Is it worth overclocking the memory on a GTX 680?

Hello,

Memory is kind of a touchy thing to play with. I know that with GPUs that usually had a 1GB VRAM and only about 1000 or 2000 memory clock, it is an amazing deal. I'll give you an example. With my older computer, I have a Core 2 Quad 8300Q running at 2.5 Ghz, and an AMD Radeon HD 5570 1GB. This can run (stock) League of legends at 50-60 frames max settings, and ArmA 2: OA and DayZ at about 25-40 frames on low-medium settings. I messed with the clocking settings, and from 700, I bumped the Core to 780 and got a couple more frames on both, mostly LoL. But then I moved the Memory (over time) from 950 to 1070, on stock voltage, and got more of about 30-60 frames on ArmA 2 and DayZ. However, it barely affected LoL. LoL is more of a CPU based game, and doesn't require that much memory. But DayZ requires much more VRAM and memory.

If you were to compare the clock settings, the way you overclock your GPU is really no difference than the CPU. The only different is that CPU is usually read as Ghz, and GPU is usually read as Mhz. Its exactly like the metric system. So basically on a stock 680, the memory clock is 6 Ghz !

Now it completely depends on the games. For the games you play, if you want the most out of your card without changing voltages, I would say, move the memory up about 80-100 more. But if you want to change them, you can usually get up about 250-300 more if you don't think you'll do water cooling. Water cooling could come in if you want to achieve a clock of 1400 core clock and probably 7000-7200 memory.

The memory clock comes into play from the fact that games need video memory, and the clock is literally how fast it can get/process it, almost exactly like a CPU.

Its your call, do whatever you like, ^_^.

Also note that different games have different limits, so I would use MSI afterburner, you can save up to 5 different clock settings. For example, I usually run DayZ with 790 core and 1080 memory, but then BF3 crashes with that, so that runs at 740 core, and 930 memory. Also memory has a wider spectrum to work with. I would also recommend precision X since the HUD is easier to work with, but there have been driver problems and it can't save the settings sometimes.

Let me know how it turns out! ^_^

OC memory gives more of an advantage in higher resolutions. At 1080p it may not be an issue, it also depends on games. I have the memory on my 660 OC'd much more than the core, and I do see a benefit in some games. Its actually a lot easier to get more out of the memory than the gpu. An interesting thing I have found recently was using Nvidia Inspector with a batch file to do the overclocking, this avoids having a boost clock and forces the gpu clock to run flat out without the clock speed moving up or down at all. It also fixed an issue I had with crisis 2 where the clock would drop to 500mhz randomly until I rebooted.

The core will get you much more performance boost than the memory. If you play everything at high and have huge res like 25x14 or 57x10 then yes overclock it. The 770 is a 680 with gpu clock over 1 ghz and mem at 7ghz so if you can reach this area then you will be even with 770 anyway LOL. Some cards have better mem than others i have the 670 windforce and can get mem to 8ghz +500 but run it at 7 day to day some have issues going over 6.2ghz so the chips vary by quite a bit.

Thent

The memory on your card comes with ECC error correction that will downclock automatically if you push it too hard. There is very little chance of damaging your memory by overclocking.

Be careful to benchmark those memory OC's. With DDR5, they have error correction, which may make it look stable, even when it is not. You may be losing performance due to error correction slowing things down, even though the clock is high and you don't see any artifacts.

You won't see downclocking due to error correction, but you'll will lose FPS. The only way I am aware of testing if you are losing performance, is to run benchmarks as you increase your clocks.

For the GTX680s Ive never used non stock design. I like the blower fans blowing out of my case thank you. In my personal computer I have 2 GTX680s at these exact settings, Card #1 is a Asus and Card #2 is a Zotac. I flashed both cards to the same bios 80.04.09.00.0F (P2002-0000)

GPU max boost clock is 1275Mhz
Memory 7008Mhz
SLI enabled

using MSI afterburner 3.0.0 Beta 10
Vcore +0
PowerLimit +132
Core Clock +216
Memory Clock +500

Custom fan profile
72c @ 100%
65c @ 80%
55c @ 55%

I'm using water on my CPU with a i7 2600k @ 5049Mhz, Ram is 16GB @ 2200Mhz cas 9. The case is well vented, air flow being key to having stable videocard overclock. I was using 4GB of Ram but was getting shuttering in SLI and with Ram so cheap I tested with more ram and all my shuttering was gone.

My cards are 2GB models so ram overclock on the more dense 4GB models may be limited.

I hope my settings help,

I'm also very mad at Nvidia for rebranding the GTX680s as GTX770s are just raising the base clocks of the core and memory. It's really not fair for the people who sold their GTX680s to only buy another GTX680s >_> The GTX780s price isn't fair either. AMD really needs to release something so Nvidia can stop raping us.

Two Comments:

1. The Shuttering, you're meaning micro-stutter right? I was just wondering because I am going to have two 780s in dual SLI and was worried about this. If the problem is RAM, I think I'll be okay with 16GB (4x4GB) of Corsair Vengeance.

2. (Secondly), the price is ~$650 for the base model, and ~$670 for the dual vented EVGA one. That's more than fair. Honestly they should be priced at about $800-$900, since their performance is to close to the Titans, especially at 1080p, with less than ~15% difference. The price to performance of this makes it the best selling card on the market for your money. I think the problem is people comparing it to the 680. Yes, it is the 80th of the 700 series like the 680 is the 80th of the 600 series, making it "a step up", but in the reality, it is more like "Mini-Titan (mTitan)". Please understand this.

He was talking about 770 not 780

Does it really have ecc? As fas as I know only Quadro K6000 have ECC http://www.nvidia.com/object/compare-quadro-gpus.html And I couldn't find any official proof that they have really implemented ecc.