Unlocked LN2 BIOS 680 Power edition SLI overclocking help

3t3P

3t3P

3t3P

Soldato
Joined
20 Dec 2006
Posts
3,760
I'm having difficulty with my cards as per this thread: (sorry to link like this but its not too bad at three pages and has all the info there)

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18543311

I think there must be something we are overlooking and thought you might welcome the change from the usual CPU ocing questions.

I am on air currently so not sure what my max safe volts should be, I am measuring with a multimeter so know the true values.

I would feel more comfortable back underwater but can't justify the blocks right now.

What I don't get is that the memory won't even do +250mhz

I'd appreciate your tips

PS: oh and is my 2500k ok at 1.5v 5ghz? 1.48v underload in CPU-Z. Passed 10 iterations of prime which is good enough for me but I note your current thinking is daily use is what matters and that errors will not build up this way. I've always felt this too but there's the dogma ingrained to use prime. I might ease the volts and see if its games stable after I get these cards sorted:)
 
Last edited:
Memory IC are different especially in SLI. One card may be weaker.

Test just clocking core first.

That memory can have like 1.8v no problem.

Top volts on air 1.35v with fans up for benching.

If your crashing entering a bench you may want to run the cards without boost so just in fixed clock mode with Pstates locked.
 
Have you tried clocking each card on their own? One of my 670's as a single card is a decent clocker. +130 core, +770 memory. But my second is a lot weaker on the core. When synced in afterburner i have to run a compromise oc of +80, +600 to allow for the weaker card of the pair. When clocked indipendantly in sli the first one still wont run as high as it did as a single card.
 
Well one cards ASIC is 76.7 the other 79.3 and the latter card was boosting further than the other on stock BIOS.

@8Pack in GPU-Z the LN2 BIOS says:

Default clock: 1202mhz
Boost: 1059mhz

Not sure how to use a 'fixed clock mode'

I'm not really going for a suicide bench run more the max I can get away with 24/7 with a sensible fan profile that keeps temps under 70 celsius.

I guess I can try up to 1.35 which is good to know.

Also that i can up memory volts, i'm not sure what port on the end of the card measures mem volts, its either middle one or one nearest you as you look at the PC. The far right one is the GPU core. The instructions don't even tell you!

@ Setter no I haven't clocked the cards separately, I know cards can be weaker and thought well if one is I can't run SLI anyway so gotta find max clocks of both from the get go.

Is it impossible to clock both cards when in the system?
i.e. If I disable SLI in NV Control panel then connect the DVI to card one then card two after will I be able to clock them both without removing them?
 
Last edited:
Heres a thread i made a while back enquiring about independently clocking cards in sli.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18519932

Ideally you want to test each card on it's own. Find the max stable clocks you can achieve on each. Then when paired in sli, unsync them in precisionx/afterburner etc. Try the known stable clock on each card, though tbh in sli each one may not achieve the speeds that theyre capable off as single cards.
 
Crickey, 3dm11 results in a max of 586w at the wall here, but then your running a pretty high cpu oc. But i suppose with those figures you need to take into account the efficiency of the psu, so the actual figure used by the system will be less. For gaming i just run theese cards at stock as tbh they cope grand at my res in the games im playing. Heat is an issue too as theyre non ref models in a tightly spaced board.
 
This setup is SUCKING down the JUICE:D

I might actually have to back something off (no, NEVER!) although crysis3 'only' drew 770W so 3Dmark is a bit artificial.

I'm eyeing up EK Lightning blocks...all this 'air cooling, volt increasing' makes me twitchy hehe
 
Greedy git lol.

If you do decide to go with watercooling on the cards, at least you wont be hampered by the pretty annoying 70c thermal limit of the 600 series cards. My top one with a heavy oc never went over 67c. At stock now it hits 71c max, lower card is mid 50's at most. Wouldnt worry about power consumption though, afterall this isnt the greenpeace forum here.:D
 
Are these Lightenings or PE???

Its not hard to pull em out. Test one by one!!! Remember SLI always results in a drop in clocks and efficiency.

My Lightening did 2000mhz Core and plus 600 mem. Absolute beast. The best in the world.
 
Ha setter I am gonna haemorrhage money if I get blocks and a 3770k. Maybe at Xmas:D

8pack they're PEs.

2jiggawatt core under LN2 right?! That's mental.

seems you guys really want me to test both! But what does it matter as I have to run em at same clocks at the end of the day?
 
Regarding a 3770k, it will show gains in a few games, particularly with sli. Bf3, crysis 3 and more than likely bf4. The former two definitely benefit from the ht on an i7. Youll see much better gpu use, and lower cpu use. Found this to be the case when i moved from a 3570k to a 3770k.
 
yeh I don't care specifically for performance in BF3 (just don't play it) or crysis 3 (do play it but not obsessed by it) I just want greater performance across the board in SLI and people argue to and fro over the benefits of an i7 and an i5 without hard evidence.
 
Weird thing just happened I disabled sli in nv control panel and I then get no image sent to monitor!

Have to reboot then on desktop it's low res and Nv drivers aren't installed anymore and afterburner is reporting nothing?!

What's that all about never had that happen before

Ok booted back in after installing drivers again and all is well, bit worried it has something to do with the unlocked BIOS +- Beta 3.0 AB
 
Last edited:
Well I went up to 1.3v and the cores are so reluctant to clock higher.

What was good was that I got mem to 7.6ghz stable which has really opened up the cards and got me a nice boost in benchies and games.

I don't get why when I disable sli in nv panel AB can't keep the normal core.speed and they drop to 705mhz?!
I have to exit AB then start it again to get clocks back

This is stock Bios in the cards I am referring to not LN2 unlocked

8pack am I really cpu limited with a 2500k? Will a 3770k help their potential?
only tombraider is showing max peak of 70% gpu useage rest of time even lower?

And Yeh that black screen event was one off enabling and disabling sli is fine now
 
Last edited:
Can I use Nvp manager with AB as I tried precision and much preferred the stock rivatuner look of AB.

The cores will hold 1202 mhz each on LN2 bios with only +12mv core volts but then the memory will not maintain 7.6ghz and heaven crashed on the final 26/26 test, so annoying!

Why is that? Should I try playing with aux volts I don't even know what that does haha
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom