Voltages and Overclocking Advice?

[Stev3FrencH]

Longevity. That is what I am hoping for on my SLI Titan X setup, at least 2-3 years anyway. But I am also looking for max performance. I can overclock both cards to around 1380 on stock voltage but I have a thirst for more power now that I am running at 4k. In terms of overclocking and adding voltage, how does this affect longevity of the cards? If temps are under control, can I add voltage to try and get over that 1400mhz and higher mark without worrying about killing these cards? I see people always dumping the max offset on the voltage and it makes me wonder how long they plan on keeping them, or if there is really anything to worry about.

 

[Araxie]

voltage its the last resource you should touch in maxwell as it trigger the TDP limits faster... what temps are you getting in the cards? as the primary limiting factor its the temperature and trust me.. the cards start to throttle way before 80C... personally when overclocking those cards I would go just straight to a BIOS mod, you can mod it yourself or pick another one of the pre-made edited for other users.. a modded BIOS with higher Power limits and custom table for clocks are the way to go to max out the performance of a 980TI/Titan X im right now making some adjustment for my own 980TI.. as I always like to mod my own BIOS..

 

[Stev3FrencH]

Yeah I noticed the speeds decreasing way before the temp target, and the power limits as you mentioned. However, not all games I have been playing push the card over TDP but do max the core out. Most of my messing around with this has been in single card senarios (before my Titan X's brother was purchased) but in GTA V for instance, I would hit 100% usage but still be around the 85-90% power usage, giving me some room to play with I imagined for some games where this is true.

Basically, I know how voltage will trip up the power usage and lower my clocks in some games, but not all in my experience. I am more concerned with how bad it is to raise the voltage up on the card like I see some forum members here and others in other forums do. I can't really afford to buy GPUs every year when I am buying the highest end equipment, thats why I am looking for the best way to get the most performance without killing the cards, or maybe I am already there...

 

[Armenius]

It's just stability when it comes to the Titan X. You're not really going to get anywhere with added voltage without a modified vBIOS, and by the sounds of your post that is not going to be what you want for longevity.

I also have the EVGA Superclocked. With the stock vBIOS I was able to push an extra 20mV through my Titan X to get more stable clocks without the power limit hurting my max Boost clock that badly, but the consistent clock is worth it. At +100 Core in MSi Afterburner it will stay stable at 1449 MHz with +20mV while gaming with the ACX 2.0+ cooler at 70% fan speed. The most I could get without adding voltage was +70, which equated to bouncing between 1404 and 1419 MHz while gaming. The overclock out of the box combined with the more aggressive Boost table with the SC is already really strong, though.

Remember that you will be limited in SLI by the voltage of the stronger card, though. See which card is running at a lower voltage under load and offset its core clock from the other, higher voltage card by around +20 to start.

Since you're running 4k, don't forget about the memory clock. This card greatly benefits from a memory overclock due to the extra bandwidth. It should be able to run 2000 MHz (8000 effective, +494 in AB) without issue.

 

[Araxie]

you can move all the way the voltage slider as its a offset and it will not use any extra voltage if isn't needed or if its already at max voltage supported by the card.. don't worry you will not kill it..

 

[Stev3FrencH]

you can move all the way the voltage slider as its a offset and it will not use any extra voltage if isn't needed or if its already at max voltage supported by the card.. don't worry you will not kill it..

So what you are saying is the card has a voltage table and if you move the offset over what is defined as the max voltage in this table the card will just hit that max and not go any higher?

Sorry if this is explained somewhere else, pretty new to messing with voltages

 

[Araxie]

So what you are saying is the card has a voltage table and if you move the offset over what is defined as the max voltage in this table the card will just hit that max and not go any higher?

Sorry if this is explained somewhere else, pretty new to messing with voltages

that's correct..

 

[Stev3FrencH]

that's correct..

Ok, thanks for helping me out! I guess here goes nothing. I am on air so I wont be pushing it to much more on the core, but I did notice anything over 70-80+ on the core at stock voltage was too much for my SC's. I am really just tempted at seeing that 1400mhz number on both cards when running them, but I wanted them to be stable as well.

 

[Araxie]

what temperatures are you getting?.. try to keep it below 70C and you see a bump in clocks..

 

[Stev3FrencH]

They are running about 69 and 71 under max load. I have a fairly aggressive fan profile setup to do this though. I had set it higher in the past to keep the boost clock up but it's so loud I couldnt stand it. (I sit with my PC at arm level about a foot away from me.)

 

[Armenius]

Should get some watercooling on those bad boys. Is EVGA still offering the hybrid cooler? I haven't seen it in stock in a long time.

 

[Araxie]

I would just buy a Corsair HG10 GTX for maxwel cards.. those with blower seems to work flawless..

 

[Stev3FrencH]

Well I have thought about it, but my case really limits the amount of radiators I can mount. I already have an H100i on my CPU. I think I might just try to be content with what I have going for now. I was more just concerned with how voltage affects the longevity of these cards.