Hey guys, I may be relativly good with pcs, but one thing ive never bothered with? - Overclocking

I spoke to a few around here and not many people do know a huge deal about it, so thought id ask some thoughts



So my new GPU came with this, has more options, none of which i really wanna use solely5 for the fact i dont understand the risks

I put it up to as you see in the image for BO3, tbh, dont think its making a huge difference. I also noticed, increasing higher just seems to make the game crash early in

Anyone got any info, not a huge deal, just the dos and donts or something. Thought it could be helpful to me, but also for others, keep seeing people mentioning overclocking and all it makes me think is - if it can be overclocked - why isnt it "already" overclocked - if its apparently safe?

First it would be helpful to tell us which new graphics card you got. I guess it's a new Maxwell 2.0 GeForce?

Just some basic tips:
- overclocking itself isn't that dangerous --> keep an eye on the temperatures (ensure proper cooling)
- be careful with overvolting!
- beginners should stick with software tools, advanced people can try to modify their VBios for even more control (more risky)

For Nvidia cards I would recommend a smart tool called "download.orbmu2k.de/download.php?id=51". It doesn't have many overclocking-functions, but it works directly over the internal NVAPI of the Nvidia Driver, so it won't cause any trouble because of 3rd party hooks e.g.

ASUS Geforce GTX 960 2GB

Got it about 2 weeks ago

but i also meant just generally speaking

In fact I wanted to write "Nvidia Inspector" and include the download link in it by using the hyperlink function. Why does it not work? 

Anyways modern graphics card overclocking can be a bit tricky, because of the GPU boost function.
I suggest reading some articles about how it works for better understanding.
In  tools you only overlock by offset, so it affects both baseclock and boostclock.
Additionally as you see there is an offset for the VRAM too. It's worth it to overlock this too, because otherwise it can hamper your fps gain from the GPU overclocking.
Hope this helps. 

First of all wrong section should be in computer tech 2nd of all I don't have a clue about overclocking

Anyone got any info, not a huge deal, just the dos and donts or something. Thought it could be helpful to me, but also for others, keep seeing people mentioning overclocking and all it makes me think is - if it can be overclocked - why isnt it "already" overclocked - if its apparently safe?

It overclocks by itself to a certain amount when it needs too. Anything beyond that you'l need to do yourself.

AFAIK, not all 960's overclock the same. Some are meant to be overclocked more than others, so you need to play around with the clocks.

I suggest downloading EVGA precision X from Steam or MSI afterburner. Enable the on-screen overlay and enable the GPU speed, power usage/draw, GPU usage, and anything else you want. Then jump into a demanding game(BF4 is a good one) and take a screenshot with the on-screen overlay.

p.s. if your just crashing to the desktop then your GPU probably just doesn't have enough power to maintain the GPU clock. Otherwise if it completely crashes your computer then the clock is unstable.

Anyways modern graphics card overclocking can be a bit tricky, because of the GPU boost function.
I suggest reading some articles about how it works for better understanding.
In  tools you only overlock by offset, so it affects both baseclock and boostclock.

Eh, not really IMO. You just go off of the boostclock.

Well everyone just made it harder than it is really

Just go get some graphics benchmarking software and run it without changing any settings (write down the fps you got!) and if your overclocking software doesnt have it get a tool to monitor your gpu temperature!

Next keep increasing the gpu clock speed in steps of 10 (5 or lower once you reach higher values) and run the benchmark for 30 mins between each change.

If your pc blackscreens while benchmarking youll need to add some overvoltage (just do really small values untill you dont blackscreen anymore). As the other german guy said dont push the voltage too far doe!

Once you found a decent overclock that doesnt give you any blackscreens go ahead and run the benchmark for another hour to be sure it is stable and find gpu fan settings that make it run at around 60° Celsius (If the temps reach above 80 while benchmarking increase them earlier!!!)

As for programms the one I use is EVGA PrecisionX16 (you can get it on steam). It monitors everything that comes to mind and also has achievments (You cant get them all without breaking your 960 doe so dont try!)

And dont listen to deidra 

Sorry to be breaking in this thread like this, but it looks like i got a few people in here that know a thing or two about gpu's.

I got myself a MSI GTX-960 4Gb about a week ago, but i keep having issue's wher it wll black-screen and the system reboots itself ( i havent overclocked it, or changed anything ).

It looks like the higher the load on the gpu the sooner it's crashing. When i'm just doing some modding etc it's all good. When i play WaW i useally dont have issue's ( but it occasionally crashe's as well ) and if i play bo3 it's guaranteed to crash at some point ( about 10-30 min into the game ).

I got a 500W power supply. I'm running MSI afterburner on my second screen while playing, and the GPU temp is about 40 degrees and stable and i also dont see any other graphs that have weird or very high value's..

I'm not sure what the deal is, and how to fix this. And it's really annoying 
Is this something that can be fixed by tuning the card-settings in MSI, or is it more likely a hardware / power issue??

Sorry to be breaking in this thread like this, but it looks like i got a few people in here that know a thing or two about gpu's.

I got myself a MSI GTX-960 4Gb about a week ago, but i keep having issue's wher it wll black-screen and the system reboots itself ( i havent overclocked it, or changed anything ).

It looks like the higher the load on the gpu the sooner it's crashing. When i'm just doing some modding etc it's all good. When i play WaW i useally dont have issue's ( but it occasionally crashe's as well ) and if i play bo3 it's guaranteed to crash at some point ( about 10-30 min into the game ).

I got a 500W power supply. I'm running MSI afterburner on my second screen while playing, and the GPU temp is about 40 degrees and stable and i also dont see any other graphs that have weird or very high value's..

I'm not sure what the deal is, and how to fix this. And it's really annoying 
Is this something that can be fixed by tuning the card-settings in MSI, or is it more likely a hardware / power issue??

Card shouldn't do that, lol, and doubt it's a power issue, 960 requires about ~400Watt and you've given yourself a nice bit of head room with your PSU, though it could be a power issue, especially if it's a low end PSU that's generic, came with pc, etc.

If your PSU is fine, I would try maybe different drivers, if you have a friend who would be willing, try and slot it in his PC and see how it runs, if same thing happens with both tests then I would contact MSI for a replacement/refund.

Card shouldn't do that, lol, and doubt it's a power issue, 960 requires about ~400Watt and you've given yourself a nice bit of head room with your PSU

Could actually be a power issue the cpu and mainbord need quite a view watts themselves so 500 could be cutting it close.

I wouldnt reffer to bo3 for problem solving doe it has alot of issues (e.g. overloading ram, framedrops on i5 processors etc.)

Could actually be a power issue the cpu and mainbord need quite a view watts themselves so 500 could be cutting it close.

I wouldnt reffer to bo3 for problem solving doe it has alot of issues (e.g. overloading ram, framedrops on i5 processors etc.)

Well then he still needs to take it back to manufacturer since the card is advertised as requiring 400 Watt and it isn't running on a 500 Watt PSU.

Well then he still needs to take it back to manufacturer since the card is advertised as requiring 400 Watt and it isn't running on a 500 Watt PSU.

Good luck with the next one

Good luck with the next one

If the next one has the same issues I would avoid them, but I have had pretty good experience with MSI.

I still highly doubt it's a Wattage issue, since my friend has a EVGA 650 ti Boost which recommends a 450WATT PSU and he has a 500 WATT 80+ Bronze, along with an i5 3570 (non-k), Coolermasters Cooler, and 2x 1TB HDDs and also Mobo etc.

Well everyone just made it harder than it is really

No, they didn't. We were answering some of his questions and clearing up some confusion. Clearly you didn't read the replies.

Just go get some graphics benchmarking software and run it without changing any settings (write down the fps you got!) and if your overclocking software doesnt have it get a tool to monitor your gpu temperature!

You know, like i suggested.

Next keep increasing the gpu clock speed in steps of 10 (5 or lower once you reach higher values) and run the benchmark for 30 mins between each change.

The 960 has been benchmarked to hell already, so why  spend time as if it hasn't? If he goes all out he'll end up somewhere between 1500mhz and 1550mhz.

If your pc blackscreens while benchmarking youll need to add some overvoltage (just do really small values untill you dont blackscreen anymore). As the other german guy said dont push the voltage too far doe!

Or you start to see strange artifacts on your screen or a variety of other strange things appearing on your screen.

But yeah, i wouldn't go anywhere past +32 voltage(even that may be a bit too much). Once you got a overclock your happy with you should lower the voltage until you get it as low as possible without crashing.

but before you even change the voltage you should increase the power limit if possible. As the name implies, the power limit increases the amount of power the card can use.

Also note that increasing the voltage may void your warranty.

As for programms the one I use is EVGA PrecisionX16 (you can get it on steam). It monitors everything that comes to mind and also has achievments (You cant get them all without breaking your 960 doe so dont try!)

Again, like i suggested.

And dont listen to deidra 

Don't even start.

Is this something that can be fixed by tuning the card-settings in MSI, or is it more likely a hardware / power issue??

You can underclock the card, but it should run at stock speeds just fine. You running anything out of the normal that would cause it? Otherwise i'd get a hold of NewEgg(or where ever you got the care) and see about getting a replacement.

How many Amps does your 500 watt power supply even have on the 12V rail(should be on the power supply label)? I would think(and hope) it'd be more than 30Amps.

How many Amps does your 500 watt power supply even have on the 12V rail(should be on the power supply label)? I would think(and hope) it'd be more than 30Amps.

Late reply, havent had much time past week but still having this problem..
About the PSU, guess this isn't that great then and could be the issue?