Acceptable Zotac 1070 Amp Extreme Overclock

[PlaneGuy]

Hi everyone, I've been working with my new GTX 1070 through MSI Afterburner and was wondering if someone could chime in on how my overclock looks. I'm able to get +85 on the core clock and so far am up to +500 on the memory clock. It still hasn't crashed so I'll try and go higher. I do have a couple questions though:

1. My voltage is usually around 1.0830 and sometimes sits at 1.0910. I think this is the max allowed by the BIOS. Is it safe to run at that voltage?

2. What exactly do the core voltage % and power limit sliders do? I have the power limit slider maxed at 120%. What should I set the core voltage slider to? Its default is 0 and max is 100.

3. My temps max at 51C with fans at 70%. Should I turn them to 100%?

4. In GPU-z my power consumption stays below 60% of max. I thought it should be around 100%. Could someone explain why it is staying low?

Thank you for the help!

 

[Nebulous]

Congrats on a beast of a GPU! I just ordered mine and should arrive in a few days (I hope!) Every card is different no matter if they're identical. To find the best clocks ( and temps) possible for your particular card, you'll have to run benchmarks every time you ramp up the core speed and mem speed until it becomes unstable (artifacts).

Set a fan curve in MSI Afterburner so the fans will ramp up according to the temp you set it at. I like mine like so: @ 50c = fan speed @ 60%, 60c =fan speed @ 65%, and like so.

Leave powerlimit and core voltage @ defaults and just work with the gpu clock speed and mem speed to see where you top out at with defaults voltage. Have a gpu speed target set that you want realistically, then work from there with just a bump in GPU voltage. Remember every time you add more voltage, you'll increase heat temps. This is where the fan curves will be your friend.

Use 3Dmarks TimeSpy/Fire Strike to test your card's clock/mem overclocks and chart down your scores. It's a time consuming process to overclock your card to it's best stable speeds without stability issues.

Good luck and keep us posted-

 

[PlaneGuy]

Ok, thank you for the help! I was using the unigine valley benchmark because it's much easier than waiting for fire strike. I noticed that when using valley I can get a much higher clock than fire strike. Is that because fire strike is more demanding? Is it better to use valley or fire strike? I'm guessing fire strike if it is more demanding. This past run of fire strike I got 14258. I think my i7 3820 is bring the score down. The discrete graphics score is 19937.

And just to be sure I understand. Once I reach the max clocks for stock voltage and power, then I should increase the power limit % and core voltage % by a few points and up the clocks? Rinse and repeat?

 

[Nebulous]

Yup, that's it. You don't want to ramp the card's voltage/temps to the moon. You just want to best overclock with the least amount of voltage/temps. Once you've reached the max stable overclocks that near artifacts or becomes unstable, then back off the overclock like 10/15Mhz. Again you don't want to run hot, but maxed clock speeds

So far you're doing good. Dunno about the discrete graphics scores as I don't run discrete.


On a side note: plz create a signature with your system specs by clicking upper right corner>Settings>scroll down on the left to >edit signature

That way others will be able to help you also instead of guessing what you have.

 

[PlaneGuy]

Alright made the signature. As I've been increasing the core clock I can only get to around +40 before fire strike starts crashing. It says "Test cancelled by user" and I get a score of 0. No driver crash or lockup. Is this from an unstable OC or something else? With unigine heaven I can get to +90. I haven't messed with the mem clock yet. Thanks.

 

[Nebulous]

Again, the main objective is to get the most overclock with as little voltage as possible. Try more than +40 and rerun Firestrike. Try upping +5 at a time keeping temps in check.

 

[Rainwater]

Personally with gpu's I max out the voltage in Afterburner or Precision x. It only lets you take it from 100% to 120% anyway. I run my 1080 Ftw Hybrid with the voltage setting on max and +116 on core clock and +505 on memory clock and it runs at 2139mhz. Throttling down to 2126 when my temps hit close to 50c. And since it's the Hybrid that's my max temp os 50c so my card runs steady at 2126mhz.

 

[Nebulous]

I just got my Zotac GTX 1070 AMP! Extreme. Playing FC4 @ 1440 res with all the eye candy maxed, my card runs 2000Mhz right out the box and I haven't even started to clock it. Max temp was 58c and I didn't even hear the fans spin up

 

[Rainwater]

Ya mine run 2ghz out of the box as well. I use +101 and +505 and it puts it at 2126mhz and it'll clock down a little bit after a while to 2112. then +115 and +505 clocks it at 2139 and itll clock down to 2126 after a while. Those little Zotac's are beast. I almost got the one with a water block on it but I couldn't afford to build a custom loop yet. But about 60 days from now I'm doing it and I cant wait.

 

[Nebulous]

Yup. I'm luvin this card so far. Got +114 and +585. Ramps to 2126 but starts to clock down to 2114 and just holds steady there. Manage to get the mem to 4682. Temps never seem to go above 58c during heavy benching/gaming.

Now THIS is what I was looking for!

 

[Rainwater]

Those are incredible temps for an air cooled card man. Mine will sometimes max out at 50c in a very heavy usage game like bf1 tf2 or The Division but mine's under water. You are doing awesome. Almost identical clock speeds to mine too. Great card.

 

[Nebulous]

Thx Rain! Yeah this has to be one of the best cards I've owned. Great clocking potential and it stays soo cool under load. I was thinking of getting a full cover block for it, but now I'm doubting I'll even need it. I'm very happy thus far Lets just hope my luck doesn't run out, lol!

 

[Nebulous]

Managed to squeeze 2100/4400 (+114 core/ +300 mem) +10% core voltage, max temp & power Limit. Ran heaven and scored 2962 ( Min-36.9 /Max-223.6 / Avg-117.6 ) using 372.54. temps never go past 57c. Looks like this is the sweet spot for this particular 1070. More voltage doesn't help which is sad. Spending the day swapping out drivers, clocking and benching. Newer drivers just hurt the scores and I get artifacts.

I might be missing something to get more but unsure what it is. Anybody got any ideas?

 

[Rainwater]

I'd max the voltage out. It's only 120 or 130%. Precision x goes to 120% I forget with MSI but I think it was 130%. It's not going to hurt your card and you seem to be running cool enough that you'd be ok. Idk why I do it but I always start out with the core increase being 20% of the memory increase. I use +101/+505 and +115/+505 and it seems to work good for me.

 

[Nebulous]

I noticed none of my cards (RX480/GTX 1070) react well with voltage. Tried getting the mem to the +500 mark only to be greeted with artifacts. Best stable is +300. Voltage doesn't do a thing.

 

[Nebulous]

Played around again and got +107 core and +407 mem to get a rock steady 2100/4500. Power limit and core voltage maxed out. Heaven running temps maxed @ 60c. I'm already closed to the edge and anything else will make it artifact.

 

[Rainwater]

Nice tho. I had the 1070sc and it wouldn't go past 2058Mhz. Exchanged it for the 1080 Ftw and I couldn't get it past 2092Mhz and at that speed it was cooking! With fans maxed out hittin 78-82c. I took that thing back so fast and got the Hybrid and couldn;t be happier but crossing 2100 and maxing at 60c on air is something to be happy about in my opinion.

 

[Nebulous]

Oh yeah I'm happy. Reading around these hit between 2088 and 2100. I was going to get a full cover waterblock, but the only ones available for my card is the bitspower and that sucker has a hefty pricetag Maybe down the round, but for now i can deal with the air cooling. I can't believe this thing is so quiet under full gaming load

You got a winning card too. Maybe swapping out TIMs will lower temps for you.

 

[Rainwater]

I have the Ftw Hybrid. This was what I got when I took the regular Ftw back. That sucker was hot and the few days I had it was when I saw that vrm issue that surfaced. Got it October 28th took it back a few days later. My temps with the hybrid running at 2139 rarely hit 50c. Actually I don't think it's hit 50c at all since I added the last two ml120 pro's I put in the top of my case. I am planning a full custom loop here around tax return season. Gotta friend who wants to get into the PC gaming scene so I'll probably hook him up with my 6700k for 200-225$ grab the 7700k keep my z170 Deluxe and get that loop going. I'm really considering a De-Lid on the chip just because I've kinda embraced everything about this hobby and I wanna try as much and experience as much and gain as much knowledge as I can. I'll see how the loop does first because I don't wanna mess it up but 300$ isn't the end of the world if I do. I'm getting 5Ghz out of it one way or the other and I think my Motherboard can handle the stress.

 

[Nebulous]

Nice! Would be cool the hook up your friend, and in the end you get a nice upgrade on the cheap. I lucked out with the 1070. I only paid 380 and got a free watch Dogs 2 game with it, which I sold as I'm not into the 3rd person games. That made the price of my 1070 that much cheaper

Been looking into the upgrade path, but my 4790K still handles everything. I can't see spending the money for a 10-12% gain over what I currently have. When i make the jump it's for the substantial gain. I run my rigs a few years before I really need to upgrade.