How do I raise the voltage for my gtx 285?

Ninja Please! · 11 May 2009 at 22:44

Hey mates,
Probably a stupid question but that never stopped me before

so as of now I can only get a stable overclock of 702/1584/2600(ish) on my gtx 285. I was told I could possibly get to 720 but would need to increase my voltage. What and where voltage? In bios? On an OC utility? What specifically am I looking for and how much should I increase it? Or was the information bad?

Infernum · 12 May 2009 at 00:04

EVGA have a utility on their website. I dno if it works with none EVGA cards though

Speedy Pete · 12 May 2009 at 01:53

you could always volt mod your card, google it

psychas · 12 May 2009 at 10:04

no need of volt mod anymore when u have : VoltageFactory

uv · 12 May 2009 at 10:14

Use the EVGA tuner.. it works on non-EVGA cards.

Tutorial:
http://67.90.82.13/forums/showthread.php?t=215521&highlight=softmod

Greebo · 12 May 2009 at 10:25

psychas said:
no need of volt mod anymore when u have : VoltageFactory

Except the program say it doesn;t work with GTX285 or GTX260 55nm

I am trying to find one that works with my GTX260 55nm but it has different power modules to the other cards (and I guess the GTX285 does too?)

Greebo · 12 May 2009 at 10:32

uv said:
Use the EVGA tuner.. it works on non-EVGA cards.

Tutorial:
http://67.90.82.13/forums/showthread.php?t=215521&highlight=softmod

Same problemm all cards except GTX285 and GTX260 55nm

Speedy Pete · 12 May 2009 at 12:05

go buy some resistors and get soldering!

reflux · 12 May 2009 at 12:08

Be a man and edit the BIOS!

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Video-Tweak/NVIDIA-BIOS-Editor.shtml

*I take no responsibility if your manliness turns the 285 into a paperweight

Greebo · 12 May 2009 at 12:18

reflux said:
Be a man and edit the BIOS!

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Video-Tweak/NVIDIA-BIOS-Editor.shtml

*I take no responsibility if your manliness turns the 285 into a paperweight

Except it won't work again!

GeForce GTX 285 has a voltage circuitry that works with its BIOS and it has only two voltage levels, which are 1.05V and 1.15V.

And to let the GeForce GTX 285 work well it is set at highest voltage available being 1.15V and there is no higher voltage available through the BIOS. That is how the BIOS's from NVIDIA based cards work, depending on the voltage circuitry it will come with certain voltage levels, in the case of the GeForce GTX 285 that is only two.

So you can only drop the voltage on the GTX 285 and GTX 260 55nm cards. Only choice is a hard volt mod.

psychas · 12 May 2009 at 12:34

Greebo said:
Except the program say it doesn;t work with GTX285 or GTX260 55nm

I am trying to find one that works with my GTX260 55nm but it has different power modules to the other cards (and I guess the GTX285 does too?)

1.1 works with 285

Greebo · 12 May 2009 at 12:40

Also on a final note, voltage does not help shader clocks, only core clocks. Heat is the killer for max shaders and also affects core to a degree.

In my experimentation core doesn't make much difference without shader speed.

So i doubt getting your core to 720 will be that much of a benefit in real world fps.

I found that by keeping my gtx260 below 50C i could have the core and shaders stable on the next "setting".

Once it went over 50C then the overclock failed.

Greebo · 12 May 2009 at 12:47

psychas said:
1.1 works with 285

Does it? I might have to give it a try then cause if it works with a GTX285 it should now work with a GTX260 55nm.

Just being to his website and the author hasn't listed it as being added in version 1.1 and the release notes for it still says:

[-----------------]
[ Hardware Needed ]
[-----------------]

> GTX260 65nm
> GTX280
> GTX295
> 9800GX2
> HD4850
> HD4870
> HD4870X2
> HD3870X2
> a graphic card using the Volterra VT11xx regulator

!!GTX260 55nm doesn´t work!!
!!GTX285 doesn´t work!!

Where have you seen that it works? :confused:

wolvers · 12 May 2009 at 13:18

Greebo, if you're saying that increasing the voltage doesn't help shader clocks and that only shader clocks give more performance then is there any point in overvolting unless temps can be kept below 50C? :confused:

psychas · 12 May 2009 at 13:49

it says it does not work but i seen in other forum that it does. well u can try anyway.

If it finds your Poll Registers then its working

Greebo · 12 May 2009 at 14:01

wolvers69 said:
Greebo, if you're saying that increasing the voltage doesn't help shader clocks and that only shader clocks give more performance then is there any point in overvolting unless temps can be kept below 50C?

No. In a nutshell. Although something for free is always nice but over volting increases temps = more likely your shader clock will fail and you have to clock it back. Don't get me wrong, core does make a difference but not as much as shader speed.

Therefore only good in conjunction with superior cooling IMO. But by the time you have spent £60-£80 on a full water block assuming you have water in your system, you might as well have bought the next card up or spent that money elsewhere to speed up your system.

Look at my watercooled GTX260. The shaders will not go to the next step but I suspect the core still has lots to go but won't increase further since that is the limit with that shader clock speed.

wolvers · 12 May 2009 at 15:26

Greebo said:
I suspect the core still has lots to go but won't increase further since that is the limit with that shader clock speed.

Have you tried unlocking the two to see how much higher the core will go? It's the only way my core will go up to 720.

Shocky-FM · 12 May 2009 at 16:24

wolvers69 said:
Greebo, if you're saying that increasing the voltage doesn't help shader clocks and that only shader clocks give more performance then is there any point in overvolting unless temps can be kept below 50C?

Well before messing with voltages you should be looking to install better cooling first, once you've reached the limit there then increase voltages as thats where it's going to help and you know temps won't be an issue.

Sean_UK · 12 May 2009 at 16:35

PWM chips which can be software manipulated via the Voltage Tuner are not present within 260 55nm, 275 & 285 since they opted to use a cheaper PWM chip as part of the production cost cutting iirc? So there for EVGA's software volt mod tool will not work, well unless things have now changed since the tool first appeared back in Feb? Only possible way to tweak the volts is via BIOS or hardware mods.

Ninja Please! · 13 May 2009 at 15:13

Well 702/1584/2500 only gave me a slight increase in fps, but I do mean slight. Almost rather pointless compared to a cpu OC. I imagine OC'ing a gfx card would be more beneficial if my card was crap. It made a world of difference on my 7900gt.

btw- the evga utility is what I have been using this whole time, It just did not have an option for voltage. Nor will it allow me to test an OC. So I'll just stick with the xxx edition clocks. It makes me feel like I got something for nothing at least.