GTX 970 Strix Overclock Help

[Stennersaurus]

Hey guys, just picked up a lovely new GTX 970 (Asus Strix Model) and I was wondering what sort of noticable advantages/requirements for overclocking it are. The default clock speed is 1114 MHz and the factory overclock (boost clock) is 1253 MHz. Is that fast enough already? Or will I see a significant improvement if I push her further?

Currently, the idle temperature is about 55°C, and about 76° while playing heavy games such as Shadow of Mordor. Is this already too high? Would overclocking it be damaging or even dangerous for it? All answers appreciated, thanks.

 

[Brunostako]

You could try OCing it if you want, just do it with baby step increases, 10-15 MHz each time. OC is try and error, you increase clocks, run a stress test, watch temps if there's no throttling and if it passes, you may repeat. When a GPU reaches its thermal celling it will clock down (throttle) by its own to avoid burning itself. When you do it this way you avoid the risk of burning your GPU.

 

[Stennersaurus]

You could try OCing it if you want, just do it with baby step increases, 10-15 MHz each time. OC is try and error, you increase clocks, run a stress test, watch temps if there's no throttling and if it passes, you may repeat. When a GPU reaches its thermal celling it will clock down (throttle) by its own to avoid burning itself. When you do it this way you avoid the risk of burning your GPU.

Hello, thanks for the reply. I am familiar with overclocking (my CPU is 4.2Ghz) so I understand the principle of incremental increase of voltage clock frequencies. Would pushing it above 80° be a wise decision for someone who wants their GPU to last a long time (hopefully at least 4 years)? Obviously a high temperature would not only decrease overall GPU longevity, but impact on performance. What would be the 'reccommended temperature' and 'maximum temperature'? Thanks.

 

[Brunostako]

I really don't know the "recommended temps".

As i told you, when the GPU reaches its thermal celling it will clock down, so if you see at what temp it throttles, that may give you an idea if your recommended max temp. Any temp that can sustain the OC for long periods of time (and doesn't cause system instabilities, of course) is good enough. When you reach your exact OC limit (where it doesn't throttle) lower the clock just a bit more so you have some thermal room in case of some kind of overload that could cause throttling.

Right know there are many reviews of the GTX 970 that include OC tests, you can take them as reference for what your limits are.

Just one more thing, as you can see GPUs are clocked much lower than CPUs, so they can't reach high clocks. A 160 MHz increase is not significant in a CPU, but it's a lot in a GPU. That's why the increases must be 10-15 Mhz.

 

[Stennersaurus]

I really don't know the "recommended temps".

As i told you, when the GPU reaches its thermal celling it will clock down, so if you see at what temp it throttles, that may give you an idea if your recommended max temp. Any temp that can sustain the OC for long periods of time (and doesn't cause system instabilities, of course) is good enough. When you reach your exact OC limit (where it doesn't throttle) lower the clock just a bit more so you have some thermal room in case of some kind of overload that could cause throttling.

Right know there are many reviews of the GTX 970 that include OC tests, you can take them as reference for what your limits are.

Just one more thing, as you can see GPUs are clocked much lower than CPUs, so they can't reach high clocks. A 160 MHz increase is not significant in a CPU, but it's a lot in a GPU. That's why the increases must be 10-15 Mhz.

Ah, thank you for that information. I will go and see what other people have achieved with the GTX 970. Thanks for your help.

 

[Brunostako]

Good luck, man.

I think the record is about 2 GHz, with liquid nitrogen of course.

 

[Stennersaurus]

Good luck, man.

I think the record is about 2 GHz, with liquid nitrogen of course.

Haha, yeah I saw that stream, really impressive stuff. I hear that a GTX 970 can be pushed to about 1500 MHz using air cooling and still have it stable (obviously it's on the very very edge). And thanks

 

[Ephesius]

Your temps are really high compared to regular gtx 970's. I am getting 44 on idle(fans not working) and 61 max on shadow of mordor and Bf4 with 42% fan speed max. I totally closed my case fans right now and idle temp is 47 for about 30 mins of facebook and stuff. Although your temps are not too high, it is high for 145w tdp gpu

 

[Stennersaurus]

Your temps are really high compared to regular gtx 970's. I am getting 44 on idle(fans not working) and 61 max on shadow of mordor and Bf4 with 42% fan speed max. I totally closed my case fans right now and idle temp is 47 for about 30 mins of facebook and stuff. Although your temps are not too high, it is high for 145w tdp gpu

Ok, so what should I do? Is it worth tweaking with Asus GPU Tweaker and change the target temperature to something lower? It may be because mine's been stock overclocked to 1253 MHz, which would obviously increase power usage and therefore heat output.

I think my case configuration is good, I have multiple intake fans bring cool air into the GPU, and a couple of exhaust fans. My CPU is ridiculously cool, rarely exceeding 40 degrees on the full load.

Am I missing something?
Thanks.

 

[Ephesius]

In my case i got 1 intake and 1 exhasut fan which is not really good for cooling, just built my rig though.

My card runs at 1253 factory OC (Asus GTX970 Strix) aswell and 1175mV max Voltage if that helps. From your configuration i must say something might be wrong with your gpu. 55 celcius is too high for idle and might reduce the lifespan of your card.

As i told you earlier my card runs at 44 celcius when idling and is sitting arround 62-64 when gaming. My cpu is at 36 (stock fan) and motherboard is at 27 when idling. Even i was thinking of setting something arround 15% idle fan speed to reduce my temperatures, but i have no clue about how to do it without messing with original adjustments.

Use another program like msi afterburner to make sure your program is working as it should. If it is, then i recommend you to show that card to an expert. 55 celcius is nothing for gpus but still you are getting 10 celcius more than regular cards which would make me concerned about that.

Idle temps are not higher than 40 celcius on normal cards running 20% fans when idling. Since GTX970 doesn't activate its fans we might expect a little higher temperatures but make sure you won't pass that mark too much.

 

[wicked_sticky]

Are both fans running, try running it with you case side panel off...

My strix 970 runs at 48c and running heaven benchmark it hits 66 (I do set the fans to 100% running the benchmark), gaming stays around 60.

The sweeet spot on the Asus strix 970 is +150, there are 970's that hit 1500+ strix is not one of them, of the overclocked 970s the strix has one of the lowest overclock potential.

Download heaven benchmark, max out all the setting and run the benchmark (takes 5min or so) youll see if you go too far above 1400 the score starts going down.

overclocking porgrams let you push the strix 970 to about +75mv that will only gain you another 15mhz ot so, not worth it