minimal OC on Memory Clock crashes my 9800GTX. Why?

[Psynaut]

So I got my new 9800GTX throught the EEVGA step-up program yesterday and quickly set to work overclocking it. First I got the Core clock to 820 and the Shader Clock to 2000 nice and stable, but then I went to OC the Memory Clock and things got bad. I am only able to get it to 2240. (stock settings are 675/1688/ 2200). I have searched around the internet and everyone seems to be able to get 2400 on the Shader Clock without too much trouble.

What happens is the screen just goes black (unless I have ATItool running and then the screen goes redish like the background color of the cube). I don't get any Artifacts first, the screen just crashes, and seldom, but on a few occaissions, it will recover with a message that the driver stopped, but recovered.

Does anyone have any advice on this. I am running two 6-pin cables directly from the Corsair 650 watt PS, into the card, and I have checked to make sure the cables are connected. My temps are usually around, or a little below, 60 degrees under load when the driver crashes.

Did I just get a bad card, or could something else be going on that I am unaware of? I don't understand why I get no fractals before I get a complete failure at such a low clock speed. Should I try running it off of the " two 4-pin to one 6-pin adapter cables they provide, though I can't imagine why that would make a difference?

Thanks.

 

[SergeC]

Yours just doesn't OC the memory well, apparently. Tough luck, but nothing wrong with the card if it works at stock.

 

[error8]

I don't understand why do you think that your card MUST do 2400 mhz on the memory. The ram overclock depends on just how good are those particular chips from your card, so you can have a 9800GTX EVGA that can get to 2400mhz and you can also get a card that doesn't overclock at all on the ram. Who knows, maybe one of those memory chips from your card is "bad" and doesn't let you increase its frequency at all, or it just runs too hot to be stable at more then 2240 mhz. Or, maybe your card has a lower vram voltage then other 9800 GTX cards and that can severely reduce your OC.

Also, when the video memory is overclocked beyond stability, it tends to do a lot of weird things to your computer during full load, like crashes, green screens, BSODs and hard locks. It's not obliged to give you only artifacts.

 

[OCGuy]

I was under the impression that "artifacting" was a heat-issue. However, most newer cards are designed to throttle down long before they reach that point now.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

1. PS wattage means very little, it's the +12V amps that matter

2. the fasted 9800gtx evga sells is equiped with memory at 2250 MHz. what's that tell you?

3. the card works fine at advertised speeds. i don't know why people think they are entitled to more than advertised...

 

[Psynaut]

Jesus! I appreciate the helpful advice but some of you need to go take a nap. I never said I was outraged over my lack of entitlement to greater than stock speeds for heavens sake. I said that a search on the internet turned up that most cards OC to 2400 on the Memory Clock, and since mine didn't artifact first, I wondered if it was just a bad overclocker or whether there was something else I didn't know and hadn't considered. Those of you with the snide remarks certainly can remember back to when you didn't know EVERYTHING and had to ask for advice from those more knowledgeable than yourselves in this or some other past life.

It was just a question and some of the arrogant and presumptuous replies are frankly unnecessary and unappreciated. How hard is it to answer a question without putting words in my mouth and being a dick about it?

edit: *btw, for some of us overclocking is a hobby, which means we have fun with it and hope to get a good OC. suggesting that I am some how out of line for trying to learn all I can is stupid.

 

[rgallant]

Originally posted by: Psynaut
Jesus! I appreciate the helpful advice but some of you need to go take a nap. I never said I was outraged over my lack of entitlement to greater than stock speeds for heavens sake. I said that a search on the internet turned up that most cards OC to 2400 on the Memory Clock, and since mine didn't artifact first, I wondered if it was just a bad overclocker or whether there was something else I didn't know and hadn't considered. Those of you with the snide remarks certainly can remember back to when you didn't know EVERYTHING and had to ask for advice from those more knowledgeable than yourselves in this or some other past life.

It was just a question and some of the arrogant and presumptuous replies are frankly unnecessary and unappreciated. How hard is it to answer a question without putting words in my mouth and being a dick about it?

edit: *btw, for some of us overclocking is a hobby, which means we have fun with it and hope to get a good OC. suggesting that I am some how out of line for trying to learn all I can is stupid.

Try just overclocking the memory to find it's own limits, then the core ,then the shader-then find a stable comb, knowing the highs speeds of each,

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31
I was under the impression that "artifacting" was a heat-issue. However, most newer cards are designed to throttle down long before they reach that point now.

Artifacting is an instability issue. It can be caused by heat, or if your clocks are just too high.