The Official MSI GTX 770 Lightning Thread

[AlexBournemouth2013]

All questions about BIOSs/benchmark results/overclocking technique, etc., for the MSI GTX 770 Lightning posted here. I will try to help you out as much as I can.

This card's GPU 2.0 boost uses 13 MHz steps (1320 MHz, 1333 MHz, 1346 MHz, etc.). You have to check MSI Afterburner, to find out what GPU 2.0 boost you're running at when benchmarking. When you reach a 13 MHz step which is unstable, just dial back the core clock 1 MHz (back down to the last 13 MHz step), and you should be at your highest stable overclock.

My own overclocking results:

GPU Clock: 1254 MHz
GPU Boost: 1306 MHz
GPU 2.0 Boost: 1346 MHz
Memory Clock: 7800 MHz

Afterburner settings:

Core Voltage: +100 mV
Memory Voltage: +100 mV
Aux Voltage: +0
Power Limit: 125% (increased with Kepler BIOS Tweaker)
Temp Limit: 95°C (prioritised)
Core Clock: +104 MHz
Memory Clock: +400 MHz (lowered default to 3500 MHz in Kepler BIOS Tweaker)
Fan Curve: 10%/0°C, 100%/70°C

Unigine Heaven 4.0 Results (highest settings possible, no 3D, single monitor, 1920 x 1080):

Final FPS: 44.5 FPS
Highest Temp: 78°C (after 3 loops)

 

[AlexBournemouth2013]

As far as I'm aware, and for those of you who don't know/are unsure, setting all voltages to max is the maximum safe voltage allowed by MSI.

 

[AlexBournemouth2013]

I have found that certain drivers/BIOSs allow different levels of overclocking so be aware. 😉

 

[MadRetch]

so i hear and have read ppl are flashing 680 lightning's to 770 lightning specs is this true?

 

[AlexBournemouth2013]

Yes, there is a thread somewhere (although, I can't find it now for some reason), in which people have been flashing their 680s with 770 LN2 BIOSs. Basically, it unlocks their voltages to 1.3V, etc. I'm not sure whether you get the 95°C temp limit with that, too, but some people have been getting great results with their overclocks! Here is the LN2 BIOS (http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/141424/msi-gtx770-2048-130605.html), if you want to have a go at flashing your 680 (I take it you have one?). Although, I highly recommend finding that thread, and I take no responsibility if it goes wrong!

A lot of people have been bitching (probably, because they have a 680), that the 770 is just a 680 with a new name. This isn't true at all, but you gotta let people think what they want! 😉

 

[MadRetch]

no im buying a new GTX680 lightning and was wondering about it instead of buying the 770 lightning which is $200 difference! so iwas thinking of doing the flash on the ln2 bios

 

[AlexBournemouth2013]

Yeah, the bios flash is definitely possible (assuming you do it correctly, natch). You probably won't be able to overclock the memory as much as the 770 Lightning, but, for price-to-performance, that is definitely a smart move. Good luck!

 

[n1ghtr4v3n]

All questions for bioses/benchmark results/overclocking technique/etc. for the 770 Lightning go here. I will try to help you out as much as I can.

My own overclocking results (LN2 bios with Afterburner 3.0.0 Beta 14):

Core Clock: 1230
Boost Clock: 1282
Boost 2.0 Clock: 1333 (in Afterburner)
Memory Clock: 8100

Afterburner Settings:

Core Voltage: +100
Memory Voltage: +100
Aux Voltage: +50
Power Limit: 109%
Temp Limit: 94°C (prioritised)
Core Clock: +80
Memory Clock: +544
Fan Curve: 0%/0°C, 100%/90°C

Unigine Heaven 4.0 (highest settings possible, no 3D, single monitor, 1920 x 1080): 44.9 FPS, highest temp: 77°C

Let me know what you other owners of the 770 Lightning/770 in general find.

hey there...
I recently purchased a 770-Lightning, and I am using it with latest drivers R331 in Win8.1...
I am using stock bios that came with it and tried drivers since 320 till 331... Using Afterburner beta15 but any other software tweaking doesnt make a difference for me...

my graphics keeps getting crashed and restored by nvidia panel, if I am trying to overclock the core frequency more than +20mhz...

here are the fast settings.
Core Voltage: +100 (max)
Memory Voltage: +100 (max)
Aux Voltage: +50 (max)
Power Limit: 109% (prioritised)
Temp Limit: 95°C
Core Clock: +20
Memory Clock: +200
Fan Curve: 40%/0°C-40°C and 90%/90°C-100°C

After starting Heaven test, it keeps crashing either in the 1st scene or the 2nd if I'm over +20mhz...
maybe you can give me some ideas...

so, it looks pretty stupid at this point, if I cannot overclock "Lightning" why the hell I am paying extra for this lol... I am actually thinking to return this and replace with reference 4gb at this point, or maybe Asus DC2O since its like 100$ cheaper in my country...

 

[AlexBournemouth2013]

Have you not set the BIOS switch on the card to 'LN2'? You need to do that, to unlock the core voltage!

 

[MadRetch]

and also try running 3dmark heaven is not very stable for overclocked cards!

 

[n1ghtr4v3n]

Have you not set the bios switch on the card to 'LN2'? You need to do that, to unlock the core voltage!

aah... you are right, I actually cant push more than +12mV to the core... This is where I got confused probably... I'll try this too when I have time...

By the way, without changing the voltage switch I could actually push the card by +24mhz without crashing heaven or valley. It seems kind of stable now. Will see what it can achieve later with unlocked voltage.

by the way with core frequency raised by 24mhz and memory frequency raised by 200mhz, I could achieve 41.7fps in heaven. and 51.1fps in valley...

 

[AlexBournemouth2013]

You also need the latest version of MSI Afterburner, to unlock the voltage (you have to enable it in the settings).

 

[zNilsn]

MSI GTX 770 Lightning (LN2 bios)

Afterburner Settings:

Core Voltage: +100
Memory Voltage: +100
Aux Voltage: +50
Power Limit: 109%
Temp Limit: 95°C
Core Clock: +150
Memory Clock: +500
I have a high fan curve

ASIC: 80%

I have not try this yet on any benchmark program but i have played games like AC: Black Flag, CS:GO, L4D2 And AoE 3 and it works fine!

 

[AlexBournemouth2013]

The MSI Afterburner 3 Beta 15 SE has now become unusable! We need beta 17 SE, so we can overvolt the card! 🙁

 

[n1ghtr4v3n]

MSI GTX 770 Lightning (LN2 bios)

Afterburner Settings:

Core Voltage: +100
Memory Voltage: +100
Aux Voltage: +50
Power Limit: 109%
Temp Limit: 95°C
Core Clock: +150
Memory Clock: +500
I have a high fan curve

ASIC: 80%

I have not try this yet on any benchmark program but i have played games like AC: Black Flag, CS:GO, L4D2 And AoE 3 and it works fine!

well gaming is usually lighter duty compared to bench'ing... I'd like to see heaven results if possible. Because even if I switched to LN2 bios, which I believe is the same bios with the default one anyways, doesnt make any difference and I keep crashing in heaven test if I push the core freq. above +24HZ.
as a summary, I've been using the latest drivers/bios/afterburner and defaut/LN2 bios, I cant push the card more than 24MHZ at core. Well the valley bench works fine, but dont understand why heaven doesnt...

I'd like to accept the fact that Heaven bench is way too overloaded and unstable, but I believe in any extreme conditions a gpu shouldnt crash with overclocked values, which happens to be my "stable system" view...

 

[AlexBournemouth2013]

LN2 BIOS and default BIOS are not the same at all. You need to set the card to LN2, by physically switching it on the side of the actual card. You need a version of MSI Afterburner which allows you to overvolt your card. You need to go into the settings of Afterburner, and check 'Unlock Voltage Control' and 'Unlock Voltage Monitoring'. If you have the LN2 BIOS set, and have checked the voltage settings, you should be able to push 100 mV on the core, 100 mV on the memory and 50 mV on the auxiliary. If you can't get this to work, you have done something wrong.

If you haven't overclocked the card at all, and Heaven is crashing, you have a bad card, and it's time to return it!

I can run Heaven, any game, etc., without crashing. I am overvolting my card with +100 mV on the core and memory. I can now push my core to +104 Mhz without white dots in Metro: Last Light (in my case, it seems more voltage has stopped those artifacts).

 

[n1ghtr4v3n]

LN2 bios and default bios are not the same at all. You need to set the card to LN2, by physically switching it on the side of the actual card. You need a version of Afterburner which allows you to overvolt your card (which, as of two days ago, there isn't a version of Afterburner which works). You need to go into the settings of Afterburner, and check 'Unlock voltage control' and 'Unlock voltage monitoring'. If you have the LN2 bios set, you have the Lightning Edition of Afterburner (which is made specifically for Lightning cards), and have checked the voltage settings, you should be able to push 100mV on the core, 100mV on the memory and 50mV on the auxiliary. If you can't get this to work, you have 100% done something wrong.

Well thanks for explanation but I'm aware of those settings already but let me start from the beginning...

I actually have switched to LN2 bios physically before, while using afterburner beta17, I also unlocked all the voltage controls. As you explained I am able to push the voltages and power settings to their maximum values allowed. But, still pushing the core frequency more than 24mhz makes my card crash in Heaven test. There are no problem with temperatures btw as they are always below 68C.

So, I did some research and what I'm trying to say is that LN2 bios is almost the same with default bios. But the only difference is the solution for "cold-bug" which is specifically designed for sub-zero temperatures if you are going to use LN2 cooling (liquid nitrogen cooling). In LN2 cooling your card is below 0C (while on standby or shutdown mode) and the card needs to operate between some above-zero temp. If its sub-zero temp card does not start up as intended which is called the "cold-bug". So, other than this solution there is no difference to me, as I experienced that I cannot raise the frequency as it is supposed to happen.

Well, if you have any other ideas, Im gladly open to any suggestions lol. thx for reading.

Edit:
By the way, my card is overclocked by +24mhz to the core, and +240mhz to the memory, and it works without any problems in any aftermarket benchmark test.
But you know, as an owner of a Lightning card I am expecting more overclocking power and less limits obviously. Well I'm starting to that I have a bad batch for overclocking, but generally card works good even while slightly overclocked.

 

[AlexBournemouth2013]

Ah, there you are, you are using beta 17 which doesn't allow you to overvolt the card. The LN2 bios allows overvolting via Afterburner--that is the main difference between the bioses. Like I said, the problem is, ATM, there is no Afterburner that allows you to unlock the core voltage. Literally two days ago, there was a version that worked (beta 15 SE was the only version that allowed overvolting the core to +100mV). You need to, either, use the program I linked above--which allows you to continue using beta 15 SE--or wait till the next Lightning version of Afterburner is released--which could be days/weeks/months. You need to push the core voltage to, at least, +100mV. You simply cannot do that with beta 17. The reason you cannot overclock more than +24Mhz to the core is, that you haven't overvolted the core yet. I can't get +85Mhz on the core without +100mV, at least.

 

[CrazyTater]

Have you not set the bios switch on the card to 'LN2'? You need to do that, to unlock the core voltage!

Stupid question...where is the switch physically located??

 

[MadRetch]

should be above the heat pipe were the msi logo is on the side

 

[n1ghtr4v3n]

Hey there fellow Lightning users,

Thanks to the update in MSI Afterburner Beta 18, finally we all can overclock as we should...

With the final updates I am finally able to overclock my 770-lightning... Here is the latest results:

LN2 bios + Latest WHQL drivers
Afterburner Settings:
Core Voltage: +100mV (which is the limit, unless you mod your bios)
Memory Voltage: +100mV
Aux Voltage: +50mV
Power Limit: 109% (priority)
Temp Limit: 94°C (linked to power)
Core Clock: +100MHz
Memory Clock: +400MHz
Fan Curve: 40%/0-40°C > 80%/80-100°C
*extended MSI settings
*forced stable voltage

It was finally great to see the potential of my Lightning card, I was actually fed up with stock or very limited overclock setups.
I was able to use the card in games and stress tests, without problems with the settings above, but even with the fastest fan settings the card gets a bit hot and hits 78-80°C in Valley bench.

So I decided to back down the clocks a bit, but Voltages and Power were kept at maximum possible.

Here is what I use in a daily setup:
Core Voltage: +100mV
Memory Voltage: +100mV
Aux Voltage: +50mV
Power Limit: 109%
Temp Limit: 94°C
Core Clock: +75MHz
Memory Clock: +350MHz
Fan Curve: 40%/0-40°C > 80%/80-100°C

notes:
*the setup above results with the following clock rates at maximum demands, thx to Boost 2.0:
core clock: 1306MHz
memory clock: 7712MHz
*while gaming (bf4, cod-ghosts, crysis3) temps are stable around 70-71C
*while gaming @1080p,60hz (bf4, cod-ghosts, crysis3, neverwinter, guildwars2 etc.) fps is between 50-60FPS (very rarely you can see FPS below 50)
*graphic detail setups are set by Nvidia Optimized Profiles, if not, I am setting them manually to the max. details possible

I hope it helps...
Thx, have fun with Lightning Speed! 😀

 

[Johnneal01]

I have a question.Does ur 770 lightning came with a fully working Ln2 bios?when i switch mine to ln2 the pc will just open but it wont display any on the screen.is my Ln2 bios broken?pls help me Add me on facebook

https://www.facebook.com/john.neal.5872


thanks in advance


i wanna use ln2 cause Afterburner Wont make a beta version that support +100mv in afterburner.Se version

 

[n1ghtr4v3n]

I have a question.Does ur 770 lightning came with a fully working Ln2 bios?when i switch mine to ln2 the pc will just open but it wont display any on the screen.is my Ln2 bios broken?pls help me Add me on facebook

https://www.facebook.com/john.neal.5872


thanks in advance


i wanna use ln2 cause Afterburner Wont make a beta version that support +100mv in afterburner.Se version

well I didnt have problems switching the bios to LN2. only thing I did is to reinstall the drivers, cause when you switch bios it is like installing a new hardware and you gotta install drivers, thats it.

and also, only the latest beta18 is working. you must update afterburner to b18. there wont be a seperate SE version anymore... they are all integrated into each other...

 

[Johnneal01]

Yeah.my Ln2 bios wont display anything on the screen

 

[Zuggernaut]

Yeah.my Ln2 bios wont display anything on the screen

There shouldn't be any issue switching between the two bios. It's a switch for a reason. You should contact MSI, or whoever you bought it from to see about having it replaced.