Cant overclock GTX 970 G1 very far without crashing.

[NeoPrime]

Hi I'm new to PC gaming so forgive me if I sound a little stupid.

After doing research on how to OC my card (Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming), I increased the core and memory using Afterburner in small increments, but I can only get it to around +100 on the core and +300 on the memory before it starts crashing.

What happens is the screen will go blank but the sound of either the benchmarking software or game I'm using to test will keep running, and the PC will either sort it itself by closing the application down or I have to hard reset the entire system as I just lose all control, even CTRL ALT DEL wont work sometimes.
When it does close the application itself I see a box pop up in the bottom right saying "Nividia driver has stopped working" as well as some other technical stuff I don't understand or can remember.
There is no artifacting in either the game (Crysis 3) or the benchmarking software (Uniengine Valley) before a crash either as i have been looking out for the signs that indicate the card is struggling.

I know through research that I should be able to push this card to at least +140 on the core and up to +500 on the memory without altering the voltage, so why can't I do the same with mine?

PC is brand new, just built it ourselves, here are the specs if they help: Window 10 Intel I7 5820K, Asrock X99 Extreme 4 MB, Corsair H55 CPU cooler, 32 GIG DDR4 2400 RAM, Gigabyte GTX 970 G1, 250 GB Samsung SSD, and 2X 3 TB Western Digital HDD Caviar Green in a storage space configuration.

Thanks in advance for any help given.

 

[Sergeant_Sneaky]

Have you tried upping the power limit? My 980 would barely OC at all until I raised that. You may have just got an unlucky card in regards to overclocking.

 

[NeoPrime]

Have you tried upping the power limit? My 980 would barely OC at all until I raised that. You may have just got an unlucky card in regards to overclocking.

Did that, increased it to 110%, it can only go up to 112%, no change.

 

[17seconds]

Are you checking your overclocking limit readouts in Afterburner or OC Guru? Those will tell you which part of your OC is failing. Also, I would hold off on overclocking the memory until you get the core OC figured out.

Crashing may also be an indicator that your power supply is not up to the task. What power supply do you have?

 

[NeoPrime]

Are you checking your overclocking limit readouts in Afterburner or OC Guru? Those will tell you which part of your OC is failing. Also, I would hold off on overclocking the memory until you get the core OC figured out.

Crashing may also be an indicator that your power supply is not up to the task. What power supply do you have?

What should i be looking out for in afterburner?

Power supply is brand new, 750 watt evga 80+ gold standard.

 

[azzazel_99]

tHE G1 gaming is already overclocked out of the box so squeezing another 100mhz on the core and 300mhz on the memory ON TOP of the factory overclock is pretty dang good without doing some sort of modified bios and putting it under water. Thats probably your overclocking wall on the gpu. You can try adding more voltage but considering what the factory overclock is already Core Clock: Base 1178 MHz / Boost 1329 MHz another 100mhz ontop of that puts you at 1429mhz on the boost and thats damn good. I'd say except your limit and be happy. Thats a really good overclock.

 

[NeoPrime]

tHE G1 gaming is already overclocked out of the box so squeezing another 100mhz on the core and 300mhz on the memory ON TOP of the factory overclock is pretty dang good without doing some sort of modified bios and putting it under water. Thats probably your overclocking wall on the gpu. You can try adding more voltage but considering what the factory overclock is already Core Clock: Base 1178 MHz / Boost 1329 MHz another 100mhz ontop of that puts you at 1429mhz on the boost and thats damn good. I'd say except your limit and be happy. Thats a really good overclock.

After doing some more research i think you are right. Not that im disappointed with the stock card, but if the extra power is there to take advantage of for free and with no risk to the cards lifespan why not use it?

Like you say the stable results i got were very good, but i just saw other people get that little bit more out of it but like others have said not all cards are the same even if its the same model, plus they might have a different setup to mine entirely which allowed them to get that extra 200 on the memory and 50 on the core over what i could get and remain stable.

Still amazed by this new rig as ive been using shitty outdated hand me down pc's for years now as my old gaming PC broke a looong time ago and couldnt afford a new one and have been a console only gamer since and even though i own a PS4 and XB1 this new rig just crushes both without breaking a sweat.

Thanks all for the help.

 

[azzazel_99]

I would also call bs on people saying they were getting another 200 on top of your 300 on the memory and 150 total on top of the 1328 the card already has. The 100 you got plus the 300 on the mem may be able to be pushed farther but you may need to use custom voltage software like evga evbot or whatever it is called. Also you could lower the memory some and maybe get more out of the core. But running that card at 1428mhz core is amazing! The 970's really are just a power house of a card. When it comes to overclocking def dont believe everything people say. lol.