980Ti kingpin overclock

[marttimat]

Hey guys! Need some help on what I should do!

I just built a new gaming system and found a good deal on a EVGA GTX 980 Ti Kingpin and figured I would see what I could get out of it.

Here are my system specs:
Motherboard: MSI XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM LGA 1151 Intel Z170
Motherboard BIOS version: 1.60
Processor: Intel Core i5-6600K 6M Skylake Quad-core 3.5 GHz LGA 1151 Intel Z170 (Overclocked to 4.6 GHz)
Memory: G. SKILL TridentZ Series 32GB (2 X 16GB) 288 Pin DDR4 SDRAM F4-3000C15D-32GTZ
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Kingpin
SSD #1: Samsung 950 Pro M.2 512GB
SSD #2: Crucial MX200 1TB SATA SSD
Case: Fractal Design Define R5
Cooler: Corsair H80i V2
Mouse: Logitech G502 Proteus
Keyboard: Corsair Gaming Striker RGB
Power Supply: SeaSonic Platinum SS-860XP2 860W
Monitor: Dell Ultrasharp 34” U3415W
OS: Windows 10 Home 64 bit

After I got everything all setup I opened Precision X and ran 3D Mark and got ~15,600 (which is definitely a solid out of the box score for me)

Since this card is designed to be overclocked, I switch the BIOS switch to OC and attempted a mild 100 clock bump on both speed and memory. When I run 3D Mark now it freezes and crashes which I can see the board is not happy with. So back to stock speeds and card runs fine.

So clearly the silicon lottery bit me in the butt and I am wondering should I RMA the card back to EVGA to potentially get more speed out of a new card or live with the factory clock?

I also am pondering retrofitting a liquid cooler to help with the temps but the they seem to be stable even with the extra large copper cooler and ATX fans.

What would you do??

 

[Sergeant_Sneaky]

A card that doesn't overclock great isn't grounds for RMA. Did you raise the power limit at all? You may need to and you may need to raise the voltage if that doesn't help (I wouldn't recommend it but it's up to you) I take no responsibility for any damage caused. Just try upping the clocks in small steps and see what actually is stable, and see what the core clock says in Precision.

 

[marttimat]

Hey Sergeant, thank you for your feedback!

I did raise the power limits to 150% and the temp to 87* C. I have set either as priority when I do the 100 bump on both and still get lock up.

I have not tried a voltage increase yet as most have not needed it when it comes to overclocking Maxwell cards. I also have not done it as just like you say, it is risky and do not want to damage such a high end card!

Thank you for posting!

 

[William Henrickson]

Are you sure the OC switch is not meant for extreme LN2 type stuff? OC with the switch on regular?

 

[Gamer1985]

I have some experience with the Kingpin 980TIs and overclocking. One of the biggsst factors for achieving a great overclock on these cards is the operating temps. These cards are very sensitive to temperature and really were made for water or LN2 cooling. They reach records clocks when using these cooling methods. I have worked directly with Kingpin to get my overclocks settled. Jumping straight in with a +100Mhz overclock is not how you want to do it.

Firstly, what is your ASIC quality?
What is your card clocks boosting too when under load?
What are your temps at when benchmarking?
Do you have your fan curve setup properly to cool your card?

if your trying to get the best overclock for benchmarking, youll want to set your fan speed nearly maxed out, the cooler your card the better OC you will get. Try to keep your temps for maximum overclock as cool as possible. Naturally my cards boost to 1443Mhz core, but once my temps reach 64C it drops to 1430Mhz just to give you an idea of how sensitive these cards are. They're meant for serious overclockers.

Increase core clocks in increments of +15Mhz and keep trying to benchmark after every increase. Once you hit the wall of crashes, freezing you need to back it off a little until you can run the benchmark stable. I was able to reach 1540Mhz Core and 8100Mhz memory but i toned it down once I got my second kingpin to SLI.

Just remember that temps are your biggest problem, otherwise these cards are OC beasts. Also the OC bios is the one you want to use. It actually boosts memory speed automatically with the flick of the switch and increases power level and max temperature.

ASIC quality isnt everything when it comes to overclocking but a higher ASIC means a higher boost clock and a possible better overclock with little to no bump in voltage.

Be happy if you can hit 1500-1525 on air.

 

[marttimat]

I have some experience with the Kingpin 980TIs and overclocking. One of the biggsst factors for achieving a great overclock on these cards is the operating temps. These cards are very sensitive to temperature and really were made for water or LN2 cooling. They reach records clocks when using these cooling methods. I have worked directly with Kingpin to get my overclocks settled. Jumping straight in with a +100Mhz overclock is not how you want to do it.

Firstly, what is your ASIC quality?
What is your card clocks boosting too when under load?
What are your temps at when benchmarking?
Do you have your fan curve setup properly to cool your card?

if your trying to get the best overclock for benchmarking, youll want to set your fan speed nearly maxed out, the cooler your card the better OC you will get. Try to keep your temps for maximum overclock as cool as possible. Naturally my cards boost to 1443Mhz core, but once my temps reach 64C it drops to 1430Mhz just to give you an idea of how sensitive these cards are. They're meant for serious overclockers.

Increase core clocks in increments of +15Mhz and keep trying to benchmark after every increase. Once you hit the wall of crashes, freezing you need to back it off a little until you can run the benchmark stable. I was able to reach 1540Mhz Core and 8100Mhz memory but i toned it down once I got my second kingpin to SLI.

Just remember that temps are your biggest problem, otherwise these cards are OC beasts. Also the OC bios is the one you want to use. It actually boosts memory speed automatically with the flick of the switch and increases power level and max temperature.

ASIC quality isnt everything when it comes to overclocking but a higher ASIC means a higher boost clock and a possible better overclock with little to no bump in voltage.

Be happy if you can hit 1500-1525 on air.

Thanks for the great information!
My card is rated at 72% ASIC which I know is not the highest but I should be able to get to 1500 I would think on air.

I am still trying to master how to post pics on this site, but here are links to screen shots I took after a stock benchmark:

http://forums.evga.com/download.axd?file=0;2468488&where=&f=2016-04-11_21-17-31.png

http://forums.evga.com/download.axd?file=1;2468488&where=&f=2016-04-11_21-20-05.png

http://forums.evga.com/download.axd?file=2;2468488&where=&f=2016-04-11_21-20-41.png

http://forums.evga.com/download.axd?file=3;2468488&where=&f=2016-04-11_21-43-43.png

http://forums.evga.com/download.axd?file=4;2468488&where=&f=2016-04-11_21-44-50.png


In a nut shell, I have bumped my fan speed to 100% when under load and my BIOS switch is set to OC (orange LED).

I will try tonight and do lesser bumps and see what my results are unless there is issue with my post bench max readings on HW ID.

 

[marttimat]

Okay as after some further attempts to bump the card, I still cannot get to 1500 speeds which leads me to want to try another card via RMA. I followed the guide link to the tee and still cannot get over 1400+ with fans maxed and speeds increased at small amounts even with small voltage increases.

I know there are a lot of variables when it comes to overclocking but I still think a card worth this much should at the very least provide what has been claimed from kingpin's guide himself. Either way thanks for your feedback on what I could try!!

 

[Sergeant_Sneaky]

Okay as after some further attempts to bump the card, I still cannot get to 1500 speeds which leads me to want to try another card via RMA. I followed the guide link to the tee and still cannot get over 1400+ with fans maxed and speeds increased at small amounts even with small voltage increases.

I know there are a lot of variables when it comes to overclocking but I still think a card worth this much should at the very least provide what has been claimed from kingpin's guide himself. Either way thanks for your feedback on what I could try!!

I'm pretty sure they won't accept an RMA for a "bad" overclocker, the overclocking is not a guarantee.

 

[marttimat]

Okay as after some further attempts to bump the card, I still cannot get to 1500 speeds which leads me to want to try another card via RMA. I followed the guide link to the tee and still cannot get over 1400+ with fans maxed and speeds increased at small amounts even with small voltage increases.

I know there are a lot of variables when it comes to overclocking but I still think a card worth this much should at the very least provide what has been claimed from kingpin's guide himself. Either way thanks for your feedback on what I could try!!

I'm pretty sure they won't accept an RMA for a "bad" overclocker, the overclocking is not a guarantee.

That is what I figured but surprisingly they responded that I could RMA the card through them. Now when I inquire further of course they ask for my 3DMark scores leaving me to believe they most likely will not now.

But I was thinking the other night, Maybe my power supply is not sufficient for the card?

I am running a 860W Seasonic Platinum psu. I have seen that this card can be power hungry but since I am not running two of them I figured 860W would be enough?

 

[Sergeant_Sneaky]

Okay as after some further attempts to bump the card, I still cannot get to 1500 speeds which leads me to want to try another card via RMA. I followed the guide link to the tee and still cannot get over 1400+ with fans maxed and speeds increased at small amounts even with small voltage increases.

I know there are a lot of variables when it comes to overclocking but I still think a card worth this much should at the very least provide what has been claimed from kingpin's guide himself. Either way thanks for your feedback on what I could try!!

I'm pretty sure they won't accept an RMA for a "bad" overclocker, the overclocking is not a guarantee.

That is what I figured but surprisingly they responded that I could RMA the card through them. Now when I inquire further of course they ask for my 3DMark scores leaving me to believe they most likely will not now.

But I was thinking the other night, Maybe my power supply is not sufficient for the card?

I am running a 860W Seasonic Platinum psu. I have seen that this card can be power hungry but since I am not running two of them I figured 860W would be enough?

I've never heard of an RMA for a bad overclocker but only one way to find out.
Your PSU appears to be tier 1 and 860w is more than enough, I doubt you're even pushing 550w while overclocked.

 

[Gamer1985]

Looking at your pics, I didnt see your stock load boost clock? HWInfo shows your Graphics clock speed only sitting at 595Mhz Max. Your max GPU temp is 60C under load?

Could you please post pics of Precision X while Kboost is enabled? You should be able to hit close to 1500 + but unfortunately its never a guarantee, even with higher ASIC.

 

[marttimat]

Looking at your pics, I didnt see your stock load boost clock? HWInfo shows your Graphics clock speed only sitting at 595Mhz Max. Your max GPU temp is 60C under load?

Could you please post pics of Precision X while Kboost is enabled? You should be able to hit close to 1500 + but unfortunately its never a guarantee, even with higher ASIC.

Yes sorry, that was an idle screenshot of Precision X.

As an update I worked with EVGA tech support and are going to RMA the card. Worst case scenario is I will live with the out of the box speeds but with this amount invested I figured I would give it a try.

Will update once I get the card and get it setup.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[marttimat]

Okay as after some further attempts to bump the card, I still cannot get to 1500 speeds which leads me to want to try another card via RMA. I followed the guide link to the tee and still cannot get over 1400+ with fans maxed and speeds increased at small amounts even with small voltage increases.

I know there are a lot of variables when it comes to overclocking but I still think a card worth this much should at the very least provide what has been claimed from kingpin's guide himself. Either way thanks for your feedback on what I could try!!

I'm pretty sure they won't accept an RMA for a "bad" overclocker, the overclocking is not a guarantee.

That is what I figured but surprisingly they responded that I could RMA the card through them. Now when I inquire further of course they ask for my 3DMark scores leaving me to believe they most likely will not now.

But I was thinking the other night, Maybe my power supply is not sufficient for the card?

I am running a 860W Seasonic Platinum psu. I have seen that this card can be power hungry but since I am not running two of them I figured 860W would be enough?

I've never heard of an RMA for a bad overclocker but only one way to find out.
Your PSU appears to be tier 1 and 860w is more than enough, I doubt you're even pushing 550w while overclocked.

I worked with EVGA and they are going to RMA my card. Will see if the lottery stays the same or gives me a slight increase.

 

[Sergeant_Sneaky]

Okay as after some further attempts to bump the card, I still cannot get to 1500 speeds which leads me to want to try another card via RMA. I followed the guide link to the tee and still cannot get over 1400+ with fans maxed and speeds increased at small amounts even with small voltage increases.

I know there are a lot of variables when it comes to overclocking but I still think a card worth this much should at the very least provide what has been claimed from kingpin's guide himself. Either way thanks for your feedback on what I could try!!

I'm pretty sure they won't accept an RMA for a "bad" overclocker, the overclocking is not a guarantee.

That is what I figured but surprisingly they responded that I could RMA the card through them. Now when I inquire further of course they ask for my 3DMark scores leaving me to believe they most likely will not now.

But I was thinking the other night, Maybe my power supply is not sufficient for the card?

I am running a 860W Seasonic Platinum psu. I have seen that this card can be power hungry but since I am not running two of them I figured 860W would be enough?

I've never heard of an RMA for a bad overclocker but only one way to find out.
Your PSU appears to be tier 1 and 860w is more than enough, I doubt you're even pushing 550w while overclocked.

I worked with EVGA and they are going to RMA my card. Will see if the lottery stays the same or gives me a slight increase.

Good luck

 

[marttimat]

So, you bought a card that's meant for LN2 cooling, kept the stock air cooler on it, and then wonder why it didn't overclock well?

The cooler you keep Maxwell, the higher it'll clock. You'd have been better off buying an SC version and getting an AIO to cool the core.

As I mentioned, I know this card is meant for LN2. I just want to get a good baseline to show improvements over time with the card. No sense in starting behind the starting line in a race.

My plan for the future is to move over to liquid cooling once I get the card setup (either AIO but most likey build my own). I will post my results then.

Cheers.

 

[Sergeant_Sneaky]

So, you bought a card that's meant for LN2 cooling, kept the stock air cooler on it, and then wonder why it didn't overclock well?

The cooler you keep Maxwell, the higher it'll clock. You'd have been better off buying an SC version and getting an AIO to cool the core.

It may be "designed" for LN2 but that doesn't mean it can't do well on air, the temps won't get high that quickly.

 

[Gamer1985]

Correct, I have 2x980TI Kingpins and both of them are on air. I can reach the same maximum Clocks as any other 980TI made by other manufacturers, so its not to say it is a bad card for air. It just does wonders when it is properly cooled the way it was meant to be. It currently holds the record for best Overclocked 980TI. The Kingpin is a beast of a card no matter how you run it, just dont expect high numbers for every card, each one will be different. Wish you better luck in getting a better clocked card, just be happy with whatever you do get because either way the card mops the floor with any other card available.

 

[azzazel_99]

Yea just because it can do ln2 doesn't mean its some super special chip that wont overclock on air. That's a stupid comment to make and being a a33 about it and making rude comments isn't needed either. The kingpin will overclock great on air and as with ANY gpu the cooler you can keep it the better.

 

[Gamer1985]

Whether its worth it or not is the buyers decision, the Kingpin is easily the best looking 980TI available. So regardless of the successful marketing EVGA did with the ASIC qualities etc. Its still an amazing card for what its intended to be. Do i think the higher premium for the ASIC quality is a gimmick? Yes I do. But at the same time I didnt and im sure others didnt just buy it for ASIC quality alone. The copper shroud, the led RGB customization, the higher power phase, Samsung memory, EVGA support and warranty etc. are all great selling points. I paid extra for these sole reasons. I wasnt looking for record overclocks either, just a modest bump of free performance and a great looking/performing card.

 

[Arronleeds]

Kingpin cards are a stupid buy... Cost how much more than standard cards? and only overclock better than the standards if water or ln2 cooled, do yourself a favour, rma it, get your money back and buy a standard 980ti like a g1 and save the rest of the money for something else.

Looool, In the uk they cost like £200 more, wouldn't dare spend that much more on the same gpu.

 

[Gamer1985]

Stupid buy for someone who doesnt have money, maybe not for others though. Its your opinion, not going to argue it because I dont disagree about the price, but if it were the same price as any other card it would be the one that everyone had!

 

[azzazel_99]

They really aren't that much more expensive and that price is up to the buyer. You're giving opinions backed by no hard facts on whether or not you think the KP card is worth it. Your opinions on his card are irrelevant. The bottom line is the KP card should be able to overclock more than 100mhz even though its already overclocked. If evga agrees and is going to rma the card then obviously the people who made the damn thing agree it should overclock more than 100mhz more than the out of box speeds.

 

[azzazel_99]

Also the card has 3 bios's. Normal, OC and LN2.......So switching to just the OC should net him the ability to tweak the card on the air setting to get more out of it. Of course if you want to go extreme then the ln2 is the other option.

 

[Arronleeds]

So you're saying I have no money? Lol I work 5 days a week, I can afford one I'm just not stupid enough to spend £200 on a kingpin that a normal one, especially if I don't plan on using ln2

Plus I'm waiting for next gen then I'm buying the best one they release.

 

[Gamer1985]

Never mentioned you specifically, your just calling anyone who purchased a Kingpin stupid. All I said was those who think its too expensive clearly dont have the money for it. I dont know your financial status, and dont really care either. Im just making a statement is all.