Volatile 660 Ti

[Kyle]

Hi guys, I've been wanted to overclock my 660 Ti for a while because I live in such a cold area and even at about 100% load the core temp only goes to about 63 degrees. The problem is, I can't seem to get a stable overclcok out of it. And it's not that it starts failing at a certain point; it starts failing all over the place. I use MSi Afterburner to overclock it and here's some results after I do so:

Core + 15; Memory + 21 = Crash
Core + 34; Memory +23 = Crash
Core + 50; Memory + 29 = Stable
Core + 51; Memory + 30 = Crash
Core + 87; Memory + 68 = Almost stable

As you can see, these results are very inconsistent. Is there some sort of ratio I have to use when adjusting the two frequencies?

P.S. When I say stable, I mean that it can run Valley at extreme HD for >10 hours. By almost stable, I meant that it crashed after about 5 hours.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Do you change the voltage at all? That is what will keep it stable.

 

[Kyle]

No i don't adjust the voltage - doesn't that damage your card? Or is it only the heat caused as a result that damages the card?

 

[NeverBackDown]

Need to increase voltage to keep the card stable. Without enough volts going through the card will not have enough power to maintain those clocks.

Voltage does damage your card but takes years for it to be noticeable. If you are constantly pushing the card to it's limits 24/7 then in that case the actual chip will start to die and need even more volts to keep those clocks(or more volts for lower clocks).

In other words don't worry about it. Find a clock you are comfortable with having, like a temp you feel is safe and noise level that suits you. Generally 80C is too hot for most gpus (few exceptions such as the R9 290x/290) and most people cooling with air like to stay in the 60C's range.

 

[Kyle]

So increasing the max power and changing the voltage won't do any damage on its own, only thatwwith increasing them, it's likely that the heat will increase, and that's the only thing that does damage

 

[looz]

Well, for example my 660 Ti won't accept any core OC, even with increased voltage. Memory overclocks well, however.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Increase power limit and volts to get higher clocks. I just set the power limit bar to the max while overclocking. After i am done finding a stable clock on core and memory i then slowly back down the power limit bar until i can find it stable at it's lowest percent. Just decreases power consumption and may help temps a bit.

 

[Dicehunter]

So increasing the max power and changing the voltage won't do any damage on its own, only thatwwith increasing them, it's likely that the heat will increase, and that's the only thing that does damage

Increasing volts does not damage the card at all as long as you keep it within a certain limit, 1.2v is the limit for the 600 series I believe.

 

[Netroxen]

The max voltage for 6xx cards is 1.212v and considering it's locked indefinately to that limit it's not like you could damage the card with voltage even if you wanted too.

 

[Meaker]

From a purely engineering point of view a higher voltage and temperature both contribute to the wear of a chip. It comes down to how long the chip will last and when will it be obsolete anyway.

 

[Netroxen]

Well the extra voltage is within Nvidia's specification for the card, so as far as chip degradation is concerned it's rather negligible unless you started hard-modding the card.