Help with overclocking an asus strix 970

[brandonmaza]

Hi I'm very new to overclocking and really don't know much about computers. I'm trying to get at least 1500 gpu clock and 7500 memory clock. When I push the gpu clock past 1460 its starts to artifact so i really need help.The only stats I'm able to run stable with are:
GPU Boost Clock: 1450
Max GPU Voltage: 1213 (how do you increase? Heard it can reach higher clock speeds with this turned up)
Memory Clock: 7500
Fan Speed: 80 manual (I have 4 fans my idle temp is usually 28-33 Celcius and gaming never goes above 50 Celcius and hardly reaches there ever)
Power Target: 120%(how to increase? And if I could should I?)
GPU Temp: 80 Celcius
I plan on gaming with it and not for small amounts of time.

 

[iyzik]

What program are you using to overclock? You can probably hit 1500MHz by increasing vcore but you are gonna be getting pretty warm, you want to keep the temp under ~85C.

 

[KClaus]

If I was you, I would use MSI afterburner and gradually bump up the core clock by small increments, until you begin to see artifacts in Valley benchmark.
If you are fairly new, dont touch the mV and work with your Memory and core clock. I aim under 70 degrees with my 970.
You can turn the Voltage up, but it outputs alot of heat, and shaves abit off your GPUs lifespan. If you want to use Voltage, then you need to bump until your unstable, add maybe 10mV and then retry for stability. And continue doing that until your happy, write it down, and bump the Voltage back abit to see if you can be stable at a lower Vcore.

+10Mhz per jump, run windowed Valley and maybe do a custom fan curve.

Pm me if you need anymore help.

 

[brandonmaza]

I use asus gpu tweak to overclock and the thing is is that when I go past 1450 my only stable clock in heaven with everything maxed(1080p) it starts to crash. I have the power target at 120% and the gpu voltage at 1213 (it can go higher but won't let me) and this card is easily supposed to get 1500+.

 

[brandonmaza]

I've tried small tweaks like upping it by 10 without even upping the memory clock (leaving it at 7500) and it starts to crash before scene 8 in heaven

 

[brandonmaza]

Can it be the cpu or the motherboard? They're both crap: amd a4-6300 and msi a68hm-e33 v2 msi fm2. I have 10 gb of ram and 1 terabyte of hdd storage

 

[KClaus]

Perhaps you have a bad Chip?

 

[brandonmaza]

What do you mean?

 

[KClaus]

Not every GPU can overclock similar to a different chip of the same model.

My 970 overclocks great without voltage, but my friend would have to add 5mV to get my OC, I dont add any because I have a good chip.

 

[brandonmaza]

Ok so I'm going to start trying to see what gets me stable performance going at 10/20 mhz and if I start to artifact should I raise gpu voltage or power target ? I'm using heaven to benchmark and if I get through a stable benchmark should I go on to adding another 10/20 mhz or do another benchmark so I do 2 and then move on?

 

[KClaus]

I personally dont use Voltage, doing it incorrectly can damage GPUs (VERY RARELY) if done wrong, I max out my power target on my 970 to 110%, increase until artifacts, and then bump it back 10/20Mhz and your stable!

 

[brandonmaza]

I can go to 120% power target? And if I push it there and keep going with 10/20 mhz until I see artifacts should I up the voltage to just 10Mv and leave it at that when I find the stable clock? As you said it's very rare so I think I'll only go to 10mv and 120 power target