GTX 680 unlocking the volts?

Gregster · 4 Apr 2012 at 10:54

With EVGA precision X, I can get stable clocks of GPU offset of 170 with the mem boosted to 451 (maybe more on this but not tried).

What I do find frustrating is the volts slider. It will only go to 1.175 (at work so excuse me if that figure is wrong). Now if I put the fan onto full, temps will not go over 45C.

Now I know each card is chip dependant but does anybody else feel the card is capable of more? I personally do and would love to be able to up the volts at some stage and even add a waterblock to keep it cooler if needed.

Seeing Zotac releasing a 1.4ghz 680 only confirms what I suspected.

If anybody has any further info/links, I would appreciae it.

Will it be a proggy that could fix the volts or would it need to be a bios flash?

RavenXXX2 · 4 Apr 2012 at 11:00

Don't think the reference 680 has the hardware to allow proper manual voltage control via software. The Zotac is a none-reference design so it will feature all kinds of fancy voltage controllers and regulators to allow big overclocks.

NVIDIA has chosen to use a Richtek RT8802A voltage controller on their card. This is a fairly simple controller which does not offer any monitoring features or software voltage control. Voltages are controlled via VID pins that are directly connected to the GPU.
Also note how the chip sits on its own little PCB, which could hint that this is a modular design that will accept different, more advanced controllers, too.

straxusii · 4 Apr 2012 at 11:03

I know mine is definitely capable of more, if I run heaven at +170 core it runs for a bit then somewhere in the bench it will crash, I just know a touch more volts will probably unlock over +200Mhz.

Given how dynamic the card is I'm not suprised you can't set a fixed voltage. What I would have liked to have seen is, much like the rest of the controls, a + voltage option.

On a separate note I love how these things crash, you just get a message about the d3d device being removed and you are back to desktop, lovely. No hard locks ever for me

straxusii · 4 Apr 2012 at 11:06

Raven, evga precision X shows the current dynamic voltage of the 680 which does change under load as you might expect so the GPU itself is controlling the voltage, I wouldn't rule out voltage change in software just yet unless Nvidia have categorically said it is impossible.

RavenXXX2 · 4 Apr 2012 at 11:11

Wizz at techpowerup says it's not possible and he knows his stuff so I guess going with a none-reference design is the way to go for big overclocks. Don't know why Nvidia went cheap with the voltage controller for such an high-end card, understandable if it was a mid-range card.............

Gregster · 4 Apr 2012 at 11:12

straxusii said:
I know mine is definitely capable of more, if I run heaven at +170 core it runs for a bit then somewhere in the bench it will crash, I just know a touch more volts will probably unlock over +200Mhz.

Given how dynamic the card is I'm not suprised you can't set a fixed voltage. What I would have liked to have seen is, much like the rest of the controls, a + voltage option.

On a separate note I love how these things crash, you just get a message about the d3d device being removed and you are back to desktop, lovely. No hard locks ever for me

I also like how it just crashes to desktop with that error. Also I have had "The driver has stopped responding and has recovered" I used to get that with my 560TI and a bios flash which slightly upped the volts cured that problem.

The workings of GPU's are well above my knowledge.

straxusii · 4 Apr 2012 at 11:14

RavenXXX2 said:
Wizz at techpowerup says it's not possible and he knows his stuff so I guess going with a none-reference design is the way to go for big overclocks. Don't know why Nvidia went cheap with the voltage controller for such an high-end card, understandable if it was a mid-range card.............

Ah OK, I'll take that as good enough. Indeed suprising given this isn't a mid range card :cool:

Gregster · 4 Apr 2012 at 11:23

lol. One thing I seriously don't care about is "low/mid/high range" The card is a beast and capable of being even more beastly.

Seems with that guy at techpowerup, not good then

andybird123 · 4 Apr 2012 at 11:52

the only way to "unlock" the voltage control on the 680 is with a soldering iron

if you look at a reference PCB there are spaces for extra capacitors and such that are empty, you have to do things like fill those and add a dip switch block that adds resistance somewhere in the circuit to fool the 680 in to upping the voltage

there's a write up of how to do it somewhere but I can't find it now

I glazed over after the first 3 things you had to solder and just thought "I'll wait to see what Zotac come out with"!

Rusty0611 · 4 Apr 2012 at 12:08

It'd be nice to get more but apart from benching the only benefit I'd get personally is more frames while 3D gaming. I'm not too fussed though and I'm happy with it at the mo so if it can be unlocked (through some clever means) then excellent

Gregster · 4 Apr 2012 at 12:20

If truth be told, the card is top notch but I hate looking at the heaven 3.0 thread and seeing the top 3 cards

I know it is only a bench but man that does chew away at me....

elrasho · 4 Apr 2012 at 12:29

gregster said:
If truth be told, the card is top notch but I hate looking at the heaven 3.0 thread and seeing the top 3 cards

I know it is only a bench but man that does chew away at me....

lol true nVidia fan

Yeah I know what you mean, my 680 doesn't OC well at all but it doesn enough for me at stock so Im happy with that. Perhaps +125 core +1xx on RAM will help in he future.

Besty · 4 Apr 2012 at 13:46

gregster said:
If truth be told, the card is top notch but I hate looking at the heaven 3.0 thread and seeing the top 3 cards

I know it is only a bench but man that does chew away at me....

I am sure the real-world results for Crysis 2 and Batman AC will be consolation enough for Nvidia fans :>

My 7970 is screaming for mercy trying to catch the 680 at Crysis 2, she cannae take nay 'mare volts captain!

Gregster · 4 Apr 2012 at 13:54

Besty said:
I am sure the real-world results for Crysis 2 and Batman AC will be consolation enough for Nvidia fans :>

My 7970 is screaming for mercy trying to catch the 680 at Crysis 2, she cannae take nay 'mare volts captain!

lol and fair point.

If I am even more truthfull....I actually would be happy to make 3rd, just so I get ahead of Dave Beast

. I think he is 5 points ahead of me and on my last run it crashed on 25/26 arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Still I did beat him in 3Dmark11 Score so fair I guess.

I hate you Dave Beast

only joking

straxusii · 4 Apr 2012 at 14:19

gregster said:
If truth be told, the card is top notch but I hate looking at the heaven 3.0 thread and seeing the top 3 cards

I'm not at all bothered by that, those kind of threads have people using clocks that aren't 24/7 just to get the top spot, pointless.

Gregster · 4 Apr 2012 at 17:35

straxusii said:
I'm not at all bothered by that, those kind of threads have people using clocks that aren't 24/7 just to get the top spot, pointless.

It's a Dave Beast thing only...All his bragging and belittling of the 680...Just wanted to beat him for a bit of banter was all.

I don't really care tbh.

Havana_UK · 4 Apr 2012 at 20:45

Guys over at Kingpin cooling modded a card to give lots more power and up to 1.5 (or was is 1.6V?) and got it stable at 1900MHz on LN2

They also got it stable at 1400MHz/1.4V on air.

Set a new single card WR for 3DMark 11

Gregster · 4 Apr 2012 at 21:56

Havana_UK said:
Guys over at Kingpin cooling modded a card to give lots more power and up to 1.5 (or was is 1.6V?) and got it stable at 1900MHz on LN2

They also got it stable at 1400MHz/1.4V on air.

Set a new single card WR for 3DMark 11

I did link a while back to a Hard modded card which let them alter the volts. It does show like you say these cards have more in them.

Gibbo · 4 Apr 2012 at 22:05

The Jetstream 2GB and 4GB cards due next week are none reference design with 8 phase and 8+6 pin power connectors, they should clock well.

ALXAndy · 5 Apr 2012 at 00:25

There is a reason the voltage is locked.

Cast your mind back to the 8800GTX and the 8800 Ultra.

The only difference was that the ultra was volt modded and had a nicer cooler.

The fight is not yet over. Nvidia know this, and that's why they have locked your voltage. Basically if AMD respond they will then volt mod a 680, turn a few knobs and release it as another card.

GTX 680 looks like a rerun. People are already volt modding them.

http://www.overclockers.com/guide-to-nvidia-gtx680-modifications/