[venomblade]

I've gone thru 2 of these already hoping i just got unlucky the 1st time...I read about this card being a monster OC'er for other brands, and some say they can hit 950mhz on stock voltage, which for me is 1.012v. I can't even run 900mhz core and 2100mhz mem(the palit sonic frequencies) on stock voltage without it eventually crashing in games. Don't even mention 1.0ghz, can't even get that stable on max voltage..any1?

 

[L3gacy]

Everything in the overclocking world deals a hand of cards to you sometimes you get a good one sometimes a bad one. Applies to just about anything overclockable.
My first gtx 260 wasnt very overclockable, it died RMA'd my new one is way more overclockable.

 

[brettjv]

Something to remember is that 'stock VID' is not very precise, in the sense that on some cards it's just enough to run the stock clocks, and on other cards it's well above what's really necessary. Cards in the latter category are likely to OC quite a bit better on 'stock VID' because it's basically kinda overvolted to begin with.

I've had fermi's where the stock VID was barely +12.5mV over what was needed for stability at stock clocks (my current cards came at 975mV and are barely stable at 962mV), and one that was 62.5mV over what was needed for stock clocks (I had a 480 that came stock at 1063mV but was actually okay at 1000mV).

So I wouldn't read too much into what you can do at 'stock' VID. I would look at what clocks others can do with the same amount of voltage, and keep in mind that there's a wide range of 'normalcy' ... i.e. if the average person's card can do 900MHz at 1000mV (for example) you're likely to find that most people are going to be able to do 900MHz at somewhere between 950 and 1050mV.

 

[juano]

If increasing voltage does not gain you any higher clock speeds or stability it could be a case of your VRMs overheating seeing as the Palit does not have any VRM heatsinks. My first guess thought would be that you didn't try making small increases in both core clock and voltage together and instead just turned the core to 900MHz and crossed your fingers. You will want to overclock in small gradual increments and increase the voltage as you go.

 

[-Apocalypse-]

brettjv hit it dead on. Stock voltages vary, and the accuracy of them is hit or miss. My DCII 570 has a stock VID of .962 (but afterburner refuses to set it lower than .963), and overclocks like a champ. There are other people that have the same card and can't manage 900 core on 1.1v because their stock VID was over 1.0.

Just luck of the draw at the end of the day. Don't be too concerned with upping the voltage, just don't force it.

 

[Booty Warrior]

Quote:

Originally Posted by venomblade I've gone thru 2 of these already hoping i just got unlucky the 1st time...I read about this card being a monster OC'er for other brands, and some say they can hit 950mhz on stock voltage, which for me is 1.012v. I can't even run 900mhz core and 2100mhz mem(the palit sonic frequencies) on stock voltage without it eventually crashing in games. Don't even mention 1.0ghz, can't even get that stable on max voltage..any1?

It sounds like you've just been unlucky OP. I have the same card (same pcb w/extra vram) and both of mine did Sonic clocks out of the box on stock voltages.

The Palit coolers aren't great. What are your temps looking like? As others have mentioned, it could also be the VRMs.

 

[venomblade]

Well i idle at like 26c, and load can go up to 75c, but never past that

 

[Booty Warrior]

Quote:

Originally Posted by venomblade Well i idle at like 26c, and load can go up to 75c, but never past that

Hmm, Fermi cards can take way more than that. IDK what to tell you. Does Palit bin their cards? Maybe the stock clocked ones don't OC well?

 

[staryoshi]

I would assume that Palit's non-reference PCBs and choice of circuitry will limit overclocking potential to an extent as well... but perhaps not. I haven't read up on their GTX560 Ti offerings, really. I would also assume that they are binned since they offer those Sonic models. Palit is a brand with which I have less experience than others.

My Sparkles seem to be superb clockers. Reference design, blue PCB (And best of all purple DVI ports!)

 

[venomblade]

Not entirely sure what you mean by "binning", this came straight out the box brand new, if you were getting at it's just a refurb or something

 

[Booty Warrior]

Quote:

Originally Posted by venomblade;13006413
Not entirely sure what you mean by "binning", this came straight out the box brand new, if you were getting at it's just a refurb or something

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B14BiB-Bv3s[/ame]

 

[venomblade]

I see... so i'm just a victim of binning 2x in a row? lol