unimpressed by Gigabyte GTX670 overclocking

[Tempered81]

Higher board/core temps mean less stability, that's why the drop in clocks starts. The drop in voltage is to help normalize temperatures, and aim to regain the clock potential. I agree 70C is a stupidly low number, and it'll only get worse with time & dust buildup. It becomes a stupid vicious cycle, but they're keeping that board TDP <200w. ~172-195-225~ The fact that Nvidia put any limitation at all is an absolute atrocity for the enthusiast, and is probably the biggest advantage for the competition, seeing how good NV are in every other aspect. It'll be sad if HD8970 copies this. GTX 600 users should be able to get every bit of potential out of their card with voltage control - like 580's & 480's do. This ridiculous artificial limitation is easy to bypass with a hardmod though, so not everyone is upset. I've seen some dudes at XS at 1390-1450mhz with 1300mv. Kingpin & Monstru from KPC & Lab501 got to almost ~1500mhz on air; GK104 has some serious potential.

 

[blackened23]

Higher board/core temps mean less stability, that's why the drop in clocks starts. The drop in voltage is to help normalize temperatures, and aim to regain the clock potential. I agree 70C is a stupidly low number, and it'll only get worse with time & dust buildup. It becomes a stupid vicious cycle, but they're keeping that board TDP <200w. ~172-195-225~ The fact that Nvidia put any limitation at all is an absolute atrocity for the enthusiast, and is probably the biggest advantage for the competition, seeing how good NV are in every other aspect. It'll be sad if HD8970 copies this. GTX 600 users should be able to get every bit of potential out of their card with voltage control - like 580's & 480's do. This ridiculous artificial limitation is easy to bypass with a hardmod though, so not everyone is upset. I've seen some dudes at XS at 1390-1450mhz with 1300mv. Kingpin & Monstru from KPC & Lab501 got to almost ~1500mhz on air; GK104 has some serious potential.

Right, I understand why they do it. It protects a stupid user from himself. However for someone experienced in overclocking and one who doesn't mind tinkering with it, 70C is ridiculously low. I would *love* the option to flash a BIOS that disables the throttling...I like having control.

Anyway, what mod removes it? I'm not even speaking of adjusting voltage, the 70C downthrottle alone seems to hijack my efforts sometimes...when a 1279mhz overclock suddenly becomes 1240 because of throttling. I hate that crap. if I could get rid of that i'd be completely happy.

 

[soccerballtux]

Higher board/core temps mean less stability, that's why the drop in clocks starts. The drop in voltage is to help normalize temperatures, and aim to regain the clock potential. I agree 70C is a stupidly low number, and it'll only get worse with time & dust buildup. It becomes a stupid vicious cycle, but they're keeping that board TDP <200w. ~172-195-225~ The fact that Nvidia put any limitation at all is an absolute atrocity for the enthusiast, and is probably the biggest advantage for the competition, seeing how good NV are in every other aspect. It'll be sad if HD8970 copies this. GTX 600 users should be able to get every bit of potential out of their card with voltage control - like 580's & 480's do. This ridiculous artificial limitation is easy to bypass with a hardmod though, so not everyone is upset. I've seen some dudes at XS at 1390-1450mhz with 1300mv. Kingpin & Monstru from KPC & Lab501 got to almost ~1500mhz on air; GK104 has some serious potential.

doesn't setting the voltage to 1300mv keep it there? IE it won't step the voltage down any when card is unloaded? Trying to figure out a way to keep from killing it...

 

[Tempered81]

you cannot set it to 1300, they stop you at 1175 unless you do the mod, I think there are more resistors to remove to get the throttling to go away too

 

[soccerballtux]

you cannot set it to 1300, they stop you at 1175 unless you do the mod, I think there are more resistors to remove to get the throttling to go away too

Is 70C the thermal throttle for all the cards? I think it's not 55C like I was afraid earlier.

Looks like protection measures in place to prevent users damaging the chip from high voltage/ temps. Kepler chips at 28nm may not be as durable to voltage as previous gen chips at 40nm.

Even a gtx570 will be a huge gain from your 4890. Dipping below 60fps could be your cpu limiting the card. Go check gpu usage if you are not getting a constant 99%, then you need to worry else where other than the gtx670 itself.

Looking this over again I think you all are right-- I am CPU limited. It seems to only happen in Tribes:Ascend when many explosions + particle effects. Must be the physics. There's usually one core that's completely maxed out, maybe that's the one holding me back.

 

[blackened23]

Yes, 70C and 80C are voltage/clock throttle zones. 1175mV is the max you can get, unless you mod. And then you'll need water to cool it adequately most likely.