Tips for SLI GPU overclocking please?

its better you do not mess up with voltage settings,.,.,.,. also make sure both the gpus have EQUAL and ample access to fresh cool air since if one gpu gets heated more it olso downclocks the other gpu

Start by seeing what's already worked. here you see Guru3Ds results

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_geforce_gtx_770_lightning_review,25.html

Core Clock: 1225 MHz
Boost Clock: 1306 MHz
Memory Clock:7806MHz

We applied this as a profile:

Power Target 109% (priority)
Temp Target 95 Degrees C
CPU clock +75 MHz
Mem clock +400 MHz
Mem voltage +0.50 Mv
GPU Voltage Memory +12 Mv
Fan RPM, 55%

Click to expand...

nVidia limits the voltage which manufacturers can "allow" using both physical design limitations and legal restrictions. You simply can not harm the card by adjusting the voltage in MSI Afterburner. Without that additional voltage, you are basically wasting your time..... no doubt some DPUS that come off the line will work w/o it but the reason that slider is there is because it is expected to be used. Going beyond that point is another issue. Load up HWiNFO64 or GPU_z. On the latter set it to record max temp, max power, max voltage, max clock. Before starting, save the "stock profile" in Slot No. 1. Have a pen / paper or, better yet, use a spreadsheet to record your Valley / Firestrike scores for each setting.

1. Start with the above Guru3D settings, Save in Slot No.2 ("Guru3D settings") .

2. Adjust memory down to original "stock settings".

3. Run Furmark for an hour and test for heat issues

4. Run Unigine Valley / Firestrike Benchmarks ... look for artifacts,

5. Depending upon results, increase or decrease the core by say 20. If you see artifacts in Valley / Firestrike, crash, or get to hot, back down 10 and try again.

6. Rinse and repeat till you find a stable core setting. Save this in Slot 3 ("Stable Core Clock")

7. At this point, do the same thing but with memory.... start by setting core clock back to "stock settings" and find out what maximum stable memory is. Save this in Slot 4 ("Max. Memory Setting)

8. So now we know your limits for each criteria. So lets restore Slot 3 settings and move half way up from the stock to the max memory settings and test..... keep going up until you get artifacts or fail.

9. You will notice from your spreadsheet, that your highest core and memory settings will not produce the highest benchmarks. On the 780s, my highest stable memory setting w/o artifacts was 7412....my highest core was 1089 (1267 boost). I wound up at 1083 core / 1254 boost / 7220 memory after all tweaking

Now to your problem .... some games just steenk. Battlefield 4 is one of them that has crashed our systems every time it's been played. My sons use MSI AB to restore stock settings whenever that game is played. It doesn't stop the crashes but it does lengthen the time it takes to get them. This is on 3 builds... twin Asus 560s , twin Asus 780s (water cooled) and twin MSI 970s .... sometimes the kids even turn SLI off in their frustration but again.... that just seems to lengthen the time between crashes.

When I played Metro ... there was a spot where I came out from underground and overlooked a flooded junkyard.... it would stall at that spot every time. But, you could restore stock settings, climb out and eneter the junkyard, restore the OC'd settings and you'd be fine.

Some games are just dorky in this respect. Like certain AV programs, my guess is between all the DRM stuff and rush to get it out the door, the optimizations are just not what they should be. So save that stick setting for use when necessary if ya hitting the same problem in the same spot in any individual game.

My son has the Luxe also.... w/ two 970s in SLI.

(3) 140mm fans on top
(2) 140mm fans on bottom (Lower HD cage removed)
(1) 140mm fan in rear
(1) 200mm fan in front

He put the (6) 140s on the fan Hub connected to one header and the (1) 200m on another. If ya get more fans, it's a good idea not to mix rpm's on the same channel.