Hey guys - I have some issues with overclocking in SLi. I was aiming for 1500MHz GPU boost clock on both my GTX 980 cards but I'm no where near it.
I used to have a single Asus GTX 980 STRIX and the max stable that card could run was 1330MHz base clock which translated into 1443Mhz boost clock (maxed voltage and power target). Any boost above 1450Mhz and the screen would go solid black/grey or maroon. Max on the Vram was 1950MHz.
Later I had it running SLi with a Gigabyte GTX 980 G1 Gaming, and appearently the Gigabytes OC potiential looked limited by the Asus card.
So I decided to replace the Asus card with an Inno3D GTX 980 Ichill HerculeZ X4 Air Boss Ultra card which I know is a good OC'er.
So I put this card and the Gigabyte card in SLI and I hope to run 1500MHz+ boost now. I choose to de-sync OC, and OC each card with their own settings, since the base clocks on the two aren't the same Inno3D 1266mhz gpu and 1800mhz vram, Gigabyte 1228mhz GPU and 1753mhz vram. But no luck at all.
Initially I had the large 3 slot Inno3D card on top giving about 2mm space between the cards. I experienced that above 1503MHz the I'd either get a black screen or den Nvidia driver crashed and recovered. In MSI Afterburner it was easy to spot which card triggered the crash, and it was always the settings for the Gigabyte card that would reset when chrashed.
I cranked down a notch so both would run 1493MHz boost which I would accept. But as soon as I started with 3Dmark and 3Dmark11 I'd get either errors from 3Dmark or driver crashes at random.
I then tried Unigine Valley 1.0 and Heaven 4.0 but halfway through the benchmarks I'd see the temperatures on the Inno3D hit 85~86°c and the boost would go down to 1455MHz, but the benchmarks ran fine.
So I decided to swap the cards around putting the 3 slot inno3d at the bottom and the Gigabyte in top making about 2cm space between the cards.
Switching the card around only helped temperature wise but not with overclocking. I maxed the voltage and power target for both cards, but running above 1470MHz boost clock the driver would reset randomly and sometimes crash to a black screen.
So what I ended with was going back to the same OC settings I used to have with the Asus card with 1330MHz base clock and 1950mhz vram - then both cards would boost to 1468Mhz and everything seems stable, however when running Unigine Heaven 4.0 it drops down to 1455MHz. The Gigabyte card hits around 82°c at it's hottest in the benchmark, but setting the temp limit to 89°c doens't affect the boost speed, it will still rung at 1455MHz.
I have power usage in MSI Afterburner enabled and the Gigabyte sits at a max 74% power usage and the Inno3D at 84%. But still it's the Gigabyte card that now limits the OC potential.
"Sigh" - I've almost given up chasing 1500MHz boost clock in SLI, since I can't get a stable setting no matter what I do.
But before throwing the towel in the ring I want to ask if any of you could help with some tweaking options that could make my cards run 1490 or close to 1500Mhz if possible.
Also what OC setting are you 980 SLi user running at ?
Oh yea I did try updating from Forceware 353.30 to 355.60 but no difference.
I used to have a single Asus GTX 980 STRIX and the max stable that card could run was 1330MHz base clock which translated into 1443Mhz boost clock (maxed voltage and power target). Any boost above 1450Mhz and the screen would go solid black/grey or maroon. Max on the Vram was 1950MHz.
Later I had it running SLi with a Gigabyte GTX 980 G1 Gaming, and appearently the Gigabytes OC potiential looked limited by the Asus card.
So I decided to replace the Asus card with an Inno3D GTX 980 Ichill HerculeZ X4 Air Boss Ultra card which I know is a good OC'er.
So I put this card and the Gigabyte card in SLI and I hope to run 1500MHz+ boost now. I choose to de-sync OC, and OC each card with their own settings, since the base clocks on the two aren't the same Inno3D 1266mhz gpu and 1800mhz vram, Gigabyte 1228mhz GPU and 1753mhz vram. But no luck at all.
Initially I had the large 3 slot Inno3D card on top giving about 2mm space between the cards. I experienced that above 1503MHz the I'd either get a black screen or den Nvidia driver crashed and recovered. In MSI Afterburner it was easy to spot which card triggered the crash, and it was always the settings for the Gigabyte card that would reset when chrashed.
I cranked down a notch so both would run 1493MHz boost which I would accept. But as soon as I started with 3Dmark and 3Dmark11 I'd get either errors from 3Dmark or driver crashes at random.
I then tried Unigine Valley 1.0 and Heaven 4.0 but halfway through the benchmarks I'd see the temperatures on the Inno3D hit 85~86°c and the boost would go down to 1455MHz, but the benchmarks ran fine.
So I decided to swap the cards around putting the 3 slot inno3d at the bottom and the Gigabyte in top making about 2cm space between the cards.
Switching the card around only helped temperature wise but not with overclocking. I maxed the voltage and power target for both cards, but running above 1470MHz boost clock the driver would reset randomly and sometimes crash to a black screen.
So what I ended with was going back to the same OC settings I used to have with the Asus card with 1330MHz base clock and 1950mhz vram - then both cards would boost to 1468Mhz and everything seems stable, however when running Unigine Heaven 4.0 it drops down to 1455MHz. The Gigabyte card hits around 82°c at it's hottest in the benchmark, but setting the temp limit to 89°c doens't affect the boost speed, it will still rung at 1455MHz.
I have power usage in MSI Afterburner enabled and the Gigabyte sits at a max 74% power usage and the Inno3D at 84%. But still it's the Gigabyte card that now limits the OC potential.
"Sigh" - I've almost given up chasing 1500MHz boost clock in SLI, since I can't get a stable setting no matter what I do.
But before throwing the towel in the ring I want to ask if any of you could help with some tweaking options that could make my cards run 1490 or close to 1500Mhz if possible.Also what OC setting are you 980 SLi user running at ?
Oh yea I did try updating from Forceware 353.30 to 355.60 but no difference.
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