When the GTX 980 and the GTX 970 hit shelves, we were all curious to see how far they could be overclocked. While air-cooled overclocking results can usually be found quite soon after launch, results of overclocking with liquid nitrogen often take a little longer to surface. After all, most folks aren't willing to drop a liquid of any kind onto their new graphics cards on day one, let alone a liquid that's closer in temperature to absolute zero than ice. Now, though, a Swedish overclocker who goes by the name Elmor has managed to set a new record with the GTX 980. You can find an entry on HWBot.
Elmor's test system consists of an Asus GTX 980 DirectCU II (which Asus now markets as a Strix card), an Asus Rampage V Extreme motherboard, the Intel Core i7-5960X processor and 16 GB of DDR4 memory made by G.Skill, all of which are powered by a V1200 PSU from Cooler Master.
Elmor overclocked the graphics card to a staggering 2208 MHz, with an effective memory speed of 8.4 GHz. Elmor also managed to push the Core i7-5960X CPU to 5.586 GHz, which together delivered a 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme score of 9,568 marks, which is a single-GPU world record.
Of course, overclocking using liquid nitrogen serves little purpose in practical every-day life, but that doesn't mean it's not a fun exercise.
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