Do I need a Z motherboard to utilize the OC mode on my graphics card?

midnight25hb

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Jan 9, 2018
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I have a gtx 1060 OC ROG STRIX edition gpu, and an M5A97 R2.0 motherboard, and I tried to use the factory OC mode in GPU Tweak II, but there is no difference in quality or FPS. Do I need a Z motherboard, or should I just overclock it a bit further?
 
Solution
there is no difference because it has been shown over and over again that the 1000 series cards gain almost nothing from an overclock. that 26 mhz translates into 0 in game fps gained. even another 200 mhz might get you an extra .5 fps if you're really lucky.

there is literally nothing to be gained by overclocking the card. that's why you see no gain from the small oc you managed. well other than some extra power consumed and some extra heat made :)

midnight25hb

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Jan 9, 2018
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Well the standard clock is 1847mhz, with a power target of 100%, while the OC mode I've been trying to use is 1873mhz with 110% power target, and there is no difference
 

Math Geek

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there is no difference because it has been shown over and over again that the 1000 series cards gain almost nothing from an overclock. that 26 mhz translates into 0 in game fps gained. even another 200 mhz might get you an extra .5 fps if you're really lucky.

there is literally nothing to be gained by overclocking the card. that's why you see no gain from the small oc you managed. well other than some extra power consumed and some extra heat made :)
 
Solution

Mark RM

Admirable


That's amazing.

Because the value of an OC totally depends on the game.

You've generalized a potential gain in frame rates across a small cross section. More importantly, OC'd 10 series cards tend to have higher minimum frame rates.. you know,. the place you most notice drops. Not that it matters.

Anyhow,. what games are we talking about here? Math Geek is correct that the higher FPS is nominal, but if a game is struggling to hit minimums it can make sense to OC the snot out of them.

 

Math Geek

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i've just read WAY too many reviews of all the various cards/models out there. and i have yet to see any single review show a worthwhile gain from an oc. in fact other than thermal throttling a reference card gets almost the same fps as a super ultra deluxe oc'ed and heavily cooled model!!

for instance the EVGA SC, which is a reference card, gets the same fps as the FTW+ card. $100 more and a ton of extra power used for around 1-2 fps gained. did not see any particular game that had some magical 25 fps gain or something. literally 1-2 fps was all any got.

this is due to the fact that boost 3.0 already overclocks the card as high as it can go anyway. so a manual oc only locks in a clock speed the card was probably hitting anyway. maybe an extra 50 mhz or so more that nets no in game increase.

have seen some watercooled cards that could hold the highest speeds for a lot longer and could get an extra 5 fps or so. well worth the extra $150 for watercooling the gpu :)

the old days of really significant gains are gone for now. rest well knowing that out of the box, the card is giving all it can with no help from you.
 

midnight25hb

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Jan 9, 2018
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Thanks man! I did the OC you recommended, and I'm getting double the frames now!
 

Mark RM

Admirable


Boost 3 doesn't OC the card as high as possible, and you skipped by the minimum frames entirely.

I get your point exactly, I didn't even argue with you, but there is a place where the OC has an impact - minimums. 90 degrees off topic, the only way to get an Nvidia GPU to actually mine anything worthwhile is to OC it , because it depends on the minimums.