GTX 1080 Overclocking.

[fastamdman]

So I read some reviews and looked around but I am a bit puzzled. I saw a few reviews and videos of programs like MSI Afterburner being able to do 120% on the power limit.

From everything I can see, I am limited to 108%. Is anyone else having this issue? I have tried the gigabyte tool, evga's, msi afterburners, all of them are limiting me to 108%.

I have the gigabyte g1 gaming gtx 1080. It's a solid overclocker so far but only having 108% compared to 120% is probably hurting it a bit.

 

[Annisman*]

What numbers are you reaching ? It seems every 1080 is basically maxed at around 2.1 on the core, the only question is how is your noise and thermals when you get there.

 

[fastamdman]

Core clocks I'm getting 2088 to 2100 give or take depending on what the boosting wants to do. Thermals are 58C after an hour straight of heaven in loop / benchmarks. Noise isn't a concern to me and personally I feel it's very low, especially compared to my 4 scythe ultra kaze 120mm's on the top of my radiator / corsair 900D.

 

[badb0y]

Mine tops out at 2152 MHz and my core temperatures are in the 40s under full load. Adding voltage "percentage" makes my card unstable so I can't push it any further. Power limit is at 120% and I see the clocks fluctuate whenever it gets to 118% so it's definitely getting close to the 120% mark for me.

 

[CakeMonster]

IIRC I only have 107% power limit in Afterburner. MSI Gaming X.

OC is also confusing because the actual boost is much higher than the boost I set with AB. I see people posting AB screenshots with frequencies that would lock up for me. But the card still boost beyond those even if I set speeds lower.

 

[Deders]

The MSI gaming X should have 121%. Can you check?

 

[CakeMonster]

Yep checked now. MSI Gaming X 1080. Goes to 107 in AB 4.3.0b4.

 

[Deders]

So why are review sites showing 121% in oc software? What does yours say in other software?

 

[CakeMonster]

Any software you can recommend? I've always used AB.

 

[Deders]

Asus GPU tweak or EVGA's precision should do the job.

I've seen several reviews that specify the 121% like this one, but then this one just shows the 107%

Seeing as this gen seems to be most limited by voltage, the power% doesn't seem as important for achieving max clocks, but I would prefer the extra headroom so I can push the memory harder when I upgrade my monitor to a 34" ultrawide.

Am I getting models mixed up or are MSI sending out 2 slightly different cards with the same name?

Edit: Are there separate settings for an OC mode from within afterburner? maybe that allows for the extra power headroom.

Have a read of this. there might be a better bios to download.

 

[CakeMonster]

First thing I did after I got the card, was upgrading to the MSI BIOS that had OC profile enabled, the one they released after the "scandal". Don't know if that makes a difference. Will test with the other tools now.

 

[CakeMonster]

Asus GPU Tweak also has max power at 107. It does let me adjust the voltage however, something that AB doesn't.

 

[Deders]

That seems messed up that AB doesn't let you control voltage. If it were me I'd contact MSI about the difference in power target as the 121% would have been one of the reasons I was interested in the card in the first place.

 

[Dufus]

From everything I can see, I am limited to 108%.

Don't read too much into percentages, find out actual limits. For instance with Gigabyte G1 1080 F2 beta bios

Standard 100% TDP is 180W which at 120% allows 216W. Your base limit is 200W but you still get 216W using 108%. HWiNFO might be able to show actual power usage under sensors.

 

[CakeMonster]

I flew around for 2 minutes i WoW and max reading in HWiNFO is 242W, with my MSI at 107% Power limit. No idea how accurate that is.

 

[Deders]

Don't read too much into percentages, find out actual limits. For instance with Gigabyte G1 1080 F2 beta bios

Standard 100% TDP is 180W which at 120% allows 216W. Your base limit is 200W but you still get 216W using 108%. HWiNFO might be able to show actual power usage under sensors.

What app is that screenshot from?

 

[FatherMurphy]

So, I'm crashing in FireStrike Ultra and FO4 when I push my EVGA 1080 FTW above 2050 mhz... is this an average/decent overclock or am I doing something wrong?

Don't get me wrong, the card is whisper quiet at that speed, but I guess I expected a bit more (north of 2100 mhz) from a custom PCB 1080 with two 8 pins. Should I try increasing voltage as much as I can?

 

[Vellinious]

The % on the power target slider is an arbitrary number. The actual wattages for the percentages are set in the bios, and could be different from one model to the next.

One card may have:
200 watts at 100%
240 watts at 120%

And the next may have:
220 watts at 100%
242 watts at 110%

Don't assume that just because "my percentage is only 108%, and his is 120%", that his power limit is actually higher. That's flawed logic.

 

[Deders]

From what I've seen anything over 2000 is good. Only the founders editions seem to be regularly pushing above 2100, but they are more hampered by heat which ends up lowering the in game speeds.

When looking at my voltage in Gainward's app, it rarely reaches 1v. It should be able to reach 1.25v so I'm thinking I'll be able to push it further when the apps that give you more voltage control are released.

 

[FatherMurphy]

@Deders

I see. That's true, the FE's on launch day reviews would spike up over 2100 but fall under 2000 mhz in many cases after a few minutes. Wonder why they are able to get that high, though, and my FTW crashes the driver if it goes much over 2050.

But, another 50 mhz isn't that big a deal, I suppose, when the cooling on the FTW locks the clock at 2050 even during long gaming sessions.

 

[Deders]

Yeah, I'm not sure if an extra 2.5% performance you'd get from 50MHz is worth a potential 25% increase in voltage.

AIB's may have hit the sweet spot. We shall see.

 

[guskline]

What numbers are you reaching ? It seems every 1080 is basically maxed at around 2.1 on the core, the only question is how is your noise and thermals when you get there.

Agreed.

Thermals are not a problem since mine is under water.

 

[Dufus]

@Deders just something I knocked up to help check BIOS settings.

 

[Raising]

My MSI 1080 gaming x has two bios, the default one can get up to 121% power limit and the OC mode bios go to 109% power limit or something because by default it's already increased.

OP probably has the card with an overclocked bios or has the card in OC mode.

 

[CakeMonster]

I have the OC bios from MSI yes.