[GTX 590] Flashing & Overclocking Thread

The GTX 590 Flashing & Overclocking Resource Thread

Here we talk about the overclocking the GTX 590, notoriously known for not overclocking... or at least not easy for those who know a little something.

This thread is not to replace the Overclock.net Owner's Thread (HERE) but to be supplemental to it. We do have new 590 users coming it every day, and it seems that there are many questions (which have been addressed) in some form or another. Since most of the answers are scattered throughout a hundred pages of posts & benchmarks, I thought I would sum up most of it as best as possible and add my own humble experiences.

Quick Links
Part 1: GTX 590 - Q&A - You Are Here. Continue Reading.
Part 2: GTX 590 - Power Draw Limitation Investigation
Part 3: GTX 590 - Overclock Prediction
Part 4: GTX 590 - BIOS Grabbing & Flashing
Part 5: GTX 590 - BIOS Info & Archive
Part 6: GTX 590 - Troubleshooting


Word of Caution
We, the 590 owners, are well aware of the issues brought up with launch. Any user who flashes their card, and lights their cards up Hiroshima-style, will know that they, and they alone are at fault. I bear no responsibilities for your actions.

I will however tell you that if you are cautious though, the risk is small. Only you will be able to determine if the risk is worth the reward.

~RC


Official Response From nVidia Regarding GTX 590 Overclocking:
Source: http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=196244



Questions and Answers

Using driver set Forceware Betas 280.91 and newer, or 267.85 and older. Any drivers inbetween you have to use a BIOS flash.


Well there are risks in anything, if you lose power in Windows when it happens, you may delete your ROM and have nothing to boot from. There is always the chance that you have a very weak card that won't take too kindly to more voltage. In general though, its safe to flash your GPU if you know what you are doing.


It does one of three things depending on which one you are downloading.

1.) It either takes you back to stock (original factory.)
2.) It gives you a new minimum voltage.
3.) It gives you a new minimum voltage and a stock overclock.

It does not disable PDL or OCP, or anything else. The modified EVGA BIOSes also unlock the fan to 100%.


So far so good. We are not oblivious to the cards that died on release, we are aware a lot of people also didn't like to see nVidia "skimping" on the VRMs and just think they cheapened the power delivery system. Tie that in with Sweclockers and W1zzard blowing up their cards very publicly and loud. Neither of them really admitted any responsibility and blamed the cards. W1zzard even scored the 590 a seven despite being extremely competitive to a 6990 which received a solid 9 out of 10. Listen I totally respect W1z, he seems like a great guy, and really analyzes the cards both hardware, software, and benchmarks, but I was disappointed by how he handled the 590s review.

I think everyone should use caution when overclocking this card, or any new card that comes to town. You have to know the limits of the cards, try and follow in the steps that other users have successfully overclocked (with cards that are still running obviously) and you shouldn't (emphasis on shouldn't) have any hardware failure. Do cards die? Yes, all GPUs of every generation can be killed with overclocking & overvolting. The cards seem to be very resolute. The most damage I have ever seen is a BSOD, and I had the highest % overclock (on water keep in mind) until I was absolutely crushed by TiN. Excluding TiN and his evil creation, I achieved 30+% overclock for benchmarking on HWBot, on a card that every tells me is crap.

That can be found here:
HWBOT RangingCain Submission for Heaven Extreme


We hear this a lot. Daily, even. It is usually everyones argument to not buy the GTX 590 when someone asks if they should. Anything from the card is "fail" to "its a weak death trap waiting to blow up, kill you, set you on fire, and then kill your dog." To any outside observer, that sounds really negative, but since I have had a pair of these for a few months, as well as a pair of 580s for six months before that. I can tell you that this cards is not fail, or a danger to your pets.


If I recall correctly, your atypical 570 died with overclocking in a range of voltages that should not have even been allowed for in the first place. That is bad and definitely some responsibility lies with the manufacturers / nVidia. Similar to the issues with ASUS and its 590, or further more by nVidia themselves (who according to their own admission) had failed to turn on OCP / PDL (more on these two later.)

Analyzing the VRMS:
The GTX 580 has a 6 + 2 VRM design, 6 for the Core and 2 for the Memory.
The GTX 570 has a 4 + 1 VRM design, 4 for the Core and 1 for the Memory.
The GTX 590 has a 5 + 1 VRM design, 5 for the Core and 1 for the Memory Controller, for each GPU.

To separate it further from the GTX 570, it used a stronger type of VRMs like in the 580. I don't have the source so I will have to edit it in later, but its the same more robust VRMs of the 580 design. So it uses stronger VRMs in addition to having an extra one.

The use of the number of VRMs was the first thing that everyone picked up on and called it design flaw, even before a single person could buy one. I personally did not think it was a design flaw, although I agreed it definitely hampered its overclocking potential.

The GTX 580 was able to achieve 900~1000 MHz on 6 VRMs depending on the binning of the GPU, and without any other modifications was able to hit as high as 1100~1200 under LN2. The reduction in VRMs saved space on the PCB and saved money. Two things nVidia is probably always looking to do, or any company really. For two watered down 580 GPUs, there simply was no need for such a robust system, all things considered. I even anticipate if they really wanted to limit the potential of the card, they could have gotten it running on 4 VRMs per GPU.


I am just a little more observant and I do assume the billions of dollars we have given nVidia, they spent a little on research, and that it is being at conducted by people with PhDs in the related field. So I analyze what they did, as if they designed it with purpose.

This is just one way to look at the design:
I am not saying this is how it works, but lets assume you needed 6 VRMs as a minimum for the speed of 772 MHz (stock) on a GTX 580. We all know that the 590 is two 580 GPUs sandwiched together and weakened. Physically, most of the parts are identical.

So lets make comparisons to the GTX 580. We can begin by observing the performance levels of 772 MHz by a factor of 6 to determine a VRM for each level of power.

772 MHz / 6 VRMs = 128.667 MHz / VRM, or for every increase of 130 MHz of GPU Core Frequency, you need an additional VRM to deliver the current necessary for that frequency.

We know the basic ratio, lets see how many VRMs a 607 MHz GTX 580 GPU would need:
607 / x VRMs = 130 MHz / VRM = 607 MHz / 130 MHz = x VRMs
x VRMs = 4.669 VRMs

So, since we can't have 0.669 VRMs, much like we can't have 0.669 people, we round up to an even 5 VRMs. Which is enough for 607 MHz clocked GTX 580, and then it has some wiggle room.

That's assuming you needed absolutely a minimum of 6 VRMs for the stock 772 MHz frequency on a GTX 580, and we know that the wiggle room on the GTX 580 was +230-500 MHz depending on the temperature.

I know the math I did doesn't actually mean anything, and thats nowhere near how you calculate how many VRMs you should have on your card, but a lot of people saw 5 VRMs and just started talking trash without actually thinking about it. I just found one way that using 5 VRMs actually kind of makes sense for the clock frequencies using their associated voltages we saw on the stock GTX 590.

A lot of the GTX 590 "fail" and distaste stems from a few cards that were pushed beyond their limits, and pure opinion. I am not a circuit design expert. A lot of people are though apparently, but I still am not seeing any mass graves filled with these cards.

THAT does not mean you should overclock willy-nilly its safe. We know it has wiggle room but how much? That is for you to figure out.



WHQL 275.33 or BETA 275.50. Both WHQL and BETA 275.50 employ very stringent software overclocking protection that amplifies (does not replace) the hardware's over current protection (OCP) and the power draw limiter (PDL). These are two distinct things, but most users are only familiar with having an OCP on their cards. They also have the added a "voltage lock down" and THEN they limited max voltage (it even over-rides BIOS settings!)


Over current protection is hardware on our GPUs designed to prevent damage to the circuity by controlling spikes or increases of current beyond the hardware specification.

Power Draw Limiter is just the phrase we have coined for the GTX 590s special brand of card protection. This feature acts like a strict governor on a car engine. Despite how powerful your engine is, there is a device that "governs" over the power output of that engine.


PDL is a combination of hardware and software in order to limit the work your GPU can do

There is the standard performance limitation on the GTX 590, that once you go past this line, you enter the throttling realm. As you may have seen, and its even been documented to some degree by [H]OCP in their article on the GTX 590 overclocking. They didn't do much research beyond finding where the upper limit is.

The software limitation seems sneaky and underhanded. IF there was a mistake in the design of the card, it was with PDL. Contrary to what everyone says about the amount of VRMs, this would be the only mistake they made. I feel that when they had released these cards, the GTX 590 only had the standard performance limiting PDL. However, it was here through a combination of reviewers and some consumers going overboard with voltage, that they were able to fall through the cracks as the PDL wasn't aggressive enough to prevent damage in some applications such as the notoriously rough Furmark. Furthermore, its apparent that PDL may have even not been activated at the time. So what they have done is created a series of profiles (similar to SLI Profiles) for each title, and some titles are more aggressively power limited than others now. There is a night and day difference in 3DMark11 and Unigine Heaven 2.5 Benchmark. These cards really shine in Heaven, where on the other hand they look very weak in 3DMark 11. To what degree does it affect games? No one knows for sure, and we will probably never see 100% performance unlocked on these cards.

More information on the [H] article can be found here:
[H]OCP Article - http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/...king_followup/


Around driver release 267.91, we lost the ability to increase voltage with 3rd party utilities. nVidia even condone overclocking at the start (although small) it was enough to overclock about ~5% going on their recommendations. It seems they went back on their original claim and decided to remove everyones ability to overvolt.

The last driver to have the ability to increase voltage is 267.85. In fact, while normally they keep a back log of beta drivers in the archive. You will have a hard time to finding them anywhere on nVidia's site, its almost like they didn't exist.

While we only discovered this recently, it seems that not only did they remove your ability to increase voltage, they put a maximum voltage in the driver, for those of us who know a work around) which overrides any BIOS you have flashed on the cards. Thats only in the more recent BIOS's, the theoretical max voltage is driver 267.85 is still the reference GTX 580 max of 1.201v.


Yes and no. You will more than likely jump between two drivers depending on your mood for overclocking. That will be whatever the latest driver is, and driver set 267.85.


This is an easy question to answer. Visit LaptopVideo2Go.com. Don't let the name fool you, they are the ultimate resource in nVidia / Quadro drivers. They have every driver ever tweaked, edited, leaked, or officially released by nVidia or any of its OEM partners. You simply browse the forums for the release you want. There is nothing wrong with these drivers, LaptopVideo2Go original mission was to aid Laptops with dedicated and integrated GPUs who were receiving absolutely zero driver support by nVidia (who now also do mobile GPU drivers) or the timely (once every 12 months) release by the OEMs. Now a days, they serve mainly as a massive archive, and while their mission hasn't changed much, it seems like nVidia and many companies woke up seeing how popular and necessary it was.

To get any driver you need head here:
LV2Go!

Well with the 275.33 WHQL and above, the voltage is still lock down, meaning its no higher than minimum but it can be adjusted lower. Furthermore, at some point in the driver releases, no matter how high of a minimum/maximum voltage you have set in BIOS, the drivers limit the voltage max to 0.963v. To get an overclock that is higher, you have to go with the older drivers.

This is only desirable for benchmarking, its always more desirable to use the latest drivers due to patches/bug fixes/stability/driver performance/SLi Profiles.


Other than overclocking, yes there is. There is using the SLI Profile Enhancement from EVGA. That will improve game performance, benchmarking too. Alternatively, you would want to visit the next post regarding more about Experimental BIOSes, and understanding why we can't overclock till it just crashes any higher.


Extreme Overclocking & Modding
Many of you know TiN or K1ngp1n by reputation, and yes, TiN decided to mod, freeze, mod again, freeze the GTX 590. His Frankenstein monstrosity can be found @ KingPinCooling.com. Big props to TiN for his achievement with these cards, as very few probably understand what he had to do, and even fewer of us understand that the scores he are getting with the cards are ridiculous. Perhaps not in comparison to SLI 580s, but I don't think its fair to compare the 590 to SLI 580s. Its just not the same for a variety of reasons, but regardless, he has done an amazing job with the 590!

You can find more on their forums here:
http://kingpincooling.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1279


GTX 590 Links & Information

• Overclock.Net - GTX 590 Owner's Club
• nVidia - Response & Cautioning of GTX 590 Overclocking
• KingpinCooling - TiN w/ A Monster GTX 590
• LaptopVideo2Go - Awesome Driver Archive
• [H] OCP - GTX 590 Overclocking Article

Edited by RagingCain - 8/5/11 at 8:31pm

GTX 590 - Power Draw Limit - What Is It?

As commented before, we have another setback when overclocking the GTX 590. Like we really need anything more.

Flashing your BIOS or changing the drivers deals can work around voltage lock downs to a degree. nVidia has in place other safe guards to prevent this from happening.

Quite simple really, as the voltages increase, so that clock frequencies can increase, performance (with in reason) should also increase. Along with that, we see temperatures rise. In our case, our performance does rise for a short period along with temperature, but then it tapers off, and drops back down to the performance of even lower clocked frequencies. Thus killing any point of overclocking.

Let start with having a look at the 590 vBIOS.


Here we see a special row of clock domains using NiBiTor v 6.0.3.

Here is the exact specifics of the down throttle:
Core: 553.5 MHz ~ 553 MHz ---- Derived from BOX#3
Shader: 1107 MHz ~ 1106 MHz ---- BOX#3
Memory: 801.5 MHz (Effective 1603 MHz ~ 1602/1604) ---- Derived from BOX#5

Well the truth of the matter is there is no way to stop yourself from crossing the "Power Draw Line", at least the standard one thats hardware built in.

What those frequencies mean, that no matter what your clocks have been set to, this could be what its actually running at.

The reason for you not being able to see is could be a few reasons. nVidia don't want it being seen and its covered up in the drivers, something that 3rd party utilities aren't looking at, or for. Alternatively its happening much faster than the poll rate of the hardware sensing utility. We are talking very very very fast. Possibly on the order of milliseconds/microsends. It could even be both.

At this time no, there is so little information regarding this and I don't have the resources, nor the hardware knowledge of figuring it out. I am just able to observe it.

Not exactly. nVidia may have taken my voltage control, overridden my maximum voltage in BIOS, embedded this new PDL, and then enhanced its strength via application profiles, but I have not given up. There is one thing that nVidia have left in our control.

The image above is the break down of our BIOS clocks:

Row 1 = P0 (Idle State)
Row 2 = P1 (Semi-Idle / Flash Viewing and some CUDA enriched Applications)
Row 4 = P3 (Full 3D Acceleration)

Row 3 = P2 / Power Draw Limitation Settings <- This is what your card frequencies are pushing when you cross the threshold.

When overclocking a normal card, you would expect to see a simple graph such as this:


Instead, with the GTX 590, we get something like this:


After we cross this invisible barrier, our overclock has a theoretical maximum gain in producing better performance, after which it declines in performance back to the power draw limit.

We know almost nothing about the power draw limit, but by observing some of its effects we can make some fairly realistic guesses. Furthermore, we can actually adjust this theoretical maximum relatively easy.

That is a good question.

I believe there are three reasonable places for it to occur:
1.) Its Already Occurring:
What I mean by that is, once you cross the 553 MHz @ 0.8875v, so even stock, is that you are switching back and forth constantly between settings this prevents any damage being done and it extends the life of the card a great deal. However, I would find that this hardware component that controls this would be under a great deal of stress constantly regulating frequencies. From that standpoint, I would conclude that this one can not be true.

2.) It occurs with anything above Stock:
What I mean by that is, once you increase the frequency & voltage by one increment, you are activating the PDL. While this makes sense, we have already proven that this one isn't really true. We have plenty of benchmarks from people to show that there is no signs of throttling at the very basic of increments. This leaves the following:

3.) It has a threshold to be crossed somewhere above Stock: This is by far the most likely scenario, there is a certain limit met by voltage, frequency, or more than likely a combination of voltages and frequencies, that when under stress, the card begins to throttle.

Here is a visual representation of what I believe happens:


As you can see by the graph, its not a cut and dry throttling like what we see with temperature or OCP type throttling which goes to some safe mode. We instead see this back and forth spiking-esque type graph.

On the right hand there is what temperature throttling looks like, it has a one set frequency/voltage to go to when its over heating, it "throttles" the card. If that was what we saw with PDL, we would be able to see the frequency change in our monitoring programs. The only reason we wouldn't see it is they are simply changing the frequencies in a way that is not perceivable currently by 3rd party monitoring tools or its happening too fast for the sensors to pick up. We don't know 100% for sure, but logic can help us out picturing something like that.

Since we can prove that the performance weakens as clock frequencies and voltages get higher while under stress, we definitely know something is going on behind the scenes.

I thought about this for a long time, at first I had almost given up. Every major driver upgrade seems to have made overclocking even harder for us. Even for those that don't mind flashing their GPUs we were up a creek without a paddle after a certain extent.

It wasn't until I was looking at the whole picture did I realize we still have one power tool in our pocket.

nVidia had to purposely set up the Power Draw Limitation settings via software, in case it had to be fine tuned. Which may have been the original case with the early review samples, nobody knows. Since the Power Draw Limitation Settings are in BIOS.... so they can be increased!

In fact, it may even be possible to trick the card into overclocking itself once you cross a certain threshold in performance!

That's where my special experimental BIOS has come in as you can see from the settings to below.

We may not be able to stop the throttling but at least control how bad it is, as the graph below illustrates.




GTX 590 - Power Draw Limit - Modes

All of the following is just speculation about several observations regarding the Power Draw Limit.

It appears to have 3 (possibly more) distinct stages. These performance modes are not really distinguishable with the exception of 3. What causes the drivers to select what mode, is all about the title / application you are running.

How this affects us will slowly show this either true or false over time.

I call these different stages modes:
Power Draw Limitation Mode 1
Power Draw Limitation Mode 2
Power Draw Limitation Mode 3

PDL Mode 1 - This appears to be the default mode. When you think default, you generally think it in terms of the most performance. That is not true with the GTX 590. Default mode is very conservative. It limits your maximum overclock for starters. That means, it may allow the driver may crash itself rather than running at speeds greater than what it states. Right now Mode 1's limit is about 700 MHz @ 0.963v. If you do manage to get it above the PDL settings then here is where you experience the invisible power draw limitation.

PDL Mode 2 - This appears to be the A-list of titles. Titles that nVidia feels comfortable giving the drivers the go ahead and perform. This is how I was able to get the excellent Unigine Heave benchmark of 830 MHz @ 0.963v. If your titles / benchmark / program is NOT on the A-list, you are not allowed full power. I dare say it has no invisible power draw limitation, at least not in any of the settings I have tried. Simply put, more overclock equals more performance.

PDL Mode 3 - This is what appears to be the safe mode. This is the very visible throttling of the card to about 540 MHz / 1103 MHz / 1603 MHz frequencies and low voltages. There is no disabling this, but I believe this is software implemented after the reviewers killed their cards. I believe that nVidia maybe thought that if 1 covers all titles, and 2 covers select titles, than all titles should be covered. But certain brands (ASUS) allowed voltages way beyond specification, and it cost the life of the cards before PDL Mode 1 could get a handle on the situation. If you are spending time in this frequency during gaming, your voltage is just too high, the card is trying to save it self from damage. Believe its also tied into temperature. Could be why water cooled gentlemen don't see this (I have only seen it once.)

I will need help determining which titles go into PDL Mode 1/ PDL Mode 2. How you would be able to tell is subtle, you have to be able to apply logic. A game that seems to crash at 690 MHz for example might go in PDL Mode 1, but you would have to know it was stable at one point higher than 700 MHz. A game that lets you overclock past 700 MHz AND shows performance increase for every 10 MHz. That would more than likely fit in PDL Mode 2.

PDL Mode 1:
3DMark11
3DMark Vantage
Furmark
Kombustor
BOINC - CUDA Apps

PDL Mode 2:
Heaven
Total War: Shogun 2
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Edited by RagingCain - 7/19/11 at 7:24pm

GTX 590 - Overclock Prediction

GTX 590 - Time For Some Straight Up Math

I approached things from a variety of angles. You can read and follow why I think it is the way it is, or you can simply skip to part 7, which has the actual summary.


1.) Analyzed personal history with GTX 580s.

I am going to display some numbers and data I gathered when I had a pair of 580s. They were lovely, but sadly, just needed more oomph.

PNY Geforce GTX 580 in SLI
963 MHz / 1926 MHz / 2200 MHz was my most stable overclock on water @ 1.213v.

For comparisons sake, I am going to impose some artificial reductions to play it conservative.
Real Max OC: 963 MHz @ 1.213v
Conservative Max OC: 900 MHz @ 1.213v

So this gives me a range of what to expect:
793 MHz / 1.000 Volts
741 MHz / 1.000 Volts

Since the 590 has one less VRM, lets see some calculations utilizing it.
793 MHz / 1.000 Volt for every 6 VRMs or: (793 MHz / 1.000 Volts) / 6 VRMs
741 MHz / 1.000 Volts leads to (741 MHz / 1.000 Volts) / 6 VRMs

Calculated:
132.1 MHz / 1.000 VoltsVRMs, lets say 132 MHz / 1.000 VoltsVRMs
123.5 MHz / 1.000 VoltsVRMs, 123 MHz / 1.000 VoltsVRMs

While this unit is meaningless garbage it can used to estimate the maximum overclock per single volt and VRM. For instance, trying to guess what max overclock we can get is doable, but its not very accurate (on the lowside) which is okay since we want to be a little extra cautious.

Lets try calculating the clock, thereby naming it X.

X = Y(123 MHz / 1.000 VoltsVRMs)

We know how many VRMs we will be using, its 5.

Transforming things to:
X = (5 VRMs) (132 MHz/1.000VoltsVRMs) = 660 MHz / 1.000v
X = (5 VRMs) (123 MHz/1.000VoltsVRMs) = 617 MHz / 1.000v

This is below stock and we are above stock Voltage. Seeing this data, confirms, that its more than likely that VRMs were not the main focus point for nVidia for even stock frequency. This goes in line with the VRM I did in math, in which the VRMs are going to control the max frequency via max voltage attainable on the card, not mysteriously cause card death.


So playing it fairly darn safe, your max clock @ max voltage is 1.063v. We immediately know that this isn't true. That is way too much voltage for that frequency (some of you can obtain this frequency at stock.) So long story short, the math we did not add up to what we were seeing.



2.) Seeing that there was not much in the way linking the VRMs to the settings, I began analyzing 590 data.

What we must do now is analyze the brands stock frequencies, and voltages.

EVGA HydroCopper Stock:
630 MHz / 0.925v, now we can assume that the voltage is sufficient for the frequency, and safe.

So to create a linear model, we bring it to a manageable / 1.000v.

So, we have 681 MHz / 1.000v. When compared to other overclocks I personally had and what others had, reality is, most users (as a minimum) are able to hit 680 @ 0.963v, so that linear model appears to be: 680 / 0.963v or 706 MHz / 1.000v.


3.) Knowing what I am supposed to be anticipating, I compare to actual overclocks.

So, we have 681 MHz / 1.000v. When compared to other overclocks I personally had and what others had, reality is, most users (as a minimum) are able to hit 680 @ 0.963v, so that linear model appears to be: 680 / 0.963v or 706 MHz / 1.000v.

We are getting closer to reality, which is the point. When the math matches what we see, we can then use it to predict.


4.) Feeling I need more data, I return to the GTX 580s, this time I analyze stock.

Analyzing some GTX 580s, stock clocks and voltages were 772 MHz / 1.037v (depending on card)
This gives them about 744 MHz / 1.000v. This is very similar to my conservative work above of 741 / 1.000v. So more than likely there is some room for error.

My guess at this point is that the GTX 590s should be capable of somewhere between the two, so I am going to average them. I am taking the sum of the stock user experience, with the stock GTX 580, and dividing by 2. This, I hope, will get us some kind of graph of what we should theoretically aim for when benchmarking.

706 + 744 / 2 = 725 MHz / 1.000v

When I see these numbers, I instantly can tell we are on the right path. Still though overclocks in the wild we still seem to be overshooting (at least with 267.85 drivers) voltage. Similar clocks are done with about 37 mVs less.


5.) I take a step back, analyze everything again. Upon writing the PDL Investigation many of those numbers are fresh in my mind.

The predominant OC we discovered much similar to [H] OCP in their article (mentioned in Post 1) is between 720 MHz - 730 MHz and around 0.963v-0.975v.

Thus, lets estimate its 725 MHz / 0.975v, or 743 MHz / 1.000v.

Coincidence? Possibly. Its enough for me to think we are on the right track. Many of user were able to hit 725 MHz @ 0.963~0.975v. This leads me to believe that the scaling (while not linear in nature) may indeed by very similar to an actual GTX 580.


6.) I look at all the calculations organized now, and add one more.

SUMMARY:
Lets now compare all those calculated numbers:
GTX 580 Max OC - Low: 741 / 1.000v (900 MHz / 1.213v)
GTX 580 Max OC - Real: 793 / 1.000v (963 MHz / 1.213v)
GTX 580 (ref): 744 MHz / 1.000v (772 MHz / 1.037v)

GTX 590 - VRM Compared: 617 / 1.000v
GTX 590 - EVGA HC: 681 MHz / 1.000v (630 MHz / 0.925)
GTX 590 - Averaged with 580: 725 / 1.000v
GTX 590 - Weak User Experience: 706 MHz / 1.000v (680 / 0.963v)
GTX 590 - Good User Experience: 743 MHz / 1.000v
GTX 590 - Average User Experience: 724 MHz / 1.000v (WU + GU / 2)

What I see now, is that the real 590 OC seems to be closer related to my conservative PNY overclocking AND the reference GTX 580. However, I am going to play it conservative, and I am going to average the weak 590 overclocks with the good 590 overclocks, and create an average user experience.


7.) Estimating Max Safe Voltage based on VRMs
We know the max voltage of the GTX 580 was reportedly 1.213v, and you either purchased ASUS or flashed you card to unlock this maximum voltage. Other brands instilled the safer 1.151v so we analyze both of them.

GTX 580 Analysis:
6 vs. 5 VRMs

6 VRM to obtain 1.213v
1.213v / 6 VRMs = 0.202166v / VRM

6 VRM to obtain 1.151v
1.151v / 6 VRMs = 0.191833v / VRM

6 VRM to obtain 1.037v
1.037v / 6 VRMs = 0.172833v / VRM

5 VRMs Should Give Us:
5 VRM x 0.202166v / VRM = 1.01083v / VRM
5 VRM x 0.191833v / VRM = 0.959165v / VRM
5 VRM x 0.172833v / VRM = 0.8641667v / VRM

So right here, we are seeing very low predicting voltages. Which tells me there is more going on behind the seems. It also tells me that possibly 6 VRMs could go even higher than 1.213v.

So lets assume that EVGA set the voltages up correctly: 5 VRMs gives you a max of 1.063v.
1.063v / 5 VRMs = 0.2126v / VRM

So translating it back to a GTX 580, we would see this:
6 VRMs * 0.2126v / VRM = 1.2756v

So, it is entirely possible that 1.213v was set as the maximum for safety or temperatures, or both. So that also translates to over-volting to 1.063v requires a bit of discretion, more than likely water cooling.

All and all, I can see everyone achieving 1.011v, I don't think anyone on air should go above this point without being extremely cautious.



8.) Estimate Mathematical Conclusion
Conservative Numbers for 275.xx Drivers

For Water Cooling - Max Safe H20 Voltage = 1.063v
Weak Max OC = 706 MHz / 1.000v * 1.063v = 750 MHz @ 1.063v
Average Max OC = 724 MHz / 1.000v * 1.063v = 769 MHz @ 1.063v
Good Max OC = 743 MHz / 1.000v * 1.063v = 789 MHz @ 1.063v

For Air Cooling - Max Safe AIR Voltage = 1.013v
Weak Max OC = 706 MHz / 1.000v * 1.013v = 715 MHz @ 1.013v
Average Max OC = 724 MHz / 1.000v * 1.013v = 733 MHz @ 1.013v
Good Max OC = 743 MHz / 1.000v * 1.013v = 752 @ 1.013v

This is the most I would hope for, but it can in fact be much higher as we have seen, especially on 267.85 drivers.


9.) Overclocking Results On 267.85
Calculated the Hard Way... Unigine Heaven 2.5 for 267.85 Drivers
607 MHz @ 0.912/0.913v
612 MHz @ 0.912/0.913v
630 MHz @ 0.925v
640 MHz @ 0.925v
650 MHz @ 0.925v/0.938v
660 MHz @ 0.938v
670 MHz @ 0.938/0.950v
680 MHz @ 0.950v
690 MHz @ 0.950v/0.963v
700 MHz @ 0.963v
710 MHz @ 0.963v/0.975v
720 MHz @ 0.975v
730 MHz @ 0.975v/1.000v
740 MHz @ 1.000v
750 MHz @ 1.000v/1.013v
760 MHz @ 1.013v
770 MHz @ 1.013v/1.025v
780 MHz @ 1.025v
790 MHz @ 1.025v/1.038v
800 MHz @ 1.038v/1.051v
810 MHz @ 1.051v
820 MHz @ 1.051v/1.063v
830 MHz @ 1.063v
840 MHz @ 1.063v

Or For Those Visual Types:



GTX 590 - PDL Setting Modifications
Edit: As of right now, I don't recommend using nVidia Inspector. Its buggy, it tends to cause issues, there is no way to Idle while using this, and you have to change clock frequencies on every GPU for every power level that you modify.

I have found another way to do this, but it requires a much more relaxed experimental BIOS, its borderline stock in every way, so there is not much of an issue, just a change in one small thing.

Anyways, here it goes on modifying the GTX 590 Owner's handcuffs of overclocking, and making them a little looser.

What you need to begin is nVidia Inspector!


From there you want to get a little familiar with the application, so lets unlock the overclocking features.


Yes being the obvious choice. Lets begin checking out what we know have access too:


Lets go ahead and make things unlocked, and switch it to P2 level, which is our PDL settings.


Here is what we can and can't change depending on if you unlocked the Max/Min features at the top. Notice voltage can't be adjusted.


Voltage CAN be adjusted through a BIOS flash. I wouldn't run it this high, I was just describing what we can do from here.


Once you have flashed a voltage you want to try out on the PDL settings, now you manipulate each overclock (via Shader) and see how high you can raise it. You will have to apply clocks & voltages for every GPU it doesn't save across GPUs. You also probably want to stay below stock frequencies AND ONLY MESS WITH THIS IF YOU HAVE ADEQUATE COOLING (WATER/LN2).
Edited by RagingCain - 7/19/11 at 7:21pm

GTX 590 BIOS Gathering & Flashing Section
Either flash method you feel more comfortable, doing it from DOS or from Windows, you will need this file pack to follow along. Its hosted by MediaFire. Can't upload files to OCN at the moment, so I had to use a file hosting service.

Make sure to always scans for bugs and goblins in anything you do on the interwebz.

Download Files Link


Grabbing Your Current GPU BIOS!
Whether you just want a backup, or you want to share your created vBIOS, or even want someone to modify a BIOS for you, you need to know how to grab your GPU BIOS. This isn't limited to just the GTX 590, this is essentially how anyone can get a .BIN (a binary copy / snapshot) of their current GPU's BIOS.

First you need to get (I use this just because its super easy) GPU-z. If you are on OCN and don't have GPU-z already, kick yourself. You should know better, but if you are new to this, don't sweat it.

You can grab GPU-z from TechPowerUp here:
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/

You can learn more about GPU-z and its development also on TechPowerUp here:
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

Once you have downloaded GPU-z, its a lightweight portable application, meaning its not installed, and runs from where you have it downloaded.

I picked the pretty Republic of Gamers version to go with my Motherboard and CPU-z. Its just sexy, so yours make look a little different color wise, but functionally it is identical.

So starting up you will see this for an atypical GTX590.


You can see the BIOS revision, you can see all the stats, and you can see that live "microchip" with a green arrow under the Republic of Gamers logo, THAT is your save BIOS button, and you save it as whatever you want. You can also switch between your 590 GPUs like in the below image.



So if you wanted to save your 2nd BIOS from your first card, you would verify that its an odd number (OR simply +1 at the end more than first GPU.) then click the save BIOS button like below.



Every GTX 590 card has two BIOSes. So if you are in SLI you have 4 BIOSes. In general (this is not always the case) you only need two BIOSes to do a proper flash, you don't need all 4. What you simply do is save GPU1 and GPU2 off of one card only. For some special cases, nVflash won't recognize a compatible GPU for a card and we need to grab that GPU's specific BIOS. Its happened to me, its happened Juggalo, it just happens every once in a while. Its no big deal, and it doesn't kill your card to have two different BIOS, you just probably will crash in any 3D application or CUDA enhanced application. This is also assuming you haven't tried to super overvolt your GPU as well.



The NEW Method Windows 7 Compatible nVFlash!

1. You simply unzip the download file pack I provided.
2. Open up the directory and navigate to your NVFLASH WIN folder.
3. Place your GTX590 BIOSes that you want to flash in the same directory.

1. Then you can either execute your NVFLASH by command, which is sometimes necessary, which I will talk a little bit about at the end.
   
   OR
   
   
2. You can simply click & drag GTX590A.ROM file right on top of the NVFLASH.EXE, let go, and it will begin the program, with the correct BIOS loaded, ready to flash. Just like that.

Tested by the brave, Juggalo23451 and RagingCain.



The OLD Method - USB Boot Drive w/ DOS & nVFlash Setup
This is real simple to do, and 27% of the time mistakes are from formatting, and the other 72% of time its human error. The other 1% means nVflash needs an update. The other 0.0000001% chance is some jackass gave you the wrong file... Sorry Jug!

1.) You need a flash drive you can format. Don't use above 16GB, in fact, people have had issues with 16GB, but I haven't ever had it. So a good 16MB flash drive can work, or a 4GB one.

2.) What you are going to do is format it to FAT32 with a the HP DISK STORAGE FORMAT UTILITY. So you need to install that first. Don't waste your time doing it with Windows, as there are more steps.

3.) Now what you want to do is run HP DISK STORAGE FORMAT UTILITY, and it will look like this:


4.) Now, one of the folders I included, called USB-BOOTIMAGE, which you need to setup up as a source for DOS startup files in the utility before executing START. What you are doing is creating a DOS Startup Disk as shown in images, and that folder has everything ready, just select the folder, and once everything else is setup, click START.

So where you downloaded your files get there and set it up like the image shows:


The reason I selected BLUE over Quick Format, is that some people do have issues using Quick Format, instead of a full fledge format. Keep it mind, try with quick, but if you have issues try again without Quick Format. If you still have issues get on here and ask.

5.) Once its completed (no errors) you should have a blank USB Drive. Don't worry, its done correctly if its blank. To 100% verify its setup a boot drive, what you can do is change Folder Options to 100% visibility, no hidden files, no hidden system files, and they should show up.

6.) Now you need to copy the NVFLASH files from the DOS folder on to the root of the USB drive. There should be nothing else visible if things are hidden (by default) in your Windows 7.

7.) Now, just place your ROM BIOS files also on the root directory.

8.) What you do now is boot up from a flash drive, which is quite easy to do. If you are terrible at this kind of thing, just post which motherboard you have. If everything worked correctly, you should be seeing C:\\ (DOS Prompt). There are a few commands, but the one you just created is nvflash.

9.) With PROMPT flashing, type nvflash.exe -GTX590A.ROM and everything should begin, whats its completed and you have the ability to prompt again, use nvflash.exe -GTX590B.ROM to flash the other BIOS. That should be it! If you have any major issues, really try using the Windows based version.



Actually Flashing with Windows-based nVFlash
Lets start with some basic concepts, a GTX 590, has 2x GPUs, GPUA and GPUB. Sometimes I call them GPU0 and GPU1. Every GTX 590 has this.

If you have 2x 590s, you have 4x GPUs. But you don't have GPUA, GPUB, GPUC, and GPUD. That's not how nVflash sees it, that's not how it really works, BUT monitoring utilities sometimes show us this (i.e. GPU1, GPU2, GPU3, and GPU4.) This is not the same thing, in BIOS, there is only a GPU0, and a GPU1.

That being said, if you are flashing a GTX590A.rom, AND you have 2x 590s. Guess how many GPUs you will flash? That's right, you will flash TWICE. It will flash GPU0 on BOTH cards. Samething when you flash GTX590B.rom. It flashes both GPU1s in sequence.

YOU MUST FLASH BOTH GTX590A AND GTX590B, whether you are using just a single GTX 590, or GTX 590 SLI.

Okay, lets start flashing, so go ahead and download the GTX 590 file pack, and unpack it.

You should see this:


Next you are going to want to move your 2 ROMs to the folder (obtained by me or the BIOS section):


From there, you will start the whole operation by dragging & dropping GTX590A.rom over nVflash.exe, like shown below. DOS 95/98/XP users are more familiar with this as opening a .exe with a command line.


A command prompt will pop up, and here you will see some options, they are all self explaining:


IF you have 2x GTX 590s, it will automatically try and find the second GPU0 as shown below. If it finds one it will flash again, if you are on single GTX 590, it should say flash successful then immediately close shortly after not finding any more GPUs.


Just repeat the steps with GTX590B.rom, and it should be good to go!

Okay two notes at this point:
1.) You have to reboot to complete this process!

2.) Sometimes the BIOS doesn't upgrade, upgrade fails, or just doesn't want to run on the second GPU. Happens to me in 1 in 3 flashes. I am fairly confident its a nVflash error. Just run again, if you are still having errors. I will try and have a look at your BIOS personally!

Videos courtesy of Juggalo23451!


Edited by RagingCain - 7/19/11 at 12:00pm

GTX 590 BIOS - Choosing The Right BIOS For You!

For now, avoid flashing cross brands, there is no POINT. All cards are reference, nobody has any other special features etc. If you want a little oc or over voltage on your card, just post both BIOS BINs and I will do it for you for your brand. This stops complicated nVflash commands having to be used if it rejects your GPU for whatever reason, and a lot less likely of you doing something wrong. Plus, your warranty is voided, if its a dead card and you can't reflash, and they can pull some data off your BIOSes, and see the word EVGA for an ASUS card, you are screwed. Trust me, they know what Assembly for EVGA looks like.

If it says stock clock or stock voltage, it refers to the above information. That means they have not been edited, they have just been converted to ROM from BIN format. This means they are warranty safe.

The not stable for everyone BIOSes are BIOS for people who are more stable at higher clocks with lower voltages. I personally can barely get an extra 10 MHz at stock. Some people claim they can get 700 MHz @ 0.925v. I can only go by some feed back but for the most part its my experience. This doesn't guarantee any other BIOS before them is "more" stable, it just may be the case. If I crashed at X frequency and Y voltage, I assume others can crash too. Therefore, I have deemed them "Not Stable for Everyone." Alternatively, flash a stock clock/modified voltage BIOS, find your MAX overclock at that voltage and then consider flashing that clock or one just below it for a 24/7 gain.

Do not flash European BIOSes on to North American cards, and vice versa. They can tell what region your BIOS is from and it will VOID your warranty.

If you are flashing a BIOS that has the min voltage raised and the maxed voltage raised, there is no benefit to to flashing a patched version over an original. I am only modifying the latest BIOS I have available, and I just want people to know there is a standard BIOS out of the factory for some people in case of some obscure RMA down the road, you know what to re-flash.


GTX 590 BIOS - Brand Specific Information
Here we have some information on the different types of BIOS. Both EVGA and ASUS had to release a patch to their BIOS for different reasons. EVGA did raise the voltage for the second GPU, and ASUS allowed you to overvolt to the GTX 580 levels, and didn't realize it was going to kill the card. They even advertised the Over-volting / Over-Clocking features....

If you are having any issues with games as an EVGA user, you may seriously want to ask EVGA for the patch, or just flash a corrected/modified version to fix that second GPU. Not everyone has issues but a lot of us did/do. So that small factory overclock was enough to require a voltage bump on the GPUs (obviously more cherry of a GPU might not be affected) but other average video cards might definitely need it fixed. EVGA has stopped correspondence after having given me the BIOS. I discovered a bug in their patch which may not flash the second GPU on your second card correctly. Oh well, I fixed it one of the releases below.

EVGA - Stock BIOS (Original):
Version: 70.10.37.00.90 (GPU0) / 70.10.37.00.91 (GPU1)
630 Core / 1260 Shader / 864 Mem
GPU0 - 0.925v / GPU1 - 0.913v
Max Voltage = 1.063v

EVGA - Stock HydroCopper BIOS (Original):
Version: 70.10.37.00.90 (GPU0) / 70.10.37.00.91 (GPU1)
630 Core / 1260 Shader / 864 Mem
GPU0 - 0.925v / GPU1 - 0.913v <- Wat?
Max Voltage = 1.063v

EVGA - Stock HydroCopper BIOS (Patched):
Version: 70.10.37.00.92 (GPU0) / 70.10.37.00.93 (GPU1)
630 Core / 1260 Shader / 864 Mem
GPU0 - 0.925v / GPU1 - 0.925v
Max Voltage = 1.063v

ASUS - North American - Stock BIOS (Original):
Version: 70.10.37.00.01 (GPU0) / 70.10.37.00.02 (GPU1)
612 Core / 1224 Shader / 864 Mem
GPU1 - 0.913v / GPU2 - 0.912v
Max Voltage = 1.213v <- Dangerous

ASUS - North American - Stock BIOS (Patched):
Version: ??
612 Core / 1224 Shader / 864 Mem
GPU1 - 0.913v / GPU2 - 0.912v
Max Voltage = 1.?? <- I believe the patched one is lower (1.063v)

ASUS - European - Stock BIOS (Original):
Version: 70.10.37.00.01 (GPU0) / 70.10.37.00.02 (GPU1)
612 Core / 1224 Shader / 864 Mem
GPU1 - 0.913v / GPU2 - 0.912v
Max Voltage = 1.063 <- Safe Europeans? Nice.

Gigabyte - Stock BIOS (Original):
Version: 70.10.37.00.01 (GPU0) / 70.10.37.00.02 (GPU1)
607 Core / 1214 Shader / 852 Mem
GPU1 - 0.913v / GPU2 - 0.912v
Max Voltage = 1.0.63

Palit - Stock BIOS (Original):
Version: 70.10.37.00.01 (GPU0) / 70.10.37.00.02 (GPU1)
607 Core / 1214 Shader / 852 Mem
GPU1 - 0.913v / GPU2 - 0.912v
Max Voltage = 1.0.63


GTX 590 BIOS - Download/Archive

All BIOSes are saved in the ROM format, and remember ALWAYS reboot after flash!

EVGA Section
EVGA - Stock Clock - Stock Voltage: Link
EVGA - Stock Clock - 0.963v Min-1.063v Max - 100% Fan: Link
EVGA (Special) Stock Clock - 0.963v Min-1.063v Max - 100% Fan: Link
EVGA (ReignsOfPower Specials) Stock Clock - 0.963v Min-1.063v Max - 100% Fan: Link
EVGA HydroCopper (RagingCain's) - Stock Clock - 0.963v Min-1.063v Max: Link
EVGA HydroCopper (RagingCain Specials) - Stock Clock - 0.963v Min-1.063v Max: Link

ASUS (North American) Section
ASUS - Stock Clock - Stock Voltage: Link
ASUS - Stock Clock - 0.963v Min-1.063v Max: Link
ASUS (Juggalo Specials) - Stock Clock - 0.963v Min-1.063v Max: Link
ASUS (Smoka Cola's) - 630/1260/1728 - 0.963v Min-1.063v Max - 100% Fan: Link

ASUS (European) Section
ASUS - Stock Clock - Stock Voltage: Link
ASUS - Stock Clock - 0.963v Min-1.063v Max: Link

Gigabyte Section
Gigabyte - Stock Clock - Stock Voltage: Link
Gigabyte - Stock Clock - 0.963v Min-1.063v Max: Link

Palit Section
Palit - Stock Clock - Stock Voltage: Link
Palit - Stock Clock - 0.963v Min-1.063v Max: Link
Palit (Wogga Specials) - 630/1260/1728 - 0.963v Min-1.063v Max: Link

MSI Section
Need BIOS

Gainward Section
Need BIOS

PoV Section
Need BIOS


GTX 590 - Experimental BIOS Section
Necessary Drivers: 267.85 (Designed for overclocking past 700~725MHz @ 0.963v)

Purpose of these BIOSes:
You should notice significant performance increases after around 700-750 MHz and at 0.963v or higher, when compared to any standard 590 BIOS. Best attempted with a water cooled 590, not really suitable for AIR.

MAY CAUSE DAMAGE! BE VERY CAREFUL, MONITOR TEMPS, OVERCLOCK IN 5~10 MHz INCREMENTS! IF YOU START BSOD, STOP GOING UP! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Edited by RagingCain - 7/21/11 at 3:21pm

GTX 590 - Troubleshooting
The one downside to PC-fiefdom is the fact we have so many unique machines, and even more unique ways of messing things up, things have a tendency to go wrong despite our best intentions. I am going to address the most common issues we have seen.


Could be a variety of reasons. Most common cause is cross brand flashing (flashing an ASUS with an EVGA BIOS.) JUST DON'T DO IT. There is no point. Alternatively, other various reasons might be a modified BIOS chip, a modified GTX 590 reference, or both.

Make a request post.

Lastly, it could be an issue with nVflash and your specific card. These issues can happen, and for this there is nothing you can do except submit a nVFlash bug to whoever is running that program these days.


Two things to do: Try flashing it one more time. I have seen this happen about 5 times to myself. It is a bug in nVflash, it will work one time, and then not the next time with the exact same hardware & BIOS.

If it still fails, make a request post.


Reboot the computer, voltages & or clocks, should update.


Re-install drivers, fixes the "semi-permanent" full power.


The only program I know that lets you monitor AND idle without any issues is Afterburner (I am using 2.2.0 Beta 5.) Anything else open can and will keep the cards running at full speed for various periods of time. Programs like nVidia Inspector prevent idling. GPU-Z keeps you at max speed for about 20 seconds after opening up the program. Etc. Etc. Completely idle state will only ever occur when you are doing nothing, no websites open, no movies, no audio. All kinds of things raise GPU usage, especially in Windows 7 with Aero on.


As high as it will go till the application you test with crashes essentially. 0.963v is just a modest bump in voltage, so don't try crazy clocks. On average a lot of people can hit 700 MHz, but it depends on the benchmark. I have trouble hitting 700 in 3DMark11, but can hit 740 in Unigine Heaven. Refer to the Overclock Prediction post to see some of the numbers I put to cover this.



IF ALL ELSE FAILS - Make A Request Post
Simply upload BOTH of your GPU's BIOSes to mediafire etc, post a link, and a quick summary of your issues, and what you were hoping to get.

Request BIOS Post Example:

Edited by RagingCain - 7/19/11 at 4:39pm

We has success!

How did Dirt2 go? Or is it still buggy?

Grabbed the video and added it to post 2!

Also Added:
Correct nVflash for both methods, re-packaged and uploaded. All links have been corrected.

Finished the Power Draw Limitation Investigation and got the point of the special modified BIOS out.

Added a small quick and dirty guide for the saving your BIOS of your GPU, thanks to Smo for the idea.


Still Working:
The nVflash (Simple) Guide

Uploading the different BIOSes, which you boys are more than welcome to help start submitting BIOS for editing. I am going to check out Mvktech.net for some as well but I would prefer live BIOSs from people here.

I will be working on this a bit more later tonight or tomorrow! Feel free to request BIOS modifications in here!

I could use some help filling out BIOS information on some of the harder to find models such as MSI and Gainward.
Edited by RagingCain - 7/12/11 at 3:11pm