Overclock became unstable over time?

[Roguebantha]

EVGA will RMA an overclock if done within their boundaries; as long as there have been no bios changes, they'll RMA pretty much anything from what I've heard.

 

[bob4933]

It's not exactly 'degraded'. It runs at stock just fine. There is no guaranty on overclock. They won't RMA it.

Post 3 is a tad ambiguous. Is he having stability issues stock? Or was that included in the overclocking?

 

[Roguebantha]

No stability issues at stock, however, at a previously stable overclock, we are now apparently unstable.

 

[bob4933]

EVGA will RMA an overclock if done within their boundaries; as long as there have been no bios changes, they'll RMA pretty much anything from what I've heard.

Rma ING a card because you lost silicone lottery strikes me on the "less than ethical" side.

 

[Roguebantha]

I agree, I don't think my card is necessarily faulty. But it does seem odd that a previously stable config seems to have very suddenly become unstable.

 

[bob4933]

I agree, I don't think my card is necessarily faulty. But it does seem odd that a previously stable config seems to have very suddenly become unstable.

Yeah just keep an eye on it. If it gives you the slightest bit of issue then jump on the rma train for sure.

Did you benchmark when you overclocked, or did you just run a game for a bit? It's possible it was never stable and something new started causing it to come out.

 

[EarthDog]

Again, if it works at stock, its not RMAable. As Bob said, returning a card because it doesn't work overclocked (regardless if it worked before), that is just bad luck.

 

[Roguebantha]

Yes I know, it's definitely not RMAable right now, and I won't be doing so as long as it stays stable at stock everything. However, I was still wondering if it's typical for a card to lose stability over time, and so quickly.

 

[EarthDog]

As answered earlier, yes it is typical for a card to lose stability over time. How long and how much if any, will vary from each and every single card. This quickly I would say is NOT typical however.

 

[mimart7]

Blow out the card with compressed air. I'd also completely uninstall and reinstall drivers. But, as Mr. Scott said this may ultimately be a heat issue. I use MSI Afterburner, and have my fan profile set to automatic.

 

[SF101]

a few things to consider.
1. I have paste loose some of its ability to transfer heat optimally over time when running cards in higher temp ranges.
2. Its now Summer and quite alot warmer outside this could be causing your card to run a bit hotter than you remember in the winter/spring/fall.
3. you are seeing degradation of the silicone , But i doubt it personally the cards a bit too new for degradation yet imho.

 

[Roguebantha]

Well we are now several months (nearly a year later) and the stable overclock for my GPU has decreased by about 30 to 40 Mhz since then. I keep it at stock right now since it's much easier to deal with. Is this silicon degradation normal? Is it possible that maybe the culprit is a more subtle thing, such as the MB PCIE bus?

I've always had a weird feeling about my motherboard...it never seemed quite stable to me. It's an M5A99FX Pro R2.0, which isn't awful, but you never know.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Are you using the same test software to check stability as you were a year ago?

 

[Roguebantha]

Yes my testing software has not changed at all.

 

[wingman99]

What stability issues are you having with the PC can you describe them?

 

[Roguebantha]

Just typical behavior of a GPU OC'd too high. Driver crashes mostly. They go away when I take it back down to stock of course.

 

[Alaric]

I would think if it begins throttling at 83C and it's running at 80C you would be getting close to how accurate the sensor is.

Heat kills.

This^

 

[Roguebantha]

It's running at about 78 to 80 right now.

I've heard that heat kills, but I've never heard that heat kills slowly. Usually it's apparently a pretty quick death. My card appears to be slowly losing its OC ability.

 

[wingman99]

Voltage or heat will vaporize the interconnects and transistors slowly or fast. Think of it like this sum light bulbs last a long time some last a short time before the filament burns out.