MSI GTX 560 TI HAWK overclocking

[wand3r3r]

I have upgraded my case in the end of summer and now it's pretty cool out and I had the side of my case off so I thought I'd just tinker with the HAWK being BF3 kicks its butt with AA enabled. Without it it works great with ultimate settings @1680x1050.

Anyways I slowly upped the Core clock, (which ups the Shader clock), and the memory and I didn't even get any artifacts or signs of reaching the limit yet. Previously with my old case (and summer weather) I had heat to contend with so I never considered ocing any more then what it came with.

I'll still have to really stress test it and throw the case cover back on but I don't think temperatures will be of a concern (yet). I'll also have to see what the limits are.

Reference GTX 560 TI
core: 822 MHz
Shader: 1644 MHz
Memory: 4000 MHz

HAWK settings
core: 950
Shader: 1900
Memory: 4200

Results:

OC
core: 1000 MHz
Shader: 2000 MHz
Memory: 2353 (4700) MHz






I noticed the stress testing went up a couple fps with my OC over HAWK settings. Now just to continue and find the limits.


It seems to overclock nicely. No limits have been reached yet. I've just been increasing the core for now and left the memory overclocked to ~4700 MHz.

OC
core: 1073 MHz 12% over factory overclocked settings, 30.5% over stock 560 ti
Shader: 2146 MHz
Memory: 2353 (4700) MHz 7% over factory overclock, 17.5% over stock 560 ti

 

[tviceman]

Unlock your voltage and repost the screenshot of afterburner. I have the same card, but I think I got a "poor" sample for what it's supposed to be. My card's default voltage is at 1.075.

 

[wand3r3r]

Unlock your voltage and repost the screenshot of afterburner. I have the same card, but I think I got a "poor" sample for what it's supposed to be. My card's default voltage is at 1.075.

I'll try run some tests and get some screenshots. According to the little text in the MSI Kombuster app, the voltage might be 1.05 but I'd take it with a grain of salt as I'm not sure where it's getting that number.

What kind of OC can you do?

 

[tviceman]

I'll try run some tests and get some screenshots. According to the little text in the MSI Kombuster app, the voltage might be 1.05 but I'd take it with a grain of salt as I'm not sure where it's getting that number.

What kind of OC can you do?

My card goes up to 975 at it's stock voltage, but temps start to get pretty high in DX11 games like Deus Ex: HR, so I don't go any higher than that.

Open up msi afterburner, click on settings at the bottom, the click on "unlock voltage control" and that will tell you what your card's stock voltage setting is. If it's 1.05 like you said, you have a really, really great sample and should be able to up the voltage a little bit and get some amazing overclocks.

 

[wand3r3r]

My card goes up to 975 at it's stock voltage, but temps start to get pretty high in DX11 games like Deus Ex: HR, so I don't go any higher than that.

Open up msi afterburner, click on settings at the bottom, the click on "unlock voltage control" and that will tell you what your card's stock voltage setting is. If it's 1.05 like you said, you have a really, really great sample and should be able to up the voltage a little bit and get some amazing overclocks.

What kind of case/cooling do you have? I had an Antec Sonata II with an extra Noctua fan blowing on the card in the summer (without AC @ time of testing) and it got really hot 90's even. I got a fractal design case with holes everywhere and 3 built in fans and I threw in my noctua fans as well. Granted it's much cooler now as well, and I still have the side of my case open.

Anyways, yes the voltage is 1.05.

I'll update the original post as I get more testing done.



It seems to overclock quite nicely. I haven't hit any instability nor heat issues yet. I tried BF3 for a while and it didn't get any warmer then 73c.

It seems to overclock nicely. No limits have been reached yet. I've just been increasing the core for now and left the memory overclocked to ~4700 MHz.

OC
core: 1073 MHz 12% over factory overclocked settings, 30.5% over stock 560 ti
Shader: 2146 MHz same
Memory: 2353 (4700) MHz 7% over factory overclock, 17.5% over stock 560 ti

 

[wand3r3r]

It appears ~1060/1070 is about the highest I can go because when I take screen snips and alt tab around with firefox, paint, and the MSI kombuster test running full blast, I get this error.



If I just sit and let the kombuster run it doesn't get any errors or anything, it's only when I am multitasking. I guess I probably need a touch more voltage to continue with the core so I'll probably just stop with the core.

Or does anyone have an opinion on that?

 

[tweakboy]

I have upgraded my case in the end of summer and now it's pretty cool out and I had the side of my case off so I thought I'd just tinker with the HAWK being BF3 kicks its butt with AA enabled. Without it it works great with ultimate settings @1680x1050.

Anyways I slowly upped the Core clock, (which ups the Shader clock), and the memory and I didn't even get any artifacts or signs of reaching the limit yet. Previously with my old case (and summer weather) I had heat to contend with so I never considered ocing any more then what it came with.

I'll still have to really stress test it and throw the case cover back on but I don't think temperatures will be of a concern (yet). I'll also have to see what the limits are.

Reference GTX 560 TI
core: 822 MHz
Shader: 1644 MHz
Memory: 4000 MHz

HAWK settings
core: 950
Shader: 1900
Memory: 4200

Results:

OC
core: 1000 MHz
Shader: 2000 MHz
Memory: 2353 (4700) MHz






I noticed the stress testing went up a couple fps with my OC over HAWK settings. Now just to continue and find the limits.


It seems to overclock nicely. No limits have been reached yet. I've just been increasing the core for now and left the memory overclocked to ~4700 MHz.

OC
core: 1073 MHz 12% over factory overclocked settings, 30.5% over stock 560 ti
Shader: 2146 MHz
Memory: 2353 (4700) MHz 7% over factory overclock, 17.5% over stock 560 ti

Your VRAM is not OCed a lot ? if your gonna make sure the fan speed is 100 percent when gaming, take up the memory OC ,, that is puny , almost stock. The core and shader are great OCes... gl

 

[wand3r3r]

Your VRAM is not OCed a lot ? if your gonna make sure the fan speed is 100 percent when gaming, take up the memory OC ,, that is puny , almost stock. The core and shader are great OCes... gl

Thanks, yeah that's what I'm going to try do. I think I'll leave core around 1060 as I'm not sure what's up with the opengl crash when alt-tabbing around. Memory's stable @2430 atm.

Did you mean I need to keep the fan @100% to protect the memory? Now it's auto and seems to go around 70%.

Core dropped to 1053 and stable, memory bumped to 2430.



Just out of curiousity, should I be able to adjust clocks on the fly while running stress tests? If it crashes is it because I shouldn't change the clocks on the fly while testing, or because I'm actually reaching the limits?

The MSI kombuster FPS has gone from avg. 58 to 65/66 from stock overclock to my current overclock so it's a 12%+ gain.

 

[happy medium]

OC
core: 1073 MHz 12% over factory overclocked settings, 30.5% over stock 560 ti
Shader: 2146 MHz same
Memory: 2353 (4700) MHz 7% over factory overclock, 17.5% over stock 560 ti

You need to play games to be stable, not Kombuster.
Are you at 1060 core with stock voltage?
When you go over 950 core you need to overclock your memory and the gtx560ti will fly.

 

[spinejam]

These Hawks usually have no issues w/ Furmark / Kombustor. Try Stone Giant, Alien vs. Predator D3D11, 3DMark11, and Heaven v2.5 max quality loop (15 minutes) and see if it's still stable. All of these raise temps higher on my Hawk (80's) whereas I max @ 72 degrees in Furmark. Playing BF3 is also another great stress test.

 

[wand3r3r]

You need to play games to be stable, not Kombuster.
Are you at 1060 core with stock voltage?
When you go over 950 core you need to overclock your memory and the gtx560ti will fly.

Yeah, that's what I thought. Kombuster doesn't seem to stress the card at all. The 1060 was with stock voltage, but I need to run Heaven or some other stress test.

These Hawks usually have no issues w/ Furmark / Kombustor. Try Stone Giant, Alien vs. Predator D3D11, 3DMark11, and Heaven v2.5 max quality loop (15 minutes) and see if it's still stable. All of these raise temps higher on my Hawk (80's) whereas I max @ 72 degrees in Furmark. Playing BF3 is also another great stress test.

Yeah, I'll try Heaven I just dled it. BF3 otherwise would be a good test but it crashes on me even without overclocking, and artifacts pretty badly at times. (while none of this happens in BFBC2). Once they iron out the wrinkles it will certainly be an excellent stress test as you can just ramp up the MSAA to bring anything to it's knees.

 

[wand3r3r]

Using the Heaven benchmark it crashed pretty quickly. I had to drop it down quite a bit, 1010 core, 2330 memory with some quick testing, it runs through fine at these settings and stock voltage 1.05. I also threw the cover on my case and maxed out the benchmark settings (Tessellation max, AA max, AF max) and the temperature only went up a degree or 2 to 74 max. The temperature doesn't seem to be affected over Kombuster, but the stability sure does.

IF I were to bump up the core or memory what's a (very) safe level for long term usage? Does it even pay as I'm already at 1.05v? I assume the voltage curve is exponential and the voltage needed rises rapidly?

 

[spinejam]

You can pump 1100mV through these w/o worry -- just have to monitor temps. I've had ~4 Hawks and ~4 TFII OC's and they all behaved differently -- like kids

Some liked voltage and some didn't respond to it. I was just happy if they ran 1000c 2300m @ 1100mV. I never really pushed any of them higher.

 

[happy medium]

1.1 v @ 1050 core should do it. But I suggest 1010 core at the highest memory overclock you can achieve.

That will put you above gtx570 speeds.