MSI GTX660TI Power Edition Overclocking Temps

[jarlsuki]

Hello

I recently bought this card and im interested in overclocking it.
I read through http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/4890/msi_geforce_gtx_660_ti_2gb_power_edition_video_card_overclocked/index1.html and it looks good.

At page 14 it shows temperatures and the following is written:
*The temperature of the core is pulled from MSI Afterburner with the max reading used after a completed run off 3DMark Vantage and the Performance preset*

The temp difference is:
Before overclocking - Load 64 / Idle 30
After overclocking - Load 72 / Idle 31

Using http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119257 case, but mine has 2x 200mm fans at the top, 1x 200mm fan on the side, 1x 200mm fan in the front, 1x 140mm fan in the back and 1x 120mm fan inside mounted over the HDD's facing towards my graphic card.
If it matters i have an i5-3570k cpu with 212Evo.

Im far from an expert in overclocking graphic cards, but do think the results from the tests are good.
Would you call this a normal overclocking or are they pushing the card further than you would recommend?
If it's normal, is it safe to push it further?
And is the temp difference good/bad?
And ofc, is it worth it?
I do play alot of games and i love to use the highest setting possible, but i usually use 1920x1080res.

Thanks : )

 

[refillable]

That's totally fine, cards doesn't usually get hurt unless they've reached 90C.

 

[envy14tpe]

Post your 3DMark Settings at 720p. Are the load temps max similar to gaming temps? I overclock my 660ti and max temp is usually around 69-71C. (in 25C room) You got a ton of fans so everything must be pretty cool.

 

[jarlsuki]

After just copying your settings in MSI afterburner i ran 3dmark11 at 720p, but it crashes after a while and sais that i had a driver error or something, and that it recovered. Happends every time i try.

Readings before that were, from the TechPowerup GPU log:
GPU Core Clock [MHz] 1280.3
GPU Memory Clock [MHz] 1625.4
GPU Temperature 68c
Fan speed 41%
Fan speed RPM 1590
Memory used 350mb
GPU Load 98%
Memory Controller Load 32%
Power Consumption 94.2%

An idea why it would crash?

 

[battguano]

i have this card as well and i used some overclocking guides that i saw. the first one i used worked fine; it o/c'd the card, gave me great scores and was stable. Then i saw another o/c for the same card; tried that one which caused my games to freeze so i set it back to the first o/c. Unfortunately, it is no longer stable on those settings, not sure why so for the time being i've reverted to the standard settings. Temp never got more than 50c at any time during stress tests yet card not stable. i'll follow this thread to see what you end up with.

 

[jarlsuki]

Was able to complete the 3dmark11 test after resetting afterburner.
Did i overdo it? or something.
Got:

Score
P8492 3DMarks
Graphics Score
9209
Physics Score
6977
Combined Score
6753
PC Health Check

Your PC is performing properly.

 

[jarlsuki]

Tried your settings again and got through the test.

Score
P8864 3DMarks
Graphics Score
9812
Physics Score
6950
Combined Score
6761
PC Health Check
Your PC is performing properly.
Why is my Physics score so low compared to yours?

Seems like the last test included my CPU wich i haven't done anything with, it's still a normal i5-3570k @ 3,4ghz. I'll get to that later.

During the test the card didn't go past 66c and i guess thats not to bad.
I don't really have a game that pushes the card that much in order to test it but, i'll try Skyrim and just find some open areas and see what happends. I'll try this OC for a bit and see if it's stable and post some results.

 

[jarlsuki]

After playing Skyrim for a couple of hours (maxed all the settings i could find, 1920x1080res) the card didn't go past 62C.
Not sure if the game pushes the card enough to be a viable test.

 

[envy14tpe]

After playing Skyrim for a couple of hours (maxed all the settings i could find, 1920x1080res) the card didn't go past 62C.
Not sure if the game pushes the card enough to be a viable test.

I've played Skyrim but not sure how intensive it is on the GPU. I know you need a good GPU but does it stress it? Not sure. What I do know is that Battlefield 3 seems to be the best test of CPU or GPU. If you can last an hour or more playing BF3 then your system should be good to go.

Your Graphic Score: 9812 is really high. Nice job. I've been able to push my Afterburner settings up a bit more but randomly have issues so I've backed down and called it a day, and those are the numbers that I use daily on my GPU.

My Physics Score is higher and it might be cuz of my CPU overclocking. I've been able to reach 4.4GHz at a stable and safe voltage.

If you have no intensive games then I wouldn't keep pushing your GPU. If it's stable and an ok overclock then be happy with it. Some extra stress on GPU isn't worth the minimal gain.

 

[jarlsuki]

Decided to keep these settings aslong as the temps dont increase.
Hopefully Black Ops 2 can test the card as its already been pre-ordered.

I ordered a Coolermaster 412S (should arrive tomorrow). Was getting å 212evo but there was a 2month wait so i changed it.
After i get it i will try to push my CPU a bit and see if my Physics score gets better, but i dont dare to try it with the boxed fan i currently use.

Posting some results as soon as i try it out.
Thanks for the replies, its very helpful

 

[amuffin]

Black Ops 2 stressing on GPU's? HAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

[jarlsuki]

I have no idea, never tried the first one and i havent seen any trailers

 

[envy14tpe]

The MSI 660ti overclock that was done by TweakTown is an extreme overclock.
They had an i7-3960X ($1000 usd) plus Asus Rampage Extreme 4 ($430). The test rig would cost (a guess) around $2400. With a rig like that you better get extreme values. With i5s and much cheaper mobos we should expect much less, but I'm happy with my overclock.

 

[jarlsuki]

Yea i was just thinking closer to your physics score : )
Im thinking i'll go for 4,2

 

[envy14tpe]

Yea i was just thinking closer to your physics score : )
Im thinking i'll go for 4,2

Any updates?

 

[Anik8]

@jarlsuki
I've known crysis 2 is very sensitive to unstable GPU overclocks,if any game tells your card isn't stable,its crysis 2.I've experienced it myself.Oh and keep vsync off while testing.

 

[jarlsuki]

Hi again. Been messing around a bit with my CPU and ended up on 4223mhz. Did the test again and got:
Score
P8679 3DMarks
Graphics Score
9198
Physics Score
7580
Combined Score
7200

Physics Score looks better now but for some reason my Graphics score is lower.

Afraid i don't own Crysis 2 Anik8, but thanks for the tip : ) Been playing borderlands 2 for a couple of hours without any problems but, i guess it's not the same.

 

[jarlsuki]

3Dmark11 crashed and got reset so the result is without a GPU OC.
Keep happening when i try to do the test.
Get the message:

Workload work failed with error message: eva:: d3d11::rendering::scene_renderer::render(): draw_depth_task for thread 0: File: device_context.cpp
Line: 442
Function: struct D3D11_MAPPED_SUBRESOURCE __cdecl eva:: d3d11:: device_context::map(struct ID3D11Resource *,unsigned int,enum D3D11_MAP,unsigned int)

Expression: m_native->Map(resource, subresource, type, flags, &result): DX11 call failed.

Ran out of memory
E_OUTOFMEMORY:


Running with the same Afterburner settings as you use Envy

It seems like the test crashes if i OC both my CPU and GPU, but gets through it if i OC only one of them. It crashes on the 3rd test

 

[jarlsuki]

Did a Burn-In Benchmark 1920x1080 15min on Furmark just to see what happened.
Got BURN-IN SCORE: 3107 points 30728 frames, 34 FPS, 72°C.
This any good?
And is it a viable test to check for stability or should i focus on 3DMark11?

Edit: Borderlands 2 crashed and i got some error about GPU drivers. so yea, im going to dial it down a bit i think.

 

[envy14tpe]

Not sure if that's a decent score. I'm not familiar with furmark.

I run MSI Kombuster and Prime. If they don't spot any problems then I play games to test out configuration. As long as nothing crashes then I stick with it. Right now that's where I am.

I found out that a good overclock is important. I used one guide and had a stable 4.2GHz and CPU Vcore (max) at 1.38V with CPU temps at (max) 71C, and CPU (max) 84W. Eventually I came across another guide and gave it a try. Now I get 4.4GHz, 1.34V, CPU at 67C, and CPU power at 78W. All around things are running safer and needing less power to do so. So you might want to look into tweaking your CPU overclock again.

 

[Anik8]

I use furmark and I got 36 fps with my msi 660 ti pe @ 1098 base clock and 1752/7ghz on the memory(offset +500) so it seems your score is nice.However I'm using my i5 3450 at its stock clocks.
I agree with envy14tpe that MSI Kombustor and Prime are nice tools but you can also try evga oc scanner and check whether your card is showing any artifacts.
For the best stability test I'll place my bets on 3Dmark11 as it throws multiple scenarios,pulls most of the card's TDP and uses almost all its features.
These are my 3Dmarks scores:
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4890459
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4890548
I won't be overclocking my CPU recently although my physics scores may seem a bit less.I think they're enough to experience it until Crysis 3 releases on february.

 

[envy14tpe]

I used Kombuster with my 560Ti and that was how I set my GPU. It became clear that some settings were not good, so I backed off and tweaked some things until I could run it until I felt comfortable. Then, I used the settings and I gamed with no problem. Great tool.

I measure CPU by lock ups or restarts. If you play a game with no freezes or restarts then your CPU is good to go. (assuming the monitored variables are within range)

 

[jarlsuki]

I've tried a bit back and forth with Afterburner to see what settings i could use along with my CPU OC and still pass 3Dmark11. Seems to be fine at the moment.
Core Voltage changed from +50 to +37
Power Limit changed from 110% to 108%
Core Clock changed from +75mhz to +50mhz
Memory clock changed from +250mhz to +200mhz

Did the MSI Kombustor test for 35minutes without any issues.
3Dmark11 gave the following scores:

Score
P9033 3DMarks
Graphics Score
9641
Physics Score
7723
Combined Score
7415

Going to try some more tests and play some games to see if it's stable.

 

[jarlsuki]

So far so good with the current GPU OC.
Lowered the voltage on my CPU from 1.200 to 1.135 while keeping my 4.2ghz and upped my Ram from 1333mhz to 1600mhz and got:

Score
P9109 3DMarks
Graphics Score
9664
Physics Score
7941
Combined Score
7532

Going to leave Prime95 on tonight and tomorrow to see if it's stable.
If i get anymore problems that i can't figure out i'll get back to you : )