Need a guide on how to oc a gtx980 strix OC

rainiz · Oct 23, 2018

Hey there, i got recently a gtx980 strix OC 4GB and i wanna hit 1500MHZ (IF possible).

I installed just now msi afterburner and need now a guide on how to start and what to change...

PC specs:

Win10 Pro 64Bit,
16GB ram,
500W PSU
I7 3770 CPU
Gtx 980 strix OC

Johan45 · Oct 23, 2018

First go into MSI AB settings and select to show voltage control and extend official OC limits. The set the power slider to the maximum, start adding some speed and testing with something like unigine heaven to make sure it's stable. If it pases OK then up the core speed again at some point you may need to add voltage to get things stable. Do the same thing with the memory but seperately. Once done just bring the two together (core and memory) then test some more. If it fails add a bit of voltage if you're out of voltage then drop the speeds a bit.

rainiz · Oct 23, 2018

What do you mean by start adding some speed ? i see no option to set speed O_O.

EarthDog · Oct 23, 2018

Core and memory speed. Sliders in msi ab.

rainiz · Oct 23, 2018

Thanks i try it tomorow for sure

.

Are you guys sure that i should start to set the power slider from 0 to MAX instantly without going slowly up step for step and trying to see if it crashes etc. ? dont wanna kill my GPU. I saved hell alot of money for this GPU (got it for 60$ super cheap) and i was lucky to get it.

EarthDog · Oct 23, 2018

The power thing is a LIMIT, and yes it is ok, and necessary to raise like that. You'll find once you st as rt adding voltage you can hit the power limit which will lower clocks so you need to keep an eye on that.

rainiz · Oct 29, 2018

Alright i need help.

See the picture:

https://imgur.com/a/vgahobA

These are my settings atm. If i set the core clock below 140, everything is fine. But if i hit 140 or more, all applications (except afterburner) crash. I had nothing running anyways aside afterburner and the Kombustor.

The Kombustor just closed when i set my core clock to 140 or more.
And the PC froze for a few seconds.

So what am i doing wrong ?

Edit: I tried it multiple times. On last try i started seeing artefacts. So i guess 140 is the limit ?

EarthDog · Oct 29, 2018

Nothing. That is likely the core limit at that voltage. Either raise volts to try to get more or leave it where it's at.

Johan45 · Oct 29, 2018

And don't use kombustor to test

rainiz · Oct 29, 2018

Okay i set the core voltage to 10 (only 10 cuz i dont know if this can hurt my GPU or not...) but same result O_O.

Edit: i set the core voltage to 15 and it seems all fine now. I wanna set the voltage close to max now but i dont know if it can be dangerous so i ask here first before doing something dumb. I dont know where the limit is at.

rainiz · Oct 30, 2018

Alright i finally found the right OC settings for my 980 strix

.

A last question which is very important: My friends told me that i should be careful with overclocking if i have not much WATTS left.
I have a 80 bronze 500W PSU (i will upgrade in a few weeks). Should i avoid OC for now till i get a better PSU ? or can i set core voltage to max without harming the PSU and GPU for full perfomance and stability ?

Kenrou · Oct 30, 2018

Limit is whatever Afterburner says, in your case i think is +37

don't worry, you can't brick it unless you do BIOS mods and even then the Strix were voltage locked at ~1.25v.

EDIT: personally i would wait to overclock, you should be ~400w margin right now and you have a bronze model PSU (not the best for playing around if you take my meaning).

rainiz · Oct 30, 2018

Yep exactly, its 37

. So i can set it HONESTLY to 37 without damaging anything ? its just hard for me to believe. My friends say if your PSU is bad, dont do it. I dont know if its bad or not XD.

Kenrou · Oct 30, 2018

It's perfectly fine as long as you keep temperatures in check - more aggressive fan curve will solve the issue if you see temps go near or above 80c often.

EarthDog · Oct 31, 2018

My friends say if your PSU is bad, dont do it.

Your friends need help (knowledge).

~400w margin right now and you have a bronze model PSU

What does bronze have to do with anything? It is an efficiency rating and nothing to do with its labeled output.

Also, how is he at 400W now? The 980 is a 165W card and the CPU is 77W. Overclock them both and you still may not hit 400W for the system. Let's say 200W for the card and 125W for the CPU (both overestimated) that is 325W...Throw in the rest and you can have 400 while running stress tests on the GPU and CPU at the same time (again overestimated there).

Kenrou · Oct 31, 2018

EarthDog said:
What does bronze have to do with anything? It is an efficiency rating and nothing to do with its labeled output.

Also, how is he at 400W now? The 980 is a 165W card and the CPU is 77W. Overclock them both and you still may not hit 400W for the system. Let's say 200W for the card and 125W for the CPU (both overestimated) that is 325W...Throw in the rest and you can have 400 while running stress tests on the GPU and CPU at the same time (again overestimated there).

It's my understanding that efficiency goes down the higher your push the PSU near the limit (it's how i was explained to, Bronze/Silver units tend to stay below that what they are supposed to do) ? I used the CM calculator with OP's setup, gives a rough estimate of how much wattage the system needs - http://www.coolermaster.com/power-supply-calculator/

EDIT: the GPU alone can hit up to 300w from what the website claims - https://www.asus.com/uk/Graphics-Cards/STRIXGTX980DC2OC4GD5/specifications/

EarthDog · Oct 31, 2018

1. It does... however, not much at 400W of 500W. That is more the sweetspot than anything really and should still fall within a percent or maybe 2% at 80% load as opposed to 50% load (and 100% load) where it is measured.
2. You know as well as I do, those calcs aren't exactly accurate and also tend to overestimate. That calc has zero info in it (and Im not plugging data in for giggles, sorry).
3. 300W value is from all the power connectors. 75W from PCIe slot, 150W from 8-pin and 75W from 6-pin.... 300W. TDP on the card is 165W. With power limits maxed out, it likely isn't hitting 200W. Now, other card partners may have slightly higher power limits, but they aren't pulling 300W, not even close.

Kenrou · Oct 31, 2018

As i said, rough estimate (have no way of knowing how much until we get something to measure off the wall, but it says 90% TDP on the CPU) ? Add SSD/HDD+fans+whatever else and you got ~400w.

rainiz · Oct 31, 2018

Interesting, i learned alot here

.

I played now the whole day with +120 units on the core clock and +400 units on the memory clock without any issue.
I tried ago 1 hour to set the core clock at 140 and i realised that nothing crashed anymore at all. I tried now 160 and it is still fine....

I can set the units higher. But yesterday it didnt worked, it crashed instantly.
I didnt touched the core voltage at all at the moment, it is still at 0.

Can someone tell me why i can go higher now ? thats very interesting

Kenrou · Oct 31, 2018

Most of the time a simple reboot (if you have been changing values and stress-testing for a while) or a driver change (from experience older drivers are better for overclocking but the value is usually too low to change just because) is enough to change the values you can hit :thup:

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