How can i tell when my GPU is unstable when I OC

[oggyphillips]

I want to overclock my geforce gtx 960 (2gb) to the limit. I want to know how to see when my GPU is unstable when i overclock. It's at 200+ coreclock and 100+ mem clock. What do i have to look at on MSI afterburner to see if it's unstable?

 

[Dunlop0078]

It will crash or freeze. There is no metric you can look at that I know of that can tell you if your gpu is unstable.

 

[oggyphillips]

It will crash or freeze. There is no metric you can look at that I know of that can tell you if your gpu is unstable.

Well i just got a message saying "Nvidia Display driver not working". I think i have OC my GPU too much

 

[Rogue Leader]

Yeah thats a crash.

You can also see artifacts (weird graphical glitches) or screen flashing black. These are indicators its overheating or the memory is overheating, both of which can be caused by too high of an overclock.

 

[Dunlop0078]

It will crash or freeze. There is no metric you can look at that I know of that can tell you if your gpu is unstable.

Well i just got a message saying "Nvidia Display driver not working". I think i have OC my GPU too much

Yup you crashed the driver, its likely unstable at whatever you had it at when you saw that message.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_geforce_gtx_960_gaming_oc_review,26.html

Start using these settings:

With AfterBurner we applied:

GPU clock +175 MHz
Power limiter 108%
Mem clock +450 MHz
Voltage +100 Mv

You may do a little better, you may do a little worse.

I use the Unigine and 3dMark benchmarks to look for articfacts and record fps values .... m,ore clock, more memory and even more voltage can actually reduce fps.

https://unigine.com/en/products/benchmarks
http://www.3dmark.com/

For stability and heat, I use furmark flying donut

http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

Any evidence of artifacts, crashed, excess heat or throttling (If you reach 80C card will start throttling) is cause to turn things down a bit.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-960/specifications

Thermal and Power Specs:
98 C = Maximum GPU Tempurature (in C)
120 W = Graphics Card Power (W)
400 W = Recommended System Power (W)**
1x 6-pins = Supplementary Power Connectors

 

[oggyphillips]

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_geforce_gtx_960_gaming_oc_review,26.html

Start using these settings:

With AfterBurner we applied:

GPU clock +175 MHz
Power limiter 108%
Mem clock +450 MHz
Voltage +100 Mv

You may do a little better, you may do a little worse.

I use the Unigine and 3dMark benchmarks to look for articfacts and record fps values .... m,ore clock, more memory and even more voltage can actually reduce fps.

https://unigine.com/en/products/benchmarks
http://www.3dmark.com/

For stability and heat, I use furmark flying donut

http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

for some reason i can't crank up the voltage. There's no number or anything

 

[Dunlop0078]

Look in the settings for afterburner and check off the box that says "unlock voltage control" or something like that.

 

[Rogue Leader]

The card you have is likely voltage locked which unfortunately limits your overclocking ability. If you can;t raise he voltage definitely do not try and overclock like described, it will fail. Start at stock and jack it up 25 mhz and test, then go to 50 and test, so on until you get to it crashing then back it off.