Ensure the GPU is overlocked in MSI Afterburner and decide whether to keep it active.
Ensure the GPU is overlocked in MSI Afterburner and decide whether to keep it active.
I followed all the safety steps, gradually increasing my core clock on the RX 480 while checking temperatures and managing heat. Eventually, I encountered artifacts and crashes during benchmarks.
I reached a 1.420MHZ core clock (stock is 1303), with voltage slightly above stock and maxing around 1.100 volts.
Everything worked fine until BF1 would crash to Windows and report driver issues.
I updated the drivers using DDU, but the problem persisted.
My concern is whether it’s okay to reset MSI Afterburner to defaults after overclocking or to keep it overclocked during games. Could changing settings too much stress the card? Thank you!
adjusting settings by themselves isn't damaging. excessive voltage, high frequencies, and extreme temperatures can harm the GPU. i keep mine overclocked constantly because it reaches maximum frequencies during games. when performing lighter tasks, my GPU runs at a reduced clock speed and lower temperatures. some users create overclock profiles tailored to specific games and use them before gaming.
That's what I expected... but I noticed it seemed odd that the settings didn't work as intended. Strange things happened. The window would hang, and my screen appeared distorted. This occurred after using this setting for several days without much activity. My computer unexpectedly shut down in Windows while doing nothing, then applied a Windows update. I'm wondering if that sudden action caused the issue. Maybe the in-game crashing was just a coincidence. Also, is 1.100 volts too high for my GPU? I assumed anything below 1.2 was fine. Thanks for your reply!
So anyway... the Battlefield 1 game started crashing when I was overclocking at 1.420 MHz with a plus 6MHz setting...
I slowed down the clock to 1400 and everything worked again.
Trying default settings also resolved the issue.
Stock voltage, set the memory clock up to 2025 (where the MSI gaming app displays it in OC mode) and ran at about 10 MHz at a time.
After reaching around 1.375 MHz, I noticed very slight artifacts... barely perceptible.
When I tried to raise my voltage, it only increased by 6s... then 12s, then 18s. If I set it to 2 and applied it... it reset back to zero. If I set it to 8 and applied... it dropped back down to six.
So I decided to go to 1400 core clock and increased my voltage higher than before... plus 12MHz.
I ran the benchmark and BAM, a complete black screen crash occurred... I was running at that clock with plus 6 before... maybe those crashes were unrelated.
What's going on? Plus 6 on the voltage is causing total crashes at 1400???
Am I using a terrible card? It’s an MSI twin-frozen machine. It stays cool and stable. Did I damage my card? I didn’t think plus 6 or plus 12 would be that bad. It barely dropped below 1.100 volts!
Why does the afterburner only let me increase voltage in 6s?
I discovered that the AMD Wattman app, integrated into the crimson driver tool, performed better for overclocking my RX 480 compared to Afterburner. You might want to consider trying it.
I discovered that AMD's Wattman app (integrated into the crimson driver tool) performed better for overclocking my RX 480 than Afterburner. You might want to give it a shot.
Thank you for the advice—I experimented with Wattman, but it feels unfamiliar and I’m confused about why clock adjustments don’t show up.
I also need help understanding my voltage adjustment problem with Afterburner; only being able to change the voltage by 6 at a time is puzzling.
Update: I slightly increased my core clock in Wattman hit apply and got a red screen of death—I won’t use Wattman again! ; )