Hi all, I own a Gigabyte GTX 970 OC (not the G1) My current overclock, 1542/3800/1.262v seems to be stable in most games (bf4, crysis 2,3,) But once i run 3Dmark 11 it crashes instantly, sometimes when i still see the loading screen. It doesn't seem right to me. However it does run fine at stock clocks. Firestorm runs completely fine at these clocks though. I am running driver 347.09 and the latest 3Dmark 11.
Your overclock working on some things and not others is irrelevant. If it starts working without the overclock, then it's unstable. Simple as that. You can be like some people and use your OC in the games and application where it does not crash, and use a different OC for the games and apps that need a lower clock. Personally, I'm of the mind that I want an overclock that works with everything. Pushing your OC to the limits of every game and app runs the risk of seriously shortening the lifespan of the GPU. IMO, it makes more sense to run a 24/7 OC that you know is always stable regardless of the workload.
What about powerlimit, 3dmark11 has very high usage by default, higher then 3dmark firestrike ultra4k. I hit up to 110 -115% on mine when OC'ed, default was 106%, I've unlocked it to 120% so it doesnt throttle. Also it can be gpu and ram OC sensitive too. 3dmark06 PS3.0 test, especially that 1st balloon run, is also very gpu OC sensitive. E.g. native resolution and 4xmsaa or 8xmsaa, if it crashes when that sea dragon jumps out of water then its gpu OC, try 1 steep lower (13mhz, did the trick here:nerd. But then again most 970/980 top around 1500mhz boost..Might want to keep that in mind.
I am looking for a 24/7 stable OC that works with everything. And everything works, expect 3Dmark11. I've ran 1 hour of Furmark. 6 hours in Heaven 4.0 and 10+ hours in BF4. And 3Dmark11 is the only app that crashes. And to me it doesn't seem right. It acts like i am trying to run a impossible high OC and crashes instantly. Perhaps a driver issue or something?
I have my TDP set to 112% (max) Its pretty weird. In games i rarely get higher than 80% power usage. (except in the AC Unity menu screens it goes 100+) Even in benchmarks as Heaven or firestrike it doesn't go 100% +
I highly doubt it's a bug. Sometimes there is simply that one odd application that does not like your overclock. You can ignore it if you want, a lot of people do. Benchmarks are not representative of real gaming and all that. Also furmark is pointless now-a-days. There are artificial limiters in place now that prevent furmark from stressing the GPU too much.
If 3DMark 11 does not work, then not everything works, and it is not truly stable. Pretty simple. You can ignore it if you want, or lower clocks until 3DMark 11 runs. It's your hardware.
I have the same problem with my 980 Sli. I fix it by flashing a custom bios. It seems that the voltage isnt raised fast enough in junction with the core and mem clocks thats why 3dmark 11 crashes at the beginning.
I actually thought of that but wasn't sure. That probably also explains my crashes in Assassins Creed Unity. It only seems to crash at certain moments after a loading screen. Could such things be fixed in drivers or will a bios flash be necessary? Edit: I turned on K-boost and it does not crash anymore.. There is a complete topic going on about the issue on the Nvidia forum. However Nvidia has not yet acknowledged the issue. https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/784294/geforce-900-series/boost-feature-causes-gtx-970-980-instability-in-low-utilisation-situations/
