This OC is safe?
Tags:
-
Overclocking
-
Gaming
-
Graphics Cards
- Nvidia
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
Nicklas
September 23, 2014 9:53:36 AM
I am OC'ing my GPU to maximise the chance of getting good FPS in Watch Dogs, so I searched around aliitle and it appears like OCing is totally safe for Nvidia cards (note, safe, not stable)
So I want to try this OC:
![]()
Is this "safe" for my GPU? Or is there any risk that it will..."blow up"?
So I want to try this OC:

Is this "safe" for my GPU? Or is there any risk that it will..."blow up"?
More about : safe
-
Reply to Nicklas
a
b
K
Overclocking
a
b
4
Gaming
a
c
168
U
Graphics card
a
b
Î
Nvidia
September 23, 2014 10:28:28 AM
coozie7
a
b
K
Overclocking
a
b
4
Gaming
a
c
198
U
Graphics card
a
b
Î
Nvidia
September 23, 2014 10:41:50 AM
It's usually safe to push the frequencies, normally you'll get artifacts or just a plain crash if you set them too high but voltage is different, even small increases push the system much harder, and greatly increase the heat output.
Obviously, it's your choice but I'd suggest you leave the voltage alone, or at least make the smallest increases you can get away with to keep the OC stable.
Obviously, it's your choice but I'd suggest you leave the voltage alone, or at least make the smallest increases you can get away with to keep the OC stable.
-
Reply to coozie7
m
0
l
Related resources
- Sapphire R9 270x Dual X 2gb DDR5 OC with boost safe temperature - Forum
- OC safe of not? - Forum
- Safe to OC a 24/7 computer? - Forum
- My R9 280x Dual-x Oc Hitting 80 to 85 C in few games like sniper elite 3 sniper ghost warrior and withcer 2 ?? is it safe - Forum
- Safe temps for i7 4770K OC to 4.2 GHz with CM EVO 212? - Forum
Nicklas
September 23, 2014 10:47:26 AM
I just OCd the MHz too around 500 each, and i went into the game again... It went black and then the screen got no signal, restarted fast as hell and its all normal now...
Is this a normal thing when OC goes bad?
Was 500HZ too high?
ADD:
Also, I just did the 500Mhz again, started upp the game and it crashed the game at main menu, and said that the drivers has been restored...
Really? is my card this shitty I cant even OC that?
Is this a normal thing when OC goes bad?
Was 500HZ too high?
ADD:
Also, I just did the 500Mhz again, started upp the game and it crashed the game at main menu, and said that the drivers has been restored...
Really? is my card this shitty I cant even OC that?
-
Reply to Nicklas
m
0
l
Best solution
a
b
K
Overclocking
a
b
4
Gaming
a
c
678
U
Graphics card
a
c
468
Î
Nvidia
September 23, 2014 11:01:02 AM
Hopefully you noticed that the values for your Core Clock and Memory Clock have a "+" next to them. That value does not represent the actual Core and Memory clock speeds, but rather how much is added to your standard clock speed. So you added a full 1000 MHz to your clock speeds! No wonder why it didn't work. That would have been a world record if it had.
Here are the settings they used at Guru3d for their overclock:
Power Target 106%
•Priority at Temperature target
•Temp Target 95 Degrees C
•GPU clock +150 MHz
•Mem clock +350 MHz
•Voltage 1200 Mv
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/geforce-gtx-780-re...
Here are the settings they used at Guru3d for their overclock:
Power Target 106%
•Priority at Temperature target
•Temp Target 95 Degrees C
•GPU clock +150 MHz
•Mem clock +350 MHz
•Voltage 1200 Mv
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/geforce-gtx-780-re...
-
Reply to 17seconds
Share
Nicklas
September 23, 2014 12:11:06 PM
17seconds said:
Hopefully you noticed that the values for your Core Clock and Memory Clock have a "+" next to them. That value does not represent the actual Core and Memory clock speeds, but rather how much is added to your standard clock speed. So you added a full 1000 MHz to your clock speeds! No wonder why it didn't work. That would have been a world record if it had.Here are the settings they used at Guru3d for their overclock:
Power Target 106%
•Priority at Temperature target
•Temp Target 95 Degrees C
•GPU clock +150 MHz
•Mem clock +350 MHz
•Voltage 1200 Mv
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/geforce-gtx-780-re...
Yeah, no clue how much 1000 Mhz really is though.
The voltage option is not the same as I have... You say 1200 MV, how much + is that from 0?
-
Reply to Nicklas
m
0
l
smeezekitty
a
b
K
Overclocking
a
b
4
Gaming
a
c
100
U
Graphics card
a
b
Î
Nvidia
September 23, 2014 12:41:29 PM
coozie7
a
b
K
Overclocking
a
b
4
Gaming
a
c
198
U
Graphics card
a
b
Î
Nvidia
September 23, 2014 2:53:43 PM
Nicklas
September 23, 2014 10:56:49 PM
smeezekitty said:
1000MHz is INSANE. The stock clock is probably something like 900MHz so you would be more than doubling the clockSimply impossible. You are probably very lucky to hit +200
Also, I would avoid cranking the voltage up so much
coozie7 said:
I don't want to sound nasty but a few words of advice given to me from an old, wrinkled, ex Navy mechanic during my apprenticeship spring to mind: "If you don't know what you're doing, leave it the f*** alone!"That goes double for the voltage.
Well then, why the hell do you think I am here asking?
You never learn if you dont do or ask about it....
So instead of frying my GPU, I ask about it here.
No need for such comments.
-
Reply to Nicklas
m
0
l
smeezekitty
a
b
K
Overclocking
a
b
4
Gaming
a
c
100
U
Graphics card
a
b
Î
Nvidia
September 23, 2014 10:59:47 PM
ad0
September 23, 2014 11:29:20 PM
Nicklas
September 24, 2014 2:59:06 AM
RobCrezz
a
b
K
Overclocking
a
b
4
Gaming
a
c
78
U
Graphics card
a
b
Î
Nvidia
September 24, 2014 3:04:30 AM
Nicklas
September 24, 2014 3:11:00 AM
RobCrezz
a
b
K
Overclocking
a
b
4
Gaming
a
c
78
U
Graphics card
a
b
Î
Nvidia
September 24, 2014 3:15:03 AM
Nicklas said:
Question then, can I have the game running while doing this, just minimize, OC and then maximize, or do I have to start the game up for each time?Yes you can on the fly, but it wont always show up instability right away.
I tend to make a change, then run unigine Valley to test - it puts the gpu under a good amount of stress and is repeatable.
-
Reply to RobCrezz
m
0
l
RobCrezz
a
b
K
Overclocking
a
b
4
Gaming
a
c
78
U
Graphics card
a
b
Î
Nvidia
September 24, 2014 3:15:40 AM
You can download it here:
https://unigine.com/products/valley/download/
https://unigine.com/products/valley/download/
-
Reply to RobCrezz
m
0
l
Nicklas
September 24, 2014 4:04:14 AM
RobCrezz
a
b
K
Overclocking
a
b
4
Gaming
a
c
78
U
Graphics card
a
b
Î
Nvidia
September 24, 2014 4:14:52 AM
Nicklas said:
So I get this straight now:I tune up the Core clock 50+Mhz per time, then start up the benchmark and when it does some weird stuff or crashes, then I should tune it down again.
And then do the same thing for Memory clock?
Pretty much. Let it run for a while each time you adjust the settings.
-
Reply to RobCrezz
m
0
l
Nicklas
September 24, 2014 5:48:13 AM
Alright so I have gotten this far:
![]()
More than 250 core clock the benchmark crashes, then I continued with Memory clock, which currently is at 450 Mhz and no crash or artifacts anywhere.
Doing the max load I can do, max out rain and wind, and put it to dusk with alot of colors and then move around fast and freely, getting at lowest 45 FPS.
Should I crank up the Memory Clock even further?

More than 250 core clock the benchmark crashes, then I continued with Memory clock, which currently is at 450 Mhz and no crash or artifacts anywhere.
Doing the max load I can do, max out rain and wind, and put it to dusk with alot of colors and then move around fast and freely, getting at lowest 45 FPS.
Should I crank up the Memory Clock even further?
-
Reply to Nicklas
m
0
l
RobCrezz
a
b
K
Overclocking
a
b
4
Gaming
a
c
78
U
Graphics card
a
b
Î
Nvidia
September 24, 2014 5:52:10 AM
Nicklas
September 24, 2014 5:56:43 AM
Oh shiet, alright so cranked the Power limit to full.
And then went on with the Memory clock, i did 500, went "in-game" and no problems.
Then i tried 550Mhz and my whole screen instantly turned light blue!
I was so afraid, I waited 5 seconds then i just hard-restarted the computer with the res button.
So, 500Mhz is the limit I should keep it to right?
And then went on with the Memory clock, i did 500, went "in-game" and no problems.
Then i tried 550Mhz and my whole screen instantly turned light blue!
I was so afraid, I waited 5 seconds then i just hard-restarted the computer with the res button.
So, 500Mhz is the limit I should keep it to right?
-
Reply to Nicklas
m
0
l
RobCrezz
a
b
K
Overclocking
a
b
4
Gaming
a
c
78
U
Graphics card
a
b
Î
Nvidia
September 24, 2014 5:58:47 AM
Nicklas said:
Oh shiet, alright so cranked the Power limit to full.And then went on with the Memory clock, i did 500, went "in-game" and no problems.
Then i tried 550Mhz and my whole screen instantly turned light blue!
I was so afraid, I waited 5 seconds then i just hard-restarted the computer with the res button.
So, 500Mhz is the limit I should keep it to right?
Yeah you may find you can get somewhere between 500 and 550, but to be safe 500 should be fine. Save them setting and test further with some other games/benchmarks to just be 100% sure of stability. MSI kombuster can be good for that too (usually comes with afterburner).
-
Reply to RobCrezz
m
0
l
a
b
K
Overclocking
a
b
4
Gaming
a
c
678
U
Graphics card
a
c
468
Î
Nvidia
September 24, 2014 6:49:54 AM
Nicklas said:
Oh shiet, alright so cranked the Power limit to full.And then went on with the Memory clock, i did 500, went "in-game" and no problems.
Then i tried 550Mhz and my whole screen instantly turned light blue!
I was so afraid, I waited 5 seconds then i just hard-restarted the computer with the res button.
So, 500Mhz is the limit I should keep it to right?
That's great if you can maintain that setting in other games and applications. To fine tune your overclocking, Nvidia includes "Reasons". As you scroll down the list of graphs on the right hand side of Afterburner, you'll come across:
- Temp limit
- Power limit
- Voltage limit
- OV max limit
If you see a "1" in any of those graphs, it indicates that your overclock failed on that variable. To address that issue, you would increase the corresponding slider (unless its already maxed out). For the Temp limit, you can increase the slider or increase the fans. OV max limit is a general, "this is bad" warning and you should back off if you see that at "1" consistently. A zero in any of those graphs indicates that everything is okay in terms of that variable.
-
Reply to 17seconds
m
0
l
Nicklas
September 24, 2014 6:57:38 AM
RobCrezz
a
b
K
Overclocking
a
b
4
Gaming
a
c
78
U
Graphics card
a
b
Î
Nvidia
September 24, 2014 7:00:00 AM
Nicklas
September 24, 2014 7:24:34 AM
RobCrezz
a
b
K
Overclocking
a
b
4
Gaming
a
c
78
U
Graphics card
a
b
Î
Nvidia
September 24, 2014 7:58:09 AM
Nicklas
September 24, 2014 8:15:54 AM
Related resources
- SolvedSafe temp for OC'd R9 270x Forum
- Solvedsafe gtx 780 oc Forum
- SolvedAre my FX-6300 OC settings are safe Forum
- SolvedIs it safe to OC while using Onboard graphics? Forum
- SolvedIs my CPU temp safe enough? (Haswell 4770k OC to 4.2) Forum
- SolvedWould it be safe to OC a GTX 780Ti SC Edition with a 750w PSU? Forum
- SolvedCore i7 4820K Multiplier for Turbo Boost, What is considered to be safe everyday O.C.? Forum
- Solvedis OC safe? what is the benefits? and do i need software to do this? Forum
- Solvedi7 2600k safe vcore for 4.4GHz OC? Forum
- SolvedSafe overclock for gigabyte r9 270 oc ? Forum
- Solvedi7 4770k + CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO. Safe to OC? Forum
- Solvedi5 4670k With H80i running at high idle but fine under load. Any Explanation, And am I safe to OC? Forum
- SolvedFX-6300 - Safe to OC to 3.7GHz at 1.4V on stock cooler? Forum
- SolvedIs OC Genie 4 Safe? Forum
- GTX 970 STRIX OC'ing in UNIGINE HEAVEN (Is this ok and stable/safe?) Forum
- More resources
Read discussions in other Graphics & Displays categories
!