r9 270x OC drops fps? / FX 8350 + H100i to OC?

[rakuzaN]

Hello there.

I'm pretty new to the OC scene and I am wondering about 2 things atm..

1st:
I OC'd my R9 270X Toxic boost 2GB, well I'm still OCing/stableizing it. At a point I was at 1340mhz core and went to 1350, I got impressive artifacts while testing it in 3D Mark. So I clocked it back to 1340ghz since it was stable as I tested that. Next thing I did was turning the mem clock up to 1555mhz (from 1550) and realized that my benchmark has gotten worse. I lost 500 points, they went from 6300 to 5800. Does turning up the mem clock force the fps down? I mean, the physics stats got better, but I paid FPS for it...
Did any of you make the same experience?

2nd:
I am running a FX 8350 on 4.7 ghz now. The Macho 2.0 is most likely at its limits but it's stable. Do you think getting a H100I and aiming for 5 ghz is the right thing to do? Or should I just stay with my CPU as it is now because I won't see much of a change?

I'd appreciate your help!

Regards

 

[Darkbreeze]

4.7Ghz with the FX is more than enough to provide all the necessary CPU power needed for smooth FPS with any single card. Overclocking it further is not likely to net you ANY benefit, especially with a card like the 270x that was probably fine with a 3.5Ghz CPU. At some point your overclock on the GPU has probably either caused IT to become unstable or increased the heat to the point where it throttled itself, thus, your reduction in score of 500 points. Or there is not sufficient voltage for your settings.

Are you using a utility to monitor your thermal's? If the temps are not an issue, have you increased the voltage as you've increased the core and memory clocks? Here is a decent primer on overclocking your GPU. Small steps at a time lead to better results. Going from an 1100 core clock to a 1340 core clock is pretty dramatic and doing so without increasing the voltage will surely cause black screens or artifacts. I'd start over or go backwards a ways and aim for stability rather than dramatic numbers. You're already way past R9 280 specs and are likely either pushing, or beyond, the limits of that card.

Is that a Sapphire card? What's the exact model number?

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-overclock-your-video-card-and-boost-your-gaming-30799346

 

[rakuzaN]

Thank you for your promot reply, darkbreeze.
The reason I did OC the card this way was because I read about this method somewhere. The person told to turn up the voltage as soon as artifacts show up. I first thought that my R9 was broken until I saw that many other people had the same artifact/display "bug". Everyone of them had an R9 280x or the one I currently have. So I followed the instruction and it really helped. For some reason I now have a stable Fire Fight at 1350/1650 and I didn't even finish checking out the point my 270x could possibly reach (I did this short time before I opened this thread). Do you honestly think that I should take the steps back and let go of the success I had this far? Given the fact that it now runs stable on the stated values without even being close to 70° C? It's around 65° C or even less all the time when I run 3D Mark. I didn't have the chance to check the actual FPS/score I would reach with these settings.

Model number... do you mean the fabricate number?
It's a Sapphire R9 270x (Tri-X) 2GB GDDR5 with Boost (UEFI - even here I was amazed that I seemed to be one of the few people being able to run it properly in UEFI mode without changing anything on this card)
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1227&pid=2038&psn=&lid=2&leg=0
That's the link @ Sapphire

About the Heat (GFX vs CPU) - I can't confirm any abnormalities regarding the heat-building. Neither CPU or GFX, nor any other installed hardware. And yes, as stated above in this post I increased the voltage. Thermals have never been an issue to this R9. 65° C max honestly seemed normal to me (when I saw that other GFX cards, even 270x and 280x, had reach a much higher temp under full load)
And of course I didn't make that HUGE step from 1.150core to 1.350core at once. I used it on 1.260core/1575mem/0%V for a whole while, before I OCed it further. After that I took 10MHz steps for the core (I actually stopped at 1350 because it seemed insane even to me, reading about the max OC settings almost 99% of this card owners were stuck at around 1265/1625).
About the mem clock, that was increased in 5mhz steps, so kinda at the lowest rate I can think of. But my good lady didn't tell me to stop yet.

About the CPU, that will be fine for me then. If I really don't need any more power than in this state, I really don't have to invest those 120 Bucks into a new cooling system. I really hope the CPU won't let me down with its overall temperatures at some point, when I leave it like it is now

Wow.. this grew into a decent wall of text, sorry about that. I just want to let you know everything I know about the current state so that you have the best info you can have.

Regards

 

[Darkbreeze]

Nah, I don't think you should undo anything. I'm simply saying if you feel the need to move past where you have stability now, to take it in baby steps. Seems you're on the right track though. Keep in mind, I've seen a few people who had stable OC's on their card and then, poof, one step too far and the hardware just said f-it.

 

[rakuzaN]

Thank you a lot.
As you said the risk cant be defined and I dont wanna take such a risk.
These settings are a gift after all.

Have a nice evening.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Totally good decision. Good luck to you rakuzaN.