It's time to start overclocking..

Danger781

Well lads, new computer built and running so it's time to attempt this overclocking business.

Starting with the graphics cards using Trixx and Heaven. Spent hours last night fiddling with it and got the core clock up to 1125 without noticing anything unusual appear on the screen during the benchmark, scoring a lovely 1855 if I remember correctly. If I increase it to 1130 I do notice mild problems starting to arise. I assume this is what people call artifacts. For me they look like random patches of purple appearing on the screen for a second or two.

Temperatures were hitting low to mid 70's during benchmarking and the sound from my system was pretty damn loud. I honestly couldn't tell if it was my graphics card or the CPU cooler was causing the problem. **

I haven't touched the memory clock yet but I will get around to that later today when I get out of work.

There was something I noticed about Afterburner vs Trixx, is that Afterburner seems to have more tweaking options to mess with, while Trixx seems to just have the three dials (Core, Memory, Voltage).

** Something to note, my CPU cooler is actually turned the wrong way which I need to fix soon. It's actually blowing the air towards the front of the case while it should be doing the opposite. As a result the back case fan is blowing into the case towards the CPU cooler, so I have a feeling it could be sometihng to do with that. As a result of my dodgy fan configuration I essentially have air blowing towards the graphics cards from every direction. D'oh.

BloodBath

Fix your fans and cpu cooler before trying to push things more. It sounds like you have all intakes and 0 exhausts like that.

Danger781

BloodBath wrote: »

Fix your fans and cpu cooler before trying to push things more. It sounds like you have all intakes and 0 exhausts like that.

Indeed I do which was a silly mistake to make but temps seem fine.. they fall back down very quickly after stopping the benchmarks. I plan on fixing it this weekend - More than likely tomorrow. I'm in no mood to open my case now! Even when benchmarking with Ultra details, ultra tessalation, 2x AA my temps hardly go above 70, which from my understanding is pretty safe.

I've been tinkering with the memory clock settings..

Stock 1350 - 1108
Memory 1450 - 1120
Memory 1550 - 1118
Memory 1650 - 1121
Memory 1700 - 1112

The only score increase was at 1450, after that point it just dropped.. Is that unusual?

BloodBath

Nope chances are it's overheating and throttling.

Danger781

BloodBath wrote: »

Nope chances are it's overheating and throttling.

Okay I've opened the front of my case to let air flow out, and twisted the front fan enclosure around. The fan enclosure is just sitting in front of my case rather than actually being slotted back into place. Temporary fix but it should do for now, hopefully.

Current seems stable @ Core 1140 / Memory 1650

Edit: Also increased the power of the fan profile on my chassis fans to be more agressive and that definitely seemed to help.

Danger781

Okay I should have time later today to get my CPU cooler sorted.. I should have realised I was putting it in wrong when I was installing it considering the position of the fan connections on the mobo were on top and my fan power cables are on the bottom..

I'm such a derp. :pac:

marco_polo

Danger781 wrote: »

Indeed I do which was a silly mistake to make but temps seem fine.. they fall back down very quickly after stopping the benchmarks. I plan on fixing it this weekend - More than likely tomorrow. I'm in no mood to open my case now! Even when benchmarking with Ultra details, ultra tessalation, 2x AA my temps hardly go above 70, which from my understanding is pretty safe.

I've been tinkering with the memory clock settings..

Stock 1350 - 1108
Memory 1450 - 1120
Memory 1550 - 1118
Memory 1650 - 1121
Memory 1700 - 1112

The only score increase was at 1450, after that point it just dropped.. Is that unusual?

BloodBath wrote: »

Nope chances are it's overheating and throttling.

May not be throttling, VRAM overclocking results can be a bit of a mixed bag

http://www.techbuyersguru.com/VRAMocing.php

Danger781

I should teach 'How to break a computer 101'.

So I finally got around to opening up my computer and fixing the cpu cooler.. I never knew thermal paste acted like glue! Trying to pull it off was getting me nowhere so I decided that turning on the computer might help loosen it a small bit. Turned off both fans on my heatsink and let the computer run for a little while until it reached about 45 degrees or so. I felt this was warm enough without making it too warm. I left the computer turned on to keep it warm (what?) but it still didn't want to budge so I put a little more force into it. Ended up pulling the processor out if it's socket with the heatsink still stuck to it while the computer was still turned on in bios. Yup, that happened.

Panic stations! I started freaking out convinced that I had bricked my computer. All the while getting thermal paste all over myself while trying to slide the cpu away from the heatsink. Eventually they slid apart, which got thermal paste all along the edge of the cpu. Washed my hands and grabbed some kitchen paper to wipe away the excess thermal paste that was on the edges, popped it back in to its socket. At least I hadn't bent any pins or anything..

So I reversed the heatsink to the orientation that I wanted it in, screwed it in, reduced the fan speed on the dial, and booted up. Relief.. booted into windows. But then I noticed something - Air flow was actually going the wrong way now, so I needed to remove both fans and flip them around. Not an easy task while the heatsink is screwed it and they only supply those stupid rubber screws which were so frustrating to work with in such a cramped space. All of my hate went into those fans. Took me a long time but I got them done.

Also installed an exhaust at the top of the case so my fan configuration is now - 2 x front intake, 1 x side intake, 1 x back exhaust, 1 x top exhust, cpu cooler blowing from front to back.

Despite all the hassle and frustration I am happy I did it. Computer is now running cooler and quieter despite the extra air flowing through it.

Danger781

Hmm, so apparently my cards don't have VRAM sensors so I can't monitor those temps. Balls.

I have a feeling it could actually related to overheating VRAM.

Core 1130
Memory 925
1858

Core 1140
Memory 1650
1864

Not exactly a big change..

That was default heaven settings.