NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Overclocking Video Card Review @ [H]

Great review! OCing all the cards to the max and then evaluating is right on. Not enough to upgrade X-Fire 290x/290 for 1440p gaming, already getting 60fps + on games maxed out for the most part limited by monitor refresh rate. I would see no benefit except for games that don't run well in X-Fire.

Now some multiple card testing, multiple monitor testing would be nice to see as well.
 
According to this a 660ti and 760 are basically even and a 270x is just a wee bit slower like I said.


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And according to this the 270x is a little faster than the GTX760, hence faster than the GTX660 Ti....Dude, trust me...I own both a GTX660 Ti, GTX670 and R9-270x, in newer games especially, with the latest drivers for both, the R9-270x is a little faster overall.

http://pclab.pl/zdjecia/artykuly/chaostheory/2014/10/ryse/charts/ryse_1080p_high.png
 
And according to this the 270x is a little faster than the GTX760, hence faster than the GTX660 Ti....Dude, trust me...I own both a GTX660 Ti, GTX670 and R9-270x, in newer games especially, with the latest drivers for both, the R9-270x is a little faster overall.

http://pclab.pl/zdjecia/artykuly/chaostheory/2014/10/ryse/charts/ryse_1080p_high.png
Lol you find just released game where all AMD cards are doing great to try and prove your point? Please just stop. I made my comment based on numerous actual reviews not to mention they are all so close enough together to not really even matter.
 
Crysis 3 seems like the worst example in the world to me because it doesn't really have any aliasing that's very noticeable. That game with SMAA looks just fine. Now the original Crysis is certainly a candidate for DSR.

SMAA is pretty good, but stack DSR on top of that and it's flawless. Aliasing and shimmering are gone- it looks like those game renders you see.
 
Are you running SLi or surround by any chance? How is performance in those 2 games. They are on my to-buy list.

I have two overclocked 980's but SLI doesn't work on either of those games currently that I'm aware of. Performance is very good on both games, rendered at 2880x1620 and downscaled to 1920x1080 resolution. Alien Isolation runs at 60fps rock solid, I have to lock Ryse at 30fps at that resolution and detail level. You would be hard pressed to find a game better looking than Ryse.
 
Are you running SLi or surround by any chance? How is performance in those 2 games. They are on my to-buy list.

Isolation doesn't need SLI to perform well, My 980 doesn't even go into full boost at 1440p with everything turned up and stays at 60. It's really well optimized and the environments aren't giant open spaces so it's quite easy to run (still looks great through, lighting and smoke effects are great).
 
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I have two overclocked 980's but SLI doesn't work on either of those games currently that I'm aware of. Performance is very good on both games, rendered at 2880x1620 and downscaled to 1920x1080 resolution. Alien Isolation runs at 60fps rock solid, I have to lock Ryse at 30fps at that resolution and detail level. You would be hard pressed to find a game better looking than Ryse.

Damn, thanks for the feedback. I'll wait until I can confirm that SLi and triple screen nv surround works in those games before purchase. I've been burned before with vendor lack of support so I always confirm beforehand. I'm glad it runs well regardless, these cards are beasts. :)

Isolation doesn't need SLI to perform well, My 980 doesn't even go into full boost at 1440p with everything turned up and stays at 60. It's really well optimized and the environments are giant open spaces so it's quite easy to run (still looks great through, lighting and smoke effects are great).

Awesome. It seems like isolation is a good game but the reviews are so strange. Some love and some don't like the game at all. Most who don't like the game complain that the scare and fun wear off because of its length. I'm thinking that if you pace yourself and take your time instead or rushing through the game (like the reviewers had to) then it'll be more enjoyable.
 
Great review as always guys... Thanks for the Article this was exactly what i was hoping for before order my Gigabyte GTX 980 G1..

what its even more impressive its the stock gtx 980 beating the OC'd 780TI..!!! flawless.!

Not true. From the article

We have learned many things today from this evaluation. We have learned that overclocking a GeForce GTX 780 Ti does outperform a stock default clocked GeForce GTX 980. Where the GTX 980 outperforms a stock clocked 780 Ti, overclocking that 780 Ti does push performance over a stock GTX 980 again.



We then found that overclocking the GeForce GTX 980 flips the tables again and leap frogs over the overclocked GeForce GTX 780 Ti. An overclocked GTX 980 will outperform an overclocked GTX 780 Ti around 10%, depending on the game, sometimes more, sometimes less.
 
Nice, really wanting to test one out. Will have to wait for custom 980's though or maybe Ti version, as my 780 Ti classy is hitting 1330 Mhz. Will have to build the funds =(
 
Great article - really helped me how to understand why I was having trouble overclocking my 980GTX. It's definitely different than any other overclocking I've done in the past. Huge performance gains too! :)
 
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I just ordered two Strix 970's for the time being. Just can't justify the extra $200 per card knowing a 980TI 8gb is in the wings somewhere. Have a few game rigs so when the heavy guns come out the 970's go int the secondary rig.
 
I just ordered two Strix 970's for the time being. Just can't justify the extra $200 per card knowing a 980TI 8gb is in the wings somewhere. Have a few game rigs so when the heavy guns come out the 970's go int the secondary rig.

I have the Strix 980 and I just want to tell you that the cooling on these cards is insane, better than Asus, Evga, Zotac and others.
 
Yet it overclocks no better than the reference 980.

mine runs 1390 out of the box with boost, and I can hit 1.5ghz with stable temps without any throttling, what reference card are you using that can do the same? the one you wish you had?


anyway, I thought the MSI was called the Strix, lol, I don't have the Asus, I have the MSI Gaming G4, but it performs just a tad better than the Strix according to reviews, but the Strix is just as good, by far the best two right now.
 
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mine runs 1390 out of the box and I can hit 1.5ghz with stable temps without any throttling, what reference card are you using that can do the same? the one you wish you had?
Look at reviews and you will see the 980 Strix on average will oc no better than reference. My reference card will do do 1516/7800 with only a couple of 1-2 sec throttles during Firestrike due to TDP. This is not about your personal card or my personal card though and again I am looking at what the average ones do in reviews. The Strix is a great card and very quiet and cool just saying that it does not really raise the oc bar over reference like for example the Gigabyte G1 and MSI Gaming 980 cards typically do.
 
Thanks for the article! OC'd cards vs OC'd cards, and LOL @ the 780ti being kicked to the curb by an OC'd 980

man I want a 980, the fact that they overclock like a beast is just awesome. I wonder if the Gigabyte 980 G1 with triple fans at 100% might be usable at 1.5ghz

I have a gigabyte reference 980 gtx right now and it's usable at 1500 mhz in every single game i've tested it in. It's rock solid and i've not seen any of these 980's do worse than 1450 mhz. So it seems they ALL overclock like a beast.

I forgot to mention the fan barely spins up to keep it at 70C
 
Just bought a ref. cooled zotac for the msrp of $549. It has the 2 six pin power connectors, I just added +200 and +300 on memory right out of the box, base is now 1327 boost 1416. I see it boosting on benchmarks to 1440. Fan is on auto, stock voltage. The card is working great. I don't know where the upper limit is, but I am pleased because I paid the original asking price of the ref card. No coil whine either. I sold my 780ti for just over $400 and kicked in $150 for the upgrade. The 780ti was not a good clocker.....
 
Just bought a ref. cooled zotac for the msrp of $549. It has the 2 six pin power connectors, I just added +200 and +300 on memory right out of the box, base is now 1327 boost 1416. I see it boosting on benchmarks to 1440. Fan is on auto, stock voltage. The card is working great. I don't know where the upper limit is, but I am pleased because I paid the original asking price of the ref card. No coil whine either. I sold my 780ti for just over $400 and kicked in $150 for the upgrade. The 780ti was not a good clocker.....
I assume you raised the power limit to the max? If not then that should be the first step when overclocking.
 
Yes I did, boost stays at 1440 on 3dmark11, temps in 60s, 1 test went to 72 max, fan left on default auto. No throttling here. I will try higher settings when I get a chance. I just cranked it this amount to see if it was ok at these speeds.
 
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