", "high", and "dangerous" ranges for these two settings?


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *00firebird*
> 
> So how far should I take my card? I'm assuming your higher fps are coming from the processor end.
> I'm at 1175 max boost and stable. memory is stock. what are "average", "high", and "dangerous" ranges for these two settings?


1175 is what my factory OC'd card boosted to out-of-the-box.

As for what's safe... i think too much heat and too many volts are the real dangers. The bios prevents you from applying too many volts. With temps, you can see the gpu core temps easy enough in monitoring tools but whats going on with mem and vrms is less observable (to me).

From what i've seen seems to me that 1300+ is pretty darn "high" on core and ditto 7200+ on mem. Folks with fancy full cover liquid coolers and modded bios can reach crazy speeds near 1400 / 7600. I think w/o some kind of iceberg in your case, that's gotta be in the way "dangerous" category. I'm not sure what happens on "average"? You might want to look thru the submissions from karliotos valley thread... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Av6qtxIdHmWgdHJuUkwyTzMyWWlzRFRYMWhsc1htNHc&output=html&widget=true
(click the "SAVED" tab at the bottom to see the entries)

Each entry shows the core/mem clock. Not sure that would count as "average" since people like to push it to the point of instability when benching.


----------



## ZeVo

Odd thing is, when I'm on drivers 320.18 and up my power percent looks a little more normal. I get around 70-80% versus 30% I get in drivers like 306.97 or 314.xx.

Would increasing my power percent to 150 and trying +120 maybe show some different results..? I had my BIOS modded a while ago but forgot how to manually mod mind to 150% and 1.2v..


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> Odd thing is, when I'm on drivers 320.18 and up my power percent looks a little more normal. I get around 70-80% versus 30% I get in drivers like 306.97 or 314.xx.
> 
> Would increasing my power percent to 150 and trying +120 maybe show some different results..? I had my BIOS modded a while ago but forgot how to manually mod mind to 150% and 1.2v..


I'm not sure I'd trust that power usage readout, something is just not right there. If you are actually throttling due to power limit being exceeded, then upping the limit should make a difference. Hard to know if you are bumping into the power limit. Do the 'reason' readouts in precx 4.2 say anything interesting?

1150 as a max boost may be a little disappointing but i don't think its outside of the expected range of possibilities? People have mentioned that the better chips may be getting binned for the 700 series cards, if that true and this is a recently purchased 670... 1150 as the max might be a reflection of that.

Have you modded the BIOS in this card or on some other card that you had in the past? If on this card, that might explain the whacky behavior?


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> I'm not sure I'd trust that power usage readout, something is just not right there. If you are actually throttling due to power limit being exceeded, then upping the limit should make a difference. Hard to know if you are bumping into the power limit. Do the 'reason' readouts in precx 4.2 say anything interesting?
> 
> 1150 as a max boost may be a little disappointing but i don't think its outside of the expected range of possibilities? People have mentioned that the better chips may be getting binned for the 700 series cards, if that true and this is a recently purchased 670... 1150 as the max might be a reflection of that.
> 
> Have you modded the BIOS in this card or on some other card that you had in the past? If on this card, that might explain the whacky behavior?


Indeed it was recently purchased. March of this year. And it was still showing this behavior before I modded the BIOS (I am currently on stock.) I will try doing to mod once more and seeing if I get any different results. If I don't, I guess I just have to accept my card isn't the best overclocker. Next time, I am definitely going EVGA. Those FTW models look beast.


----------



## michael-ocn

It's a bit of a lottery all right. I picked mine off a shelf at fry's at the beginning of feb. Those 700 series cards look pretty darn good compared to the 600 series these days









I don't really know what the expected range for max boost for a 670 is but some googling can shed some light on that...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5818/nvidia-geforce-gtx-670-review-feat-evga/17 // non-overclocked
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5818/nvidia-geforce-gtx-670-review-feat-evga/18 // overclocked
http://www.overclock.net/t/1402053/evga-gtx-670-superclocked-very-low-max-boost-oc-unstable-1150mhz // luck of the draw can go the wrong way for evga cards too


----------



## ZeVo

Now I'm crashing at stock clocks using my original BIOS. All I did was reflash my original BIOS again just in case that was the issue, but like 30 seconds into Valley and it freezes. Reinstalled drivers and nothing. Looks like tomorrow's going to be a Windows 7 clean install day! And if I get the same thing, I give up with this card.


----------



## michael-ocn

Oh no, that's definitely not an improvement







If you're crashing at stock clocks,sounds like something may not be right with the hardware? I had some trouble with the original 320 whql driver and reverted to the 314 whql driver. I haven't tried the new whql 320 driver yet because that first one didn't work out so well. Swapping drivers and running multiple monitoring tools have some pitfalls too. A windows reinstall is definitely the nuclear option for solving any software install/config issue (or maybe an opportunity to create a different crop of sw issues), but that can be pretty painful depending on how long you've had the system and what all is loaded up on it. Sorry you're having a hard time with it and I hope you get something working to your satisfaction.


----------



## CodyF86

Hi everyone,

I wanted to post my results. This is my second post, just joined, but I lurked around here forever. I posted something similar with my ivy bridge overclock in the ivy thread but no one even responded to tell me if my ivy overclock was ok, so here's both with a pic. lol









Also, I've had great success with the 326.01 drivers for Windows 8.1 preview on Windows 7 x64. Way better than the 320.xx series.
Nvidia 326.01WHQL

Zotac GTX670 with 680 PCB 2Gb 1280Mhz GPU, 3416Mhz Ram - Stable
Intel 3570K 4.5Ghz @ 1.16Vcore - Stable

I can push them both farther, but I'm going to wait till I put them both underwater soon.


----------



## gdubc

Thats an awesone oc on the 3570k. I think I just got my 3770k stable at 1.295. That is quite the chip u have there.


----------



## CodyF86

I'm just waiting till I buy a 620 in about a month to put on the 670; so this reference fan can run at a lower speed lol. It actually not bad under 74%, but above that it sounds like its about to take off vertically lol.

My 670 has a 680 reference PCB with no IHS, so I think im going to run the stock heatplate with the stock turbine fan with the shroud and cut the shroud for the 2 water lines. I keep hearing about the VRMs getting really hot even with a normal fan pointed right at it and I like the stock cooler look with 2 water tubes coming out of it lol.

I've had this card over 1300Mhz, but I'm not trying to push too hard until they're under-water.

Oh yeah, I use to live in Grand Junction, awesome place. I remember Loveland Pass.


----------



## gdubc

Amazing views at loveland pass.


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Oh no, that's definitely not an improvement
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you're crashing at stock clocks,sounds like something may not be right with the hardware? I had some trouble with the original 320 whql driver and reverted to the 314 whql driver. I haven't tried the new whql 320 driver yet because that first one didn't work out so well. Swapping drivers and running multiple monitoring tools have some pitfalls too. A windows reinstall is definitely the nuclear option for solving any software install/config issue (or maybe an opportunity to create a different crop of sw issues), but that can be pretty painful depending on how long you've had the system and what all is loaded up on it. Sorry you're having a hard time with it and I hope you get something working to your satisfaction.


Windows reinstall did the trick. No more random crashes. I'm a little hesitant to even OC or just leave it at stock now after what just happened..


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> Windows reinstall did the trick. No more random crashes. I'm a little hesitant to even OC or just leave it at stock now after what just happened..


sigh of relief


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> sigh of relief


Hehe it is indeed. I'll go for it again later. It might have not had anything to do with the BIOS, but maybe that I had 320.49 installed, which people are still reporting a lot of problems with. On 314.22 and everything is awesome.


----------



## ZeVo

And I spoke too soon.

Still crashes in Valley. I'm lost guys.. I don't even know what could have happened. Should I probably use a BIOS from here and see if I get any different result?

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/


----------



## michael-ocn

Sorry to hear that









I'm out of my depth. With the win7 reinstall and a clean 314.22 driver install on top of that, I think you can rule out any sw config/install issue. I don't know much about BIOS mods and the tools that produce them except that they exists. I don't know where those drivers on the techpowerup site come from. If you've got an up to date BIOS from your cards vendor on the card now, that's the most kosher setup you could possibly have. If that setup doesn't function properly, i start to question the hardware?

When valley crashes, how does it crash? Is it a TDR error indicative of the GPU having crashed or is it a valley x86 code crash? I've been assuming its a GPU crash and not a windows program crash. If it's the win program thats crashing, I might wonder about a cpu or system mem overclock stability.

If you underclock the GPU, does that make a difference? If so, seems like that would point in the direction of a hardware problem (not being stable at stock clocks).


----------



## COMBO2

I made a post about this problem, but I'm not getting a lot of response lately, so I thought I'd post here.
I have an MSI GTX 670 Power Edition OC 2GB & have for about 11 months now. When I first got it, I was able to get the card to +100MHz and further on the core and +500MHz and further on the memory. Over the last 11 months, the clocks, progressively, have gotten worse. They would stable at a certain point, then days, weeks, or months later, it would become unstable and I would get crashing.This began happening after 4 months of my +100CC/+500MC, at which point I had to drop down to get stable again. So I think I remember dropping down to like +85MHz and it was alright. Then pretty much each month from there, I've had to drop down like 10MHz progressively. The memory clock is now starting getting artifacting at +575MHz, whereas a week ago, it was good at +605MHz. As of current, I am running on stock clocks, but for the last week, I've been on +20CC/+575-605MC. I had a really crazy driver crash today @ that clock today which inclined me to switch to stock. My PC pretty much froze for about 20 seconds, then recovered but stuttered and hung like hell about every 2 seconds, forcing me to reset my PC. Previously when I was testing on stock, I was also getting occasional driver crashing in GTA IV and ARMA II, which is making me think that this is a hardware problem. Only issue is that I'm almost positive that I'll send the card in for an RMA, wait two weeks & MSI and my retailer will say that nothing is wrong with the card and that they won't replace it. This is really pissing me off especially as I worked really hard in ARMA II today to get a LOT of gear and lost it all because my damn drivers crashed. If someone could steer me in the right direction or send me a link to a thread of a similar matter, it would be really appreciated.


----------



## Arsen

Hello I cant seem to overclock at all. The test runs well on stock with no problem. Once i start the first test with gpu clock offsets +120, the unigine 3.0 goes black screen but music still in background. When pressed Esc, it quits the program with an error. A long listed one. After this error, i cant seem to do anymore tests including everything @ stock. I also did turned off Precision-X and back on again. The only workaround to this is to restart my pc. Again, stock is fine anything more is not. Im beginning to suspect its my mobo because the vcore on this one is not adjustable. Does it have anything to do with that? My pc specs are:

Gigabyte Z77m-d3h
I5 3570k @ 4.3ghz (stock voltage)
Thermaltake Water2.0 Performer
Asus Gtx 670 non-TOP
Seasonic 620w

Does anyone have an answer to my problem? Its driving me nuts. Thank you in advance. Sorry for the long post


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Sorry to hear that
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm out of my depth. With the win7 reinstall and a clean 314.22 driver install on top of that, I think you can rule out any sw config/install issue. I don't know much about BIOS mods and the tools that produce them except that they exists. I don't know where those drivers on the techpowerup site come from. If you've got an up to date BIOS from your cards vendor on the card now, that's the most kosher setup you could possibly have. If that setup doesn't function properly, i start to question the hardware?
> 
> When valley crashes, how does it crash? Is it a TDR error indicative of the GPU having crashed or is it a valley x86 code crash? I've been assuming its a GPU crash and not a windows program crash. If it's the win program thats crashing, I might wonder about a cpu or system mem overclock stability.
> 
> If you underclock the GPU, does that make a difference? If so, seems like that would point in the direction of a hardware problem (not being stable at stock clocks).


It's the actual program that crashes itself. I haven't tested my RAM in a while.. maybe it's a good idea to check it now. Should I test them how they are right now in dual config or test them one by one?


----------



## CodyF86

It might not make any difference at all but give the 326.01 drivers a try like I suggested on the last page. It made all the difference for me. 320.xx series drivers are junk; The 314.xx series are definitely better, but I've still had the best luck/performance with 326.01.

Nvidia 326.01WHQL

Like I said it might not have anything to do with the drivers, but it's worth a shot, and yes they work great with Windows 7, even though it says for Windows 8.1 preview.









When you say "Vcore on this one" do you mean the GPU? The Vcore on the 600 series cards are locked unless you edit the BIOS to change your Vcore values and flash the BIOS.

Kepler BIOS Tweaker v1.25

And one less thing to try and I don't think this will do anything, but might as well try. Bump your Vcore on your CPU up by 0.01v, just to make sure the CPU isn't becoming unstable because of the extra power draw from the GPU overclocked.

Come to think of it your PS is 620W and depending on it's certification it could become wonky with an OCed 3570k and a 670 at full tilt. I have an 850w PS, you might be getting close to your PS draw limit.


----------



## Arsen

Dude thank you for your reply. Tried the driver, still same problem. Its the motherboard i think. "Vcore on this one" is refering to the motherboard. In the bios itself it does not have the feature to adjust the vcore. Hence im stuck with stock voltage when oc'ing the i5 3570k.

So my question is does this issue have any effect on the oc'ing of my gpu? I cant control voltage of my mobo, So does it mean no matter what power target and voltage i set on precision-x it wont take any effect since the mobo is stuck with stock voltage?


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> It's the actual program that crashes itself.


If you look in "Control Panel\System and Security\Action Center\Check For Solutions", do the errors show up in there as "Video hardware error". If so, then i wouldn't think its a cpu/mem stability problem. Random other thought provoked by cody's post, your rig info doesn't list your PSU, any chance your system is giving whatever you've got too much of a workout?


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> If you look in "Control Panel\System and Security\Action Center\Check For Solutions", do the errors show up in there as "Video hardware error". If so, then i wouldn't think its a cpu/mem stability problem. Random other thought provoked by cody's post, your rig info doesn't list your PSU, any chance your system is giving whatever you've got too much of a workout?


Will try that later as soon as Memtest finishes, thanks. And I have a SeaSonic M12II 620W, so I think I'm fine. What I'm going to do is borrow my friends 660 Ti and put it in my rig and see what I get.


----------



## CodyF86

The Vcore setting on your mobo would only control the Vcore to the CPU. The 600 series cards are lock at 1.175v max in the default VBIOS. Yes, you can overclock them; I'm folding at 1280Mhz & 4316Mhz Ram and I can still push it farther, but it just depends on the silicon lottery.

It shouldn't crash like that if you can't overclock it at all. Make sure the Power Target slider in Precision-X is maxed out at 100%+, whatever it will go to, mines goes to %132, but depending on the card manufacturer it will vary. It sounds like your PSU might be the issue. Even if your not pulling all 620 watts, power supplies also have different ratings/certifications, even if two different power supplies are rated at 620 watts one might be able to sustain 80%, 90% whatever of the 620 watts no problem and the other one might start to freak out when you approach 80% sustained. (This is just an example).

So regardless, at somepoint I would upgrade to an 850 watt power that is bronze, silver, or gold certified...I think that's still how they are rated/grouped.


----------



## CodyF86

Hey I just reread your post and you said you started with a GPU offset of +120...you might not be able to get +120 out of it. Start out at +50 first and see if it crashes. I need to pay more attention lol, my offset is +140 @ 1280Mhz, but some people can't get over +100, so start small at +50 and work your way up; Also your offset will be different than mine because the offset is based off the boost speed and each card is a bit different.

Are you having precision-x use a software fan profile? Are your GPU temps under 70C because the card will throttle itself a bit over 70C, then a bit more over 80C.


----------



## ZeVo

Just got an update on Memtest. I didn't believe it, but 4 hours in and an error showed up.

I guess that means RMA time for the RAM? Is there any point in continuing the test or just cancel it and start disassembling my PC?


----------



## CodyF86

Any chance you have the capabilities to measure your Vcore to your CPU and/or the Vcore to your GPU with a digital multimeter? Software monitors are almost always not what it actually is and I just keep wondering if your getting some kind excessive voltage drops under load.


----------



## ZeVo

Don't have any readers.

But yet again, I have an interesting discovery. Running P95 @ 4.5, 5 minutes in my load went from 100% to a constant 99.9% now an not running at 4.5 GHz, but 4.3.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> Just got an update on Memtest. I didn't believe it, but 4 hours in and an error showed up.
> 
> I guess that means RMA time for the RAM? Is there any point in continuing the test or just cancel it and start disassembling my PC?


Hmmm... that could explain some mysterious crashing behavior! If system cpu/mem is not stable (enough), all bets are off on anything and everything.

I see you've got the cpu oc'd pretty good, is mem pushed too? Not sure whats worth doing to try to isolate the problem. I'd wonder if valley is better behaved with cpu/mem restored to stock clocks? If it is, that might exonerate the gpu, if not... clear as mud to me. While not exactly good news that memtest turned something up, at least you have something tangible and specific to go on.


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Hmmm... that could explain some mysterious crashing behavior! If system cpu/mem is not stable (enough), all bets are off on anything and everything.
> 
> I see you've got the cpu oc'd pretty good, is mem pushed too? Not sure whats worth doing to try to isolate the problem. I'd wonder if valley is better behaved with cpu/mem restored to stock clocks? If it is, that might exonerate the gpu, if not... clear as mud to me. While not exactly good news that memtest turned something up, at least you have something tangible and specific to go on.


I'm going to install an old-ish game now on Steam and see if it still crashes. Then I'm taking my 670 out, using Intel HD, and seeing what happens. If it still crashes, I think we can assume it's possibly the GPU? I read just because Memtest finds an error doesn't mean it has to be only RAM related. So maybe it is the CPU/GPU.. will report back soon again.


----------



## CodyF86

Hey what is your CPU power phase control in your BIOS set to?


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *CodyF86*
> 
> Hey what is your CPU power phase control in your BIOS set to?


Power phase? I got an ASRock board so the wording is different. Just incase I didn't mention it before, I was at stock clocks for both my CPU and GPU and I still crashed. I know my timings in the BIOS are right. Besides changing the timings everything in BIOS is at default settings.

I also ran Heaven on my Intel HD, and no crashes. Currently doing Memtest again to see if anything shows up.


----------



## CodyF86

There should be a setting in the BIOS that lets you control your power phases in the BIOS; I know Asus has one. The options for it might say something like Standard, Optimized, Extreme, and User or something like that. If you can find something like that set it to optimized if its on standard.


----------



## SIDWULF

Bravo, Bravo...this guide is fantastic. Should work fine with a 680 right? or any Kepler?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SIDWULF*
> 
> Bravo, Bravo...this guide is fantastic. Should work fine with a 680 right? or any Kepler?


Yep, principles are the same, even if the numbers are a little different.


----------



## SIDWULF

There is something seriously wrong with my Heaven score...


----------



## Rogrthat

Make sure you have very little running when you bench heaven , also what drivers are you using right now?


----------



## SIDWULF

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rogrthat*
> 
> Make sure you have very little running when you bench heaven , also what drivers are you using right now?


Nothing running except EVGA precision...and I'm using the latest 320.49 WHQL...I tried lowering my memory overclock and got the same results...


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SIDWULF*
> 
> There is something seriously wrong with my Heaven score...


10 or 11 fps higher is closer to an expected result for that card.

What do your precx graphs look like? For comparison, here's what mine looks like for a heaven4 run. http://cdn.overclock.net/a/a5/a5b36674_Heaven4.png


----------



## SIDWULF

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> 10 or 11 fps higher is closer to an expected result for that card.
> 
> What do your precx graphs look like? For comparison, here's what mine looks like for a heaven4 run. http://cdn.overclock.net/a/a5/a5b36674_Heaven4.png




Here you go buddy









Help! lol


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SIDWULF*
> 
> Here you go buddy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Help! lol


Something wierd happens with FB usage about a third of the way thru, drops down quite a bit, and that coincides with drop off in power consumption. My older version of precx doesn't plot that particular stat, so i'm not sure what to expect for values in there but i think that has to do with local memory access. Doesn't seem like there should be a drop off like that regardless.

The rest of of looks reasonable to me, your card does seem to be power hungry and hot running, but its cranking along with a solid core clock.

You said you ran with lower mem clocks and still got bad results... how much lower did you take it, back to +0 offset? If not back to zero, I'd tru backing it all the way down and seeing what the score and FB usage looks like. You might be pushing the mem clock more than it can handle.


----------



## ZeVo

Update on my current situation.

Running Intel HD, games still crash.. strange. Friend let me borrow his GTS 250, so I will be installing that and doing a clean install once more.

Still confused on why P95 was showing 99.9% usage though.. And also running Memtest for 6+ hours and I got no errors. I got an error the first time as I had my timings set to 9-9-9-28 when it should have been 9-9-9-24, but now it seems good.


----------



## Rogrthat

I ran into this once in bench , try running at the same settings but set the bench to extreme and run all the way through do this this twice and reset bench to high quality hd . I think the bench may have a bug aometimes ... it worked for me.


----------



## SIDWULF

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Something wierd happens with FB usage about a third of the way thru, drops down quite a bit, and that coincides with drop off in power consumption. My older version of precx doesn't plot that particular stat, so i'm not sure what to expect for values in there but i think that has to do with local memory access. Doesn't seem like there should be a drop off like that regardless.
> 
> The rest of of looks reasonable to me, your card does seem to be power hungry and hot running, but its cranking along with a solid core clock.
> 
> You said you ran with lower mem clocks and still got bad results... how much lower did you take it, back to +0 offset? If not back to zero, I'd tru backing it all the way down and seeing what the score and FB usage looks like. You might be pushing the mem clock more than it can handle.


What is FB usage?

I backed the mem clock back to 500Ghz


----------



## SIDWULF

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rogrthat*
> 
> I ran into this once in bench , try running at the same settings but set the bench to extreme and run all the way through do this this twice and reset bench to high quality hd . I think the bench may have a bug aometimes ... it worked for me.


I will try thaqt thanks


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SIDWULF*
> 
> What is FB usage?
> 
> I backed the mem clock back to 500Ghz


Well, if you're running it at 500Ghz, i'm pretty certain that would be too fast







I can't tell what you mean by that.


----------



## SIDWULF

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Well, if you're running it at 500Ghz, i'm pretty certain that would be too fast
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I can't tell what you mean by that.





Those are my score after fresh restart and using 0 offset first and then 570 offset second...I don't like this heaven benchmark...I get wildly different score all the time.


----------



## Chunin

Too high memory clocks can make your scores lower because you generate memory errors which the card has to correct and that makes your score lower. Try a lower offset something like +350 or less.


----------



## LuminatX

Super proud of my card








My highest valley score yet!


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *LuminatX*
> 
> Super proud of my card
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My highest valley score yet!


Nice score. Are you using the tweaks mentioned in the first post here? Worth a couple fps.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1360884/official-top-30-unigine-valley-benchmark-1-0-fill-the-form
And if you post you score over there, you'll bring up the 670 avg


----------



## michael-ocn

38'ish on heaven4 is more like it for a 680.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chunin*
> 
> Too high memory clocks can make your scores lower because you generate memory errors which the card has to correct and that makes your score lower. Try a lower offset something like +350 or less.


Looks like a lowered 'FB usage' metric in precx is a symptom of that happening. Guess I have a reason to use the newer version now.


----------



## LuminatX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Nice score. Are you using the tweaks mentioned in the first post here? Worth a couple fps.
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1360884/official-top-30-unigine-valley-benchmark-1-0-fill-the-form
> And if you post you score over there, you'll bring up the 670 avg


Oh awesome, will do!

btw what is FB usage? I just myself noticed this recently.


----------



## LuminatX

Hopefully I can edit my post haha, did a BIOS mod to increase voltage which resulted in a higher OC


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *LuminatX*
> 
> btw what is FB usage? I just myself noticed this recently.


I really don't know what "FB" is an acronym of, [something] Bus maybe? An evga forum post say it had to to with "local memory access", that's the sum total of my knowledge of it









Quote:


> Originally Posted by *LuminatX*
> 
> Hopefully I can edit my post haha, did a BIOS mod to increase voltage which resulted in a higher OC


Curious that your max fps when down a bit but the avg and overall score crept up.

Here's what i got for that benchmark.
1306/7128 ---- 52.1 FPS ---- 2179
minFps: 23.5 maxFps: 97.7
used all tweaks mentioned in the valley thread
320.18 drivers (but i've since uninstalled these drivers), stock bios


----------



## neoroy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *LuminatX*
> 
> Oh awesome, will do!
> 
> btw what is FB usage? I just myself noticed this recently.


Me too also curious, what does *FB* stand for?


----------



## SIDWULF

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chunin*
> 
> Too high memory clocks can make your scores lower because you generate memory errors which the card has to correct and that makes your score lower. Try a lower offset something like +350 or less.


Well It appears that high memory clocks screw up the Heaven benchmark not only for the run at high memory clocks but also any subsequent runs with lower memory clocks... Only after setting my clocks back to something stable such as a +500 offset and then *restarting* my computer did my score stay consistent each and every run.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SIDWULF*
> 
> Well It appears that high memory clocks screw up the Heaven benchmark not only for the run at high memory clocks but also any subsequent runs with lower memory clocks... Only after setting my clocks back to something stable such as a +500 offset and then *restarting* my computer did my score stay consistent each and every run.


Much nicer result


----------



## SIDWULF

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Much nicer result


Yay!









Thanks for the help


----------



## brandon88tube

I have a question and I don't know if it was answered in any prior posts, but I was trying to help a friend overclock and noticed some strange results with his gpu clock. For some reason, it was randomly jumping all over the place from 1280, 1267, 1254, 1241 and then back up to 1254 or 1267. It wasn't temperature related because he never hit 70*C and the power % didn't seem to be all that high either as it's max was ~123. So my question is, what could be causing such fluctuations in the gpu clock when the main culprits that down clock the cards are not the issue here? He was running heaven so it's not like the card was not being taxed to it's limits either. Anyone with any clues as to what is causing this and how to get a more steady gpu clock would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## michael-ocn

What was the power target set to? On some cards 122% is the highest value the stock bios lets you dial in.


----------



## Rogrthat

It is working as it should it is your boost kickin in lol. 13 mgz for each jump read the first post sounds like he has a good one to time to over clock!!


----------



## Rogrthat




----------



## Rogrthat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brandon88tube*
> 
> I have a question and I don't know if it was answered in any prior posts, but I was trying to help a friend overclock and noticed some strange results with his gpu clock. For some reason, it was randomly jumping all over the place from 1280, 1267, 1254, 1241 and then back up to 1254 or 1267. It wasn't temperature related because he never hit 70*C and the power % didn't seem to be all that high either as it's max was ~123. So my question is, what could be causing such fluctuations in the gpu clock when the main culprits that down clock the cards are not the issue here? He was running heaven so it's not like the card was not being taxed to it's limits either. Anyone with any clues as to what is causing this and how to get a more steady gpu clock would be greatly appreciated.


It is working as it should it is your boost kickin in lol. 13 mgz for each jump read the first post sounds like he has a good one to time to over clock!!

thumb.gif


----------



## Rogrthat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> What was the power target set to? On some cards 122% is the highest value the stock bios lets you dial in.


My cards power target are 112% they are over clocked by Gigabyte..


----------



## Rogrthat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rogrthat*
> 
> My cards power target are 112% they are over clocked by Gigabyte..


Tec power up GPUZ guys run this at stock settings see what your MAX boost is and stock boost, between the two =BOOST CLOCK, set this until stable, then overclock slowly your ram....


----------



## Chunin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SIDWULF*
> 
> Well It appears that high memory clocks screw up the Heaven benchmark not only for the run at high memory clocks but also any subsequent runs with lower memory clocks... Only after setting my clocks back to something stable such as a +500 offset and then *restarting* my computer did my score stay consistent each and every run.


From what i remember you have to restart Precision X every time your driver crashes or else the next applied settings wont go through. I dont think i had to restart the PC tho.


----------



## brandon88tube

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> What was the power target set to? On some cards 122% is the highest value the stock bios lets you dial in.


His power target is set to 122%, but that doesn't seem to affect me as I have the same card and power target set and mine goes higher than his, but doesn't seem to clock down.

It's just really bizarre to me that anything that I could think of that would cause to down clock the card doesn't seem to be the culprit. It just seems to randomly do it's own thing.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rogrthat*
> 
> It is working as it should it is your boost kickin in lol. 13 mgz for each jump read the first post sounds like he has a good one to time to over clock!!
> 
> thumb.gif


It's not boosting, you obviously didn't read and it's not like I'm a moron when it comes to doing this.


----------



## ZeVo

Well, I fixed the issue I had with my 670. I cleared CMOS, took everything out and put it back in, and did a Windows reinstall and it did the trick. I put my last stable overclock and it worked 100% no issues. I got to accept I got a crappy card and that no BIOS or anything else will really help, because I'll probably end up almost killing my card, like I just did. Hopefully when I SLI the other one will be better.


----------



## SIDWULF

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chunin*
> 
> From what i remember you have to restart Precision X every time your driver crashes or else the next applied settings wont go through. I dont think i had to restart the PC tho.


hmmm the driver never crashed...just the memory errors were making my scores quite varied and underperforming.

Lowering the clocks and restarting made my score jump from 29fps to 41fps


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> Well, I fixed the issue I had with my 670. I cleared CMOS, took everything out and put it back in, and did a Windows reinstall and it did the trick. I put my last stable overclock and it worked 100% no issues. I got to accept I got a crappy card and that no BIOS or anything else will really help, because I'll probably end up almost killing my card, like I just did. Hopefully when I SLI the other one will be better.


Congrats on getting it in good working order. You had a real bumpy ride of it.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brandon88tube*
> 
> His power target is set to 122%, but that doesn't seem to affect me as I have the same card and power target set and mine goes higher than his, but doesn't seem to clock down.
> 
> It's just really bizarre to me that anything that I could think of that would cause to down clock the card doesn't seem to be the culprit. It just seems to randomly do it's own thing.


Based on what you said below, sounds like it is bumping into that power limit. Precx4 reports some 'reasons flags' for throttling in its performance log. Those could give you some more insight into why its not running pegged at max boost clocks.

I think my most favorite feature of the 670ftw card is the ability to up the power target to 145% with the stock bios from evga.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brandon88tube*
> 
> I have a question and I don't know if it was answered in any prior posts, but I was trying to help a friend overclock and noticed some strange results with his gpu clock. For some reason, it was randomly jumping all over the place from 1280, 1267, 1254, 1241 and then back up to 1254 or 1267. It wasn't temperature related because he never hit 70*C and the power % didn't seem to be all that high either as it's max was ~123. So my question is, what could be causing such fluctuations in the gpu clock when the main culprits that down clock the cards are not the issue here? He was running heaven so it's not like the card was not being taxed to it's limits either. Anyone with any clues as to what is causing this and how to get a more steady gpu clock would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## brandon88tube

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Precx4 reports some 'reasons flags' for throttling in its performance log.


Can you elaborate some or provide an example because all I ever noticed in the log file, when I had it turned on, was the info it already shows in the graph view.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brandon88tube*
> 
> Can you elaborate some or provide an example because all I ever noticed in the log file, when I had it turned on, was the info it already shows in the graph view.


Sure... see the "Reasons: Why NVIDIA Cards Throttle" section.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6973/nvidia-geforce-gtx-780-review/5


----------



## SIDWULF

When I try to raise the voltage in PrecisionX it only goes up to 1150mV and not 1.1750V which is the max GPU-Z reads.

Anyone know why?

EVGA Reference 680GTX


----------



## brandon88tube

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Sure... see the "Reasons: Why NVIDIA Cards Throttle" section.
> http://www.anandtech.com/show/6973/nvidia-geforce-gtx-780-review/5


Thanks!


----------



## brandon88tube

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SIDWULF*
> 
> When I try to raise the voltage in PrecisionX it only goes up to 1150mV and not 1.1750V which is the max GPU-Z reads.
> 
> Anyone know why?
> 
> EVGA Reference 680GTX


NVIDIA had it limited, but in actuality it still boosts to 1175


----------



## SIDWULF

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brandon88tube*
> 
> NVIDIA had it limited, but in actuality it still boosts to 1175


Oh really? Why did they limit it?


----------



## james990

So i manged to overclock my video card to a stable clock but the values are confusing.
I know overclocking the memory is easy for the GTX 670 but my GPU clock is abysmal.
I have an ASUS GTX 670 DC2 (non top).
*Default clocks:*
GPU: 915
Memory: 1502
Boost: 980
*Overclocks:*
GPU: 1015 (+100)
Memory: 1752(+500)
Boost: 1080

I guess i am happy with the 10% gain in my Heaven benchmark
Default:

OC:


Ive been reading in many places that people have been able to get very close, if not over +200 via the ASUS GTX 670 DC2 for the GPU clock. Also in over all, resulting in a 1165 boost clock.
My card crashes as soon as it goes over +100 (even if i downclock the memory to just +300). Am i doing something wrong?
Or should i be happy?


----------



## brandon88tube

Anyone care to take a look at this Precision X log and tell me why it's down clocking so much? I highlighted the areas where it drops or raises and this is while I had my friend run Heaven 3.0, but stopped half way through at the dragon scene. I still can't figure this out. Someone with more knowledge, can you please help?

GTX 670 Log.xlsx 15k .xlsx file


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brandon88tube*
> 
> Anyone care to take a look at this Precision X log and tell me why it's down clocking so much? I highlighted the areas where it drops or raises and this is while I had my friend run Heaven 3.0, but stopped half way through at the dragon scene. I still can't figure this out. Someone with more knowledge, can you please help?


I guess that card just uses a little more power than some others.

It's hitting the power target and throttling clocks/voltages as a result. look at the Power and Power Limit columns to see that. I'm not sure why its using that much power but it is (for comparison, my card ends up using ~114% max on this bench). If it weren't for hitting that limit, looks like it'd be boosting up to 1280.


----------



## brandon88tube

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> I guess that card just uses a little more power than some others.
> 
> It's hitting the power target and throttling clocks/voltages as a result. look at the Power and Power Limit columns to see that. I'm not sure why its using that much power but it is (for comparison, my card ends up using ~114% max on this bench). If it weren't for hitting that limit, looks like it'd be boosting up to 1280.


That doesn't make sense, if you look where it is hitting 1267 those power % are about the same as when it was at 1241 and if you are looking at the power limit, it is set to 1 almost the entire time.


----------



## michael-ocn

Not sure why you insist its not power throttling. Being set to '1' means it throttling for that reason and there are very many values in the power column greater than or equal to 122. What doesn't make sense?


----------



## brandon88tube

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Not sure why you insist its not power throttling. Being set to '1' means it throttling for that reason and there are very many values in the power column greater than or equal to 122. What doesn't make sense?


Then can you explain cells 111-126? Why didn't it clock down during this point? I'm just trying to make sense of this for my sake and I'm not trying to argue with you.


----------



## Rogrthat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *james990*
> 
> So i manged to overclock my video card to a stable clock but the values are confusing.
> I know overclocking the memory is easy for the GTX 670 but my GPU clock is abysmal.
> I have an ASUS GTX 670 DC2 (non top).
> *Default clocks:*
> GPU: 915
> Memory: 1502
> Boost: 980
> *Overclocks:*
> GPU: 1015 (+100)
> Memory: 1752(+500)
> Boost: 1080
> 
> I guess i am happy with the 10% gain in my Heaven benchmark
> Default:
> 
> OC:
> 
> 
> Ive been reading in many places that people have been able to get very close, if not over +200 via the ASUS GTX 670 DC2 for the GPU clock. Also in over all, resulting in a 1165 boost clock.
> My card crashes as soon as it goes over +100 (even if i downclock the memory to just +300). Am i doing something wrong?
> Or should i be happy?


Lower + 100 start 60ish work up slowly until crash move down -2 test.


----------



## james990

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rogrthat*
> 
> Lower + 100 start 60ish work up slowly until crash move down -2 test.


Ohh no, i said that the +100 GPU and +500 MEM clocks are stable.
Its just that i have seen many people are able to get their GPU to +200 over the default ASUS GTX670 DC2 clocks (GPU: 915 Memory: 1502 Boost: 980).
Is this just the common case that i just happen to not get a very well manufactured card out of the batch, just like CPUs for eg or is this a good OC?


----------



## Rogrthat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *james990*
> 
> Ohh no, i said that the +100 GPU and +500 MEM clocks are stable.
> Its just that i have seen many people are able to get their GPU to +200 over the default ASUS GTX670 DC2 clocks (GPU: 915 Memory: 1502 Boost: 980).
> Is this just the common case that i just happen to not get a very well manufactured card out of the batch, just like CPUs for eg or is this a good OC?


I see sorry to many threads reading lol I would lower mem and increase from 100 slowly and test


----------



## BBEG

So in trying to follow this to the letter with my 680, I don't get past step one before being confused.



Sean said to set boost to clock to 1100. Done. That's a -24 offset for me. Ran Heaven, checked GPU-Z, found my max boost clock to be 1124. Subtracting my boost clock (1100) from my max boost clock (1124) gives me a whopping *24.* Same as my offset. I have a very hard time believing my Kepler boost is a mighty 24MHz.

Does this method not work with 680s?


----------



## Rogrthat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BBEG*
> 
> So in trying to follow this to the letter with my 680, I don't get past step one before being confused.
> 
> 
> 
> Sean said to set boost to clock to 1100. Done. That's a -24 offset for me. Ran Heaven, checked GPU-Z, found my max boost clock to be 1124. Subtracting my boost clock (1100) from my max boost clock (1124) gives me a whopping *24.* Same as my offset. I have a very hard time believing my Kepler boost is a mighty 24MHz.
> 
> Does this method not work with 680s?


Your offset is -24 ? Run at stock find highest core clock with GPUZ.As an example, here's mine:
My boost clock:
26

My Maximum Core clock:
38

My Kepler Boost:
So i take my Maximum Core clock (1257) and subtract my Boost Clock (1152) and that will give me my Kepler Boost value of 105. If you want to be really precise, you would then want to round to the nearest multiple of 13, in this case it's 104MHz, to remove any rounding errors in the software. taken from the guide.


----------



## Forceman

There's no reason to try to figure out your card's Kepler boost, it doesn't actually matter. You can distill the process into four steps - set maximum power target/limit, increase core clock and memory clock offsets using Afterburner/Precision, test, go to step 2 until it stops being stable. Start with something simple like +50 core and +200 memory and see how that goes. You can check your actual boost speed in Afterburner or Precision (or the monitoring page of GPU-Z - don't go by the front page) to see how you are doing compared to other cards. The value of your Kepler boost is irrelevant to the process.


----------



## BBEG

Are you messing with voltages at all then?


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BBEG*
> 
> Are you messing with voltages at all then?


No, the only way to actually increase it is to mod the BIOS.


----------



## BBEG

Wonderful. One less thing I have to figure out. Thanks mate.

Back to testing the old way then.


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *james990*
> 
> So i manged to overclock my video card to a stable clock but the values are confusing.
> I know overclocking the memory is easy for the GTX 670 but my GPU clock is abysmal.
> I have an ASUS GTX 670 DC2 (non top).
> *Default clocks:*
> GPU: 915
> Memory: 1502
> Boost: 980
> *Overclocks:*
> GPU: 1015 (+100)
> Memory: 1752(+500)
> Boost: 1080
> 
> I guess i am happy with the 10% gain in my Heaven benchmark
> Default:
> 
> OC:
> 
> 
> Ive been reading in many places that people have been able to get very close, if not over +200 via the ASUS GTX 670 DC2 for the GPU clock. Also in over all, resulting in a 1165 boost clock.
> My card crashes as soon as it goes over +100 (even if i downclock the memory to just +300). Am i doing something wrong?
> Or should i be happy?


Join the club buddy. My Asus 670 DC2 is horrid at overclocking. Going over +120 shows me crazy numbers in Precision X. My max stable is +78 on the GPU core and +300 on the memory.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brandon88tube*
> 
> Then can you explain cells 111-126? Why didn't it clock down during this point? I'm just trying to make sense of this for my sake and I'm not trying to argue with you.


In that entire period its running at 1241mhz @ 1.137v and right at the power limit, values range from 121 to 123. 1241 is near the low side of what the card runs at in this data set. There are a few samples 13mhz lower, but they are few and far between. We dont have the luxury of being able to read the BIOS source code, but it looks like that logic decided the power target was not exceeded enough to warrant downclocking/volting from the current 1241 / 1.137 levels.

Sorry if i came across as argumentative, I'm not meaning to.


----------



## brandon88tube

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> In that entire period its running at 1241mhz @ 1.137v and right at the power limit, values range from 121 to 123. 1241 is near the low side of what the card runs at in this data set. There are a few samples 13mhz lower, but they are few and far between. We dont have the luxury of being able to read the BIOS source code, but it looks like that logic decided the power target was not exceeded enough to warrant downclocking/volting from the current 1241 / 1.137 levels.
> 
> Sorry if i came across as argumentative, I'm not meaning to.


No problem, I was trying to not be argumentative either. The strange thing is that my friend's card seems to clock down even on stock. I had him do a full run of Heaven 3.0 on everything stock and this is what the log looks like.

gtx670STOCK.xlsx 24k .xlsx file


No matter what overclock we set it, the card down clocks a few times. For example he can get 1280 it goes down to 1254 or 1241, but if we try to get the overclock to be 1241 thinking that it won't down clock, it ends up dropping to something like 1215. It just seems like his card likes to down clock no mater what the offsets are set to. The more I try to figure out what is best for him, the more I get confused.


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brandon88tube*
> 
> No problem, I was trying to not be argumentative either. The strange thing is that my friend's card seems to clock down even on stock. I had him do a full run of Heaven 3.0 on everything stock and this is what the log looks like.
> 
> gtx670STOCK.xlsx 24k .xlsx file
> 
> 
> No matter what overclock we set it, the card down clocks a few times. For example he can get 1280 it goes down to 1254 or 1241, but if we try to get the overclock to be 1241 thinking that it won't down clock, it ends up dropping to something like 1215. It just seems like his card likes to down clock no mater what the offsets are set to. The more I try to figure out what is best for him, the more I get confused.


It looks from that log file that the card is just power limited (all the 1s in the power column). You can see where it downclocks and downvolts for power for significant periods, even going as low as 1.137V for significant lengths. Have you tried leaving the clocks at stock but turning the power limit all the way up?

Here's my log file - you can see it only hits the limit a couple of times.

gtx 680.xlsx 17k .xlsx file


----------



## SIDWULF

This is @ 3515 max boost memory.

See where it dips? Sometimes heaven gives accurate scores...sometimes the scores are much lower...when the scores are accurate there is no dip...Is this evidence of too high memory clock?


----------



## michael-ocn

I think that those dips are indicative of going to high in the mem clock (based on logs we've seen in this thread in the last couple of days)... my guess is that 3515 is too much for it.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SIDWULF*
> 
> This is @ 3151 max boost memory.
> 
> See where it dips? Sometimes heaven gives accurate scores...sometimes the scores are much lower...when the scores are accurate there is no dip...Is this evidence of too high memory clock?


----------



## brandon88tube

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> It looks from that log file that the card is just power limited (all the 1s in the power column). You can see where it downclocks and downvolts for power for significant periods, even going as low as 1.137V for significant lengths. Have you tried leaving the clocks at stock but turning the power limit all the way up?
> 
> Here's my log file - you can see it only hits the limit a couple of times.
> 
> gtx 680.xlsx 17k .xlsx file


That was his card at stock settings with the power target set to max.


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brandon88tube*
> 
> That was his card at stock settings with the power target set to max.


In that case I'd look at modding the BIOS for a higher power limit.


----------



## SIDWULF

This is my max stable clocks in the format of the guide. I followed the guide exactly but had to adapt things to my situation.

EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2GB
1202 MHz Boost Clock
1241 MHz Max Boost
3510 MHz Memory
132% Power Target with default voltage slider




A few issues:

1) My "POWER TARGET" slider only goes up to 132% I have seen people set it higher. Why is this?
2) Increasing the "GPU CLOCK OFFSET" by 1MHz does not change the Max Boost until you hit a certain *magic* number and then the Max Boost will jump up ~10+Mhz. The "MEM CLOCK OFFSET" actually works and changes with every +1MHz increment. Why is this?
3) My highest "FAN SPEED" is 85% and my lowest "FAN SPEED" is 30%. why is this limited? How do I increase fan speed over 85%? Will it damage the fan? The guide wants me to use 20% and 100% nodes at certain temperatures.
4) The Heaven 4.0 benchmark shows different Memory clocks compared to Precision X Performance log and it doesn't show Core clocks. Why is this?
5) The "VOLTAGE" window appears to do nothing and I can only max it to 1150mV instead of 1.1750V which the guide suggests. Why has NVIDIA limited this? Does the slider actually do anything?
5) When I increase "MEM CLOCK OFFSET" past a stable value my video card will show lower scores after ~1-3 Heaven runs. I have never seen memory related artifacts from a high memory clock in Heaven 4.0, just lower scores. Is this normal behaviour? As you can imagine running ~1-3 loops of Heaven for each "MEM CLOCK OFFSET" increase is very time consuming.
6) Its is 27 Degrees Celsius ambient temperature in my room and I notice my card goes over 70 Degrees Celsius during the day time up to a max of 73 Degrees Celsius while running Heaven. Meanwhile the fan is running at 85% and it down clocks the core 13MHz. At night time when ambient temperatures are lower my card hovers around 68 Degrees where is should be. Why is my card doing this? Did NVIDIA optimize this card only for room temperature?

Sorry for all the questions. Just quite a few oddities while following this guide. I am happy with the clocks I achieved.


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SIDWULF*
> 
> This is my max stable clocks in the format of the guide. I followed the guide exactly but had to adapt things to my situation.
> 
> EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2GB
> 1202 MHz Boost Clock
> 1241 MHz Max Boost
> 3510 MHz Memory
> 132% Power Target with default voltage slider
> A few issues:
> 
> 1) My "POWER TARGET" slider only goes up to 132% I have seen people set it higher. Why is this?
> 2) Increasing the "GPU CLOCK OFFSET" by 1MHz does not change the Max Boost until you hit a certain *magic* number and then the Max Boost will jump up ~10+Mhz. The "MEM CLOCK OFFSET" actually works and changes with every +1MHz increment. Why is this?
> 3) My highest "FAN SPEED" is 85% and my lowest "FAN SPEED" is 30%. why is this limited? How do I increase fan speed over 85%? Will it damage the fan? The guide wants me to use 20% and 100% nodes at certain temperatures.
> 4) The Heaven 4.0 benchmark shows different Memory clocks compared to Precision X Performance log and it doesn't show Core clocks. Why is this?
> 5) The "VOLTAGE" window appears to do nothing and I can only max it to 1150mV instead of 1.1750V which the guide suggests. Why has NVIDIA limited this? Does the slider actually do anything?
> 5) When I increase "MEM CLOCK OFFSET" past a stable value my video card will show lower scores after ~1-3 Heaven runs. I have never seen memory related artifacts from a high memory clock in Heaven 4.0, just lower scores. Is this normal behaviour? As you can imagine running ~1-3 loops of Heaven for each "MEM CLOCK OFFSET" increase is very time consuming.
> 6) Its is 27 Degrees Celsius ambient temperature in my room and I notice my card goes over 70 Degrees Celsius during the day time up to a max of 73 Degrees Celsius while running Heaven. Meanwhile the fan is running at 85% and it down clocks the core 13MHz. At night time when ambient temperatures are lower my card hovers around 68 Degrees where is should be. Why is my card doing this? Did NVIDIA optimize this card only for room temperature?
> 
> Sorry for all the questions. Just quite a few oddities while following this guide. I am happy with the clocks I achieved.


1. Different cards have different power limits, and you can also change (increase) it by modding the BIOS.
2. The CPU clock works on 13 MHz steps, so you need to increase the offset enough to reach the next step.
3. You can change the fan limits by modding the BIOS.
4. Heaven and Valley often read weird clock speeds though usually memory is right. Not sure why yours wouldn't be showing core clock at all though.
5. You can only increase the voltage through BIOS mods. It was limited to protect the chips and power draw. The slider does nothing useful.
5. At some point the memory will start generating errors, which the built-in error correction has to correct, which causes lower performance. If you get reduced performance, you've gone too far with the memory overclock.
6. The cards will throttle the clock speed by 13 Mhz at 70C and again at 80C. That's normal.


----------



## EarlZ

Im running SLI and I've experienced several times for the bottom card to throttle even if its 60c. Dont really know why.


----------



## SIDWULF

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EarlZ*
> 
> Im running SLI and I've experienced several times for the bottom card to throttle even if its 60c. Dont really know why.


Post this and I will try to help you









A short, concise, explanation of your general problem.

Your card's model
Your Boost Clock
Your Max Boost (This is your Boost Clock + Kepler Boost)
Your Memory Clock
Your Power Target and Voltage setting

Your Heaven score and a screenshot of the graphs after that same Heaven run. If you were unable to finish Heaven then mention that instead.


----------



## subsven

1st time overclocker here, never really screwed with this stuff much. Pretty much followed the Short/Quick method and backed off at the slightest sign of instability. Running 2x EVGA 670 FTW's. Let me know what you guys think.


----------



## SIDWULF

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *subsven*


First of all...max Heaven out and then post scores.


----------



## subsven

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SIDWULF*
> 
> First of all...max Heaven out and then post scores.


I set everything as high as I could.


----------



## SIDWULF

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *subsven*
> 
> I set everything as high as I could.


Oh I thought it went to ultra...okay well install Heaven 4.0 and post scores


----------



## subsven

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SIDWULF*
> 
> Oh I thought it went to ultra...okay well install Heaven 4.0 and post scores


Updated the original post and added this:


----------



## SIDWULF

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *subsven*
> 
> Updated the original post and added this:


That's more like it! That seems about right for a dual card setup...anyone else know?


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SIDWULF*
> 
> That's more like it! That seems about right for a dual card setup...anyone else know?


I'm not so familiar with heaven scores. The valley thread makes it real easy to compare scores against hundreds of others, all tabulated and plotted in charts and things... so i like the valley benchmark for that.


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SIDWULF*
> 
> That's more like it! That seems about right for a dual card setup...anyone else know?


Not fimiliar with Heaven benchmark, but try checking out the official thread:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1235557/official-top-30-heaven-benchmark-4-0-scores

Update on my score: For whatever reason I couldn't even get 1150MHz stable, but I finally did it. My max core clock at stock was 1032MHz so I just subtracted that by 1150 to get a clock offset of +118. Don't know why I didn't think of that before.









1150 stable, goes up to 1163 when temps go above 58C:



Still in no way close to being a decent overclock, but 1150 is better than 1100!


----------



## SIDWULF

Trying to decide the best way to find stable overclocks as i'm finding that running Heaven once sometimes is not enough to encounter driver crashes or lower score due to memory errors...I just want to say screw it and play games I actually play and just wait for them to crash or discover a pattern. I notice Heaven stresses the GPU much more then most games I play. The real question is...which im trying to figure out...is does it matter if it's Heaven/Valley stable?


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SIDWULF*
> 
> Trying to decide the best way to find stable overclocks as i'm finding that running Heaven once sometimes is not enough to encounter driver crashes or lower score due to memory errors...I just want to say screw it and play games I actually play and just wait for them to crash or discover a pattern. I notice Heaven stresses the GPU much more then most games I play. The real question is...which im trying to figure out...is does it matter if it's Heaven/Valley stable?


I personally use BF3 as my 'stress tester' because I do sometimes find Heaven and Valley aren't enough proof to me I'm stable. I load up a 64 player match, and I really watch closely for any artifacts/oscillation happening. If you have BF3 I'd give it a go, but maybe some Nvidia cleans up their drivers. Many people think something is wrong with their overclock/the card itself because of those LSD effects a lot of people are still getting (including myself.)


----------



## BBEG

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *subsven*
> 
> Updated the original post and added this:


You should be able to push quite a bit harder.




These are my two 680s at +90 / +455 with vsync off. Vsync on crashed me, but dropping mem to +450 worked and got the same FPS and 1 point less in score. There are plenty of 670 SLI owners in the Heaven and Valley threads posting phenomenal scores.

Make sure you really dial in an aggressive memory offset. That seems to be one of the biggest difference-makers in both games and benchmarks. Also make sure your CPU is clocked high enough to eliminate it as a potential bottleneck; Karlitos and a couple others have shown gains in FPS from high to higher clocks (4.7 to 5.2 for example), so it's worth exploring your CPU's OC as well.

(By the way: stock coolers = jet turbines)


----------



## subsven

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BBEG*
> 
> You should be able to push quite a bit harder.
> 
> These are my two 680s at +90 / +455 with vsync off. Vsync on crashed me, but dropping mem to +450 worked and got the same FPS and 1 point less in score. There are plenty of 670 SLI owners in the Heaven and Valley threads posting phenomenal scores.
> 
> Make sure you really dial in an aggressive memory offset. That seems to be one of the biggest difference-makers in both games and benchmarks. Also make sure your CPU is clocked high enough to eliminate it as a potential bottleneck; Karlitos and a couple others have shown gains in FPS from high to higher clocks (4.7 to 5.2 for example), so it's worth exploring your CPU's OC as well.
> 
> (By the way: stock coolers = jet turbines)


Agree about the coolers. Check my temps though, definitely not stock coolers.







(My original post, on the previous page, has my Precision X screen, etc)

I am also running my i7 3770k at 4.8 Ghz @ 1.32v. Temps at that voltage push into the mid 90c range when running IBT, but stay in the low 80c range when using Prime 95. I'm more about absolute dead rock solid stability than absolute insane overclocks.

Also, I'm running a 3x 1920x1200 nVidia surround setup, I just limited it to one monitor for Heaven, but technically Surround was still enabled, so that may have hurt my score a bit.


----------



## SIDWULF

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> I personally use BF3 as my 'stress tester' because I do sometimes find Heaven and Valley aren't enough proof to me I'm stable. I load up a 64 player match, and I really watch closely for any artifacts/oscillation happening. If you have BF3 I'd give it a go, but maybe some Nvidia cleans up their drivers. Many people think something is wrong with their overclock/the card itself because of those LSD effects a lot of people are still getting (including myself.)


Lol BF3 seems to be the most stable! Im crashing in Metro 2033 and Crysis 2 at the moment @ 1267 MAX BOOST on the core...so im lowering it.


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SIDWULF*
> 
> Lol BF3 seems to be the most stable! Im crashing in Metro 2033 and Crysis 2 at the moment @ 1267 MAX BOOST on the core...so im lowering it.


Two games I forgot to mention lol. Metro and Crysis are also really intensive. Either way you will have a higher OC then me so good job! Being at 1163 sucks :/


----------



## SIDWULF

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> Two games I forgot to mention lol. Metro and Crysis are also really intensive. Either way you will have a higher OC then me so good job! Being at 1163 sucks :/


I had to lower it twice today :/ Crashing in CS: GO.. now im at +143 GPU CLOCK OFFSET = 1241 MAX BOOST...dont feel to bad









EDIT: That is what i was at originally when testing with Heaven...lol so mabye Heaven was right all along..


----------



## james990

Can someone explain why i cant get my GPU clock to around 1100MHz?

As soon as i go over +105 for the GPU clock i start crashing and seeing artifacts even when i purposely downclock the memory by -50.

I hear many people are getting the GTX 670's GPU to a stable OC of around 1100Mhz but i cant get anywhere near that :/


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *james990*
> 
> Can someone explain why i cant get my GPU clock to around 1100MHz?
> 
> As soon as i go over +105 for the GPU clock i start crashing and seeing artifacts even when i purposely downclock the memory by -50.
> 
> I hear many people are getting the GTX 670's GPU to a stable OC of around 1100Mhz but i cant get anywhere near that :/


The mem clock you have dialed in is very high, maybe instability there is giving you trouble. If you leave mem at a zero offset, can the gpu clock higher?


----------



## Rogrthat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> The mem clock you have dialed in is very high, maybe instability there is giving you trouble. If you leave mem at a zero offset, can the gpu clock higher?


His offsets are to high start low work up .....


----------



## james990

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rogrthat*
> 
> His offsets are to high start low work up .....


Sigh. Did no one read that even if i set my mem offset to -50 (below default) i still can't get any higher than 105 on my gpu offset :/
I followed the general rule of starting from scratch and working my way up in small increments. I didn't just set my clocks to a random high value.
Also a Mem clock of around +600 is quite stable and gives me a performance boost over lower values.
I also wanted to know what are the causes of me not being able to achieve those higher clocks. Could it be possible that the manufactured card i have is not the best out of the batch?


----------



## BBEG

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *james990*
> 
> Sigh. Did no one read that even if i set my mem offset to -50 (below default) i still can't get any higher than 105 on my gpu offset :/
> I followed the general rule of starting from scratch and working my way up in small increments. I didn't just set my clocks to a random high value.
> Also a Mem clock of around +600 is quite stable and gives me a performance boost over lower values.
> I also wanted to know what are the causes of me not being able to achieve those higher clocks. Could it be possible that the manufactured card i have is not the best out of the batch?


I actually have the same thing with my 680s. Neither wants to take an offset higher than 100-105 no matter the memory clock. This weekend I'm going to go back to one card and see what the max of each of them individually is and use those numbers instead of the sync feature in Precision.


----------



## james990

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BBEG*
> 
> I actually have the same thing with my 680s. Neither wants to take an offset higher than 100-105 no matter the memory clock. This weekend I'm going to go back to one card and see what the max of each of them individually is and use those numbers instead of the sync feature in Precision.


So you have the same situation as me where you are unable to to set your GPU offset to reach the average OC everyone else is getting?


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *james990*
> 
> Sigh. Did no one read that even if i set my mem offset to -50 (below default) i still can't get any higher than 105 on my gpu offset :/
> I followed the general rule of starting from scratch and working my way up in small increments. I didn't just set my clocks to a random high value.
> Also a Mem clock of around +600 is quite stable and gives me a performance boost over lower values.
> I also wanted to know what are the causes of me not being able to achieve those higher clocks. Could it be possible that the manufactured card i have is not the best out of the batch?


Oh... sorry, I thought you meant you lowered it to +575 instead of +625









As for why... seems like that's hard to really determine. There's a lot of luck involved when it comes to how far particular chips can exceed their design limits, the silicon lottery thing. Could be some other components (also subject to the silicon lottery) on your board are holding it back if not the GPU itself. I have no idea how to identify the culprit in detail.

With the boost clock showing in GPUZ of 1085, after kepler boost has kicked in, what do you end up with as a max boost? Just curious.

On the bright side, that's a pretty nice mem overclock. Maybe you can tell me why the mem on my card can't run those clocks


----------



## BBEG

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *james990*
> 
> So you have the same situation as me where you are unable to to set your GPU offset to reach the average OC everyone else is getting?


Basically yes. At full load with boost / Kepler boost / rainbows & unicorns, my vanilla 680 is hard to get over 1171 and my rev 1 Superclocked 1241. This is independent of my memory offset; messing with memory influences my max core clock offset by maybe 1-5 points. It looks like the average 680 is clocking easily above 1200, often 1250, so the fact that one of mine simply won't and the other is only 1240 is more than a little frustrating. I have not managed to figure out why or how to circumvent these limitations and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't paying attention to the Kingpin mods (unlocking voltage) to see if those are viable options.

However, what might be the case with our 670s and 680s is we might be seeing the 'average' clocks of people with unlocked voltages. It looks like Lightning, FTW, Windforce, Classified, and a couple other card series either have voltage unlocked natively and/or available BIOS mods that unlock the voltage. I know basically every single 680 in the top spots of our official benchmarks are Lightning editions so the 'average' clock I/we see might just be the average for Lightnings vs the average across the board.


----------



## michael-ocn

The stock bios on the evga 670 ftw card limits voltage to 1.175. From what i've read, max you can apply evem with an tweaked bios is 1.21'ish (or something like that). My card can complete benches at 1306 (i wouldn't call it game stable), but crashes real fast if i try to up it to 1319. The mem clock is a whole 'nuther story, gets sketchy at anything over 7000. Just how it panned out for this card. Flashing a different bios could probably kick it up, but then heat would be a problem so i'm not considering doing that myself.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BBEG*
> 
> Basically yes. At full load with boost / Kepler boost / rainbows & unicorns, my vanilla 680 is hard to get over 1171 and my rev 1 Superclocked 1241. This is independent of my memory offset; messing with memory influences my max core clock offset by maybe 1-5 points. It looks like the average 680 is clocking easily above 1200, often 1250, so the fact that one of mine simply won't and the other is only 1240 is more than a little frustrating. I have not managed to figure out why or how to circumvent these limitations and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't paying attention to the Kingpin mods (unlocking voltage) to see if those are viable options.
> 
> However, what might be the case with our 670s and 680s is we might be seeing the 'average' clocks of people with unlocked voltages. It looks like Lightning, FTW, Windforce, Classified, and a couple other card series either have voltage unlocked natively and/or available BIOS mods that unlock the voltage. I know basically every single 680 in the top spots of our official benchmarks are Lightning editions so the 'average' clock I/we see might just be the average for Lightnings vs the average across the board.


----------



## james990

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Oh... sorry, I thought you meant you lowered it to +575 instead of +625
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As for why... seems like that's hard to really determine. There's a lot of luck involved when it comes to how far particular chips can exceed their design limits, the silicon lottery thing. Could be some other components (also subject to the silicon lottery) on your board are holding it back if not the GPU itself. I have no idea how to identify the culprit in detail.
> 
> With the boost clock showing in GPUZ of 1085, after kepler boost has kicked in, what do you end up with as a max boost? Just curious.
> 
> On the bright side, that's a pretty nice mem overclock. Maybe you can tell me why the mem on my card can't run those clocks


All good, i suppose i didn't word it properly and yeah i heard about the silicon lottery thing and thats what i feel has happened. Seems as if i can't win in anything T.T
Anyways heres a screen of my monitored results when running @ 100%


As for the mem clock yeah i noticed i was able to get my Mem clock absurdly high, sadly we all know that the GPU clock is what gives the most performance boost but the high mem clock does some what compensate for my situation.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *james990*
> 
> All good, i suppose i didn't word it properly and yeah i heard about the silicon lottery thing and thats what i feel has happened. Seems as if i can't win in anything T.T
> Anyways heres a screen of my monitored results when running @ 100%
> 
> As for the mem clock yeah i noticed i was able to get my Mem clock absurdly high, sadly we all know that the GPU clock is what gives the most performance boost but the high mem clock does some what compensate for my situation.


You got nice low power consumption and temps with that card which is nice and 100+ mhz kepler boost which is nice too. I don't know much about bios hacking, but that might be an option to help kick up the core clock since it looks like there's some headroom on temps and power, if only the voltage nanny state police would bug off


----------



## james990

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> You got nice low power consumption and temps with that card which is nice and 100+ mhz kepler boost which is nice too. I don't know much about bios hacking, but that might be an option to help kick up the core clock since it looks like there's some headroom on temps and power, if only the voltage nanny state police would bug off


Ohh yeah i most definitely considered it, but i dont want to risk turning a $500+ card into a brick :/
I should be happy with this anyways and hopefully when i get a GTX 780 after a generation or two has passed i will be blessed with a well manufactured card :3


----------



## Chunin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *james990*


I guess i should call myself somewhat lucky. My card boosts to maximum of 1136 Mhz at +0 offset. But then again the highest stable OC is only + ~92 offset which gives 1228 Mhz.


----------



## BBEG

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> The stock bios on the evga 670 ftw card limits voltage to 1.175. From what i've read, max you can apply evem with an tweaked bios is 1.21'ish (or something like that). My card can complete benches at 1306 (i wouldn't call it game stable), but crashes real fast if i try to up it to 1319. The mem clock is a whole 'nuther story, gets sketchy at anything over 7000. Just how it panned out for this card. Flashing a different bios could probably kick it up, but then heat would be a problem so i'm not considering doing that myself.


It looks like the 680's max voltage is 1.21-ish, too. I'd honestly be happy to get that out of my 680s; the stock coolers are surprisingly good (when they're _ridiculously loud_) and I'm putting them under water in the very near future anyway. I'd love to be able to regularly push gpu clocks into the 1250-1300 range and memory even higher.


----------



## nleksan

If you're water cooling, then I see many more "pro's" than "cons" to using a 1.212v BIOS. As shown by the aforementioned Lightning's (which I can personally attest clock ridiculously high with voltage!), these cards are not so fragile as Nvidia wants us to believe.

Out of a sample of ~13-14 cards, I have found that the lower the ASIC, the worse the stock boosting, but the better the response to the 1.212v BIOS mod. I know, it could very well be coincidence and it is just anecdotal, but I say go for the v-mod; set your power percentage as high as possible and increase the voltage but don't mess with anything else. Then, see what it'll do.

Chances of fatally bricking your card are very, very, very low... Just read and follow the directions to a "T".


----------



## Harx

Sad







think my GTX 670 is dying on me. Getting artifcats within 5-30 min of playing and then the nVidia driver crashes just a few seconds after and throws me out to windows.Temps are fine around 60-62celsius it's running on stock, I have tried old & new drivers, updated BIOS to new one, still the same.


----------



## nickeyt

Hey guys,

I've done this guide several times throughout a course of a week, and I have yet to achieve scores anywhere close to what I've seen around the web. Also, my 670 seems to be very unstable naturally, if that's possible.

I see offsets like +100, +75, or +120, and I can barely get mine past 40. The only thing that has been successful is the memory offset, where I can be stable at around +560-600.

Another thing, my temperatures (with the fan curve) exceed 70 and even have been up to 81. I've set the curve higher and even removed the side of my tower, and they are still higher than I've even had them gaming. Anyone know what could be the problem?


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nickeyt*
> 
> Hey guys,
> 
> I've done this guide several times throughout a course of a week, and I have yet to achieve scores anywhere close to what I've seen around the web. Also, my 670 seems to be very unstable naturally, if that's possible.
> 
> I see offsets like +100, +75, or +120, and I can barely get mine past 40. The only thing that has been successful is the memory offset, where I can be stable at around +560-600.
> 
> Another thing, my temperatures (with the fan curve) exceed 70 and even have been up to 81. I've set the curve higher and even removed the side of my tower, and they are still higher than I've even had them gaming. Anyone know what could be the problem?


I'm on my iPhone so I can't see your rig, but what 670 do you have? Lot of the single fan cards that are blower exhaust will run a little warmer than something that something like a DirectCU II. And how is your case airflow? I personally have 2 x 140mm and my 670 DC2 never gets above 65C. Also consider since it is summer it will of course your components will be a little hotter than in the wintertime. How have your temps been in the past?


----------



## michael-ocn

Silicon lottery thing about what OC can be achieved. What did you dial in for the fan curve? The default settings don't even come close to keeping temps down under 70c on my card. Here's what i have for a curve that keeps gpu temps in the 60s provided i run up the case fans on my system.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nickeyt*
> 
> Hey guys,
> 
> I've done this guide several times throughout a course of a week, and I have yet to achieve scores anywhere close to what I've seen around the web. Also, my 670 seems to be very unstable naturally, if that's possible.
> 
> I see offsets like +100, +75, or +120, and I can barely get mine past 40. The only thing that has been successful is the memory offset, where I can be stable at around +560-600.
> 
> Another thing, my temperatures (with the fan curve) exceed 70 and even have been up to 81. I've set the curve higher and even removed the side of my tower, and they are still higher than I've even had them gaming. Anyone know what could be the problem?


----------



## nickeyt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> I'm on my iPhone so I can't see your rig, but what 670 do you have? Lot of the single fan cards that are blower exhaust will run a little warmer than something that something like a DirectCU II. And how is your case airflow? I personally have 2 x 140mm and my 670 DC2 never gets above 65C. Also consider since it is summer it will of course your components will be a little hotter than in the wintertime. How have your temps been in the past?


I have the MSI GTX 670, I have the HAF92 for my case.

I don't have my rig on here, because on new to the forums, but so I'll just post on here.

3750k ivy league I-5 OCed to 4.2ghz
8 gb ram
msi gtx 670
64gb SSD for OS
1tb hd
z77 extreme 4 mobo
LG blue-ray optical drive


----------



## nickeyt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Silicon lottery thing about what OC can be achieved. What did you dial in for the fan curve? The default settings don't even come close to keeping temps down under 70c on my card. Here's what i have for a curve that keeps gpu temps in the 60s provided i run up the case fans on my system.


I basically have that same exact curve, and my temperatures still exceeded well over 70 last night using this guide.







I'm going to run some more tests in a bit.


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nickeyt*
> 
> I have the MSI GTX 670, I have the HAF92 for my case.
> 
> I don't have my rig on here, because on new to the forums, but so I'll just post on here.
> 
> 3750k ivy league I-5 OCed to 4.2ghz
> 8 gb ram
> msi gtx 670
> 64gb SSD for OS
> 1tb hd
> z77 extreme 4 mobo
> LG blue-ray optical drive


The Twin Frozr edition or the single fan one like this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007Z574RU

If you have the Twin Frozr one something is definitely wrong. How is the airflow in your case though? How are your CPU temps on load? If both are hot then I'd guess it has to do with your airflow. And also what drivers are you on? I'd recommend 314.22 or going back as far to 306.97 just to eliminate drivers as an issue. I personally never use Driver Fusion and other programs like that to remove my old drivers, I follow this:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1150443/how-to-remove-your-nvidia-gpu-drivers

Report back with anything new you find.


----------



## nickeyt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> The Twin Frozr edition or the single fan one like this:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007Z574RU
> 
> If you have the Twin Frozr one something is definitely wrong. How is the airflow in your case though? How are your CPU temps on load? If both are hot then I'd guess it has to do with your airflow. And also what drivers are you on? I'd recommend 314.22 or going back as far to 306.97 just to eliminate drivers as an issue. I personally never use Driver Fusion and other programs like that to remove my old drivers, I follow this:
> 
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1150443/how-to-remove-your-nvidia-gpu-drivers
> 
> Report back with anything new you find.


It is the single fan. And my CPU temps are perfect. I've been able to hit 4.6ghz Under 50 C for hours on end. As for my case.. I'm not sure.

I did upgrade to 326 drivers, but on the 320 they were working fine. I might go back to 314.22 because that seems to be the most reliable.

But still, I have the issue of barely being able to OC. the highest Heaven Benchmark score I've gotten was 926, yet I see 1000+ all over the web haha ;__;


----------



## michael-ocn

My impression of the HAF cases are that they're pretty good and your cpu temps at high clocks kinda indicate that. What model exactly and how is it fitted with fans? Assuming the case is reasonably equipped with fans, it could be that the factory TIM job on the GPU is not so great. I've read posts where sometimes that happens, and after reseating the cooler with a new TIM application, temps are what they should be.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nickeyt*
> 
> It is the single fan. And my CPU temps are perfect. I've been able to hit 4.6ghz Under 50 C for hours on end. As for my case.. I'm not sure.
> 
> I did upgrade to 326 drivers, but on the 320 they were working fine. I might go back to 314.22 because that seems to be the most reliable.
> 
> But still, I have the issue of barely being able to OC. the highest Heaven Benchmark score I've gotten was 926, yet I see 1000+ all over the web haha ;__;


----------



## nickeyt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> My impression of the HAF cases are that they're pretty good and your cpu temps at high clocks kinda indicate that. What model exactly and how is it fitted with fans? Assuming the case is reasonably equipped with fans, it could be that the factory TIM job on the GPU is not so great. I've read posts where sometimes that happens, and after reseating the cooler with a new TIM application, temps are what they should be.


It's the Haf 912 I believe, and yeah, I mean as Zevo stated it could be drivers. because not too long ago I was able to keep in the 60s C during benchmarking.


----------



## ZeVo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nickeyt*
> 
> It's the Haf 912 I believe, and yeah, I mean as Zevo stated it could be drivers. because not too long ago I was able to keep in the 60s C during benchmarking.


I believe it was 320.00 drivers that some people reported having higher temps with. I was one of them. Mine jumped way too much, about 10C. I thought my card must be messed up, but did a Windows reinstall (just to make sure older drivers aren't conflicting) and installed 314.22 and temps were back to normal. If reinstalling older drivers doesn't work, I would really recommend doing a Windows reinstallation just to completely rule out drivers. 314.22 and 306.97 have been the only two drivers I use until Nvidia fixes some of their issues.


----------



## nickeyt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZeVo*
> 
> I believe it was 320.00 drivers that some people reported having higher temps with. I was one of them. Mine jumped way too much, about 10C. I thought my card must be messed up, but did a Windows reinstall (just to make sure older drivers aren't conflicting) and installed 314.22 and temps were back to normal. If reinstalling older drivers doesn't work, I would really recommend doing a Windows reinstallation just to completely rule out drivers. 314.22 and 306.97 have been the only two drivers I use until Nvidia fixes some of their issues.


Okay, thanks! I'm going to roll back right now!









Would it be too much to ask to help with overclocking? I'd really like to see my gtx 670 at it's full potential. If not I guess I'll keep trying and trying this guide!


----------



## SightUp

I am stable with 100+ memory clock and 300+ memory clock. I had Heaven run for 8 hours. 400+ memory clock crashed. I didn't increase power target what so ever. I want to keep the heat down as much as possible but I want a much boost as I can. Is it taking full advantage of the GPU with it overclocked or is there any throttling going on because I am not increasing the power target?


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SightUp*
> 
> I am stable with 100+ memory clock and 300+ memory clock. I had Heaven run for 8 hours. 400+ memory clock crashed. I didn't increase power target what so ever. I want to keep the heat down as much as possible but I want a much boost as I can. Is it taking full advantage of the GPU with it overclocked or is there any throttling going on because I am not increasing the power target?


A look at the performance log graphs in precx would tell you if your throttling due to heat or power constraints. I suspect that you are starting to bump into the power limit just based on the healthy offset numbers. You want to see a flat horizontal line for GPU clock. If it's ticking up and down coincident with hitting 70c or the power target, then it's throttling for one or the other reason. So long as you can keep the temps under 70c, go ahead and let it use more power (assuming the psu is not a limiting factor).

Just looked at your sig rig, nice case and psu, no reason not to crank it up


----------



## nleksan

I have not seen a single degree difference when running my 670 FTW 2GB with either 100% "Power Percentage" or 145% "Power Percentage", although I am water cooled so temperature differences are much harder to elicit (card runs between 23-32C; as in it never goes above 32C under 100% load!). I only gained 1C going from 1.175v to 1.212v as well as the bump from 1293Mhz Core/6998Mhz VRAM to 1438Mhz Core/7428Mhz VRAM courtesy of a custom BIOS. Seeing as how most people seem to get a 5-8C increase in temps using stock cooler with the 1.212v "mod", I would say that means that with air cooling, you won't see more than a 4-5C MAX increase from maxing out the power percentage slider.

Of course, that's speculation, but honestly there is NO downside to running at max power percent; in fact, it's one of if not the most beneficial things you can do for your card!


----------



## swansrule

thanks heaps SeanPoe for this guide. it helped me a lot as this is my first time overclocking. took me 5 and a half hours but nevertheless it was worth it! I have seen an fps increase for bf3 multiplayer already (used to get 75-90 fps now I get 105-120 fps). I have a gigabyte 2gb OC 670.

I was able to get, with max voltage (1150mV) and max power target (112%) a stable GPU clock offset +84MHz and mem clock offset of +755MHz.

I tried overcloking it using some other guides but I was really confused and worried if I was damaging it from the high clocks the card could do. but this guide assured me its safe









thanks again!

p.s: quick question. is there a way to make the voltage slider stay maxed when you re-open precision X. I know when you save the profile, the power target and both gpu and mem offsets save, but the voltage goes back to default. thanks. (also what is evga k-boost haha)



Also this is my heaven benchmark:


----------



## pc-illiterate

first, telling us offsets means nothing. every card has different boost clock levels. +84 could mean a max clock of 1150 for 1 person and 1267 for someone else. memory offset is different though. if its an evga card, more than likely the default mem clock is 3100mhz otherwise it will be 3000mhz. so, tell us your max core clock under full load.


----------



## swansrule

well according to the top right box in heaven it says my gpu clock is 1351mhz and mem clock is 3759.

then in precisionX it says the gpu clock went up to 1163 MHz and mem is the same 3759.

which one is telling the truth haha


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *swansrule*
> 
> well according to the top right box in heaven it says my gpu clock is 1351mhz and mem clock is 3759.
> 
> then in precisionX it says the gpu clock went up to 1163 MHz and mem is the same 3759.
> 
> which one is telling the truth haha


Heaven and Valley always misreport the clock speed. It's 1163.


----------



## swansrule

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Heaven and Valley always misreport the clock speed. It's 1163.


thanks for that


----------



## ZeVo

Yeah, ignore Valley and Benchmark readings. I just turn it off in the settings.

And about keeping voltage at max, sometimes it would go back to normal when I hit apply, so when I slide it up to max, I spam the apply button like 10 times. Exit the little voltage tuner window, click adjust voltage again and see if it stays. That's how I did it at least when it kept resetting.


----------



## BEARaj87

Hey, awesome guide, just finished my first overclock. I am hoping to get some thoughts on my first attempt:

Card: evga gtx 670 ftw

Boost clock: 1020 MHz --> 1098 MHz (78 offset)

Max boost: 1125 MHz

Memory clock: 3005 MHz --> 3479 MHz (475 offset)

Power and voltage left at default since changing these sliders seems to have no effect on my Heaven score (i noticed that my max power% is just over 90% on my stable overclock)

Heaven score of 1215, 48.5 FPS

Thanks again!


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BEARaj87*
> 
> Hey, awesome guide, just finished my first overclock. I am hoping to get some thoughts on my first attempt:
> 
> Card: evga gtx 670 ftw
> 
> Boost clock: 1020 MHz --> 1098 MHz (78 offset)
> 
> Max boost: 1125 MHz
> 
> Memory clock: 3005 MHz --> 3479 MHz (475 offset)
> 
> Power and voltage left at default since changing these sliders seems to have no effect on my Heaven score (i noticed that my max power% is just over 90% on my stable overclock)
> 
> Heaven score of 1215, 48.5 FPS
> 
> Thanks again!


Not a bad result, but your card's default clock values don't look per spec for the FTW card?

EVGA GeForce GTX 670 FTW
Part Number: 02G-P4-2678-KR
1006MHz Base Clock
*1084MHz Boost Clock*
2048MB GDDR5 Memory
*6208MHz Memory Clock --> 3104*
198.6GB/s Memory Bandwidth

Ah, maybe you have the FTW LE card!

EVGA GeForce GTX 670 FTW LE
Part Number: 02G-P4-2676-KR
941MHz Base Clock
*1019MHz Boost Clock*
105.4GT/s Texture Fill Rate
2048MB Memory
*6008MHz Memory Clock*
192.2GB/s Memory Bandwidth


----------



## everlast4291987

I would like to say thanks for the guide.


----------



## B3L13V3R

Looking forward to posting some results that don't heat up my office while testing and gaming once these lil puppies are on!

So pumped!!


----------



## michael-ocn

nice rig... well, your office will still get warmed up... just the cards won't so much... heat's still being produced, its just moving away from the gpu more better


----------



## B3L13V3R

Thanks!

On a sour note, the bridge is the wrong size. Turns out that if you want to use the two 16x PCI-E slots (who wouldn't), you need to have the TRIPLE parallel and use the terminal blank for the center. The good news is that at least I'm one step closer to moving to Tri-SLI.

So I'm selling this one since I opened it and can't return it. PM me if your interested...



Better note is that it's really hard to see how high the quality is on these BP fittings, unless your holding them in your hand.


----------



## COMBO2

http://gyazo.com/8aa8e95497e088cd0c380dbf174c4627
Any ideas? I'm not losing performance though...


----------



## jakethesnake438

Sooooooooo can we not flash 760 bios to 670?
For boost 2.0


----------



## error-id10t

You can flash a 770 onto your 670, at your own risk of course.


----------



## ZeVo

No way I'd do that. Sounds way too risky.

But if you did and it was successful would your 670 actually have GPU Boost 2.0? That's awesome.


----------



## B3L13V3R

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *error-id10t*
> 
> You can flash a 770 onto your 670, at your own risk of course.


No you can't... You may be able to flash a *680* to a 770... a 670 has a very different GPU and PCB arrangement.


----------



## error-id10t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *B3L13V3R*
> 
> No you can't... You may be able to flash a *680* to a 770... a 670 has a very different GPU and PCB arrangement.


Yes you can, I've done it but because it brakes SLI I don't use it nor have I any interest in Boost 2.


----------



## B3L13V3R

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *error-id10t*
> 
> Yes you can, I've done it but because it brakes SLI I don't use it nor have I any interest in Boost 2.


Well I don't mean to be argumentative on this, but seriously... Flashing a card and breaking the basic functionality of the features is not a successful flash. It's forced, and I suppose you can force many cards to flash to a "770" if the hardware were just close enough.

But you can hack almost anything given enough time and similarities with hardware / firmware families.


----------



## EarlZ

So i managed to recall on how to make a bios that will not throttle in regards to temps, I just needed to set the base clock, boost clock and boost limit all at the same speed and under the boost table tab set the max clock on '39' as the same as the other 3 clocks to lock it down. I have the voltages maxed out on both sliders at 1.212 but I am only getting 1.185 on the top card and 1.200 on the bottom card. This is with the power target raised to 150% I am not sure why this is happening.


----------



## Xboxmember1978

Use Precision X to manually lock in 1.212v. Just make sure you manually set the voltage for each card if in SLI


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xboxmember1978*
> 
> Use Precision X to manually lock in 1.212v. Just make sure you manually set the voltage for each card if in SLI


Both cards are flashed with the same bios, I am using MSI-AB and I do not see anyway to lock in voltages. The voltage slider does not work for my card. If I just make a bios with 1.212v both of them will go that high..


----------



## Xboxmember1978

That's why I said use Precision X. It will lock the voltages. MSI Afterburner sucks, and I have had the same issue


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xboxmember1978*
> 
> That's why I said use Precision X. It will lock the voltages. MSI Afterburner sucks, and I have had the same issue


Since it is a bios voltage mod, there should be no need for a 3rd party software approach for it to hit 1.212 the issue only occurs when I start to change the clock tables to prevent throttle, but I will give PreX a try later though I am not expecting any changes.


----------



## Xboxmember1978

When you edit the BIOS to the 1.212v it is not locking it in, it's basically "unlocking" it and the cards will use as much as they need to keeps the speeds stable, even if it's lower then what you set in the BIOS BUT Precision X will lock it in the second there is a load on the cards and keep it there. Report back with results.

P.S. With Precision X. Click on the Voltage tab and make sure you select the 1.212v and click apply, then select the other GPU and do the same thing. Set the program to apply setting at start up and reboot your system


----------



## EarlZ

1.212v now in place for both cards, the next issue is that the top card throttles down a lot even all the way down to 980Mhz which I find odd.


----------



## Xboxmember1978

So Precision X fixed the voltage issue?


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xboxmember1978*
> 
> So Precision X fixed the voltage issue?


Yes, it is now going at 1.212v

The next problem is that the top card has a very unstable clock rate from 980 to 1215, I dont have this kind of issue if I just use offset clocks.


----------



## Xboxmember1978

When you see it drop to 980mhz what is the GPU % load for the card?


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xboxmember1978*
> 
> When you see it drop to 980mhz what is the GPU % load for the card?


Still at the 90's, with offset GPU clocks it does not drop that low only to 1202 in certain scenes on heaven 4.0 and the total score is 2045 but with the modded bios it drops to 1917 due to the crazy GPU clock changes on card 1, card2 rarely reduces the clock.


----------



## Xboxmember1978

That's odd, it should be maxxed out with the usage in the 90's. The only time mine ever drops is when my GPU usage is below 50%

Try another program/game that will keep them into the 90's and see if it still drops


----------



## EarlZ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xboxmember1978*
> 
> That's odd, it should be maxxed out with the usage in the 90's. The only time mine ever drops is when my GPU usage is below 50%
> 
> Try another program/game that will keep them into the 90's and see if it still drops


I havent tried any other game or benchmark yet but I'll get back to this over on a weekend.


----------



## Ellips3

Great guide!
I am very curious though.

With my SLI Gigabyte GTX670 Windforce, without touching my voltage I was only able to get +58 on my Core Clock, but I was able to get +700 on my Memory Clock and successfully pass Heaven 4.0 with my first card hitting 67 degrees + play a round of Battlefield 3. I'm a bit worried, though. Is that too high?


----------



## EarlZ

Not really overclocking related but I've noticed at rare occasions in SLI that one of the 2 cards will sometimes run only at about 80% GPU usage but still at full clocks. Say for example with Heaven 4.0 both my cards are usually maxed out even from the very start of the benchmark but there are rare cases one of the cards get pegged at 80% tops. rebooting solves the issue though. I wonder whats causing this and how to prevent this..


----------



## Trichael Man

I was doing this for my evga 670 and I was able to start off with the initial settings (1100 boost clock, power target and voltage slider are at max) and I was able to pass Heaven with temps 66 and under. But after trying to bench my card for a few hours, I tried those default settings and it failed Heaven in just a few scenes. Now the temps are going over 70 even when i reduce the boost clock to +100. Is this normal? Or did i somehow burn my card out







Please help!


----------



## Circaflex

what are your guys thoughts on running two different clocks on each card? card 1 for me runs +115 on the core and +77 on mem card 2 runs +75 on the core and +90 on the mem. should i avg the two and run them the same or can i just run different clocks for different cards?


----------



## pc-illiterate

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/515193/sli-ing-cards-with-different-clocks/
have a read if you believe nvidia forum posters.


----------



## Ms91

Hi, i've been following this post for a while now and it actually helped me. It has been a while since i've bought my 670 TOP and i decided to test it, see how far my chip would go. After a few hours of testing and benchmarking i think i got to my 670 sweet spot. The max offset, without crashing , i could get was +79 for GPU Clock and +550 for memory clock. I was actually sad, i thought that my TOP could actually get near the 1300mhz GPU clock but it stopped at 1254mhz boost. Any ideas on how could i get better results? I've tested all the tweaks on Uniengine Valley, since Heaven was crashing my drivers. After the benchmark i would play battlefield 3 for like 15-20 minutes to see if the game crashed or if the temperatures would go to critical levels. My max temperature, while playing was 65ºC which i think is good. When it comes to crashing, unfortunately it crashed once on BF3 with a +79 gpu clock offset. Believe it or not, i lowered it to 75, since i think it's the max i could get out off my chip without crashing, for a whole game.
I figured that a TOP graphics card would let me OC more but i was mistaken.
Thank You.


----------



## B3L13V3R

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ms91*
> 
> Hi, i've been following this post for a while now and it actually helped me. It has been a while since i've bought my 670 TOP and i decided to test it, see how far my chip would go. After a few hours of testing and benchmarking i think i got to my 670 sweet spot. The max offset, without crashing , i could get was +79 for GPU Clock and +550 for memory clock. I was actually sad, i thought that my TOP could actually get near the 1300mhz GPU clock but it stopped at 1254mhz boost. Any ideas on how could i get better results? I've tested all the tweaks on Uniengine Valley, since Heaven was crashing my drivers. After the benchmark i would play battlefield 3 for like 15-20 minutes to see if the game crashed or if the temperatures would go to critical levels. My max temperature, while playing was 65ºC which i think is good. When it comes to crashing, unfortunately it crashed once on BF3 with a +79 gpu clock offset. Believe it or not, i lowered it to 75, since i think it's the max i could get out off my chip without crashing, for a whole game.
> I figured that a TOP graphics card would let me OC more but i was mistaken.
> Thank You.


How are you cooling the card?

And you cannot OC past the rated clocks of the card with BF3. That is, after speaking with EA support about my situation, the guy was clear that the game does not support OC for many cards. Which sucks because I use two 670 4GB cards to push three monitors. When these cards are OC'd, they perform amazing on BF3 Ultra settings. But not possible for me on these cards. I have to leave the stock clocks and notch down the FOV and AA...









Just use Crysis 3 or whatever other games you have that push the cards hard as well as the Unigine stuff. If it aint stable with Unigine, it-is-what-it-is...


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *B3L13V3R*
> 
> How are you cooling the card?
> 
> And you cannot OC past the rated clocks of the card with BF3. That is, after speaking with EA support about my situation, the guy was clear that the game does not support OC for many cards. Which sucks because I use two 670 4GB cards to push three monitors. When these cards are OC'd, they perform amazing on BF3 Ultra settings. But not possible for me on these cards. I have to leave the stock clocks and notch down the FOV and AA...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just use Crysis 3 or whatever other games you have that push the cards hard as well as the Unigine stuff. If it aint stable with Unigine, it-is-what-it-is...


Then that EA rep was an idiot. You can overclock just fine with BF3, you just need a stable overclock because it is hard on marginally stable ones.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Then that EA rep was an idiot. You can overclock just fine with BF3, you just need a stable overclock because it is hard on marginally stable ones.


exactly. 1300mhz on my non-top card playing bf3 without sli. NEVER crashes or locks up.
if you cant pass unigine heaven, you are not stable. hell, any crashing or lock ups and youre not stable. lower the clock.
did you do EVERYTHING the guide tells you to do?


----------



## Ms91

Hi, i'm using the fan curve recommended on the first page. The temperatures are fine, i just can't get pass the 1228mhz without boost or i'll crash at uniengine. I was able to OC the memory clock a little bit more, it's at +640 offset now and stable. I'm just sad because i thought that, being a TOP card, it would actually OC a little bit more. +75 offset for the GPU clock is not much, comparing with some of the values on this thread. Maybe it's because of the big factory OC or i just got unlucky with the chip i bought.
EDIT: I just tested on 3dmark11 and on a bunch of games my profile and it's stable. If i try to boost the gpu clock a little it'll crash.
Thank You.


----------



## pc-illiterate

its easier to pass 3dmark benches than unigine programs. i have proof of that and now you do also.

asus made top cards before anyone had a clue how kepler boost or even the kepler cores work. that is why most top cards were either rma'd or owners were told to update their bios so the core clock would be lowered.


----------



## Ms91

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> its easier to pass 3dmark benches than unigine programs. i have proof of that and now you do also.
> 
> asus made top cards before anyone had a clue how kepler boost or even the kepler cores work. that is why most top cards were either rma'd or owners were told to update their bios so the core clock would be lowered.


Hi, i was one of those who had to update the BIOS due to the unstable factory OC. I never really had any problems with it, and i remember my graphics card would go as high as 1267 if im not mistaken, but i started to read that it was recommended to update and so i did.
Before i save a profile i always run Uniengine first to see if it crashes or if it gives any error. Then i test it on a game, usually BF3. Only then i run 3dmark11 just to see the difference on the scores. The max i can get out of this TOP is +75 core and +640 memory. Its not bad, since they already have a good factory OC, but a little bit more OC wouldn't hurt.








Thank You.


----------



## B3L13V3R

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> exactly. 1300mhz on my non-top card playing bf3 without sli. NEVER crashes or locks up.
> if you cant pass unigine heaven, you are not stable. hell, any crashing or lock ups and youre not stable. lower the clock.
> did you do EVERYTHING the guide tells you to do?


Guys... seriously. I'm a 15 year build veteran. This issue stems from the software.

I did read everything... I never said in my post that it doesn't work for anyone. The system I have works PERFECTLY at the stated OC on every game I have in my libraries, over 150 individual games from the first Tomb Raider (glad Steam released that) to the most current TR, and Crysis 3 to RTCW.

Trust me, the ONLY clock BF3 is stable at "with my current hardware" (see sig rig) is the stock clocks on these cards. It's been a long and most frustrating process coming to this conclusion.

It's a known issue for thousands of players but no known solution outside of keeping some cards at stock clocks.

Besides, you should know better than to assume that because YOUR system works with some game or software under a given configuration, that everyone's system should be fine with the same config.

This stuff is as unique as our finger prints.

I'm def open to trying NEW steps but man, when one breaks down and calls support FOR A GAME??? That's desperate. SMH


----------



## pc-illiterate

anyone that says bf3 doesnt work with overclocked cards, your words retold to us, is an idiot. thousands and thousands play with overclocked cards. what do you have in common with the thousands of others who cant run overclocked 670s?
im not trying to be an ass but point me in the direction these others are. im too damned lazy to search for them myself.


----------



## B3L13V3R

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> anyone that says bf3 doesnt work with overclocked cards, your words retold to us, is an idiot. thousands and thousands play with overclocked cards. what do you have in common with the thousands of others who cant run overclocked 670s?
> im not trying to be an ass but point me in the direction these others are. im too damned lazy to search for them myself.


.

You sir have just made your argument irrelevant. Just like all the other youngsters who call those they don't know "idiots" on the Internet and then say some idiotic thing like "I'm not trying to be an ass"... And "I'm too lazy".

Well I wasn't lazy in searching for a solution and therefore know far more than you about this issue regarding BF3 and overclocked nVidia GPU's and based on your silly...

Wait... Why am I still typing??


----------



## Forceman

If the TOP card has too high a factory overclock and that's why it only runs stock clocks in BF3, then that is essentially the same as saying it has an unstable overclock. But that is specific to that card - there are many, many people running BF3 with overclocked cards, so to say BF3 doesn't work with anything but stock clocked cards is completely incorrect. There is no software reason why BF3 wouldn't work with an overclocked card.


----------



## qazzaq2004

I've just purchased an additional Asus GTX 670 DCu II for sli.

I've disable my original TOP to find hte max oc on this new card.

I have been experiencing very starange results.

I'm using MSI afterburner 3.0 beta 14.

When setting voltage to +100mv and power limit to 117% and giving the card any type of overclock above ~1240mhz (boost) the gpu usage drops below 100%. This results in scores lower than stock settings. Also, in some cases the voltage isn't increasing at all.

Very strange since my TOP hasn't had any of these issues and run 1336/3456.

Any ideas?


----------



## B3L13V3R

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> there are many, many people running BF3 with overclocked cards, so to say BF3 doesn't work with anything but stock clocked cards is completely incorrect. There is no software reason why BF3 wouldn't work with an overclocked card.


Sorry man, but that's just plain wrong.

The first wrong is that I never said _"BF3 doesn't work with anything but stock clocked cards"_.

The second wrong is that hardware needs the software to recognize the settings. Go to any config file of the most basic game, and you will see that without command line, hardware does nothing. That goes for ANY program and computer hardware.

My posts were clear, I re-read them to be sure. No point in retyping my points since they aren't being read anyways.


----------



## Forceman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *B3L13V3R*
> 
> Sorry man, but that's just plain wrong.
> 
> The first wrong is that I never said _"BF3 doesn't work with anything but stock clocked cards"_.
> 
> The second wrong is that hardware needs the software to recognize the settings. Go to any config file of the most basic game, and you will see that without command line, hardware does nothing. That goes for ANY program and computer hardware.
> 
> My posts were clear, I re-read them to be sure. No point in retyping my points since they aren't being read anyways.


Well, you said this:
Quote:


> And you cannot OC past the rated clocks of the card with BF3.


Which sure sounds like saying BF3 doesn't work with anything but stock clocks.

And I don't understand what you are trying to say in the second point. The software doesn't know or care what speed the card is running.


----------



## B3L13V3R

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forceman*
> 
> Well, you said this:
> 
> Which sure sounds like saying BF3 doesn't work with anything but stock clocks.
> 
> And I don't understand what you are trying to say in the second point. The software doesn't know or care what speed the card is running.


Well, you kinda should paste the rest of the statement;. Which was... "And you cannot OC past the rated clocks of the card with BF3. That is, after speaking with EA support about my situation, the guy was clear that the game does not support OC for *many* cards."

As for the software statements:

So... Beacuse of the POWER of the Internet... instead of ME typing out my thoughts on what I hope will not be wasted on someone "too lazy" to read more than a few lines... Here is an explaination that should allow anyone that can connect the dots to see how a video card and the game that borrows it's resources rely's on software layers to do it's job...
Quote:


> At the very basic level, plain text code eventually translates to 0's and 1's. These 0's and 1's represent low and high voltage levels. At this point, voltage levels control various circuits.
> 
> Think of a battery powered fan. Current provided by the battery powers an electric motor, which inside, uses electricity to create a emag-field which causes a shaft to rotate, which drives the fan-blades to spin. This is an example of how voltage can become physical.
> 
> You could build a "switch" that given the proper voltage, will eventually get the power supply to stop pulling current from the wall.
> 
> Obviously it's a lot more complicated than that, but that's the gist of it.
> 
> To make things easier, computer's are comprised with layers of abstraction.
> 
> At the very lowest level is voltages, circuits, transistors, and silicon. The next layer above hardware is the operating system. Rather than re-writing code for every type of hardware access over and over again, the OS manages the hardware, and provides "hooks" to use it. These hooks, or "interfaces" allow your code to have a common method to access disparate hardware. So using the interfaces provided by the OS, you can write your Application.
> 
> In each of these layers, there are sub layers, for example hardware might have firmware--a sort of low-level instruction set that dictates how the hardware should run, stored in EEPROM, and loaded when the drive is powered up. Another sublayer is how a higher level language like python provides a libraries to write network software without having to program directly to the raw socket api provided by the OS.
> 
> The OS handles most hardware/software interaction. Hardware vendors write "plugins/modules/drivers" which allows the OS to control their specific hardware.
> 
> So you would write a software Application that takes advantage of these OS provided interfaces to hardware. For example if you wanted to power down the computer, windows provides an interface to shutdown the computer. Your software would call this interface, and upon compilation/interpretation, turned into code that will call an interface for the OS. This interface, in turn will execute a well known set of instructions to instruct the computer to shut down. These instructions are 0's and 1's, low and high volts, which access a specific part of the computer that is designed to handle
> powerup/shutdown/standby, and given the right signal, will do just that.
> 
> Heisted from" http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3043048/how-does-software-code-actually-communicate-with-hardware


Since I'm already here:

Just one of about 100 links to complaints and "solutions" in regards to NVIDIA cards and BF3.

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/12/battlefield-3-crash-bug-solution/


----------



## B3L13V3R

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *qazzaq2004*
> 
> I've just purchased an additional Asus GTX 670 DCu II for sli.
> 
> I've disable my original TOP to find hte max oc on this new card.
> 
> I have been experiencing very starange results.
> 
> I'm using MSI afterburner 3.0 beta 14.
> 
> When setting voltage to +100mv and power limit to 117% and giving the card any type of overclock above ~1240mhz (boost) the gpu usage drops below 100%. This results in scores lower than stock settings. Also, in some cases the voltage isn't increasing at all.
> 
> Very strange since my TOP hasn't had any of these issues and run 1336/3456.
> 
> Any ideas?


Man I wish I knew... Would take some experimenting. With that, here are my settings for EVERY game outside of BF3 which as you see in previous posts will not work with any OC, not even 1 MHz change to anything. Crazy...



Hopefully this can lead you to something, but don't forget that my cards are under full water blocks. Here are the temps for reference.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *B3L13V3R*
> 
> And you cannot OC past the rated clocks of the card with BF3.


Sure you can if your card can run BF3 at the clocks you dial in. It's just a function of being stable enough to execute the code and process the data that BF3 loads it up with. The game is demanding in that regard is all. Of course if you call EA up with a gpu crashing bug to report, the first thing they will tell you is that if your card is OC'd... not their problem... they don't "support" that.

The 320.xx drivers introduced a bunch of BF3 crashers. Have all those been shaken out yet in the 326.xx beta? You might be butting heads with driver bugs.


----------



## B3L13V3R

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Sure you can if your card can run BF3 at the clocks you dial in. It's just a function of being stable enough to execute the code and process the data that BF3 loads it up with. The game is demanding in that regard is all. Of course if you call EA up with a gpu crashing bug to report, the first thing they will tell you is that if your card is OC'd... not their problem... they don't "support" that.
> 
> The 320.xx drivers introduced a bunch of BF3 crashers. Have all those been shaken out yet in the 326.xx beta? You might be butting heads with driver bugs.


Hopefully you read the other posts past the one you quoted.

Nope... still can't overclock with BF3 with any drivers. Not on ONE monitor and not on TREE monitors and not 1MHz change... not kidding. Plays perfect with stock clocks and that's all.

Every other major game title, not a problem at the previous post clocks.


----------



## twitchyzero

I heard the newest drives allow for OC by 1MHz like the good o days instead of 13MHz jumps, yes?


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *B3L13V3R*
> 
> Hopefully you read the other posts past the one you quoted.
> 
> Nope... still can't overclock with BF3 with any drivers. Not on ONE monitor and not on TREE monitors and not 1MHz change... not kidding. Plays perfect with stock clocks and that's all.
> 
> Every other major game title, not a problem at the previous post clocks.


I did read thru the other posts. I think its very odd that your card crashes so specifically only on that game if OC'd at all. I just wanted to clarify that BF3 is not looking at gpu clock rates and intentionally crashing if it sees a non-stock value.


----------



## Deders

Hi, was just wondering if anyone has found a way to raise the temperature at which these cards start to throttle? I've looked through all the bios settings that KeplarBiosTweaker shows me but I can't find anything. I noticed in reviews of the 760's that the limits are a lot higher.

I own an Asus 670 DirectCU II (non top edition) and have adjusted the voltage in the bios so that it reaches 1.187 in game, giving me what most people can get without overvolting (1202MHZ) I've also clocked the memory to just shy of 7GHz

In doing so I've found the temperature rises to 70c even with the fan at 100%, I'd like to be able to raise the limit so the fan doesn't have to be so high to get the maximum clockspeed.

Also in the pic below I can't be sure if the actual TDP at 100% is actually closer to 141W and at 122% is around 170W. It would tally with what I measure from the wall (-92% efficiency and minus what the rest of the system stressed shows, taking into account about 15W for idle.)


----------



## michael-ocn

Hi Deders,

First, welcome to OCN, I see this is your first post!

What kind of case do you have and how is it setup for airflow/ventilation? I think the asus cooler is supposed to be pretty effective so having the card getting that hot at max fans... makes me wonder about the case.

protip: make a sig and put some rig info in it









About the kbt tool... i don't know squat about that myself.


----------



## B3L13V3R

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> I did read thru the other posts. I think its very odd that your card crashes so specifically only on that game if OC'd at all. I just wanted to clarify that BF3 is not looking at gpu clock rates and intentionally crashing if it sees a non-stock value.


Cool... Yeah I'm not saying the game is using a pre-coded decision to crash or stop working.

I'm saying that the most likely cause is a limitation with the implementation of DX11 within the code. Potentially, the drivers that nVidia creates are the main culprit. I say that because of the frequency of the beta releases in recent months. Just a TON of problems for people (not really for me, outside of BF3) all over. It could be the mix of Asus non reference and the drivers. Who really could know besides Asus and nVidia? Even then, the team would need time to test this game specifically across many popular motherboards and combos. That ain't gonna happen.

I'm gonna sell these puppies if I get the same results under BF4.

One thing I haven't tried, mostly because of the principle if the use issue, is using DX10 instead. I think that's an option with the game.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *B3L13V3R*
> 
> I say that because of the frequency of the beta releases in recent months. Just a TON of problems for people (not really for me, outside of BF3) all over.


Nvidia sure has had a bad run of drivers recently. I think it was the convergence of the 700 series with boost2 + greater win8 adoption + win8.1 prerelease + the regular stream of new games that warrant driver optimizations and bug fixes... just too many things piling on at once. Hopefully they'll get most of the problems iron'd out with the 326 final release.


----------



## B3L13V3R

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Nvidia sure has had a bad run of drivers recently. I think it was the convergence of the 700 series with boost2 + greater win8 adoption + win8.1 prerelease + the regular stream of new games that warrant driver optimizations and bug fixes... just too many things piling on at once. Hopefully they'll get most of the problems iron'd out with the 326 final release.


All huge points and true.









But seriously annoying for people in my shoes, non-the-less.


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Hi Deders,
> 
> First, welcome to OCN, I see this is your first post!
> 
> What kind of case do you have and how is it setup for airflow/ventilation? I think the asus cooler is supposed to be pretty effective so having the card getting that hot at max fans... makes me wonder about the case.
> 
> protip: make a sig and put some rig info in it
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> About the kbt tool... i don't know squat about that myself.


Updated my sig, as you can now see I have a Nanoxia Deep Silence One which has plenty of space and good airflow, enough to mean that when running Furmark alongside Prime64, it only raises my CPU temp ever so slighly on a hot day (over just running Prime64 alone).

The case comes with 2 filtered intake front fans a single rear outake fan. I've added a side fan (filtered) to blow cool air over the graphics card which makes all the difference in modern games now i've overvolted. I chose to have it blowing inwards to ensure positive pressure so dust wouldn't be attracted through the non filtered holes in the case.

Before I overvolted the side fan wasn't neccesary at all and temps were well below 70c. I am thinking of re-applying paste, last time I used MX4 it dropped my CPU load temps by 10c over AS5 at load, it also made my old EVGA 560TI much quieter.

But I was hoping that someone might have found the secret to customising the throttle as Nvidia have seemed to have allowed significantly more heat before throttling on there 7xx series cards.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7103/nvidia-geforce-gtx-760-review/17

"With the temperature limit raised to 95C, the reference GTX 760 cooler reaches equilibrium at 85C under BF3 and 87C under FurMark. These temperatures are still easily within spec for GK104, but they're definitely starting to crawl up here. Meanwhile, though it's not directly measurable the impact of leakage is certainly making itself felt here. If we had cooler temperatures power consumption would at least be marginally lower."

Although after re-reading that it just might be better to apply better thermal paste.

Edit: actually, just cleaning the dust from the side filter has given me 66c @88% (fan speed) instead of 70c @100 in Metro: Last Light.


----------



## michael-ocn

Another lynnfield user... woohoo









I don't know about bios hacking to alter the thermal throttle points, maybe somebody else does.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deders*
> 
> Updated my sig, as you can now see I have a Nanoxia Deep Silence
> ...
> Edit: actually, just cleaning the dust from the side filter has given me 66c @88% (fan speed) instead of 70c @100 in Metro: Last Light.


That's a neat case. You probably already have, but if you haven't, removing any unused drive cages would probably help.

The silence oriented cases generally sacrifice airflow for that silence, some more than your nanoxia, but still it makes that trade off too. Your dust cleaning got some good improvements! If i were you, i'd experiment some to figure out how much of a difference increasing case airflow could make. Even simple experiments like running it with the case door pulled off to the side a little, or w/o the fan filters, or with the front door swung open might be telling. Depending on what happens, it might be a matter of upgrading some case fans to draw better thru your filtered intakes?


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Another lynnfield user... woohoo
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know about bios hacking to alter the thermal throttle points, maybe somebody else does.
> That's a neat case. You probably already have, but if you haven't, removing any unused drive cages would probably help.
> 
> The silence oriented cases generally sacrifice airflow for that silence, some more than your nanoxia, but still it makes that trade off too. Your dust cleaning got some good improvements! If i were you, i'd experiment some to figure out how much of a difference increasing case airflow could make. Even simple experiments like running it with the case door pulled off to the side a little, or w/o the fan filters, or with the front door swung open might be telling. Depending on what happens, it might be a matter of upgrading some case fans to draw better thru your filtered intakes?


I have removed one bay so the CPU has a clear path, but that's not a bad idea actually, It does allow you to place 2 drive cages on the bottom of the case, I might try that instead of having them stacked!

I've also had my eye on these Be-Quiet fans for a while. I bet they'd make a difference.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deders*
> 
> I have removed one bay so the CPU has a clear path, but that's not a bad idea actually, It does allow you to place 2 drive cages on the bottom of the case, I might try that instead of having them stacked!
> 
> I've also had my eye on these Be-Quiet fans for a while. I bet they'd make a difference.


I also removed the unused drawers from the cage that i do use to help with airflow (i just have a single drive in it). Those Be-Quiet fans sport some good specs! With filters, you definitely want static pressure and according to their website, those fans make some pressure. GentleTyphoon's are a static pressure favorite on ocn it seems. What kind of fans do you have know?


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> I also removed the unused drawers from the cage that i do use to help with airflow (i just have a single drive in it). Those Be-Quiet fans sport some good specs! With filters, you definitely want static pressure and according to their website, those fans make some pressure. GentleTyphoon's are a static pressure favorite on ocn it seems. What kind of fans do you have know?


Actually the ones I've got look ever so slightly better specced than the Be-quiet ones

"At 14.2 dB(a), the Nanoxia Deep Silence 120 mm (front) fans generate an airflow of 60.1 CFM and a static air pressure of 1.27 mm H2O.
Mounted at the back of the case is a 140 mm fan rotating at roughly 1100 RPM while generating an airflow of 68.5 CFM and a static pressure of 1.08 mm H2O at a noise level of 14.4 dB(a)."

What do you mean by static pressure? Never heard that term before.


----------



## gdubc

The static pressure measurement relates to how they perform under restriction, mounted to a rad for instance.


----------



## michael-ocn

Here's a pretty good review of your case which might give you some ideas about how to tweek it for better cooling.
http://www.overclockers.com/nanoxia-deep-silencer-1-case-review

A pair of AP14s in front would probably beat the stock nanoxia fans.
http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/051/d1225c12b1ap_detail.html
I'm thinking about replacing my silverstone FN121 intake fans with those to make it both cooler and quieter. Others to consider are noctua and noiseblocker fans, maybe gelid silent wings... lots and lots of fans out there.

You've got the option to have a bottom mounted intake fan too. I bet if you eliminated one of the drive cages, upgraded intake fans, and added a bottom fan, you'd be more than golden








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deders*
> 
> Actually the ones I've got look ever so slightly better specced than the Be-quiet ones
> 
> "At 14.2 dB(a), the Nanoxia Deep Silence 120 mm (front) fans generate an airflow of 60.1 CFM and a static air pressure of 1.27 mm H2O.
> Mounted at the back of the case is a 140 mm fan rotating at roughly 1100 RPM while generating an airflow of 68.5 CFM and a static pressure of 1.08 mm H2O at a noise level of 14.4 dB(a)."
> 
> What do you mean by static pressure? Never heard that term before.


You have to look at comparative reviews to know the truth of the matter with fans. The manufacturer specs are... questionable.

Static pressure is a measure of how hard they can push thru things, not just how much air moves in an open air environment. Radiators are a prime examples... but drive cages, filters, meshes, grills, wire clutter all are things that restrict free airflow too. I think its a measure of the pressure difference the fan can create from one side to the other.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gdubc*
> 
> The static pressure measurement relates to how they perform under restriction, mounted to a rad for instance.


----------



## master0068

Hey folks,

I just received my Zotac Geforce 670 AMP, which runs @ 1098/1188 Core/Boost and 6608mhz memory.

It's been crashing in Heaven, but I've noticed 2 things.

a) after crashing the highest reported speed is ALWAYS 70 degrees, so it's almost like the actual throttling is causing the crash (the crash is a black screen, where signal to the TV/Monitor is lost, then it regains signal, and seems to be fine or results in extremely slow FPS, where it seems to throttle down to 750mhz core clock).

b) dropping the core by 100mhz seems to run it stable

c) bumping up the max TDP to 115% and adding 50mv core doesn't seem to help with the crashing.

d) I'm getting the 305% TDP spikes, which apparently is "normal" but it seems not everyone gets them, so is it possibly indicative of an issue?

e) Other than the 305% TDP the average seems to cap off @ 98% or so

f) max mv seems to be 1.1175 according to GPUZ

Has anyone heard of a) being a known issue? where the throttling was causing crashes, or is this an insane coincidence?

Thanks,


----------



## michael-ocn

Do you have a fan profile set to help keep the card running cooler? Cooler temps can help stability and also prevent the thermal throttling. You should be set something up with either afterburer or precisionx.

Did you mean 1.175v? That's the max value allowed by stock bios.

The TDP power spikes happen to me too when the card crashes. Its not really using that much power.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *master0068*
> 
> Hey folks,
> 
> I just received my Zotac Geforce 670 AMP, which runs @ 1098/1188 Core/Boost and 6608mhz memory.
> 
> It's been crashing in Heaven, but I've noticed 2 things.
> 
> a) after crashing the highest reported speed is ALWAYS 70 degrees, so it's almost like the actual throttling is causing the crash (the crash is a black screen, where signal to the TV/Monitor is lost, then it regains signal, and seems to be fine or results in extremely slow FPS, where it seems to throttle down to 750mhz core clock).
> 
> b) dropping the core by 100mhz seems to run it stable
> 
> c) bumping up the max TDP to 115% and adding 50mv core doesn't seem to help with the crashing.
> 
> d) I'm getting the 305% TDP spikes, which apparently is "normal" but it seems not everyone gets them, so is it possibly indicative of an issue?
> 
> e) Other than the 305% TDP the average seems to cap off @ 98% or so
> 
> f) max mv seems to be 1.1175 according to GPUZ
> 
> Has anyone heard of a) being a known issue? where the throttling was causing crashes, or is this an insane coincidence?
> 
> Thanks,


----------



## master0068

Hey, thanks for the reply.

Yeah that's what I meant, 1.175v.

I didn't mess around with custom profiles, because I've noticed micro stuttering when software fan profiles were created, and 70degrees is pretty cool, so for the stock OC, it doesn't seem like it's necessary.

Plus, a card with factory OC, should run fine without crashing with stock fan profiles.

With that said, I'm trying to determine if I have to RMA, or if there's known workarounds/BIOS like the EVGA superclock cards that were going around.


----------



## michael-ocn

> Plus, a card with factory OC, should run fine without crashing with stock fan profiles.

You're saying the from-the-factory OC on your card craps out running heaven? Hmmm... you might have reason to RMA?

The default fan profile on the cards really is crap. Realistically, you've got to do something to bump up the fan speeds, especially with an overclocked card. 70c is where the first thermal throttle point is (for better or worse) and the stock fan profile does next to nothing to ensure the card stays under that temp. I've got mine setup to update once-per-second and haven't noticed stutter as a result of that. It can be setup to sample with a longer interval too. At 70c, my fan will run at just shy of 80% speed. The stock profile will maybe run the fan at 55% for those temps.

Before adjusting the fan profile on my card, it'd hit high 70s under load (iirc). Now it usually stays under 65.

Also, if you flash a custom BIOS, i think that probably voids the warranty.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *master0068*
> 
> Hey, thanks for the reply.
> 
> Yeah that's what I meant, 1.175v.
> 
> I didn't mess around with custom profiles, because I've noticed micro stuttering when software fan profiles were created, and 70degrees is pretty cool, so for the stock OC, it doesn't seem like it's necessary.
> 
> Plus, a card with factory OC, should run fine without crashing with stock fan profiles.
> 
> With that said, I'm trying to determine if I have to RMA, or if there's known workarounds/BIOS like the EVGA superclock cards that were going around.


----------



## master0068

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> > Plus, a card with factory OC, should run fine without crashing with stock fan profiles.
> 
> You're saying the from-the-factory OC on your card craps out running heaven? Hmmm... you might have reason to RMA?
> 
> The default fan profile on the cards really is crap. Realistically, you've got to do something to bump up the fan speeds, especially with an overclocked card. 70c is where the first thermal throttle point is (for better or worse) and the stock fan profile does next to nothing to ensure the card stays under that temp. I've got mine setup to update once-per-second and haven't noticed stutter as a result of that. It can be setup to sample with a longer interval too. At 70c, my fan will run at just shy of 80% speed. The stock profile will maybe run the fan at 55% for those temps.
> 
> Before adjusting the fan profile on my card, it'd hit high 70s under load (iirc). Now it usually stays under 65.
> 
> Also, if you flash a custom BIOS, i think that probably voids the warranty.


Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying







The Stock OC is crashing Heaven.

I just found it REALLY odd that everytime, the max recorded temp was 70 degrees (and the 300% TDP bug, raised questions) everytime it would crash.

I'm going to setup a custom profile, or just lock it down at 60% fan speed and see if it crashes.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *master0068*
> 
> Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Stock OC is crashing Heaven.
> 
> I just found it REALLY odd that everytime, the max recorded temp was 70 degrees (and the 300% TDP bug, raised questions) everytime it would crash.
> 
> I'm going to setup a custom profile, or just lock it down at 60% fan speed and see if it crashes.


run it with the fan max'd out just to see, 60% might not (probably won't) cut it.


----------



## master0068

Nope.

Fan running at 60% temps below 60 degrees, and although it seems it MAY have delayed the issue, it's still crashing. But now max recorded speed is 61 degrees, so, doesn't seem like an issue strictly related to Thermal throttling.

I can't say I'm really fond of this whole throttling/boost sht with this new generation. It's kind of a pain for those who actually want to overclock.

Looks like I'm going to have to RMA and pay for shipping back. That sucks.


----------



## master0068

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> run it with the fan max'd out just to see, 60% might not (probably won't) cut it.


This is a triple slot aftermarket cooling solution, with dual fans.









60% more than cuts it. I'm way way below reference temps.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *master0068*
> 
> This is a triple slot aftermarket cooling solution, with dual fans.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 60% more than cuts it. I'm way way below reference temps.


right... you have a killer cooler! i have a 680 blower style cooler on my 670.

another thing to wonder about are driver bugs. nvidia's had a bumpy road on that front recently it seems. i don't know if any of them affect the heaven bench that you're running. but if you can underclock by 100 and succeed... not a driver problem.


----------



## master0068

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> right... you have a killer cooler! i have a 680 blower style cooler on my 670.
> 
> another thing to wonder about are driver bugs. nvidia's had a bumpy road on that front recently it seems. i don't know if any of them affect the heaven bench that you're running. but if you can underclock by 100 and succeed... not a driver problem.


Yeah, good call.

I thought about this too, tried 3 different nvidia releases, clean installs every time, didn't help. That was my first step.

Downclocking 100mhz on core, like you stated, kind of proved that it wasn't a driver issue, which is actually kind of a dissapointment.









These are actually discontinued cards, so I'm not sure what Zotac is going to offer me as a replacement, because it's pretty clear this one isn't capable of running at the advertised specs (unless they have BIOS updates like the issues EVGA ran into).


----------



## michael-ocn

well if you can get a 770 AMP out of the deal... might not be so bad


----------



## master0068

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> well if you can get a 770 AMP out of the deal... might not be so bad


I like the way you think









That would definitely make up for the shipping cost to RMA, and make me a happy camper.

This 670 AMP is insanely fast, it benches faster than a 680. The 770 Stock, is a fair bit faster than the 680GTX, the memory speed increase is substantial, and makes a good difference in actual performance.

I sent them an email yesterday reaching out to them for support, or a possible BIOS update. I'm a big fan of the companies who send you a part and charge it to your Credit Card, BEFORE you actually ship yours out. PC downtime sucks.


----------



## kevindd992002

Is a score of 1982 in Unigine Valley normal for a Gigabyte GTX 670 WF3 that is overclocked to 1283.5MHz core clock and 3684MHz RAM clock?


----------



## michael-ocn

That's in the ballpark. You can compare scores here...
http://www.overclock.net/t/1360884/official-top-30-unigine-valley-benchmark-1-0
When comparing, realize that most of the higher scores were achieved with the tweeks shown in the OP that are worth a few fps. I have records of a couple runs with the core clock at 1280 and mem clock slightly lower than yours: 1983 and 2015.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Is a score of 1982 in Unigine Valley normal for a Gigabyte GTX 670 WF3 that is overclocked to 1283.5MHz core clock and 3684MHz RAM clock?


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> That's in the ballpark. You can compare scores here...
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1360884/official-top-30-unigine-valley-benchmark-1-0
> When comparing, realize that most of the higher scores were achieved with the tweeks shown in the OP that are worth a few fps. I have records of a couple runs with the core clock at 1280 and mem clock slightly lower than yours: 1983 and 2015.


Got it, thanks!


----------



## TiezZ BE

just bought a 2nd hand Asus gtx670, without oc afterburner reads a max core clock of 1045Mhz. Does this means that this card is the top version? Or is it because of the kepler boost?

The guy marketed it as the non top version.


----------



## michael-ocn

that's the kepler boost, a TOP card would probably boost to round about 1150+ right out the box
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TiezZ BE*
> 
> just bought a 2nd hand Asus gtx670, without oc afterburner reads a max core clock of 1045Mhz. Does this means that this card is the top version? Or is it because of the kepler boost?
> 
> The guy marketed it as the non top version.


----------



## Akira028

Hi there.

First of all, thanks for the excellent guide








I'm quite new to OCing modern cards, so this was really helpful.

I have a few questions though :

As advised in the guide, I maxed out the power limit and the voltage, but after many heaven runs, I noticed the voltage didn't have any effect on the results I had. Wether I max it to 1.175 or leave it to default 0.977 mV, it doesn't improve stability, and the GPU voltage remains at 0.977 mV when idle, and goes up to 1.175 mV under load. Is that a normal behaviour?

I run a watercooled EVGA GTX 670 FTW. Max temp is 57°C under heaven benchmark (I could have better temps though, but I like when the fans and pump remain quiet). I only worked on the GPU clock so far.
@stock, Maxboost is 1228.
I managed to have a stable 1320 maxboost (+95 offset). I had a 2074 score (did only one run at this setting then moved on and raised the offset). +125 offset gives a 1346 maxboost but heaven crashes








A +110 offset gives me a better maxboost (1333) 95% of a heaven run, with only 2 or 3 glitches to 1320 maxboost (2 seconds long max), thus giving a better score at the benchmark. The Score varies from a run to another (from 2066 to 2078, did 5 runs yesterday)
I haven't tested any other benchmark yet. Which setting should I keep? I'm looking for a stable 24/7 OC. Any advice?

If I follow the guide I should try to lower the offset, but the +110 offset setting gives me a better score, and a higher maxboost 95% of the run, that's why I wonder...

I also noticed that +105, +110, +115 and +120 GPU clock offset all result in a 1333MHz maxboost. +95 and +100 offset result in a 1320 maxboost. Is this normal? (maxboost reported by GPU-Z and PX, so I tend to think this is not a bug from PX)
What is the point then to try to get the highest offset, looking for every single MHz if the maxboost remains the same?

Sorry for my bad English


----------



## michael-ocn

Do you have room to up the power target to prevent the down clocking at your +110 offset? I'm assuming its down clocking for power consumption reasons. The FTW card lets you crank that way up to 145%. If it's downclockng for a different reason, do you know what that reason is? I'd try to get it to not downclock off the maxboost.

About what settings to keep... you'll probably have to run it in-game in a variety of games for hours on end to really know if its stable or not









> Is that a normal behaviour?
Yup, boost clock jump up/down by a multiple of 13.
I don't see any difference with the voltage control either?

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Akira028*
> 
> Hi there.
> 
> First of all, thanks for the excellent guide
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm quite new to OCing modern cards, so this was really helpful.
> 
> I have a few questions though :
> 
> As advised in the guide, I maxed out the power limit and the voltage, but after many heaven runs, I noticed the voltage didn't have any effect on the results I had. Wether I max it to 1.175 or leave it to default 0.977 mV, it doesn't improve stability, and the GPU voltage remains at 0.977 mV when idle, and goes up to 1.175 mV under load. Is that a normal behaviour?
> 
> I run a watercooled EVGA GTX 670 FTW. Max temp is 57°C under heaven benchmark (I could have better temps though, but I like when the fans and pump remain quiet). I only worked on the GPU clock so far.
> @stock, Maxboost is 1228.
> I managed to have a stable 1320 maxboost (+95 offset). I had a 2074 score (did only one run at this setting then moved on and raised the offset). +125 offset gives a 1346 maxboost but heaven crashes
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A +110 offset gives me a better maxboost (1333) 95% of a heaven run, with only 2 or 3 glitches to 1320 maxboost (2 seconds long max), thus giving a better score at the benchmark. The Score varies from a run to another (from 2066 to 2078, did 5 runs yesterday)
> I haven't tested any other benchmark yet. Which setting should I keep? I'm looking for a stable 24/7 OC. Any advice?
> 
> If I follow the guide I should try to lower the offset, but the +110 offset setting gives me a better score, and a higher maxboost 95% of the run, that's why I wonder...
> 
> I also noticed that +105, +110, +115 and +120 GPU clock offset all result in a 1333MHz maxboost. +95 and +100 offset result in a 1320 maxboost. Is this normal? (maxboost reported by GPU-Z and PX, so I tend to think this is not a bug from PX)
> What is the point then to try to get the highest offset, looking for every single MHz if the maxboost remains the same?
> 
> Sorry for my bad English


----------



## Akira028

Thanks for the reply









As I said in my previous post, I maxed up the power target, so it is already at 145%. In PX, the max power reported is 137%, so I guess I hit the power limit









Quote:


> I don't see any difference with the voltage control either?


Actually, I was cautious when I started OCing, so I raised the voltage only when I got stuck, but it made no difference









I am not chasing after a high score on Heaven, but with the +110 offset, my score is varying a bit... I'll run some more tests when I have time.
Quote:


> What is the point then to try to get the highest offset, looking for every single MHz if the maxboost remains the same?


Any thoughts about that?


----------



## Masterjester

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Akira028*
> 
> Thanks for the reply
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As I said in my previous post, I maxed up the power target, so it is already at 145%. In PX, the max power reported is 137%, so I guess I hit the power limit
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, I was cautious when I started OCing, so I raised the voltage only when I got stuck, but it made no difference
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am not chasing after a high score on Heaven, but with the +110 offset, my score is varying a bit... I'll run some more tests when I have time.
> Any thoughts about that?


Hi,

I (and some other people at a Finnish forum) seem to have encountered the same problem. All the adjustments are "nulled" and the values go to default whenever Heaven is started. I started wondering when I got the same result over and over again. I have a sample picture of this:


Please note that the "Apply" button on Precision-X is grayed out indicating that these settings should be applied already. GPU-Z values show that this is not true.

On another subject, should the Power Target and Voltage slider be adjusted back to their default values after the maximum stable overclock values have been found?


----------



## Deders

I found the offset does improve stability at higher clocks, but in order to break the maximum barrier I had to increase the voltage in the bios and carefully monitor it. Mine seems happy at 1.187.


----------



## pc-illiterate

jester, i will assume you didnt restart after the drivers crashed. you have to restart your pc after any driver crash. the driver restarting doesnt bring back full 3d clocks.


----------



## TiezZ BE

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> that's the kepler boost, a TOP card would probably boost to round about 1150+ right out the box


thx!


----------



## katemis

hello guys
i have a msi 670 PE/oc and with stock bios i have a max oc 1254~ with 1,17volt(i know my card sucks)max temp 62c with open window
i put kgb to mod my bios but the clock was high and i was had match throttle in valley..so i mod the bios with Kepler BIOS Tweaker v1.25
i put 1293gz max boost and 1200 with out boost,precision 150%.(same temp 62-63c)
but the card still throttles because the power in valley some times its over 150%.i lower the clock to 1254 (thats the max with stock bios)but the throttle is there and power still override power limit
what should i do?


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Here's a pretty good review of your case which might give you some ideas about how to tweek it for better cooling.
> http://www.overclockers.com/nanoxia-deep-silencer-1-case-review
> 
> A pair of AP14s in front would probably beat the stock nanoxia fans.
> http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/051/d1225c12b1ap_detail.html
> I'm thinking about replacing my silverstone FN121 intake fans with those to make it both cooler and quieter. Others to consider are noctua and noiseblocker fans, maybe gelid silent wings... lots and lots of fans out there.
> 
> You've got the option to have a bottom mounted intake fan too. I bet if you eliminated one of the drive cages, upgraded intake fans, and added a bottom fan, you'd be more than golden
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You have to look at comparative reviews to know the truth of the matter with fans. The manufacturer specs are... questionable.
> 
> Static pressure is a measure of how hard they can push thru things, not just how much air moves in an open air environment. Radiators are a prime examples... but drive cages, filters, meshes, grills, wire clutter all are things that restrict free airflow too. I think its a measure of the pressure difference the fan can create from one side to the other.


Great info, just had the chance to re-arrange my case and now that both drive cages are on the bottom I'm getting 61c in Metro last light with the GPU fans at 65% with the same fan profile. A huge improvement I think. My CPU is also about 5c cooler now that there is free space for 1.5 fans to blow instead of just half a fan. Thanks again!


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deders*
> 
> Great info, just had the chance to re-arrange my case and now that both drive cages are on the bottom I'm getting 61c in Metro last light with the GPU fans at 65% with the same fan profile. A huge improvement I think. My CPU is also about 5c cooler now that there is free space for 1.5 fans to blow instead of just half a fan. Thanks again!


Sweet, that has a much nicer sound to it


----------



## geronimo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *katemis*
> 
> hello guys
> i have a msi 670 PE/oc and with stock bios i have a max oc 1254~ with 1,17volt(i know my card sucks)max temp 62c with open window
> i put kgb to mod my bios but the clock was high and i was had match throttle in valley..so i mod the bios with Kepler BIOS Tweaker v1.25
> i put 1293gz max boost and 1200 with out boost,precision 150%.(same temp 62-63c)
> but the card still throttles because the power in valley some times its over 150%.i lower the clock to 1254 (thats the max with stock bios)but the throttle is there and power still override power limit
> what should i do?


hi. how did you manage to get power over ~105% in valley?
I use 1080p on full details and the only bench I managed to get it around ~107%, I believe, was in call of prypiat benchmark.

now I heard yesterday that in nvidia inspector, power slider works, not like in AB where it seems it doesn't. can anyone confirm this please?

I managed to get my PE card up to 1267mhz (+50 on the slider in AB). anything over that I crash heaven after a few minutes (temps under 65C).

can someone explain the aux voltage slider cos I still don't understand what exactly could I use that one for? can it help for core OC without core voltage upping that doesn't go over 1,175?

I'm using nvidia 314.22 driver and not planning to upgrade until all ridiculous problems are sorted with the newer drivers.

thanks.


----------



## pc-illiterate

The voltage slider will keep voltage at what you set when under load. That will be its minimum. It won't go over 1.175v either.


----------



## geronimo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> The voltage slider will keep voltage at what you set when under load. That will be its minimum. It won't go over 1.175v either.


hi, I don't understand what you mean?
in case of MSI PE the voltage is at 1,175 under load by default so basically the core voltage slider in AB is useless :-(. also power slider doesn't work in AB (v3.0)
I'm asking about the aux slider cos I still don't get it, could I achieve abit higher core clock using aux voltage slider.

thanks.


----------



## Akira028

Hi guys,

I'm working on my OC, but I can't determine what is the throttling caused by?

Here is a screenshot of what I achieved so far :

http://www.noelshack.com/2013-37-1379022682-131-600.png

But there is a tiny throttling, and a voltage drop at times.
Temps never go over 50 °C (46°C on that run), and max power is 137% :

http://www.noelshack.com/2013-37-1379023425-capture1.png

http://www.noelshack.com/2013-37-1379023432-capture2.png

Any idea?


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Akira028*
> 
> Hi guys,
> 
> I'm working on my OC, but I can't determine what is the throttling caused by?
> 
> Here is a screenshot of what I achieved so far :
> 
> http://www.noelshack.com/2013-37-1379022682-131-600.png
> 
> But there is a tiny throttling, and a voltage drop at times.
> Temps never go over 50 °C (46°C on that run), and max power is 137% :
> 
> http://www.noelshack.com/2013-37-1379023425-capture1.png
> 
> http://www.noelshack.com/2013-37-1379023432-capture2.png
> 
> Any idea?


Try using GPUz to determine what is limiting the card, hover the mouse over where it says perfcap reason for a key. I should be able to help you from there.


----------



## lilchronic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Akira028*
> 
> Hi guys,
> 
> I'm working on my OC, but I can't determine what is the throttling caused by?
> 
> Here is a screenshot of what I achieved so far :
> 
> http://www.noelshack.com/2013-37-1379022682-131-600.png
> 
> But there is a tiny throttling, and a voltage drop at times.
> Temps never go over 50 °C (46°C on that run), and max power is 137% :
> 
> http://www.noelshack.com/2013-37-1379023425-capture1.png
> 
> http://www.noelshack.com/2013-37-1379023432-capture2.png
> 
> Any idea?


i cant see your screen shots there too small
but it sounds like power throttling and there is not really anything to do about it

my first gpu throttles because of powerlimit while the other card power sits 10%-20% lower than my first card


but i only get major throttling in firestrike GPU test # 1 extreme presets


that card you have is just power hungry

...... are you using a modded bios with 1.212v?


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lilchronic*
> 
> i cant see your screen shots there too small
> but it sounds like power throttling and there is not really anything to do about it
> 
> my first gpu throttles because of powerlimit while the other card power sits 10%-20% lower than my first card
> 
> 
> but i only get major throttling in firestrike GPU test # 1 extreme presets
> 
> 
> that card you have is just power hungry
> 
> ...... are you using a modded bios with 1.212v?


Just wondering how long have you been using 1.212v? was tempted to try that with mine when 1.200 wasn't stable enough.


----------



## lilchronic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deders*
> 
> Just wondering how long have you been using 1.212v? was tempted to try that with mine when 1.200 wasn't stable enough.


almost a year now


----------



## Akira028

Thanks for the replies









I'm on stock bios right now, so max voltage is 1.175 V.

Here are the pics :










http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2013/37/1379022682-131-600.png



















As you can see on the second screenshot, the first hickup seems to match a little power spike, while the other hickups match a little voltage drop to 1.162 V

Temps are good, power is under 145% so what can cause this?

Thanks for your help, and sorry for my approximate English


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Akira028*
> 
> Thanks for the replies
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm on stock bios right now, so max voltage is 1.175 V.


Whoa... 1359 at stock voltage is really nice







Go evga ftw!

I think your version of precx can also report some reasons for throttling, see the parts about "reason flags" in here...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6973/nvidia-geforce-gtx-780-review/5
... what those flags look like on your very OC'd card might tell you something.


----------



## lilchronic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Akira028*
> 
> Thanks for the replies
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm on stock bios right now, so max voltage is 1.175 V.
> 
> Here are the pics :
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2013/37/1379022682-131-600.png
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As you can see on the second screenshot, the first hickup seems to match a little power spike, while the other hickups match a little voltage drop to 1.162 V
> 
> Temps are good, power is under 145% so what can cause this?
> 
> Thanks for your help, and sorry for my approximate English


whats the asic% on that card
found in gpu-z


----------



## Akira028

Thx,
I'll look into that and record the flags tonight.
I'll look for the ASIC quality too.

It's 2 PM right now for me, so I'll post more info in 10 hours or so


----------



## BorisTheBlade

Daayyumn 3 hours is a long time but i'm gonna give it anyways. I have an EVGA GTX 670 2gb, but since for BF4 recommends a 3GB card I'm gonna have to do some proper overclock. I have faily basic knowledge about hardware if I get stuck on something please help me







. Cheers


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Whoa... 1359 at stock voltage is really nice
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Go evga ftw!
> 
> I think your version of precx can also report some reasons for throttling, see the parts about "reason flags" in here...
> http://www.anandtech.com/show/6973/nvidia-geforce-gtx-780-review/5
> ... what those flags look like on your very OC'd card might tell you something.


I can only get 1280mhz on my 670 @ 1.1875v, however, I do get 7.4ghz memory so that's my huge gain there...

That a darn nice card, I'd be happy with 1359 even if it did throttle. Lol


----------



## lilchronic

My 75% asic card overclocks to 1298/3700mhz with sock voltage - with 1.212v it can run some benchmarks up to 1359mhz core clock

the 86.1% asic card overclocks to 1346/3650mhz with stock voltage and with 1.212v im able to clock up to 1398mhz in some benchmarks

@akira028 for asic % right click at the top of gpu-z im just curious too see the asic % on that card...










Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Whoa... 1359 at stock voltage is really nice
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Go evga ftw!
> 
> I think your version of precx can also report some reasons for throttling, see the parts about "reason flags" in here...
> http://www.anandtech.com/show/6973/nvidia-geforce-gtx-780-review/5
> ... what those flags look like on your very OC'd card might tell you something.


Quote:


> Temperature Limit - the card is at its temperature throttle point
> Power Limit - The card is at its global power/TDP limit
> Voltage Limit - The card is at its highest boost bin
> *Overvoltage Max Limit - The card's absolute maximum voltage limit ("if this were to occur, you'd be at risk of frying your GPU")*
> Utilization Limit - The current workload is not high enough that boosting is necessary


----------



## Logonz

Just did a overclock on my Gigabyte 670 GTX the one with 3 fans

Started with:
1122 Core Mhz
3004 Mem Mhz

Ended with:
1122 + 158 =1280 Core Mhz, (Max only core 160)
3004 + 690 = 3694 Mem Mhz, (Max only Mem 700)

This is ran with 112% Power Target and maxium voltage(1150 mV)

Pictures!

B stands for Before and A stands for After










GPU-Z Values


I feel like this is a success!
Raised the FPS in BF3 by a lot!
From low dips of 40 fps 50 avg 60-120 top
To low dips of 55 fps 65 avg 70-120 top


----------



## Akira028

OK, I read the ASIC quality and...

Tadaaa !

That's 88.1 %.
I didn't try higher on the memory clocks nor GPU core yet. I'll try that later in the week.


----------



## michael-ocn

So there is some validity to that number








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Akira028*
> 
> OK, I read the ASIC quality and...
> 
> Tadaaa !
> 
> That's 88.1 %.
> I didn't try higher on the memory clocks nor GPU core yet. I'll try that later in the week.


----------



## anubis1127

There seems to be, at least with Kepler cards.


----------



## pc-illiterate

dont think the numbers mean squat with kepler.
my gb 670 wf3 reads 88.1% and my max oc on core is 1242mhz and 6912mhz on mem. it might matter if i could get to at least 100% of the power limit. i dont think ive ever hit 90%. that means 22% more i cant get to and use.


----------



## anubis1127

Hm, interesting. 82.1% here and [email protected] stable up to 1333Mhz so far, I'm not sure about gaming / benchmarks, haven't run them yet.


----------



## lilchronic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> dont think the numbers mean squat with kepler.
> my gb 670 wf3 reads 88.1% and my max oc on core is 1242mhz and 6912mhz on mem. it might matter if i could get to at least 100% of the power limit. i dont think ive ever hit 90%. that means 22% more i cant get to and use.


mod that bios with 1.212v









also most WF3 670 ive seen get excelent mem overclocks but lack on the core clock


----------



## oldcat

May anyone help me with the question in my topic:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1427362/nvidia-inspector-vs-evga-precision-x/0_100

I have issues regarding my GTX670 and EVGA Precision.


----------



## katemis

strange thinks happening to my card???
with stock bios i can get 1254 core and 3400 memory and in valley it gets 105% max power
with mod bios 1254 core at 1.187volt 3350 memory i'm getting throttle because its over 150% max power in valley.even with stock memory speeds i have throttle.
how can this be possible i only add 0.010 volt????


----------



## oldcat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *oldcat*
> 
> May anyone help me with the question in my topic:
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1427362/nvidia-inspector-vs-evga-precision-x/0_100
> 
> I have issues regarding my GTX670 and EVGA Precision.


Hello? Anyone, please?


----------



## michael-ocn

sry... i've never used the nvidia inspector... i think that's an old deprecated tool, maybe having it installed conflicts with precisionx in some way... idk?


----------



## zakalwe

Thanks for th guide, OP.

Firstly, here are my specs:

_i5 [email protected]
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
Zotac 670 Amp Edition
8gigs Corsair Vengeance
z68x-ud5-b3 with latest bios
OCZ 90GB Agility 3 SSD
OCZ Zs Series 750w PSU
Windows 7 64

Latest drivers.
Clean windows install_

I have a few questions:

*1.* You say to set the fan profile high to prevent the card going over the 70 degrees throttle point during benchmark, but even if I set the profile to maximum my gpu gets to around 80 degrees toward the end of the test, spiking at 90 at the very end.

After testing the benchmark with most higher settings disabled and getting these temps, I was a little worried about trying with higher settings.

These were my results runnig heaven: 

Are my temps too high for the bench?
Does the score look acceptable?

-

Also, I'm playing a game called Warframe. Users with less or equal hardware than me report FPS of 60+ in all instances. I get dips to 40fps often. My gpu seems to sit at around 20-30% usage. I'm wondering if there's anything about my system that might be an obvious cause for this?

Will an overclock of my card help this?
Does that usage amount look correct?

-

Thanks for any help, a bit new to overclocking and would appreciate any advice here.


----------



## pc-illiterate

what case are you using? it may be an air flow problem causing your 670 to overheat.
do you have msi afterburner or prec-x installed? open up the monitor graph so we can see gpu temp, usage, core speed, and power %.
yes overclocking will help but you need to figure out why youre seeing only 20-30% usage. did you restart your pc after the drivers crashed?
you also should run default max settings in heaven to get(and for us to get) a real indication of your score.


----------



## zakalwe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> what case are you using? it may be an air flow problem causing your 670 to overheat.
> do you have msi afterburner or prec-x installed? open up the monitor graph so we can see gpu temp, usage, core speed, and power %.
> yes overclocking will help but you need to figure out why youre seeing only 20-30% usage. did you restart your pc after the drivers crashed?
> you also should run default max settings in heaven to get(and for us to get) a real indication of your score.


Airflow seems fine for all other apps, I rarely get temps over 70 degrees.

This is my case. Most games sit at around 50-60 degrees under load (BF3, Arkham City. Warframe). Some more intensive games can take it up to around 70-80 (The Witcher 2).

-

I opened the side and ointed a large desk fan at it to be sure, then ran Heaven on Extreme preset.





I didn't mention a driver crash, so not sure what you're referencing there...

Thanks!


----------



## zakalwe

Also, I ran Warframe and recorded the results.





This was in the most graphically intensive area of the game.

Does it tell you anything?

Thanks.


----------



## pc-illiterate

im assuming you use a form of vsync. is that right?
your usage in game maxes at 84%. power maxes at 77%. temp hits 75* and fans only at 45%. my only advice here is to turn up your fan to keep it cool.
during heaven your core clock drops when you hit 72*(?) but it doesnt drop again from what we can see. i honestly dont see a problem with the heaven benchmark usage monitor.
i always assume drivers crash as it happens naturally when you check overclocks on cards just as bsod happens with cpu overclocks. you would be surprised how many people come looking for help after not restarting and their card is acting 'under par.'
i played warframe while it was still in closed beta and do not remember actual usage on my asus while it was running at 1285. both gpus are watered so its kinda pointless for me to try to compare because of heat/no heat differences.
fill out your rig info in the system builder/rig builder and im sure you can get some real help. im sorry i cant really help much at all after all
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lilchronic*
> 
> mod that bios with 1.212v
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> also most WF3 670 ive seen get excelent mem overclocks but lack on the core clock


used the new gpu-z. damned gb wf3 reads an 88.3% while the asus reads 99.5%
i actually bought the wf3 as an open box. i had the card for 1 hour and knew why the guy returned it. with an hour and 45 minute drive each way i didnt want to return it. i run 64x csaa on 1080p so it works fine for me. eye candy out the wahzoo and great frames, 72mhz with v-sync and never dropping in anything i play.


----------



## michael-ocn

Its just too darn hot!
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *zakalwe*
> 
> This was in the most graphically intensive area of the game.
> Does it tell you anything?


Tells me that Warframe isn't really intensive or maybe its getting cpu bound? GPU usage no where near 99% and the clock rate is somewhat off its maxboost for lack of demand. Your temps are too high for this undemanding situation, albeit the fan isn't even trying to keep it cool here since is only running at 40% speed.

Valley really does put a load on and graphically intense games will too (try crysis some time). I see you've got the fan cranked up for that benchmark and temps are still thru the roof.

> I opened the side and pointed a large desk fan at it to be sure

Hmmm... what kind of card do you have make/model? You might want to pull the cooler off, clean the old tim, reapply new paste and reseat it? Its running way hotter than it should given the exrtra blast of cool air a "large desk fan" should provide and the clocks you're running at. I would do that first if i were you and see if/how much it helps and go from there.

For comparison, mine stays under 70c with my max OC that boosts up to 1306Mhz, and thats with the case door on and no fancy cooling involved (shrouded blower style).

Also what kind of fans do you have your coolermaster case setup with? It's got room for a 140 up front, 120 on the bottom, and something on the sidepanel. Which of those do you have what kind of fans in? After reseating, if temps are improved but still too high... i'd think about adding fans to the bottom or side positions (assuming you've got something decent up front already of course).

Nice 16.7" tall atx case btw, I have a 17" tall case too


----------



## zakalwe

OK, temp problem solved. There's an issue with the Zotac 670 Amp Edition where the heatsink isn't making tight enough contact with the board, and they apply far too much thermal paste. Removed heatsink, replaced paste, added a washer to each screw, and temps now on Heaven bench maxed at 63 degrees.

I'm now trying to overclock the card slightly.

I recorded a max core clock of 1202
My boost clock is 1176
That gives me a kepler boost value of only 26

Does that seem correct?

Thanks for your help!


----------



## pc-illiterate

thats a lot better








how high can you go is the question now


----------



## zakalwe

Does that kepler boost value look right, though? My core clock doesn't seem to go over 1202.... the boost value is only 26... the the guide, the author has 100.

Not really sure how these things work.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *zakalwe*
> 
> Does that kepler boost value look right, though? My core clock doesn't seem to go over 1202.... the boost value is only 26... the the guide, the author has 100.
> 
> Not really sure how these things work.


That varies from card to card, I'm not sure why/how all that works either. I can tell you what happens on my evga ftw card though for comparison.

At +95, boost=1180 and maxboost=1267, delta=87
At +0, boost=1085 and maxboost=1175, delta=90

I'm not sure how important that delta value is really. At the end of the day, seems to me that the only thing that matters is the maxboost value... and who cares how it got there.

The two things you have to look out for to allow the card to kepler boost as high as it can are temps and power usage. If power usage exceeds the 'target' or temps get too high, the clocks will throttle down. You've gotten temps taken care of. Next make sure the power target is pushed up enough to avoid throttling for that reason. I put that at 130% on my card which is more than enough for all my games. Some synthetic benchmakrs could exceed that limit, but no real game or engine benchmark i have does.


----------



## pc-illiterate

that looks fine to me. stop and look at boost values of other cards. it is no where near 1176. most only get close to 1000mhz and msi pe/oc and evga ftw sig2 get close to 1100mhz. the zotac amp is factory boosted to the ceiling. you have to find out where the roof is if you even want to go that high.
and i forgot, welcome to the forum


----------



## zakalwe

OK, thanks loads to both of you.

Working on the OC now.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Good luck and keep us posted.


----------



## zakalwe

So, it turns out the Zotac 670 Amp Edition comes almost clocked to its ceiling. I couldn't increase the memory at all without Heaven crashing, and only managed to squeeze +50mhz out of the core.

I followed the guide step for step, unless I'm missing something I think this is my limit.

Still, with the OC and the fix I made to the heatsink, I get stable 60fps everywhere in Warframe - before I was dropping to 30-40.


----------



## MADworld

When running the Heaven benchmark how straight must the GPU Clock graph in Precision X be? For ex. on +66 offset I get 3 of the smallest and shortest dips that the graph can show spread evenly out during the more demanding parts of the benchmark. On +60 offset I get no visible dips but if I hover my mouse along the graph I find one instant where it "does" dip but the time that it does dip I guess is so short that it isn't even visible without manually checking the values along the graph.

So how picky should I be, is one or both of these instances OK or should I clock even lower?

Watercooled Asus 670 GTX (short version)
Max temp. 49C
Power Target: 122%
Voltage: 1.15V set but hardware monitor says 1.175V

Also the guide talks about clocking in 1 MHz steps while Precision X can only clock in ~5 Mhz steps, so is there a setting for it or something?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *zakalwe*
> 
> So, it turns out the Zotac 670 Amp Edition comes almost clocked to its ceiling. I couldn't increase the memory at all without Heaven crashing, and only managed to squeeze +50mhz out of the core.
> 
> I followed the guide step for step, unless I'm missing something I think this is my limit.
> 
> Still, with the OC and the fix I made to the heatsink, I get stable 60fps everywhere in Warframe - before I was dropping to 30-40.


1226mhz core is on the good side of average. theres nothing wrong with it









Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MADworld*
> 
> When running the Heaven benchmark how straight must the GPU Clock graph in Precision X be? For ex. on +66 offset I get 3 of the smallest and shortest dips that the graph can show spread evenly out during the more demanding parts of the benchmark. On +60 offset I get no visible dips but if I hover my mouse along the graph I find one instant where it "does" dip but the time that it does dip I guess is so short that it isn't even visible without manually checking the values along the graph.
> 
> So how picky should I be, is one or both of these instances OK or should I clock even lower?
> 
> Watercooled Asus 670 GTX (short version)
> Max temp. 49C
> Power Target: 122%
> Voltage: 1.15V set but hardware monitor says 1.175V
> 
> Also the guide talks about clocking in 1 MHz steps while Precision X can only clock in ~5 Mhz steps, so is there a setting for it or something?


what other graph dips when the core clock dips? im saying you should be fine.
i dont think 'set' voltage means anything unless you use a modded bios. under load ive seen both 1.162v and 1.175v
i also wouldnt worry about clock 'steps'. the clocks go up and down in 13mhz increments so the 'extra 4mhz steps' shouldnt affect anything.


----------



## DeViLzzz

For me when I turned up power target to the 120% which my card is supposed to be able to handle with this software from EVGA my GTX 670 eventually was hitting low 70s with Heaven Benchmark whereas when I was using MSI Afterburner I never was hitting 70s and my card was under full load while running MSI Kombustor.

Power target has the card using more power and thus creating more heat ? Yes or no ?


----------



## Bootzonfire

On my particular card (windforce3) I also set/found my power target at 120-121%. That seems to be the sweet spot for me. I know I can move the power target higher but that would only produce crashes and artifacts in Heaven bench.
1241 MHz is my stable.
I gather that's pretty average.?


----------



## michael-ocn

The way i understand the "power target" is that it sets an uppor limit on power usage. If the card starts to need more power than the limit , it will throttle clocks to reduce consumption to stay under the limit. It only comes into play at high power usage levels. Since i've got ample headroom with my PSU, i've push the power target up to 135%, which is more than any game calls for, to avoid any throttling for this reason.

Upping the power target will allow the card to use more power more so than make the card use more power... at least thats how i understand it.


----------



## Bootzonfire

I don't think it has anything to do with the PSU. I have a Seasonic 860 plat which is overkill .
I believe its a combination of your particular overclock max, and what the game settings are at like ultra, and what the game is asking for..

I thought that I had found my power target sweet spot at 119%.
On precision x monitor Ive observed on the most demanding games (like the crysis series and others) 119-120% power usage with my overclock.
At some point in the game I noticed the power usage would spike to 121-122% and the game would crash. So I bumped up my power target a percentage to 120. 121% would be OK but 122,123,124, and so on just kept getting worse.
and I tried 135% and the card would artifact and crash hard within seconds.

I believe if I could over clock my card to 1300 MHz I surly would be able to take advantage of 135% power.


----------



## DeViLzzz

I have to say so far after using EVGA Precision X and following the guide set here for it having my temps go up by 10 to 20 degrees at times vs using MSI Afterburner is quite a shock. I don't see the reason I would keep on using the EVGA software and this guide cuz it hasn't helped me in the least. I will say I will give it one more go but still need the one question I asked answered and that is ....

When increasing Power Target to max recommended for card which for mine is 120 % does that extra 20% increase the temps quite a bit ? I am going to say yes based off what I have seen.


----------



## Bootzonfire

Maybe a little bit. I remember resetting my fan profile a little more aggressive. Under hard gaming and benching my card stays under 68. Never over 70. The windforce 3 is quieter than most cards too which is nice.

I played with afterburner initially but switched to evga x just because I preferred the interface. Just preference.
There maybe a difference in temp reporting between the 2 apps but I never noticed.


----------



## willll162904

Hi guys i just wanted to see how my evga 660ti overclock is.







i know this is the 670 forum but its what the 660ti club links.
ATM i am totally stable with my current settings but im not sure if i can do anything to get a higher overclock.
Currently my core overclocks to about 1175. i really really want to hit 1200+ for some reason :/.

Model: EVGA 660ti reference
boost clock: stock 1082
max boost: overclocked 1188
mem clock: 1752.8
power target: 123%
voltage maxes at 1.175 currently
Also i never go over 70C so i dont get any temp throttling. Also I get no artifacting even at higher clocks just heaven stops responding.


----------



## oldcat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xboxmember1978*
> 
> That's why I said use Precision X. It will lock the voltages. MSI Afterburner sucks, and I have had the same issue


Precision leads me to these issues:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1427362/nvidia-inspector-vs-evga-precision-x/0_100


----------



## pc-illiterate

i quit using pre-x and started using ab again. its more stable for me


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> i quit using pre-x and started using ab again. its more stable for me


I think they're pretty much the same thing deep down, just slightly different user interfaces on top of the same rivartuner codebase. Although, outside of the core feature set, ab does include a recording function that precx does not.


----------



## Wuest3nFuchs

hey !

What drivers u guys are using to overclock ,since the 326.80 @ stock is not good anymore...


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wuest3nFuchs*
> 
> hey !
> 
> What drivers u guys are using to overclock ,since the 326.80 @ stock is not good anymore...


331.40 latest one


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wuest3nFuchs*
> 
> hey !
> 
> What drivers u guys are using to overclock ,since the 326.80 @ stock is not good anymore...


The latest whql release, 327.23.

Before that 314.22. I skipped the 320.xx drivers (buggy for me). There's a brand new beta out now 331.40 (mostly for bf4 improvements), i'll wait on that one till its baked a little more.


----------



## Wuest3nFuchs

thank u for ur replies !


----------



## neoroy

Yup *314.22* is the best so far for overclocking GTX670 and GTX680 for me







it's stable in gaming while we were overclocking the card. With driver 326 series it just not stable in gaming although quite stable in benchmark. Gotta try newest 331.40 BETA now.


----------



## Alphas

I just bought two Asus GTX670 2GB to SLI. There are some problems getting the two cards to work in SLI, I tested each card individually to see if both are stable. First card runs stable to 1215 core with boost enabled and the second card runs stable at 1205 with boost enabled.

So to reset to the default 980 core and try to SLI both cards. Once I apply the SLI settings in nvidia control panel, it will randomly give this error with a BSOD with system thread exception not handled.

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x0000007e (0xffffffffc0000005, 0xfffff8036df8b8df, 0xfffff88002f6a908, 0xfffff88002f6a140). A dump was saved in: C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP. Report Id: 100213-7718-01.

Other times I will get this.
The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x0000000a (0xffffffffffffffd8, 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000, 0xfffff8027410c8df). A dump was saved in: C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP. Report Id: 100113-10640-01.

What can I do to stop this BSOD?

[Display]
Operating System: Windows 8 Pro with Media Center, 64-bit
DirectX version: 11.0
GPU processor: GeForce GTX 670
Driver version: 327.23
Direct3D API version: 11.1
Direct3D feature level: 11_0
CUDA Cores: 1344
Core clock: 915 MHz
Memory data rate: 6008 MHz
Memory interface: 256-bit
Memory bandwidth: 192.26 GB/s
Total available graphics memory: 4096 MB
Dedicated video memory: 2048 MB GDDR5
System video memory: 0 MB
Shared system memory: 2048 MB
Video BIOS version: 80.04.31.00.40
IRQ: 16
Bus: PCI Express x8 Gen3
Device Id: 10DE 1189 841A1043
Part Number: 2004 0005
GPU processor: GeForce GTX 670
Driver version: 327.23
Direct3D API version: 11.1
Direct3D feature level: 11_0
CUDA Cores: 1344
Core clock: 915 MHz
Memory data rate: 6008 MHz
Memory interface: 256-bit
Memory bandwidth: 192.26 GB/s
Total available graphics memory: 4096 MB
Dedicated video memory: 2048 MB GDDR5
System video memory: 0 MB
Shared system memory: 2048 MB
Video BIOS version: 80.04.31.00.40
IRQ: 17
Bus: PCI Express x8 Gen3
Device Id: 10DE 1189 841A1043
Part Number: 2004 0005


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alphas*
> 
> I just bought two Asus GTX670 2GB to SLI. There are some problems getting the two cards to work in SLI, I tested each card individually to see if both are stable. First card runs stable to 1215 core with boost enabled and the second card runs stable at 1205 with boost enabled.
> 
> So to reset to the default 980 core and try to SLI both cards. Once I apply the SLI settings in nvidia control panel, it will randomly give this error with a BSOD with system thread exception not handled.
> 
> The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x0000007e (0xffffffffc0000005, 0xfffff8036df8b8df, 0xfffff88002f6a908, 0xfffff88002f6a140). A dump was saved in: C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP. Report Id: 100213-7718-01.
> 
> Other times I will get this.
> The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x0000000a (0xffffffffffffffd8, 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000, 0xfffff8027410c8df). A dump was saved in: C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP. Report Id: 100113-10640-01.
> 
> What can I do to stop this BSOD?


Crashing sucks. The last universally accepted "pretty darn solid" driver version was 314.22. I'd be very tempted to revert to those drivers as an experiment. I don't do SLI so don't know the intricacies there other to notice that there are some.


----------



## Alphas

Any idea what is causing the crash??


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alphas*
> 
> Any idea what is causing the crash??


You said "it hurts after i click sli", so i'm guess something to do with running in SLI. You could analyze the crash dumps with a tool like windbg or bluescreenview to pull out some more details about where what crashed.


----------



## Dorikin

Thanks for this!

I have a one question though:

You say: "Temporarily increase both the Power Target and Voltage slider to their maximum value. This will minimize the throttling caused by going over the Power Target."

How Temporary is Temporarily? Do i ever set this back? I read this thing over and over, but could not find one spot that mentions setting this back etc... If i wish to have a constant overclock, so I have to keep these sliders up?


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dorikin*
> 
> If i wish to have a constant overclock, so I have to keep these sliders up?


power target, yes... voltage, no

I keep the power target on 130% so my 670 ftw never throttles for that reason. At 100%, it would hardly ever get a chance to run at its max boost. The voltage slider really doesn't do anything afaict.


----------



## Tom Brohanks

Anyone else find going over 1300mhz throws a wrench in stability yet staying at 129x is perfectly fine?


----------



## lilchronic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tom Brohanks*
> 
> Anyone else find going over 1300mhz throws a wrench in stability yet staying at 129x is perfectly fine?


nope, but going over 1400mhz is


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lilchronic*
> 
> nope, but going over 1400mhz is


actually, no one likes a show off


----------



## lilchronic

dont hate


----------



## pc-illiterate

i dont know why you edited it but, yes i know its ahelluva card you got







there arent very many cards of that caliber at all.
just smile as you accept the neck slap!


----------



## michael-ocn

I hit the wall at 1306 with stock voltage... can run valley and 3dmark11 at 1306, but never managed to run anything for more than a few seconds at 1319 Mhz.


----------



## Alphas

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alphas*
> 
> Any idea what is causing the crash??


finally found that it was the mobo that it causing the crashes, replace the asus mobo and it is now stable


----------



## nickeyt

I can't figure out what's wrong..

I can't even run a benchmark at +10 gpu offset and +100 mem offset. It crashes pretty quickly.

My max mem offset is around 600, and my max gpu offset is around 45, but I can't combine the two for whatever reason.


----------



## NicolasRush

I bought two MSI 670 GTX PE/OC cards last year in October. I've finally decided to take the time to sit down and OC them.








I figured that it would be easiest to OC them individually since each card has its own boost value. So I have one card in my system at the moment, and while attempting to OC it, I worked my way up to a 142 MHz offset that gave a total boost clock of 1320 MHz, but the voltage isn't constant.. it tends to dip every now and then, even when forcing it to be constant through MSI Afterburner.. With the dips in voltage there tends to be some oscillation in the clock frequency.. Is there anything that I can do to fix this? Or should I ignore the oscillations and just keep slowly working my way up from the 142 offset? I should make a note that no matter what offset I use on this card there is always some oscillation in the GPU clock frequency, but the score in Heaven and the fps keeps going up. It's not my temps b/c the card never exceeds 59C..







It seems like the higher I go in core clock offset the more dips in voltage there are.... which tends to create oscillations in the core clock frequency graph..







Any help would be *greatly* appreciated!


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NicolasRush*
> 
> I bought two MSI 670 GTX PE/OC cards last year in October. I've finally decided to take the time to sit down and OC them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I figured that it would be easiest to OC them individually since each card has its own boost value. So I have one card in my system at the moment, and while attempting to OC it, I worked my way up to a 142 MHz offset that gave a total boost clock of 1320 MHz, but the voltage isn't constant.. it tends to dip every now and then, even when forcing it to be constant through MSI Afterburner.. With the dips in voltage there tends to be some oscillation in the clock frequency.. Is there anything that I can do to fix this? Or should I ignore the oscillations and just keep slowly working my way up from the 142 offset? I should make a note that no matter what offset I use on this card there is always some oscillation in the GPU clock frequency, but the score in Heaven and the fps keeps going up. It's not my temps b/c the card never exceeds 59C..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It seems like the higher I go in core clock offset the more dips in voltage there are.... which tends to create oscillations in the core clock frequency graph..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Any help would be *greatly* appreciated!


Stock bios with stock voltage of 1.175v or are you working with a custom bios?

1320 is pretty rockin for stock voltage! Another reason the card can throttle down is excess power consumption. What does the power usage chart look like around the dips down in voltage and core clock? And what is your max power target? Running at such a high clock it's gotta be taking quite a bit of power.


----------



## NicolasRush

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Stock bios with stock voltage of 1.175v or are you working with a custom bios?
> 
> 1320 is pretty rockin for stock voltage! Another reason the card can throttle down is excess power consumption. What does the power usage chart look like around the dips down in voltage and core clock? And what is your max power target? Running at such a high clock it's gotta be taking quite a bit of power.


Yes, its still on stock bios with stock voltage!







I have the slider in MSI AB pumped out to 100mV as per what the OC guide suggested.. and the aux slider is set to +30mV.. I don't think that these afterburner values actually increase the maximum load value voltage from what I have read in this thread thus far.. The max power target is set at 114%... Is that what your referring to? After this run finishes I will edit this post and update with a pic!








Interestingly enough this card only has an ASIC of 74.0%...







I always wondered if that number had any play in the OC of a chip..









*Update*

It looks like that the core clock keeps fluctuating with dips in the GPU voltage... It is only throttling down to the lowest clock of 1280 throughout the entire heaven bench and it only happens when the voltage dropped to 1.137V... I'm not exactly sure why the voltage keeps dropping though.. I also just realized that when I was tinkering back and forth between EVGA Precision and MSI Afterburner before finally settling on Afterburner that I forgot to change the force voltage back to normal from within Precision.. I just re-installed Precision and removed the force voltage option in 2D mode.. That is why GPU utilization was showing as zero usage throughout the test..


----------



## michael-ocn

I see the wiggles. The "perfcap reason" display (if you can decrypt what its saying) in gpuz might help explain why the card is behaving that way.

I think you have a nice card, it runs at high clocks at stock voltage w/o using too much power. You're right to want to smooth out the clock and voltage lines and hopefully will find a way to do that. At some point you're going to want to give it some more mem clock too which will probably change power consumption again.

Out of curiosity, if you back off on the core oc such that it boosts to a max of 1306 instead of 1320... does it run flat or still wiggle?


----------



## NicolasRush

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> I see the wiggles. The "perfcap reason" display (if you can decrypt what its saying) in gpuz might help explain why the card is behaving that way.
> 
> I think you have a nice card, it runs at high clocks at stock voltage w/o using too much power. You're right to want to smooth out the clock and voltage lines and hopefully will find a way to do that. At some point you're going to want to give it some more mem clock too which will probably change power consumption again.
> 
> Out of curiosity, if you back off on the core oc such that it boosts to a max of 1306 instead of 1320... does it run flat or still wiggle?


It still wiggles... lowest was 1267 Mhz when voltage dropped to 1.137 V and power was at 103%... You think I should try to continue decreasing the core clock?


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NicolasRush*
> 
> It still wiggles... lowest was 1267 Mhz when voltage dropped to 1.137 V and power was at 103%... You think I should try to continue decreasing the core clock?


Not really / maybe only to help figure out why its downvolting/downclocking. It's dropping down 3 boost bins (3 x 13) for some reason? I'd definitely want to understand the reason for that... its not temps and not total power usage. Were you able to make sense out of the "perfcap reasaon" display?

I doubt this would change anything, but i kinda wonder if running only one monitoring tool makes any difference? In your screenshot, you've got gpuz and ab going. What if you just run afterburner? I've read that multiple tools forces the sw stack into a less efficient way of monitoring these values.


----------



## NicolasRush

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Not really / maybe only to help figure out why its downvolting/downclocking. It's dropping down 3 boost bins (3 x 13) for some reason? I'd definitely want to understand the reason for that... its not temps and not total power usage. Were you able to make sense out of the "perfcap reasaon" display?
> 
> I doubt this would change anything, but i kinda wonder if running only one monitoring tool makes any difference? In your screenshot, you've got gpuz and ab going. What if you just run afterburner? I've read that multiple tools forces the sw stack into a less efficient way of monitoring these values.


I will try it here with just the AB monitoring utility... As far as the perf cap reason.. it seems that the operating voltage and the reliability voltage are the key culprits... There is some total power limit on the monitor too tho.. Let me try just running AB and see if anything changes...

*Update*
Okay.. It seems to me that the culprit is the reliability voltage. The core clocks only drop when there is a decrease in voltage... Not once on the entire benchmark did the clock drop when it wasn't voltage related.. I'm not sure why I can't get constant voltage to the card.. Do you think that maybe if I flashed a custom bios to increase voltage output that it might increase the reliability voltage? Nothing improves when I tell AB to force voltage either.. It just keeps fluctuating..









Well I just tried forcing voltage again and this time there was a pretty significant improvement in the consistency during the beginning and the clock consistency also improved.. This just confirms my suspicions that the issue is indeed voltage related..


----------



## michael-ocn

Sorry, i don't know the details about vRel and what that really means or how you can get it to not trip on vRel?
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=184430
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1733130/gigabyte-gtx-670-power-target-stays-issue.html
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NicolasRush*
> 
> ... maybe if I flashed a custom bios ...


I think that kinda completely changes the game and is entirely dependent on just what bios you flash. I personally don't know squat about that, it voids warranties and such, and I kind of like overclocking w/o overvolting as a general strategy anyway to avoid damaging things. I take the path of least resistance







Plenty folks here do flash custom bios's with state of the art liquid cooled setups and go gangbusters with insane OCs.

However if vRel is tripping somehow due to noise or not enough juice from the PSU not sure a new bios would help with that? What kind of PSU do you have out of curiosity?


----------



## NicolasRush

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> However if vRel is tripping somehow due to noise or not enough juice from the PSU not sure a new bios would help with that? What kind of PSU do you have out of curiosity?


Currently I am using a NZXT 1200 watt HAL V2 power supply. It's brand new and I installed it last month. I was able to successfully OC my i2700K to 4.9 ghz with hyper threading enabled and keep relatively low temperatures with a 16 hour stability prime 95 test using 90% of all available ram. I would seriously doubt it to be a power-supply issue, but then again I have been wrong before.. lol..


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NicolasRush*
> 
> Currently I am using a NZXT 1200 watt HAL V2 power supply. It's brand new and I installed it last month. I was able to successfully OC my i2700K to 4.9 ghz with hyper threading enabled and keep relatively low temperatures with a 16 hour stability prime 95 test using 90% of all available ram. I would seriously doubt it to be a power-supply issue, but then again I have been wrong before.. lol..


Is it just Vrel you get or do you get VRel and VOp in CPUz? I both of these when my card is running optimally and nothing else is stopping the overclock. I think it implies that it is the highest you will get for that clockspeed/boost.


----------



## NicolasRush

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deders*
> 
> Is it just Vrel you get or do you get VRel and VOp in CPUz? I both of these when my card is running optimally and nothing else is stopping the overclock. I think it implies that it is the highest you will get for that clockspeed/boost.


It is a mixture of VRel and VOp... There seems to be quite a bit of power mixed in the graph as well. I don't understand why the voltage throttles though.. It seems to do it more frequently the higher in clock that I go, but the card overall is still pretty stable at 1320 boost.. It just has some small throttling occurring...


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NicolasRush*
> 
> It is a mixture of VRel and VOp... There seems to be quite a bit of power mixed in the graph as well. I don't understand why the voltage throttles though.. It seems to do it more frequently the higher in clock that I go, but the card overall is still pretty stable at 1320 boost.. It just has some small throttling occurring...


There always has to be something throttling it, otherwise it wouldn't stop. Unless it's application specific then mine generally just reads both VRel and VOp at the same time. If power is coming into play at all then increasing the power target should alleviate this.


----------



## NicolasRush

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deders*
> 
> There always has to be something throttling it, otherwise it wouldn't stop. Unless it's application specific then mine generally just reads both VRel and VOp at the same time. If power is coming into play at all then increasing the power target should alleviate this.


If you look on the previous page you can see a picture of the Perf Cap graph from GPUZ. It pretty much looks like that. Power Target is maxed out in Afterburner at 114%. Heaven has been running in the background at 1320 now for 15 minutes without a problem. The OSD shows voltage dips and boost clock dips. This is really frustrating not being able to figure out why its being throttled.. I do want to make a note that the throttling does seem to keep happening on the same exact scenes in Heaven.. Do you think there could be some underlying connection?


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NicolasRush*
> 
> If you look on the previous page you can see a picture of the Perf Cap graph from GPUZ. It pretty much looks like that. Power Target is maxed out in Afterburner at 114%. Heaven has been running in the background at 1320 now for 15 minutes without a problem. The OSD shows voltage dips and boost clock dips. This is really frustrating not being able to figure out why its being throttled.. I do want to make a note that the throttling does seem to keep happening on the same exact scenes in Heaven.. Do you think there could be some underlying connection?


I think it's just the power target max limiting it, not sure why Afterburner limits it to 114, seems a bit low. I'm amazed you are getting those clock speeds at only 114. Mine has a max power target of 122, I've seen some that will allow 145. I had to overvolt mine in the bios and set the power target via software just to get 1202MHz


----------



## NicolasRush

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deders*
> 
> I think it's just the power target max limiting it, not sure why Afterburner limits it to 114, seems a bit low. I'm amazed you are getting those clock speeds at only 114. Mine has a max power target of 122, I've seen some that will allow 145. I had to overvolt mine in the bios and set the power target via software just to get 1202MHz


Okay.. I came across this https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=164596.0 while I was looking around.. I think your right.. Tomorrow I'm going to try and flash this slightly modified msi 670 gtx pe bios and see by increasing the max power target to 120 if I can't get more stability. When I looked at the graph in Heaven I noticed that the voltage and clocks started fluctuating more as it got over 100%.


----------



## error-id10t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deders*
> 
> I think it's just the power target max limiting it, not sure why Afterburner limits it to 114, seems a bit low. I'm amazed you are getting those clock speeds at only 114. Mine has a max power target of 122, I've seen some that will allow 145. I had to overvolt mine in the bios and set the power target via software just to get 1202MHz


Remember that those are just % and don't reflect W in any form. His 100% might be 200W which would then make 114% = 228W. Much higher than your 122% which on a stock 670 would be ~173W.


----------



## Alphas

Any benchmarks to really stress test my GTX670 SLI? I ran unigine benchmark and NS2, they only at most use 35% of the TDP, how can I reach 100% of TDP?


----------



## Mozz13

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alphas*
> 
> Any benchmarks to really stress test my GTX670 SLI? I ran unigine benchmark and NS2, they only at most use 35% of the TDP, how can I reach 100% of TDP?


Furmark?


----------



## gunslinger0077

does a score of 875 in heaven with 1131 boost seem good or bad?


----------



## anubis1127

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gunslinger0077*
> 
> does a score of 875 in heaven with 1131 boost seem good or bad?


Heaven 4.0? What settings? I can try running one of my 670s @ 1131 and let you know the results.

[edit]

I assume it was Heaven 4.0, and max settings @ 1080p. Just did a run @ 1137Mhz / stock ram, and got 857, so I would say you're right on par.


----------



## gunslinger0077

Should this be my max overclock i can get because i start getting driver crashes for anything above


----------



## NicolasRush

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deders*
> 
> I think it's just the power target max limiting it, not sure why Afterburner limits it to 114, seems a bit low. I'm amazed you are getting those clock speeds at only 114. Mine has a max power target of 122, I've seen some that will allow 145. I had to overvolt mine in the bios and set the power target via software just to get 1202MHz


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *error-id10t*
> 
> Remember that those are just % and don't reflect W in any form. His 100% might be 200W which would then make 114% = 228W. Much higher than your 122% which on a stock 670 would be ~173W.


So I decided to flash the vga bios on my MSI 670 GTX PE / OC card and after this message I thought everything was going to be ok... Little did I know.. Apparently something went wrong during the flash because now my hardware is not being detected... This was a modified bios made for this card I don't understand what could have gone wrong... I've flashed vga bios before in the past and never had an issue.. I'm afraid I've bricked my card.







I figured that I could always just re-flash the card back to the stock bios if something went wrong, but I cannot do that now as it can't even be detected now. I've tried pulling the card restarting with integrated graphics, shutting down and re-installing the card and nothing has worked.. I can't believe this of all the luck..


----------



## error-id10t

Can you see it in BIOS or does it effectively show 0 as PCIe link speed (I think that's what it's called). If it's zero / empty there, it's gone.. but if it's there still you may have some possibilities getting the card back.


----------



## NicolasRush

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *error-id10t*
> 
> Can you see it in BIOS or does it effectively show 0 as PCIe link speed (I think that's what it's called). If it's zero / empty there, it's gone.. but if it's there still you may have some possibilities getting the card back.


I have the ASUS P8Z68 Pro/Gen 3 motherboard and I looked through all my settings and I double checked to be sure, but there was nothing that I remember seeing for PCIe link speed before in my bios... The PCIe speed is shared with the bus clock of the CPU and it is reading 100.00 MHz.. I don't think that I can say for sure.


----------



## error-id10t

It'll be different from this example but this is what I mean.. if that shows x0 then it's gone.

Also another suggestion though you may have tried it, I revived one of my cards by booting up but without the power connectors on the GPU on (so use iGPU and disconnect power to dGPU). It showed up as problematic of course but allowed me to flash a working vBIOS. Afterwards, putting power back in, all was fine.


----------



## NicolasRush

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *error-id10t*
> 
> It'll be different from this example but this is what I mean.. if that shows x0 then it's gone.
> 
> Also another suggestion though you may have tried it, I revived one of my cards by booting up but without the power connectors on the GPU on (so use iGPU and disconnect power to dGPU). It showed up as problematic of course but allowed me to flash a working vBIOS. Afterwards, putting power back in, all was fine.


Well.. That seemed like a good idea... I hadn't tried that until now, but when I load up nvflash it still is not detecting any Nvidia display adapters..







Thought about giving MSI Live Update a try and that didn't work either. Normally when you disconnect the power leads to the card an error message comes up, but I guess this card is just bricked.. its a shame too.. I'm pretty sure I'm just going to have to contact MSI tomorrow and tell them that I had a bad vga bios flash.. I just don't get it tho the modded stock bios seemed to work for the other guy and the modded bios was with stock voltages on an original MSI 670 GTX PE/OC bios everything matched up... *sigh* I thought that as long as it was the same MSI card bios that it should work with my card right? All I wanted to do was get past the voltage fluctuations and throttling by being able to raise the power limit from 114% to 125%.. I have another card that I can use in the mean time, but seriously I don't understand what went wrong when it said that the flash was successful...


----------



## Deders

Sorry to hear


----------



## michael-ocn

I'm sorry to see this happen too









I haven't done anything with vga bios flashing other than upgrade a factory bios to a newer version once using the integrated flash tool it can packaged in, so i'm not even a noob when it comes to custom bios's. I kinda wonder if the bios you flashed was not what it was advertised to be or if there are multiple hardware revisions of that card with different bios's? When you say "everything matched up", does that mean when you do a binary compare of your original to the custom, it's 99% the same binary with a few different values?

Unless any electronics on the card got borked, it does seem like there should be a way to reach across the PCIe bus and poke new values into the flashable memory chips on board so long as it's powered on. But I know about the flashing tools or how to drive them.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NicolasRush*
> 
> Well.. That seemed like a good idea... I hadn't tried that until now, but when I load up nvflash it still is not detecting any Nvidia display adapters..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thought about giving MSI Live Update a try and that didn't work either. Normally when you disconnect the power leads to the card an error message comes up, but I guess this card is just bricked.. its a shame too.. I'm pretty sure I'm just going to have to contact MSI tomorrow and tell them that I had a bad vga bios flash.. I just don't get it tho the modded stock bios seemed to work for the other guy and the modded bios was with stock voltages on an original MSI 670 GTX PE/OC bios everything matched up... *sigh* I thought that as long as it was the same MSI card bios that it should work with my card right? All I wanted to do was get past the voltage fluctuations and throttling by being able to raise the power limit from 114% to 125%.. I have another card that I can use in the mean time, but seriously I don't understand what went wrong when it said that the flash was successful...


----------



## rwarr

My 670 resets its clock back to default during gameplay or benchmarking, does that mean it's unstable? I'm guessing I need to decrease the core clock a bit?


----------



## Alphas

Any other methods to reach 100% TDp in stress test?


----------



## NicolasRush

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> I'm sorry to see this happen too
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I haven't done anything with vga bios flashing other than upgrade a factory bios to a newer version once using the integrated flash tool it can packaged in, so i'm not even a noob when it comes to custom bios's. I kinda wonder if the bios you flashed was not what it was advertised to be or if there are multiple hardware revisions of that card with different bios's? When you say "everything matched up", does that mean when you do a binary compare of your original to the custom, it's 99% the same binary with a few different values?
> 
> Unless any electronics on the card got borked, it does seem like there should be a way to reach across the PCIe bus and poke new values into the flashable memory chips on board so long as it's powered on. But I know about the flashing tools or how to drive them.


I'm pretty sure there are multiple versions of the card all with different VGA bios.


----------



## gunslinger0077

does this seem like a good overclock. boost offset at +42 and mem offset at 204.
Also do power target and voltage need to be left at max?


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gunslinger0077*
> 
> does this seem like a good overclock. boost offset at +42 and mem offset at 204.
> Also do power target and voltage need to be left at max?


You're in the zone for heaven 4. Here's what i get on that bench with 1267/6840 clocks...
FPS: 38.5
Score: 969
Min FPS: 22.3
Max FPS: 88.4

I try to leave the power target up above what i would expect any game would actually hit. Crysis3 really puts a load on though and w/o adaptive vsync on, it can actually exceed my 130% pwr target. Voltage controls don't seem to have any affect afaict with my stock bios.


----------



## Xtreme512

Hey, nvidia just changed the name of GTX 670 to 760 Ti.. Does that mean we can flash 760 Ti firmware to our 670 cards for new techs like boost 2.0? Or do we just have to wait for companies do that?


----------



## anubis1127

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xtreme512*
> 
> Hey, nvidia just changed the name of GTX 670 to 760 Ti.. Does that mean we can flash 760 Ti firmware to our 670 cards for new techs like boost 2.0? Or do we just have to wait for companies do that?


Should be able to whenever you can a 760ti bios. I'm using a 770 bios on my 670s for boost 2.0.


----------



## Xtreme512

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *anubis1127*
> 
> Should be able to whenever you can a 760ti bios. I'm using a 770 bios on my 670s for boost 2.0.


are you serious? Where can I find a 700 series bios for my zotac 670 ?


----------



## Xtreme512

guys whats the lowest value that I can mod my fan speed?


----------



## ramnesia

everytime a new driver get released should I do the overclock again?


----------



## Alphas

Waiting for 760Ti to be released and it is time to reflash the bios to get GPU boost 2.0


----------



## NicolasRush

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *anubis1127*
> 
> Should be able to whenever you can a 760ti bios. I'm using a 770 bios on my 670s for boost 2.0.


What 670s do you have and what 770 bios are you using?


----------



## anubis1127

Galaxy GC 2gb cards. The Asus dcII one.

Its not flawless, but they don't throttle over 71c.

Basically the main thing it lacks is power % control. It doesn't seem to be that big of an issue since the board TDP for the 770 dcII is higher than a 670 stock bios with the power limit maxed.


----------



## NicolasRush

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *anubis1127*
> 
> Galaxy GC 2gb cards. The Asus dcII one.
> 
> Its not flawless, but they don't throttle over 71c.
> 
> Basically the main thing it lacks is power % control. It doesn't seem to be that big of an issue since the board TDP for the 770 dcII is higher than a 670 stock bios with the power limit maxed.


I'd like to run boost 2.0 on my cards, but last time I tried flashing an identical bios from another same card just with a different bios version string, it bricked the card (successful flash was verified)... I can edit and flash the stock bios all day long without any issues. Any other suggestions? I have 2x MSI 670 gtx pe/oc.


----------



## ramnesia

Is this a good overclock?

asus gtx 670 direct CU2
1110 Boost clock
1176 Max boost ( gpu clock offset +130)
1735 memory (mem clock offset +465)
114.5% power target with 1.175 voltage slider

benchmark.JPG 74k .JPG file


hardware monitor.JPG 131k .JPG file


if i increase my gpu clock offset to +131 i will get max boost of 1193, heaven finishes witout crashing but games like farcry 3 and tomb raider crash.


----------



## anubis1127

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NicolasRush*
> 
> I'd like to run boost 2.0 on my cards, but last time I tried flashing an identical bios from another same card just with a different bios version string, it bricked the card (successful flash was verified)... I can edit and flash the stock bios all day long without any issues. Any other suggestions? I have 2x MSI 670 gtx pe/oc.


That card has a custom PCB AFAIK, so you're probably limited to the MSI PE bios. One of the folders I know on OCN has one of those 670 PE cards, and he runs his at 1360 with +100mV on the stock bios in AB. He has a MCW82 watercooling the core though. His card is also 91% ASIC, that helps.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ramnesia*
> 
> Is this a good overclock?
> 
> asus gtx 670 direct CU2
> 1110 Boost clock
> 1176 Max boost ( gpu clock offset +130)
> 1735 memory (mem clock offset +465)
> 114.5% power target with 1.175 voltage slider
> 
> benchmark.JPG 74k .JPG file
> 
> 
> hardware monitor.JPG 131k .JPG file
> 
> 
> if i increase my gpu clock offset to +131 i will get max boost of 1193, heaven finishes witout crashing but games like farcry 3 and tomb raider crash.


Not the best I've seen, that is actually the stock boost, 1176, of my slower Galaxy 670 GC card, my faster GC card is stock boost at 1215Mhz.

What is your stock boost, and ASIC quality %, just out of curiosity?


----------



## ramnesia

stock boost clock is 980

and out of curiosity what is the ASIC quality %?


----------



## anubis1127

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ramnesia*
> 
> stock boost clock is 980
> 
> and out of curiosity what is the ASIC quality %?


Is that the stock boost you actually see while running benchmarks / gaming? The "Kepler boost" so to speak.

You can check it in GPU-Z like this:



ASIC = Application Specific Integrated Circuits. Basically every chip in your PC. The GPU-Z ASIC quality can sometimes be an indicator of OC potential / how much voltage is required. At least I have found that on Kepler, other GPUs, GCN ones, and fermi cards it doesn't seem to indicate much.


----------



## ramnesia

ok first ASIC is 68.8%
stock boost or the kepler boost is 1058.


----------



## anubis1127

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ramnesia*
> 
> ok first ASIC is 68.8%
> stock boost or the kepler boost is 1058.


Ah, well then your results aren't terrible then, 100mhz over your stock kepler boost is pretty descent. Just a shame the card starts out that low. Your memory OC probably helps out quite a bit when it comes to real world gaming.


----------



## ramnesia

all right then thank you.
do u think if i want to increase the overclock i should mod the bios? or thats the max i can get.


----------



## anubis1127

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ramnesia*
> 
> all right then thank you.
> do u think if i want to increase the overclock i should mod the bios? or thats the max i can get.


You could probably squeeze a bit more core, and memory clock out of modding the bios to go up to 1.21V. Probably get you stable around 1200-1215 Mhz on the core I would guess.


----------



## Gero2013

noob question here, does OCing my 670 void warranty?

(I couldn't find this in the first page)


----------



## anubis1127

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gero2013*
> 
> noob question here, does OCing my 670 void warranty?
> 
> (I couldn't find this in the first page)


It shouldn't. What brand 670 is it?

If you flash modded vbios, that could void your warranty depending on the company because you are overvolting it.


----------



## Gero2013

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *anubis1127*
> 
> It shouldn't. What brand 670 is it?
> 
> If you flash modded vbios, that _could_ void your warranty depending on the company because you are overvolting it.


It's Gigabyte Windforce 3X 670 OC 2GB


----------



## anubis1127

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gero2013*
> 
> It's Gigabyte Windforce 3X 670 OC 2GB


Normal software overclocking should not void the warranty.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *anubis1127*
> 
> It shouldn't. What brand 670 is it?
> 
> If you flash modded vbios, that _could_ void your warranty depending on the company because you are overvolting it.


Yeah but you could always just flash back your original vBIOS and the manufacturer will never know.


----------



## roberts91

Hey guys I know this is a GTX 670 overclocking guide. But I have a EVGA GTX 680 4GB just the standard no special cooling or factory overclock. Upon getting Battlefield 4 I wanted to overclock my GPU to see how much more performance I could get out of it. Using Precision X v4.2.1 and of course using the latest nvidia drivers 331.65 (ones recommeded for Battlefield 4). Using Heaven Benchmark 4.0 with max settings @ a my native monitor resolution of 2560x1600. I could only offset the core clock by 120. It was stable at 125 but when I was happy with the core clock I added 100 to the memory offset clock.

While running heaven benchmark the computer didn't crash, nor did heaven. The screen flickered off for a split second and came back on like nothing happened. But something did happen my static 75% fan throttled down to default and of course it started overheating and in turn the card started throttling the clocks.

Considering people are easily able to get +300 memory offset with these cards I figured the core clock offset of 125 wasn't actually stable so I took it down a notch to 120. Had to restart Precision X because it wouldn't let me adjust the fan control again. Ran the benchmark again and it was stable. Then like it suggested in the guide I upped the memory offset by another 100 for a total of 200. The fan throttled again the same thing that happened before so like suggested in the guide I bumped the memory offset by 20. It was stable no problems.

While I am happy with the results it seems compared to others my overclock is relatively poor.

Is their anything that I can do or in terms of overclocking do I just have a really bad card?

The temp never goes above 66c after a full run in heaven. So heating is not an issue according to gpu-z it doesn't hit the power limit wall.Or maybe a corsair TX750 watt power supply can't handle that much of an overclock? I dunno. I do know people SLI all the time on a 750watt power supply heck I even use to run 2 HD 5850's in crossfire on the same power supply and before that on a 650watt power supply. So it would seem kinda dumb to assume a single relatively small overclock on a GTX 680 was too much for a 750watt power supply.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for the guide btw!

edit: wow after a quick test on bf4 my fps went from 50-60 and dropping to 45 sometimes to 90-100 to dropping to 85 sometimes (testing in the same place). Is that really a 30fps increase? If so that's crazy what this card can do. if only I could get it to work right and overclock some more.


----------



## anubis1127

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *roberts91*
> 
> Hey guys I know this is a GTX 670 overclocking guide. But I have a EVGA GTX 680 4GB just the standard no special cooling or factory overclock. Upon getting Battlefield 4 I wanted to overclock my GPU to see how much more performance I could get out of it. Using Precision X v4.2.1 and of course using the latest nvidia drivers 331.65 (ones recommeded for Battlefield 4). Using Heaven Benchmark 4.0 with max settings @ a my native monitor resolution of 2560x1600. I could only offset the core clock by 120. It was stable at 125 but when I was happy with the core clock I added 100 to the memory offset clock.
> 
> While running heaven benchmark the computer didn't crash, nor did heaven. The screen flickered off for a split second and came back on like nothing happened. But something did happen my static 75% fan throttled down to default and of course it started overheating and in turn the card started throttling the clocks.
> 
> Considering people are easily able to get +300 memory offset with these cards I figured the core clock offset of 125 wasn't actually stable so I took it down a notch to 120. Had to restart Precision X because it wouldn't let me adjust the fan control again. Ran the benchmark again and it was stable. Then like it suggested in the guide I upped the memory offset by another 100 for a total of 200. The fan throttled again the same thing that happened before so like suggested in the guide I bumped the memory offset by 20. It was stable no problems.
> 
> While I am happy with the results it seems compared to others my overclock is relatively poor.
> 
> Is their anything that I can do or in terms of overclocking do I just have a really bad card?
> 
> The temp never goes above 66c after a full run in heaven. So heating is not an issue according to gpu-z it doesn't hit the power limit wall.Or maybe a corsair TX750 watt power supply can't handle that much of an overclock? I dunno. I do know people SLI all the time on a 750watt power supply heck I even use to run 2 HD 5850's in crossfire on the same power supply and before that on a 650watt power supply. So it would seem kinda dumb to assume a single relatively small overclock on a GTX 680 was too much for a 750watt power supply.
> 
> Any suggestions?
> 
> Thanks for the guide btw!


PSU should not be an issue. I have my 680 Lightning @ 1.28V on a 620W Seasonic Bronze PSU, and it folds all day, 24/7, and it's completely stable @ 1326Mhz.

Kepler core clocks increase in increments of 13Mhz, so seeing a difference between 120, and 125 is rather odd to me, unless somewhere in between there is where you card goes +13, or -13Mhz.

What is the ASIC Quality % in GPU-Z, and stock Kepler boost clock on your card? What clock does +120Mhz get you to?

Only +200Mhz is rather strange / low to me. I would start by OCing the RAM on your card considering it is a 4GB card, and if BF4 is anything like BF3, it will go Oooo, there is vram available, let me allocate that right quick. GK104s are a bit memory bandwidth starved, so clocking the RAM as high as you can is actually pretty useful for getting better performance in games. Once you get the max memory clocks, then increase in increments of +13Mhz until you find a good clock speed you are happy with.

[edit]

Oh, and you can always overvolt the card a bit, you'll need to flash a modded bios for that. You don't necessarily have to go full bore at 1.21V (max on reference BIOS), I've seen good results on my 670s even at just 1.187, or 1.195V


----------



## roberts91

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *anubis1127*
> 
> PSU should not be an issue. I have my 680 Lightning @ 1.28V on a 620W Seasonic Bronze PSU, and it folds all day, 24/7, and it's completely stable @ 1326Mhz.
> 
> Kepler core clocks increase in increments of 13Mhz, so seeing a difference between 120, and 125 is rather odd to me, unless somewhere in between there is where you card goes +13, or -13Mhz.
> 
> What is the ASIC Quality % in GPU-Z, and stock Kepler boost clock on your card? What clock does +120Mhz get you to?
> 
> Only +200Mhz is rather strange / low to me. I would start by OCing the RAM on your card considering it is a 4GB card, and if BF4 is anything like BF3, it will go Oooo, there is vram available, let me allocate that right quick. GK104s are a bit memory bandwidth starved, so clocking the RAM as high as you can is actually pretty useful for getting better performance in games. Once you get the max memory clocks, then increase in increments of +13Mhz until you find a good clock speed you are happy with.
> 
> [edit]
> 
> Oh, and you can always overvolt the card a bit, you'll need to flash a modded bios for that. You don't necessarily have to go full bore at 1.21V (max on reference BIOS), I've seen good results on my 670s even at just 1.187, or 1.195V


Umm I didn't even know there was a such thing as an ASIC quality lol. So I just googled it and according to gpu-z it's 73.5%. They sure do hide that thing. I don't know if that's bad, average, or good. I don't think I calculate my kepler boost clock right as it was described in the guide as it was no where near 104 like he said his card was. I ended up only calculating it to be 13. But for now I gotta go to bed it's like 3:00AM here. I will post back with my findings on the stock kepler boost block. And what +120Mhz get's me cause I don't remember off the top of my head. So I'l have to run a quick heaven benchmark tomorrow and post that as well. I will also try overclocking the memory as high as I can first then overclocking the core clock in increments of 13Mhz like you suggested and see if i get better overclock / better scores / FPS. The better FPS is obviously the main attraction as that's all that matters who cares if I get 20 more points in heaven if I can get an extra 10 fps in an actual video game. Where it's going to matter (to me). Anyways gotta go get off and get ready to hit the sack. Thanks for the reply!


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *roberts91*
> 
> Hey guys I know this is a GTX 670 overclocking guide. But I have a EVGA GTX 680 4GB just the standard no special cooling or factory overclock....


TX750 should be more than plenty for power.

Offset values doesn't tell anyone what clock rate your gpu is running... you gotta say what the max boost is under load.

> The better FPS is obviously the main attraction

Yup... the game engine based benchmarks (heaven/valley) are reasonable indicators of what kind of fps improvements you will see in real games.

> 73.5%

Beats mine at 73%... its able to run at 1306Mhz at stock voltage, but i don't max it out for everyday use... 1267Mhz is what i generally run it at (i have a non-fancy gpu cooler).

> Any suggestions?

Find max core and mem clocks independently... then put the two together, giving preference to running a higher core clock.


----------



## GEO147

I just started testing my ASUS DCU 670 OC card and im getting 1251 with a boost clock of 1176 and memory 6208, this is running the AVP test, is that reasonable?


----------



## H3avyM3tal

For the life of me, I can't get anything stable over here. I don't get any crashes, everything works as it should really. It's this oc tha I can't max, because even if I follow the guide to the letter, I get something like this:


----------



## chiknnwatrmln

It looks like you're maxing out your cards' TDP.

Nothing that you can do except either sacrifice core clock for memory or vice versa

Edit: what bench are you using? Synthetic benches put unrealistic load on the cards and give irrelevant results.

Try using Heaven or 3dmark.


----------



## H3avyM3tal

That is from heaven benchmark. How did I max the cards? Even if I put 122% in there, it is still the same.


----------



## chiknnwatrmln

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *H3avyM3tal*
> 
> That is from heaven benchmark. How did I max the cards? Even if I put 122% in there, it is still the same.


I can't really be sure from that screen. Take a shot of the GPU-Z window showing all the maximums right after benching.

Also, if you're overclock the power target should always be as high as you can set it. What are you limited at, 122%?

If you set your power target to 122% and it throttles, but not as much as 110%, then you're maxed. Your chip and memory can probably clock a bit higher, but your board can't provide it enough power.

It looks as if your cards are hitting the 110% limit you have set, try doing a bench at 122%.

You said your card is stable during benching, correct? The temperatures look well below the throttle point so I know that's not an issue.


----------



## H3avyM3tal

Well, I got STOP Error 0x00000116: VIDEO_TDR_ERROR with +80 on.

I lowered it to +60 and managed to complete the run. Both cards are under water.


----------



## chiknnwatrmln

Yeah it looks like you're getting a bit of throttling due to limited TDP.

Your cards aren't throttling much, and you're at your cores' max oc so it's not really anything to worry about.

What kind of cards do you have? You should be able to clock a bit higher on water.

Edit: Just saw you have superclocked cards. 1200mhz is by no means a bad overclock, it's just not amazing.

Either way your cards should perform well for quite a while.


----------



## H3avyM3tal

I have the EVGA 4GB SC+, both of them are the same. I tried flashing them before with the higher voltage bios, but it didn't really do anything, so I reflashed to teh original bios.

I'm pretty disappointed really, even if performance is ace. Would've like a more stable overclock, and not a fluctuating one.

Edit:
The point is that my card's clock always fluctuate. It never stays stable while gaming or benching. I am getting the performance I should, but I can't seem to get the results illustrated in the op. I don't mind a 1200 oc, I just want it to be 1200 stable.


----------



## 271973

I'm following the "Setting up a Quiet and/or Efficient Fan Curve" part of the guide, but my card (Windforce 3x 670) seems to not allow me to go lower than 20% fan speed. My idle speed is 35c and I want to see if 15% fan will allow me to keep that.

Any thoughts?


----------



## chiknnwatrmln

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *H3avyM3tal*
> 
> I have the EVGA 4GB SC+, both of them are the same. I tried flashing them before with the higher voltage bios, but it didn't really do anything, so I reflashed to teh original bios.
> 
> I'm pretty disappointed really, even if performance is ace. Would've like a more stable overclock, and not a fluctuating one.
> 
> Edit:
> The point is that my card's clock always fluctuate. It never stays stable while gaming or benching. I am getting the performance I should, but I can't seem to get the results illustrated in the op. I don't mind a 1200 oc, I just want it to be 1200 stable.


You can lower the memory clock to use less power and stabilize the core. That's really the only option.

To above: modify your bios and flash it. You can unlock your fan speed to 0-100%, and you can raise your voltage if you desire. I can post the link to the guide I used, I just gotta find it.


----------



## 271973

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chiknnwatrmln*
> 
> You can lower the memory clock to use less power and stabilize the core. That's really the only option.
> 
> To above: modify your bios and flash it. You can unlock your fan speed to 0-100%, and you can raise your voltage if you desire. I can post the link to the guide I used, I just gotta find it.


I'd appreciate the link. I thought about this, but not sure how to go about it.


----------



## chiknnwatrmln

Here you go. http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=257249

I used the first method. I also suggest raising the voltage as high as you can. My card went from 1201/6500 to 1241/7900 just from a 3% increase in voltage, and because of the unlocked fan it actually runs cooler.

The FTWs fan at 100% sounds like a jet though...


----------



## roberts91

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *anubis1127*
> 
> PSU should not be an issue. I have my 680 Lightning @ 1.28V on a 620W Seasonic Bronze PSU, and it folds all day, 24/7, and it's completely stable @ 1326Mhz.
> 
> Kepler core clocks increase in increments of 13Mhz, so seeing a difference between 120, and 125 is rather odd to me, unless somewhere in between there is where you card goes +13, or -13Mhz.
> 
> What is the ASIC Quality % in GPU-Z, and stock Kepler boost clock on your card? What clock does +120Mhz get you to?
> 
> Only +200Mhz is rather strange / low to me. I would start by OCing the RAM on your card considering it is a 4GB card, and if BF4 is anything like BF3, it will go Oooo, there is vram available, let me allocate that right quick. GK104s are a bit memory bandwidth starved, so clocking the RAM as high as you can is actually pretty useful for getting better performance in games. Once you get the max memory clocks, then increase in increments of +13Mhz until you find a good clock speed you are happy with.
> 
> [edit]
> 
> Oh, and you can always overvolt the card a bit, you'll need to flash a modded bios for that. You don't necessarily have to go full bore at 1.21V (max on reference BIOS), I've seen good results on my 670s even at just 1.187, or 1.195V


I did your method and went for the memory overclock first. It took me longer to get back to you then expected seems lately I haven't had much time to sit down and fully go through it. I cheated on some parts to make the overclock go faster. So instead of increasing the core clock offset by 13Mhz I increased it by 26Mhz each time. When I was stable at a memory offset of +400Mhz I really didn't see any need to go higher as I didn't really notice that much of an improvement going from 300 to 400. Of course maybe it would have scaled better if I went for +100 core clock offset and +500 core clock offset?

Here are the stock clock settings:

GPU Core Maximum Frequency 1097.4Mhz
GPU Memory Maxium Frequency 1502.3Mhz (x2)

Was recorded as highest reading after a run in heaven benchmark.

Here are the scores of that benchmark:



Here was the first overclock attempt as stated above where I reached 120 core clock offset and 180 memory clock offset results:



And here was the second overclock where I did the method you suggested and I managed to hit a a clock offset of +104 and memory clock offset of +400. Once I hit that point I didn't even try to go higher because my temps were already getting high on a 5 minute or so benchmark much less playing a game for an hour/s. Anyways here are the results of that benchmark:



So a whopping 13 extra points in heaven there's no telling how much of a difference that will make in a video (eg: bf4) but I doubt it's gonna reduce the performance so either way win win (I guess?).

I also noticed in his guide that he noted that in precision X you can go to a fan speed of 25% or even below. Precision X doesn't allow me to go below 30%. Also he says Precision X let's you go to 1.175v I can only move the slider to 1.15v I have scoured the internet and apparently that is the way it's supposed to be without doing a bios mod. So the guide is kinda misleading because he either did a bios mod or he has a non-reference card that allows you to go above that. Or maybe the GTX 670 has more overclocking / tuneability than the GTX 680? That wouldn't make much sense.

Just doing a quick test in battlefield 4 running the fan speed at 80% I noticed my temp would hit 70c and according to his guide I would see throttling of the card by 13Mhz. So I went through the next part of his guide. To tune my fan profile for maximum performance. I let furmark run for more than 5 minutes to actually simulate playing battlefield 4. It reached a max of 70c on 85% fan speed ouch. Thing is you can't go any higher. And I'm not really sure I would want to. Because 85% is kinda loud which I don't mind so much but there's a reason why they lock it so you don't wear down your fan faster. And then end up having to replace it with some expensive aftermarket cooler. Which will in turn probably void the warranty. So should I just let it throttle? Do I have any other options? By the way I heard throttling can actually cause a game to crash or cause some other weird instability issues. Which sounds legit because the card no matter how brief it is. It's almost like changing gears in a car if you don't do it right you're gonna stall the car. Now I know that's comparing apples to oranges but serves as a good metaphor that I could think of on the spot.

I obviously have some ideas on potentially bringing down that temp like installing a intake fan in my haf 932 under the video card so it would be feeding the video card cold air in a sense. I possed that question on this forum and another no one has bothered to respond. I think I spend more time trying to get help from other people then just performing experiments of my own. You'd think just asking someone with more knowledge on the subject would be quicker but no it's not. I could have already rearranged my fans in my case and gave furmark a spin to see the temp difference. But at this point I don't think I really care anymore. Spent way too long trying to tweak things then actually playing the damn game I bought.

edit: As I noted above EVGA Precision X doesn't allow you to manually set the voltage to 1.175 but once you boot up heaven or any other gpu heavy task the 1.175v kicks in.


----------



## Gero2013

just out of interest guys,

if I OC a Gigabyte Windforce 3X 670 OC 2GB
how much more FPS could I expect in say BF4 multiplayer?

My CPU runs at 4.6Ghz. I play with MSAA off and medium / high settings with around 90-110 fps.


----------



## H3avyM3tal

I can't hold an oc at 122%, but a bigger one at 110% gives me better score in heaven. How does that work?


----------



## anubis1127

I'm not sure. I noticed similar behavior on my 670 GC cards, at 122% on the stock bios.


----------



## AdventureMode

Hey, thanks for the guide.
Quick question though. I am experiencing two perplexing situations. The first is that my Keplar Boost seems crazy low (39). I measured it using GPU-z, Afterburner, and then uninstalled afterburner and checked it with Precision-X, while running a benchmark in Unigine Heaven. 1098 Boost Clock, Highest GPU Core Clock is 1137. A KB of 39 seems a little low doesn't it? Temperature never goes over 50 degrees with the recommended fan curve and power usage never goes over 81% TDP.

The second thing is a strange occurrence when I attempt to overclock the core. I add +2 to the core offset to bring my boost up to 1100. Run benchmark, looks good. Then I Increase by 20 points to +22 core offset. Run benchmark. Halfway through the benchmark, the image will freeze, then my display goes blank. All the while the sound is playing fine. Then I hear the fan drop to inaudible and the display comes back and the benchmark moves forward as if nothing had happened, but fan speed, voltage, even the clock have been reset to stock settings. This isn't what I normally think of as a crash; besides, shouldn't I be able to get my clock much higher than that?

Any idea as to what I might be doing wrong? Could it be I just got a poor quality card? Perhaps something wrong with the way the rest of my hardware is configured?

Here's my video card at stock, with voltage and power target boosted in preparation of an overclock test.
MSI N670 PE 2GD5/OC
1098 Boost Clock
1137 Max Boosted Frequency (1098 + 39) ?
1502 Memory Clock
114% Power and 1150 mV


----------



## chiknnwatrmln

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *AdventureMode*
> 
> Hey, thanks for the guide.
> Quick question though. I am experiencing two perplexing situations. The first is that my Keplar Boost seems crazy low (39). I measured it using GPU-z, Afterburner, and then uninstalled afterburner and checked it with Precision-X, while running a benchmark in Unigine Heaven. 1098 Boost Clock, Highest GPU Core Clock is 1137. A KB of 39 seems a little low doesn't it? Temperature never goes over 50 degrees with the recommended fan curve and power usage never goes over 81% TDP.
> 
> The second thing is a strange occurrence when I attempt to overclock the core. I add +2 to the core offset to bring my boost up to 1100. Run benchmark, looks good. Then I Increase by 20 points to +22 core offset. Run benchmark. Halfway through the benchmark, the image will freeze, then my display goes blank. All the while the sound is playing fine. Then I hear the fan drop to inaudible and the display comes back and the benchmark moves forward as if nothing had happened, but fan speed, voltage, even the clock have been reset to stock settings. This isn't what I normally think of as a crash; besides, shouldn't I be able to get my clock much higher than that?
> 
> Any idea as to what I might be doing wrong? Could it be I just got a poor quality card? Perhaps something wrong with the way the rest of my hardware is configured?
> 
> Here's my video card at stock, with voltage and power target boosted in preparation of an overclock test.
> MSI N670 PE 2GD5/OC
> 1098 Boost Clock
> 1137 Max Boosted Frequency (1098 + 39) ?
> 1502 Memory Clock
> 114% Power and 1150 mV


Sounds to me like you got a dud in the overclocking department.

You can try raising the voltage by flashing a new BIOS, I described how to a bit earlier in this thread.

When everything goes black and then the bench restarts, that's a crash.


----------



## H3avyM3tal

I can complete all runs with +90 on core at 110%, but can complete only one run of +54 at 122% (out of about 20 runs). Of course, the frequency of the core, voltage and all will fluctuate like it's a prty in there, and the score will be lower than at 122%. However, at 110% I can also oc the memory, which gives me and over all better result.

I have no idea what is going on, and I need an explanation to ease my mind. Like I said, I don't mind low oc, I just was a stable one.


----------



## Deders

Has anyone here had any issues installing the latest few Nvidia drivers? 331.65, 331.58 or 331.40 Beta? For some reason I get basic VGA and "this device has a problem" in device manager.


----------



## Alphas

try uninstalling the driver first. Reboot in safe mode and reinstalling it again.


----------



## kevindd992002

If I go with SLI, do I need to reinstall the drivers when I plug-in the second GPU in my system for the first time?


----------



## error-id10t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *H3avyM3tal*
> 
> I can complete all runs with +90 on core at 110%, but can complete only one run of +54 at 122% (out of about 20 runs). Of course, the frequency of the core, voltage and all will fluctuate like it's a prty in there, and the score will be lower than at 122%. However, at 110% I can also oc the memory, which gives me and over all better result.
> 
> I have no idea what is going on, and I need an explanation to ease my mind. Like I said, I don't mind low oc, I just was a stable one.


You're being throttled.

At 110% you're giving your card ~157W. You then raise offset and it passes and all looks nice until you notice fluctuation like you said. Your core is less than what you think it is. Because your Core is lower, you can raise MEM also giving you this apparent "better result".

You then give it that 122% which is ~173W and suddenly it has enough room to retain your offset but now it's not stable anymore. Because your Core is already unstable, you can't raise MEM.


----------



## Dman92

Sorry if this is in the wrong place. Im new and I posted this somewhere else trying to get help.

SHORT VERSION FIRST:
I am new to overclocking and I think I may have messed up. I was following a guide and everything worked fine for the first day. Now my GTX 670M is stuck in P0 mode (using Nvidia Inspector). I've tried so many things to fix it but nothing is working. Please help.

----

I'm trying to overclock my GTX 670M graphics card and I have found the settings that seem to work well. However, the card is now stuck in the highest performance (P0) setting. Even if I run the lower settings shortcuts I made (overclock guide I followed said to do this) it will just go back to the highest mode straight away. Even when no graphically intensive application is running, the GTX 670M will still run in P0 mode instead of P12 mode.

The only way I can get it to stop is by activating the "Multi-Display Power Saver" which forces it into "*P12" with an asterisk. As soon as I close everything except NVIDIA Inspector, and turn off "multi-display power saver" mode; It jumps back up to full power(P0) mode.

This is the second day this problem has happened. I fixed it before by doing a System Restore to when I didn't have NVIDIA Inspector installed, however I do not want to keep doing that because it took forever to startup again. When I re-overclocked the card, it worked great, it seemed stable, it would go back to P1>P8>P12 after closing a game from P0. I left the computer open (with nothing running) so I could monitor the levels. But after a good while of being stable it just randomly started jumping between P-states and is now stuck on P0(highest level).

This is really frustrating! The temperatures aren't going above 65 degrees but the voltage is jumping to 900mV when the settings on NVIDIA Inspector say it can only go to 850mV... So I'm kind of worried about that. The fan is also staying on 100% constantly, no matter what mode or settings it is on.

Things I've tried:
Restarting computer
System restore
Uninstalling all overclocking apps
Returning Nvidia driver settings to default
Reinstalling Nvidia drivers
Driversweeper after uninstalling Nvidia driver in safe mode.

---

I realize the GTX 670m isn't a very good graphics card, and there is very little room for overclocking it. I just wanted to get a little more out of it for Battlefield 4.

I'm looking for advice on how to fix this problem. Not looking for hate, thanks.


----------



## xaiviax

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> If I go with SLI, do I need to reinstall the drivers when I plug-in the second GPU in my system for the first time?


No. You will enable/disable sli in the nvidia control panel.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xaiviax*
> 
> No. You will enable/disable sli in the nvidia control panel.


Oh ok. So the same thing is needed if you install the cards BEFORE installing the driver? You still need to enable SLI in NCP?

If you don't enable SLI, you'll just be using the primary card alone?


----------



## xaiviax

I believe the default is NOT enabled, but I am not 100 per cent positive. And yes, if not enabled, you'll just be using the primary card (although the second will be used for PhysX if a game is using PhysX).


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> If I go with SLI, do I need to reinstall the drivers when I plug-in the second GPU in my system for the first time?


Yes in my experience way back in the 9800GTX+ days, you need to reinstall the drivers after adding the 2nd card.


----------



## anubis1127

@kevindd992002 You shouldn't have to reinstall the drivers when you add a second card for SLI. The drivers are already install on the system, so when Windows detects the 2nd card, it will install the appropriate driver, and you may need to reboot, but I would enable SLI first then reboot. As @xaiviax you just enable SLI in the NV Control Panel.


----------



## amtbr

Can someone help me with saving settings in Precision-X. My OC needs the voltage set to max, but I notice every now and then Precision-X sets my voltage back to normal, how do I prevent this from happening?

Thanks


----------



## Tatakai All

With all the new cards being released I finally decided to OC my 680. The highest I got was 1215/1900. MBF is 1215 Boost 1059 Keplar boost 156. My heaven 4.0 score 1080p extreme is 1039 with 41.9 fps. Either I have a bad OC or my cpu is the problem. I'm thinking it's my cpu since everything checks out and and is stable with my OC.

EDIT: Did some minor tweeks. After running Heaven a few more time I discovered I wasn't stable at the above OC and had to turn the core down a little.


----------



## Sysop82

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tatakai All*
> 
> With all the new cards being released I finally decided to OC my 680. The highest I got was 1215/1900. MBF is 1215 Boost 1059 Keplar boost 156. My heaven 4.0 score 1080p extreme is 1039 with 41.9 fps. Either I have a bad OC or my cpu is the problem. I'm thinking it's my cpu since everything checks out and and is stable with my OC.
> 
> EDIT: Did some minor tweeks. After running Heaven a few more time I discovered I wasn't stable at the above OC and had to turn the core down a little.


Cool desktop background. What is that?


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tatakai All*
> 
> With all the new cards being released I finally decided to OC my 680. The highest I got was 1215/1900. MBF is 1215 Boost 1059 Keplar boost 156. My heaven 4.0 score 1080p extreme is 1039 with 41.9 fps. Either I have a bad OC or my cpu is the problem. I'm thinking it's my cpu since everything checks out and and is stable with my OC.
> 
> EDIT: Did some minor tweeks. After running Heaven a few more time I discovered I wasn't stable at the above OC and had to turn the core down a little.


Wow! +800 memory! I thought +700 for me was a giant leap. Have you ran evga oc scanner with artifact checking on and max memory? I use that program for checking my stable memory overclock and I cant go past +750 but I'm stable with 0 artifacts for anything +720 and below. I'd like to see you run that test for a good 20minutes and see if it detects any artifacts?


----------



## Reefer

Hi all,

Been a while since i was on here, and after buying me 2nd Gigabyte GTX670 OC i was trying to find max oc on both cards.

Something i found really weird is the following:

With or without Sync on i did a start test with my old oc settings from when having 1 card.
GPU clock offset +90. Mem offset +450 on both cards. Overvolt to 1.150 V

Now when i run Heaven i find the following: GPU core clock from the 1st clock is 1163 between 50% and 98% load around 51°C
And the 2nd GPU core clock is 1267 between 50% and 97% load and temps around 54°C

Bios: both on F5 80.04.31.00.58 (P2004-2005)

As said the setting are the same while in synced or manually set. How can the be such a big difference while the temp is still so low.

Score in Heaven: 1698
fps: 67.4
Preset Custom
Quality : Ultra
Tess: Extreme

Driver 314.07
Win 7 64 bit

GPU-Z saying both cards are @GPU clock 1070, Boost 1149. So exactly the same.

Also when i take the GPU1 offset higher, the gap (ofc) is closing between them.

Any ideas on how to get them working @ same clock speeds ?

Just found in GPUZ that the Power consumption on 1 of the cards is weird. Showing 257,1 % TDP on stock clocks. Guess this is the reason why clocks will not go up further on this card...


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cakewalk_S*
> 
> Wow! +800 memory! I thought +700 for me was a giant leap. Have you ran evga oc scanner with artifact checking on and max memory? I use that program for checking my stable memory overclock and I cant go past +750 but I'm stable with 0 artifacts for anything +720 and below. I'd like to see you run that test for a good 20minutes and see if it detects any artifacts?


OC scanner is not a great util for detecting memory errors. I had mine set around 7400 and it wasn't detecting errors, after running the Metro: Last light test and reducing it I found there were no artifacts at about 7000, I then ran Crysis 3 and had to reduce my memory a little more before the arc you get when you are aiming a grenade would behave properly. It's now set to 6978 and I've not seen any artifacts anywhere since.

I'd be extra cautious with memory as it doesn't just degrade like a CPU or GPU, it will just go.


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deders*
> 
> OC scanner is not a great util for detecting memory errors. I had mine set around 7400 and it wasn't detecting errors, after running the Metro: Last light test and reducing it I found there were no artifacts at about 7000, I then ran Crysis 3 and had to reduce my memory a little more before the arc you get when you are aiming a grenade would behave properly. It's now set to 6978 and I've not seen any artifacts anywhere since.
> 
> I'd be extra cautious with memory as it doesn't just degrade like a CPU or GPU, it will just go.


Ive had an opposite experience of yours. I find all my games won't artifact at all however, when I test oc scanner it will detect even just 1 artifact which is enough for me to reduce the speed a tad. My games never crash but I can get oc scanner to show artifacts. Typically my games crash due to core clock rather than memory.


----------



## Tatakai All

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cakewalk_S*
> 
> Wow! +800 memory! I thought +700 for me was a giant leap. Have you ran evga oc scanner with artifact checking on and max memory? I use that program for checking my stable memory overclock and I cant go past +750 but I'm stable with 0 artifacts for anything +720 and below. I'd like to see you run that test for a good 20minutes and see if it detects any artifacts?


I'll give it a try since I've only been doing Heaven and BF4 for stability testing.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deders*
> 
> OC scanner is not a great util for detecting memory errors. I had mine set around 7400 and it wasn't detecting errors, after running the Metro: Last light test and reducing it I found there were no artifacts at about 7000, I then ran Crysis 3 and had to reduce my memory a little more before the arc you get when you are aiming a grenade would behave properly. It's now set to 6978 and I've not seen any artifacts anywhere since.
> 
> I'd be extra cautious with memory as it doesn't just degrade like a CPU or GPU, it will just go.


I'll definitely be more cautious thanks for the heads up cause I didn't know this. Also I'll give C3 a few runs for stability testing too.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sysop82*
> 
> Cool desktop background. What is that?


It's _Rainmeter_, an easy tool to customize your desktop. http://rainmeter.net/cms/


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


----------



## Darthusith

I have been having some issues overclocking my GFX past a boost clock of 1090
My specs
Gigabyte Windforce X3 OC Gtx 670 2gb
AMD Phenom II X6 1055t
16gb DDR3 1600mhz Ram
Biostar Ta880gu3+

1090 Boost
1202 Max Boost with kepler
1852Mhz Memory
111% power target with 1.175 Voltage slider...

heaven 2013-11-12 20-09-13-40.jpg 117k .jpg file


+31.png 75k .png file


http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/13/11/12/cxf.png


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Darthusith*
> 
> I have been having some issues overclocking my GFX past a boost clock of 1090
> My specs
> 1090 Boost
> 1202 Max Boost with kepler
> 
> http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/13/11/12/cxf.png


you obviously make it to 1202mhz which is a pretty average overclock.
and 7400mhz on the memory is pretty kickass


----------



## Darthusith

but yet my scores are drastically lower then what other users are getting... i know my cpu is being the bottleneck in most games, if not all, but according to 3dmark 11, 3dmark vantage, and 3d mark firestrike... a great deal of other users are getting higher overclocks by a great deal... even the guide says to overclock till boost gets to 1100, but i can't without finding instability in heaven 4.0... is it because of the small power target that i get?


----------



## pc-illiterate

all gb wf3 670s have a max power target of 111-112%. i have yet to see a newer wf3 reach 100% power usage. mine will not go over 94% and that in itself is a rarity. i usually stay under 90%( iirc ).
you still hit a max overclock of 1202mhz core. as stated 7400mhz on the memory is very good. generally you can overclock higher and pass the 3dmark benches. as far as your heaven 4 score, i have no idea. i had sli before the bench released so i have no clue how you should average.
as an example using my wf3, my absolute max is 1228mhz and i will lose all stabilty any higher. my memory only reaches 6900mhz compared to yours. my dc2 on the other hand reaches 1300mhz easily and still only gets 6900mhz on memory. i run 1202 mhz for sli because thats more than enough as it is.
whats your x6 clocked at? it shouldnt matter at all because no phenom 2 will bottleneck a 600 series card. sli isnt hurt much at all with thubans FROM WHAT I READ.

have you tried going higher than 1202 to see if its a hole in the clocks? nvidia had to have changed something in the manufacturing process because from what i read before, a lot of 680s were/are not getting super high clocks anymore.

not any info here you dont already know but im bored and trying to help...


----------



## Crit

Hi all
I just read trough the guide and understand most of it but I have one question. Why set the clock offset to reach 1100mhz at the beginning what's the significance of this?


----------



## Darthusith

my 1055t is stock clocked at 2.8ghz, im also unable to adjust the voltage... yes i can slide the slider up and down but it doesn't seem to do anything, nor does it save after restart... it won't perform any higher then a +31 offset with stability in heaven... but in 3dmark Firestrike, i'm able to make a complete run through with a +51 offset


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Crit*
> 
> Hi all
> I just read trough the guide and understand most of it but I have one question. Why set the clock offset to reach 1100mhz at the beginning what's the significance of this?


I think its just because 1100MHz is almost always achievable... might as well save some time... so instead of creeping up to that point, just start out there and creep higher.


----------



## AndyG

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gero2013*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *anubis1127*
> 
> It shouldn't. What brand 670 is it?
> 
> If you flash modded vbios, that could void your warranty depending on the company because you are overvolting it.
> 
> 
> 
> It's Gigabyte Windforce 3X 670 OC 2GB
Click to expand...

Ah that's one of the best 670s, especially for cooling. I have the factory OCed version. Great card.

Just purchased the very same, but next gen (770) x 3 windforce OC. At 1080p, I still haven't been able to slow the card down with v-sync and triple bufferring on. Maxed out, and more (with ini files mainly) Cry 3, Metro LL and Bio Infinite. Perfect for single screen gaming IMHO, overkill even? Haven't OCed the 770 yet - no need. But will do for some synthetic testing. I use Furmark (pure synthetic) Heaven 4 and Valley 1. Any other recommendations to set the thing on fire?

Still, it wouldn't be enough for the newish 4k standard. Correct me if anyone's done that with success. (Single card only).

Also, this talk of flashing 670s with 760ti BIOS, and even 770 BIOS for boost 2 is fascinating. Haven't tried it....yet, but would love to hear from you brave guys who've done it!! Still not 100% on warranty invalidation either?

Apologies if this has already been clearly stated, I only read the last 12 posts or so.

Cheers!


----------



## AndyG

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Crit*
> 
> Hi all
> I just read trough the guide and understand most of it but I have one question. Why set the clock offset to reach 1100mhz at the beginning what's the significance of this?


As Micheal said above, it's pretty much always achievable.

In my case I start quite a bit higher than that even. Saves time. But does require plenty of stress testing if you care about a good level of stability. Using the card for [email protected] for instance.


----------



## AndyG

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *H3avyM3tal*
> 
> I can complete all runs with +90 on core at 110%, but can complete only one run of +54 at 122% (out of about 20 runs). Of course, the frequency of the core, voltage and all will fluctuate like it's a prty in there, and the score will be lower than at 122%. However, at 110% I can also oc the memory, which gives me and over all better result.
> 
> I have no idea what is going on, and I need an explanation to ease my mind. Like I said, I don't mind low oc, I just was a stable one.


Sorry for the 3 posts in a row, it's just that I haven't been here for a long while and keep finding interesting stuff. I promise this is the last for while.

Anyway. Three things: Firstly - almost certainly throttling.

Secondly: and going beyond topic, the amount of setting (mainly to prevent burnt out cards) that are included in the drivers are really a lot.

Simply checking NV control panel only shows a small - very small subset of driver settings.

To get a better idea NVdia Inspector is useful, and shows far more settings, but still not all, to varying degrees, depending on new features etc. To use Nvinspector properly requires quite some time and research, but is genuinly interesting and "educational."

Lastly the more obscure "hidden," settings are locked, but only to the level NV expects enthusiasts will go to, to unlock them. (In most cases).

Pretty much everything can be changed, but this requires great care, and a proper understanding of effects and potential effects, conflicts etc.

Details require guides - good guides, not just a post like this.

BTW Reading back over this it may come off as if I am trying show I'm an expert or guru. I am by no means either. I just thoroughly love both research and hands on experiments for my own enjoyment. Actually, sticking to the well known settings it's pretty hard to brick a card these days due to all hidden safety features, so they do serve a purpose. This doesn't apply if you are unlucky and buy a card that just scrapes through quality testing. I'd Hazard a wild guess and say that figure is approx 10% overall. Choose a good vendor!

I know many will disagree with my last paragraph. That's good, and yet another level of discussion.

Cheers.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *AndyG*
> 
> Simply checking NV control panel only shows a small - very small subset of driver settings.
> 
> To get a better idea NVdia Inspector is useful, and shows far more settings, but still not all, to varying degrees, depending on new features etc. To use Nvinspector properly requires quite some time and research, but is genuinly interesting and "educational."
> 
> Lastly the more obscure "hidden," settings are locked, but only to the level NV expects enthusiasts will go to, to unlock them. (In most cases).
> 
> Pretty much everything can be changed, but this requires great care, and a proper understanding of effects and potential effects, conflicts etc.
> 
> Details require guides - good guides, not just a post like this.
> 
> BTW Reading back over this it may come off as if I am trying show I'm an expert or guru._I am by no means either_. I just thoroughly love both research and hands on experiments for my own enjoyment. Actually, sticking to the well known settings it's pretty hard to brick a card these days due to all hidden safety features, so they do serve a purpose. This doesn't apply if you are unlucky and buy a card that just scrapes through quality testing. I'd Hazard a wild guess and say that figure is approx 10% overall. Choose a good vendor!
> 
> I know many will disagree with my last paragraph. That's good, and yet another level of discussion.
> 
> Cheers.


^^ this is good ^^
what hidden settings are you referring to?








the first 3 sentences of that last paragraph


----------



## Crit

I have the stock EVGA GTX 670 and could only reach a +117 gpu clock offset (so a 1097mhz Boost clock). Temperature was fine and power too for the 1100mhz run but it just crashed so does that mean that my gpu just sucks for overclocking?


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iRandomize*
> 
> What are you using to overclock your card? Use Afterburner 2.2.3, that version supports overvolting. I run my 670PE at 1.294v @ 1359mhz


How did you get your PE to 1.294v?


----------



## AndyG

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *AndyG*
> 
> Simply checking NV control panel only shows a small - very small subset of driver settings.
> 
> To get a better idea NVdia Inspector is useful, and shows far more settings, but still not all, to varying degrees, depending on new features etc. To use Nvinspector properly requires quite some time and research, but is genuinly interesting and "educational."
> 
> Lastly the more obscure "hidden," settings are locked, but only to the level NV expects enthusiasts will go to, to unlock them. (In most cases).
> 
> Pretty much everything can be changed, but this requires great care, and a proper understanding of effects and potential effects, conflicts etc.
> 
> Details require guides - good guides, not just a post like this.
> 
> BTW Reading back over this it may come off as if I am trying show I'm an expert or guru.I am by no means either. I just thoroughly love both research and hands on experiments for my own enjoyment. Actually, sticking to the well known settings it's pretty hard to brick a card these days due to all hidden safety features, so they do serve a purpose. This doesn't apply if you are unlucky and buy a card that just scrapes through quality testing. I'd Hazard a wild guess and say that figure is approx 10% overall. Choose a good vendor!
> 
> I know many will disagree with my last paragraph. That's good, and yet another level of discussion.
> 
> Cheers.
> 
> 
> 
> ^^ this is good ^^
> what hidden settings are you referring to?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> the first 3 sentences of that last paragraph
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I'm too lazy to list them all, (and as mentioned in another post) it does vary by driver, especially beta's of course, and how long the card has been on the market.

NV Inspector is a great program IMHO, and doesn't even need to be installed. (Although the latest version is somewhat more intrusive than in the past.)

Just download it, an older version if you prefer pure "exe" only progs without installation and you will know exactly what I was trying say. I admit I wasn't overly precise in my ramblings.









Cheers!

Edit: I must humbly admit that the last three sentences you refer too, well, I thought it was a nice touch too!


----------



## Rushnerd

Hey all, Just picked up an MSI 670 refurb for $220 (after the giga670 I bought new when it came out last year I had to sell) and was excited to use this guide to OC things.

Not sure if anyone else ran into this, like I strongly suspected, the Heaven3.0 bench did not tax my card nearly enough and let me OC the memory clock way too high! Once I got in crysis3 it artifacted in a minute. Anyway here are my now stable settings dialed down from being stable in Crysis 3.

I just had some questions because i've been on my GTX280 the last five years:

1*.Is it ok to leave core [email protected]+100 and Power [email protected]+114 all the time?* Heaven couldn't get it past 98% power consumption, and Crysis3 doesn't seem to go past 106%

2.What exactly is the "triple overvoltage" feature on my MSI card and is it a feature I can activate?

Thanks in advance, I haven't ever had a card before that overclocked far past the next tier up (680). I think it's astonishing it now has the same amount of bandwidth as a stock 770!


----------



## michael-ocn

In precx, I never saw the voltage slider have any affect on the voltage. Does that control in AB actually do something? What is the core voltage under max load? Mine tops out at 1.175v and that's with the voltage slider at its defaults (and a stock evga ftw bios).

Afaik, running with the power target pushed up is fine so long as heat is under control and you've got the headroom on your psu (which it looks like you do).

> I haven't ever had a card before that overclocked far past the next tier up (680)

Yup, the 670 was definitely the way to go in the 600 series lineup


----------



## anubis1127

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rushnerd*
> 
> Hey all, Just picked up an MSI 670 refurb for $220 (after the giga670 I bought new when it came out last year I had to sell) and was excited to use this guide to OC things.
> 
> Not sure if anyone else ran into this, like I strongly suspected, the Heaven3.0 bench did not tax my card nearly enough and let me OC the memory clock way too high! Once I got in crysis3 it artifacted in a minute. Anyway here are my now stable settings dialed down from being stable in Crysis 3.
> 
> I just had some questions because i've been on my GTX280 the last five years:
> 
> 1*.Is it ok to leave core [email protected]+100 and Power [email protected]+114 all the time?* Heaven couldn't get it past 98% power consumption, and Crysis3 doesn't seem to go past 106%
> 
> 2.What exactly is the "triple overvoltage" feature on my MSI card and is it a feature I can activate?
> 
> Thanks in advance, I haven't ever had a card before that overclocked far past the next tier up (680). I think it's astonishing it now has the same amount of bandwidth as a stock 770!


With the 670 Power Edition, you can use an older version of AB for full voltage control, or at least more voltage control than normal 670 / 680 cards. I think the version you want is 2.3.1, although it may still work with the newer 3.0 betas, I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure with the 670 Power Edition you can run up to 1.3V (it may be slightly lower), vs our regular 670s that can only do a max of 1.212V.

When you put the voltage at +100mV in AB, what are you seeing for GPU voltage, or VDDC? You could check in AB if you enable voltage monitoring, or in GPU-Z on the sensors tab. Check it when you have a benchmark like Valley, or Heaven running to make sure it's at the 3D volts.

It's perfectly fine to run full power limit, I have been on all my various Kepler cards whenever I want to game. You can typically see more steady core clock speeds, less bouncing up / down on the core clock speed while gaming with the power limit % maxed out.


----------



## Rushnerd

Thanks for the replies, I do have version 2.3.1 already and I just noticed a little drop box on the voltage slider for MEMORY voltage and AUX voltage. No idea what those do, I would just assume higher memory voltage if it's safe would make a higher mem overclock stable??


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rushnerd*
> 
> Thanks for the replies, I do have version 2.3.1 already and I just noticed a little drop box on the voltage slider for MEMORY voltage and AUX voltage. No idea what those do, I would just assume higher memory voltage if it's safe would make a higher mem overclock stable??


The ability to turn up CORE + MEM + AUX voltage is probably that "triple overvoltage" feature you were wondering about







I wish my ftw card had that as a feature, having to flash a bios to adjust the voltage is just not right.


----------



## Rushnerd

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> The ability to turn up CORE + MEM + AUX voltage is probably that "triple overvoltage" feature you were wondering about
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I wish my ftw card had that as a feature, having to flash a bios to adjust the voltage is just not right.


Oh I didn't even think of that, you must be right! I turned them both up just because it seems safe Mem is +50mv and aux is +30 so I don't see why not to do it."

I am wondering however if it is worth it to use 3rd party stuff or flash my BIOS to upvolt it though. Would getting it closer to 2.0V make for a more stable OC?


----------



## chiknnwatrmln

Woah, easy there. 1.3v is a lot for a 670, anywhere near 2v would fry any modern GPU.

What's your max voltage now? My 670 runs at 1241/7750 at 1.212v. It runs plenty hot, I wouldn't put it any higher if I could.

You can overvolt, just make sure the card stays below 70c or you'll throttle.

Also, please talk in terms of absolute clocks, offset means nothing for Kepler based cards.

As to your question, increasing voltage can help with stability but adds heat. The only time you should add voltage is if your oc is not stable and you have the headroom. You should run the lowest possible voltage necessary to keep stable.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rushnerd*
> 
> ... I don't see why not to do it..."


Chips degrade over time... if you abuse your hardware, it will not last as long... two things that speed that process are heat and voltage... lower is better on both of those.

> My 670 runs at 1241/7750

Whoa... nice mem clock! My 670s mem gets real squirrelly at ~7000 but it can run 1306 on core at 1.175v... but for everyday, i run 1267/6840.


----------



## chiknnwatrmln

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Chips degrade over time... if you abuse your hardware, it will not last as long... two things that speed that process are heat and voltage... lower is better on both of those.
> 
> > My 670 runs at 1241/7750
> 
> Whoa... nice mem clock! My 670s mem gets real squirrelly at ~7000 but it can run 1306 on core at 1.175v... but for everyday, i run 1267/6840.


Yeah it strangely capped at 6750 before I upped the voltage. I run it at 7k for gaming, around 6k for everything else.

This card is going though, I'm making room for my 290.


----------



## battleaxe

I realize they don't scale well, but are there other advantages to tri-SLI GTX670's? I have two way SLI now, very happy, but figured why not... Opinions?


----------



## chiknnwatrmln

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *battleaxe*
> 
> I realize they don't scale well, but are there other advantages to tri-SLI GTX670's? I have two way SLI now, very happy, but figured why not... Opinions?


If you're running extreme res's then the 2gb VRAM will act as a bottleneck. If you have the 4gb cards then you're all set.

Honestly I wouldn't bother with tri 670's, dual 670's has plenty of power until you get new card(s).

Also, just thought of this. You have a 2700k, which supports 16 lanes of PCI-e 2.0.

Not only will the three cards not scale well, but you'd run into either (depending on how oc'ed your CPU is) CPU or bandwidth bottlenecking.


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chiknnwatrmln*
> 
> If you're running extreme res's then the 2gb VRAM will act as a bottleneck. If you have the 4gb cards then you're all set.
> 
> Honestly I wouldn't bother with tri 670's, dual 670's has plenty of power until you get new card(s).
> 
> Also, just thought of this. You have a 2700k, which supports 16 lanes of PCI-e 2.0.
> 
> Not only will the three cards not scale well, but you'd run into either (depending on how oc'ed your CPU is) CPU or bandwidth bottlenecking.


Good point. The lanes issue is the deal breaker. I'd really have to go 3770k, which at that point may as well be talking all new GPU's too. Think I'm gonna sit tight til I go 6 cores and new GPU's no hurry on that as this rig will easily handle any game out there right now. Higher res monitor makes more sense right now than anything else.


----------



## chiknnwatrmln

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *battleaxe*
> 
> Good point. The lanes issue is the deal breaker. I'd really have to go 3770k, which at that point may as well be talking all new GPU's too. Think I'm gonna sit tight til I go 6 cores and new GPU's no hurry on that as this rig will easily handle any game out there right now. Higher res monitor makes more sense right now than anything else.


3770k is always a great choice, just make sure that your mobo supports PCI-e Gen 3.

3770k is also only 16 lanes, but at Gen 3 it's twice the speed of Gen 2.

I agree, two oc'ed 670's will outperform any single GPU card. I'm waiting for a 290 right now, and even if it unlocks to a 290x and oc's well at 4800x900 I'm not gonna have 60 FPS in demanding games without lowering settings.


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chiknnwatrmln*
> 
> 3770k is always a great choice, just make sure that your mobo supports PCI-e Gen 3.
> 
> .


It does, I've got a Asus P8Z77 - V Pro, so all good there.

What I have seems good enough though. I see 120-150fps on ultra in bf3, so I shouldn't complain.


----------



## kevindd992002

Would a 2500K OC'd to 4.6GHz handle two GTX 670's well?


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Would a 2500K OC'd to 4.6GHz handle two GTX 670's well?


From what I can tell I get a very slight bottleneck on my 670SLI rig. My 3dMark11 scores should be just a bit higher than they actually are. I score just over 19k and by my clocks it seems I should be getting just above 20k, so if my math is correct that's about a 5% bottleneck. Not really worth worrying about at all. Seems a 2500k at 4.6 should yield similar results, but it kinda depends on what game. BF3 is not real CPU heavy, so it probably won't matter much on that title. On BF4 that could impact things more and cause more bottleneck. My opinion though having played both on a 2700k is that it won't be a noticeable factor. If you are benching, then yes you will likely notice as its hard to get the score your GPU would otherwise be capable of.

That's my general understanding so far since researching into this.

But I could be wrong, I'm still researching this myself. So maybe someone with more experience could chime in...


----------



## pc-illiterate

no kevin, 670 sli is fine at 4.5ghz so youre good. how are prices on the 670 there? here it is less than $250 after rebate









battleaxe, putting a 3rd 670 in your system would be a huge waste of money and power. 2x 670 sli is more than enough to run anything @1080p


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> no kevin, 670 sli is fine at 4.5ghz so youre good. how are prices on the 670 there? here it is less than $250 after rebate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> battleaxe, putting a 3rd 670 in your system would be a huge waste of money and power. 2x 670 sli is more than enough to run anything @1080p


Thanks man! I'm not so sure of the prices here because I bought my Gigabyte GTX 670's from the USA







That card isn't even available here. I just bought my 2nd 670 from the marketplace here at $220 and currently am waiting for it to arrive.


----------



## Gero2013

Gigabyte Windforce3 GTX670 OC 2GB
Boost Clock: 1059
Kepler Boost: 65
Max Boost: 1124
Memory Default 1502
Power Target for testing 112%
Testing with Unigine DX11 4.0

Edit:
Had an issue but apparently Unigine 4.0 didn't actually utilise the added MHz provided by the GPU offset as set in Precision X....
I switched to 3.0 and it worked ok....odd


----------



## chestnut

Hey, has anyone lapped their stock cooler and think it's worth it?

I've remounted one of my coolers with nt-h1 and barely noticed a difference in temps. The Asus cooler has a pretty rough surface so I was thinking of giving it a go.


----------



## battleaxe

I just got done mounting an h80 water cooler to each of my GTX670's in SLI. The idle temps are ambient room temp. On load the temps never exceed 42c. Most of the time they are around 38 to 39c. The other thing is that on 3dMark 11 my score went up pretty dramatically without touching the overclock.

this normal? I'm pretty excited with the results and can't believe how well this worked out.


----------



## Totally Dubbed

Hi guys - I'm a little confused as to what to do.
The guide is helpful, but so much information that overloads me.
I've been reading a lot about the GTX680 OC'ing via afterburner and one thing I'm very much confused on is the amount one should raise the CORE voltage to.
I saw in the OP it says: raise it to max, and then go back to stock value - but is there any reason for that?

I also saw on other guides which state that you shouldn't leave the core voltage to max for 24/7 OC - due to it decreasing the lifespan

If someone can point me in the right direction, it would be appreciated.

I'm testing via Unigine Heaven 4.0.

Here's a screenshot of something that passes:


----------



## pc-illiterate

it wont hurt it. if you max it out, it only goes to the max 1.175v and stays there without dropping. thats the entire point of the voltage slider, minimum voltage. sometimes the voltage drops to a too low of a voltage and can cause crashing. sometimes, you dont need to move the slider. sometimes somewhere in between works better than maxed. nvidia gave us the shaft on these cards









*EDIT* i just saw its an msi. is it the power edition? can you unlock all 3 voltages?


----------



## Totally Dubbed

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> it wont hurt it. if you max it out, it only goes to the max 1.175v and stays there without dropping. thats the entire point of the voltage slider, minimum voltage. sometimes the voltage drops to a too low of a voltage and can cause crashing. sometimes, you dont need to move the slider. sometimes somewhere in between works better than maxed. nvidia gave us the shaft on these cards
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *EDIT* i just saw its an msi. is it the power edition? can you unlock all 3 voltages?


the card I got is the MSI GTX 680 OC, not the power edition unfortunately.

This is the exact one:
http://uk.msi.com/product/vga/N680GTX-Twin-Frozr-2GD5-OC-.html

Ok so I see!
Maxed core voltage + power limit

Put +150 to core clock
Pute +500 to mem clock

Does that seem fine?
Going to run heaven to see if I get any crashes after a cold boot.

EDIT:
That crashes pretty fast.
I'll start with the max core voltage + power limit
And tweak the clocks independently until I get a solid result on each.
ie. leave mem stock whilst adjusting core

Is that a good way of going around it?


----------



## pc-illiterate

its what i did. id you already boost to 1280. dont expect a bunch more. maybe 1325 max maybe more maybe less. if 1280 is your max stock, thats a helluva card


----------



## Totally Dubbed

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> its what i did. id you already boost to 1280. dont expect a bunch more. maybe 1325 max maybe more maybe less. if 1280 is your max stock, thats a helluva card


Here's my progress so far:

OC + settings:



STOCK GTX680 (from MSI):


----------



## pc-illiterate

is the ab graph showing 1280 like i see?
i dont even remember my hev4 scores...

65.7fps sli 1202mhz 3456mhz


----------



## Totally Dubbed

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> is the ab graph showing 1280 like i see?
> i dont even remember my hev4 scores...
> 
> 65.7fps sli 1202mhz 3456mhz


Nop core clock 1150 - it is for the one underneath it bro









EDIT:
Actually you are right the MAX recorded was 1280 - but that wasn't stable - crashed pretty quick.


----------



## Rushnerd

Maybe not the right place for this, but did you guys catch this? I woke up the morning they posted it 45min after (at 5am) and it was sold out lol. Best deal I think i've ever seen in all my years of looking at gpus, even the R9 290 and 280 have to bow to something like this!

Even though it was a refurb and probably a special offer, still goes to show how much these cards and nvida's powerhouses are dropping in price. Still happy with my power edition refurb for $220, but if anything like this comes up again, i'm totally sli'ing.

I would imagine two stable OC'd 670s would realistically be enough to take on any next-gen game for most of the new consoles life cycles.


----------



## Gero2013

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Totally Dubbed*
> 
> I also saw on other guides which state that you shouldn't leave the core voltage to max for 24/7 OC - due to it decreasing the lifespan


Is that really true? I have it set on maximum as per guide (quick version)....


----------



## Totally Dubbed

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rushnerd*
> 
> 
> Maybe not the right place for this, but did you guys catch this? I woke up the morning they posted it 45min after (at 5am) and it was sold out lol. Best deal I think i've ever seen in all my years of looking at gpus, even the R9 290 and 280 have to bow to something like this!
> 
> Even though it was a refurb and probably a special offer, still goes to show how much these cards and nvida's powerhouses are dropping in price. Still happy with my power edition refurb for $220, but if anything like this comes up again, i'm totally sli'ing.
> 
> I would imagine two stable OC'd 670s would realistically be enough to take on any next-gen game for most of the new consoles life cycles.


That's insane! Amazing deal, no wonder it sold out lol
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gero2013*
> 
> Is that really true? I have it set on maximum as per guide (quick version)....


I personally don't know, but it seems like it's ok to leave it at max - power draw gets locked. I think it becomes dangerous when you flash the bios, so that you can go even higher


----------



## AndyG

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gero2013*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Totally Dubbed*
> 
> I also saw on other guides which state that you shouldn't leave the core voltage to max for 24/7 OC - due to it decreasing the lifespan
> 
> 
> 
> Is that really true? I have it set on maximum as per guide (quick version)....
Click to expand...

I think generally it's Okay leaving it on Max. But there are a few things to consider.

1. If you leave it on max and fold 24/7 for a long time it might shorten the life span. Might.

2. If you plan of keeping the card beyond, say over two or three years. Lowering it a bit would be a good idea, just to be on the safe side.

3. The makers of the cards, and many but not all GPU OC applications are fairly conservative. After all, some cards are just simply sub-standard, just

scrape through final QT. Other "Golden cards," can go beyond the max, but not recommended for 24/7 continuous use (fah for example).

The point I am making in 3. is that no company (especially card manufactures, third party OC vs etc.) don't want lots of RMAs. In the case of OC

software, no RMA of course, but they don't want to be blamed for frying lots of GPUs.

4. In the end, after reading up about it (as you have) it's a personal choice, and depends on how conservative or willing to really push it one is, and

of course if the card overheats, it will need to be lowered. (core MHz, voltages, or both depending on the card.)


----------



## Totally Dubbed

Quite surprised / unsure what to think:
I'm at +700 mem clock...no problems bench past without any problems....thoughts?




UPDATE:


This is an insane score for me so far!


3D mark passed:

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *AndyG*
> 
> I think generally it's Okay leaving it on Max. But there are a few things to consider.
> 
> 1. If you leave it on max and fold 24/7 for a long time it might shorten the life span. Might.
> 
> 2. If you plan of keeping the card beyond, say over two or three years. Lowering it a bit would be a good idea, just to be on the safe side.
> 
> 3. The makers of the cards, and many but not all GPU OC applications are fairly conservative. After all, some cards are just simply sub-standard, just
> scrape through final QT. Other "Golden cards," can go beyond the max, but not recommended for 24/7 continuous use (fah for example).
> 
> The point I am making in 3. is that no company (especially card manufactures, third party OC vs etc.) don't want lots of RMAs. In the case of OC
> software, no RMA of course, but they don't want to be blamed for frying lots of GPUs.
> 
> 4. In the end, after reading up about it (as you have) it's a personal choice, and depends on how conservative or willing to really push it one is, and
> of course if the card overheats, it will need to be lowered. (core MHz, voltages, or both depending on the card.)


+rep for your answer!
I will tone it down as I intend to fold a bit more after I get stable.


----------



## AndyG

Totally dubbed, thanks man, I appreciate that!

There are so many differing opinions on this kind of matter that I feel any comments should be backed up with a link, pic, or just stick to the logic of electricity, heat, component quality etc etc.

Cheers!


----------



## Totally Dubbed

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *AndyG*
> 
> Totally dubbed, thanks man, I appreciate that!
> 
> There are so many differing opinions on this kind of matter that I feel any comments should be backed up with a link, pic, or just stick to the logic of electricity, heat, component quality etc etc.
> 
> Cheers!


totally makes sense man! I agree with it too







!
Now I just have to figure out my GPU OC!


----------



## Rushnerd

If anyone is curious, this card tears up Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag! Depending on how important AA is to you i'm getting [email protected] 95% of the time (only dips into 30 for the dark stormy ship scenes briefly)

"Ubisoft has confirmed some technical details about Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag on next-gen consoles i.e. the PS4 and Xbox One, as the game has a locked framerate of 30fps on both devices but will run at 1080p on the PS4 (thanks to a day-one patch) and 900p on Xbox One."

Yeah, I had no idea an OC'd 670 was this much more powerful than current consoles, I had only assumed until now. Really though [email protected], total joke, I hope true next-gen games get better treatment than this. I'm guessing the next-gen only titles won't be as easy to run as this title, but we will see once they start popping up.


----------



## Totally Dubbed

I created my own thread, in order not to cramp this one - any advice is appreciated - thanks!
http://www.overclock.net/t/1445524/utterly-confused-with-msi-gtx680-msi-afterburner-overclocking


----------



## Totally Dubbed

I'm still curious about the core voltage.
Right now I crashed at +60 with either +450 or +600 mem clock.
Passed over 9 runs of heaven bench.

I can only think of two things:
My core clock is almost there, just reduce it a little with +600 mem and I should be fine.
My core voltage is on stock +0 - if I increase it to +100 it will allow greater stability but a shorter lifespan?

I'm just worried about what the voltage can affect.
I know in CPUs = more heat.
And from what I read it is the same principal in GPUs. I'm well under 75c, never passing the 70c mark due to my fan profile.
Longevity concerns - there's tghe same concern for CPUs, but it is honestly like reducing it by 1year in a 10year cycle, and in less than 3-4years everyone will upgrade anyway - so what are people's thoughts on CORE VOLTAGE on GPUs?
If you had the option to enable it would you change it?

I know the cards are also limited/capped if not flashed. Thus meaning you can't really fry the chip - unlike with CPUs (ie 1.7v on ivy bridge = burnt, no matter the temp)

*EDIT:
I ran heaven with +0 and then after with +100 and closed GPUZ after the +0 test.
My voltage doesn't go over 1.1750v no matter which setting it is on and on BOTH settings had the same MAX reading of 1.1750v*


----------



## Rushnerd

I'm still not convinced heaven 3.0 is an adequate stress test compared to heavy gaming (Crysis 3 and the like). It will always let me scale up the clocks (at least mem) to points where games will crash.


----------



## battleaxe

I just ordered RAM coolers from Frozen CPU. I'll have to see if this helps the OC a bit more.


----------



## chestnut

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *battleaxe*
> 
> I just got done mounting an h80 water cooler to each of my GTX670's in SLI. The idle temps are ambient room temp. On load the temps never exceed 42c. Most of the time they are around 38 to 39c. The other thing is that on 3dMark 11 my score went up pretty dramatically without touching the overclock.
> 
> this normal? I'm pretty excited with the results and can't believe how well this worked out.


How did you mount the H80's? I've seen this done before but it was pretty ghetto, zip ties etc haha.


----------



## Rushnerd

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chestnut*
> 
> How did you mount the H80's? I've seen this done before but it was pretty ghetto, zip ties etc haha.


I remember that thread for the 560ti lol. I concluded it wasn't worth it, mostly because while my temp does dance in the 60's, I deal with instability rather than a heat being the core issue.

Also I don't know if the rest of the card would be fine or not if you put the h80 on it. My msi model seems to be mostly open unlike the stock heatsinks.


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chestnut*
> 
> How did you mount the H80's? I've seen this done before but it was pretty ghetto, zip ties etc haha.


Yes zip ties.

But honestly if you do it right you don't even notice them. And zip ties are perfect as they are quiet robust and have a little bit of stretch to them. They work better than you would imagine. I won't hesitate to do it this way again. I used black zip ties went around the ear of the coolers tabs, then out the back. Then use the head of another tie to cinch each of them down. Once the ends are cut off its hard to even see how its mounted.

Edit; Also, the ram wasn't cooled before. So, I ordered some small heatsinks to bring the temps down. So they should be running cooler than they were with the stock coolers on. The VRM's already have heatsinks on them. I have a 140mm fan pushing air over both cards. I took my time to make sure it looks nice. And honestly, it looks really great. With the LED's of the h80's it looks way cooler than stock, that's for sure.

And even after 5hours of gaming on BF3 my temps never exceeded 44c on either card. My OC's went up quite a bit too. As did my 3dMark 11 scores. 3dMark11 score went up over 500 points just by getting the temps down. The mod cost less than half of just what the blocks would be to custom cool (not counting the rest of the system), so I'd say its a great deal. Plus, if I have a failure, I will only lose one card, not both cards, the cpu and possibly the whole system.


----------



## Rushnerd

I would have figured if my card isn't breaking 70c the temps would have nothing to do with the stable OC, but you could be on to something. Wouldn't mind trying this if I was more confident it would would on this card (and that there would be enough downward force on the gpu block).


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rushnerd*
> 
> I would have figured if my card isn't breaking 70c the temps would have nothing to do with the stable OC, but you could be on to something. Wouldn't mind trying this if I was more confident it would would on this card (and that there would be enough downward force on the gpu block).


I can guarantee you plenty of downward force is put on the GPU block. If you wanted to you could deform the PCB by putting so much pressure on the zip ties. They really are that strong. What I did was to carefully tighten in a cross pattern, holding the tail that comes out the back of the card and pushing the head of the zip tie into the back of the PCB. All of this is done from the back. You can hear the zip tie click as it grabs another cog on the tie. Then you go cross pattern to the other side etc. Until you are comfortable with the pressure. I used a pliers to pull the tail while pushing with my thumb and forefinger on the head of the zip tie. So, like I said, you could literally deform the PCB if you wanted to, but obviously there's no reason to do that.

Once you try it you'll see how robust it really is. Its one of those things that can't be believed until its seen or 'felt' if you will.

Once I get my RAM coolers set on I'll post some scores. Right now I"ve got a run at 19.7k on 3dMark 11. I realize that's not groundbreaking but its over 500 points better than I could get before the h80 mount. I'm hoping cooling the RAM chips will allow me to push the mem higher and then get above 20k.


----------



## gdubc

If you don't want to use the zip ties, the nzxt *kraken g10* dwood style bracket is set to drop any minute for like $30.


----------



## battleaxe

Okay, for those of you who want to know what water can do....

Here are my results before going on water. Running +66Mhz on core +275 Mem

That's a score of 19,124 on 3dMark11. I got a score of 19,123 with -20Mhz on core and -20Mhz on memory when the h80's were installed.

And here is after installing the h80 in both my SLI GTX670's . Those are the same settings no difference whatsoever. The only thing that changed was the core temp went from 62C down to about 39C. That was all. In fact here's a run at -20 on the core and -20 on the memory.. That's 19,123 at a -20 on core and -20 on memory. And it got just one point less than +66Mhz on core and +275 on memory.

So by adding the h80 to the 670's it dropped the core temps down by about 13 to 14C while benching. The results are impressive.

I don't think this is done yet. When I get the RAM heatsinks installed I'm betting I can push this further. These were just some really quick runs I made.


----------



## Totally Dubbed

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *battleaxe*
> 
> Okay, for those of you who want to know what water can do....
> 
> Here are my results before going on water. Running +66Mhz on core +275 Mem
> 
> That's a score of 19,124 on 3dMark11. I got a score of 19,123 with -20Mhz on core and -20Mhz on memory when the h80's were installed.
> 
> And here is after installing the h80 in both my SLI GTX670's . Those are the same settings no difference whatsoever. The only thing that changed was the core temp went from 62C down to about 39C. That was all. In fact here's a run at -20 on the core and -20 on the memory.. That's 19,123 at a -20 on core and -20 on memory. And it got just one point less than +66Mhz on core and +275 on memory.
> 
> So by adding the h80 to the 670's it dropped the core temps down by about 13 to 14C while benching. The results are impressive.
> 
> I don't think this is done yet. When I get the RAM heatsinks installed I'm betting I can push this further. These were just some really quick runs I made.


how do you get such high 3d mark scores on a 670?
Mine on a 680 OC'ed with +55core clock was 11k.

Also I think it might be worth for the OP to mention this about kepler OC:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1445524/utterly-confused-with-msi-gtx680-msi-afterburner-overclocking/30#post_21274564

I figured this out with the help of an OCN poster via a site where you upload your bios + the kepler explanation in the OP.
My Kepler boost is 195mhz.


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Totally Dubbed*
> 
> how do you get such high 3d mark scores on a 670?
> Mine on a 680 OC'ed with +55core clock was 11k.
> 
> Also I think it might be worth for the OP to mention this about kepler OC:
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1445524/utterly-confused-with-msi-gtx680-msi-afterburner-overclocking/30#post_21274564
> 
> I figured this out with the help of an OCN poster via a site where you upload your bios + the kepler explanation in the OP.
> My Kepler boost is 195mhz.


This is SLI man. I can only get around 11k on one of the cards too. No worries, you're fine. I have an older chip, so I'm somewhat bottlenecked on the PCI-E which is why I'm having trouble getting above 20k, but the water is where its at from what I can tell.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *battleaxe*
> 
> Okay, for those of you who want to know what water can do....
> 
> Here are my results before going on water. Running +66Mhz on core +275 Mem
> 
> That's a score of 19,124 on 3dMark11. I got a score of 19,123 with -20Mhz on core and -20Mhz on memory when the h80's were installed.
> 
> And here is after installing the h80 in both my SLI GTX670's . Those are the same settings no difference whatsoever. The only thing that changed was the core temp went from 62C down to about 39C. That was all. In fact here's a run at -20 on the core and -20 on the memory.. That's 19,123 at a -20 on core and -20 on memory. And it got just one point less than +66Mhz on core and +275 on memory.
> 
> So by adding the h80 to the 670's it dropped the core temps down by about 13 to 14C while benching. The results are impressive.
> 
> I don't think this is done yet. When I get the RAM heatsinks installed I'm betting I can push this further. These were just some really quick runs I made.


stating + and _ offsets mean nothing. you have to tell us your clocks. every card boosts different and has different clocks.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Totally Dubbed*
> 
> how do you get such high 3d mark scores on a 670?
> Mine on a 680 OC'ed with +55core clock was 11k.
> 
> Also I think it might be worth for the OP to mention this about kepler OC:
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1445524/utterly-confused-with-msi-gtx680-msi-afterburner-overclocking/30#post_21274564
> 
> I figured this out with the help of an OCN poster via a site where you upload your bios + the kepler explanation in the OP.
> My Kepler boost is 195mhz.


nobody helped you figure that out. thats a false understanding of how the 2 different boosts work. i pointed this out to you. as i said in your thread, go look at my attachment in your thread. there is NO way a crashed driver will let a card run at 1402mhz but yet heaven4 showed my card was doing just that. and my card wont run anywhere near 1400mhz anyway.
i sent sean a pm to come to your thread and explain how it all works.

and those arent single 670 scores. he runs sli 670s


----------



## Totally Dubbed

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *battleaxe*
> 
> This is SLI man. I can only get around 11k on one of the cards too. No worries, you're fine. I have an older chip, so I'm somewhat bottlenecked on the PCI-E which is why I'm having trouble getting above 20k, but the water is where its at from what I can tell.


ah I see bro!
Nice scores anyway







!
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> stating + and _ offsets mean nothing. you have to tell us your clocks. every card boosts different and has different clocks.
> nobody helped you figure that out. thats a false understanding of how the 2 different boosts work. i pointed this out to you. as i said in your thread, go look at my attachment in your thread. there is NO way a crashed driver will let a card run at 1402mhz but yet heaven4 showed my card was doing just that. and my card wont run anywhere near 1400mhz anyway.
> i sent sean a pm to come to your thread and explain how it all works.
> 
> and those arent single 670 scores. he runs sli 670s


great looking forward to it. In the mean time, get out the house and chillout. There's no need to act like that lol.


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> stating + and _ offsets mean nothing. you have to tell us your clocks. every card boosts different and has different clocks.
> nobody helped you figure that out. thats a false understanding of how the 2 different boosts work. i pointed this out to you. as i said in your thread, go look at my attachment in your thread. there is NO way a crashed driver will let a card run at 1402mhz but yet heaven4 showed my card was doing just that. and my card wont run anywhere near 1400mhz anyway.
> i sent sean a pm to come to your thread and explain how it all works.
> 
> and those arent single 670 scores. he runs sli 670s


What is your problem? It doesn't matter, as its only in reference to my own cards. (yes I realize only the actual core matters in relation to other cards) But that is not the point. The point is, my core went up with no other changes. That's all I'm saying.

Whatever.


----------



## anubis1127

Down to one 670


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *anubis1127*
> 
> Down to one 670


What do you have? How does it clock?


----------



## anubis1127

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *battleaxe*
> 
> What do you have? How does it clock?


I'm down to a single Galaxy 670 GC (well, and my 680 Lightning). I'm not sure exactly, I think around 1250mhz or so, I'll test it out though.


----------



## chestnut

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *battleaxe*
> 
> Yes zip ties.
> 
> But honestly if you do it right you don't even notice them. And zip ties are perfect as they are quiet robust and have a little bit of stretch to them. They work better than you would imagine. I won't hesitate to do it this way again. I used black zip ties went around the ear of the coolers tabs, then out the back. Then use the head of another tie to cinch each of them down. Once the ends are cut off its hard to even see how its mounted.
> 
> Edit; Also, the ram wasn't cooled before. So, I ordered some small heatsinks to bring the temps down. So they should be running cooler than they were with the stock coolers on. The VRM's already have heatsinks on them. I have a 140mm fan pushing air over both cards. I took my time to make sure it looks nice. And honestly, it looks really great. With the LED's of the h80's it looks way cooler than stock, that's for sure.
> 
> And even after 5hours of gaming on BF3 my temps never exceeded 44c on either card. My OC's went up quite a bit too. As did my 3dMark 11 scores. 3dMark11 score went up over 500 points just by getting the temps down. The mod cost less than half of just what the blocks would be to custom cool (not counting the rest of the system), so I'd say its a great deal. Plus, if I have a failure, I will only lose one card, not both cards, the cpu and possibly the whole system.


Thanks for all the info on installation and gaming temps, that helps a lot.

I'm starting to look for second hand AIO coolers now haha.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *anubis1127*
> 
> I'm down to a single Galaxy 670 GC (well, and my 680 Lightning). I'm not sure exactly, I think around 1250mhz or so, I'll test it out though.


What happened to the other 670? Did it die on you or something?


----------



## anubis1127

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> What happened to the other 670? Did it die on you or something?


Naw, sold it to fund other GPU purchases.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *anubis1127*
> 
> Naw, sold it to fund other GPU purchases.


Oh ok. How long did you have that GPU, like just a month or so? You decide fast, lol.


----------



## error-id10t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *battleaxe*
> 
> Okay, for those of you who want to know what water can do....


Got to agree with the other poster who said .. give us the clocks man, offsets mean jack! lol. I find people who talk about TDP in % almost as bad, I want to hear the Watts dude, percentage values mean nothing when comparing different cards.

Anyhow, interesting but without clocks little confusing. I can tell you that I didn't see any difference when I put mine under water. They didn't suddenly boost ~80MHz higher which I think you're implying (from +66 to -20)? Secondly, you should really use the same driver on both runs to make sure that doesn't affect things.

Anyhow.. here's an old one to compare, you can see the clocks there. Wonder why the new UI doesn't show it anymore.

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6715511


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *error-id10t*
> 
> Got to agree with the other poster who said .. give us the clocks man, offsets mean jack! lol. I find people who talk about TDP in % almost as bad, I want to hear the Watts dude, percentage values mean nothing when comparing different cards.
> 
> Anyhow, interesting but without clocks little confusing. I can tell you that I didn't see any difference when I put mine under water. They didn't suddenly boost ~80MHz higher which I think you're implying (from +66 to -20)? Secondly, you should really use the same driver on both runs to make sure that doesn't affect things.
> 
> Anyhow.. here's an old one to compare, you can see the clocks there. Wonder why the new UI doesn't show it anymore.
> 
> http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6715511


What I am saying is that in AB the settings were the same. But my 3dMark11 scores went up. And by that I mean they were already at my max stable OC already before going on water. I'll try to find my ID that has the same driver on them. But the scores weren't much different as a result of the driver. I just grabbed one of them off my desktop, didn't think to check the driver, only looked at the scores and the settings.

The card got colder, the 3dMark11 scores went up.

Sorry you didn't get the same results. Maybe my situation is unusual. I really don't know.

Did your core drop almost 15c like mine did? That might be the reason.


----------



## error-id10t

I get what you're saying and am not trying to disprove you or something.

But there has to be a reason the scores went up and it's not simply because the cards got cooler. The clocks had to have been higher to record better FPS and therefore get better score. That, or the driver gives better performance (but personally I doubt it, thankfully they aim towards games rather than try and get improvements in 3DMark etc).

Or, you were being temp throttled before doing this.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *error-id10t*
> 
> I get what you're saying and am not trying to disprove you or something.
> 
> But there has to be a reason the scores went up and it's not simply because the cards got cooler. The clocks had to have been higher to record better FPS and therefore get better score. That, or the driver gives better performance (but personally I doubt it, thankfully they aim towards games rather than try and get improvements in 3DMark etc).
> 
> Or, you were being temp throttled before doing this.


This is exactly what I'm thinking. It's unusual that those scores went up just by that significant decrease in temps. I'm leaning towards his card being throttled in the first place before even putting it under water.


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> This is exactly what I'm thinking. It's unusual that those scores went up just by that significant decrease in temps. I'm leaning towards his card being throttled in the first place before even putting it under water.


Maybe... IDK.... I dont' really care honestly. Maybe when I get time I'll look into it more. For now I'm just happy and don't feel like putting the air coolers back on to test only to figure this out. Doesn't seem worth it right now.

I'll just take my extra scores for whatever reason they happened and be happy with it. Sometimes ya just gotta be lazy and play some games ya know?


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *battleaxe*
> 
> Maybe... IDK.... I dont' really care honestly. Maybe when I get time I'll look into it more. For now I'm just happy and don't feel like putting the air coolers back on to test only to figure this out. Doesn't seem worth it right now.
> 
> I'll just take my extra scores for whatever reason they happened and be happy with it. Sometimes ya just gotta be lazy and play some games ya know?


I agree! The end result is what's important


----------



## drainey

so after ive overclocked what do I put the voltage to. at the start of guide ou said to put voltage and power target to max temporally when do I put them back to normal or lower them? or do I just keep them both maxed out?


----------



## Totally Dubbed

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *drainey*
> 
> so after ive overclocked what do I put the voltage to. at the start of guide ou said to put voltage and power target to max temporally when do I put them back to normal or lower them? or do I just keep them both maxed out?


from my understanding you should keep the power target to max at all times, but the core voltage is your call, some leave it at max, others return it to default. Mine is back to default now, in fact I oced with it at default in the first place


----------



## pc-illiterate

all moving the over-voltage slider really does is tell the vid card the minimum amount of voltage to supply. its beneficial if the vrm (or whatever) doesnt supply juice as soon as the card needs it. some cards a drop in voltage or a sudden need of voltage can/will cause a crash if the juice isnt there when its demanded.


----------



## mavisky

Looking for a little help here guys. I've got a EVGA reference GTX670 here with a flashed bios and water cooling. Card stays super cool and never gives me any major issues. Usually runs at 1241mhz gpu and 3506 memory. Lately (especially while playing World of Tanks) it seems that my GPU is dropping performance by a large margin. My usage stays high, but the actual clocks are way way low. Sometimes there will be a freeze in the game that may or may not be related to the overclock settings, but it runs Heaven just fine. Often it takes a quick reboot to resolve the issue. Has anyone else run into something like this.

I've attached the EVGA Precision graph showing 99% gpu usage, but very low power, gpu clock, and memory clocks. You can still see the higher plateau from before I had to "ctrl-alt-del" out of World of Tanks. I've also included the Bios i currently.


----------



## yawa

Woah dude that is weird.

A while back I made a custom bios and locked my clock speeds ( I hate boost's inconsistencies) and voltage, maybe you should try the same? 1241 MHz isn't a hefty OC for a water cooled card ( mine does 1306 on stock cooling) so I wonder if forcing a consistent clock through bios will fix your issue.

So try disabling boost and see what happens.


----------



## mavisky

I would be all for that. Havent found a lot of info on what does what inside the bios screens, just info on "how" to flash it.

I was expecting a lot more but when it jumps to 1254 in Heaven 3.0 it seems to crash everytime.


----------



## pc-illiterate

honestly, it looks like a driver crash: low voltage, power, core clock


----------



## mavisky

Yea, I may need to revisit the bios settings I have flashed. Maybe I'll take a screen Cap of them tonight for some of you guys to review and critique. And maybe i just have a piss poor overclocking 670.


----------



## harry9900

can som1 confirm
are these power targets fine for a 670







?


----------



## battleaxe

Does anyone know where to download Kepler BIOS tweaker from?

I Googled it but just a bunch of spam sites.


----------



## xaiviax

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *battleaxe*
> 
> Does anyone know where to download Kepler BIOS tweaker from?
> 
> I Googled it but just a bunch of spam sites.


http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Benchmarks/Kepler-BIOS-Tweaker.shtml


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xaiviax*
> 
> http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Benchmarks/Kepler-BIOS-Tweaker.shtml


That's what I mean. How do I know which to click, its so full of ads I can't tell.

?

Is there somewhere here that its uploaded?

It says it downloaded but then won't open and run. ? Maybe I'm not doing something right. Says its a rar file and I don't have a program to run it? Weird.


----------



## Alphas

Guy I get a Blue screen when I run natural selection 2, my boost clock is already tuned down to 1137Mhz, voltage is 1.212V. What could be causing it?

WHEA uncorrectable error and restarted my PC. 2xGTX670 SLi, i5-3570K


----------



## Ribozyme

Hello everyone,

I am trying to get an unlocked voltage, power limit (to 1.21V) and GPU boost 2.0 bios for an asus dc2 gtx 670. Where can such a thing be found? Or is it only the 680 that is eligible for a gpu boost 2.0 mod because it is the same chip as 770 and 670 has no 700 series equivalent(in OEM it does apparantly).


----------



## intelchief

hello,
I'm pretty new here wink.gif
I own GTX670 2Gb (915/1550).
Max clocks:
Boost 1150 - its also boost limit
memory 1800
voltage: 1.175

Everything above 1150mhz is unstable. When boost limit in Kepler BIOS Tweaker is set to more than 1150mz Unigine Heaven is crashing. Even increasing power limit is not helping.

Temps are pretty fine, its stock cooling but I modified fan curve in Evga precision ( always bellow 66)

p.s. sry for my English smile.gif


----------



## Sifferz

I was following the (quite brilliant) guide and chugging along nicely, and heaven started blacking out around the airship, accompanied by GPU usage/clock speed completely tanking, the frame appearing once or twice, than the whole thing would go on as normal with clock speeds reset to default (which I find to be really weird). At first I thought this just meant it was time to back off, but it still happened even when I reduced my clocks down to my best scoring run, making me start to think it was Heaven, and I just did an hour of BF4 on my max attempted heaven clock w/o an issue.

Gigabyte Windforce 2gb

1059 Mhz Default Boost
1149.7 MHz Kepler Boost
1502 Default Memory (haven't fiddled with this yet)
112% Power Target, maxed out (1.175) slider

Any ideas? Is this logically instability, or has anyone else seen this issue in heaven before ? The power holds fine, and the GPU Straightlines until this hiccup and stays at default until a precision reboot, but the system isn't crashing, nor the game. It's almost like the GPU resets itself. After this moment the rest runs brilliantly

Also of note: FireStrike in 3D Mark runs without a hitch; heaven seems to be the only thing with these blackouts at higher clocks so far.


----------



## harry9900

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ribozyme*
> 
> Hello everyone,
> 
> I am trying to get an unlocked voltage, power limit (to 1.21V) and GPU boost 2.0 bios for an asus dc2 gtx 670. Where can such a thing be found? Or is it only the 680 that is eligible for a gpu boost 2.0 mod because it is the same chip as 770 and 670 has no 700 series equivalent(in OEM it does apparantly).


can som1 ans his ques ?


----------



## chiknnwatrmln

Has anyone noticed a performance increase with the new drivers over 158?

I'm selling my 670 FTW on eBay and included a link to one of my 3dMark11 scores and some guy messaged me, calling me out and saying that the score was terrible.

His card is clocked a bit over 100MHz lower on the core and a lot lower on the memory, but he used the newest drivers and his graphics score was a good couple hundred points ahead of mine.

I looked up the recent drivers and apparently they yield a pretty big performance increase, can anyone confirm or deny this?

The guy was also less than friendly when explaining this, seems to me like the new drivers + driver tweaks and that he just wanted to brag about his score.


----------



## Alphas

found out that WHEA error caused by CPU oc too high, lower by 100mhz and solved it.


----------



## Alphas

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *harry9900*
> 
> can som1 ans his ques ?


There is no GPU 2.0 for GTX670 since there is no retail GTX760 Ti. Someone tried flashing with GTX 760 bio and it works, but could also brick your card. To get 1.212 oc and power limit, search for keplerbiotweaker to unlock.


----------



## katemis

have some one tried Kepler BIOS Tweaker v1.26?
i have problem with my 670 on 1,212 with power target.it reaches the limit easily...







the 1.26 kepler says "added Power-Target Tweak" but i don't know how to use it..


----------



## Sysop82

In Precision I turn the voltage slider up all the way. However the top voltage it sits at under overclock is steady 1.62. Why doesn't it hit 1.75. Have 670 FTW 4GB.


----------



## EvoDC5

I'm trying to find my max gpu clock on this old 670 FTW but I'm getting this weird throttling at certain overclocks (70+ GPU) in Heaven 4.0.

My base clocks are 1006/1552, my k boost is 156 mhz.

Looking at this picture, you can see where it throttles, and what happens in Heaven is the screen goes black then goes back to the benchmark and continues as it was, but it's like the card "reset" itself, just not to it's actual base clocks.

The 0 values for GPU/FB/VID/BUS usage can be accounted for by a bios update that I did AFTER installing all of these programs. Prior to that everything was reading as they should. I had the same problem with throttling prior to the bios update.

I can get stable at +53/475 (1201/3579), so I'm afraid I just got a not-so-good overclocker. Could mobo bios settings be a problem? Inputs appreciated.


----------



## pc-illiterate

some just dont clock well at all.
the black screen is the driving crashing. you have to reboot your pc to get your clocks back and do an actual restart of the driver.
im no help other than that.


----------



## mavisky

EvoDC5, that's about where my EVGA reference card is happy. Anymore than that and i get crashes in game even it's stable in Heaven.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EvoDC5*
> 
> ...but it's like the card "reset" itself, just not to it's actual base clocks...


My 670 does not like heaven4 and it consistently will crash/reset/continue, as you've described, if i run it with my everyday OC. I've used my everyday OC for a long list of games and other benchmarks, but something about heaven4 really gives it trouble. Since the outlier seems to be heaven4, i just don't use that bench...

Have you tried the Valley benchmark? For me, that bench is more representative of the games that i play and what OC will work with them. Also when the driver/gpu crashes in Valley, the bench stops instead of resuming at the gpus base clocks (which can be confusing).


----------



## Xtreme512

guys if anyone knows please reply..

whast the temps for vrm in small pcb gtx 670 with stock and 1.21 v mod on high OC? at which rate it changes for OC?


----------



## EvoDC5

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> My 670 does not like heaven4 and it consistently will crash/reset/continue, as you've described, if i run it with my everyday OC. I've used my everyday OC for a long list of games and other benchmarks, but something about heaven4 really gives it trouble. Since the outlier seems to be heaven4, i just don't use that bench...
> 
> Have you tried the Valley benchmark? For me, that bench is more representative of the games that i play and what OC will work with them. Also when the driver/gpu crashes in Valley, the bench stops instead of resuming at the gpus base clocks (which can be confusing).


Thanks, I'll look into Valley


----------



## Skybreeder

Hello.

I run a 2x 670 Gigabyte Windforce SLI setup.

For odd reasons, when running Heaven (at extreme settings, FullHD and fullscreen), when the software starts running (where the benchmarks begins) it "crashes", then keeps running and I can run the actual benchmark fine.
However, it seems like when it does the crash, it resets the entire overclock. Power target, mem and gpu clock, and voltage slider.

No matter how I set my settings, it will do the "crash", continue, and appearantly reset the settings.

Does anyone have any clues as to why and/or am I missing any important information?

Thanks in advance.


----------



## pc-illiterate

dont run heaven 4. it appears almost noone with a gpu up to the 6xx series can run it on a healthy overclock. almost everyone has a driver crash. use heaven 3 and unigine valley if you want to use that type of benchmark. otherwise use 3dmark or 3dmark11


----------



## Skybreeder

Alright, I seem to get a way better score at Heaven 3.0.
What about 3DMark?

With default settings in FireStrike, I get a score of 3800, however with no overclocks. Is this normal, or below normal?
A friend tried with his single 770, same settings (however with a slightly lower resolution, me 1920x1080, him 1680x1050), and got a score of about 7000. And he got 3500 on extreme.

Is my cards really that bad, or am I doing something wrong?

EDIT: We just did a side-by-side run of Valley, with no overclock on either things, I got over 1600 more in score than he did, yet a way lower score in 3Dmark, same settings.. I don't get it.


----------



## pc-illiterate

a 770 is a rebadged 680.
1920x1080 vs 1680x1050 is a major difference. is the 3800 score a total score or just graphics score? youre both using different cpu right?

lolyeah something is wrong. did you enable sli?
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/680416

just ran at extreme. my nv control panel is not default. most everything is turned up for quality not performance.
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/1908415
5108


----------



## Skybreeder

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> a 770 is a rebadged 680.
> 1920x1080 vs 1680x1050 is a major difference. is the 3800 score a total score or just graphics score? youre both using different cpu right?
> 
> lolyeah something is wrong. did you enable sli?
> http://www.3dmark.com/fs/680416


In the valley test we both ran 1680x1050 resolution, where I got significantly higher scores than him.
http://grab.by/t2IO This is the test results from the FireStrike default setting test.
SLI should be enabled (http://grab.by/t2IQ)

I am using a i7-4770k, he is using an i5-4670k.


----------



## pc-illiterate

when you want to compare scores with someone, you should only be going by graphics score. total score is too varied because of different processors.
your score is stock 670 sli?
can you set both cards to 1200 core and 3456 mem and run it?


----------



## Skybreeder

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> when you want to compare scores with someone, you should only be going by graphics score. total score is too varied because of different processors.
> your score is stock 670 sli?
> can you set both cards to 1200 core and 3456 mem and run it?


His graphics score was 8146, with a physics score of 7199.
My graphics score is 4018 with a physics 11211.

Where exactly do I see the total memory? http://grab.by/t2JM
1200 core clock seems a bit much, the driver (or what i described in my first post) crashes in Valley there as well, but I'll try. Just not sure about the mem clock though.

EDIT: Found it, running tests now.


----------



## Skybreeder

Alright, I changed the overclock on both cards to what you recommended.

Not only did it get a significantly lower score (3312 vs 3871) on Valley with Extreme HD presets, but it also only increased the overall FPS on 3DMark by 1.

It seems to have reset my overclocks again, so that might explain the difference in Valley scores.
Just put them up again, and it crashed within a second of running FireStrike


----------



## pc-illiterate

wow, not a good overclocking card. i didnt think they would cripple them that much. i thought mine was a bad clocker being only able to hit 1241 stable.

i reset my nv cp to default nvidia settings. setting core to 1100 mem to 3456. i'll rerun firestrike default and edit with my score.

*EDIT* - http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/1909035


----------



## Aussiejuggalo

Got a question, with a Gigabyte 670 would there be any real difference if I changed the TIM to MX-4?

Thanks


----------



## pc-illiterate

pretty much every card maker uses too much tim and probably some not so very good stuff. i thought you saw that in the water cooling section?
change away


----------



## Aussiejuggalo

Nah I didnt see it, cards still under air so I never bothered to look into it

I'll change it and see what happens

Thanks


----------



## Skybreeder

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> wow, not a good overclocking card. i didnt think they would cripple them that much. i thought mine was a bad clocker being only able to hit 1241 stable.
> 
> i reset my nv cp to default nvidia settings. setting core to 1100 mem to 3456. i'll rerun firestrike default and edit with my score.
> 
> *EDIT* - http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/1909035


So there is nothing to do? Not anything that I might have done wrong?


----------



## pc-illiterate

is it staying under 70* ?
max out the voltage and power target. if you have a good power supply there isnt really anything you can do.
what is your max clock ?


----------



## Skybreeder

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> is it staying under 70* ?
> max out the voltage and power target. if you have a good power supply there isnt really anything you can do.
> what is your max clock ?


It is staying below 70 degrees yes. I have a Corsair ax1200i so no problem there.
I don't think I've had anything stable over maybe +50 gpu clock and +100 mem clock


----------



## pc-illiterate

but what is your total max core clock? every card boosts to different levels.
+50 on my wf3 670 is 1160. on someone else'a card it can be 1180.


----------



## Skybreeder

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> but what is your total max core clock? every card boosts to different levels.
> +50 on my wf3 670 is 1160. on someone else'a card it can be 1180.


Where do I check that, just to be certain?


----------



## Chunin

Since we are talking of the Gigabytes 670 - did any of you guys try the F21 BIOS? Its the lates one on their site but it says its for SAMSUNG memory and the other three were for HYNIX... It also is based off of a diferent NVIDIA source BIOS than the rest.

GPU-Z shows both default and OCed GPU and BOOST clocks as for the max clock you get after the OC id suggest looking at the values shown in the program you are using for OCing the card.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Skybreeder*
> 
> Where do I check that, just to be certain?


as chunin said (kind of) what are you using to overclock? i hope its afterburner or precision-x.
open the monitor graph, put your card under load running heaven or valley or 3dmark(11). the highest core clock reading you get is your max core speed/clock.


----------



## setter

Had two of the wf 670's. One was a pretty decent clocker, (+130 core/+760 memory). Second one not so good, (+80 core/+600 memory). Both on stock bios and volts.


----------



## Skybreeder

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> as chunin said (kind of) what are you using to overclock? i hope its afterburner or precision-x.
> open the monitor graph, put your card under load running heaven or valley or 3dmark(11). the highest core clock reading you get is your max core speed/clock.


First one seems to be.. 886 gpu core clock, and 3005 memory core clock.
Second one, 980 cpu core clock, 3009 memory core clock.

Makes sense?

I would just like to say again for clarification, that it seems like there is zero problems (except when overclocking) in Heaven 3.0 or Valley, only heavy lag in 3dmark


----------



## pc-illiterate

skyb, those are default clocks? i thought all gb wf3 cards were factory overclocked.
my gb is 1110 on the core. +100 gives me 1202. i dont understand how you have a max speed of 886 and 980 on the cores.
gb says you should be boosting to a minimum of 1058 on the cores. without boost the cards are 980mhz

set both cards to stock (+0) offset. run 3dmark or heaven3. what is your max core speed on each card.
what are you using to overclock and monitor/check/record clocks and temps?


----------



## Skybreeder

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> skyb, those are default clocks? i thought all gb wf3 cards were factory overclocked.
> my gb is 1110 on the core. +100 gives me 1202. i dont understand how you have a max speed of 886 and 980 on the cores.
> gb says you should be boosting to a minimum of 1058 on the cores. without boost the cards are 980mhz
> 
> set both cards to stock (+0) offset. run 3dmark or heaven3. what is your max core speed on each card.
> what are you using to overclock and monitor/check/record clocks and temps?


Just resetted, screenshot here: http://grab.by/t4Es . Using Precision X obv.

Results for Valley: http://grab.by/t4Ek

GPU1 Core clock max 1176
GPU1 Memory clock max 3005

GPU2 core clock max 1150
GPU2 memory clock max 3005


----------



## Skybreeder

Waiting on mod accept on my post...


----------



## Skybreeder

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> skyb, those are default clocks? i thought all gb wf3 cards were factory overclocked.
> my gb is 1110 on the core. +100 gives me 1202. i dont understand how you have a max speed of 886 and 980 on the cores.
> gb says you should be boosting to a minimum of 1058 on the cores. without boost the cards are 980mhz
> 
> set both cards to stock (+0) offset. run 3dmark or heaven3. what is your max core speed on each card.
> what are you using to overclock and monitor/check/record clocks and temps?


Well it was around 1150 gpu clock and 3005 memory clock on both cards.


----------



## pc-illiterate

you arent sync offsetting are you? turn off sync and set each card individually. see if both cards will run 1176 first.


----------



## DudeJacobson

Hey new member trying to get into the OC "game" but I was having trouble, sorry cant post too many specifics or screens because I'm at work, following your guide and running PrecisionX along with GPUZ I got my 670 to +61 core fine but once trying to go +81 it crashed, and post +81 attempt I cant run Heaven at even stock settings. Any suggestions or know whats going on? Thanks for anything guys.

System is in Sig if that helps narrow down any potential issues.


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DudeJacobson*
> 
> Hey new member trying to get into the OC "game" but I was having trouble, sorry cant post too many specifics or screens because I'm at work, following your guide and running PrecisionX along with GPUZ I got my 670 to +61 core fine but once trying to go +81 it crashed, and post +81 attempt I cant run Heaven at even stock settings. Any suggestions or know whats going on? Thanks for anything guys.
> 
> System is in Sig if that helps narrow down any potential issues.


Press the reset button on AB then hit apply. See if it repeats. Sounds like its loading at +81


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DudeJacobson*
> 
> Hey new member trying to get into the OC "game" but I was having trouble, sorry cant post too many specifics or screens because I'm at work, following your guide and running PrecisionX along with GPUZ I got my 670 to +61 core fine but once trying to go +81 it crashed, and post +81 attempt I cant run Heaven at even stock settings. Any suggestions or know whats going on? Thanks for anything guys.
> 
> System is in Sig if that helps narrow down any potential issues.


what is your factory max core clock? that is the most important info right now.


----------



## DudeJacobson

Thanks, see attachment. I restarted the computer after work, and got a very minor OC out of the system, hoping I can push it farther later.

gpuz.gif 21k .gif file


----------



## pc-illiterate

is that the stock default max core clock?
open the monitoring tools in prec-x or afterburner, whichever you use to overclock. put the card under load while the factory clocks are set at default. you can use heaven or valley to load the card. check to see what the max core speed is listed as. that gpu-z shot you took doesnt look right.


----------



## DudeJacobson

Is this one any better? done while under Heaven.

gpuzs.gif 21k .gif file


----------



## pc-illiterate

it doesnt work that way. you would have to click the sensors tab and change the gpu core clock tab to max.
here are both of my 670s.

gpuz.JPG 201k .JPG file


notice the first gpuz panel says max clock with boost is 980mhz. the second panel of sensors shows real clock with boost is 1084mhz.
the second card shows 1059mhz max core with boost but sensors tab shows actual 1110mhz with boost. yes kepler is confusing.


----------



## DudeJacobson

gpuz first page

gpuz.gif 21k .gif file
 and sensor page

gpuz-s.gif 15k .gif file
 hope this makes sense


----------



## pc-illiterate

+61 on the core is a good average overclock, seriously. my gigabyte gets a max clock of 1241 in most things but 1228mhz is the highest clock i can EVERYTHING at. dont sweat it. that overclock is fine.
how high can you get your memory?


----------



## DudeJacobson

Yeah, thanks that makes me feel better, I'm running it at 3054mhz mem which is +50 at the moment but only because I'm not quite sure what an artifact looks like so I was super nitpicky and kept lowering based off the guide when I tried to boost it, does anyone have any pictures or a guide to determine artifacts? so I might raise it higher.


----------



## pc-illiterate

thers 2 different black artifact videos i have only had color 'starburst' on my screen. only 1 artifact is too many.


----------



## DudeJacobson

Thank you for the help, got it running at +475 or 3479mhz Mem and +63 core. might have been able to squeeze a few more mem into it but i like where its at for now, maybe once i foray into custom loops.


----------



## pc-illiterate

thats absolutely fine and a good clock in my opinion.
happy gaming!


----------



## integrasaurus

let me start off by saying that i never anticipated to oc my gigabyte 670 wf3. i bought it off a friend as an upgrade to my gigabyte 560 ti without any knowledge of how much more it can oc from factory! i am very new to ocing in general, and after reading the guide a couple times i decided to dive in.

ok so here's my problem. my default kb is 103 (1162 mhz - 1059 mhz), and from what i understand, we're trying to keep the kb as high as possible without throttle. my problem is once i turn up my clock offset, the kb gets thorttled back to 97. i've managed to get my card running stable at +138 mem +600 clock despite the fact, having a total of 1294mhz, but i knew im supposed to be closer to 1300 (1059 + 138 + 104)

gpu-z is also showing "VRel, Vop". i'm assuming it has to do with that, but i am unsure. any help would be apprciated











*edit: forgot to add a screen cap!


----------



## pc-illiterate

just get the max core clock to max. kb doesnt mean squat once you start overclocking. max core speed is max core speed.


----------



## integrasaurus

should i be worried about the VRel and Vop showing up on the PerfCap Reason in gpu-z?


----------



## LaMoyo

I have an Asus GTX 670 runing at stock 915 clock 980 Boost. I tried overclocking this beauty but it seems like my core clock is stuck at 706Mhz at full load running unigine heaven benchmark! GPU-Z shows me my stock clocks but when i run at full load Precision X is at 706 max core clock.Can anyone help me ? Thanks a lot in advance!


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *LaMoyo*
> 
> I have an Asus GTX 670 runing at stock 915 clock 980 Boost. I tried overclocking this beauty but it seems like my core clock is stuck at 706Mhz at full load running unigine heaven benchmark! GPU-Z shows me my stock clocks but when i run at full load Precision X is at 706 max core clock.Can anyone help me ? Thanks a lot in advance!


What are your temps? Sounds like you might be throttling.


----------



## pc-illiterate

lamoyo, when the video driver crashes, you have to restart your pc to get the driver to fully load/restart.


----------



## LaMoyo

Ohh thank you my friends i figured it out ! My temps were like 62-63 max! Thanks a lot guys!


----------



## LaMoyo

Okay i have another one question..In heaven benchmark with my settings at stock and EVGA Precision X open to monitor my core clock and minivolt my core clock was 1.124 but my default clock in gpu z is 915 and boost clock is 980! My score was 820.Then i applied these settings to precisionower target 122%,clock offset +100MHZ and voltage to its maximum (1.150). When benchmarking with these settings my core clock was 1.124 again during the test and my score was 866.Also the voltage when benchmarking is constant to 1.175 but in precision x the slider goes up to 1.150.Am i doing anything wrong?


----------



## SeanJ76

Overclocking the 670 is not that difficult where you have to write 10 pages about it how it's done.........absolute overkill! All you have to do is d/l Evga PrecisonX and enable K-boost, which locks the core clock at w/e you want.... that's it! No need for 10 pages of useless banter like this guy wrote^


----------



## pc-illiterate

first, you dont have to enable k-boost. why in the world would you want to run your max clocks 24/7?
second, did you ever think some people reading the guide have no clue or idea how to overclock?
third, there sure wasnt 3 pages of guide written.

i think he did a great job on a very comprehensive and very very detail oriented guide for any skill level overclocker to follow. if you dont appreciate it, move on and dont even bother to comment. your negativity adds nothing but, well, negativity.


----------



## 8bitG33k

Would enabling K-boost give a potentially higher overclock though? If there is an analogy to CPU's you can achieve a higher OC by not overclocking using offset. You don't want to run at overclocked speeds 24/ of course, just to run a couple benches after which you can switch back to stock or offset.

EDIT: That aside, I agree the OP did a superb job writing this guide and certainly deserves +Rep for the effort


----------



## LaMoyo

So i followed step by step this wonderfull guide and i got my Asus gtx 670 NON top model with +100 MHZ core clock and +545MHZ MEM clock.
My score with heaven ultra settings is 917 with 36,4 average fps 19.3 min and 81,2 max.Is this score good/normal ?


----------



## roflcopter159

I was pointed to this guide by the 660Ti club last night. I have been trying to follow this guide, but Unigine Heaven 4.0 keeps crashing. Sometimes it will make it about half way through the benchmark other times it won't even start. I even restarted my computer, Heaven, and Precision X only to have the same problem. When it crashes, the screen freezes for a moment, then it goes black. After that it may flash between black and Heaven a few times then display the "Heaven has crashed" or whatever it may be. When I started overclocking today I could run the benchmark no problem at the default settings for my card (Max Boost 1254MHz and Mem 1502MHz) as well as at +20 MHz on the GPU clock offset. At default settings, I scored 721 and at +20 GPU I got 720. Has anyone had a similar problem? It started when I set my GPU clock to +40. I feel like I should be able to push my card farther than that, so I'm kind of annoyed by what is happening. I haven't even started on memory overclocking yet. I have the EVGA 660Ti FTW+ 3GB


----------



## Harbynger

I have an EVGA 670 4gb sc+ and I'm having some issues. On stock I get about 31FPS avg and a score of 730. I have the voltage maxed and I can't get over 20 gpu clock and 130 mem clock offsets... and this gets me almost no change in heaven (32 and 760). Anything above this and my drivers crash (screen goes black and then it comes back and drops my overclock until I reboot). TDP when running heaven is sitting around 106% and temp never gets above 66. Am I missing something? Or did I just get a card that doesn't like overclocking? Coolermaster Silent Pro 600W psu. i5-4500k and 8gb 1333 RAM on a P8z77-v lk.


----------



## navynuke499

so i just did a baseline run after being deployed for 6 months to try this again with my new build. somehow my GTX 670 FTW just got a score of less than 600 with an average fps of 20. what the hell happened to this thing? last time i did this i remember it being over 2000.


----------



## pc-illiterate

what did you use to get your baseline from? score of less than 600 but was over 2000 before?


----------



## navynuke499

all settings were the same, only things that have changed is my mobo and cpu. went from an amd 6100 and sabertooth mobo to R4BE and 4820k


----------



## pc-illiterate

no, what program did you use to get a baseline from? and what settings in the program itself?


----------



## navynuke499

heaven running at the suggested setting in the OP, this is on a 1440p monitor if that makes any difference.


----------



## pc-illiterate

theres no way you got 2000 for a score in heaven3 on max settings. its impossible.
if youd like i can set my asus card to 1300mhz core to show you its impossible to get a score that high on a stock clocked 670.
run it at 1080p with all settings in heaven maxed. leave all nvidia control panel 3d settings at default.
also, whats your max core clock under load?


----------



## navynuke499

so what would a gtx 670 normally have for this bench? maybe im thinking of a different one somehow?


----------



## navynuke499

just overclocking the ram for the time being for to cuda mine, but here is the highest i got to on the memory and its terrible score.

This is stock 1189 boost and +800 on the memory with AA off since i dont need it at 1440p


----------



## pc-illiterate

heres my purely stock asus dc2 non-top 670



theres more in the thread here but this is a fresh just run score.

but if you run 'your own' settings there is nothing to compare it to. you have to run the same settings as everyone else to get any kind of comparison to others.

*edit* and i see it grabbed both monitors in my screenshot...


----------



## navynuke499

i assume it probably makes a difference that im using heaven 4? seems like all these other ones are 3


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *navynuke499*
> 
> i assume it probably makes a difference that im using heaven 4? seems like all these other ones are 3


Absolutely. Heaven 4 is a harder test than 3. So your score would be lower.


----------



## navynuke499

wellt hats probably it. maybe i should get heaven 3 just to make sure. you would think the video would be different between the 2. thanks


----------



## SeanJ76

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> first, you dont have to enable k-boost. why in the world would you want to run your max clocks 24/7?
> second, did you ever think some people reading the guide have no clue or idea how to overclock?
> third, there sure wasnt 3 pages of guide written.
> 
> i think he did a great job on a very comprehensive and very very detail oriented guide for any skill level overclocker to follow. if you dont appreciate it, move on and dont even bother to comment. your negativity adds nothing but, well, negativity.


If you're not enabling K-boost in PrecisonX your not getting the most out of your 670's........

Also running your cards at their highest stable core clock will not cause degradation, as long as they run under 65C like they should. Heat=degradation, voltage does not degrade cards, nor does running them at the highest voltage allowed by the manufacturer......very apparent your a amateur, who knows nothing about overclocking or benchmarking....


----------



## SeanJ76

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *8bitG33k*
> 
> Would enabling K-boost give a potentially higher overclock though? If there is an analogy to CPU's you can achieve a higher OC by not overclocking using offset. You don't want to run at overclocked speeds 24/ of course, just to run a couple benches after which you can switch back to stock or offset.
> 
> EDIT: That aside, I agree the OP did a superb job writing this guide and certainly deserves +Rep for the effort


K-boost will always halt better performance period. I've been running K-boost locked @1254mhz on both my 670 FTW's for well over a year........K-boost will not cause any damage or degradation to your gpu this is a fact.


----------



## pc-illiterate

no one said it will cause damage/degradation/makeyoulooklikeanub.
it doesnt have better performance.
it isnt under 65*C. its under70*C to keep the card from throttling. and thats only the first throttle point.
you do NOT have to enable k-boost. enabling k-boost in precision-x does nothing more than force your card to run its max clocks at all times. if k-boost had any other purpose, there would be an equivalent option in afterburner.
running your graphics card full tilt 24 hours a day 7 days a week is wasteful and serves no purpose.

now i hope you take the time to read it this time. i typed it more complete so you can try to comprehend what is being said.
youre the same little kid that came into this thread crying because poe's guide was too much reading for your easily sidetracked brain to handle. go annoy someone else now. shoo! shoo!

/ignore SeanJ76


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *navynuke499*
> 
> wellt hats probably it. maybe i should get heaven 3 just to make sure. you would think the video would be different between the 2. thanks


Yup, I bout had a heart attach too when I downloaded 4.0. Much lower scores than 3.0.

My card was totally fine and still pulled same scores in 3.0


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> no one said it will cause damage/degradation/makeyoulooklikeanub.
> it doesnt have better performance.
> it isnt under 65*C. its under70*C to keep the card from throttling. and thats only the first throttle point.
> you do NOT have to enable k-boost. enabling k-boost in precision-x does nothing more than force your card to run its max clocks at all times. if k-boost had any other purpose, there would be an equivalent option in afterburner.
> running your graphics card full tilt 24 hours a day 7 days a week is wasteful and serves no purpose.
> 
> now i hope you take the time to read it this time. i typed it more complete so you can try to comprehend what is being said.
> youre the same little kid that came into this thread crying because poe's guide was too much reading for your easily sidetracked brain to handle. go annoy someone else now. shoo! shoo!
> 
> /ignore SeanJ76


Exactly. Someone please ban SeanJ76 for his arrogance.


----------



## xandox97

when i use precision x, i cant move the power target slider or change the voltage settings. I have looking through the internet for solutions, some say the graphic card might not support it but i the title said GTX 670. Someones pls help, ive been trying for 5 hours now.

NVIDIA Geforce GTX 670M


----------



## SeanJ76

670m is a laptop video card, and does not support the power target function.


----------



## SeanJ76

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Exactly. Someone please ban SeanJ76 for his arrogance.


@kevin ....K-boost is a must if you overclock, letting the card decide when it should boost is for amateurs........their's a reason no one uses Afterburner. Why do you think K/n/G/pin uses PrecisonX?


----------



## anubis1127

Wow, just wow.


----------



## 8bitG33k

Methinks the barging person already has a reputation which has nothing to do with Rep+. Some people think just because they have a point - no matter how subjective that point is or if one even exists in the first place - they are always right and everyone else is wrong.

A high rank in a benchmark leaderboard only means you were lucky enough to get your hands on a card that overclocks exceptionally well, nothing more. After all, even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. It may even mean you know your stuff when it comes to overclocking but it sure doesn't mean you know how to prove your point or even how to discuss the finer points on a given topic, QED.


----------



## anubis1127

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanJ76*
> 
> Like I said, your a nub if your not using K-boost. No reason to get angry, I'm right and you're wrong.


k-boost is utterly pointless most of the time. Its only real benefit is in legacy apps, other than that its just wasting electricity. You can mod your vbios to make it 100% pointless, which is what most people do.


----------



## xfachx

So these are my SLI'd 670 GTX results. The top benchmark is the currently the highest I went at +50 GPU and +500 MEM. And the bottom benchmark was at everything stock.

From what I understand, my monitor seemingly shows that I can increase the clock since its a stable line. But every time I increase the GPU clock beyond +50, Unigine goes dark and I need to restart my computer. The crash happens sometime after test 20/26. I haven't tested beyond +500 MEM because I didn't want to keep crashing to desktop. Figured I should ask here for help!









Any advice on how to push further, or if I am doing anything incorrectly? Or if this is pretty much the max I will be getting to? I am actually really content with these results honestly but I am itching to get the most bang out of this water cooled setup so I am all ears! Thanks for taking the time, appreciate it!


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanJ76*
> 
> If you're not enabling K-boost in PrecisonX your not getting the most out of your 670's........
> 
> Also running your cards at their highest stable core clock will not cause degradation, as long as they run under 65C like they should. Heat=degradation, voltage does not degrade cards, nor does running them at the highest voltage allowed by the manufacturer......very apparent your a amateur, who knows nothing about overclocking or benchmarking....


Personally, I like the power saving features. Not only do they save power, they help me to have a quieter running system too. There is no need to run the GPU/CPU clocks up to watch netflix or browse the web. Most of the time my system is running, the CPU and GPU are in a low power state. I understand you might be able to achieve a higher OC by disabling the dynamic clock modulation stuff, but for me... definitely not worth the noise.


----------



## Nippa

This is going to sound like a really dumb question, but ive been looking at PrecisonX for some time now, and cant figure out how to turn the Kboost on, or what it is.

I just picked up a second 670 and im currently running it in sli, and i ran valley at Extreme HD and got a score of 3932 and wanted to see how i can break the 4k mark. My cpu is only at 4.6 so maybe thats holding me back a little.

But am i just having a slow moment, i cant for the life of my figure out the kboost thing


----------



## pc-illiterate

i can tell you a higher cpu speed wont raise your score. unigine benchmarks are gpu based not cpu. the only way a higher cpu speed would help is if youre bottlenecked. you just need higher gpu core and mem speeds.

as far as k-boost, its there somewhere. maybe i saw it in the voltage pop-up?


----------



## Nippa

the highest stable run i was able to do +35 and +600. Anything higher on air and i was getting artifacts, and the top card which is almost 10deg higher then the lower one was around 75deg. I need to figure that out.


----------



## akaBruce

Sorry to ruin this Sean argument, but with +125 core and +810 mem, I am not getting 1 bit of increase in BF4 MP.

I also outperformed a GTX770 on Unigine Heaven Benchmark lol.

I think I am CPU bottlenecked; i5 3570k 4.2Ghz OC.

Thoughts guys?


----------



## bluewr

3570k shouldn't bottleneck, can you get higher OC, like 4.4 ghz with a new cooler?

And what about your ram?


----------



## ozniko

Hello everyone after having my card for a year i decided to overclock it...

I have been following the Masters Guide but i am stuck on some key areas:

*1. When i am using the quick oc guide is k-boost supposed to be on when i am finding out my offset???

2. I am having different scores for the same settings and dont know why when using heaven.

3. After i find instability issues and heaven crashes and i try to go down 5% to where it was stable it continues to crash no matter where i set the offet... even to default so i restart my cpu.

4. Do i keep pwer target and voltage at max all the time even after finding the offset?

5. What do i do after i find my best offsets? with regards to this :

Temporarily increase both the Power Target and Voltage slider to their maximum value. This will minimize the throttling caused by going over the Power Target.

6. Please take a look at my settings







*

http://screencast.com/t/K4t7lLgcKj

i got about 600 on Heaven with 1440 p


----------



## Jedson3614

K -boost is not recommended it runs gpu at full speeds all the time


----------



## ozniko

Hello everyone after having my card for a year i decided to overclock it...

I have been following the Masters Guide but i am stuck on some key areas:

1. When i am using the quick oc guide is k-boost supposed to be on when i am finding out my offset???

2. I am having different scores for the same settings and dont know why when using heaven.

3. After i find instability issues and heaven crashes and i try to go down 5% to where it was stable it continues to crash no matter where i set the offet... even to default so i restart my cpu.

4. Do i keep pwer target and voltage at max all the time even after finding the offset?

5. What do i do after i find my best offsets? with regards to this :

Temporarily increase both the Power Target and Voltage slider to their maximum value. This will minimize the throttling caused by going over the Power Target.

6. Please take a look at my settings smile.gif

http://screencast.com/t/K4t7lLgcKj

i got about 600 on Heaven with 1440 p


----------



## razzac11

Hello I have recently overclocked my graphics card using the GTX 670 overclocking master guide. It works well but I seem to have a issue with the power limit fluctuating a lot. Any reason why that could be? This recording was done using the heavenly benchmark on ultra. any other suggestions would be awesome as well.
Processor: AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor (6 CPUs), ~3.5GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4094MB RAM
Page File: 2786MB used, 5398MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)


----------



## akaBruce

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bluewr*
> 
> 3570k shouldn't bottleneck, can you get higher OC, like 4.4 ghz with a new cooler?
> 
> And what about your ram?


Better, I just punched 4.5Ghz stable on my bad boy with 1.301 V and max temp of 82 on Prime95. However, after I apply my GPU OC, I am now getting 10-20 FPS increase. Hell Yeah.


----------



## ozniko

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ozniko*
> 
> Hello everyone after having my card for a year i decided to overclock it...
> 
> I have been following the Masters Guide but i am stuck on some key areas:
> 
> *1. When i am using the quick oc guide is k-boost supposed to be on when i am finding out my offset???
> 
> 2. I am having different scores for the same settings and dont know why when using heaven.
> 
> 3. After i find instability issues and heaven crashes and i try to go down 5% to where it was stable it continues to crash no matter where i set the offet... even to default so i restart my cpu.
> 
> 4. Do i keep pwer target and voltage at max all the time even after finding the offset?
> 
> 5. What do i do after i find my best offsets? with regards to this :
> 
> Temporarily increase both the Power Target and Voltage slider to their maximum value. This will minimize the throttling caused by going over the Power Target.
> 
> 6. Please take a look at my settings
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *
> 
> bump any help here with my questions?
> 
> http://screencast.com/t/K4t7lLgcKj
> 
> i got about 600 on Heaven with 1440 p


----------



## michael-ocn

Is that an evga FTW card? I got one of those. The ability to push the power limit up like that is really nice so no power throttling. I don't get mem clocks nearly that high.

1. Don't muck with k-boost. What that does is peg your gpu to run at its full boost clocks always. You want to get things setup to run with clock modulation stuff turned on, right?

2. They're gonna be somewhat different of course, but are you saying they're wildly different?

Also which version of heaven are you using? Heaven4 on my system will continue running after the GPU has crashed and reinitialized itself to run at stock clocks. If that's whats happening it could explain wildly different results. I don't like using Heaven4, i use Valley instead. It doesn't do that continue after reset thing.

3. Ok, so restart the system to get things reset.

4. and 5. I keep mine at 130% pwr target which is higher than any game i play wants or needs. The cooler works well enough and the psu is ready willing and able... so i see no reason to throttle for power consumption alone.

6. Yeah... i'm jealous of your memclocks







I use an everyday OC of 1267/6840 with my ftw card.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ozniko*
> 
> Hello everyone after having my card for a year i decided to overclock it...
> 
> I have been following the Masters Guide but i am stuck on some key areas:
> 
> *1. When i am using the quick oc guide is k-boost supposed to be on when i am finding out my offset???
> 
> 2. I am having different scores for the same settings and dont know why when using heaven.
> 
> 3. After i find instability issues and heaven crashes and i try to go down 5% to where it was stable it continues to crash no matter where i set the offet... even to default so i restart my cpu.
> 
> 4. Do i keep pwer target and voltage at max all the time even after finding the offset?
> 
> 5. What do i do after i find my best offsets? with regards to this :
> 
> Temporarily increase both the Power Target and Voltage slider to their maximum value. This will minimize the throttling caused by going over the Power Target.
> 
> 6. Please take a look at my settings
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *
> 
> http://screencast.com/t/K4t7lLgcKj
> 
> i got about 600 on Heaven with 1440 p


----------



## ozniko

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Is that an evga FTW card? I got one of those. The ability to push the power limit up like that is really nice so no power throttling. I don't get mem clocks nearly that high.
> 
> 1. Don't muck with k-boost. What that does is peg your gpu to run at its full boost clocks always. You want to get things setup to run with clock modulation stuff turned on, right?
> 
> 2. They're gonna be somewhat different of course, but are you saying they're wildly different?
> 
> Also which version of heaven are you using? Heaven4 on my system will continue running after the GPU has crashed and reinitialized itself to run at stock clocks. If that's whats happening it could explain wildly different results. I don't like using Heaven4, i use Valley instead. It doesn't do that continue after reset thing.
> 
> 3. Ok, so restart the system to get things reset.
> 
> 4. and 5. I keep mine at 130% pwr target which is higher than any game i play wants or needs. The cooler works well enough and the psu is ready willing and able... so i see no reason to throttle for power consumption alone.
> 
> 6. Yeah... i'm jealous of your memclocks
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I use an everyday OC of 1267/6840 with my ftw card.


Thanks so much for taking the time to straiten me out and answer my questions!!

So yeah its an EVGA 670 FTW. You said you use an everyday OC of 1267/6840 what does the second number mean? i think the first one how fast your clock is on your card. but the second one dont know

I dont think there has been any updates to this post because my preciesion x sofware is different and default lows and highs for fan speeds are different. I am not sure what to do with the Voltage. what is yours set at??? Whats your offset at?

i had some artifacts playing FarCry 3 on 1440 p so i lowerd the memory to 450 not sure what are memclocks

i will try to find my stable clock with the other program you mentioned. valley. I have been using Heaven 4. Yeah im not sure whats going on i was playing farcry 3 with my new settings getting frame rate of 9-10 i restarted with dafault settings getting about 30 and i redid my settings so i think its a couple frames better but im not totally sure im doig everything right.

What does your fan curve look like what do you have them set at?


----------



## michael-ocn

The 2nd number is the memory clock rate. That clock rate is annoyingly reported in 3 different ways. On the box, the default mem clock rate is 6208MHz for our card, mine is overclocked from that to 6840. But if you look in GPU-Z , it will report something around 1712Mhz, and according to precisionx, that would show up as 3420.

I saw your memory clock rate was at 7200+ some, which is considerably faster.

Mem clocks can be tricky. As the clock rate is dialed up, errors can occur but some errors can be corrected w/o producing artifacts or crashing. When your getting error that are corrected... you get slower framerates then you'd get with a lower mem clock. Figuring out when you've crossed that threshold from no errors into errors that are being corrected can be tricky.

Hmmm... that behavior might explain big differences in scores between runs at the same clocks. They way i saw this in bench runs with my card was, ran error free for a while, but then errors kicked in (fps and gpu load dropped) and error remained for the rest of the run. Depending on when the errors first kicked in, earlier or later, could make for a big difference in the final score.

If you increase the memclock and the score comes down, thats a telltale sign. Or if you increase the clockrate and the score does not go up.

I'm careful with memclocks because unlike gpus and cpus that have thermal sensors and will clock down automagically if temps get too hi... the memory on our cards (and most othes i think) doesn't have that kind of self defense to overheating... with the ftw card, we can't even see the memory temps (no sensor there).

I leave the voltage setting alone (on defaults). Afaict, it had no affect whatsoever with the stock bios.

1440p is a lot of pixels, I use mine for 1920x1200. For some games a 670 might not be enough for 1440p.

Here's what i got for a fan curve... I have the blower-style cooler (the old style). This keeps mine under 70c even with my most demanding games, so no throttling due to temps.


And Farcry3... last year i played A LOT of fc3 coop, so much fun! Thnx for reminding me to revisit the islands again sometime soon


----------



## ozniko

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> The 2nd number is the memory clock rate. That clock rate is annoyingly reported in 3 different ways. On the box, the default mem clock rate is 6208MHz for our card, mine is overclocked from that to 6840. But if you look in GPU-Z , it will report something around 1712Mhz, and according to precisionx, that would show up as 3420.
> 
> I saw your memory clock rate was at 7200+ some, which is considerably faster.
> 
> Mem clocks can be tricky. As the clock rate is dialed up, errors can occur but some errors can be corrected w/o producing artifacts or crashing. When your getting error that are corrected... you get slower framerates then you'd get with a lower mem clock. Figuring out when you've crossed that threshold from no errors into errors that are being corrected can be tricky.
> 
> Hmmm... that behavior might explain big differences in scores between runs at the same clocks. They way i saw this in bench runs with my card was, ran error free for a while, but then errors kicked in (fps and gpu load dropped) and error remained for the rest of the run. Depending on when the errors first kicked in, earlier or later, could make for a big difference in the final score.
> 
> If you increase the memclock and the score comes down, thats a telltale sign. Or if you increase the clockrate and the score does not go up.
> 
> I'm careful with memclocks because unlike gpus and cpus that have thermal sensors and will clock down automagically if temps get too hi... the memory on our cards (and most othes i think) doesn't have that kind of self defense to overheating... with the ftw card, we can't even see the memory temps (no sensor there).
> 
> I leave the voltage setting alone (on defaults). Afaict, it had no affect whatsoever with the stock bios.
> 
> 1440p is a lot of pixels, I use mine for 1920x1200. For some games a 670 might not be enough for 1440p.
> 
> Here's what i got for a fan curve... I have the blower-style cooler (the old style). This keeps mine under 70c even with my most demanding games, so no throttling due to temps.
> 
> 
> And Farcry3... last year i played A LOT of fc3 coop, so much fun! Thnx for reminding me to revisit the islands again sometime soon


Wow farcry3 a great game I just bought it a couple days ago, im working on the story campaign. Yeah i saw the co op and was wondering how good that was i was thinking it would be pretty sweet!

this is the card i have i dont know what the fan type is. can you help me? Which fan settings should i use?

http://www.google.co.il/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=YcDvOsAK3LyTTM&tbnid=8zfHLvzJUEmZmM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.evga.com%2Farticles%2F00678%2F&ei=YTQOU-_bEIWc0AWz7YHoCg&bvm=bv.61965928,d.bGE&psig=AFQjCNGI5W98BebI13vSHSKZHKplPn8VJg&ust=1393526237454669

_I saw your memory clock rate was at 7200+ some, which is considerably faster._ where did you see this? i cant find this in the picture i posted.

What amount did you find stable on your card how much is the boost. for mine its about 65+


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ozniko*
> 
> Wow farcry3 a great game I just bought it a couple days ago, im working on the story campaign. Yeah i saw the co op and was wondering how good that was i was thinking it would be pretty sweet!
> 
> this is the card i have i dont know what the fan type is. can you help me? Which fan settings should i use?
> 
> _I saw your memory clock rate was at 7200+ some, which is considerably faster._ where did you see this? i cant find this in the picture i posted.
> 
> What amount did you find stable on your card how much is the boost. for mine its about 65+


Yeah, evga 670 ftw... me too. Our card has a better cooler than the regular 670, we got the cooler that usually comes with the 680. Your screen shot captured GPU-Z and PrecisionX monitor, memory clock rate is shown in both of those. Everybodies chips are different, so the same offset might produce two different max boosts on two different cards. Maxboost is what matters, not offsets.

Looks like your maxboost in the screenshot is 1254 for core but 7208 for mem. I'd wonder if you could get a higher core clock if you reduced your memclock?

I can run some benches at 1306 on core and about 7100 on mem, but it ain't exactly fully stable like that. More like suicide bench runs.


----------



## ozniko

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *michael-ocn*
> 
> Yeah, evga 670 ftw... me too. Our card has a better cooler than the regular 670, we got the cooler that usually comes with the 680. Your screen shot captured GPU-Z and PrecisionX monitor, memory clock rate is shown in both of those. Everybodies chips are different, so the same offset might produce two different max boosts on two different cards. Maxboost is what matters, not offsets.
> 
> Looks like your maxboost in the screenshot is 1254 for core but 7208 for mem. I'd wonder if you could get a higher core clock if you reduced your memclock?
> 
> I can run some benches at 1306 on core and about 7100 on mem, but it ain't exactly fully stable like that. More like suicide bench runs.


I still cant find that 7000 number you are talking about on my screenshot i see something like 1800 for memory on the gpu app where exactly is this?

I just bought another 670 FTW because i am running 1440p. I never did SLI before not sure how overclocking works or how my performance will increase..


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ozniko*
> 
> I still cant find that 7000 number you are talking about on my screenshot i see something like 1800 for memory on the gpu app where exactly is this?


Thats it, 1800 x 4 = 7200, and in precx 3600 x 2 = 7200... its annoyingly reported in three different ways.


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ozniko*
> 
> I just bought another 670 FTW because i am running 1440p. I never did SLI before not sure how overclocking works or how my performance will increase..


I haven't done sli either, but the performance increase that can bring is huge. Look at benchmark results for sli vs single gpu setups.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1360884/official-top-30-unigine-valley-benchmark-1-0
For 670s with that bench... 50'ish fps for singles vs 95'ish for sli.
I believe there can be issues with stuttering and you need to get game specific 'sli profiles' to really get the most out of it.

If you have 2x 670s, not sure theres as much need to overclock, I think that might deal would 1440p handily so long as you don't run out of vram.


----------



## caper1

Hey all,

I've tried to OC my card in the past, I failed with stability issues and ended up just running stock. Being deployed I hadn't the time to really understand and resolve the issues, hopefully an RMA wasn't required. Anyway, I have the time to once again attempt OC this card with at least mild success. Could someone fill me in on a few things to get started?

What LN2 bios should I use? I still have the 80:04:28:00:3A , which I downloaded last year...hopefully that wasnt the issue.

Which Driver and MSI AB should I run? Currently driver 314.07, and non profiled mod 2.3.1 AB.

SYSTEM
Win7
i7377k stable oc 4.5ghz
stock gpu cool, cpu liquid
p8z77vpro mb

Thanks for any info!


----------



## caper1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *caper1*
> 
> Hey all,
> 
> I've tried to OC my card in the past, I failed with stability issues and ended up just running stock. Being deployed I hadn't the time to really understand and resolve the issues, hopefully an RMA wasn't required. Anyway, I have the time to once again attempt OC this card with at least mild success. Could someone fill me in on a few things to get started?
> 
> What LN2 bios should I use? I still have the 80:04:28:00:3A , which I downloaded last year...hopefully that wasnt the issue.
> 
> Which Driver and MSI AB should I run? Currently driver 314.07, and non profiled mod 2.3.1 AB.
> 
> SYSTEM
> Win7
> i7377k stable oc 4.5ghz
> stock gpu cool, cpu liquid
> p8z77vpro mb
> 
> Thanks for any info!


Sorry meant to post this in the GTX 680L forum


----------



## iBerggman

Erm, I'm a bit late to this but what the hell.
I've had my 670 for a long time but never bothered with overclocking it because the temps would climb to way over [email protected] even at stock speeds (crappy palit ref cooler). But I recently put it "under water" so I thought I'd see how much I could squeeze out of it.

Now the problem is that I'm getting very inconsistent scores in Heaven Benchmark, first i got 804 on 000-400 but when I tried again later I only got 463. I've also witnessed the same on other frequencies. What could cause this? Did the settings not apply correctly the first time or what?


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iBerggman*
> 
> Erm, I'm a bit late to this but what the hell.
> I've had my 670 for a long time but never bothered with overclocking it because the temps would climb to way over [email protected] even at stock speeds (crappy palit ref cooler). But I recently put it "under water" so I thought I'd see how much I could squeeze out of it.
> 
> Now the problem is that I'm getting very inconsistent scores in Heaven Benchmark, first i got 804 on 000-400 but when I tried again later I only got 463. I've also witnessed the same on other frequencies. What could cause this? Did the settings not apply correctly the first time or what?


What settings and resolution are you using? 804 seems low for a 670 to start with.

What is the rest of your spec? is it the i5 760 rig?


----------



## iBerggman

The settings showed in the OP @ 1440p. I have always had some problems with getting this GPU to run at full speed, for example in DayZ Standalone my GPU usage sits at around 20% which makes my FPS stay around 30FPS no matter what settings. The GPU clock isn't 100% either, it seems to be auto down clocking by a few hundred MHz. I've tried K-Boost but that just made the power % stay stupidly low so nothing changed in terms of framerate. Could that be the cause for this as well?
At least it can't be temperature throttling as the GPU won't go over 40C even at full load.

Yes it's the i5 rig, CPU is currently stock frequency (2,8) but I remember having the same issues while I ran it at some 4GHz.


----------



## Deders

Have you tried using the monitor page in GPUz to see what reason the driver gives for limiting the speed?


----------



## Curleyyy

After finding my GPU/Mem clock offset, should I leave my voltage and power target at the maximum?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Curleyyy*
> 
> After finding my GPU/Mem clock offset, should I leave my voltage and power target at the maximum?


It won't hurt anything to leave them there. It might crash if you lower them...


----------



## SightUp

No matter what, there is always a slight change of 13 points in my GPU clock Mhz. For example it jumps between 1150 and 1137. Is that normal and something that would stop me from having a good overclock?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SightUp*
> 
> No matter what, there is always a slight change of 13 points in my GPU clock Mhz. For example it jumps between 1150 and 1137. Is that normal and something that would stop me from having a good overclock?


i run both cards at 1202mhz and never get the 13mhz jump on either card.
if i set them both at 1228, my gigabyte card will jump to 1241 and sometimes crash. for this reason and this reason alone i have them both set to 1202. btw, my asus card will clock 1285mhz completely stable and when i ran it single, it never had the 13mhz jump. the max clock was higher way back when i first got the asus. it would boost past 1315 stable. i dont know why or how nvidia crippled the cards with drivers


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SightUp*
> 
> No matter what, there is always a slight change of 13 points in my GPU clock Mhz. For example it jumps between 1150 and 1137. Is that normal and something that would stop me from having a good overclock?


Kepler cards step up and down in increments of 13Mhz, its normal for them to do so when the conditions call for it. Of course, I try to arrange things such that it never steps down for any reason. There are a few reasons they will step down under load. The two we have most control over are:

* exceeds the 70c temp threshold (and another 13Mhz when exceeding 80c)
* exceeds the power target

What temperature does do you see under load? What do you see for power usage under load? If you run precisionx or afterburner and monitor those stats, you'll probably see numbers pressing up against the limits. Those monitoring tools will also display a 'reason for downclocking' value.

To deal with temps, plug in an aggressive fan curve and get those case fans working. To deal with power target, move that slider to the right.

I've got a fan 'curve' thats more or less a straight line from (35c, 30%) to (70c, 78%) and the powertarget is set at 130%.


----------



## Peepwitnoname

OverclockResultsCrappy.png 854k .png file


----------



## battleaxe

What clocks are you running at? What's the RAM set to?

Edit: I see it now. NVM

Its been so long since I ran a test on my 670's I can't even remember what they should do... lol
On that note... you're score doesn't seem that bad. Are the scores better or worse if you lower you RAM clocks?


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Peepwitnoname*
> 
> OverclockResultsCrappy.png 854k .png file


I'd say definitely unleash the power target.


----------



## battleaxe

Yes, turn that power target all the way up.


----------



## anubis1127

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *battleaxe*
> 
> Yes, turn that power target all the way up.


"Turn it up to eleven".


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Peepwitnoname*
> 
> OverclockResultsCrappy.png 854k .png file


That fps/score is definitely low. You should be getting around 50 fps avg and a score of 1200+, so something's not right.

* The monitoring graphs look ok, it's not pegged at the max boost clock but its not jumping all over the place... but a very most noticeable thing is that the gpu is not 100% utilized.

* The min/max fps you have are curious? Min is similar to the min my card gets, but max is no where near. I get between 120 and 130 for a max, but you're getting right at 60 (a curious number).

I'm wondering in you have adaptive vsync enabled while running this bench? That could explain the cap'd the fps and the under-utilization of the cpu.


----------



## Peepwitnoname

Funny thing is i did end up lowering my specs, i've been trying many various ways for the past 3 days lol, i'm slower than the 3 hour test. And my best score was running 120 PT 125 Gpu Clock 445 Mem with 1037Mv and my score was 76 FPS with a score of 1922, so i tried the Bench mark again with these exact same numbers with Vsync off, and it actually lowered itself still better than what i posted but it went down too 51.1 Fps 1298 Score .... Question is did i fry my Gpu? Is it possible i overclocked it too much testing it out, i have 8 140mm fans surrounding the video card too keep heat down i'm averaging 53 Celsius


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Peepwitnoname*
> 
> 51.1 Fps 1298 Score .... Question is did i fry my Gpu? Is it possible i overclocked it too much testing it out, i have 8 140mm fans surrounding the video card too keep heat down i'm averaging 53 Celsius


> 51.1 Fps 1298
Thats a nice score, right where a decently overclocked 670 should be. Why do you think something is wrong? 53c is very cool for what you've got it doing.

> 76 FPS with a score of 1922
I don't think a 670 can come anywhere near a score like that on the extreme settings for heaven3. Maybe you used different settings?


----------



## kitwot

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!


----------



## josear33

Hi fellow 670 owners,

How comfortable should I feel with this results on extremeHD unigine valley?? It shows unknown gpu, but I'm using 2xgigabyte 2gb overclocked 670's (+40 core, +400 ram, stock voltage, cpu running at 4.4)



Thanks in advance!


----------



## pc-illiterate

josear, im reinstalling and will put up my scores.
core 1202mhz with mem at 3456mhz

will edit

*EDIT*


2500k is 4.4ghz

we need to know actual max boosted core speed. giving us an offset means nothing as all cards have different max boosted clocks.

secondary *EDIT*
2500k is 4.5ghz not 4.4ghz. where the hell did i get that info from? am i feeding myself misinformation


----------



## josear33

Sorry, Max boost according to afterburner is 1202mhz.

Thx a lot!


----------



## michael-ocn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *josear33*
> 
> Hi fellow 670 owners,
> 
> How comfortable should I feel with this results on extremeHD unigine valley?? It shows unknown gpu, but I'm using 2xgigabyte 2gb overclocked 670's (+40 core, +400 ram, stock voltage, cpu running at 4.4)
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks in advance!


You can compare valley scores here.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1360884/official-top-30-unigine-valley-benchmark-1-0


----------



## teckno-uzi

Thanks so much for taking the time to write this. This is, in my opinion, the most thorough guide to OCing a graphics cards I have ever read. I finally got to give my card a good overclock thanks to this.


----------



## mrtbahgs

Either I am missing something important or my card is stubborn, but I think I can only get +63 GPU clock and +138 memory clock through Precision version like 4.2 or something? When i tried to download the current version there is some pop up of a lawsuit or something and they dont have Precision X 15 available so I went with an older version i found online, could that be enough to hold me back?

I have a Gigabyte Windforce and looking around at a few people, a lot seem to have memory at like +700 or something way beyond me, im not expecting a lotto winner here, but I dont recall seeing people this low on memory clock offset so it makes me think I am doing something wrong. Then for GPU clock I think im at least closer to some so that may or may not be normal, i just need some outside opinions.

On the side to all of this, this is my first time OCing a GPU and i wanted to know if there is a setting or way to have it permanently use the OC settings. Everytime I reboot I currently have to launch Precision X, turn up the voltage, turn up the Power Target, and load profile #1. Is that normal?

Let me know what other info you may need, thanks for the help.

**Edit: forgot to add, my temps are always very low even at load on heaven and my max power i seen it hit is 93% so am i missing something to let it go to over 100 if it needs to? I feel like thats part of the hold back, i have room to go with temps and power at least**


----------



## Steven467

My time with my gigabyte 670's, they over clocked well and were very stable. My first card ran would run at 1280 core and + 800 on the mem all day long stable. When I picked the second one for sli I had to lower it down to +100 core and +500 mem as the second card couldn't match the first. Just make sure your voltage and power limit is to the max evga precision will go.

Just got a couple evga 6gb 780's and they overclock like crap compared to the 670's. Best I can get is +50 core and +500 mem as one do the two is a real runt.


----------



## mrtbahgs

Yea i max the voltage and power, and if Heaven crashes I closed Precision X and relaunched it everytime to be sure it applied the max voltage again. Thats all you need to do right, not a full PC restart every crash?

I've had different types of crashes before too, not all the same and a few other things pop up that may be related im not sure, but i figure if it didnt make it to the end for any reason, then its unstable. I've actually made it to the very end and went to save the scores and it finally decided to crash then for some reason, and i dont even think its loaded at that point anymore.


----------



## mrtbahgs

Took a screenshot of my monitoring while playing BF4 for a bit, i had the game i guess crash on me, it sent me to desktop with game claiming to still be running, but I couldnt go back in or close it, had to end it via processes menu. That was with slightly higher settings that I initially thought were stable, so the screen capture is after i randomly dropped my numbers like 6 each and played for a bit.

I guess in games it does push over 100% power, temps are still fine, It seems odd to me that the memory used is kinda low, is that normal or able to be adjusted?

Unless im missing a setting, i guess this is all she's got? That mem clock is still odd to me when everyone else seems to be at 500+.


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mrtbahgs*
> 
> Either I am missing something important or my card is stubborn, but I think I can only get +63 GPU clock and +138 memory clock through Precision version like 4.2 or something? When i tried to download the current version there is some pop up of a lawsuit or something and they dont have Precision X 15 available so I went with an older version i found online, could that be enough to hold me back?
> 
> I have a Gigabyte Windforce and looking around at a few people, a lot seem to have memory at like +700 or something way beyond me, im not expecting a lotto winner here, but I dont recall seeing people this low on memory clock offset so it makes me think I am doing something wrong. Then for GPU clock I think im at least closer to some so that may or may not be normal, i just need some outside opinions.
> 
> On the side to all of this, this is my first time OCing a GPU and i wanted to know if there is a setting or way to have it permanently use the OC settings. Everytime I reboot I currently have to launch Precision X, turn up the voltage, turn up the Power Target, and load profile #1. Is that normal?
> 
> Let me know what other info you may need, thanks for the help.
> 
> **Edit: forgot to add, my temps are always very low even at load on heaven and my max power i seen it hit is 93% so am i missing something to let it go to over 100 if it needs to? I feel like thats part of the hold back, i have room to go with temps and power at least**


I found that adjusting the minimum voltage in GPU Tweak helped me reach higher stable GPU voltages on my old Asus 670.

What kind of memory does it say you have in GPUz?

You can save profiles in GPU Tweak, after you click apply, click save and then one of the numbers that appear below. You can then reload from that same number or in the options you can ask GPU tweak to apply those settings at startup.


----------



## mrtbahgs

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deders*
> 
> I found that adjusting the minimum voltage in GPU Tweak helped me reach higher stable GPU voltages on my old Asus 670.
> 
> What kind of memory does it say you have in GPUz?
> 
> You can save profiles in GPU Tweak, after you click apply, click save and then one of the numbers that appear below. You can then reload from that same number or in the options you can ask GPU tweak to apply those settings at startup.


Memory Type: GDDR5 (Hynix), is that what you are looking for? Otherwise Im not sure where to look.

IS GPU tweak something to use instead of Precision then? If so, you are saying that program can allow it to load the OC at startup which is what I'm looking for, Precision or AB don't do that?


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mrtbahgs*
> 
> Memory Type: GDDR5 (Hynix), is that what you are looking for? Otherwise Im not sure where to look.
> 
> IS GPU tweak something to use instead of Precision then? If so, you are saying that program can allow it to load the OC at startup which is what I'm looking for, Precision or AB don't do that?


Yep GPU tweak is Asus' utility, you have to go into the options to unlock the advanced settings like minimum voltage.

I seem to remember a setting that applied the overclock at boot but it doesn't seem to be there any more. Still if you have a profile saved then it's just 1 click to apply that profile.

Hynix is usually great for overclocking, where do you see errors in the memory overclock?


----------



## mrtbahgs

Well the clock seems pretty low to me, don't most have their memory at + a few hundred?

After running Heaven 3 my best I could do on GPU offset alone was +63 before it would crash in different ways. Then i started applying a mem offset and couldn't go past like +130. After thinking it was stable I tried BF4 and I guess it crashed, didnt close but wouldnt let me back in and I had to force end it under processes tab, nothing was in the applications tab on the task manager.

Since I had issues with BF4, I turned both GPU clock and Mem clock down a few times and still dont know if its stable at like... +55 +125 or something now (everytime i closed and opened Precision when adjusting after a crash).

Also im pretty sure its only started since trying the GPU OC, but on websites when i scroll down on long pages sometimes i'll get like a 1" horizontal lag of blurred images for a moment every now and then, and Im guessing thats a form of artifacting and related to memory settings or lack of voltage?

I've since did a full PC reboot to let it truly go back to default settings and will see if I have browser issues or not for a day or 2 to compare. Im still also unsure if the Precision version I am using would be causing additional issues or not since i found a slightly older like 4.2 version.

Lastly, when i run Heaven my Windows will pop up saying performance isnt perfect and I should disable Aero, so i let it go to Basic mode and rerun the benchmark. If i reboot ever and it goes back to having Aero on, Heaven will always have that popup everytime. Is that an additional issue, or instead of letting it go to basic mode, can I just click Ignore and dont tell me again if it really isnt an issue? If you need a screenshot of the popup let me know, i can rerun to force it again.


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mrtbahgs*
> 
> Well the clock seems pretty low to me, don't most have their memory at + a few hundred?
> 
> After running Heaven 3 my best I could do on GPU offset alone was +63 before it would crash in different ways. Then i started applying a mem offset and couldn't go past like +130. After thinking it was stable I tried BF4 and I guess it crashed, didnt close but wouldnt let me back in and I had to force end it under processes tab, nothing was in the applications tab on the task manager.
> 
> Since I had issues with BF4, I turned both GPU clock and Mem clock down a few times and still dont know if its stable at like... +55 +125 or something now (everytime i closed and opened Precision when adjusting after a crash).
> 
> Also im pretty sure its only started since trying the GPU OC, but on websites when i scroll down on long pages sometimes i'll get like a 1" horizontal lag of blurred images for a moment every now and then, and Im guessing thats a form of artifacting and related to memory settings or lack of voltage?
> 
> I've since did a full PC reboot to let it truly go back to default settings and will see if I have browser issues or not for a day or 2 to compare. Im still also unsure if the Precision version I am using would be causing additional issues or not since i found a slightly older like 4.2 version.
> 
> Lastly, when i run Heaven my Windows will pop up saying performance isnt perfect and I should disable Aero, so i let it go to Basic mode and rerun the benchmark. If i reboot ever and it goes back to having Aero on, Heaven will always have that popup everytime. Is that an additional issue, or instead of letting it go to basic mode, can I just click Ignore and dont tell me again if it really isnt an issue? If you need a screenshot of the popup let me know, i can rerun to force it again.


Ignore Areo, It doesn't know what it's talking about.

Test your GPU and Vram separately, that way you know what is the culprit.

Metro Last Light is great for memory as you will see artefacts easily, after that try Crysis 3, the grenade arch when you are aiming. I had to knocj my memory frequencies down a notch or 2 and after that everything was fine.


----------



## HazNut

Hi,
I have an ASUS TOP 670 (GTX670-DC2-2GD5), and a Zalman Z5 Plus Case . Even with the clock reduced by 34mhz as it is said in the guide, my card still goes up to 71 degrees in the Heaven Benchmark, although the clock does not seem to drop at this point. Removing the side panel reduces the maximum temperature to 65 degrees. I don't have the funds to buy an new case, and I have done some pretty decent cable management (I can provide pictures if needed), so is there anything I can do apart from increasing fan speeds?


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HazNut*
> 
> Hi,
> I have an ASUS TOP 670 (GTX670-DC2-2GD5), and a Zalman Z5 Plus Case . Even with the clock reduced by 34mhz as it is said in the guide, my card still goes up to 71 degrees in the Heaven Benchmark, although the clock does not seem to drop at this point. Removing the side panel reduces the maximum temperature to 65 degrees. I don't have the funds to buy an new case, and I have done some pretty decent cable management (I can provide pictures if needed), so is there anything I can do apart from increasing fan speeds?


Change the thermal paste! Make sure the fans are spinning also... When I had the stock cooler to my 670 it wouldn't even hit 71c on max load...


----------



## HazNut

Ok, I will try replacing the thermal paste, but before that I'm gonna check one of my case fans as I haven't paid much attention to it. I can also add another exhaust and intake fan to my case at the top and bottom, which could help the heat rise away from the gpu. Not sure if I can add a side fan. I can also try raising my pc off the ground. If none of this makes any difference I will have to invest in a better case or a fully modular power supply

EDIT: Good news! Had a massive cleanout in my PC using a paintbrush (can't get any compressed air as my dad's on holiday) and discovered that, after unscrewing all the fans for the first time, that there was a massive layer of dust on the grills, and in some other places too. I just tried my card on the heaven benchmark with the fan curve given at the start of the guide, and the max temperature it reached was a fluctation between 63 and 64 degrees. Also, as my card always runs on maximum performance and 979mhz, it now runs at 40 degrees at that point instead of 43. At true idle it runs at 28 degrees, which from what I have heard seems to be a very good temperature. I also raised my PC off the carpeted floor using a couple of hardback books. Seeing as my PC is now one year old, I might try the replacing the thermal paste just to see if I can knock a few more degrees off. My temps are now pretty close to what they were like with the side panel off, so I will try a bit more cable management with my semi modular power supply and I've ordered an intake and exhaust fan.

On another note, my 670 decided that it's clock would not go above 1202mhz no matter how high I raised the offset- I've seen other posts on this issue and it doesn't happen because of temperatures. Seeing as my voltage can't go up to 1175mV, only to 1150mV, could that be a problem?

EDIT 2: I tried your suggestion and replaced my paste with some Antec Formula 7, took a couple of tries to get the paste ok as it's really difficult to put it back together perfectly. I ran a benchmark on heaven twice and it reached only 60 degrees! Maybe this will improve as the paste settles, and when I get my new fans tomorrow I will try them out and see what overclock I can get







650mhz on the memory clock seems to be around the point where it doesn't artifact too much and 53 on the core clock is all I need to hit the wall of 1202mhz. Now I just have to balance them


----------



## Mr240sx

*Disregard this post*


----------



## Curleyyy

HELP PLEASE, CAN'T OVERCLOCK ANYMORE WHAT HAPPENED?

I followed this guid pretty closely, and managed to get to +153 for the GPU Clock Offset at 61c with a full Heaven benchmark. I then upped it by 20 to +173 for the offset, and I got the same score, with the same temperature and no artifacts or hangs. When I closed the benchmark and checked the performance log on Precision X, the GPU clock had a solid, perfectly flat yellow line at 967 MHz. I thought resetting everything to default and restarting my computer would fix it, and now when I try to do +153, it artifacts and the FPS drops by a ton.

default clock 967
+133 boost to get to 1100
+153 boost to get to 1120
+173 boost to get to 1140 (this is where it fked up)

So, what happened and why can't I overclock it anymore and how do I fix it? The entire time it never hit over 61c or 109% power target.
I read somewhere that the yellow line means you've hit the wall, but, I was previously much higher than that.


----------



## mcgilld420

Anyone have link to download software since it seems to have vanished...? I'm talking about the EVGA Precision X software of course..


----------



## mrtbahgs

Yea they have some skin copyright issue or something on Precision X15 and supposed to be working to make a new look and re-release, but i guess it isnt in any hurry since its been awhile.

I ended up just using the previous version which i believe is: Here


----------



## pLuhhmm

ignore, sawyz


----------



## pLuhhmm

How does this look?


----------



## Cakewalk_S

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Curleyyy*
> 
> HELP PLEASE, CAN'T OVERCLOCK ANYMORE WHAT HAPPENED?
> 
> I followed this guid pretty closely, and managed to get to +153 for the GPU Clock Offset at 61c with a full Heaven benchmark. I then upped it by 20 to +173 for the offset, and I got the same score, with the same temperature and no artifacts or hangs. When I closed the benchmark and checked the performance log on Precision X, the GPU clock had a solid, perfectly flat yellow line at 967 MHz. I thought resetting everything to default and restarting my computer would fix it, and now when I try to do +153, it artifacts and the FPS drops by a ton.
> 
> default clock 967
> +133 boost to get to 1100
> +153 boost to get to 1120
> +173 boost to get to 1140 (this is where it fked up)
> 
> So, what happened and why can't I overclock it anymore and how do I fix it? The entire time it never hit over 61c or 109% power target.
> I read somewhere that the yellow line means you've hit the wall, but, I was previously much higher than that.


solid yellow line in precision usually means that your min/max values on the graph are set to where the actual graph values are above or below the range...
Also, I had this happen with my first kepler card going from a GTX580 to 670. I was overclocking, found my max, heaven 4.0 locked up....rebooted, pc and graphics drivers were all messed up, it wouldn't boost clock, it was the weirdest thing. I ended up re-installing the drivers after the hard lock like you described and that fixed it completely. You may want to just flat out reinstall the same drivers or new ones and go from there. Should fix your issue...


----------



## Curleyyy

Yeah that's what happened to me! Reinstalling the drivers/programs definitely fixed that up c: Computers do some strange things at times.


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HazNut*
> 
> Hi,
> I have an ASUS TOP 670 (GTX670-DC2-2GD5), and a Zalman Z5 Plus Case . Even with the clock reduced by 34mhz as it is said in the guide, my card still goes up to 71 degrees in the Heaven Benchmark, although the clock does not seem to drop at this point. Removing the side panel reduces the maximum temperature to 65 degrees. I don't have the funds to buy an new case, and I have done some pretty decent cable management (I can provide pictures if needed), so is there anything I can do apart from increasing fan speeds?


The paste on those DCUII's seems to be pretty decent. I think I only got a 1c reduction in temps after changing it to MX4, wheras on my old EVGA 560TI I got a 5c difference. I used to get similar temperatures to you before I made changed to my cooling setup. Installed a side fan blowing air in and moved drive bay cages so they weren't blocking the front fans.

Have you tried a custom fan profile?

I found a max of 71c to be ok as mine seemed to downclock at 72c and above.


----------



## HazNut

Yeah I got the temps down a lot by cleaning out my case and changing paste. My fans accumulate a ton of dust easily, but now I moved it onto my new desk it should be ok.


----------



## seithan

My DCUII goes @ 1176 and 3.406ram on stock voltage and its rock stable some years now.

A 1.5 year ago i tried the modded bios that allows to throw more voltage on the chip and it could go somewhere between 1220 or so. Just with a bit more extra voltage. I didnt really push it for fear i damage the card though and reverted to stock voltage.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *seithan*
> 
> My DCUII goes @ 1176 and 3.406ram on stock voltage and its rock stable some years now.
> 
> A 1.5 year ago i tried the modded bios that allows to throw more voltage on the chip and it could go somewhere between 1220 or so. Just with a bit more extra voltage. I didnt really push it for fear i damage the card though and reverted to stock voltage.


stock voltage i get 1300 on the core and 3456 on the memory. i was never able to get it to take a modded bios. i would love to be able to get my gb wf3 to take a modded bios too. it maxes out at 1241core. maybe i just need to learn how to do the actual flash...


----------



## xeks

I have a Zotac GTX 670 2GB (short PCB) and unlocked the bios for more voltage and was able to get +67 on the core and +350 on the memory. Seems stable on Heaven bench with a 950-something score and a high 6k score on 3DMark Firestorm. I had the memory at +362 but drivers crashed when I played Archeage at max settings. I've also played a few hours of Battlefield 3 at max settings and everything ran fine. The card runs a little hot at around 82C at max load but I will putting this card underwater hopefully in the near future along with another one to SLi. Are there any other tests I should run to test for stability? Thanks in advance.


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xeks*
> 
> I have a Zotac GTX 670 2GB (short PCB) and unlocked the bios for more voltage and was able to get +67 on the core and +350 on the memory. Seems stable on Heaven bench with a 950-something score and a high 6k score on 3DMark Firestorm. I had the memory at +362 but drivers crashed when I played Archeage at max settings. I've also played a few hours of Battlefield 3 at max settings and everything ran fine. The card runs a little hot at around 82C at max load but I will putting this card underwater hopefully in the near future along with another one to SLi. Are there any other tests I should run to test for stability? Thanks in advance.


So what were the actual values in Mhz? Saying +65 or whatever doesn't tell us anything because the cards boost to different levels. Each card can be a bit different.


----------



## xeks

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *battleaxe*
> 
> So what were the actual values in Mhz? Saying +65 or whatever doesn't tell us anything because the cards boost to different levels. Each card can be a bit different.


What's the best way to check? Run a benchmark and check max on GPU-Z?

Edit: Played some Archeage at max settings 1080p. Core clock maxed at 1267.3 MHz and memory clock maxed at 1674.0 MHz


----------



## battleaxe

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xeks*
> 
> What's the best way to check? Run a benchmark and check max on GPU-Z?
> 
> Edit: Played some Archeage at max settings 1080p. Core clock maxed at 1267.3 MHz and memory clock maxed at 1674.0 MHz


Nice. I used the overlay on AfterBurner. It lets you see the core and whatever else you want. You have to enable the onscreen display for each item you want to see in settings. GPU'z works, but can cause some games to crash. At least it can for me.


----------



## pc-illiterate

something isnt right xeks. memory speed doesnt add up. also, ive never seen a 670 boost factory to 1200mhz.
use msi afterburner. turn off everything in graph except gpu core clock, gpu memory, gpu usage, and voltage, framerate would also help. with the graph open and history cleared, run unigine heaven 3. this will let you test your clocks and get an accurate reading.


----------



## mrtbahgs

Decided to try OCing my Gigabyte 670 again today since the new precision came out along with the latest drivers and have some questions.

Is it just me or does the Boost Clock not change at all unless you input a proper offset? What i mean by this is, if I put it to +54 it will run at 1254 and if I increase the offset to +55, 56, 57, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, or 63 (i think it stopped at 63) then my boost clock doesn't change at all and remains at 1254, but as soon as I bump it one more to like +64 then the clock shoots up to 1267 and for me is unstable.

So is there not a way to have it go at say 1260 or somewhere in between that range it jumps from?
If this is the way it works for everyone else then is there any reason to not run it at the lowest offset that gives the same boost clock since it shouldn't be performing any better and if anything I would just help keep it stable running +54 instead of +61?

Also is there anyway to increase my actual power usage to see if it can help stability or is it using as much as it needs to in order to run at the 1.175V so I am just voltage limited? Yes i do have the power target maxed at 112%, but whenever I ran anything the highest I saw my power usage go was 91% so there is a lot of power headroom but it isn't dipping into the reserve at all, why?

I will continue with this tomorrow since I just wanted to give it another go for a bit tonight. I am curious to see if my memory OC is still going to be horrible like my initial experience and am still unsure why it is so bad or if there is anything I can do about it. Hopefully I get better results this time.


----------



## Dablunt

I have been trying to OC this Gigabyte 670 windforce and i couldn't get it to go past 77% power. I set it to 112% and all i can get is +70 on the clock speed before it crashes. It won't bring the volts above 1.175 i think it is. Any ideas? Also the memory will only go +500 which seems low compared to everyone elses results. Im new so be nice lol. I also flashed the bios from F1 to F5 to see if that would work but no dice. That just made my fan speeds erratic. Good times


----------



## mrtbahgs

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dablunt*
> 
> I have been trying to OC this Gigabyte 670 windforce and i couldn't get it to go past 77% power. I set it to 112% and all i can get is +70 on the clock speed before it crashes. It won't bring the volts above 1.175 i think it is. Any ideas? Also the memory will only go +500 which seems low compared to everyone elses results. Im new so be nice lol. I also flashed the bios from F1 to F5 to see if that would work but no dice. That just made my fan speeds erratic. Good times


You seem similar to me on power, but I was getting to 91% and no more, maybe it just isn't power hungry to reach the 1.175V, still curious for someone to chime in for sure though.

Regarding the 1.175V i am pretty sure that is the max you can do with just the software, to get anymore you either need something in the bios maybe or to do an actual voltage mod with soldering some stuff, I know nothing more in that area though.

Memory at +500 I thought was semi normal from what i remembered seeing when I read through this a few months ago, I am in a much worse scenario if my memory performs like it did when I first tried to OC, I couldn't go past +125!

I am using the new Precision X 16, what are you using? Since we have the same card it'd be nice to see how the compare and what issues they might be having, if using the same OC software it reduces a variable of difference.


----------



## Dablunt

I'm using the latest Precision X, i've seen people getting 6000+ on memory which seems crazy but I wants it! lol, also my temps never go past 60c so im sure im not pushing it far enough. maybe i got a crap chip


----------



## Dablunt

Also I think my scores are pretty low compared to others I've seen. Here they are. What do you get? Oh and I was wrong with my mem, its +700

Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0

FPS: 38.2
Score: 963
Min FPS: 17.9
Max FPS: 88.5

Platform:
Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1) 64bit
CPU model:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz (3300MHz) x4
GPU model:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 9.18.13.4411 (2048MB) x1

Render:
Direct3D11
Mode:
1920x1080 8xAA fullscreen
Preset
Custom
Quality
Ultra
Tessellation:
Extreme


----------



## pc-illiterate

+700 on the memory is great. im topped out at +400.
when offsetting, it steps up in 13mhz steps. you cant do anything about it unless +74 works when +61 doesnt.
most newer gb wfx3 cards dont go above 9x%. mine tops out at like 88% i believe. just live with it. save up some cash for a newer card. the 7xx series prices are dropping like a rock


----------



## Dablunt

Ya your probably right. The reason I'm OC'ing now is cause I want a 970 but cant afford it. So I'm trying to make myself believe I dont need it. lol. By the way my card was one of the first batch's. Does that mean its not as solid as later ones? Or does it really matter


----------



## Dablunt

Also I used the quick OC guide. It says to "temporarily" up the power and voltage sliders. So where am I supposed to set them back to? Default?


----------



## mrtbahgs

@Dablunt Im not sure you were following their posted memory or misunderstood something, the stock OC puts the gigabyte card at 6008 MHz (GPU-Z reading times 4) and your +700 should mean you are at 7408 MHz which seems extremely good. Also I cant straight compare scores since I am running 1440p, I suppose I could force it to do a 1080p run, but im not sure it would be the same since its forcing a non-native resolution.

@pc-illiterate alright thanks for confirming the steps of 13 even when doing offset, it looks like I will just fall back on +54 as long as my heaven score is the same as a run at +61, I know the clock is the exact same and then retry the memory overclocking. Also the power seems like an odd area, but at least I know it is common and will just be glad its not the other way around and maxing at 112% all the time. The +400 you have might be a bit lower than the +500 i think I have seen as the most common, but its still in the ballpark of what I'd love to be at. Originally I did my memory OC while keeping my boost clock turned up and maybe thats why I couldnt go past 125, I will find out if I can go higher this time with having my boost clock back down to +0 to dial in the memory and then combine the 2 afterwards. If I am stuck at +125ish though I wonder if this is one of the worst cards posted at least for memory








The Kepler Boost or whatever it was named for me is 143 I think when I checked so I initially felt like I'd have a pretty solid card, but I guess not if my memory wont play nicely.


----------



## Dablunt

Its possible I misunderstood. When I run Heaven the Precision X OSD reads a GPU clock of 1202 and mem clock of 3757. The Precision X sliders are at GPU clock +70 and mem clock at +760. Am I missing something on the mem? 3757 is nowhere near 7540 you say. 7540 being 4x what GPUz says. Any clarification would be appreciated. Also I put the power sliders back to default power target 100% and the voltage all the way down and it didn't crash or lose score so I guess I'm at where I'm gonna be?


----------



## mrtbahgs

3757 times 2 is 7514 it depends what you are getting the reading from to decide how to calculate the total.
GPU-Z is times 4 and the OSD is times 2 to get the true total memory. +760 memory means you are adding 1520MHz total or 390MHZ to each of the 4 modules.

If you are that far under the power threshold I suppose its ok to keep at default, but it also wont hurt anything to keep it max, it would only go up higher if it needs it. Regarding the voltage if lowering it to default still allows a 1.175V reading then yea its fine, but if it dropped the voltage back down you definitely want it back to full.

A GPU clock of 1202 seems low to me for a Gigabyte with +70 so it might be downclocking or skipping its kepler boost unless I am missing something. When I am running +54 to +62 it shows 1254 for me and I also have the Gigabyte Windforce.


----------



## Dablunt

Damn I was almost contempt to say that's it. Now I have to get it up to at least 1254. lol. Changing the voltage and power target does nothing (default vs maxed) which is very suprising as I read Precision X is the only one that actually affects it properly. I was hoping the BIOS update would fix that, but maybe I need to go to a custom BIOS. I dont know why it would throttle as the temps never go above 60c they dont even hit it


----------



## xeks

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> something isnt right xeks. memory speed doesnt add up. also, ive never seen a 670 boost factory to 1200mhz.
> use msi afterburner. turn off everything in graph except gpu core clock, gpu memory, gpu usage, and voltage, framerate would also help. with the graph open and history cleared, run unigine heaven 3. this will let you test your clocks and get an accurate reading.


Okay I will check in a day or so when I get home, but I was using GPU-Z showing MAX and that's what it said. Does the memory have to be multiplied like because its dual channel or something? Like how regular PC memory shows sometimes and then you have to account for it being dual chan and multiply by 2 etc. Thanks for the look out.


----------



## mrtbahgs

Spent some time trying to OC my memory only today and now I have run into an odd problem that I will play with more later, but figured I'd ask here.

I made it up to +900 before I saw an artifact so I started to dial it back down like the guide says, but now for whatever reason my power wint go above 70% when it used to be at like 93% when passing these last few memory OC runs and it is making my FPS drop a ton and not be a legit run. Its claiming my clocks are all at the same values they have been this whole time and the voltage was showing 1.175V. I did close Precision a few times and even Heaven to see if it made a difference and it has not. I also turned my power target down and then back up, but no help there either. Lastly I tried a run with the memory at +500 just to be a bit more extreme and it still is at low power usage.

I will try a full computer restart later and see if that helps since I am done with for now and will pick up later, but is there anything else I can do or any reason this is happening?

Looking back at my saved logs it looks like I missed that +800 had a lower score even though it passed without issues so I will start at 775 next time, here is a quick rundown of my trend up until the power issues, again only the memory was being OCed for now, my core was at +0.

Memory & Score at 2560x1440 everything maxed
+500 = 872
+600 = 876
+700 = 891
+800 = 883


----------



## xeks

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> something isnt right xeks. memory speed doesnt add up. also, ive never seen a 670 boost factory to 1200mhz.
> use msi afterburner. turn off everything in graph except gpu core clock, gpu memory, gpu usage, and voltage, framerate would also help. with the graph open and history cleared, run unigine heaven 3. this will let you test your clocks and get an accurate reading.


Just literally got home and booted up Heaven Benchmark 4.0 and here are my results.

FPS: 37.5
Score: 945
Min FPS: 18.9
Max FPS: 85.6

Settings:
API : DX 11
Quality: High
Tessellation: Extreme
3D: Disabled
Multi-Monitor: Disabled
AA: x8
Fullscreen: Checked
Resolution: System (1080p)

After Burner Readings (Max)
GPU Usage, %: 99
GPU Voltage, V: 1.212
Core Clock, MHz: 1267
Memory Clock, MHz: 3348

Here's a screen capture:


----------



## pc-illiterate

yeah, i reread your post xeks. you arent on a stock 670 bios. so you cant really say you use a +67mhz offset to get to 1267mhz core. you cheatered! good job on a decent clocking card. your memory really cant go higher? thats a shame. my core tops out a bit sooner than yours but my memory barely goes better than yours. what clocks were you getting with stock voltage boost?


----------



## xeks

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> yeah, i reread your post xeks. you arent on a stock 670 bios. so you cant really say you use a +67mhz offset to get to 1267mhz core. you cheatered! good job on a decent clocking card. your memory really cant go higher? thats a shame. my core tops out a bit sooner than yours but my memory barely goes better than yours. what clocks were you getting with stock voltage boost?


I didn't even run the card stock long enough to do anything.


----------



## Jedson3614

In the guide it is never explained further about power target. Says temporarily set power target to max. Does this mean when your done overclock set it back to 100? I notices some screen shots in here show the target back at 100 after over clock is found. Other show it left at max. Which is best?


----------



## Curleyyy

From what I understand, you can leave it set to maximum for both power target and voltage. It doesn't mean it will use that much, it just means it has the ability too (except for the voltage). Often screenshots might show it's at 100 because people mod their bios with Kepler Bios Tweaker, and when you do it sets the slider all the way up, but shows 100. The tweaks we do actually allow us to go much further than 100.


----------



## seithan

Aint the 1.2 voltage kick from the modded bios too low to actually push the card at higher clocks. It gives me +20 clock to a total ~1200 over stock 1176.


----------



## Curleyyy

Yeah you're going from like 1.15v to 1.212v I need more voltage for my card. I can only get 1202 mhz over my stock 967


----------



## Jedson3614

So in msi after burner, Hate the new precision x 16. Where do you adjust the voltage, and your suggesting to slide it or use as high as voltage as allowed? Wouldn't that cause issues with maybe too much voltage. I'm fairly into cpu overclocking and have messed around with my 670 very little. It just seems sliding or using as high as voltage can cause more heat and maybe more issues with the card. I actually have windforce gtx 670 oc. The other day I had my power target set to 105, and noticed display driver has stopped responding. I had an unstable over clock with my cpu. I have a crappy haswell 4.2 @ 1.25. Temps are at 85 with aidia 64. Anyway I knew my cpu needed more voltage so I went into bios to make the changes.Every time I went back into windows when loading the OS windows 8.1 x64 it had display driver has stopped responding. Cursor would get so slow it would barley move. Screen turned black, and even rebooted a few times. I thought this could be a power issue. I have a 8 and 6 pin for my card, so on my psu I have two 6 pins with 2 pin leads. I swapped those and it seemed to help, but did still run into issues. I ended up reformatting and using latest nvidia driver. I think I have a bad 2 pin lead on one of my pcie cables. I tried switching them back and ran into more issues. Ended up re swapping them back. Anyway my point is I changed the power target to 105, and my card was having all kinds of issues, could this of caused a problem since my card is factory overclocked. Display driver stopped responding usually indicated a bad card or too high overclock right? Could a bad cpu overclock cause display driver problems? I did get my cpu stable 8 hours aidia 64, but now i'm afraid to try and overclock my card. I think it might put too much of a load on my psu and card, or push it over edge and cause instability.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Curleyyy*
> 
> Yeah you're going from like 1.15v to 1.212v I need more voltage for my card. I can only get 1202 mhz over my stock 967


1.175v is stock

@Jedson3614 we need more info on your rig. my wf3 670 doesnt clock high but, we need more info
105 isnt the max target, its 112. display driver crashing is either too high of an overclock or, no, too high of an overclock. always reboot to reload the driver.
but again, give us info on your rig. we know you have a haswell and a wfx3 670. it doesnt help.


----------



## Jedson3614

My info should be in my profile, but i have a 4770k. Was unstable but now Im 4.2 @ 1.25. I wasn't sure if my memory gpu or cpu was causing the freezing and crashing of display driver. I have 8 GB of 1600 mhz ram 9-9-9-27-1t kingston black hyperx ram. The windforce isn't overclocked when it was crashing. I did set power target to 105. I didn't was 105 was max, I just said that is what I set it to. I did state above a weird problem, and wonder if the whole problem isn't pointing to my PSU. I did have these display driver crashes without even overclocking, now the card is factory overclocked, but like I said I think one of the 6 pin with 2 pin PCIE leads is bad. I think 2 of the pins making it a 8 pin is bad. I say this because I have swapped them around from each other, I took the one that is bad and plugged in just the 6 pins for the 6 pin on my card and the other 8 pin to 8pin on my card, and this seemed to help. I was getting a crashed display driver as soon as I logged into windows without even loading any programs. This stopped when I switched cables. I still had some freezing, but Stabalized my overclock. I didnt notice an improvement though of the freezing until I wiped my ssd and removed windows 8.1 x64 altogether and went back to windows 7 x64 since I did that I haven't had a crash.


----------



## Curleyyy

Where you said you increased the power target then it crashed my guess would be that your card boosted higher than it previously did because it now has access to more power, hence a higher boost clock, though it didn't have enough voltage to stay stable. Yes increasing voltage increases heat. Though the 670s run fine with 1.212 volts which you will need Kepler BIOS Tweaker to get to.


----------



## Jedson3614

What about without bios tweaker? Can I change it to anything, I dont want that high of a overclock due to possibly instability with psu. I also dont want added heat, not to mention it's already factory over clocked. I would enjoy a decent overclock but I think I am worried about my psu being faulty and don't want to wait 6 months to see another one in the mail. I know its enough juice its 750 watts. I have corsair tx750m. Liek I said several times above I swapped the two pcie cables. One used as 8 pin other as 6 without the extra two pins which I think are bad seems to be working okay for now.


----------



## pc-illiterate

a 750watt psu is enough for a cpu and a gpu. either the psu is junk or you have another problem.
you can NOT raise the voltage above nvidia locked 1.175v without modding the bios.


----------



## mrtbahgs

Still confused why some memory settings will make my benchmark run at lower power and then get bad results, I have to restart the PC to fix the issue and I have been able to pass and score well with memory above that setting so its like a small range of memory OC that causes a problem I guess. For me it was like +700 memory that caused the issue, but I can pass up to +800 before I finally saw an artifact. So for now I just decided to go with a good enough setup that isn't 100% maxed or dialed in, but will let me test in game now and see if it holds stable.

At the moment I am running +54 clock and +760 memory to bring me to 1254MHz and 7526MHz which got to a max temp of only 56C and used 99% power in a Heaven run. Seem pretty decent?

I was wondering if it is worth it to try the higher voltage by modding the bios or w/e needs to be done since my temps are good, but I am now pushing the power closer to max. Not sure if I have much room left or how much higher results I would see by doing so. Is there a rough guess as to how much performance increase or FPS gain I may get with the higher voltage?

*edit: Also whats a normal idle temp? Mine seems to be idle at 50C and in game load of 62C, idle seems high?


----------



## pc-illiterate

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/8823904
score - 15543
3d mark 11 performance test
#1 valid result for 670 sli and a 2500k.
#15 valid and invalid results

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/2954450
score - 10831
3d mark fire strike
#23 valid result for 670 sli and a 2500k
#50 valid and invalid results

happy happy


----------



## c0olking

Thank you Sean for writing this guide.

I got a few questions, here goes.

My stable Boost Clock is 1129MHz. Doing 3DMark and Heaven without issues. Through GPU-Z I can see the Kepler Boost is at 1175,8MHz. Thats a difference of ~47MHz, which does not divide with 13MHz increments - How come?!

Furthermore, the card gets (only) 62 degrees celcius under full oc and full load. Is there any way I am able to push the card further? It seems like I got the temp headroom for it.

mV is at 1150 and Power Target is at its maximum at 112% using EVGA Precision X 16. The card is a Gigabyte 670 oc windforce 3. The memory clock is at 1877MHz.

Edit: I've messed around with it some more and settled at a BC of 1124MHz and Memory Clock is at 1840MHz. One game didnt work correctly (Grid 2), while other games had no problems. But Grid 2 worked at these settings. But these settings (1124/1840) didnt need any tinkering with Power Target or mV. All default.


----------



## pbiernik

Hi guys. I need your help.

My 670 Zotac Reference Video card can't exceed the following overclock.

Default core clock: 915 MHz
Boost: 980 MHz

GPU Clock (OC ) = 1015 MHz
Boost (OC) = 1080 MHz

If I put +105 instead of +100, the games crashes.



Power limit is 120.

Voltage, unlocked with KGB: 1175000

I use MSI Afterburner.

How Can I exceed +100 MHz on the core?

Sorry for my english. Thank you very much.


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pbiernik*
> 
> Hi guys. I need your help.
> 
> My 670 Zotac Reference Video card can't exceed the following overclock.
> 
> Default core clock: 915 MHz
> Boost: 980 MHz
> 
> GPU Clock (OC ) = 1015 MHz
> Boost (OC) = 1080 MHz
> 
> If I put +105 instead of +100, the games crashes.
> 
> 
> 
> Power limit is 120.
> 
> Voltage, unlocked with KGB: 1175000
> 
> I use MSI Afterburner.
> 
> How Can I exceed +100 MHz on the core?
> 
> Sorry for my english. Thank you very much.


your english is fine.

are you sure youre only getting 1080? is that what msi afterburner says your max clock is when it is under load? that is where you will see your max clock...


----------



## pc-illiterate

bah, crap


----------



## pbiernik

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> your english is fine.
> 
> are you sure youre only getting 1080? is that what msi afterburner says your max clock is when it is under load? that is where you will see your max clock...


Check this:


----------



## pc-illiterate

gpu-z wasnt reading correctly before for some people. not being able to hit 1100mhz isnt very common, at all.


----------



## pbiernik

1202 MHz max, playing games like Ryse, Crysis 3, The Evil Within. using RivaTunerStadisticsServer on-screen display.

It's okay?


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pbiernik*
> 
> 1202 MHz max, playing games like Ryse, Crysis 3, The Evil Within. using RivaTunerStadisticsServer on-screen display.
> 
> It's okay?


Sounds good.
That's what I have both my cards running.


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pbiernik*
> 
> 1202 MHz max, playing games like Ryse, Crysis 3, The Evil Within. using RivaTunerStadisticsServer on-screen display.
> 
> It's okay?


Yep that's what I had with mine. You'll get an even bigger performance improvement if you overclock your Vram.


----------



## mrtbahgs

I had a few crashes or problems with stability while in BF4 so I ended up sliding the memory OC down in chunks for now to just be easier and able to play right away. I also moved my core down one time I believe. For memory in the end I had to drop it quite a bit down before it seems to now be stable, but then I remember reading this from the guide and want to know if I should start over with tweaking.

....
"If you crash in any of these games or benchmarks, then reduce your core offset by 1MHz until the problem goes away. Just be sure the crash is not caused by the game itself before deciding to reduce things.
If you see graphical artifacts, reduce the memory offset by 1 until it goes away."
....

I dont think I ever once had graphical artifacts just game freezes or crashing, something obviously saying it wasnt stable during a match or as it went to load into a new round. So should I lower my core a bit more (maybe so it drops by a cycle of 13) and put my memory back up and see how things go or will the performance differences not be worth all the effort?

I beleive originally I was at +54 (1254) and +760 (7526) before I started to check in-game stability. Now I am somewhere near +44 (1241) and +600 (7204) where it seems stable after a few different sessions, you can see how much I dropped the memory over time and now I realize it probably could have been solved with just a core drop instead, but again I'm not sure if its worth the fuss.


----------



## DeathAngel74

Thank you for this guide. My Max oc is 1381(+361) from 1020-core
3457(+952)x2 from 2505- memory(6914 from 5010) effective
1469(+384) from 1085- boost
1.200v
194% power target=75w
idle temp 38c
load temp 46c

I know it's not a gtx 670 but this guide helped me a lot. It's a gtx 750....thanks again!


----------



## pbiernik

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deders*
> 
> Yep that's what I had with mine. You'll get an even bigger performance improvement if you overclock your Vram.


So, it is enough increase the boost to 1100 MHz?

I can't upload it more.

Thank you!


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pbiernik*
> 
> So, it is enough increase the boost to 1100 MHz?
> 
> I can't upload it more.
> 
> Thank you!


If that is what you have to set in the overclocking program and the on screen display is reading 1202 then that's a good overclock, should be fast enough for most things.

What do you have your video memory set to?


----------



## pbiernik

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deders*
> 
> If that is what you have to set in the overclocking program and the on screen display is reading 1202 then that's a good overclock, should be fast enough for most things.
> 
> What do you have your video memory set to?


*Memory Clock (MHz) = +550*
Core Clock (MHz) = +115
Power Limit = 117

It is stable and everything seems to work fine.









The only problem is that the video card is hotter than before.

So I manually set the fan curve.


Do you recommend some for my Zotac Reference Model?

If I play demanding titles, with 30 degrees of temperature, the card reaches 89 °. Typically kept between 84 and 87. But, I'm a little scared.
With temperatures below 24 °, it stays between 79 - 82 °.

The most annoying is the noise, but not much to do.

Thank you!


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pbiernik*
> 
> *Memory Clock (MHz) = +550*
> Core Clock (MHz) = +115
> Power Limit = 117
> 
> It is stable and everything seems to work fine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The only problem is that the video card is hotter than before.
> 
> So I manually set the fan curve.
> 
> 
> Do you recommend some for my Zotac Reference Model?
> 
> If I play demanding titles, with 30 degrees of temperature, the card reaches 89 °. Typically kept between 84 and 87. But, I'm a little scared.
> With temperatures below 24 °, it stays between 79 - 82 °.
> 
> The most annoying is the noise, but not much to do.
> 
> Thank you!


What is your case like? how are its fans configured? Do you have a side fan? Are Hard drives blocking your front fans?

As for a the fan curve, I would find the fastest point that you are happy with the noise level and set that as your minimum . I do this because then when it does start to get hot, the cooler doesn't have to work as hard to keep it cooler all of a sudden.

For instance I could have my cpu fan running at 40%, but it is still silent at 66% so I run it at 66% when idle, it ramps up to 100% when it is fully loaded.
If I was using the 40% idle setting then when fully stressed it would peak at about 65c and it would be very hard to get the temperature down even when it is 100%.
Having the fan at 66% when idle means that there is already better cooling happening and it never goes above 60c at 100% load when the fans speed up.

On the other end I'm sure you are aware that the 670 will clock down slightly when it gets to around 70c. Mine did it at 72c, so you want to find the point that makes your clockspeed slow down with either the on screen display or GPUz and set your fan for 100% or the loudest you are prepared to have it at that point.

Then it's up to you to experiment in between.


----------



## HydroKFC

Hey i just got a used 670 off ebay and i saw the 760 ti is a rebranded 670. Can i flash this bios to unlock gpu boost 2.0 on my evga 670 reference?

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/153547/nvidia-gtx760tioem-2048-130801.html


----------



## pbiernik

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HydroKFC*
> 
> Hey i just got a used 670 off ebay and i saw the 760 ti is a rebranded 670. Can i flash this bios to unlock gpu boost 2.0 on my evga 670 reference?
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/153547/nvidia-gtx760tioem-2048-130801.html


The GTX 760 isn't even a remotely rebranded GTX 670.

GTX 670 = 1344 CUDA cores

GTX 760 = 1152 CUDA cores


----------



## pbiernik

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deders*
> 
> What is your case like? how are its fans configured? Do you have a side fan? Are Hard drives blocking your front fans?
> 
> As for a the fan curve, I would find the fastest point that you are happy with the noise level and set that as your minimum . I do this because then when it does start to get hot, the cooler doesn't have to work as hard to keep it cooler all of a sudden.
> 
> For instance I could have my cpu fan running at 40%, but it is still silent at 66% so I run it at 66% when idle, it ramps up to 100% when it is fully loaded.
> If I was using the 40% idle setting then when fully stressed it would peak at about 65c and it would be very hard to get the temperature down even when it is 100%.
> Having the fan at 66% when idle means that there is already better cooling happening and it never goes above 60c at 100% load when the fans speed up.
> 
> On the other end I'm sure you are aware that the 670 will clock down slightly when it gets to around 70c. Mine did it at 72c, so you want to find the point that makes your clockspeed slow down with either the on screen display or GPUz and set your fan for 100% or the loudest you are prepared to have it at that point.
> 
> Then it's up to you to experiment in between.


Arctic Silver 5 was my solution.
Thank you!


----------



## HydroKFC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pbiernik*
> 
> The GTX 760 isn't even a remotely rebranded GTX 670.
> 
> GTX 670 = 1344 CUDA cores
> 
> GTX 760 = 1152 CUDA cores


I know the 760 isn't the same. I said the *760 TI* OEM version. same cuda core count as 670.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-760ti-oem/specifications


----------



## Deders

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pbiernik*
> 
> Arctic Silver 5 was my solution.
> Thank you!


How much lower are your temps?


----------



## Sysop82

I have a 670 FTW 4GB card which I have been happy with. Basically all I do games wise is play BF4. And will play the next one when it comes out. I saw a 290x 4gb on newegg for 299$ after rebate.

I'm wondering if I should do that and maybe try and sell my 670 on eBay but not sure what I would get since I bought it refurbished. Other option would be to try and find another 670 FTW on eBay and run sli.

Any thoughts on a upgrade option?


----------



## pc-illiterate

670 cards are dirt cheap now. 1 thing going for you is its a 4gb card. $300 290x sounds like a good deal to me. others will disagree but it sounds good to ME.


----------



## Curleyyy

I bought my 670 for $499 a year ago.


----------



## pbiernik

It is possible to flash my zotac 670 reference with the bios of the amp edition?

PD: Yes. Bugs everywhere.


----------



## pyroguysf

Just recently I had replaced all my case fans that had failed and even redid the thermal paste on my graphics card. I gave my 3570K a moderate bump to 4.3 and was hoping to get some extra power from my GPU as well, but I can't seem to get past stock frequencies listed below, which is a little disappointing.

Card: EVGA GTX 670 FTW 2GB (02G-P4-2678-KR)
Boost: 1085 MHz
Max Boost: 1176 MHz
Memory: 1552 MHz
Power target: 145%
Voltage: 1.150 V (boosts to 1.1750 under load)

I only took written notes, not screenshots, but I can redo testing and take some if needed, but with a +15 GPU offset, it'll usually pass max Heaven the first time (1080p with Ultra instead of High quality = 35.5, 894), but it will eventually lock up (black screen for ~20 seconds), reset to defaults, and continue. I might be misunderstanding, but at +15 it only gets to 94.5% TDP and will never get hotter than 51C (or 54C in Furmark), which leads me to believe it has a lot of headroom, theoretically at least. I'm assuming Heaven is more intensive than most games so I could probably be a little more stable elsewhere, but is there anything I can do other than modifying the BIOS and giving it a little more voltage? Not really what I want to do, but it seems like it'd be able to handle a little more. I'll also add that I'm on the older BIOS (80.04.31.00.70) because the newer ones seem to be a very mixed bag with a lot of negative feedback.

Edit: Would replacing Heaven with something more accurate to my normal usage (Metro 2033 benchmark) be appropriate? So far, I'm at +30 with no artifacts or crashing.


----------



## shmann

I just came across this guide, it's fantastic. I have a 970, and it seems like it's pretty similar to the 670, so I was going to try to follow this guide. Does that sound reasonable?

The only problem I have is my TV is limited to 1080p, and Heaven is just not demanding enough to be useful for modern games-- for exmaple, I found that Far Cry 4 is much more demanding than Heaven at max settings. I was thinking I could maybe turn on DSR to make Heaven a bit more demanding? Any thoughts on that idea?


----------



## shmann

Ok so here's a question: if you are getting throttled at 70, couldn't you just up your clock by 13 MHz and eat the difference? assuming it's still still stable at that higher clock speed when you're below 70 degrees?

Forgive me if it's in this guide and I overlooked it, I did read the whole thing once I promise but it's a bit technical for me...


----------



## kitoxx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *shmann*
> 
> I just came across this guide, it's fantastic. I have a 970, and it seems like it's pretty similar to the 670, so I was going to try to follow this guide. Does that sound reasonable?
> 
> The only problem I have is my TV is limited to 1080p, and Heaven is just not demanding enough to be useful for modern games-- for exmaple, I found that Far Cry 4 is much more demanding than Heaven at max settings. I was thinking I could maybe turn on DSR to make Heaven a bit more demanding? Any thoughts on that idea?


Unigine is pretty demanding but is also properly optimised whereas FC4 from what I have heard is poorly optimised as is Assassins Creed Unity.

your best bet for stabilty testing is to run lengthy sessions of Furmark for Temps/throttling and decent sessions of 3D mark and unigine for stability.

just my 2cents hope this helps


----------



## DeViLzzz

Guys I decided once again to overclock my GTX 670. I am using MSi AFTERBURNER and basically used this page, http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/geforce-gtx-670-review,24.html, as a starter to overclocking this card. I decided to push it pretty close to what they did.

My exact settings are:

Core Voltage (mV) +100, Power Limit (%) 122, Core Clock (MHz) +145, and Memory Clock (MHz) +450

I ran MSI Kombustor 3 for 10 minutes and no issues. Max temp reached was 69 degrees Celsius and the fan went up to about 84% at that point in a fan profile I made myself. I am currently downloading other things to test the card like Aliens vs Predator and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. : Call of Pripyat gaming benchmark software. How many more hours of stress testing and so on should I do and how much further can I push this card?

Btw I am getting coil whine that might annoy some but I am not irritated by it at all as when I am gaming I don't notice it.

I just ran AVPD3D11 Benchmark and it ran at 72 degrees Celsius to 73 degrees Celsius most of the time. No issues in terms of artifacts on screen or anything. I also ran S.T.A.L.K.E.R. : Call of Pripyat and it ran hotter with top temps at 75 to 76 degrees Celsius but no artifacts.


----------



## pc-illiterate

what is your max core clock with +145?


----------



## DeViLzzz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> what is your max core clock with +145?


1060 MHz


----------



## pc-illiterate

is that what afterburner says? it should be higher than that. +100 on my gb wf3 is 1202 and +125 on my asus non-top is 1202.
+145 should get you higher than that for sure.


----------



## DeViLzzz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> is that what afterburner says? it should be higher than that. +100 on my gb wf3 is 1202 and +125 on my asus non-top is 1202.
> +145 should get you higher than that for sure.


No this is what TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.8.0 shows and default clock for my GTX 670 is 915 MHz so +145 makes it 1060 MHz.


----------



## pc-illiterate

but that isnt correct.
it takes the stock clock of 915 and doesnt take into account boost. read what afterburner tells you. what it tells you max clock is, is what your max clock is.


----------



## DeViLzzz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> but that isnt correct.
> it takes the stock clock of 915 and doesnt take into account boost. read what afterburner tells you. what it tells you max clock is, is what your max clock is.


It says it is 1267 MHz max. clock when I load up my profile.


----------



## pc-illiterate

there ya go. thats a pretty good card you got if thats stable. congrats.


----------



## DeViLzzz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> there ya go. thats a pretty good card you got if thats stable. congrats.


Well so far through all the testing it seems very stable. Is it worth it for me to bump the core clock or memory clock more than it is already at? I am thinking not. Btw this card is just air cooled.


----------



## pc-illiterate

no difference between air and water cooled except noise from fans unless you volt mod.
if you can keep a steady 60fps at max eye candy, there isnt a reason to overclock any further except to say you can. its really up to you though.


----------



## Curleyyy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> no difference between air and water cooled except noise from fans unless you volt mod.
> if you can keep a steady 60fps at max eye candy, there isnt a reason to overclock any further except to say you can. its really up to you though.


uh

water cooled - cooler temperatures, especially when ambient temperatures are hotter when compared to air cooled
and 60 fps isn't optimal, you want 120 fps for optimal game play to reduce input lag and to have an overall smoother experience, so yes overclocking further is beneficial
you should almost always overclock right up until your computer crashes, and then back of a step


----------



## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Curleyyy*
> 
> uh
> 
> water cooled - cooler temperatures, especially when ambient temperatures are hotter when compared to air cooled
> and 60 fps isn't optimal, you want 120 fps for optimal game play to reduce input lag and to have an overall smoother experience, so yes overclocking further is beneficial
> you should almost always overclock right up until your computer crashes, and then back of a step


if youre under throttle point, it doesnt matter if youre 670 is running at 38*C or 69*C.
60hz monitor, there really is no benefit to going over 60fps, seriously.
there is no real reason to go full balls out overclocking your video card on a single 60hz monitor while having all eye candy turned up when already pushing 60fps, seriously.

prove anything wrong i said with proof not opinion.


----------



## Curleyyy

I don't have the time to explain something that's already been proved. Just because your monitor is 60hz doesn't mean you won't benefit from running 120 fps.
Go play any first person shooter at 60 fps capped, and then 120 fps capped, and you'll feel the difference.


----------



## pc-illiterate

74hz monitor
typically running 118-138fps
no difference capped at 74fps
if there was an actual difference, nvidia would not have adaptive vsync.
go find the proof. oh thats right, there isnt any PROOF. it is all opinion and system dependent.

besides, anyone wanting to run 120fps with eye candy is NOT running a single 670 unless they play games from 2006.


----------



## BrewWY

This is my first time overclocking a card and I would like to have someone more experienced look over what I have done. The system seems stable in both Heaven v4.0 and 3dmark v1-4-780, but I don't feel settings are exactly what they should be. I followed the "quick" method for this overclock.

ASUS GTX670-DC2-4GD5 GeForce GTX 670 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5

Boost Clock 1137MHz
Max Boost 1254MHz
Memory Clock 1533MHz
Power Target 122%
Voltage Setting 1150mV



Thanks in advance for the help.


----------



## pc-illiterate

i have a max boost of 1202 on both cards. vram at 3456 on both cards. all settings set to performance or high performance with everything off (or on if it makes for higher performance) in nvidia control panel.
turned off sli and ran an avg 37.6fps. the score you have is what i run stock. are you sure the driver wasnt crashed?


----------



## BrewWY

No I am not sure. I am new to this, so how do I tell if my driver is crashing? I was making it through both benchmarks without crashing the benchmark or other issues and I was using that as my indicator of things being stable.


----------



## solidshark91493

Hey guys, I have a pretty bad issue with a EVGA GTX 670 a friend gave me. ( I was fully aware of its issue before hand but its still way better than my 280oc)
The core clock speed is stuck. I cant update it. If I try using evga precision X it applies, and the clock speed doesnt change. The memory clock is still changeable however. He said it might be the bios chip, and showed me it where he thinks a pin isnt connected to the board anymore but im not sure. looks connected to me. Idk if thats the problem or not and if I can fix it or if I have to just leave it at a 915 core clock.
Any ideas?

Edit*
Small update, decided to do a run in valley benchmark And upon opening it it tells me my clock speed on my gpu is 1194 while precision X says 914. So I tried an experiment. I upped the core clock 140 on precision, hit apply. no change on precision but in valley my clock speed did increase to over 1300 where I set it. Im not sure what is going on.


----------



## Tier 2

I hope people still reply to this thread;

I have a EVGA 670 SuperClocked 2 GB card. When getting a base benchmark from Heaven, only using an adjusted Fan curve, my card is still hitting 70°C and begins to oscillate pretty good on the GPU clock. I can't seem to get a solid straight line of GPU clock speed even with stock settings, or increasing the Power Target %, increasing the voltage, or both.

Any ideas?

I'm thinking this card is just factory overclocked to pretty much the highest it can go. I'm able to increase memory clock and increase GPU clock but my temps always sit around 70°C or 71°C which, according to this guide if I'm reading it right, is not ideal.

Thanks.


----------



## Curleyyy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tier 2*
> 
> I hope people still reply to this thread;
> 
> I have a EVGA 670 SuperClocked 2 GB card. When getting a base benchmark from Heaven, only using an adjusted Fan curve, my card is still hitting 70°C and begins to oscillate pretty good on the GPU clock. I can't seem to get a solid straight line of GPU clock speed even with stock settings, or increasing the Power Target %, increasing the voltage, or both.
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> I'm thinking this card is just factory overclocked to pretty much the highest it can go. I'm able to increase memory clock and increase GPU clock but my temps always sit around 70°C or 71°C which, according to this guide if I'm reading it right, is not ideal.
> 
> Thanks.


Make sure your graphics card is getting sufficient airflow. Those EVGA cards always run pretty hot. So move things around.
Mod the BIOS so your card can run more voltage up to 1.212 and you'll also be able to unlock your fan speed to 100% Thread ----> http://www.overclock.net/t/1289489/gtx-600-series-unlocked-voltage-bios-downloads-and-tools/0_100
Clean out any dust, and if you have any all in one cooling for your CPU make sure the radiator fans are pushing air out of the case, not sucking in.


----------



## ChanceO

Finished overclocking my two 670s in sli. On was able to go around 1380Mhz, but the other was limited to 1282 so I have them both running 1282Mhz on the core clock and 3589Mhz on the memory clock. No extra voltages or power settings.


----------



## Wisdawn

Hi. First, thank you very much for this excellent and organized guide (with a "quick" section)!

Secondly, a question: Is it normal that one's Heaven Benchmark score does not go up at all no matter how you keep increasing the core offset by 20Mhz? Or are those increases not happening or do they require computer restart or what?

My card is from Gigabyte, so I'm using Gigabyte OC Guru, and I click Apply after increasing by 20Mhz, run another Heaven Benchark test, and it's just always the same, give or take 2 points.


----------



## ChanceO

What cpu are you using? Might be limited by your cpu.


----------



## Wisdawn

Also, another question: In the beginning of the quick overclocking section, there is mention of "Temporarily [increasing] both the Power Target and Voltage slider to their maximum value", but there is no mention in the final steps of where to bring those settings / slides back after fine-tuning totals. So what should I do with those 2 settings in the end?


----------



## Wisdawn

I'm using AMD FX-6300 (3.5Ghz six-core).


----------



## Wisdawn

Here are my final stable settings and results:





I have one question: *Now that I'm done, I assume that Minimum Voltage and Power Target do not need to be maximized anymore (it was supposed to be temporary), so what settings should I use for them now?*


----------



## pc-illiterate

I'm sorry but I need more proof than that guru screen cap. 1400+ stable? No way. Not on stock voltage and not without serious cooling. That would be the ultimate platinum 670.
Also you need a 1080p run to be relevant.

*EDIT* that's not stable. Look at the score above yours for ChanceO post. He has a core of 1280 and a resolution of 1080p and his score his almost 70fps. His max fps is also way way past yours. Keep trying.


----------



## ChanceO

I'm also running sli, so my scores will be better than his. My leading gpu can overclock to 1362 with no extra voltages or power targets, but have it scaled back since my second can only run 1282.

So it's possible his can hit 1400Mhz and be stable. My first is gigabyte, second is evga. His card is gigabyte.


----------



## Wisdawn

It seems that I missed the part where I was trying to prove something or achieve better stability or achieve "relevance" to monitors other than the one I own, with native 1680x1050! =)

I'm an overclocking newbie for God's sake, and this is my very first overclocking attempt in life! And for the record, overclocking or not, my target is never 60 fps, but 30 fps or more. So as long as a game runs at 30 fps or higher 95% of the time, I'm happy and the game is "stable" in my book.

Anyway, following the quick guide on this thread, and not after 30 minutes, but after countless runs of Heaven Benchmark, about 2 hours or so, I reached the results I show on my screenshots above, results that have passed Heaven Benchmark, 3DMark tests, and several smooth runs of Dying Light on balanced settings (minus HBAO+) and with my AMD processors.

So, now, with all that out of the way, the ONLY thing I need is to know is this: *What settings do I give to Minimum Voltage and Power Target now*, regardless to whether the data above is realistic in someone's world or not?


----------



## ChanceO

I turned the power and voltage settings back to default. They will shorten the life of the gpu.


----------



## pc-illiterate

First let me say when I get back to my pc I will post some things for you both.
Second, leaving power and voltage at max won't degrade anything. Those are nvidia's maxes which are 100% safe.


----------



## Wisdawn

Thank you. I'll do that, then. This does seem like the most logical thing to do if the change requested was temporary, even if reversing the change wasn't specifically mentioned; also for the product life as you mentioned.


----------



## handakes

hey there,
i have an old reference Gainward GTX670 , and since the day i bought it i saved this topic seeing it may come in handy someday..
that day is now..
while struggling to run "the evil within" at a descent FPS, i figured OCing a bit now may solve some of my issues, and it did (to some extent) , the problem is stability now.
my card was kind enough to eliminate any shades of gray while OCing, it either finished the heaven run smoothly, or crashed and burned..no artifacts, no BS..
the results where pathetic at best, but it's all i have anyway

GPU clock Clock 1005 (couldn't even get to the starting point of +120 recommended in this topic, not by a long shot!)
Max Clock 1162
vRAM Clock: +725 according to Precision X , it shows in Unigin Heaven as "3745 mhz although it's 2GB card, i dunno.."

anyway, with those settings i am able to complete heaven and 3dmark multiple times smoothly, with god awful results of course, but it beats my default clocks (default scores 810, OC 910 at heaven)
i have the GPU clock stable with no oscillation, temp is maxed at 70, and it's all good in the benchmarks..but i can't ,for the life of me, get it to not crash while playing the evil within!
i went down to as far as +84 core clock "instead of 90" and +696 "instead of +725" on Vram , and it just crashed on me now, again..
i am hard pressed for cash and i wont be able to upgrade anytime soon, this crappy reference card is all i have right now, i am starting to regret it badly, i should have went with a higher model..anyway, what can i salvage out of this mess?


----------



## mrtbahgs

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *handakes*
> 
> hey there,
> i have an old reference Gainward GTX670 , and since the day i bought it i saved this topic seeing it may come in handy someday..
> that day is now..
> while struggling to run "the evil within" at a descent FPS, i figured OCing a bit now may solve some of my issues, and it did (to some extent) , the problem is stability now.
> my card was kind enough to eliminate any shades of gray while OCing, it either finished the heaven run smoothly, or crashed and burned..no artifacts, no BS..
> the results where pathetic at best, but it's all i have anyway
> 
> GPU clock Clock 1005 (couldn't even get to the starting point of +120 recommended in this topic, not by a long shot!)
> Max Clock 1162
> vRAM Clock: +725 according to Precision X , it shows in Unigin Heaven as "3745 mhz although it's 2GB card, i dunno.."
> 
> anyway, with those settings i am able to complete heaven and 3dmark multiple times smoothly, with god awful results of course, but it beats my default clocks (default scores 810, OC 910 at heaven)
> i have the GPU clock stable with no oscillation, temp is maxed at 70, and it's all good in the benchmarks..but i can't ,for the life of me, get it to not crash while playing the evil within!
> i went down to as far as +84 core clock "instead of 90" and +696 "instead of +725" on Vram , and it just crashed on me now, again..
> i am hard pressed for cash and i wont be able to upgrade anytime soon, this crappy reference card is all i have right now, i am starting to regret it badly, i should have went with a higher model..anyway, what can i salvage out of this mess?


Might try dropping the Vram down more, I had mine also at like +700 because it passed heaven, but it wasnt game stable. I ended up just going down in big steps because I didnt want to spend a ton more time tweaking it. Maybe go all the way down to 600 then 550 then 500 etc until it is stable in game.

Curious, what is your power draw in game?


----------



## Jedson3614

I'm a bit worried my GPU temp at load is 32. Is this too warm or high?


----------



## DeathAngel74

my gpu temp fluctuates between 36C and 56C. anything below 90C is good


----------



## handakes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mrtbahgs*
> 
> Might try dropping the Vram down more, I had mine also at like +700 because it passed heaven, but it wasnt game stable. I ended up just going down in big steps because I didnt want to spend a ton more time tweaking it. Maybe go all the way down to 600 then 550 then 500 etc until it is stable in game.
> 
> Curious, what is your power draw in game?


power draw goes all the way up to 120% some times, but it's usually 110-113% most of the time..


----------



## kitoxx

Thanks for this guide, just finished with my gigabyte and gainward in sli.

ended up with this:

Gigabyte 1228/7114
Gainward 1188/7202

got this
Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0
FPS:
70.0
Score:
1762
Min FPS:
23.1
Max FPS:
163.0
System
Platform:
Windows NT 6.2 (build 9200) 64bit
CPU model:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3930K CPU @ 3.20GHz (3199MHz) x6
GPU model:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 9.18.13.4788 (2048MB) x2
Settings
Render:
Direct3D11
Mode:
1920x1080 8xAA fullscreen
Preset
Custom
Quality
Ultra
Tessellation:
Extreme
Powered by UNIGINE Engine
Unigine Corp. © 2005-2013


----------



## kitoxx

update:

just overclocked my CPU a bit more (4.4Ghz)

got this


----------



## Alphas

Is it possible to stop the fan when kepler bios tweaker when the GPU is idle?


----------



## lilj

Can some one please post his Geforce experience GTX 670 optimized settings for gta v ?, for some reason mine is not showing up and if it does it sets everything to low, allthough am running it pretty smooth at high, would be great if some one could post them


----------



## Speedster159

I'm using this guide for a 760 and it seems like my card is not capable of adjusting the core in increments of 1, instead it increases or decreases in increments of 13.

Does the 670 do this?


----------



## pc-illiterate

actual core speed is in 13mhz steps, yes. at least for the most part it is.


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## aYkology

i totally understood wrong the title .my question is it safe %132 power target and increase voltage full on evga tool and as long as i keep my card cool i m cool ?


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## Speedster159

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> actual core speed is in 13mhz steps, yes. at least for the most part it is.


So just increase and decrease in 13Mhz steps regardless and never in smaller increments?


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## DeathAngel74

boost clock bins are set in 13mhz increments


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## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DeathAngel74*
> 
> boost clock bins are set in 13mhz increments


i said 'for the most part' because it depends on the card or the mfr of the card of where the boost starts. depending on which gpu i overclock and how much i start with, the 13mhz stepping is constant but it starts adding the 13mhz at different spots in the boost. kinda screwy but youd understand if you had 2 different cards with different base and boost clocks.

@Speedster159 add what you want. the extra mhz you add wont mean anything. the software will discard what wont give extra boost/overclocking.


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## Speedster159

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pc-illiterate*
> 
> i said 'for the most part' because it depends on the card or the mfr of the card of where the boost starts. depending on which gpu i overclock and how much i start with, the 13mhz stepping is constant but it starts adding the 13mhz at different spots in the boost. kinda screwy but youd understand if you had 2 different cards with different base and boost clocks.
> 
> @Speedster159 add what you want. the extra mhz you add wont mean anything. the software will discard what wont give extra boost/overclocking.


What do you mean discard?

Right now for example if I go to an offset of +65 I get a Turbo of 1215 and no more, and the only way to increase that is to go from +65 to +78 and there I get 1228. Is that what you mean?


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## mrtbahgs

@Speedster159 Yea i think he is just saying you can add a random in-between amount if you want, like say +69 in your example, but it will only truly apply the +65 and the extra +4 is discarded since it will always display 1215 until you bump it a full step of 13.


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## aYkology

When i run heaven bench my temp never above 53degree and power max 93% .gpu clock 1280 straigt line until program crashes after 2-3 minutes working.Then crashes every loading screen when i attemp to run it until restart the pc.When i run it after restart crashs again after 2-3 minutes later.

Is that it? End of the story?Max OC? Or is it my fault on something?

EDİT: 1267mhz ok .when increase clock 5mhz .it goes 1280 mhz and crashin heaven bench.its ok below 1280
I think my car dont go above 90-95% power .but i can increase it 132% on evga tool. it just dont use power can use ?


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## Wuest3nFuchs

May its stupid to ask this but i wont brick my 670 FTW ,so i thought i came here!

Contacted EVGA about the UEFI Bios and i got it .

*Is it possible to flash and use UEFI Bios on this card while using Windows 7 x64 Ultimate ?*

*Do i have to deal with issues when flashing it, can this be redone or is it irreversible ?*

May it doesn't make sense but i wanna upgrade OS to *Windows 10 next year* [2016] !


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## RunRabbit

Can somebody perhaps explain me whats happening with my gfx card. Upgraded to 670 from 650ti boost and system crashes when stress test the gpu. afterburner log show wierd power limit figures while everything is stock and default.


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## HydroKFC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wuest3nFuchs*
> 
> May its stupid to ask this but i wont brick my 670 FTW ,so i thought i came here!
> 
> Contacted EVGA about the UEFI Bios and i got it .
> 
> *Is it possible to flash and use UEFI Bios on this card while using Windows 7 x64 Ultimate ?*
> 
> *Do i have to deal with issues when flashing it, can this be redone or is it irreversible ?*
> 
> May it doesn't make sense but i wanna upgrade OS to *Windows 10 next year* [2016] !


1)Yes i've done the same thing with my EVGA 670 SC Reference.

2)Not issues but precautions.Once u flash that bios you cant go back to the previous version unless you flash force the flash.Just run the little update exe file inside the zip folder and a cmd window will pop up saying if u want to flash your card and it will give u the cards sub id make sure they're the same and press y and that's it reboot system don't shut down cause last time i shut down while flashing the card would not post so i had to re flash it again using another gpu so be careful if its the only one u have.

Other thoughts) I also unlocked the voltage and set a fixed clock on bios to stop throttling past 71C with keppler bios tweaker. Stable at 1150mhz core and 3510 memory. at 1.150v stock cooler idles at 44c and load at 85-91c.As for windows 10 id wait till drivers mature since im running the insiders preview build 10130 and nvidia drivers crash at every turn i hope they have stable ones on its release.


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## HydroKFC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RunRabbit*
> 
> Can somebody perhaps explain me whats happening with my gfx card. Upgraded to 670 from 650ti boost and system crashes when stress test the gpu. afterburner log show wierd power limit figures while everything is stock and default.


That power % is wayyyyy off if you have a reference card it should be max at 122% it looks like ur card has unlocked voltage did u buy Your card used ?


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## Wuest3nFuchs

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HydroKFC*
> 
> 1)Yes i've done the same thing with my EVGA 670 SC Reference.
> 
> 2)Not issues but precautions.Once u flash that bios you cant go back to the previous version unless you flash force the flash.Just run the little update exe file inside the zip folder and a cmd window will pop up saying if u want to flash your card and it will give u the cards sub id make sure they're the same and press y and that's it reboot system don't shut down cause last time i shut down while flashing the card would not post so i had to re flash it again using another gpu so be careful if its the only one u have.
> 
> Other thoughts) I also unlocked the voltage and set a fixed clock on bios to stop throttling past 71C with keppler bios tweaker. Stable at 1150mhz core and 3510 memory. at 1.150v stock cooler idles at 44c and load at 85-91c.As for windows 10 id wait till drivers mature since im running the insiders preview build 10130 and nvidia drivers crash at every turn i hope they have stable ones on its release.


Thank you very much ! That does help me alot !

To OC : Yesterday i unlocked voltage and got a nice boost from 1189 to 1306 @ 62°C:thumb: and only have an asic of 73,4








Today im testing the stability ! hold thumbs !

@ runrabbit : Sounds like a custom bios ,whats the name of the board maker?


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## HydroKFC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wuest3nFuchs*
> 
> Thank you very much ! That does help me alot !
> 
> To OC : Yesterday i unlocked voltage and got a nice boost from 1189 to 1306 @ 62°C:thumb: and only have an asic of 73,4
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Today im testing the stability ! hold thumbs !


Nice Im getting an artic accelero mono plus for my 670 this week to see if i can get a better oc i hope i can reach at least 1300mhz also id overclock memory more than core since the biggest boost comes from memory OC. i wanted to go watercooling but my asic quality is 85.7 so i cant .


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## Wuest3nFuchs

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HydroKFC*
> 
> Nice Im getting an artic accelero mono plus for my 670 this week to see if i can get a better oc i hope i can reach at least 1300mhz also id overclock memory more than core since the biggest boost comes from memory OC. i wanted to go watercooling but my asic quality is 85.7 so i cant .


An asic above 80% is better for OC but has higher temps , from what i've read over here.
Arctic Cooler is a good deal as i replaced my cooler in the past on my old 8800GTX which was from Leadtek.

Still love this chip but the performance compared to a 670 is massive!
Will hold thumbs for you to get cooler temps!


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## HydroKFC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wuest3nFuchs*
> 
> An asic above 80% is better for OC but has higher temps , from what i've read over here.
> Arctic Cooler is a good deal as i replaced my cooler in the past on my old 8800GTX which was from Leadtek.
> 
> Still love this chip but the performance compared to a 670 is massive!
> Will hold thumbs for you to get cooler temps!


Im using the little gpu-z guidelines for asic quality i hope they're correct.


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## Wuest3nFuchs

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HydroKFC*
> 
> Im using the little gpu-z guidelines for asic quality i hope they're correct.


Good morning !

What guidelines do you mean?


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## HydroKFC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wuest3nFuchs*
> 
> Good morning !
> 
> What guidelines do you mean?




I meant these


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## softskiller

What's the best driver for these cards?
The latest with which even 970/980 owners have problems or 347.xx drivers?


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## HydroKFC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *softskiller*
> 
> What's the best driver for these cards?
> The latest with which even 970/980 owners have problems or 347.xx drivers?


For me 350.12 are stable 353.12 are a bit unstable but at least im able to maintain my overclock i use gx mod drivers i never use stock. u can also try the 352.94 icafe drivers which are a different branch made for better stability and performance at lower power usage.


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## pc-illiterate

341.44 are the best drivers for my 670s. i had issues with anything higher.


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## catacavaco

347.71 here


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## Wuest3nFuchs

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HydroKFC*
> 
> 
> 
> I meant these


lol i believed you mean something else ^^









To the drivers: 340.52 up to 347.88 seems working fine on my 670 !


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## softskiller

I went for the 347.88.
I also see them often getting recommended at the official Nvidia Forums.
Today was another game ready driver release - but with 0 Bug fixes.
People are raging at the Nvidia forums about the latest 35x.xx drivers and 970s and 800 Series cards.


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## michael-ocn

347.52 has been working fine for me.


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## softskiller

Does anyone else have this stuttering problem?
http://www.overclock.net/t/1256774/nvidia-gtx-670-680-stuttering-information-thread

Opening menus in Windows stutters, aimbooster flash game stutters (the dots and rings), the mouse in game menus stutters.


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## Prometheus6987

Hey guys









I did few benchmarks after putting new heatsinks and a benchmark table bracket with a 140mm close to the cards. Thanks to that I was able to push vrams to +700 and core +145, the benchmark crashed when it finished but I got this result


I was also able to get to a more stable OC in this one with +140 and +650 on vrams


My question is are these results any good counting the fact my 2 gtx 670s are reference cards modded by me (heatisinks + an AIO) with standard Bios?

(also I was able to get a stable OC for gaming without issues, with +500 on vrms and +98 on core)


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## Nekodemon09

Witcher 3 is running ok Ultra. Just moments when it hangs for a slit second. Decided to try overclocking. I've had these cards since they came out so it's been a while. Yeah...OC sucks.

Cards: GTX 670 FTW 4GB SLI
Power Supply: Rosewill 1300w
MB: MSI X99S-Gaming 7
CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K
RAM: Patriot 8GB DDR4 (yeah, need to buy another 8GB. I miss having 16GB)
Both cards and CPU are watercooled, temps during bench were 56C for the cards. This is the highest I can get without crashing.
I read people getting up to +360/+800 and makes me feel like i was cheated with these cards. That's alright though. I plan to upgrade to 2x HOF GTX 980TI Waterblock Edition later this year anyways.

Card settings:


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## pc-illiterate

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Prometheus6987*
> 
> Hey guys
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I did few benchmarks after putting new heatsinks and a benchmark table bracket with a 140mm close to the cards. Thanks to that I was able to push vrams to +700 and core +145, the benchmark crashed when it finished but I got this result
> 
> 
> I was also able to get to a more stable OC in this one with +140 and +650 on vrams
> 
> 
> My question is are these results any good counting the fact my 2 gtx 670s are reference cards modded by me (heatisinks + an AIO) with standard Bios?
> 
> (also I was able to get a stable OC for gaming without issues, with +500 on vrms and +98 on core)


saying +xxx on core means nothing as every card boosts differently. +100 core can be 1202mhz on 1 card and 1177mhz on another card. used that as an example because +100 on my gb 670 is 1202mhz and +125 is 1202mhz on my asus 670.


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## tinnyskillz

What's the best driver to use if i'm on Windows 10 64bit? Is there a way to install 347.88 on windows 10? it seems to be received as the best version period.


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## Nekodemon09

Forum is pretty dead now. I guess most people upgraded by now lol. Debating on getting Pascal x80 or wait 6 more months after release for a ti version.


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## softskiller

My problem is the input lag with this card.
My old AMD R9 270X was more responsive.

I also notice that the cursor is far more responsive after uninstalling drivers before installing a new driver when the card runs on full speed without any energy saving.


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## NadoTuga

Hello guys,

Someone can drop here an amazing modified vbios to Asus Nvidia GTX 670 OC 2GB, like we have on GTX 770 Owners Club?

Regards


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## VinoBob

Hi,

I'd like to OC my 670, and I managed to bump the GPU clock by +180 Mhz, but after that I'm stuck cause I cannot cranck up the voltage more than +100mV. I use MSI afterburner and my default voltage is 9.987 and so my OC-d voltage is 1.087V. However I saw everywhere that most people can give even 1.185V to their GPU with Afterburner and I wonder how ?
Does anyone have an idea ?


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## Wuest3nFuchs

@vinobob
May you wanna unlock your bios and set the voltage to 1.2125 ,this gaved me a lot more pontencial to overclock my gtx 670 ftw over 1344mhz !

I achieved this with a online tool from this thread here http://www.overclock.net/t/1340182/online-600-series-firmware-modifier-version-0-7/0_40

You can also use KBT to achieve over 1.3v ,but dunno if it is a safe voltage !


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