Can overclocking damage gpu overtime

[Aravind92]

Hi,
I just got myself a gtx 960(Evga ftw) and found the ingame boost was at 1418 mhz,so tried my hand at overclocking and found +50 mhz on croe and +300 mhz on mermory to be stable(ran unigine heaven for some time and played withcer 3 and ac unity).I am not planning to tweak the voltage.My question is will this overclock reduce the gpu's life span?.

Actually found +60 mhz and 350 mhz to be stable too,but wanted to stay safe so reduced 10 mhz and 50 mhz from core and memory respectively.

I was also wondering how the in game boost clock works because I am able to get only 50 mhz more ingame than what is shown by gpu-z as boost clock..People seem to get around 80 mhz to 100 mhz more than gpuz spec..

Sorry for too many questions,first time nvidia user and overclocker..

 

[doubletake]

If you're not overvolting and keeping the card cool (~70C's or lower), than there's basically nothing that can happen to it. The most common cause of GPU death when overclocking is when the power delivery components aren't kept cool enough while having to feed high voltages and they fail, the next cause would probably be from using too high a voltage, which can certainly cause immediate and permanent damage to the GPU core.

 

[Aravind92]

Should be fine then..What do you think of my overclock,Do you think it will stay stable after having checked with two games and heaven bench(ran oc scanner for a short period too)..?Do you think the vram will stay within safe temps with this oc?

 

[mike1996]

there is always a risk in over clocking weather it is immediate or gradual it is something you have to keep in mind

the main thing you need to be worried about is the semi conductor silicon becoming a full conductor or other wise known as being fried
this happens when the silicon becomes worn out or when it becomes contaminated, similar to how distilled water dose not conduct anything but it will when it becomes contaminated

silicon slowly becomes contaminated when energy flows through it (there is some math equation similar to e+mc^2 that explains this) and this process is significantly sped up when the silicon becomes to hot or has more energy than it can handle

THINGS TO WATCH FOR
1:the silicon becomes to hot
depends of processor but try to keep it @ or under 70c

2:voltages become to high
again depends on possessor, do some research and the temps should give you some hints when your to high as well
(warning if you want to adjust voltage do it slow if you jump to high you will fry the gpu/cpu )
3:time
over time the silicone will become conductive and fry it self increased voltage and heat will decrease the time it would normally take for this to happen

 

[Aravind92]

Does the sillicon becoming conductive apply to over clocking without tweaking the voltage as well..if it does,should I drop it back to factory oc..after all I am getting only 5-10% more fps..

And do you realize I am talking about the gpu?because even temperatures between 70 and 80 are Generally considered good for a gpu from what i,' learnt..

And even without overclock my temps are only 1 or 2 degrees lower..with overclock the temps do not go above 66 c with a mild fan curve..

 

[mike1996]

silicon becoming more conductive dose apply to any jump in voltage or temps

any increasing in temp or voltage will cause the silicon to degrade faster but that dose not mean if you over clock you will decrease the life of the gpu drastically it may be only a week out of the five years you would normally run it

dont back off your perfectly fine with that oc

i would recommend 90 degrees for max torture test NOT for daily use
during daily gaming try to keep the card under 80

anything above 90 ish degrees could make a noticeable difference in the life over your card if you keep it at that temp for a prolonged period

example of what i mean by torture test
im i7 devils canyon @4.9mhz runs at about 40 @idel and 70ish @load but ruining a torture test like prime 95 or aida 64 it will hit 90-95 degrees
90-95 degrees is fine for a one time test for stability but it will never hit that it daily use

this my change with graphics cards based on the game your running
again do a quick search for "recommended safe temps for...."
it dose vary form cpu to gpu and brand, amd stuff can usually run hotter than Intel nvida

 

[Aravind92]

Yeah I Am aware of safe temps....no way I am letting this card go above 70..the reason I have a mild fan curve set is to not let it go over 70..evga has very bad factory fan curve(runs at 32 % to keep the card at 72)..used to run a 260 x with 80 % fan speed and was never able to keep it below 80 c(hit 92 with furmark)..guess I will be ok with the evga cooler..thanks for the input.. Will keep the oc if its safe..and do you think my vram Temp will be fine?

 

[Vellinious]

There is absolutely no settings in the stock bios of that card, voltage or power limits or otherwise, that are going to harm that card in any way, shape, or form. Watch your heat, and you'll be fine. The maxwell architecture can easily handle 1.312v without degrading, and the most voltage you'll see on the stock bios is 1.256v. You're free to set all the settings as high as you want, and as long as your heat levels are manageable, go to town.

 

[Aravind92]

Thanks a lot guys..

 

[renz496]

With nvidia restriction in place i don't think overcloking will impact the card in negative way.