680 Overclocking (Calling all owners!) - Page 86

Originally Posted by atibbo69 

Do you guys think they will let us unlock the 680 voltage in the future or no? I feel like I just wasted so much money on a waterblock and fittings for no reason.......

Originally Posted by Arizonian 


There will never be a voltage bump with the reference designs. Unless someone comes up with a BIOS hack (if even possible) that voids the warranty, don't hold your breath.

Perhaps with non reference versions from vendor down the road that want to take the chance with having to warranty it. A more robust design that can handle an increase in voltage along with compensate 'not' to boost voltage even further when dynamic over clocking takes over. If they don't take that into consideration when an auto over volt takes place, expect a 'pop'.

The auto boost will go from default stock to 1.175v in a heart beat on its own when GPU boost kicks in and required during more stressful moments in graphic rendering.

It's really just the nature of the new 28 nm fabrication on these cards. There's a point where even more voltage doesn't help with overclocking. As the 7970 owners are finding out that after 1.200v they're being limited to the amount of overclock they can get beyond that. Even being underwater and kept cooler isn't helping to boost that core clock any higher and stable. It's the nature of the new beast.

Even if you take into consideration our 1.175 V limit which auto boosts itself we aren't far behind the other card that can over volt. Technology is taking a turn in a different direction and how we view overclocking along with our procedures to get better performance.

It seems putting video cards underwater is more to quiet the fan noise rather than to get a higher overclock anymore. As the water block cards have diminishing returns, look at it as a good way to save some extra money toward a SSD.

We may find with the newer versions coming out with more power phases, cleaner power, kept a little cooler internally on a capacitance level may yield higher clocks. We're just now seeing some of those cards introduced into market and the verdict on those results is not proven yet.

We have seen some volt mods by extremist that prove we can put more voltage to yield better performance but it requires more than an average understanding and is not practical to implement.

Just my two cents of course and view on this.

Originally Posted by brettlaf 

I have a Zotac GTX 680, i've never overclocked a graphics card before. Are there any guides anyone could link me to to help me along?

Originally Posted by brettlaf 

I have a Zotac GTX 680, i've never overclocked a graphics card before. Are there any guides anyone could link me to to help me along?

Originally Posted by dph314 

Didn't you guys see the link in the 680 owner's thread about the Zotac Supreme Edition? Full voltage control up to 1.5v! They hit 1.4Ghz on the core at only 1.35v. I'm so getting that card. Not sure if it's on sale yet. But yeah, might be expensive, it's 12-phase. But damn, 1.5v.

Originally Posted by CallsignVega 

I'd be all over that if there was some sort of way to water cool it. Not sure if I'd upgrade since that is only 75 MHz more core than my current card and .2v more. It will be interesting to see if EVGA's top cards will allow nice voltages like this.

Originally Posted by siryak 

Yah I am getting 1300 out of my reference card, so I see no reason to jump from EVGA to Zotac for 100MHz at more voltage and probably higher cost. I agree that I think the EVGA aftermarket card will be one to keep an eye on. One thing I have noticed is that I am not seeing very many complaints of defective cards on the 680s. Is it just me?