ASUS GTX 670 DC II non-TOP Overclocking?

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atrance5

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Talking about the Vanilla DC II. Is the overclock achieveable or somewhat close to that of the TOP version?


Vanilla is 915 and TOP is 1058.
 
I have GTX 680 DC II non TOP i am running it at 1250MHz no issues whatsoever. So im pretty sure u going to be able to overclock it waay more than TOP speeds :)
 
Definitely achievable. Same exact cards, same exact PCB, only one has a higher overclock. I have a non TOP 680 that I flashed the TOP bios to, zero issues.
 
Just got my 670 DCII non-TOP in last night. Great card, performs like a champ. As far as overclocking the card goes, I am a bit confused. First of all, are you guys adjusting the minimum voltage (in the Asus OC utility)? Second, how do you determine what the boost clock is going to be? Is it based on the power target or the GPU adjustment slider? I set the slider to 1191, but in the monitoring utility it says the card is running almost constantly at 1325 during BF3 gameplay. I'm not complaining, just trying to get a better feel for properly tuning the card as my GTX580 was simpler to overclock.
 
Voltage adjustment won't matter, these cards are locked at 1175mv. You can see the boost clock speed using GPU-Z or any monitoring software during a game like MSI Afterburner. For best overclocking results, set the power target as high as possible, this will prevent the card from throttling the clocks by increasing the power target threshold. if your slider is at 1191 and you're seeing 1325 during gameplay, that's the boost clock that you're looking at.1191 is the base clock then the boost clock is applied to it during 3D apps.

I don't care much for the Asus Tweak utility since I can't see my clocks while I'm playing, I do prefer MSI Afterburner for overclocking and monitoring. To check your overclock stability, try running Unigine Heaven loops for about 30 minutes, if it doesn't error out of the application or cause any artifacting, you can keep moving your clocks up until it does. You can then run Heaven for about 60 minutes at the highest settings possible, DX11, Tesselation Max, 16AF, and 8xAA and see if it runs stable or crashes. If its stable there, its likely stable in any game.
 
Alright, so I jacked the voltage meters all the way up, set the GPU clock to 1206 and the card is running like a beast. Solid 60fps in BF3 64 player maps (Caspian, Firestorm) with all settings on Ultra and 2XMSAA (post AA set to high also). In the Asus monitor utility it shows my card consistently hitting 1372Mhz! This is the best performing / quietest single card I've ever owned by a longshot. Asus hit a grand slam with this one!


*edit* This is all with my 2500K in my Z77 mobo. Today my 3570K is coming in which will allow PCIE 3.0 to kick in (not that it's necessary with this performance)
 
Very hard to believe you're card is hitting 1372Mhz core speed with any stability. If so, you have a golden sample because that would be EXTRMELY rare.

Have you tried running Ungine Heaven at maximum detail settings, DX11, Max Tesselation, 16AF, 8xAA for 30-60 minutes to check stability? If it doesn't crash after running 30-60 minutes then its most likely stable, but that would be a monstrous overclock if you have stable boost speeds of 1372MHz. Even the Asus TOP cards are having trouble runing 1250+ stable.
 
Agreed, 1372 would be an extremely great overclock. However, BF3 multiplayer is a great stability test.
 
Starrbuck said:
Agreed, 1372 would be an extremely great overclock. However, BF3 multiplayer is a great stability test.
Click to expand...

It usually is, but I'm afraid I would just need further proof of that overclock stability. Occasionally a card will run fine in a demanding game but still fail a stress test tool or some other game. Sometimes different games and stress tools expose different weaknesses in a GPU die. I'm not trying to offend the OP but if I said, I ran my 670 at 1400MHz boost clock in BF3 multiplayer and it ran fine but didn't tell you that it was only for 2 minutes, I don't think you would be getting an accurate picture.

If it passes Heaven at maximum settings for 30-60 minutes without crashing, I'll gladly say that's an amazing chip.
 
Maverick1337 said:
~1400 core that's over a 50% overclock. What did you get your memory to?
Click to expand...

No, I didn't say I ran mine at 1400, I said what if I told you I did but didn't bother to tell you that I only ran BF3 for 2 minutes, I wouldn't exactly be telling you the whole story and it certainly wouldn't tell you that it was stable. I'm just saying, I find it hard to believe its stable at 1372MHz.
 
Blkout said:
No, I didn't say I ran mine at 1400, I said what if I told you I did but didn't bother to tell you that I only ran BF3 for 2 minutes, I wouldn't exactly be telling you the whole story and it certainly wouldn't tell you that it was stable. I'm just saying, I find it hard to believe its stable at 1372MHz.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I should have quoted blackhawk, he was the one I was asking what he overclocked his memory to.
 
The memory is at 6800, let me run some Heaven benches and see how stable it is and I'll report back. I spent last night wiping the PC and installing the 3570K so I didn't get to run any tests but I will hammer it today.
 
Alright; I set the GPU at 1200 in AsusTweak and set the memory at 7100. I was able to run Heaven with every setting at it's highest (including AA and Tesselation) and it ran for 30 minutes without crashing, but in the Asus monitoring utility the clock varies from 1130 to 1275 during that period. After that I jumped into BF3 with a 64 player map and all settings maxed out including AA. I played for 25 minutes and the monitoring software from Asus shows that the GPU was pinned at 1356 the whole time, and the memory was pinned at 7100. I'm not sure why it throttles in Heaven and not BF3, but regardless the performance is incredible for a single card and on top of that I never heard the fans get any louder than my radiator fans are.
 
blackhawk777 said:
Alright; I set the GPU at 1200 in AsusTweak and set the memory at 7100. I was able to run Heaven with every setting at it's highest (including AA and Tesselation) and it ran for 30 minutes without crashing, but in the Asus monitoring utility the clock varies from 1130 to 1275 during that period. After that I jumped into BF3 with a 64 player map and all settings maxed out including AA. I played for 25 minutes and the monitoring software from Asus shows that the GPU was pinned at 1356 the whole time, and the memory was pinned at 7100. I'm not sure why it throttles in Heaven and not BF3, but regardless the performance is incredible for a single card and on top of that I never heard the fans get any louder than my radiator fans are.
Click to expand...

1275 sounds right, 1356 does not. Not sure where that data is coming from.
 
Its coming right from the real time monitoring software that came with the card (Asus Tweak). I'll take a screenshot for you when I get back home since you seem to think it isn't possible.
 
Well sounds legit man. Looks like you got yourself a golden 670. You must have been the chosen one :D
 
blackhawk777 said:
Its coming right from the real time monitoring software that came with the card (Asus Tweak). I'll take a screenshot for you when I get back home since you seem to think it isn't possible.
Click to expand...

Well, the fact that it doesn't show 1357 it in Heaven makes me think its throttling the clocks back. Would prefer to see it in Afterburner if possible though, Asus Tweak seems to be causing many headaches for users right now, don't fully trust the software.
 
OP try using Afterburner and report back. Much more stable and reliable according to many users.
 
Screenshot of Afterburner, AsusTweak, and GPU-Z right after closing BF3 in 64 player Operation Firestorm multiplayer:

Click to enlarge:
Updated Screenshot #2

** EDIT ** The screenshot above is after roughly 30 minutes of BF3 64 player Karg Island; refresh the enlarged version if you already saw the first shot.
 
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non-TOP.

I can't really believe it myself, this card is such a beast.... feels smoother than the 480 SLI setup it replaced
 
As of right now my non top that just came in yesterday is stable at 1322 boost. I am still slowly raising it to see where my cut off point is. Will edit later when I find my max.
 
That's going to be hilarious if the non-TOP cards are clocking higher and more stable than the TOP cards but that sure looks like it right now. I wonder if Asus got their bins mixed up. LOL.
 
I got a Asus GTX 670 non-Top today.

Here are my oc results so far, I'll update them once I do more tweaking

GPU +160
Boost Clock 1140Mhz
Kepler Boost +104
Max Clock 1245

Mem +500
Effective Clock 7000

The voltage only seemed to go to 1.162 in Heaven though. I used Asus Tweak to lock it at 1.175 and got 10mhz more out of it.

The DCUII fans are very quiet, but at 100% fan speed the temps can still get to 71C. My Ref 680 at 100% is super loud, but at that speed it can keep temps below 70. Of course I would never run 100% fan speed regularly and prefer a quiet GPU, so the DCUII is better for my needs.
 
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I put TOP clocks on mine, without any voltage bump. Works great.

Returned back to stock thou.
 
You don't need to increase the voltage as the cards will automatically hit the max voltage on their own.
 
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blackhawk777 said:
Screenshot of Afterburner, AsusTweak, and GPU-Z right after closing BF3 in 64 player Operation Firestorm multiplayer:

Click to enlarge:
Updated Screenshot #2

** EDIT ** The screenshot above is after roughly 30 minutes of BF3 64 player Karg Island; refresh the enlarged version if you already saw the first shot.
Click to expand...

I see you are locked at 59fps and I also see your gpu isn't being stressed to 100% except rarely in BF3. Just keep in mind an average load of 70% is not the same as 100%, disable vsync and let the fps go as high as it wants if you want to be absolutely sure it is stable.
 
Asus 670 non-TOP today as well and am pleased, especially after the 10% off Newegg Business code, free shipping / no tax.

Using EVGA Precision X:

Initial stable individual settings:
(Power Target maxed, voltage maxed)
GPU Clock Offset - 216 (Max GPU 1300)
Mem Clock Offset - 475

Stable combined settings:
Power Target +115%
Voltage 988mv
GPU Clock Offset +200
Mem Clock Offset +400mhz

Boost clock 1180mhz
Kepler Boost +104
Max GPU 1285

I noticed that without setting the power target to 115%, that max GPU would fluctuate during the run. It's very noticeable when watching the Precision X hardware monitor. At 110% it only fluctuated twice during a run, so I set at 115 and just left it there, don't think it causes any harm.

Temps never went above 61c, fan @70% (modified my fan profile) during Heaven during a 2 hour run, will run it overnight and see what happens and try to tweak. Even at 70%, the fans are very quiet, and idle temps are 28-29c / 30% fan, I can't hear it over the case fans at all, its super quiet.

Think this is a keeper, will update with a burn-in report later if anything changes.
 
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I replaced the TIM on my card today with MX4. The cooler came off really easily, its only held on with 4 screws. The TIM that came on the card is pretty standard. I removed all of it and spread on a thin layer of MX4 with a razor blade.

asus670.jpg


I did some before and after testing to see if it would make a difference and it seemed to save a solid 3 C.

I tested it by overclocking my card (1245 max clock/7000 Memory) and set the fan to 100% for consistency.

Before
Heaven - 74C Max
Max settings @ 5760x1080
30 minute run

Witcher 2 EE - 77C Max
Ubersample off, max settings otherwise @ 1920x1080
Running around in Vergen & played through chapter 1 tower siege.

After TIM replacement
Heaven - 71C Max
Max settings @ 5760x1080
30 minute run

Witcher 2 EE - 74C Max
Ubersample off, max settings otherwise @ 1920x1080
Running around in Vergen & played through chapter 1 tower siege.

Now I need to figure out how to get some fresh air to my video card. My case doesn't have any side fans, but has some small holes on the back expansion slots that could maybe fit 3 60mm fans.
 
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Nice results!

Put some homemade heatsinks on that vram and that should help ocing stability. Thats the only thing these cards are missing.
 
The placement of the ram and the design of the Asus cooler makes it really difficult to place heatsinks on the ram. The heatsinks would have to be extremely thin as there isn't much clearance between the cooler and the ram in some areas. Perhaps a heat spreader that connected all of the ram chips would be best as some ram chips don't get much airflow if at all.

The ram seems to perform just fine without heatsinks as I only noticed minor artifacts when pushed to +650 and I'm only running it at +500 on a daily basis.
 
I've got 2 670 DCU II's and I can't get them to go to even +30 on the core. Are the new drivers bogus or are my cards just that bad?
 
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