Safe OC'd Speed for Zotac GTX 970

[CRS10114]

Hello everybody,

I have a Zotac GTX 970 http://www.game-debate.com/hardware/?gid=2487&graphics=GeForce%20GTX%20970%20Zotac%204GB%20Edition that I now want to overclock. The only problem is, I've never overclocked ANYTHING before. This is my first true build (I had a pre-built for a while, didn't work out.). I started out with two EVGA GTX 760s in SLI, then upgraded to the 970 from Zotac. I suppose my main concern is that I don't want to overclock to the point of frying something.

The card comes manufacturer-clocked at 1076 MHz, and I've heard that a few others who have this card have achieved overclocked base speed of 1200+ MHz. I'm fine with what I've got, but I just want to know how/what to do so that I'm not going in to it completely blind.

I have a good understanding of physics, so volts/amps/watts are not lost on me. I just don't know too much when it comes to overclocking.

If anyone has this card and has successfully overclocked it, I would greatly appreciate any sort of input on what you did. All I want to know is what is a stable overclock for this card.

Thank you.

 

[HEXiT]

just set the max temp to 80'c in boost II and the card will oc up to as high it can go without going over 80'c

 

[CRS10114]

I'm using EVGA Precision X 16 and have got my GTX 970 to safely OC to a 1228 MHz base clock (152 MHz increase) and a 100 MHz increase to the mem clock. All without having to increase the Power Target or voltage. Also, the temp never goes over 71 C, and I have had no problems (artifacting, driver reset, etc.) whatsoever.

 

[droidsg]

I have the same card and use MSI Afterburner to do overclocking. I'm able to achieve the clock speed below.

Power limit: 106% / 91°C (Prioritize to temperature)
Core Clock: 1467Mhz ~ +215
Memory Clock: 3903Mhz ~ +400
Max Temperature@Load : 74°C

What I did is keep +20 on my core clock and +50 on memory clock while running valley benchmark till it became unstable then keep -5 on core clock till its stable again. After that I would test running on my favorite games for an hour.

All this is on stock voltage and tested to be stable on Valley Benchmark, Battlefield 4 & Assassin's creed unity @ max setting on 1080P. I tried pushing my Core Clock speed to +220 but it became unstable at 100% load on Valley Benchmark and Assassin's creed and would crash every 5mins or so. I could push higher by playing with my Voltage but since this is a new card so I didn't feel comfortable messing with those setting and end up screwing up my card lol.

Here's a screenshot of my setting in Afterburner and GPU-Z: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ftlkxdnih2voe7h/Screenshot%202015-01-22%2000.39.02.png?dl=0

And my custom fan curve.: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mmhfieownq1140d/Screenshot%202015-01-22%2001.03.42.png?dl=0

FYI I mention that my max temp is 74°C at load but you saw 81°C on Afterburner. That's because I accidentally turn off my custom fan curve on my earlier gaming session.

 

[CRS10114]

I have the same card and use MSI Afterburner to do overclocking. I'm able to achieve the clock speed below.

Power limit: 106% / 91°C (Prioritize to temperature)
Core Clock: 1467Mhz ~ +215
Memory Clock: 3903Mhz ~ +400
Max Temperature@Load : 74°C

What I did is keep +20 on my core clock and +50 on memory clock while running valley benchmark till it became unstable then keep -5 on core clock till its stable again. After that I would test running on my favorite games for an hour.

All this is on stock voltage and tested to be stable on Valley Benchmark, Battlefield 4 & Assassin's creed unity @ max setting on 1080P. I tried pushing my Core Clock speed to +220 but it became unstable at 100% load on Valley Benchmark and Assassin's creed and would crash every 5mins or so. I could push higher by playing with my Voltage but since this is a new card so I didn't feel comfortable messing with those setting and end up screwing up my card lol.

Here's a screenshot of my setting in Afterburner and GPU-Z: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ftlkxdnih2voe7h/Screenshot%202015-01-22%2000.39.02.png?dl=0

And my custom fan curve.: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mmhfieownq1140d/Screenshot%202015-01-22%2001.03.42.png?dl=0

FYI I mention that my max temp is 74°C at load but you saw 81°C on Afterburner. That's because I accidentally turn off my custom fan curve on my earlier gaming session.

Thanks for the info, glad to see that there's someone else with this card in a similar situation. I've actually got my overclocking issue figured out.

As you can see, I've set my power target to 110% with my base clock at "1300 MHz" (+224 MHz). The reason I put the base clock in quotations is because it really averages around 1450 MHz. My card is still at stock voltage, and I've also OC'd the memory clock to 2000 MHz (+494 MHz). The card's temp priority is at 80°C and never gets above 71°C, and that's when I'm running Unigine Heaven 4.0 or Valley 1.0 on Ultra. All of this is done without any sign of stability issues.

The only thing I can't figure out is how to save my OC profile on FireStorm. It really pisses me off that I can't get the power target to stay at 110% (it will while my PC is running, but if I restart or shut down, it reverts to 106%). It honestly isn't that big of a deal, considering I've beaten FutureMark's "High End Gaming PC" score. Even if it is only by 4 points. A win's a win.

 

[droidsg]

I have the same card and use MSI Afterburner to do overclocking. I'm able to achieve the clock speed below.

Power limit: 106% / 91°C (Prioritize to temperature)
Core Clock: 1467Mhz ~ +215
Memory Clock: 3903Mhz ~ +400
Max Temperature@Load : 74°C

What I did is keep +20 on my core clock and +50 on memory clock while running valley benchmark till it became unstable then keep -5 on core clock till its stable again. After that I would test running on my favorite games for an hour.

All this is on stock voltage and tested to be stable on Valley Benchmark, Battlefield 4 & Assassin's creed unity @ max setting on 1080P. I tried pushing my Core Clock speed to +220 but it became unstable at 100% load on Valley Benchmark and Assassin's creed and would crash every 5mins or so. I could push higher by playing with my Voltage but since this is a new card so I didn't feel comfortable messing with those setting and end up screwing up my card lol.

Here's a screenshot of my setting in Afterburner and GPU-Z: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ftlkxdnih2voe7h/Screenshot%202015-01-22%2000.39.02.png?dl=0

And my custom fan curve.: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mmhfieownq1140d/Screenshot%202015-01-22%2001.03.42.png?dl=0

FYI I mention that my max temp is 74°C at load but you saw 81°C on Afterburner. That's because I accidentally turn off my custom fan curve on my earlier gaming session.

Thanks for the info, glad to see that there's someone else with this card in a similar situation. I've actually got my overclocking issue figured out.

As you can see, I've set my power target to 110% with my base clock at "1300 MHz" (+224 MHz). The reason I put the base clock in quotations is because it really averages around 1450 MHz. My card is still at stock voltage, and I've also OC'd the memory clock to 2000 MHz (+494 MHz). The card's temp priority is at 80°C and never gets above 71°C, and that's when I'm running Unigine Heaven 4.0 or Valley 1.0 on Ultra. All of this is done without any sign of stability issues.

The only thing I can't figure out is how to save my OC profile on FireStorm. It really pisses me off that I can't get the power target to stay at 110% (it will while my PC is running, but if I restart or shut down, it reverts to 106%). It honestly isn't that big of a deal, considering I've beaten FutureMark's "High End Gaming PC" score. Even if it is only by 4 points. A win's a win.

Oh wow that's a even better overclocking than me. I tried pushing my core clock about +215 but once I reached more than +220 my driver will just crash when gaming max load. And how do you manage to push pass the 106% power target limitation?

 

[CRS10114]

I have the same card and use MSI Afterburner to do overclocking. I'm able to achieve the clock speed below.

Power limit: 106% / 91°C (Prioritize to temperature)
Core Clock: 1467Mhz ~ +215
Memory Clock: 3903Mhz ~ +400
Max Temperature@Load : 74°C

What I did is keep +20 on my core clock and +50 on memory clock while running valley benchmark till it became unstable then keep -5 on core clock till its stable again. After that I would test running on my favorite games for an hour.

All this is on stock voltage and tested to be stable on Valley Benchmark, Battlefield 4 & Assassin's creed unity @ max setting on 1080P. I tried pushing my Core Clock speed to +220 but it became unstable at 100% load on Valley Benchmark and Assassin's creed and would crash every 5mins or so. I could push higher by playing with my Voltage but since this is a new card so I didn't feel comfortable messing with those setting and end up screwing up my card lol.

Here's a screenshot of my setting in Afterburner and GPU-Z: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ftlkxdnih2voe7h/Screenshot%202015-01-22%2000.39.02.png?dl=0

And my custom fan curve.: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mmhfieownq1140d/Screenshot%202015-01-22%2001.03.42.png?dl=0

FYI I mention that my max temp is 74°C at load but you saw 81°C on Afterburner. That's because I accidentally turn off my custom fan curve on my earlier gaming session.

Thanks for the info, glad to see that there's someone else with this card in a similar situation. I've actually got my overclocking issue figured out.

As you can see, I've set my power target to 110% with my base clock at "1300 MHz" (+224 MHz). The reason I put the base clock in quotations is because it really averages around 1450 MHz. My card is still at stock voltage, and I've also OC'd the memory clock to 2000 MHz (+494 MHz). The card's temp priority is at 80°C and never gets above 71°C, and that's when I'm running Unigine Heaven 4.0 or Valley 1.0 on Ultra. All of this is done without any sign of stability issues.

The only thing I can't figure out is how to save my OC profile on FireStorm. It really pisses me off that I can't get the power target to stay at 110% (it will while my PC is running, but if I restart or shut down, it reverts to 106%). It honestly isn't that big of a deal, considering I've beaten FutureMark's "High End Gaming PC" score. Even if it is only by 4 points. A win's a win.

Oh wow that's a even better overclocking than me. I tried pushing my core clock about +215 but once I reached more than +220 my driver will just crash when gaming max load. And how do you manage to push pass the 106% power target limitation?

The unfortunate reality of being able to push the 106% is the fact that you have to use Zotac's FireStorm OC tool. For some reason, only FireStorm will unlock that extra 4%, something Zotac has decided not to tell us why.

Anyway, how you get that extra 4% is by selecting the "3D+" option on the OC presets. Once you do that, open the advanced options by clicking "Advance". From there, click on the lock that links the power target and the temperature target. Do NOT touch the power target slider or the arrows around it, so long as the power target and temp target are unlinked, you can change anything (including the temp target) without the power target reverting to 106%. Click "Apply" and you're on your way to better clocks!

Zotac makes good cards (the cooler on both of our cards isn't the best, but it works), but they're really weird when it comes to overclocking. Gamer's Nexus did a review on the Zotac GTX 980 Extreme, http://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/1666-zotac-gtx-980-extreme-benchmark-review-overclocking , and let's just say they were not at all pleased with Zotac and its customer support's help with OCing.

I think I've won the silicon jackpot with my card, considering all the problems other people are having with their Zotac GTX 970. I'm pretty sure that I can push my card even further, I put it at +424 MHz core clock (1500 MHz) and of course there was artifacting out the ass, but I think there wasn't enough to back away from a similar clock speed. I'll post my results when I figure it out.

Well, I hope I've helped you out. And I hope that anyone else who has a Zotac GTX 970 4GB Edition who wants to understand how to overclock these mini-beasts finds this page, because this is the type of help that I had been looking for.

Sincerely,
CRS10114

 

[CRS10114]

Ladies and gentlemen, I've finally found my highest overclock speeds that are stable while running games for as long as you want (as far as I can tell, this is around my 3rd edit of this post).

I've run my card through both Unigine Heaven 4.0 (on Ultra) and 3DMark's Fire Strike. As you can see, my clock is pretty dang good for not having to overvolt at all. My card only ever hit 71°C when running Heaven 4.0 and never went over that temperature. Do what you want with this information.

A NOTE OF WARNING: I have a VERY well ventilated rig. Be extremely careful when overclocking, you can seriously screw up your graphics card if you aren't. If you don't have a good cooling solution, then you MUST watch how hot your card gets, because anything over 80°C is stepping into the danger zone.

As much as I hate the UI for it, FireStorm is the only OC tool that I have found that allows Zotac cards to reach 110% power target. Also, it allows the user to increase any measurement (MHz, mV, fan speed percentage) by 1. Take it slow, don't just think that because I got these results that you can too. Just don't jump into this kind of thing head first. I'm unsure of how common it is for others with the same card to get similar results as I did. Hopefully this page helps anyone who is unsure how to overclock.

Sincerely,
CRS10114

P.S. - The reason that I've edited this post is because I've found a little instability later on with my original settings. With everything at where it is now, my card is seemingly stable and I haven't run into any trouble. Yet.