Questions in regards to GTX 970 overclocking

T

thebluecoat

n00b
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Jan 27, 2015
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Hello everyone,

First post! Wondering if I could have some help and have a few of my concerns and questions answered about my new GTX 970 that I just bought 01/26/15. Here's some information about my rig before I begin:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (3.2Ghz @ 3.6Ghz)
RAM: 4GB (2x2) DDR3 (1333Mhz @ 1600Mhz)
GPU: EVGA GTX 970 SSC 4GB w/ ACX 2.0
HDD: 40GB SSD (OS) 1 TB (storage)
MB: Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P Rev 1.0
OS: Windows 8.1 Pro 64-Bit
DISPLAY: Asus 27" @ 1920 x 1080 (Native)
GPU Driver: 347.25

GPU Specifics (stock specs pulled from Newegg):
Core Clock: 1190 Mhz
Boost Clock: 1342 Mhz (Precision X16 KBoost reports 1379Mhz)
Memory Clock: 7010 Mhz
CUDA Cores: 1664
Currently utilizing secondary bios primary has same issues
Voltage: 1218 (reported from Precision x16)

Overclocking software I've been using:
Precision X16: for the overclocking
GPU-Z 0.8.1: checking new performance adjustment values
Furmark 1.115.1.0: to stress test GPU

As I sit and write this post my GPU is idling at 41c with KBoost enabled. My apartment has heat included so my ambient is ~75F just FYI. The problem I'm having is that as soon as I begin the Furmark stress test, my core clock immediately falls to 1139Mhz and fluctuates between that and 1164Mhz. Voltage also drops from reported 1218 to 1018. After running Furmark for about 1 minute my GPU temp is 70c. As soon as I exit Furmark my clocks/voltages go right back up. I have not even modified power target, core clock,memory clock,voltage etc. The only way for me to get close to my boost clock is to increase power target to 110% and then just straightup increase core clock JUST to get to advertised boost clock speeds. wtf?

You can see what I'm talking about visually, from the bottom to the top.
http://imgur.com/a/jrXBx

I'm not the most avid overclocker but after researching a little bit, I read this is called "throttling", and that's how I wound up here to see what the deal with that is. I read a post from someone experiencing the same thing and saw that he was saying that he had to increase his power target to 110% or something to keep it from throttling so much. When I increase my power target to 110% Core clock reports 1215Mhz-1227Mhz, Voltage @ 1050-1056.

So I guess the situations brings the questions:
1) Why does the card throttle like that even if I make a custom fan curve to keep temps below 60c?
2) Why must I increase power target to 110% to get closer to BASE CLOCK
3) Is there anything else I can do to stay above base clock and get closer to boost clock or is this not even possible
4) Should I explore increasing voltages ON TOP of power target to get closer to boost clock/ov?
5) Am I looking at this scenario all wrong or doing something wrong?

I'd love to hear some thoughts and get some help on getting to know this card, and being able to explore overclocking it a little better. Thank you for your time!
 
Because video card makers don't want you running Furmark. Its built into the card to throttle with that program so you don't burn up the card. It's been that way for a few years now.
 
Interesting, did not know that about furmark, which gpu stressing program is recommended to test overclocks?
 
The most picky software I've found is Crysis 1/3. You can be Heaven or Valley stable for days and still get artifacts or driver crashes less than an hour into Crysis 1 or 3. Your best bet is to just simply play intensive games.

As an alternative I suppose you could guess by running heaven/valley for some time and then dialing it back some.
 
3dmark Firestorm, Heaven and Valley if that is your thing. Play your favorite game maxed out or closest settings you can get before it tanks. As noted you don't want to run anything that stresses out the gpu to full load. All it will do is throttle back to keep it running cool.
 
Wow! If that's seriously correct I feel soooooo STUPID!

I mean, I used that program back when I had a GTX 275 but I dont remember "throttling" being a thing. Yeah, are there ANY benchmarking programs that would allow me to test overclocking nowadays?

Also, when you mention they dont want you burning the card up, and its been the way for years now, are you saying that overall all cards nowadays have throttling built in and do not allow for any type of benchmarking?

Still blown away!
 
KILLER_K said:
3dmark Firestorm, Heaven and Valley if that is your thing. Play your favorite game maxed out or closest settings you can get before it tanks. As noted you don't want to run anything that stresses out the gpu to full load. All it will do is throttle back to keep it running cool.
Click to expand...

I know throttling happens to make sure card stays cool, but it's just strange that even when I turned fan up to 100% (havent heard a noise that loud in a LONG TIME) straight AIRPLANE lol.... my temps dropped down to like 50c and the card STILL remained throttled.

So basically full load = throttle no matter what?
 
You will reach the cards TDP long before it overheats. I believe it was like Max 80 - 82° degrees though. But the TDP is 145 watts on the gpu. Power limit is max 110% in MSI Afterburner. So only 10% over factory Power Limit. The gpu doesn't have a lot of wiggle room on it for the TDP.
 
Yep exactly. EVGA's shitty stock BIOS caps power limit to 110%, which may not even be enough to run SSC clocks. See this AnandTech review:

Despite not being temperature limited, what we can see right away is that regardless of the clock speed settings it uses, the GTX 970 FTW is TDP limited under all scenarios. At no point in time are we able to maintain the card’s top boost bin, and instead the card spends its time fluctuating between the boost bins it can hold while maintaining power consumption of 145W. The actual drop off from the maximum boost bin depends heavily on the game; some games average clock speeds close to the maximum, while others have to pull way back.
Click to expand...

Yes I know he reviewed the FTW, but considering the SSC is only like 30MHz behind the FTW, the above still holds.

Just to give you an idea, my Gigabyte 970 runs 1367 boost out the box (this is with them in SLI, individually one can do 1404, the other 1380 something), and can use up to 70% of its 250W power limit set in the BIOS. That's 175W right there. So with a 145W power limit, you'll need at least 120% to even maintain constant SSC clocks.
 
So basically my only options are:

1) Wait for a flashable bios that will allow me to go further than 110% or something?
2) Basically buy their super expensive (for me) GTX 980, which the way I interpret it, is a GTX 970 without the problems such as TDP, and "Memory Gate" (although it exists I dont really care as I know It wont effect me)
 
There's already flashable bios out there for the 970. You can also just modify your own bios with a guide.
 
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