Overclocking Hangs the Computer Zotac GT 730

[Deepak Jarang]

Hi Every one:

Recently, I have purchased a new Geforce GT 730 2 GB DDR5, installed it and using it in my computer with specs:

Optiplex 745 DT
280 Watt PSU
7 GB Ram
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Copper Heat Sink
Zotac GT 730 2GB
750 GB HDD.

Playing games on this card with low settings got good fps. When ever I try to overclock the card in order to set the settings to Mid or High, the system hangs and doesn't do anything untill the next restart.

I am using firestorm overclocking utility to look at the heat level and clock speeds.
Overclocking using the MSI After Burner. Firestorm shows the max GPU Core Clock and Mem Clock at 1803 MHz and 5010 MHz respectively. But when I try to go higher from the actual clocks that are set at idle as 135 MHz and 405 MHz respectively, the system hangs and does nothing until the manual restart.

I was overclocking with MSI Afterburner, from the actual clocks to nearly 1100Mhz Core Clock and 2200MHz Memory Clock. If I go beyond this, the system is hanging and I have to restart again. (I was trying to play Adwanced Warfare)

I am playing games like Battlefield 4, Medal of Honour, Hardline, NFS 2012, farcry 3,4, Maxpayne 3 etc.,

So why cant I overclock to the clock speeds that are mentioned in the Firestorm Utility.

Thanks in advance.

 

[TJ Hooker]

I'm not sure if I'm understanding you correctly, but here goes.

First, if you're getting better results with Afterburner, why don't you just stick to using Afterburner?

2nd, if your computer hangs, that usually just means your overclock is unstable. You can try increasing the voltage, or just dial back your overclock. Be sure to keep an eye on you CPU temperature.

"Firestorm shows the max GPU Core Clock and Mem Clock at 1803 MHz and 5010 MHz respectively."
"So why cant I overclock to the clock speeds that are mentioned in the Firestorm Utility."

Are you trying to overclock your core to 1803 MHz? That's never going to work. Just because the slider goes that high doesn't mean it's a feasible overclock. The same way that a car speedometer might go up to 260 km/h but that doesn't mean the car can actually go that fast. The stock clock for a GT 730 is 902 MHz, if you managed to get it to 1100 MHz that's already a pretty good overclock, especially if you didn't have to increase the voltage. A memory clock of 2200 MHz in Afterburner is also very impressive.

 

[Deepak Jarang]

No, not actually, that doesn't mean I was trying to overclock the core to 1803 MHz. I was just trying to stick around nearly 1300-1350 MHz. But, it just did not happen. I got hanged when I reach the core to 1200 MHz. and Memory to 2700 MHz.

I didn't knew that the higher voltages can make overclocking beyond the limit is possible. Please give me some information about the voltages measured corresponding to the Core and Memory clocks. What if I can increase voltage and start overclocking to the preferred clock speeds.

Afterburner is the best tool through which I have played battlefield 4, Farcry 3 and many others on Geforce 210 1GB card.
And still I am using this card for good results. Firestorm is just for monitoring the clocks and the GPU heat temperatures.

What will be the powerfull processor for my Dell Optiplex 745 Desktop in order to get good performance.

Waiting for your turn.

 

[TJ Hooker]

No, not actually, that doesn't mean I was trying to overclock the core to 1803 MHz. I was just trying to stick around nearly 1300-1350 MHz. But, it just did not happen. I got hanged when I reach the core to 1200 MHz. and Memory to 2700 MHz.

I'm kind of wondering what makes you expect to get that level of overclock out of the card. Going from 902 to 1300 MHz would be a 44% overclock, which is huge. A memory clock of 2700 MHz corresponds to a transfer rate of 10800 MT/s, which would probably be a world record. I don't consider either of these to be reasonable expectations. I'm actually pretty surprised you managed to get a memory clock of 2200 MHz. Are you running some sort of benchmark/stress test after applying the overclock to check for stability?

I didn't knew that the higher voltages can make overclocking beyond the limit is possible. Please give me some information about the voltages measured corresponding to the Core and Memory clocks. What if I can increase voltage and start overclocking to the preferred clock speeds.

Yes, that's how overclocking works for either CPUs or GPUs. Increasing the voltage typically allows for higher stable overclocks. The downside is that it also increases power consumption and temperature, much more so than just increasing frequency. Also, overvolting has the potential to damage/decrease the lifespan of the chip.

Afterburner is the best tool through which I have played battlefield 4, Farcry 3 and many others on Geforce 210 1GB card.
And still I am using this card for good results. Firestorm is just for monitoring the clocks and the GPU heat temperatures.

You can monitor clocks and temperature just as easily in Afterburner. If you want to use Firestorm that's your call, but I don't know why you'd use 2 programs to accomplish what can be done with 1.

What will be the powerfull processor for my Dell Optiplex 745 Desktop in order to get good performance.

Given how old that computer is, I'm not sure if it's worthwhile trying to upgrade. You'd probably have to upgrade motherboard and RAM if you upgrade the CPU.

 

[Deepak Jarang]

Thanks brother. I am not using any benchmarking programs, because I know that those particulars I have mentioned are not meant for Gaming.

I will better try to stick at 1100 MHz Core clock and don't want to risk more for Memory Clock, it will stay around 1600 MHz.

Somebody suggested to upgrade to Quad core processors from the Core 2 Duo's in order to get good performance. Quads have low TDP and are powerful to some extent. Whats your opinion about this?

 

[TJ Hooker]

Regarding benchmarks: I just meant to ask if you're doing something to check if your overclock is actually stable. It's entirely possible for everything to seem fine after you apply the overclock, but crash as soon as you try and do something GPU-intensive. Even just playing a game with the overclock applied would do. If you're not crashing or seeing visual glitches/artifacts, then you know your stable.

If you can find a quad core that is compatible with your motherboard for really cheap, it might be worth it. But considering that even the newest Core 2 Quads are 6+ years old, I'm not sure it's worth investing more money in such an outdated platform.

 

[william p]

I have an Opti745 laying around. I looked at the motherboard and it's not one of the better ones for quad core overclocking. I t has 3 phase VRM with just 2 MOSFETs per phase. Probably 95W max. 65nm Core2Duo chips are supported. Since you're getting good fps with a dual core I would try an X6800. it's 65W and 2.93GHz. base speed. Read my tutorial Overclocking Dell BTX Computers. Some Enzotech 4 pin copper heatsinks on the mosfets. D9729 heatpipe cooler. That will be enough cooling for a 130W Pentium D. You might get 3.2-3.4Ghz. out of it. If you want to look at my stuff I post as Retrorockit at Overclock.net/LGA775 Club. Q6600 at stock speed would work. Some of the Q6600 were G0 stepping SLACR, less heat and watts. That's worth having. you wont get an overclock without a Core2 Extreme chip. The QX6700 didn't come in G0, and the QX6800 is probably a step too far for that MB.

The low TDP Quads are the newer 9xxx Yorkfields and won't run on that board.

 

[william p]

FWIW the X6800 is one half of the quad I'm using. I've had it as fast as 3.99GHz. 3.72GHz for daily use and benchmarking.