Can I overclock my GTX 970? Plz help!!

[dexergo1]

I want to overclock my 970 using Zotac Firestorm. I am running i3-3220, so is it possible to overclock my gpu or not?
I have Corsair VS550 psu.
If I can overclock it, will there be bottlenecks??
And please suggest some good OC settings i.e. how much should i overclock both core and memory??
Plz help!!

 

[warhead0]

Yes you absolutely can OC the GPU.

You don't have a super high quality PSU though, so don't go too hard on adding extra voltage.

 

[dexergo1]

Ok, but how much should i overclock it can you suggest any settings or a guide on how to do it??

 

[dudeman509]

Start with 100-150 MHz raise on base clocks and work your way up from there in smaller increments. If you crash the graphics driver or blue-screen Windows, you've found your limit, and back it down a bit from there.

I like MSI Afterburner a lot better than Zotac's utility. It will work with any brand card.

 

[dexergo1]

Can you suggest some good stress test apps which can keep running in background while I overclock the card?
I heard heaven 4.0 is a good app to keep running in background while overclocking to immediately identify artifacting and other graphical issues. Will it work OK?

 

[dudeman509]

Can you suggest some good stress test apps which can keep running in background while I overclock the card?

A game you play frequently? GTA V, Rise of Tomb Raider, and Battlefield 1 are some I can think off the top of my head that beat up my 970. Some work it harder than others and will crash earlier on certain OC settings than others.

Or you can try something like Unigene Heaven benchmarks.

 

[warhead0]

I would recommend applying the overclock first and then starting your testing. Starting your testing program first and then applying OC is not good practice.

3DMark and Unigine Heaven are a good place to start for benchmarking GPU performance