MSI 970 Overclocking query.

PrinceNelson · 4 Mar 2015 at 13:01

Hey guys, so I bought an MSI 970 a few days ago and have begun overclocking it using Afterburner and GPU-Z to monitor clocks and such.

I've been reading a lot about peoples overclocks with 970s and most can hit 1500+ boost clock with only +150 in Afterburner. For me I have to add +210 to hit 1501 boost clock (as reported in GPU-Z).

It also seems that peoples cards boost to 1350ish out the box whilst mine boosts to only 1280ish. Is my card not working correctly?

My ASIC is 62.1%

() in case anyone is wondering.

MrMD · 4 Mar 2015 at 14:06

Silicon lottery m8

MSI only guarantee 1279mhz out the box at stock,which is what your getting,Mine boosts to 1329mhz out the box at stock,a few boost to 1350 at stock aswell.

Your cards fine tho,your likely to hit a wall with OC at lower speeds than many other MSI 970 owners,but your still getting over 1500mhz when OC'ed.

Whats your cards stock voltage under load?

PrinceNelson · 4 Mar 2015 at 14:33

MrMD said:
Silicon lottery m8

MSI only guarantee 1279mhz out the box at stock,which is what your getting,Mine boosts to 1329mhz out the box at stock,a few boost to 1350 at stock aswell.

Your cards fine tho,your likely to hit a wall with OC at lower speeds than many other MSI 970 owners,but your still getting over 1500mhz when OC'ed.

Whats your cards stock voltage under load?

Damn, frustrating.

I'm pretty sure the voltage was 1.218 under load.

MrMD · 4 Mar 2015 at 14:36

PrinceNelson said:
Damn, frustrating.

I'm pretty sure the voltage was 1.218 under load.

1.218 is still pretty low stock voltage tho.Mine reports 1.2120 in gpu-z at stock for reference.

Anything over 1500mhz on the core is consdiered a good overclock on a 970,no need to be dissapointed!

PrinceNelson · 4 Mar 2015 at 14:52

MrMD said:
1.218 is still pretty low stock voltage tho.Mine reports 1.2120 in gpu-z at stock for reference.

Anything over 1500mhz on the core is consdiered a good overclock on a 970,no need to be dissapointed!

Awesome man thanks for the help

Just to make sure, you're taking your boost clock from the reading when actually gaming right? The boost clock shown on the main GPU-Z page seems incorrect.

Last thing promise, for a 24/7 overclock would a boost to the core voltage hurt the card at all? I'm thinking up to +50mv

MrMD · 4 Mar 2015 at 15:01

PrinceNelson said:
Awesome man thanks for the help Just to make sure, you're taking your boost clock from the reading when actually gaming right? The boost clock shown on the main GPU-Z page seems incorrect.

Last thing promise, for a 24/7 overclock would a boost to the core voltage hurt the card at all? I'm thinking up to +50mv

Yea thats ingame boost m8.

970's boost voltage in jumps not a linear curve. And theirs only 3 steps Stock voltage>next voltage>max voltage(1.250)

+1/5/10/15/mv will make no difference to voltage,its not untill you hit a threshold you will see the V increase

For me it takes +18mv to raise the voltage from 1.2120 to 1.2370.And its not untill i push above +45mv that the voltage will increase from 1.2370 to 1.250

But yea you will be fine for a 24/7 OC with a load voltage of 1.250v,most people arnt getting too much more out their card by increasing voltage above stock however.

PrinceNelson · 4 Mar 2015 at 15:21

Now that is good info! Well in mate.

Do you run yours at stock voltage and PL?

MrMD · 4 Mar 2015 at 15:32

PrinceNelson said:
Now that is good info! Well in mate.

Do you run yours at stock voltage and PL?

Ya stock voltage, but with 110% power limit

I hit the max TDP with any higher OC,and i really cant be bothered flashing a custom bios to increace the powerlimit lol.