Can maxing the core voltage of my gpu damage its performance?

[Guest]

Can maxing the core voltage of my graphics card damage its performance or does it only damage the lifespan of the card?

 

[Eximo]

Sort of. High voltage means high heat, and if you don't get it cooled then the GPU will throttle or cause a crash.

Higher voltage in an integrated circuit will reduce the lifespan as well as that of the power circuitry. Depends on how often you replace your GPU if it will really matter. If you plan on more then a few years you probably shouldn't be looking at overclocking.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Too much voltage = too much heat. Too much heat = shorter life-span. Too much heat = thermal throttling. Thermal throttling = loss of performance.

 

[Guest]

What if my temps are always below 70c?

 

[DonkeyOatie]

That's not too much heat, so it's not too much voltage either.

 

[Guest]

I maxed the core voltage and added 110 for each clock and my temps were below 70c. Did I damage my card?

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Hypothetically, no. What value is max core voltage? Does the card run properly?

 

[Guest]

My fps drops for no reason sometimes. I'm not sure if it's the game or the actual gpu. Max core voltage is 87 and the mV is 1243 on max voltage

 

[DonkeyOatie]

So the voltage is 1.243V. 87 is not a voltage. Next question, what's you GPU? (We have moved from the theoretical to the practical)

 

[Guest]

I have the EVGA GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0+

 

[DonkeyOatie]

I have a similar, but slightly lower spec EVGA 970 card I've been messing with at school. That voltage is OK for me, and my card has the reference cooler. What games do you notice the FPS drop, and is it situational, or random?

I would not want to go over 1.25V, however. That's my limit for Maxwell.

 

[Guest]

The FPS drop, it's situational and random at times. Also, do you mean I should just max the core voltage because the voltage monitor said 1.243mV and that is below 1.25V

 

[DonkeyOatie]

You have reached about the maximum I would want to go with a Maxwell. You could try 1.25V. You can push the temperature to 85C or more in intense action for moderate periods.

I'm not convinced that the problem is with your GPU anyway. What's the rest of your system (CPU, motherboard, RAM, and PSU, in particular)?

 

[Guest]

CPU: i5 4690k
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE
RAM: G.SKILL RIPJAWS 8gb
PSU: EVGA 650w gold

 

[Guest]

I maxed the core voltage (+87) and the mV went to 1.243mV < is this voltage safe?

 

[DonkeyOatie]

As I said, 1.25 or less is fine for Maxwell, provided temperatures are sensible and yours seem to be below 85C.

What games do these FPS drops occur in and what's happening in the game at the time?

 

[Guest]

I guess some scenes in the game just takes a lot of graphics power which causes the drops and it drops in CS:GO, Garry's Mod, and a few other games.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Could be CPU limits. How much have you overclocked your CPU?

 

[Guest]

4.3 @ 1.2V

 

[DonkeyOatie]

That's very modest too. You can probably get to 4.5Ghz at under 1.30V (I can get to 4.6Ghz at 1.283V)

 

[Guest]

Yes, but considering my motherboard I rather not.