GTX 980 Power Target vs Core voltage

[deFiniLoGy]

Hi all,

I'm wondering whether you can help me out on overclocking my 980.

My 980 is under water, and I maxed out power limit to 125% and raised the clock speed as much as I could.

But I'm wondering, then what does the core voltage do if I already set the power limit max?

My understanding at the moment now is Power limit is the max power that the card is allowed to draw and automatically assign to core & memory, and core voltage is manually assigning more power, within the power limit, to the core. Is it correct?

Thanks in advance

 

[ttaskmaster]

Increasing the power limit allows the card to draw more current, so more watts.

Don't get voltage and current confused.

Basically the harder the card works the more current the card will draw, the higher the current the higher the temps. The nvidia stock power limit prevents the card drawing too much power and throttles at a certain point.

By increasing this limit or removing it with an unlocked bios you can let the card draw much more current, the down side is that you consume more power and create more heat , but as you're water cooled this wont be an issue.

 

[deFiniLoGy]

Yup, I understans that.

What I'm trying to ask is, if I maxed out power target, how do raising core voltage benefit overclocking the card?

 

[darket]

It depends on the card tbh. Its trial and error.

For example you have a 1550 MHz boost target that isn't stable at 1.18 v , up the voltage, if its stable there you go.

My titan loves extra volts, however my old 980 strix just became unstable with extra volts added and was happier at stock volts.

You said here "then what does the core voltage do if I already set the power limit max?" , again you're confusing current with volts. They are related but not in the way you think they are.

For example. More volts in theory will effect the current draw and the card will hit its power limit earlier. However a higher power limit wont make the card use more volts.

 

[Michaeljcox24]

I too am on a w/c 980, and have yet to fully 'get' why what overvolting does when it's already had the power target slider maxed out.

I use the EVGA software. Max out power targer, temp target, set clock at 1540 ish, set memory at +500, and enable KBoost.

I know however it works, I am going the most I possibly can out of the card.

I turn it all back off when I come out of the game.

 

[MasterOC]

The power limiter has nothing to do with how much voltage the core will use , the power limiter effectively allows the GPU to use more power , the voltage enables the GPU ( trial and error ) to climb to higher clocks that may have been unreachable / unstable befor hand. Increasing the voltage will increase the power usage , as will increasing the clocks . That's where the power limiter comes into play .

If you where to hit 1500mhz for example , and you where no where near your power limits but became unstable above that , increasing the core voltage will/could/may ( again trial and error with different GPUs ) increase stability as the stock voltage may not have been sufficient this in turn would again drive power usage up hence the need to increase the power limiter as at a give target it would throttle the clocks if not adjusted .

Voltage is non linear at least with maxwell in my experiance , it take a lot of playing to find the right amount of voltage or not in some cases to reach there maximum clocks . I need to have +22mv on my top 980 and stock on my bottom 980 to enable 1592 MHz clocks obviously with power limiter to max and temp limiter around 90c to stop any clock throttling when benching due to Temps on air

 

[EVGAdominik]

+1 @ masterOC
If the power target is not maxed out you can increase the voltage and gain higher clocks if the chip can handle it. Raising to the max. Voltage is not always best and mostly there is a number the card can handle high clocks best, like masterOC said, for him it is +22mv. For another card it might be +27mv, there you need to play and test what is best for your GPU. If the GPU is running at low temps and the power target is not maxed out the chance is pretty good that some more clocks will be possible.

 

[africanos23]

+1 @ masterOC
If the power target is not maxed out you can increase the voltage and gain higher clocks if the chip can handle it. Raising to the max. Voltage is not always best and mostly there is a number the card can handle high clocks best, like masterOC said, for him it is +22mv. For another card it might be +27mv, there you need to play and test what is best for your GPU. If the GPU is running at low temps and the power target is not maxed out the chance is pretty good that some more clocks will be possible.

Irrelevant : Any idea on when the Evga 980 AIO will be available ? My Titan X needs some love

 

[EVGAdominik]

little bit off topic they should land in the UK during the next week.

 

[Bluntwrapped]

The higher the voltage, the faster you reach the power target so it is little or no benefit for most 980's. When overclocked to 1531.5/8000 using stock voltage my 980 pulls up to 250w. 25w more than the stock 125% power target. I have edited the bios to get around this