[SOLVED] I just bought a rtx 3090 and I'm wondering about overclocking it.

[Neostarwcc]

I just upgraded from a RTX 3060 TI to a RTx 3090 and my new card is coming this Wednesday. I was wondering, since many people were telling me that my processor was not good enough to overclock or even run the 3090.

I mean, it sounds to me like they know nothing of what they're talking about. I know its only a 3060 TI but I overclocked my 3060 TI quite high in my desktop and it runs fine, perfect actually. I get perfect FPS in most games that I play on max settings.

I was also told that I would probably want to get a monitor upgrade as well since 240 HZ 1440P monitors exist now and the RTX 3090 is too overkill for a VG27AQ monitor. I've also been recommended to upgrade to a 4k monitor.

I've been out of the video card loop for a while now and need some advice on what I should do if I want to overclock the RTX 3090 to decent settings. Thank you.


Relevant Specs:

i9 10850k
ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-F
ASUS VG27AQ
Corsair AX850
ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 3060 TI (Current) EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 ULTRA GAMING (New)

 

[WS1995]

I just upgraded from a RTX 3060 TI to a RTx 3090 and my new card is coming this Wednesday. I was wondering, since many people were telling me that my processor was not good enough to overclock or even run the 3090.

I mean, it sounds to me like they know nothing of what they're talking about. I know its only a 3060 TI but I overclocked my 3060 TI quite high in my desktop and it runs fine, perfect actually. I get perfect FPS in most games that I play on max settings.

I was also told that I would probably want to get a monitor upgrade as well since 240 HZ 1440P monitors exist now and the RTX 3090 is too overkill for a VG27AQ monitor. I've also been recommended to upgrade to a 4k monitor.

I've been out of the video card loop for a while now and need some advice on what I should do if I want to overclock the RTX 3090 to decent settings. Thank you.


Relevant Specs:

i9 10850k
ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-F
ASUS VG27AQ
Corsair AX850
ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 3060 TI (Current) EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 ULTRA GAMING (New)

I wouldn't personally overclock it, the 3090 is a massively overkill card in my opinion, unless you are using CAD software or designing applications...

It's got 24GB of GDDR6/X if i recall... which is a LOT.

A 3060 -> 3090 is a significant jump. I'm on a 3070, I wanted a 3080 but nowhere had any, so ended up going with a 3070 pre-built because nowhere I looked had 3080 pre-built available, and I didn't fancy joining a long queue on a backorder and waiting months for a 3080.

Even the 3070->3080 is a fair jump, about a 40% increase in terms of CUDA cores. You're going from a 3060 to a 3090.... the performance increase would be massive.

In terms of actual real world performance, there's little point in OC'ing the card in my opinion, you're going to struggle to max out the card, you're far more likely to be bottlenecked by your CPU, before your GPU comes anywhere close to maxing out on the stock frequency.

I think what the people you reference in this post actually mean, is that, quite simply, your CPU would get to it's maximum usage before it throttles, way before your GPU comes close to running at it's maximum output, and as such, overclocking it is essentially pointless, it's a very high end card, and you are extremely unlikely to be bottlenecked by the card and therefore won't need to overclock it.

If your CPU can't run fast enough, it restricts the GPU. With high end GPU's, the CPU normally bottlenecks the GPU.

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-RTX-3090-vs-Nvidia-RTX-3060-Ti/4081vs4090

 

[Phaaze88]

Cpu not good enough to overclock? 🤔
I think those people may have been referring more to the fact that this cpu's OC headroom is superficial.
-single core boost of 5.0ghz, 5.2ghz with Thermal Velocity Boost active(only up to 70C).
-all core boost of 4.7ghz, 4.8ghz with TVB.
-since the PC is never truly idle, you're more likely to see whatever the boost table is for 4-6 cores active, whether TVB is active or not.
-it is a 10900K that failed to meet spec after all, even Silicon Lottery's binning table for it looks bleak.

You've got some 'barriers' present with gpu OC, with Gpu Boost being one of them. With these cards, undervolting is probably more 'in' than overclocking is...
Gpu Boost:
-is picky about operating thermals. Higher temperatures equate to lower sustained boost clocks, bar things like power and voltage.
-it doesn't like hitting power limits either. Simply cranking up core clock will cause the gpu to hit power limits more frequently.
-higher voltage causes it to consume more power and run hotter.

Well, 1440p isn't 1080p, but it isn't 4K either.
Due to engineering stuff that goes over my head, these cards do scale(%) higher in performance at higher resolutions - that does not necessarily mean you will see higher fps at 4K. If I throw out some random(?) numbers for example:
The 3090 is 60% faster than the 2080Ti at 1080p, 70% faster at 1440p, and 85% faster than 4K. Something like that.
It's not impossible to run into cpu limited scenarios at 1440p, but I wouldn't get too hung up on that; at times, the biggest limitation is the bloody software, and nothing can fix that.
Just roll with what you got, I say - some people would be happy with ANY of the 30 series if they could get one - resolution be damned. XD

Ultra high refresh is bound by cpu speed + ram speed and timings; minimum fps is dependent on those. The gpu takes more of a backseat here.
But again, sometimes it's the software holding things back...

 

[WS1995]

Cpu not good enough to overclock? 🤔
I think those people may have been referring more to the fact that this cpu's OC headroom is superficial.
-single core boost of 5.0ghz, 5.2ghz with Thermal Velocity Boost active(only up to 70C).
-all core boost of 4.7ghz, 4.8ghz with TVB.
-since the PC is never truly idle, you're more likely to see whatever the boost table is for 4-6 cores active, whether TVB is active or not.
-it is a 10900K that failed to meet spec after all, even Silicon Lottery's binning table for it looks bleak.

You've got some 'barriers' present with gpu OC, with Gpu Boost being one of them. With these cards, undervolting is probably more 'in' than overclocking is...
Gpu Boost:
-is picky about operating thermals. Higher temperatures equate to lower sustained boost clocks, bar things like power and voltage.
-it doesn't like hitting power limits either. Simply cranking up core clock will cause the gpu to hit power limits more frequently.
-higher voltage causes it to consume more power and run hotter.

Well, 1440p isn't 1080p, but it isn't 4K either.
Due to engineering stuff that goes over my head, these cards do scale(%) higher in performance at higher resolutions - that does not necessarily mean you will see higher fps at 4K. If I throw out some random(?) numbers for example:
The 3090 is 60% faster than the 2080Ti at 1080p, 70% faster at 1440p, and 85% faster than 4K. Something like that.
It's not impossible to run into cpu limited scenarios at 1440p, but I wouldn't get too hung up on that; at times, the biggest limitation is the bloody software, and nothing can fix that.
Just roll with what you got, I say - some people would be happy with ANY of the 30 series if they could get one - resolution be damned. XD

Ultra high refresh is bound by cpu speed + ram speed and timings; minimum fps is dependent on those. The gpu takes more of a backseat here.
But again, sometimes it's the software holding things back...

Indeed. The 3090 is a VERY expensive card, especially given the scalpmarket today. Even my 3070 retails for way under £1,000, and on eBay prices are anywhere from £1,300-£1,700. Insane.

 

[Neostarwcc]

Cpu not good enough to overclock? 🤔
I think those people may have been referring more to the fact that this cpu's OC headroom is superficial.
-single core boost of 5.0ghz, 5.2ghz with Thermal Velocity Boost active(only up to 70C).
-all core boost of 4.7ghz, 4.8ghz with TVB.
-since the PC is never truly idle, you're more likely to see whatever the boost table is for 4-6 cores active, whether TVB is active or not.
-it is a 10900K that failed to meet spec after all, even Silicon Lottery's binning table for it looks bleak.

You've got some 'barriers' present with gpu OC, with Gpu Boost being one of them. With these cards, undervolting is probably more 'in' than overclocking is...
Gpu Boost:
-is picky about operating thermals. Higher temperatures equate to lower sustained boost clocks, bar things like power and voltage.
-it doesn't like hitting power limits either. Simply cranking up core clock will cause the gpu to hit power limits more frequently.
-higher voltage causes it to consume more power and run hotter.

Well, 1440p isn't 1080p, but it isn't 4K either.
Due to engineering stuff that goes over my head, these cards do scale(%) higher in performance at higher resolutions - that does not necessarily mean you will see higher fps at 4K. If I throw out some random(?) numbers for example:
The 3090 is 60% faster than the 2080Ti at 1080p, 70% faster at 1440p, and 85% faster than 4K. Something like that.
It's not impossible to run into cpu limited scenarios at 1440p, but I wouldn't get too hung up on that; at times, the biggest limitation is the bloody software, and nothing can fix that.
Just roll with what you got, I say - some people would be happy with ANY of the 30 series if they could get one - resolution be damned. XD

Ultra high refresh is bound by cpu speed + ram speed and timings; minimum fps is dependent on those. The gpu takes more of a backseat here.
But again, sometimes it's the software holding things back...

Ok yeah that makes a lot of sense. I probably will stick with what I have the rtx 3090 set me back quite a ways and a good 4k monitor is at least $800 more and I'd probably only get a couple hundred bucks for my current monitor anyway. If I'll see a performance increase without overclocking the GPU and if it's never going to be maxed anyway I don't see the point really in overclocking it you guys are right.

 

[Neostarwcc]

Indeed. The 3090 is a VERY expensive card, especially given the scalpmarket today. Even my 3070 retails for way under £1,000, and on eBay prices are anywhere from £1,300-£1,700. Insane.

Oh yeah it was very expensive I paid $3,000 US for an $1800 MSRP card. But the only reason I considered it is a have a couple thousand dollars worth of GPUs just sitting around doing nothing. Most of it can be paid off so I don't really owe much in reality.

 

[WS1995]

Oh yeah it was very expensive I paid $3,000 US for an $1800 MSRP card. But the only reason I considered it is a have a couple thousand dollars worth of GPUs just sitting around doing nothing. Most of it can be paid off so I don't really owe much in reality.

Fair enough. Yes, the 3090 is very unlikely to come anything close to being maxed out, your CPU will almost certainly bottle neck before you even come close, meaning your CPU will prevent your GPU from operating anywhere near it's maximum performance, simply because the CPU has to process everything, and it can only handle so much at once. As a result overclocking the GPU is more or less utterly pointless in this case.

If you had a much lower end card, and the GPU was bottlenecking the system when gaming, then it would be worth trying.

 

[Neostarwcc]

Another question. Should my corsair ax850 run everything fine or should I get a bigger psu?

 

[WS1995]

Another question. Should my corsair ax850 run everything fine or should I get a bigger psu?

I would think an 850Watt would be more than sufficient. I'm running an i7-11700K 8 cores @ 3.6ghz with a RTX 3070 8GB on a 650Watt PSU.

Best way to check is to use a PSU wattage calculator.

 

[Neostarwcc]

Fair enough. Yes, the 3090 is very unlikely to come anything close to being maxed out, your CPU will almost certainly bottle neck before you even come close, meaning your CPU will prevent your GPU from operating anywhere near it's maximum performance, simply because the CPU has to process everything, and it can only handle so much at once. As a result overclocking the GPU is more or less utterly pointless in this case.

If you had a much lower end card, and the GPU was bottlenecking the system when gaming, then it would be worth trying.

I have my 3060 ti overclocked currently and running my 10850k on water overclocked as well. I really hope it doesn't throttle my CPU because where I have it overclocked I get semi high load Temps (70 ish c at 25% load or so)

The max temp is 100c. Throttling that processor could get dangerous.

 

[WS1995]

I have my 3060 ti overclocked currently and running my 10850k on water overclocked as well. I really hope it doesn't throttle my CPU because where I have it overclocked I get semi high load Temps (70 ish c at 25% load or so)

The max temp is 100c. Throttling that processor could get dangerous.

70 degrees celsius at 25% load? That sounds excessive. Even for an OC.

Mine is on stock, but runs on turbo boost when it needs to up to about 4.6 or 4.8 if I recall.

I don't think i've seen mine go above 37-38 celsius on 25% load or slightly higher, even under full load in a flight sim, it doesn't go above about 60-70 degrees. I'm on an NZXT X53 240mm cooler.

What temps do you get under nearer full load?

I personally don't like seeing my CPU going above 70. Many people say 80 is the limit, but I prefer 70 tops.

 

[Neostarwcc]

I would think an 850Watt would be more than sufficient. I'm running an i7-11700K 8 cores @ 3.6ghz with a RTX 3070 8GB on a 650Watt PSU.

Best way to check is to use a PSU wattage calculator.

On the official page of the card they say 750 watt minimum does that mean the card uses 750 watts or that a 750 watt would be sufficient? I'll check Neweggs psu calculator

 

[WS1995]

On the official page of the card they say 750 watt minimum does that mean the card uses 750 watts or that a 750 watt would be sufficient? I'll check Neweggs psu calculator

750 watts is sufficient. As far as I know, no GPU out there uses anything close to that amount of power. Think about it logically, even if you have a very high end 1,000 Watt PSU, with that card, that would only leave 250 Watts to power everything else, a lot of the newer gen Intel CPU's are typically 100-140 watts of power.

The STOCK card itself, runs at roughly 350W. People that mod them, and gain overclocks of a reasonable percentage increase, can see it require 400W+.

In your case however, the 750 Watt should be fine. Unless your other components are using 400Watts or more between them, which is highly unlikely.

 

[Neostarwcc]

70 degrees celsius at 25% load? That sounds excessive. Even for an OC.

Mine is on stock, but runs on turbo boost when it needs to up to about 4.6 or 4.8 if I recall.

I don't think i've seen mine go above 37-38 celsius on 25% load or slightly higher, even under full load in a flight sim, it doesn't go above about 60-70 degrees. I'm on an NZXT X53 240mm cooler.

What temps do you get under nearer full load?

I personally don't like seeing my CPU going above 70. Many people say 80 is the limit, but I prefer 70 tops.

Tbch I've been scared to try it. It should be safe though. I'll test it in a minute.


Newegg says 702 watts minimum. So I think I should be fine.

 

[WS1995]

Tbch I've been scared to try it. It should be safe though. I'll test it in a minute.


Newegg says 702 watts minimum. So I think I should be fine.

Worst thing that will happen if power delivery is not sufficient, is it just won't power up, or you'll have an unstable system. But you aren't going to break anything, PSU's have numerous protection methods in place, breaking things is more about too much voltage rather than not enough power.

Stick it in, test it out, if you start to get glitching or the system seems to slow down, then it's possibly not enough power. If you then try a game, that is reasonably intensive (not something basic like minecraft... ) and it runs fine, then there's no issues.

Ultimately, a small amount of wattage headroom is fine, there's no point going overkill and getting a 1,000 Watt PSU just for 250-300 Watts of overhead room, when you don't need it.

 

[Neostarwcc]

Hmm this is weird, I get nearly the same temps while gaming while its under like 25% load. But then again I game for hours and only stress tested it for 5 minutes. CPU doesn't throttle though, that's good.

 

[richard203]

you should do the hybrid cooler upgrade, i used my 3090 to mine since i paid 2.9k for it might as well make some money back when i dont use it. my 3090 was at 100-106c when i overclock to mine, so i ordered the hybrid cooler and now its around 94-98c with 120mh. im ordering some heatsink and thermal pads and see if it lower down the temp. i got an i7 4790k cpu and works fine overclocking on the gpu i got a rm750i psu but not enough vga slot for the 3 8pin connector so i used the 750 evga psu for the gpu

 

[Joseph_138]

There is no need to overclock one of these cards, and I don't think it is very wise to take the risk. If something happens and you have to RMA it, there may not be any in stock to do a warranty exchange. Some people are now reporting that because of the GPU shortage, card makers are issuing refunds because they have no extra inventory and can't get some of the parts for repairs. If you paid a scalper for your card, you could end up taking a considerable loss because the company that made it is only liable for up to the MSRP price.

Video cards are too scarce and expensive right now to take the risk of bricking one with an overclock that is too aggressive.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Oc is a waste of time and energy anyway. Especially for a graphics card like that