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Overclocking gtx 470 sli

Caporegime
Joined
14 Dec 2005
Posts
28,067
Location
armoy, n. ireland
Been running a pair of 470's at 751/1502/1684 for over two months now, ran theese clocks at stock voltage, 0.987 according to msi afterburner. Been rock solid in games at theese clocks. Ive had them upto 800/1600 on 1.075. Been experimenting a bit with voltage settings, trying to drop the voltage down and use 800/1600 for my daily gaming clocks. Started on 1.00v, ran heaven 2.1 but it failed, upped the voltage to 1.012, passed 5 loops of heaven at 800/1600/1684. Is the heaven bench any good as a stabilty indicator, dont want to go messing about with furmark tbh, but ill try a few other benchmarks such as 3d mark and various games i have installed.
 
Hi Setter my stock voltage is 0.950v - Afterburner, Msi did bring out another Bios for the 470 to lower the voltage so runs a bit cooler. So maybe thats why my OC's are low voltage > 800/1600/2000 - 1.000v > 850/1700/2000 - 1.025v.
 
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Had a quick blast on BFBC2 just now, played without issue, still running on auto fan speed, max temps of 81-80c, 3-4c higher than my stock voltage 751 mhz clocks. Ill try to see if i can get the voltage any lower.

EDIT:Also tried cod bo, no problems either.
 
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With my 5870, 5970 (tri-fire and individually) & now 6950(70)s ... Heaven was/is great for getting the cards up to temp over time and to check an overclock, or so I thought as I had the occasional failure elsewhere it turns out ...

I subsequently found that I had a stable clock once the AVP demo passed a dozen loops or so - and they got a few degrees hotter too so I use that now to tweak at the limit.

This may not apply directly to a Fermi based card though so YMMV.
 
Yep, gonna try a few different benches/games, bc2 works them pretty well and heats em up, cod bo though isnt just as stressfull, 6-7c lower load temps.
 
Hi Setter my stock voltage is 0.950v - Afterburner, Msi did bring out another Bios for the 470 to lower the voltage so runs a bit cooler. So maybe thats why my OC's are low voltage > 800/1600/2000 - 1.000v > 850/1700/2000 - 1.025v.

Hey Oldphart, mine is also 950mv at stock but does 850\1700\1674 @ 1.012v.
I see your memory is OC to 2000, I was advised not to touch the memory, what are your experiences with Ocing the memory please.:)
 
The issue with most of the benchmarks and graphics stability programs is that they are not really using much memory. Hence, when I used to play at 1680x1050 with my GTX470, it could pass any game fine, but fire up Dirt 2 (which uses far more memory than other games with the DX11 settings) and see it crash within 15 minutes.

I'd say Heaven was better than Furmark though - it uses more memory.

Using the Dirt 2 benchmark is probably the best bet (or just play it) for overall testing, just be sure to turn off V-Sync and slam the AA as high as it'll go.
 
I prefer Crysis for this as this was very quick to show me instability problems I thought I never had due to my card running 3D Mark11 and Heaven 2.1 flawlessly.

Dirt 2 by the sounds of it from Marvin sounds good too.
 
I don't find Heaven the best for testing as it tends to have the odd flicker, artifact anyhow even on completely stable clocks - tho if your managing several loops without it crashing or artifacting its a fairly good indication.

I'd agree with Marvin something like the Dirt 2 benchmark with everything turned up is as good as anything short of dedicated test apps. Lost planet 2 benchmark also seems to be fairly sensitive to both core and memory overclocks being pushed too far.

Personally I test each card individually with the EVGA Artifact Scanner (Similiar to furmark). I'll be suprised if you get 800MHz stable under 1.02v tho. TBH I have my cards back on stock for 24x7 as I'm yet to find anything that doesn't run utterly smooth so far with 2x 470 at stock.
 
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Just use demanding games to test, just cause 2, crysis ect. Furmark and the EVGA scanner are over the top, you may artifact in the EVGA scanner but not in any game. Why put volts up because you're not stable in a silly stability tool but 100% stable in the thing that matters..games.
 
Ive noticed that flickering issue in heaven even on stock clocks, dont have crysis anymore though as i never really liked the game tbh. Will give the lost planet 2 and dirt 2 benches a blast, i remember grid with my old 280, it gave the gpu a pretty decent workout. Tbh, i may even still revert back to my known stable 750 mhz stock volt clocks, as they breeze through anything im playing.
 
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Hey Oldphart, mine is also 950mv at stock but does 850\1700\1674 @ 1.012v.
I see your memory is OC to 2000, I was advised not to touch the memory, what are your experiences with Ocing the memory please.:)

Having it at 2000 did give better results, the way l look at it if a review ups the memory as well its got to be ok.
 
Lost planet 2, all settings on highest, dx 11, csaa 32x, 1920x1200.

LP2DX11_2011_02_03_23_21_30_256.jpg


Gpu memory usage maxed out at 1228mb, (highest ive ever seen on theese cards)
 
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