ASUS GTX 1080 Strix OC - too good to be true?!

[Agente Silva]

Althought OC is not new to me I never dig into it because I felt the margin gains were not worth the "risk". Thing is, as long as you keep inside that given interval (considering the OC playing margins are already capped by the manufacturer) the risk is pratically inexistente. So straight to my question:

For the last 2 days I´ve been tweaking my Strix 1080 with GPU Tweak II (most recent version with proper clock numbers ). In Watchdogs 2 so far, I´ve managed to hit 2050 MHz without a slight problem - card stays at 60ºc, fan at 40%, voltage at 1050 mV, GPU usage 98-100% and power target between 98-106%. By default, GPU Tweak II only allows a certain degree of increase in both core clock and memory clock but there´s an option that removes that limit and allows you to go further as your tests permit. So I uncapped the frequency ceiling and added another 10 MHz (wich should be the incremental step I will use from now on, instead of 20). Anyway I do not intend to go over 2100 mHz and will probably stop at 2080 MHz and start tinckering with memory clock instead (I´ve seen some pretty crazy OCs going from 10k to 11k on memory frequency).
Regarding memory tweaking, everywhere I read I see that memory clocks OC more than core clocks. Mine is yet at 10010 - I´m somewhat reluctant about memory tweaking because usually coolers are more focused on the GPU chip than memory chips and there is no temperature reading from the memory chips so…
My concern: can I trust those numbers from GPU Tweak II considering last two versions were misreporting clocks? From where I´m seating it´s actually quiet - my case is nicely ventilated with two exhausting fans on top and the air coming out isn´t even warm.
What do you guys think? Should I trust GPU Tweak II numbers? Are these results inside the OC pattern others are getting? Should I push further on core clock or start pushing memory clocks and see what happens with temperature?
Sorry for long post.

Be well 

 

[Dunlop0078]

I much prefer msi afterburner or evga precsion x over asus gpu tweak, both will work fine with an asus card. I have also heard of many an issue with gpu tweak. I personally use msi afterburner for my gpu overcloking, never had an issue with it.

The cooler on the strix 1080 is more than adequate for any overclock gpu tweak or the other programs I mentioned will allow, they don't let you increase the power limit or voltage to the point where it would add a substantial amount of heat. If I were you I would overclock the core to the point where it is no longer stable then back off a bit, maybe start at 2080mhz then increase the core clock in 20mhz increments until it becomes unstable, then back off a it until you are stable and then that is your max core overclock, for most 1080s that will be between 2100mhz and 2250mhz.

As for memory the strix has active cooling for all the memory chips, which means the chips are touching heatsink and being actively cooled. You are right that they do not have a temp sensor so I suppose you are taking a certain amount of risk OCing the memory, that said I have not heard about any failing memory chips in strix cards and there cooler design looks more than adequate to keep the memory chips cool even with a bit of an overclock. If you do decide to overclock the memory I would do it after you get your max stable core clock, memory overclocks can sometimes affect the core overclock so it's best to oc memory with your max core overclock already applied. I would increase the memory frequency in 50mhz increments, check for stability then repeat.

 

[Agente Silva]

I much prefer msi afterburner or evga precsion x over asus gpu tweak, both will work fine with an asus card. I have also heard of many an issue with gpu tweak. I personally use msi afterburner for my gpu overcloking, never had an issue with it.

The cooler on the strix 1080 is more than adequate for any overclock gpu tweak or the other programs I mentioned will allow, they don't let you increase the power limit or voltage to the point where it would add a substantial amount of heat. If I were you I would overclock the core to the point where it is no longer stable then back off a bit, maybe start at 2080mhz then increase the core clock in 20mhz increments until it becomes unstable, then back off a it until you are stable and then that is your max core overclock, for most 1080s that will be between 2100mhz and 2250mhz.

As for memory the strix has active cooling for all the memory chips, which means the chips are touching heatsink and being actively cooled. You are right that they do not have a temp sensor so I suppose you are taking a certain amount of risk OCing the memory, that said I have not heard about any failing memory chips in strix cards and there cooler design looks more than adequate to keep the memory chips cool even with a bit of an overclock. If you do decide to overclock the memory I would do it after you get your max stable core clock, memory overclocks can sometimes affect the core overclock so it's best to oc memory with your max core overclock already applied. I would increase the memory frequency in 50mhz increments, check for stability then repeat.

Exactly what I think I´ve been considering leaving my OC settled at 2080/2100 and memory at 10500/10800 if it turns out to be stable. Considering Watchdogs2 has a wide range of graphic settings covering everything from complex textures, shadows, reflections and lightning is it a good benchmark reference?

Thanks for your reply

 

[Dunlop0078]

Well from what I have read watch dogs 2 is very cpu heavy, so it may not be the best game for bench marking a GPU. Check and see if gpu usage is going to 100% in watch dogs 2 if so it should be a decent benchmark. If it is not at 100% when playing, I would try something like unigene heaven benchmark or a gpu heavy game, witcher 3 for example.

 

[Agente Silva]

Yep, GPU usage is mainly at 100%... it does hover a bit but never below 98%. Before overclock it would hover between 96-98% and temperature would never raise above 50ºc... That´s why I decided to rev up my card a bit as I felt it was clearly underperforming. I almost settling on core clock tweaking - yesterday I ramped 20 MHz more. It´s running at 2063 MHz and if I remembre well 1063 mV.

I´ve noticed something curious - the card stayed at 1050 mV along almost 70 MHz interval. Only yesterday it steped up to 1063 mV and almost sure I noticed a bump in FPS. Today I want to reach 2080 MHz and stop there. After that I´ll tweak memory...