What do you think of nVidia locking down voltage?

[SickBeast]

Let's see what people think. I know personally I'm quite upset about it.

 

[f1sherman]

Why getting upset now?

Kepler design guidance has been out for months.

 

[guskline]

Not a problem for me.

 

[3DVagabond]

I think they are shooting themselves in the foot, but time will tell. I know that the nVidia fanbase will completely forget about it if they start allowing it again. I mean there are people here who actually defend nVidia doing this. Like nVidia owns your card, or something?

 

[SickBeast]

So far 4/5 people are pissed off about this.

Hopefully nVidia will read this and take note. Keysplayr please point this thread out to nVidia.

 

[RussianSensation]

It bothers me a lot only if this is the future of their GPUs and could possibly mean voltage lock down by AMD as well. That would mean getting free performance with overclocking or picking up a much cheaper card and overclocking it to $500 level of performance will become nearly impossible in the industry. This would no different than if Intel and AMD stopped multiplier and voltage control manipulation on their CPUs. That type of practice is the complete opposite of what enthusiast value.

If this voltage locking is only specific to Kepler GTX600 series, then I don't really care.

 

[Nelly]

The annoyance for me is paying a premium for features than cannot be used, due to Nvidia forcing manufacturers to comply with what they say.

The box the cards come in say they have overvoltage, false advertsing is against the law in the EU, would suck if companies had to pay out millions of euros, and who would pay? the AIB's or Nvidia...!

 

[SickBeast]

It bothers me a lot only if this is the future of their GPUs and could possibly mean voltage lock down by AMD as well. That would mean getting free performance with overclocking or picking up a much cheaper card and overclocking it to $500 level of performance will become nearly impossible in the industry. This would no different than if Intel and AMD stopped multiplier and voltage control manipulation on their CPUs. That type of practice is the complete opposite of what enthusiast value.

If this voltage locking is only specific to Kepler GTX600 series, then I don't really care.

Well, we know what happened to AMD's CPU division when they turned their backs on the enthusiast community. IMO the results of this will be quite damning for nVidia and will have consequences that go far beyond whatever money they are saving on RMAs.

 

[OCGuy]

I over-clock, I do not over-volt.

The gains in over-volting are not noticeable in any game. If you have to over-clock so high to play a game that you need more voltage, you should probably turn down your settings.

 

[lavaheadache]

I think nvidia is just trying keep their cards from dying prematurely cause they were built like crap. It makes no sense to lock the chips down unless they are afraid of something.

 

[3DVagabond]

Well, we know what happened to AMD's CPU division when they turned their backs on the enthusiast community. IMO the results of this will be quite damning for nVidia and will have consequences that go far beyond whatever money they are saving on RMAs.

It's AMD's CPU performance that's hurt them. If they came out with a CPU tomorrow that competed with Intel people would buy it. Same with nVidia. If they come out with the fastest card people will buy it.

 

[OCGuy]

Well, we know what happened to AMD's CPU division when they turned their backs on the enthusiast community. IMO the results of this will be quite damning for nVidia and will have consequences that go far beyond whatever money they are saving on RMAs.

Yes, nV is shaking in their boots.

 

[RussianSensation]

That's the thing - I don't think NV cares. When you could buy a 6950 for $230-250 and unlock it and 2 of those cost roughly the same as the 580 and NV still won that generation in market share, it seems the majority of consumers could care less if NV cards have full voltage control or overclocking for that matter. The # of enthusiasts who overclock may be a small fraction of the total GPU userbase to make a difference. NV did lock voltage this generation which means they already don't think it would have lost them too many sales.

 

[SickBeast]

Yes, nV is shaking in their boots.

Ah yes, OCGuy, how are things? Still a green man, are we?

Time will tell regarding whether or not nVidia should "shake in their boots". I'm predicting AMD domination in the future.

As for you, that's another story for another thread. :whiste:

Actually fine, I will post it here:

pwn3d

/thread

BTW how can you call yourself an OC Guy when you don't overvolt!?

 

[hyrule4927]

I over-clock, I do not over-volt.

The gains in over-volting are not noticeable in any game. If you have to over-clock so high to play a game that you need more voltage, you should probably turn down your settings.

You do realize this is an enthusiast forum?

 

[RussianSensation]

I over-clock, I do not over-volt. The gains in over-volting are not noticeable in any game..

HD7970 @ 1150-1250mhz vs. a 1000mhz 7970 is much faster than a 1000mhz 7970 vs. a 925mhz 7970. So if the gains are hardly noticeable, why did you overclock the 7970 to 1Ghz?

Overclocking is a huge part of what makes this hobby more fun to me. It also makes it more fun to scout for mid-range or upper-midrange parts that have the potential to provide performance of much more expensive parts, allowing us to save $ (see GTX460, GeForce Ti 4200 or HD7950 for example). Otherwise, I'd just go out and buy a 3960X and not go on the forum for 5 years until I have to buy another 6960X CPU. Picking a better TIM, heatsink, motherboard, CPU stepping, GPUs with binned chips are all part of the fun of researching components, and sharing your results with other members. The 3770K delidding thread is EPIC. Take away voltage and multiplier control, and 3770K would be just another boring PC component.

Also, you don't have to overclock or overvolt if you don't want to. The option to do so without a physical mod has generally been there. I am even fine if NV creates some special suffix for parts that have full voltage control and charges $30-50 extra for it to cover added RMA costs. At least give us the option, even if it means charging extra for it.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Doesn't really bother me for GK104 because there are very diminishing returns as far as overclocking goes even with extra voltage - sure, 1300-1350MHz might be possible, however I don't feel I'm missing much when I can already hit 1150-1200MHz and know that the extra ~150MHz really won't give me much.

however it is a bit disconcerting for the future

For instance I wouldn't want to see a part that is only clocked to 800MHz when its more than capable of 1200MHz just because nVidia didn't want to allow it for whatever reason

 

[OCGuy]

You do realize this is an enthusiast forum?

The poll is how enthusiasts will feel (kinda, since again the OP is equating OCing and Overvolting, which is intellectually dishonest).

The real world doesn't operate like that. This is like an argument in the console or smart-phone forums over some function/feature that nobody really cares about, and all sides still sell a mST anyway.

nV has cash. AMD is losing badly in the GPU market on a whole, is always behind in the discreet GPU market, and is facing very large debt payments while its stock is toxic.

Honestly this sub-forum is such a fake picture of AMD's health. Please go read the CPU forum, where people don't just discuss OCing, etc, they discuss the companies as a whole.

 

[SickBeast]

How have I equated overclocking with overvolting? I asked people if the lack of voltage control bothers them, that's it.

 

[RussianSensation]

Honestly this sub-forum is such a fake picture of AMD's health. Please go read the CPU forum, where people don't just discuss OCing, etc, they discuss the companies as a whole.

Many people here could discuss the financial and strategic aspects of how companies stack up but it would be off-topic for the most part. A lot of forum members have said they don't want financials and company-based discussions to dilute this sub-forum after we dabbled into this area in the past. What you implying is that AMD has to cater to enthusiasts because they are more desperate to win / keep customers? That's a valid point. What's your view on Intel offering K series overclocking chips and charging extra for warranty that allows 1 time replacement no matter what if the CPU fails? Why can't NV do that at least?

 

[OCGuy]

HD7970 @ 1150-1250mhz vs. a 1000mhz 7970 is much faster than a 1000mhz 7970 vs. a 925mhz 7970. So if the gains are hardly noticeable, why did you overclock the 7970 to 1Ghz?

Because I overclock. I got to 1GHZ with no manual voltage change. And of course there is hardly a noticeable difference, but increasing core frequency causes less voltage increase and less life-span lowering than adding voltage.

I have no problem with Overvolting to see how far you can push a benchmark, but for playing games as much as I do? No point.

 

[f1sherman]

Is this a poll, or yet another

first they came for my GPU Voltage, then they sent us to Fema conc. camps thread

 

[SickBeast]

Is this a poll, or yet another

first they came for my GPU Voltage, then they sent us to Fema conc. camps thread

LOL

Perhaps RussianSensation has more insight into this.

:whiste:

 

[RussianSensation]

OCGuy, increasing core frequency causes less voltage increase? What do you mean by that?

You can overclock 7900 series and maintain voltage below 1.25V safety threshold of Tahiti XT chips, in fact even under 1.175V. What's wrong with having the option to overvolt for those who want it?

Is your i7 950 @ 3.9ghz overvolted or running at stock voltages?

first they came for my GPU Voltage, then they sent us to Fema conc. camps thread

It sounds awesome until a generation comes where NV cards are only as good as AMD's at stock speeds and have terrible overclocking, or until both NV and AMD lock voltages and we would need to pay $100-200 more to buy $500 GPUs if we wanted that level of performance. To me it's more more fun to buy cheaper parts and overclock them. Why buy 3960X when you can buy a 3930K and overclock it? Not only is it more fun imo but it saves you $400-500 on alcohol, going out, other hobbies, etc.

Tinkering, modding, customizing is the whole reason why after-market parts car business is booming. Can you buy a BMW M5 with 552hp? Sure. Someone else has more fun modding their car to make 1750hp.

Does Lambo prevent anyone from modding their car? NV just did by preventing MSI and eVGA from doing so. Not sure how that's great for the enthusiast community. If you don't overvolt, no problem, but removing that option completely is a huge step backwards for us.

 

[OCGuy]

Ah yes, OCGuy, how are things? Still a green man, are we?

Yes since my last long-term setups have been 2X 5850s and a 7970

Time will tell regarding whether or not nVidia should "shake in their boots". I'm predicting AMD domination in the future.

Please, sell everything you own and buy AMD stock. You will be able to laugh at all of us someday.

BTW how can you call yourself an OC Guy when you don't overvolt!?

OvervoltGuy was taken? I live in Orange County and I overclock. CPUs are much more hearty with better returns, and I have been overvolting them as long as I remember.

Your answers above, love you too sweetie. Now I am done with this dance so I am bailing on the thread, but enjoy your poll that pretends if you don't manually adjust voltage then you don't overclock GPUs.