ASIC SCORE AND Reference Cards

[filipcristianstroe]

Good morning,

Received my second MSI Seahawk 980ti yesterday night. Installed it, bummer. Has 64% asic score.. and I can't overclock it more than 300 MHZ on boost clock and more than 100 mhz on core clock... MY other seahawk has 79.1 % asic score and I can overclock it stable at +487 on boost clost and +167 on core clock.. Does Asic quality have anything to do with the posssible overclock or am i seeing things?... Help. Also Would RMA'ing the card for low asic quality be something MSI would do for me?. LEt me kno Thanks!

 

[RobCrezz]

Its co-incidence. I have seen cards with high asic scores clock badly and low asic scores clock very well.

Its the silicon lottery. I doubt they would RMA it due to overclocking as its not guaranteed, but you can certainly try.

 

[toddybody]

Good morning,

Received my second MSI Seahawk 980ti yesterday night. Installed it, bummer. Has 64% asic score.. and I can't overclock it more than 300 MHZ on boost clock and more than 100 mhz on core clock... MY other seahawk has 79.1 % asic score and I can overclock it stable at +487 on boost clost and +167 on core clock.. Does Asic quality have anything to do with the posssible overclock or am i seeing things?... Help. Also Would RMA'ing the card for low asic quality be something MSI would do for me?. LEt me kno Thanks!

Hey Friend...
Youll see some disagreement on "how important ASIC" quality is...IMO, it matters in a %>hz respect. An almost 16% ASIC difference will (as you've seen) provide a different OCing condition for your GPU. That said, your 2nd Seahawk may hit the other's OC...but with increased voltage.

+487 to boost brings you to 1562 on a reference cooler which is GREAT and not the norm. I doubt MSI would be cool with the RMA because theyre really not promising anything higher than the clocks it's shipped with. I struggle with the same indignant perspective on "the silicon lottery", and would purchase your cards from a retailer with a generous return policy for ASIC concerns (i.e., MicroCenter, Amazon...etc).

 

[filipcristianstroe]

Its co-incidence. I have seen cards with high asic scores clock badly and low asic scores clock very well.

Its the silicon lottery. I doubt they would RMA it due to overclocking as its not guaranteed, but you can certainly try.

Didn't really mess around with it enough last night.. Will do so tonight though.. I'll mess around with it more and I'll get try to get it to different clocks to see which one it sits right at. Its kind of hard to overclock when you are using 2 of these beasts because they got different sweet spots.

 

[RobCrezz]

Have you tried adjusting the voltage at all? some chips just need a small nudge in voltage.

 

[filipcristianstroe]

Have you tried adjusting the voltage at all? some chips just need a small nudge in voltage.

You mean in MSI afterburner or adjust voltage elsewhere? Let me know Thanks!

 

[RobCrezz]

Have you tried adjusting the voltage at all? some chips just need a small nudge in voltage.

You mean in MSI afterburner or adjust voltage elsewhere? Let me know Thanks!

Yeah in after burner

 

[17seconds]

I had a GTX 580 with a BIOS that selected its default voltages based on the ASIC score. A higher ASIC caused a lower default voltage. The higher ASIC and lower voltage led to a cooler GPU that overclocked better than the other one I had previously. The GTX 980 Ti does not have that part written into its BIOS, by the way.

All the same, ASIC is important to overclocking, particularly when you have one with high ASIC and one with low ASIC. I would try to do some tweaking with Afterburner (a lower ASIC probably needs more voltage) and see if you can break through your limits.

If that doesn't work, an RMA might be in order, especially since you already have your main card in place and you've spent a lot of time and money to get things the way you want.

 

[RobCrezz]

Op - I would suggest doing some further research, as I respectfully disagree with the other guys here. From my own research and experience, ASIC quality really has little bearing on how well a gpu will overclock.

Its true a higher asic card can require less voltage, but thats no gaurentee it will overclock better.

 

[17seconds]

Since the MSI Seahawk is water-cooled, maybe the logic is reversed.

 

[RobCrezz]

Ive tried liquid cooling the cards also, ASIC quality hasnt mattered. Basically there is no evidence to suggest it helps. Like I said I have seen cards with high ASIC scores get good overclocks, but I have seen the same of cards with low ASIC scores... and vice versa.

 

[XCalinX]

You were just unlucky. My ASUS reference 980 Ti has an ASIC quality of 74%

 

[filipcristianstroe]

Have you tried adjusting the voltage at all? some chips just need a small nudge in voltage.

I gave it more voltage however weird thing.. when I give it +50 or +87 and 107% power. it doesnt want to overclock at all.. and with the 300mhz overclock it will go with it just fine.. until like -- 2-3 hours of gaming.. then it either crashes and shows me a blank greyish screen or it restarts my PC.. do you think this would have anything to do with my PSU? its 1000WATT im thinking maybe my PSU is reaching limt and restarting pC cuz the 2 cards are trying to juice out more energy.. let me know.