Graphics card versions using the same heatsink - safe overclock?

[chickadee]

So i was thinking, a lot of graphics cards come in 2 or 3 flavours with the exact same hardware.

My card for example is the stock MSI 780 gaming with the twin fozr cooler but there are other versions with overclock + the same cooler.

Would that mean if I set an overclock on my card to the same as the other variations it would run perfectly well?

Or maybe to the extreme looking at the list below as a speed guide:

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/1701/geforce-gtx-780

 

[Hotwired]

Would that mean if I set an overclock on my card to the same as the other variations it would run perfectly well?

The cooler has nothing to do with it.

Depending on what the manufacturer did the gpus in other lines might have been binned to ensure they clock better (and by extension, other cards the manufacturer released may be the ones that didn't overclock as well).

Or it could actually be that the factory overclock was so mild that any card could reach it and they just want some free money off any mug wanting a light factory overclock.

So maybe your card will or won't reach the same overclocks but the cooler isn't the reason.

 

[chickadee]

The cooler has nothing to do with it.

Depending on what the manufacturer did the gpus in other lines might have been binned to ensure they clock better (and by extension, other cards the manufacturer released may be the ones that didn't overclock as well).

Or it could actually be that the factory overclock was so mild that any card could reach it and they just want some free money off any mug wanting a light factory overclock.

So maybe your card will or won't reach the same overclocks but the cooler isn't the reason.

I understand that but when there are say 2 models called "MSI gaming" and "MSI gaming OC" and the overclock is +60mhz to the core and thats about it I would assume they are basically the same card as the only difference is a few £.

Maybe not but I would have thought if there was anything else being done to the cards it would have a different model name and a higher base price.

 

[StrongSad]

Can't speak for AMD but for Nvidia

I genuinely believe it is marketing in the most part. There are a few binned premium cards out there but the factory OC cards are generally mild overclocks that can be achieved by the vast majority of the same line of cards. I just got a zotac 980 ti amp omega which is sencond in their 980ti range. Stock clocks are 65mhz lover than the extreme, However mine boosted higher out of the box (70mhz) than the extreme's advertised clocks and I promptly added a +100 to take the stock clock way past that of its more expensive brother and has not been an issue. (1476 stable) and just runs the fans 10% higher as a result. (Silent to me though)

I think the OC overhead of the majority of cards is greater than the out of the box clocks for most OC tamed cards. (kingpin excluded and a few other super binned cards)

 

[Hotwired]

Yes it could be the same components but something different does happen to the overclocked one, it gets tested with the overclock.

With significant overclocks this is relevant because some gpus will not be able to do that even if everything about the card is the same. The ones that fail will be sold in the normal line.

Sometimes that's what you pay for, the guarantee, sometimes any card could do that overclock and you're being mugged. It depends and you need to check out what people can reliably overclock to so you have realistic expectations.