Average 980m overclock?

Need some help here guys, not a tech savy and I've been trying to overclock my 980m to play Witcher 3 on high/ultra details. So far I'm managing 50 - 60 FPS anywhere but the major towns.

My overclock was +135/+200 with the MSI afterburner. However, the gpu temps are a bit on the high side, 85 - 88 degrees.

Other than that, the game seems to freeze once in a while (though I don't think thats a problem caused by overclocking) and just last night, the Nvidia Driver crashed and recovered.

Any ideas? Should I lower the overclock?

 

Crash and recovery could be too high overclock/voltage/power related. But with the crap drivers released by Nvidia lately you never know.

 

Even with the overvoltage I can't get more than 150mhz overclock.

I guess my chip is not a good one for Overclock cause I have tried many diferent things with no luck.

I'm with Prema Vbios too.

Shame as I expected to overclock quite a lot from what I read about 980M.

 

980m is not really a great overclocker in general at stock voltage or even a slight bump. If Zymphad is really running at +0.5V that is a 50% voltage increase for only an additional 10% improvement over what most can get with +120-130MHz at stock voltage.

 

+0,5V, is that even possible? I thought he meant +50mV, which is abit low for a +250 MHz OC, jealous if true.

 

If +50mV then that's better, because +.5V would likely fry the system in no time. Ticking time bomb, matter of days or weeks not years. +50mV is minor. But I haven't found those slight voltage increments to make a whole lot of difference either unless you're lucky with the silicon lottery.

 

That was my thought, but he clearly wrote "0.5 overvolt". @Zymphad watch your precious there

I can do max +137,5 mV with Premas vBios but I got cold feet at +72,5 mV and haven´t got +250 MHz stable. I guess +137,5 mV is "safe", at least for short term benching. But I´m more interested in what I can do while gaming for hours straight.

 

Right. Honestly, I don't see the need for much OC with the 980m. It can chew up pretty much every game out there without issue. About 10-15% OV should be "safe", although likely will degrade life of product by about same %.

 

Well I saw a decent increase in fps with +200 MHz (+12,5 mV ov). Generally +10-20 min fps and +10 avg fps.

Spoiler: 980M gaming perf

I might try up to +100 mV overvolt and see if there´s any gain, that´s still below 10% ov.

 

Nice. How did you benchmark Dying Light and Dragon Age Inquisition, or did you use the built-in benchmark in DA:I?

 

In Dying Light I went to the same densely populated square in Old Town and just swung away. I actually lost 1 avg fps with a gpu oc, it really shouldn´t be a cpu bottleneck (I´d hope with a 4790K, even if Dying Light) so not sure what´s up with that. But min fps went up from 40 to 48.

In DA:I it was at the very beginning, running from the bridge to the end of the second fight. Perhaps not the most demanding part of the game (I wouldn´t know, only 1 hour in so far), but it´s repeatable and contains combat and rift-meteors (yes I made that word up).

 

Gonna do more of testing today after getting ink done

EDIT: tried OC'ing my card but it keeps crashing to where it reset my pc into optimus mode. the card isn't dead though cos i got it back.

Tried 1320/1450 @ 1.075v and it crashed after about 30 mins

 

looks like even 1303/1353 @ 1.075v for 2 hours of the heaven benchmark will cause it to crash and reboot the AW17 into optimus mode and not detect the 980M

 

what's a good voltage for a 980M with the svl7 bios?

 

Stock voltage is 1.062v for most cards. You're going to have to venture near 1.1v for a 1300 core.

 

ok, so the stock vBIOS i downloaded from the Prema's site is 1.050v, Prema's OC mod is 1.062v, svl7/jonksss OC mod is 1.000v so I am confused as to why svl7/jonksss lowered the voltage but increased the core clock on their vbios mod.

I have it clocked at 1250/1350 (5400 effective) @ 1.062v and it seems to be stable. i have tried 1230/1350 @1.062v and it lasted well over 3 hours just looping the heaven benchmark.

I have tried venturing into the 1300+ with 1.1v and all have failed to be stable.

 

Okay voltage is set based on the ASIC quality of each individual chip by the stock vbios. Prema codes his to the average ASIC for Clevo cards which is why he uses 1.062v.

Svl7 always drops the voltage to 1v in his mods because most cards can do it and be stable and if they aren't stable, you can adjust the voltage up to compensate.

If you can not get the cards stable at 1300 core, you've either got a driver problem causing overclock instability or your cards just can't hold that core frequency. Silicon does degrade... Look at all the first generation Haswell chips that would go from being stable 24/7 at 4.6GHz to not even being stable at 4.4GHz anymore. Voltage has a lot to do with it. You want to use the absolute lowest voltage you can to keep the core stable but unfortunately sometimes the silicon just degrades and a card won't hold the same clocks anymore.

 

Oh ok. I think the current clocks I have should be fine.

EDIT: My GPU's ASIC Quality is 71.4% and yet it couldn't hold stable at the default clocks in the svl7 vbios.

 

Yeah 1v is too low for 1200... I have a 78.8% ASIC card and am doubtful it could do 1200 at 1v...

 

it couldn't hold stable in the heaven benchmark for not even 5-10 minutes or in some games using the svl7 vbios, so bumping the voltage to 1.062v (which i also had for the 780M on a 240w PSU) can do 1230-1250 fine with the memory clock bumped to 1350 (5400 effective). i'd love to push the memory to 1500 (6000) but i also think that's doubtful.
the performance of the 980M at these clocks is quite decent. i have tested these clocks with both prema's mod and svl7's mod and they're both stable so i think that confirms the voltage bump does the trick but the reality is there's a limit to the card so 1230-1250/1350 @ 1.062v is the best and safest i am willing to go.

 

Yeah I run mine +100/+100 @ stock voltage. Perfect for me, perfectly stable, and doesn't run as retarded hot as they did... Witcher 3 runs them between 80 and 88 with an 85 average which is higher than I'd like but there is maybe a 2C temp difference between stock and that bump.

BTW I just went and checked... Highest I could get on the core...

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/3929982

If nVidia didn't nerf the power circuitry I know these cards could do much more. But I'll live, they burn through everything except TW3 and its Hairworks nonsense at a steady 60+

 

the heaven benchmark never went above 73 degC really even for 3+ hours. most games run below 60 degC though some are running at 30fps and not 60fps.

 

Something isn't right with my cards... They started out at 78C auto fans that never kicked up... And now I have to run max fans to keep them 81~82C on stock vbios. Best guess is when I moved the thermal pads after seeing the folding from sloppy Sager stock work,I got oils on them and need new pads... So the heat from those inductors is transferring to the core.

Either way, anything under 87C is in spec from nVidia and the core has a 105C max... So I use afterburner to set 88C max and haven't had an issue.

 

It's an odd card. I honestly get cooler temps overvolting.

 

Are you sure it's not throttling?

 

Definitely not the case for me. I have a custom voltage vBIOS that runs my cards at ASIC... Still get hot. Personally think Its an inductor issue but I set core and mem +100/100 and temp target at 87C and I don't have issues anymore. @Prema is amazing with how much work he put into my system. And yes I've paid for more than a few beers. But that's fine, Prema is the Clevo master.

But I doubt it would change in your case. My cards have the highest ASIC Prema has seen from Clevo cards. They can run 1226 core at stock ASIC voltage. That's 1.018v and 1.043v...

 

I'm just surprised at how poorly the vRAM overclocks on most 980m's. Most barely get 10% or 5500MHz.

 

is there a way to go high than the base clock of +130mhz and in nvidia inspector it says my default clock and memory are 1038mhz and 2505 mhz and for the memory oc in nvidia inspector the memory clock offset only goes to +2505 so I can't oc it at all? and I can only oc by +135mhz for the base clock why can't I go higher than that and why can't I OC the memory at all? thanks

 

You need unlocked vbios to get above the 135mhz limit on the core. Aside from benchmarking, I wouldn't even recommend it.

 

I respectfully disagree. @Prema has made the perfect vbios. +100/+100 should be stable on most systems at stock voltage...use your favorite program to set temp target at 87C and push max fans. It's stable 24/7. Svl7 sets the voltage to 1 which is too low even for my 78.8% ASIC card to do... but the benefit of no throttling is worth the flash. As far as his vbios is concerned.

Stock vbios drops from boost because of power limit. Prema removed the power limit entirely. Even at stock the cards are noticeably faster and more stable than the stock vbios.

 

I don't have any of those problems with it overclocked as much as I can and the temps stay around 64-65c fans on high no throttling at all

 

I do agree with the benefit of the super 100/100 trick, though I was able to do that with my stock vbios as far as I could remember, which is why I kept using it with PRema's.

Then again Prema's works better than stock regardless, with tweaks like you meantion, the temp change for throttling etc. As long as users don't get overly crazy with overclocks haha

 

Maybe ryzeki meant not recommending going above +135MHz on the core.

Edit: late...

 

why would you recommend not going over 135mhz if you aren't having any problems with temps artifacts etc? Also how do you OC the gpu memory without having prema vbios mod? I can go +135 with no problems at all...its cold in my house I also use a laptop bed table tray that has built-in cooling fans like a cooling pad and I turn fans on max even though I don't really need to....I also have the cool master SF-19 that I haven't even used at all except to plug-in and make sure everything works on it, I just haven't had the need for that much extra cooling and I got it for free with the 120hz display panel when I bought this laptop (sig)

 

Because going above 135 MHz needs to flash a vbios over the stock one, and often needs a voltage increase to be stable. And while it may be safe to run with more voltage in your card temperature wise, it can degrade the chip quicker, so it is not always advised.

 

Honestly I have two cherry picked cards... And 1290 was the highest I could get them... There was voltage room... But nVidia took away VRMs to make it impossible for the card to reach its potential. So really flashing the vbios just is for the purpose of stopping the power limit throttle for me.

 

by the time the GPU loses its performance you may as well be looking into a new PC anyway.

 

power limit throttle whats that and why was it happening to you?

 

Its not about temps, but power. 980m starts consuming power like crazy as you overclock.

I did runs at +235 core and +450 memory. Depending on the bench, that could be shutdown do to exceeding the PSU for a lot, for too long. Temps were still under control though.

Additionally, due to how maxwell handles power, the overclock is not guaranteed to boost up in a game. We use the 100/100 oc because it seems to lock the core to boost speeds.

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hmm....is that why my laptop keeps shutting down (then restarts in optimus mode) when i try over 1300MHz on the core? anything under i find it's OK on a 330w PSU but any more that 1300 it's a bust.

 

@thegh0sts so are you using prema mod to OC your gpu? I am mostly just testing and seeing what I can OC to and still be stable with low temps, then I just go back to stock settings for everyday use because there really hasn't been a reason I would need the extra power of OC'ing for any games I have played.....I get really good fps in every game I have tried at max'd out graphics settings, just another reason why it would be nice to have my 120hz display panel installed :/...really wish xotic would install for me :/ I found 1 company that said they would do the install but only after my warranty is over :/........

What software do you guys recommend using for having the most control over all possible settings with general/moderate ease of use? I have used Afterburner/Nvidia Inspector (which I am not really sure about it seems like I may have an old version but I am not sure) also the new hotkey app I have comes with a gpu oc app...which is very simple to use...as I said I am mostly just doing this for fun and to see what capabilities my card has, I am not using these settings for everyday use as I have no need to use an OC...today I started playing Black Mesa it is like an add on/extencion to Half-Life 2 (which by the way Half-life/CS are my all time fav games ever been playing it since the orig hl came out and started playing counter-strike in beta 3) so it runs on an older engine with not the best graphics by any means for some reason I guess the game only supports 1 gpu or isn't sli capable and I had all graphic settings max'd out and got a constant 300 fps lol with ease the highest temps the 1 gpu got to was 58c....anyways sorry for rambling just trying to learn more this laptop bed table tray that I have that has a built-in laptop cooling pad is amazing anyone who has a disability that requires them to be in bed alot should be required to own it.. here is the one I bought.. check it out if anyone is interested http://www.ebay.com/itm/271812520154?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

define "low". my 980m at my current clocks (1250 on the core and 1350(effective 5400) on the memory at 1.075v) maxes out at about 73 deg C when running at max clocks - this is the same regardless of which vbios mod i use: prema's mod and svl7's mod provide the same temps at the same clocks. i ran these clocks with the heaven bench for 3 hours and they were stable for a single GPU. for me at least anything over 1300 on the core is considered unstable. i currently use prema's mod.

PX works the best out between it and AB - mainly because PX allows for voltage control while AB does not. though both apps will add to the CPU and memory loads so nvidia inspector might be more beneficial as it doesn't need to be active: you just need to create a profile shortcut and place in the start up folder (i do that just to be sure). if you use prema's mod you may find that you won't be able to prioritize for the GPU temp as prema removed the cause of the GPU throttling from what i've been told. svl7's gives you full control though i find that the 1v for the core is not enough to power my 980M and will just crash.

I find both mods to be useful though it's just a matter of which suits your needs. I pretty much flashed mine as soon as i got it in the mail from @woodzstack.

 

I would say in the range of what your max temp is what I would consider "low" if highly OC'd, Yah I might flash prema mod after my warranty is up but from what I have heard if I change the bios or vbios it could void my warranty and no reason for me to do that just so I can have fun tinkering around....when you say PX I am assuming you are talking about EVGA PrecisionX 16? I have that I got it through steam so I am not sure if it is any different than the stand alone or not but I have it I just haven't really used it because I did not like the "skin" or whatever its called that makes it look all fancy...to me it just makes it harder to use and understand the controls I just really don't like the lay-out of it...if there was a way to just give it a regular standard look like Nvidia Inspector's layout that would be nice....so you use all 3 of those or you just have all 3 of them like I do (lol) but use a startup profile for inspector to set your settings to 1250/1350 1.075v... (so once you have modded vbios that then allowed these programs PX AB NI to go beyond the +135MHz that is usually the max?)...sorry I am a lil confused when you say "if you use prema's mod you may find that you won't be able to prioritize for the GPU temp...." what do you mean by that? and what do you mean by "prema removed the cause of the GPU throttling..." what gpu throttling are you talking about???

Sorry for all the noob questions just trying to learn the only way I know how (by asking questions )... Now is this 980m of yours in the Alienware that you have in your sig? because a this might be a lil off topic but have you used IC diamond? If so do you now prefer the Gelid? What were your temps before Gelid (with IC Diamond???) and what are they like now with the Gelid? How much different is the application of applying this to the gpu/cpu compared to other thermal pastes? Just curious for years down the road (and who knows there might be no reason to get this as something better might be available by then)...I don't really plan on doing much to my system until the warranty is up because I don't want to void it so the only reason I am opening up my laptop is to do the monthly required cleanings (in order to keep warranty valid you are suppose to clean fans..etc of dust every month) dunno if you are interested but I have a Plextor m5m 256gb mSata drive for sale, I never even used it I bought it before I got my laptop and I ended up getting a diff deal than I orig thought I was going to so I am left with this drive and no place to put it, I actually got it from HTWingNut you can contact him if you want more info in my sig.. Thanks for all the help sorry if they are stupid questions gotta learn some how..

 

I've used AB a few times on older cards like the radeon hd 6950 oc to do in game recording (which adds to the CPU load). I've used PX 4.2.1 for a while now but then switched to PX 16 when i got the 980M. Only in the last few years have i started to use nvidia inspector but mostly it has been PX but now trying nvidia inspector. there's no point in running two at once as one PX will pretty much override nvidia inspector. i currently use an nvidia inspector shortcut in my start up folder, it's works fine i think.

let me clarify the GPU temp prioritization with prema's mod. if you use nvidia inspector and check the "prioritize GPU temp" and restart the pc or the app the checkbox will become unchecked. this is because in their mod they disabled the TDP limiter and decreased the max allowed GPU temp to 92 deg C. i asked them here: http://forum.techinferno.com/clevo/3119-[bios-vbios-mods]-prema-mod-stock-289.html#post137681

if you use prema's mod with PX 16 it'll show the GPU temp slider at 0 when it was set to about 90 or 92 and that kinda annoyed me.

yes, this is the same 980m that's in the sig. i have never used IC diamond as it can potentially scratch your components nor could i get a hold of any at retail. I find gelid extreme to be quite handy and keeping temps down along with altering the fan tables to control the CPU and GPU temps. in some ways thermal paste is not a total solution to temp problems, it's a combination of decent thermal paste and taking control of the fan speeds.

when i got the laptop it came with a 780m, the temps on the stock paste compared to using gelid extreme was about a 5-10 deg C drop in favour of gelid and controlling when the fans spin up was also a factor in a game's max temps.

 

sorry one last thing what does "prioritize GPU temp" do? Sorry I just got nvidia inspector yesterday so I haven't fiddled with it much....does this some how make the computer try to lower temps? not sure what its for or what it does so I am just kinda guessing here, and hey thanks so much for helping me here with all my questions, in some of these programs there are just so many different settings and controls its overwhelming, having been using computer/laptops for forever I have a basic general knowledge of everything but I lack knowledge in the small details and niche settings +2 thanks so much

 

it's a limit where if it reaches that point in temps it'll begin to throttle.

EDIT: with everything at factory stock (stock paste and BIOS controlled fan tables) the 780M would idle in the 40s. with gelid extreme + fan control via hwinfo i can get it into the mid 30s or even high 20s if i am lucky....i think the lowest i have seen a GPU is about 28-29 deg C at idle but mostly is around 30-35 deg C.

 

Stock vbios has confined power consumption limits. When you load the cards down, they can hit that limit and the core will throttle. Prema removed that from his mod entirely so it's not an issue but as has been pointed out, these cards can suck down some serious power.

 

Sry but what did u say ur ASIC is for both ur cards?


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78.8% and 71.4 (I'm not 100% on the second card it may actually be 72%)

 

Mine are close to that I'm not home now but the ASIC is just a rating of how well it could be overoclocked? From what I've read so u should beable to oc more than most? But u only oc 100/100 why? And how did u get "cherry picked" cards? Lol


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*edit'd so I didn't double post*

@Ethrem Okay I am home now and my ASIC score's are 72.6% & 73.8% are those scores any good? I am not aware of what most people have on the 980m cards...thanks