GTX 760 Overclocking and Maximum Temperatures

[jacobmcbr]

I have an EVGA Superclocked Geforce GTX 760 2gb w/ ACX Cooler: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DHW4HXY/?tag=pcpapi-20. I wanted to know how I should approach overclocking with the EVGA Precision X software, and what temperatures I should avoid under full load. Thank you in advance for the help!

 

[Asp184]

Generally, you want to be below 90C. I don't have much experience with EVGA Precision X, but generally it's all the same. Up the voltages up about 8C from thermal limits and then up the clocks. Make sure its stable. Up the clocks a bit more. Keep going till it's unstable (or not) and then move it back down to what was stable.
If you are ok with it, I'd run Heaven (benchmarking software) for about 30 minutes with the fans at 100% (assuming that you will be ok with keeping the fans at that level while you are gaming) and then see what temperatures you get. This will give you an idea of how much headroom you have to 90C. Less headroom means less overclocking.

 

[jacobmcbr]

By how many units should I bring up the clock and memory speed at a time? And how will I know when the GPU has become unstable?

 

[Asp184]

Small increments at first. Just try increasing it a trivial amount and see what happens. Every case has different airflow so I can't tell you much headroom you have. You just need to figure that out for yourself. See how adding the voltage affects your temperatures and adjust accordingly. Never go above 90C but don't freak out if you do; its generally only after long periods of above 90C that you cause damage. Unstable means that your computer shuts down or BSODs. This can be quite scary.. but as long as you know in your heart that you didn't exceed 100C or so, you can rest assured that the GPU is fine. Instability can be caused by more than just temperatures, and, if you do it right, in this case the shutdown will be caused by lack of voltage/a clock that is too high for the voltage (basically same thing).
There are many guides online about overclocking. I'd recommend that you read a general GPU overclocking guide or one about the 700series. While my advice is hopefully helpful, there are without a doubt people out there with much more experience than me who have written up pages of guides to help you. Not only will this guide you better, but it should give you more confidence.

 

[TurboJ]

I also have a 760 card and I'm looking to overclock. I'm wondering about the 90 degree temp limit recommendation.
The card starts to downclock the GPU at 82 degress, so is there a way to alter the stock temp limit?
If there is, how does one do that? Bios mod?