- Joined
- Mar 19, 2009
Ok this is a little guide i made for outsiders that may look on google with the keywords "how to overclock gtx260".
(Overclocks on air not water cooled)
If you think some information in this thread are wrong please notify me, and i will modify it as needed.
Ok let's start with some basics.
There are some things to remember before you continue to read.
First, you overclock at your own risk
Second, you may not have the same overclocking results as i do, as there are many factors that contribute in the process(PSU not powerful enough is one of those).
(e.g my friend couldn't go higher than 620mhz core possible he has a faulty chip but it works at stock so he was just unlucky PSU is good though)
ok let's get started.
for some serious Overclocking i recommend that you leave your case open
and that you buy an additional fan to keep the ambient temperature down.
because if the ambient temperature is 70C (and trust me it gets that high even with open case) your card even at full speed fan won't get under 80C
which is a no go for overclocking.
here is my setup with and without the fans (yeah i still need to find a good place to fit it in) Remember that the air has to blow on the PCB of the card and directly into the card's fan so it can get fresh air from the outside.
with this done ambient temp may not go higher than 60c and it makes a lot of difference trust me.
Now you must read carefully the guide on how to change voltage of your cards (the guy will tell you to download rivatuner, but i suppose if you read this you already have it
)
if you have an evga card compatible with evga voltage tuner it will be much better
you can find it here http://www.ocxtreme.org/forumenus/showthread.php?t=4427
but no, we are not going to overvolt the cards, (and this might sound strange) but undervolt them.
(note: Some ppl might find out that they reach max OC on def voltages or a notch higher, other ppl might find out they reach it with a little downvolt
it really depends on the card)
If you have carefully read that guide, you will have noticed that the default voltage of the cards in hex is 35, we will set that number to 34
(for evga ppl the default should be 1.125, dunno how that program works but
1.110 should do)
Edit2: 65nm cards default at 1.125v 55nm cards default at 1.06 (there is no need to undervolt 55nm cards but if you wanna try it isn't that risky)
now we are ready to overclock,
we will see now how your card behaves to the overclock
(please do not skip this phase)
set core frequency to 675Mhz, shader freq to 1350 and mem freq to 1152mhz and fan to 60%
(edit: remember core shader must be double or greater than core freq, rivatuner wouldn't allow you to set a lower shader anyway)
then run the most gpu intensive game you have (if you have crysis it would be better) set AA to 4x AF to 16x and all game details to max and disable v-sync (in some games that are not so much gpu intensive with v-sync the gpu usage will be very low)
Edit (you better use Furmark for stressing the card, don't know if it works in sli setup though (atitools don't when i tried it) in that case just try it out as i explained above)
test the game for approx 20 minutes, this should be enough to see how much the temp raises.
if it is above 75C you don't have the cooling necessary to go further.
if you see artifacting then set the voltage back to default or increase it by a little bit (36 max 38)
(if it still artifacts your gpu can't go higher whatever the voltage you set)
if the games simply crashes and you don't see artifacting it means your PSU is weak (not enough Current supplied, you should look at your psu specifications, but 2x24A should do)
if everything was ok and temps were about 60C more or less we can go further.
this time increase (remember still undervolted)
Core frquency to 700 Mhz , shader to 1400Mhz and memory 1200Mhz.
Repeat the step as before, the temp shouldn't go to high anyway, just by a couple C. if it doesn't artifact or crash, we can go further.
next step is 725Mhz core, 1450Mhz shader and mem still at 1200Mhz.
Some ppl might find out this is their maximum speeds, you can play around a little bit till it stabilize but in the end trust me it will crash anyway.
final speeds are 750 Core 1500 shader and mem to 1250.
This is my maximum speed. i can't go higher than this.
after 65C it starts artifacting no matter what the voltage i will set it won't do
(but if i set fan to 100% and with another case fan i can go higher although
the noise is too high by then)
after you have set your final card's speeds test the card for 1hr in stress in a game, if you see artifacting, well you know what to do, just step down a little in the overclock and it will all be fine.
These are my results in 3d mark vantage (ppu disabled)
i7 overclocked to 4.0ghz and 2 gtx260 216sp)
My overclock were stable in sli configuration, they may not be in single configuration (unlikely).
Edit: Ok so today was a very hot one. temps raised by about 6C outside and 4-5C in my room, i thought that i couldn't keep the OC settings but i tried anyway
(voltage to 1.13 approx, 36 hex for rivatuner volt mod)
now in crysis at full load max temp is 71C, considering the heat in my room, it's very low and i am really happy the shaders don't complain about the extra 5C
in a week i will buy another fan (a very noisy and fast one) and i will try a new configuration to see if i can lower another bit off the ext temp.
stay tuned =)
(Overclocks on air not water cooled)
If you think some information in this thread are wrong please notify me, and i will modify it as needed.
Ok let's start with some basics.
There are some things to remember before you continue to read.
First, you overclock at your own risk
Second, you may not have the same overclocking results as i do, as there are many factors that contribute in the process(PSU not powerful enough is one of those).
(e.g my friend couldn't go higher than 620mhz core possible he has a faulty chip but it works at stock so he was just unlucky PSU is good though)
ok let's get started.
for some serious Overclocking i recommend that you leave your case open
and that you buy an additional fan to keep the ambient temperature down.
because if the ambient temperature is 70C (and trust me it gets that high even with open case) your card even at full speed fan won't get under 80C
which is a no go for overclocking.
here is my setup with and without the fans (yeah i still need to find a good place to fit it in) Remember that the air has to blow on the PCB of the card and directly into the card's fan so it can get fresh air from the outside.
with this done ambient temp may not go higher than 60c and it makes a lot of difference trust me.
Now you must read carefully the guide on how to change voltage of your cards (the guy will tell you to download rivatuner, but i suppose if you read this you already have it
)if you have an evga card compatible with evga voltage tuner it will be much better
you can find it here http://www.ocxtreme.org/forumenus/showthread.php?t=4427
but no, we are not going to overvolt the cards, (and this might sound strange) but undervolt them.
(note: Some ppl might find out that they reach max OC on def voltages or a notch higher, other ppl might find out they reach it with a little downvolt
it really depends on the card)
If you have carefully read that guide, you will have noticed that the default voltage of the cards in hex is 35, we will set that number to 34
(for evga ppl the default should be 1.125, dunno how that program works but
1.110 should do)
Edit2: 65nm cards default at 1.125v 55nm cards default at 1.06 (there is no need to undervolt 55nm cards but if you wanna try it isn't that risky)
now we are ready to overclock,
we will see now how your card behaves to the overclock
(please do not skip this phase)
set core frequency to 675Mhz, shader freq to 1350 and mem freq to 1152mhz and fan to 60%
(edit: remember core shader must be double or greater than core freq, rivatuner wouldn't allow you to set a lower shader anyway)
then run the most gpu intensive game you have (if you have crysis it would be better) set AA to 4x AF to 16x and all game details to max and disable v-sync (in some games that are not so much gpu intensive with v-sync the gpu usage will be very low)
Edit (you better use Furmark for stressing the card, don't know if it works in sli setup though (atitools don't when i tried it) in that case just try it out as i explained above)
test the game for approx 20 minutes, this should be enough to see how much the temp raises.
if it is above 75C you don't have the cooling necessary to go further.
if you see artifacting then set the voltage back to default or increase it by a little bit (36 max 38)
(if it still artifacts your gpu can't go higher whatever the voltage you set)
if the games simply crashes and you don't see artifacting it means your PSU is weak (not enough Current supplied, you should look at your psu specifications, but 2x24A should do)
if everything was ok and temps were about 60C more or less we can go further.
this time increase (remember still undervolted)
Core frquency to 700 Mhz , shader to 1400Mhz and memory 1200Mhz.
Repeat the step as before, the temp shouldn't go to high anyway, just by a couple C. if it doesn't artifact or crash, we can go further.
next step is 725Mhz core, 1450Mhz shader and mem still at 1200Mhz.
Some ppl might find out this is their maximum speeds, you can play around a little bit till it stabilize but in the end trust me it will crash anyway.
final speeds are 750 Core 1500 shader and mem to 1250.
This is my maximum speed. i can't go higher than this.
after 65C it starts artifacting no matter what the voltage i will set it won't do
(but if i set fan to 100% and with another case fan i can go higher although
the noise is too high by then)
after you have set your final card's speeds test the card for 1hr in stress in a game, if you see artifacting, well you know what to do, just step down a little in the overclock and it will all be fine.
These are my results in 3d mark vantage (ppu disabled)
i7 overclocked to 4.0ghz and 2 gtx260 216sp)
My overclock were stable in sli configuration, they may not be in single configuration (unlikely).
Edit: Ok so today was a very hot one. temps raised by about 6C outside and 4-5C in my room, i thought that i couldn't keep the OC settings but i tried anyway
(voltage to 1.13 approx, 36 hex for rivatuner volt mod)
now in crysis at full load max temp is 71C, considering the heat in my room, it's very low and i am really happy the shaders don't complain about the extra 5C
in a week i will buy another fan (a very noisy and fast one) and i will try a new configuration to see if i can lower another bit off the ext temp.
stay tuned =)
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