F5F Stay Refreshed Power Users Overclocking Did I cause damage to my 980ti by attempting to underclock it?

Did I cause damage to my 980ti by attempting to underclock it?

Did I cause damage to my 980ti by attempting to underclock it?

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Oskar2502
Member
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138
04-21-2018, 04:21 PM
#1
While playing Borderlands 3, my game would crash every few minutes to fifteen. This was the first instance I noticed such behavior with my 980ti. After looking for GPU crashes after full usage, I found a suggestion to stabilize the GPU by slightly lowering its clock speed and memory speed until it became stable. That approach worked well.

However, being a bit naive, I tried to reduce performance impact further to see if I could squeeze out more speed. From my limited research, I thought the most I could do was crash the driver, ensuring I didn’t alter voltage or use stress tests that would raise temperatures too high. The least severe change I made increased the core clock by 50, then lowered it to -40. The final stress test caused MSI Kombustor’s artifact scanner to repeatedly crash before ending with a failure. The peak temperature reached was 65 degrees Celsius.

Now my PC frequently crashes when attempting to boot Windows, especially when trying to output from the 980ti. If I check the device manager while running from the iGPU-only device, I see error 43 indicating Windows stopped the device due to errors. Since it’s disabled, I can’t inspect it in Afterburner either.

What I’ve tried:
- Using DDU to uninstall drivers (works until auto-install attempts, then crashes)
- Resetting CMOS
- Moving the GPU power plug on my PSU
- Deleting MSI Afterburner along with profile removal
- Ordered a replacement 2080 graphics card (still pending delivery)

I was planning to upgrade the rest of my system once I secure a stable income in January. If I manage to fix this, I’d be able to sell it or use it as a secondary PC during the upgrade.

My thoughts are twofold: either my card was faulty from the start, or my GPU’s aging couldn’t handle the boost clock, and something with me interfering in Afterburner caused the damage.

Here are my specifications:
- CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4 GHz Quad-Core Processor
- CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
- Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
- Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500 GB 2.5" SSD
- Storage: Seagate 2 TB 3.5" Hybrid Internal Drive
- Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6 GB AMP! Video Card
- Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX
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O
Oskar2502
04-21-2018, 04:21 PM #1

While playing Borderlands 3, my game would crash every few minutes to fifteen. This was the first instance I noticed such behavior with my 980ti. After looking for GPU crashes after full usage, I found a suggestion to stabilize the GPU by slightly lowering its clock speed and memory speed until it became stable. That approach worked well.

However, being a bit naive, I tried to reduce performance impact further to see if I could squeeze out more speed. From my limited research, I thought the most I could do was crash the driver, ensuring I didn’t alter voltage or use stress tests that would raise temperatures too high. The least severe change I made increased the core clock by 50, then lowered it to -40. The final stress test caused MSI Kombustor’s artifact scanner to repeatedly crash before ending with a failure. The peak temperature reached was 65 degrees Celsius.

Now my PC frequently crashes when attempting to boot Windows, especially when trying to output from the 980ti. If I check the device manager while running from the iGPU-only device, I see error 43 indicating Windows stopped the device due to errors. Since it’s disabled, I can’t inspect it in Afterburner either.

What I’ve tried:
- Using DDU to uninstall drivers (works until auto-install attempts, then crashes)
- Resetting CMOS
- Moving the GPU power plug on my PSU
- Deleting MSI Afterburner along with profile removal
- Ordered a replacement 2080 graphics card (still pending delivery)

I was planning to upgrade the rest of my system once I secure a stable income in January. If I manage to fix this, I’d be able to sell it or use it as a secondary PC during the upgrade.

My thoughts are twofold: either my card was faulty from the start, or my GPU’s aging couldn’t handle the boost clock, and something with me interfering in Afterburner caused the damage.

Here are my specifications:
- CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4 GHz Quad-Core Processor
- CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
- Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
- Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500 GB 2.5" SSD
- Storage: Seagate 2 TB 3.5" Hybrid Internal Drive
- Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6 GB AMP! Video Card
- Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX

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FuteballPro9
Junior Member
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6
04-21-2018, 11:10 PM
#2
it worked on an older GPU when I started it with the monitor connected and multi-monitor mode active in BIOS (using the dedicated GPU inside).
Use MSI Afterburner, switch to the 980Ti in Afterburner, then press the reset clocks button.
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FuteballPro9
04-21-2018, 11:10 PM #2

it worked on an older GPU when I started it with the monitor connected and multi-monitor mode active in BIOS (using the dedicated GPU inside).
Use MSI Afterburner, switch to the 980Ti in Afterburner, then press the reset clocks button.

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