Adjusting the clock speed to achieve higher performance on your TITAN X Pascal
Adjusting the clock speed to achieve higher performance on your TITAN X Pascal
Hello!
I know some of you have noticed the TITAN XP struggles with power when overclocking. I was curious—should I slightly underclock my GDDR5X to make up for it and get even higher performance, or will there be no noticeable improvement?
EDIT: I managed around 1950MHz on the core while lowering the memory clock to 4513 (which gives a real-world speed of 9026). In normal overclocking, I'm hitting about 1823MHz thanks to GPU boost 3.0.
EXTRA EDIT: After more testing, I achieved 175fps with the extra overclock and a slightly lower gddr5x voltage in Unigine, compared to 164fps at stock speeds (1823MHz core). I’m not sure if these results would translate well to games.
ComansoRowlett:
Hello!
Many have likely noticed that the TITAN XP struggles with power during overclocking. I was curious—would it make sense to slightly underclock my GDDR5X to balance things out and allow further overclocking? Or would there be no noticeable improvement or a drop in performance?
EDIT: I manage around 1950MHz on the core when memory is downclocked to 4513 (which equals 9026 effective). In normal overclocking, I hit about 1823MHz thanks to GPU boost 3.0.
EXTRA EDIT: Through more testing, I achieved 175fps with the extra overclock (and a lower voltage on gddr5x) in Unigine, whereas at stock (1823MHz core) I reached 164fps. I’m unsure if this would translate to better results in games.
It really depends on what you’re running the GPU for. Some programs respond well to memory overclocking, such as Unigine benchmarks. You’ll need to experiment with your games or benchmarks to discover the optimal setting for your hardware.
That said, a memory overclock won’t be the main reason for power limits—it’s more about the voltage increase from higher core speeds. I doubt you’ll see a big difference, but it’s worth trying. Good luck!
Thanks for your reply Vellinious! It seems at the moment, I do get quite a bit of extra power by taking a hit of 500Mhz (1000 effective) which is great actually and I do see fps improvements in games which don't eat up massive amount of Vram (over 5000 I do start too though). I guess I'll need to wait for a custom bios so I can up the voltage/power limit a bit, that'll really help me out as I've worked out the core can actually go to 2050 with the right amount of power stable alongside a memory overclock of 500mhz extra at least (11000). Any idea as to when that'll happen? I know it's a struggle to get it done, but it's easily with the 1080's due to being able to just flash a different bios from a partner card to yours as an example. I do have watercooling so temps aren't an issue.
ComansoRowlett:
Appreciate your feedback! Right now I’m getting a lot more power from a 500Mhz boost (which is 1000 effective), which is really helpful. It seems like it’s giving me better FPS in games that don’t use up too much VRAM (over 5000, actually). I think I’ll have to wait for a custom BIOS so I can increase the voltage and power a bit more. That would really help since I’ve figured out the core could reach 2050 with stable power and a memory overclock of at least 500mhz (around 11000). Do you know when that might be possible? It’s tough to get it done, but it seems manageable with the 1080s—just by swapping a different BIOS from a partner card to mine. I also have water cooling, so temperature shouldn’t be a problem.
Temps are always a challenge with boost 3.0. There are multiple layers: 25c, 35c, 50c... all adjustments to keep clocks stable and reduce heat. You could comfortably sit between 25c and 35c, where the only high point is at 25c or so, and that just pushes the voltage up a bit while keeping the clock steady.
I’m starting to wonder if we’ll ever get a Pascal BIOS editor. That would be a shame, but... well, it’s not so bad, right? I had a Titan X Pascal—it was a powerful card, but the power limit throttling was too much for me. So I sold it and went with two 1080 models instead.
Vellinious shared some insights on the situation. They mentioned gaining more power by using a 500Mhz boost, which improved FPS in games without consuming too much VRAM. They plan to wait for a custom BIOS to increase voltage and power limits, aiming for around 2050 with stable power and a memory overclock of 500Mhz (11000). They noted that achieving this is challenging but feasible with the right setup, such as flashing a different BIOS from a partner card. They also mentioned having water cooling to manage temperatures.
Temps remain a concern, especially with boost 3.0, where multiple layers like 25c, 35c, and 50c are used to reduce heat. Staying between 25c and 35c could work, though it might require adjusting the voltage slightly. They considered getting a Pascal BIOS editor but felt it would be difficult.
They recalled using a Titan X Pascal, which was powerful but had power limits that were hard to manage, leading them to switch to two 1080 cards. They expressed disappointment about not having a better option and wished they could have gotten a 1080 SLI instead. Additionally, their hybrid system's fan and pump drawing a lot of power was another issue.
They also discussed a power shunt mod that could increase power targets by about 30%, but it comes with risks. If a BIOS editor isn't available, they fear missing out on the card's full potential, which would be a loss for Nvidia if similar changes aren't made for Volta.
I receive 2088mhz on the core with overclock and 5702mhz on memory (11404mhz effective). I'm using water cooling with a heatkiller IV waterclock, running at 29c idle and 44c under load after 2 hours. My core voltage is set to +100 power target, reaching 120% temperature at 90°C limit (though 44°C is still far from it) plus 195 on the core and 700 on the memory. It reaches a voltage cap of 1.093v (as with all Pascal cards), so the next goal is increasing voltage. If you're still air cooling and aiming for stable clock performance, GPU Boost 3.0 will likely disrupt things. Before switching to air cooling, it would only hit 2050mhz and drop to 1975mhz with a high fan profile when temperatures climbed.