Overclocking GTX 770 Memory clock vs core clock?

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ChronicSonic

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I wasn't sure if I should be posting this in the overclocking section of the forums, but I looked there and it just seemed like all CPU material. I have been playing World of Warcraft and Borderlands 2 with my new MSI GTX 770 OC TF and i've been running the games fairly well with a small boost (+50MHz) to my core clock. At first the temps were kind of high, 60-75 range, but I fixed that by using the pin cables the card came with instead of just my modular PSU's ones that I set it up with originally. It made the temps go down to the 40-50 range, but now they're back up to 55-65 while playing these two games (without any changes to my OC settings), but I did download a few driver updates. Nevertheless, 55-65 is still pretty decent. I got a bit bored today though and downloaded Planetside 2 and MY GAWD... with max graphics I got 70-75 temps and max'd out at 77, and the game wasn't very smooth, which I blame my processor for mostly (i7-2600 @3.4ghz) and maybe my 8gb of ram wasn't enough either. Due to my accelerating curiosity and boredom I started to mess with my GPU OC settings in MSI Afterburner, and I downloaded Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0. With the factory default settings for my card and extreme settings on the benchmark software with a 1600x900 resolution monitor my average FPS for the benchmark was 49.0, and my "score" was 1234. I proceeded to test it with +100 to the core clock and got 50.2 FPS and 1265 score. Then I started to wonder about messing with the memory clock and did some reading and found out that memory clock speed really doesn't impact performance nearly as much as the core clock does. I proceeded to raise my memory clock +100 MHz and kept my core clock at +100 still, 50.8 FPS and 1279 score, a very small increase. BUT THEN, I went and did +200 MHz to the memory clock and +125 MHz to the core, and I got 53.6 FPS and my score got bumped to 1350, that seems like a pretty big bump compared to the +100 mem clock and +100 core clock. Are these benchmark tests just not very accurate, or does tweaking the memory clock really help benchmark tests that much? Did I find my card's sweet spot? I know my tests weren't very organized, and I should do more, but I'm wondering when, if ever, I should tweak my core voltage. I was reading up on OC guides and people were saying to increase it when you start seeing graphical errors like black spots, etc. But increasing it also can hurt the lifespan of your card. I plan on using this card for A WHILE, and to SLI with another 770 in the future. I am getting a 1080p monitor soon and I also plan to purchase Battlefield 3 and play the crap out of it, and I really want to do that with 60 fps. How much does CPU vs GPU effect performance on a 1080p monitor vs 900p. Should I mess with the clocking even more, or should I just chill with the +200 mem clock and +125 core? I also don't want to hurt my PSU; it seems to get VERY hot when my card gets to 60+ temps, and it's a corsair AX850, so I'm not sure why it can't handle the GTX 770 very well... I'm fairly new to all this, any help/feedback is greatly appreciated.
 
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grebgonebad
Core clock increases will always be more effective than memory clock increases, as it is the GPU that does the brunt of the processing. The memory overclock doesnt really increase its speed in mhz, but actually increases its data transfer rate. Increasing the memory clock will allow the memory to trasnfer data quicker, leading to faster loading times, rendering times ect. However, too high a memory clock and you will start to see artifacts on the screen, sometimes to catastrophic effects. I myself have overlocked the memory too far, (Burnt out a 550Ti when bumping up the memory by +1200mhz! Derp). You may well ahve found the optimal settings for your card, so note them down, but contiue to play around with the clocks. I tend now to...
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grebgonebad

grebgonebad

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Core clock increases will always be more effective than memory clock increases, as it is the GPU that does the brunt of the processing. The memory overclock doesnt really increase its speed in mhz, but actually increases its data transfer rate. Increasing the memory clock will allow the memory to trasnfer data quicker, leading to faster loading times, rendering times ect. However, too high a memory clock and you will start to see artifacts on the screen, sometimes to catastrophic effects. I myself have overlocked the memory too far, (Burnt out a 550Ti when bumping up the memory by +1200mhz! Derp). You may well ahve found the optimal settings for your card, so note them down, but contiue to play around with the clocks. I tend now to increase core more than memory, as memory doesnt do too much to increase performance, but a higher memory clock will increase power consumtion. I have even undercloked my memory before now to keep a more stable power supply to the GPU.

With regards to your PSU, Dont worry. I have the same one, and the thing to remember is that the cooling fan on the bottom diesnt turn on until the PSU reaches a certain temperature. Part of the reason for its 80+GOLD rating is becuase it works more efficient when warm.

Hope this helps!
 
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ChronicSonic

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Thanks for the very swift and informative reply mate! I'm relieved that there's nothing wrong with my PSU. What do you think about changing from 900p to 1080p resolution though? I know there's a ton of information on this already, but I haven't seemed to find anything other than "Yes, your fps will probably drop a little, there will be slight performance loss, etc."

 
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grebgonebad

grebgonebad

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Changing from 900 to 1080 wont really make much of a difference. Not a noticeable one anyway. there will be a little more VRAM usage, as the GPU will have to render more pixels per frame, but performance loss will be minimal. 1080p is a pretty standard resolution nowdays, and pretty much every modern card can handle any game at 1080p. If you had something like a GT210 or something then it probably wouldnt handle anything higher than 720p, but anything in the GTX range is pretty much guaranteed to run it. =)

To get the most out of your games 1080p is really the minimmum choice for resolution. It's only really when you wander into the realms of 2k and 4k resolutions that CPU and GPU performance is affected on a noticeable level.

I'm glad I helped!
 
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ChronicSonic

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Thanks again for another awesome reply. :)
I hate to badger you with even more questions, but while I have your brains here what's your opinion on my temps? Are they alright? Can driver updates sometimes mess with a card and make it run hotter?... seems pretty outlandish to think about, but I'm not sure why my card started getting a bit hotter randomly.
 
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grebgonebad

grebgonebad

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Dont worry about badgering me, your keeping me busy! =)

As far as your temps go, I wouldnt worry about them too much. They are still too low to be of concern, and temperatures do fluctuate from time to time due to different factors such as room temperature and what game you are playing. Obviously a game with poor graphics is not going to make your GPU work as hard as a game with demanding graphics.

Temps can fluctuate slightly with driver updates and such, as some updates can require a card to work harder. One example of this is with Nvidia driver updates. They regularly work on improving the performnance of games on certain cards, and lets say they managed to give a game a 10% performance increase, this likely means that the graphics card in question will have been optimised to work 10% harder when running that game. Like I say, dont look too much into it, Modern GPU's are now cabable of running at 100 degrees before they automatically shut down, 70-75 is nothing to worry about. My current SLI set up, just for comparison, regularly idles at around 40 degrees, and under laod goes as high as 85-90 with no performance issues to date.

Have you moved your PC recently, or taken away anything that could contribute to temperature in your room such as air conditioning or a desk fan? have you ahd your window open/closed recently? All of these contribute to in case temps.

=)
 
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ChronicSonic

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Haven't moved anything, but the temperature where I live is always fluctuating. The one thing that bugs me is my case is pretty small, and the AX850 came with phat modular cables that are like wrapped up in this metal mesh material, perhaps I should cut that off because there's not much breathing room in my case with dat crap. The wires are still protected with normal wire covering (electrical tape?) under the metal mesh though.
 
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grebgonebad

grebgonebad

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The fluctuating temperature is probably your culprit there then. =) Even a couple of degrees change in temps outside can amplify to 15 degrees in your case in my experience, as windows act like a greenhouse!

The AX850's sheathed cables are a bit of an annoyance at times, but I personally find that sheathing looks much neater than unsheated cables. You are right, each induvidual wire is insulated as Corsair know that some people dont like sheathing, and will remove it. However, removing the sheathing is only really an easthetic change rather than a practical one. It can make it easier to manipulate some of the thicker cables around corners and such however. Especially the chunky 24pinn motherbaord power connector.

It is entirely personal preference as to whether you remove the sheathing or not, but it wont alleviate any of the mess in your case! Some simple cable management should solve this. =) Try using as few cables as possible. I dont know what you are using, but if for example you were using 2 of the SATA power cables, try limiting it to just 1. Things like that. I understand though that having a small case will make this more of a pain. I had a small case myself until I upgraded to a Zalman Z11 Plus. (A very good quality case for only £50 if you ever consider upgrading your own.) ;)

Alternatively, I havent done this myself, but you could always try looking for some shorter modular cables to use, which will elminate some of the mess?
 
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