GPU stability testing

[Wheresatom]

Let me start by saying I know very little about computer overclocking and even less about GPU overclocking. I figured out how to overclock my CPU to jack up the points per day on that pretty nicely. I have also overclocked my shaders on my GPU to increase that production.

It has been said for a while that if a CPU is 24 hours stable on PRIME, it may mean nothing when FAH opens and gets going.

Is the same similar with the GPU client? If it can run that, can I feel pretty safe going into Crysis with the same settings and playing? I have 2 profiles set up in the Precision program from EVGA. One for folding has a higher shader and manual fan at 65% and reduced core and memory timings being they do little for folding. I then bring up the core and memory and reduce shaders for crysis, while setting the fan to auto in case it needs to go above 65%.


Would I be better off just leaving things as they are in folding if I play games? Or should I keep doing as I have been doing. I have been nervous to tax the card much. The stupid game actually freezes and shuts down my computer on occasion, only in the menu. Not sure whats going on there...

Could the GPU overclock be a culprit?

 

[BillR]

Let me start by saying I know very little about computer overclocking and even less about GPU overclocking. I figured out how to overclock my CPU to jack up the points per day on that pretty nicely. I have also overclocked my shaders on my GPU to increase that production.

It has been said for a while that if a CPU is 24 hours stable on PRIME, it may mean nothing when FAH opens and gets going.

Is the same similar with the GPU client? If it can run that, can I feel pretty safe going into Crysis with the same settings and playing? I have 2 profiles set up in the Precision program from EVGA. One for folding has a higher shader and manual fan at 65% and reduced core and memory timings being they do little for folding. I then bring up the core and memory and reduce shaders for crysis, while setting the fan to auto in case it needs to go above 65%.


Would I be better off just leaving things as they are in folding if I play games? Or should I keep doing as I have been doing. I have been nervous to tax the card much. The stupid game actually freezes and shuts down my computer on occasion, only in the menu. Not sure whats going on there...

Could the GPU overclock be a culprit?

Yup, it's very possible to push your folding OC beyond where your video card can game properly.

As to total shutdown, you might want to look at your CPU overclock as well. Prime is a good test but these days folding is tougher to run then prime.

Luck

 

[nomad8u]

Could the GPU overclock be a culprit?

It could be but I wouldn't panic yet.. I don't game much anymore but still do on occasion. What I used to do was set gaming profiles (using Rivatuner but same as precision) like you have setup. GPU-Z is a nice little app to check temps.

Couple things to try. Can you alt-tab out of the game? If so, with your card at stock and fan on auto, start the game and if it doesn't crash, alt-tab out and use GPU-Z or Precision to check temps. If they're not too bad play awhile and check again. If you're able to run the game at stock settings with no problems it may be your OC. If not the game might not like the drivers.

If it works at stock, try again with some mild OC'n. I'd suggest for gaming OCs do the core/shaders linked and don't raise them too high at once. Go slow and try the game again while checking temps. ATITool is a nice little app for checking stability and temps. I wouldn't use it to OC Nvidia cards even though it's supposed to work but the "scan for artifact" will put a whipping on your card and you can watch the temps while doing it. DON'T try this while foldin though...

 

[Wheresatom]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Until I get to see and mess around with things with my own stuff, I have a hard time even trying to grasp what others are saying about stuff. The numbers did not mean anything to me core/shaders/memory until very recently. They are still not perfectly clear though.

Question mode:

My GTX 260 maxes out at about 1512 for shaders. These things are in multiples of 54 I have noticed, is that right?

I saw in the 500 gpu countdown that Xilikon had just gotten at 9800GT that had the shaders overclocked to 1836. Whats the difference that allows that card to be overclocked 20% higher? I imagine these clocks are limited by the temperature and voltage, much like with the processor. Any hints on getting mine higher though?

 

[nomad8u]

Until I get to see and mess around with things with my own stuff, I have a hard time even trying to grasp what others are saying about stuff. The numbers did not mean anything to me core/shaders/memory until very recently. They are still not perfectly clear though.

Question mode:

My GTX 260 maxes out at about 1512 for shaders. These things are in multiples of 54 I have noticed, is that right?

I saw in the 500 gpu countdown that Xilikon had just gotten at 9800GT that had the shaders overclocked to 1836. Whats the difference that allows that card to be overclocked 20% higher? I imagine these clocks are limited by the temperature and voltage, much like with the processor. Any hints on getting mine higher though?

It will all come to you as you get more experience playing around with it. Just take your time and work with it. It sounds like you're getting a pretty good handle on it.

Rivatuner (and EVGA Precision since they're the same app) bump clock in about increments of 24 or so if you're careful.

As to why cards clock differently. The different cores (G90, G92, G94 etc) all have different ranges they can tolerate and each card will have its' sweet spot. Use this spreadsheet and look on the "By Card then PPD" tab. Find your card and look at the range of clocks people are using as a guide and then go from there. The numbers should be listed in the core/memory/shaders format.

From what I've seen Xil's 9800GT (same card as the 8800GT) shaders will clock higher than the GTX260. But the 260 has more shaders.

Luck!

 

[capreppy]

I tend to use ATITool for GPU stability testing. When you bring it up, in the lower left hand corner, you'll find "test for artifacts" (or something like that, I remove it when I'm done with stability testing). This will totally stress your GPU. I use as a rule 30 seconds. If I can go 30 seconds without artifacts, then the temperatures are ok and the clock is stable. I'll do one step up at a time and check each for 30 seconds. When I first get artifacts then I know I've gone to far (I have on occassion locked up my computer doing this. just reboot). I go back to the previous step and then run the test for 10 minutes. If I can go 10 minutes, then I'm good. If I still get artifacts, then I keep going back until I can go 10 minutes. I've found that it is a quick and dirty way to find out what the max (either max OC or max shader).

I do use RivaTuner and eVGA Precision. I keep two profiles. One is for gaming and one is for folding. As others have indicated, core and memory play no part in folding. So for the folding profile, I take the core and memory down a couple of notches and take the shader as far as I can go. Near as I can tell, temperatures make a difference in how far you can OC. By taking the core and memory down, that decreases temps a few degrees giving me additional headroom in my shader OC.

Good luck with your OC efforts

 

[Wheresatom]

Based on that spreadsheet it looks like i have mine pretty well maxed out. I may spend a little more time working on getting it a bit higher, both for folding and for games. We will see though.


As far as ATITool goes, it seems to have only low levels of Vista support. Am I mistaken in that? Am I going to run into trouble trying to use that for my computer on Vista?


Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[Xilikon]

If you are talking about the GTX 260, then yes, it's limited in the 1500-1550 MHz range. Mine is at 1512 MHz and that's the farthest I could do I love using EVGA Precision for my overclocking needs since it's simple, no useless shit and get the job done. What I do with this is just click to unlink the clocks and disble automatic fan control, set this to 80% and overclock only the shaders until it get unstable with folding. I back down 1-2 steps (shaders is in 54 MHz steps so that's pretty easy) until it run fine.

I do hope they release the GT200b very soon then I'll step-up for sure. The 55nm is rumored to be able to clock up to 1700-1750 MHz on the shaders, which will bring us to over 8000 ppd.