*GTX 260/280 Unofficial TPU! Thread*

[Fitseries3]

so i picked up this gtx260. at first glance it was not much different that my other 260's.


then... i noticed no backplate and no ram on the back of the card.

now i havent booted it up yet but i think its a 55nm.

did i mention i got this for $75? oh... and it was sealed in the box new

 

[Cold Storm]

whats frightening, those cards can take like 110c

Yeah, the card can take 110c. I was hitting 105c on passive and man... Was it artifacting! Didn't start till 100c.. But, it could handle windows fine! lol

And fits... Grrr!!!

 

[Tatty_Two]

Damn Fit thats nearly as cheap as my 280 which in the end became free because they sent me two but only charged me for one, I e mailed them, returned one and they gave me a refund!

 

[Raptor_i]

Just got back from holiday so not had chance to read the last 4 pages or so..... in a sentance, does this new EVGA Voltage tool work? ......... Will I need to flash my card to an EVGA BIOS (I have the tool thanks to a good friend ) and is it worth it!

thanks.

try this one its patched version and works with non EVGA cards .... you will find the link in this page
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=84439&page=2

and it doesn't have safe voltage limit.

 

[Tatty_Two]

whats frightening, those cards can take like 110c

Yep but once you get past about 90C some of them start artifacting, mine dont BSOD when this happens but it's difficult to shoot someone between the eyes in a game at 600 yards when he has a big pink stripe down his head

 

[OnBoard]

Crysis Warhead menu shuts down computer

I though my GTX 280 was working great and then it met Crysis..

Warhead actually, but same would probably happen in the original too. Thing is it shuts down my computer with just main menu Needed some trial and error, more power didn't help in form of 8pin adapter, but vsync did.

So that 1000fps or what it is on the menu is bad for my PSU. Any of you experienced it or have any idea why? Vsync on (I've had it forced off always for years) and I could play just fine, even maxed the games settings on DX10 and still no shutdowns.

Power should be fine then, but menu triggers some overvolt/overcurrent thing on the PSU?

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

Hey guys I got my Gigabyte geforce GTX 280 last week and I love it!! But now I am ready to overclock my GPU for the first time! " I never overclocked a GPU before "

I have EVGA Precision and fan speed set to 80%
Everything is set to default at: Core 602, shader 1296, memory 1107.

So if I want to overclock this card, all I gotta do is set it like this:
Core 701 Shader 1511 memory 1302.

Is it that simple??

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

Hey guys I got my Gigabyte geforce GTX 280 last week and I love it!! But now I am ready to overclock my GPU for the first time! " I never overclocked a GPU before "

I have EVGA Precision and fan speed set to 80%
Everything is set to default at: Core 602, shader 1296, memory 1107.

So if I want to overclock this card, all I gotta do is set it like this:
Core 701 Shader 1511 memory 1302.

Is it that simple??

Sorta. You need to figure out your max oc for memory and core/shaders independent...then you shoot for the highest blend of Core/shaders/mem.

Monitor your temps carefully. Get a 3rd party cooler for it.

 

[dadi_oh]

Hey guys I got my Gigabyte geforce GTX 280 last week and I love it!! But now I am ready to overclock my GPU for the first time! " I never overclocked a GPU before "

I have EVGA Precision and fan speed set to 80%
Everything is set to default at: Core 602, shader 1296, memory 1107.

So if I want to overclock this card, all I gotta do is set it like this:
Core 701 Shader 1511 memory 1302.

Is it that simple??

Yes. Simple. But there are some rules that apply.

1) The core clock can nver be more than 1/2 of shader clock. So if shaders are 1512 for example then you can not set core to more than 766.

2) The shaders and core move in increments. You can set it to whatever you want but it will actually jump to the next available increment. You can check what it is actually set to by observing the graphs in Precision.

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

Yes I am aware that the core and shader kind of work together! I just leave EVGA Precision link them both together for me!

@Dadi oh: When you say, " The shaders and core move in increments " I am not so certain as to what you mean. Are you saying that no matter what I set them too, they won't actualy be what I set them too right away?? Does it take time for them to reach what I have set it to??

Or am I completely wrong!!

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

They are just linked, thats all. You may as well not even worry about unlinked Core/SHader.

The GTX280 has levels. It doesn't matter if you put the Card at 740/1512...Because it will jump back to 730/1460 or if its closer to the next level it will jump to 756/1512. Meaning you could put the core at 750/1500 and when it sets, it will actually be at 756/1512.

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

Ahh ok I see, how do I figure out how far I can push them?? is there a program I need to do it for me??

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

AtiTool has a nice artifact/temp monitor program built into it.

The find max core/max mem I am not very found of. Just better to do it yourself in small steps and see where it starts to artifact or overheat. Once you know that lower it back 10-15Mhz on the ram and maybe the next lower Core/Shader level, then benchmark/stress test it.

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

Ok thanks for that,

I just tested Crysis with default at a certain location and then I just minimized the game and set it to:
Core 702 Shader 1511 Memory 1302.

The game ran with an extra 5-7FPS with no artifacting. Seems good???

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

uhhh...well what are your temps doing? I cant answer if thats good or not. Depends. Did it artifact, did it heat up? Plus you need to bench it a lot longer for the temps to peak.

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

I will be playing Crysis for a good hour or 2 soon so I will keep an eye on it. We shall see on the temps!!

 

[dadi_oh]

They are just linked, thats all. You may as well not even worry about unlinked Core/SHader.

The GTX280 has levels. It doesn't matter if you put the Card at 740/1512...Because it will jump back to 730/1460 or if its closer to the next level it will jump to 756/1512. Meaning you could put the core at 750/1500 and when it sets, it will actually be at 756/1512.

Do you mean they are linked in a specific ratio? The default clocks on a GTX260 are 575 core and 1242 shaders which is a ratio of 0.463. My XFX GTX260 XXX edition uses core 640 and shaders 1363 which is a ratio of 0.470. I overclock my XXX edition to 783 core and 1566 shaders which is a ration of 0.500 which is the max you can do. Seems like they are unlinked since Precision shows me actual settings.

Am I misunderstanding?

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

Well except for the fact that Precision does not do what you think it is doing. Go back to page 23 and start reading the conversation between ColdStorm/Tatty/Me.

 

[Cold Storm]

Or, the last few pages.. there is a letter that a head from Evga sent me on how the tool works with the 280's... It should of been able to unlink, but with the 280's.. No, sir! They should of done a Percision tool for the 280's instead of leading us to believe that the 280's could unlink their shaders!

 

[dadi_oh]

Well except for the fact that Precision does not do what you think it is doing. Go back to page 23 and start reading the conversation between ColdStorm/Tatty/Me.

OK. My homework for tonight

I assumed that Precision was telling the actual settings...

The same arguments for GTX280 also apply to GTX260 I assume?

 

[Cold Storm]

Nope it's only to the 280's that this happens. Like the 285's with voltage.. They make sure that you'd never have to take the casing off the card!

 

[dadi_oh]

So do I believe the Precision and Rivatuner graphs for my GTX260 then?

 

[Cold Storm]

Believe this... From Evga them selves, state that no matter what, their 280's will all ways be linked.. Even if you can get the tuner to play around with the shader..

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

Ok I was playing Crysis with my overclock and 10 mins in I started seeing artifacts so I put it back to default!
I will have to test Crysis with around 680 core and 1250 memory next time and see what happens, But the temp was only at 68c?? is that normal?

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

this is why you do it in steps. because right now you have no idea what caused the problem. More then likely it was the RAM, but not 100% sure.

OC the RAM first. Find out where it starts to artifact, and lower it 10-15Mhz.

Then OC the COre/Shader...see where it maxes out, then go with the Core/Shader level below max OC.