R9 290 + Kraken overcloking - voltage realted crash?

[coops1]

Hi all,

Bit of backstory to my problem. I picked up an MSI r9 290 gaming 4g uper cheap on eBay second hand (ex mining card), when I received it it worked fine but would reach 85C under load, which didn't leave mucOC headroom (max was about 1050 core before I hit thermal limit).

My housemate gave me a spare kraken and aio liquid cooler which we installed. Temps are now great (60C under load with fans at min speed) and vrms reach 60 & 80 under load.

Problem is, max stable overclock without adding voltage on afterburner is 1050 core (temps barely change). At 1075 I get artifacting. Decided to bump core voltage to see how much further I could push it, but it seemed to make artifacting worse at +19, and any higher results in a freeze or crash. Temps are still fine with extra core voltage.

Weird thing is, before adding
kraken I was able to run a +19mv at 1075 stable, it just hit thermal limit.

Anyone know why adding voltage may cause instability? We did a pretty good job installing the kraken, can't think that we broke anything :/

Cheers in advance.

 

[chris987]

use smaller steps in voltage and mhz increasement.make sure it is stable through stress testing and gaming and only then proceed any higher! fine tuning will get you there.!

 

[coops1]

I have tried smaller intermediate steps (voltage only increases in sixes though) but what I was wondering is why adding voltage is increasing instability, rather than decreasing it? Shouldn't overvolting allow me to shoot for slightly higher clocks rather than causing crashes?

 

[coops1]

I have tried smaller intermediate steps (voltage only increases in sixes though) but what I was wondering is why adding voltage is increasing instability, rather than decreasing it? Shouldn't overvolting allow me to shoot for slightly higher clocks rather than causing crashes?

 

[chris987]

more mV does not always lead in better stability. you may find you need less at certain clocks! are the vrm's of the gpu also properly cooled? also try core clock first and then memory . also what are your full specs including psu?

 

[coops1]

I've got an fx 6300@ 4.6 & PSU is bitfenix fury 750. As I said, vrms are about 60 & 80 under load, I used raspberry pi heatsinks and a decent 92mm fan blowing on them. Also I've only been overclocking core without touching mem (mem gives next to no bonus in games). So you'd recommend lowering voltage when increasing my clock to try and find stability? I'll give it a go, but it seems fairly counter intuitive :s if that doesn't work I guess maybe I just found my cards limit at about 1050 core :/