Can I really overclock my GPU by messing with its voltage and how much power it gets?
Can I really overclock my GPU by messing with its voltage and how much power it gets?
Hi guys, here is what my rig looks like: CPU is a Ryzen 5 3600 and the GPU is a Gigabyte GTX 950 OC Edition. Currently, I have not overclocked it yet; it runs on stock settings. I am checking performance limits using MSI Afterburner and HWINFO64. It turns out my card is getting power and voltage caps that are higher than what says on the box.
GPU-Z shows a boost of 1241 MHz, but in reality, I can get up to 1352 MHz. Is this an OEM OC that doesn't show up correctly? If so, why isn't GPU-Z showing it right away? During gaming and benchmarks, my card is at over 97% usage.
Here are my questions:
1. If I want to overclock the GPU later (though I haven't tried yet because I don't understand power limits), am I still stuck at 1352 MHz due to those caps? Will I hit that ceiling regardless of what I do next?
2. If those power and voltage limits are actually stopping any future OC, how should I just increase the voltage or frequency? Should I go up in steps like this:
Well, that is how GPU boosting actually works. The speed you see in GPU-Z is just a small boost frequency. Since the card has plenty of power and cooling room left over, it can go much faster from there. To answer your questions: 1) It doesn't have to be this low; sometimes you can hit higher clocks even with the same amount of power and heat limits. 2) Overclocking a GPU is super easy. You can't actually kill the card even if you try because it has a maximum power limit set by the factory. Just set your Power and temperature limits to their highest numbers, then crank up the core clock offset until it stops working smoothly. Then do the same thing for memory offset. That's all you need. There is no reason not to try that unless you are trying to keep your energy use down low.
Well that is how gpu boost works, the bost speed you see in gpu-z is the minimum boost frequency. From there given the gpu has power and thermal headroom, it will boost higher. To your questions: 1) not necessarily, this is a conservative stock profile you can likely get higher clocks even with the same power and thermal limits 2) overclocking a gpu is very easy and it's completely (you can't kill your gpu even if you try since there is a maximum power limit) Just set Power and temperature limits to the maximum and increase the core clock offset until you are no longer stable then set it to the maximum stable offset Do the same to memory offset and your done No reason not to do that unless you are trying to keep power consumption dowb
Hey awesome, thanks for replying! Just wanna check the settings before I start playing.