Overclocking

Overclocking results listed in this section are achieved with the default fan and voltage settings as defined in the VGA BIOS. We choose this approach as it is the most realistic scenario for the majority of users.

Every sample overclocks differently, which is why our results here can only serve as a guideline for what you can expect from your card.

On NVIDIA cards with Boost, the values discussed here are the highest observed boost clock after overclocking.



Maximum overclock of our sample is +260 MHz to the GPU's base clock (26% overclock), which results in a maximum boost clock of 1437 MHz on the GPU and 2070 MHz on the memory (18% overclock).

Let's start with the memory overclock: 2070 MHz is good and in-line with what we've seen on other cards that use the same memory chips. This confirms that NVIDIA did not screw up the GM200's memory controller, or memory overclocking would be significantly lower.

Unlike our Titan X, which overclocked by 11% for a maximum Boost of 1298 MHz, the GTX 980 Ti does much better, reaching significantly higher clocks, which results in an awesome overclocking experience. However, I feel that luck of the draw had something to do with it. That said, I still have to base the review on the card I have in my hands, and this particular GTX 980 Ti's overclocking potential is very impressive.

Our GPU overclock does not translate into that much additional real-life performance because the card's power limit and temperature limit (84°C) hold it back; NVIDIA Boost will dial down the clocks, down to 1000 MHz if it has to, once the card reaches 84°C, which nullifies some of the potential performance gains from the manual overclock. The same happens with power; the power limit, once reached, reduces the clocks and, thus, performance.

If you plan to do any overclocking, and actually even if you don't, I recommend increasing the temperature limit to 91°C, which is the maximum, and the board's power limit to 110%, also the maximum. This immediately translates into significant performance gains without adjusting any clocks.

Overclocked Performance

Using these clock frequencies, we ran a quick test of Battlefield 3 to evaluate the gains from overclocking.


Actual 3D performance gained from overclocking is 9.4%.