OC vs non-OC card

If you buy pre-OC GPU, can you still further OC yourself afterwards?

 

If the vBios is not locked you can. Usually you can

 

Thanks. And so, if they are both at the same price, (don't ask me how but they are), does it matter which one I choose between pre-OC and not pre-OC gpu?

 

im suprised no one has said this but overclocked cards have less headroom..

 

Do they? You confirmed this for yourself? Thank you for the info.

 

silicon lottery

 

They only thing you're really buying yourself by getting a factory overclocked card is an assurance that you will at LEAST get that amount of an overclock from the nVidia factory spec clocks for the chip and whatever OC the OEM applies to the memory over those specs. If the card isn't stable for some reason you can return or RMA it. If you buy a card that runs at stock clocks and it doesn't overclock, you're either SOL or fraudulently returning it to try to roll the dice and get a better one in the "silicon lottery".

I bought an OC version Strix 2070 since it was exactly the same price (it might have been $10 less I can't recall) as the non-OC cards when I bought it. Asus actually has software that will take about 20 mins or so to try to find a higher frequency by using an algorithm. I think it got a little better, but I haven't actually spent the time to tweak it at all, I'm happy with it as is.

EDIT: and the reason @JRE84 says they have "less headroom" is just some math and statistics fudging. Of course it theoretically (again, silicon lottery can make this a moot point, but on average the math works) has "less" headroom since it's already at a higher baseline for the same exact chip. It's not like an OC and non-OC version have a better chance of seeing a higher CEILING.

 

Makes sense. Cheers!