AT Fermi OC/benchmark thread

[ashishmishra]

Mine's not even stable at 79% above 650/1300/1700. You must live in an igloo if you are getting good temps at 65%.

My ambient temps are ~20-22C, and my case has decent air flow.

What are you testing you OC with? As I said before, mine will run most things at 700/1400 auto fan (~70-77%) no problems, but Heaven 2.0 causes it to crash unless I give it more air.

Hmm... I let Heaven 2.0 loop once before I started the actual benchmark run. Max temperature was 85C. My clocks are 700/1400/1700. I am not sure that you'll believe this but my thermostat reads 75F. I am not sure why my temps are this low.

I have a Coolermaster CM690 Gen1 one 140mm blowing in on the side, one 120mm intake from the front. Two 140mm on top exhausting air out. Corsair H50 radiator with push and pull forcing air outside on the rear of the case. I am going to follow this post with full system specs and some stock/OC benches

 

[tviceman]

Mine's not even stable at 79% above 650/1300/1700. You must live in an igloo if you are getting good temps at 65%.

My ambient temps are ~20-22C, and my case has decent air flow.

What are you testing you OC with? As I said before, mine will run most things at 700/1400 auto fan (~70-77%) no problems, but Heaven 2.0 causes it to crash unless I give it more air.

Can you

A) give more info on your case. Does it have a top fan (a la antec 900)?

B) comment on the fan noise at different percentages of use?

I may in fact be looking to upgrade soon and the gtx470 seems to be the sweet spot for getting close to the highest end without spending $400. However, I value low noise levels and unfortunately my case - the antec 900 - doesn't has too many gaping openings to dampen noise levels inside the case. With my gtx260 at a constant 40% fan speed (1400 rpm) I don't hear it, at 45%, it's barely audible, at 50% it's audible but not noisy, and finally 60% is personally too loud for me.

 

[ashishmishra]

Can you

A) give more info on your case. Does it have a top fan (a la antec 900)?

B) comment on the fan noise at different percentages of use?

I may in fact be looking to upgrade soon and the gtx470 seems to be the sweet spot for getting close to the highest end without spending $400. However, I value low noise levels and unfortunately my case - the antec 900 - doesn't has too many gaping openings to dampen noise levels inside the case. With my gtx260 at a constant 40% fan speed (1400 rpm) I don't hear it, at 45%, it's barely audible, at 50% it's audible but not noisy, and finally 60% is personally too loud for me.

I have had a GTX 260 and GTX 285 in a CM 690 Gen1 as well, the noise profile is pretty much identical, except I can tolerate 60-65% while gaming whether on speakers on headphones. If 50% was the max-tolerable with your GTX 260 I bet it would be the same with the GTX 470

 

[tviceman]

I have had a GTX 260 and GTX 285 in a CM 690 Gen1 as well, the noise profile is pretty much identical, except I can tolerate 60-65% while gaming whether on speakers on headphones. If 50% was the max-tolerable with your GTX 260 I bet it would be the same with the GTX 470

Okay thanks, I didn't want to assume fan noise levels would be the same for both products.

Nitro - do you know what the max fan speed gets up to @ stock clocks?

 

[Cookie Monster]

I know this is abit off topic, but going on the subject of noise, people who own these cards seem to say 70% fan speed is quiet. My GTX260 at 40% is silent, but once it goes over 45% it gets very annoying. Im guessing the fan characteristics are different, so at which % does the noise start becoming audible? and does it have that high pitch whiney tone to it?

 

[nitromullet]

Hmm... I let Heaven 2.0 loop once before I started the actual benchmark run. Max temperature was 85C. My clocks are 700/1400/1700. I am not sure that you'll believe this but my thermostat reads 75F. I am not sure why my temps are this low.

I have a Coolermaster CM690 Gen1 one 140mm blowing in on the side, one 120mm intake from the front. Two 140mm on top exhausting air out. Corsair H50 radiator with push and pull forcing air outside on the rear of the case. I am going to follow this post with full system specs and some stock/OC benches

That's pretty atypical. Looks like you got yourself a cool running Fermi core.

 

[Keysplayr]

I know this is abit off topic, but going on the subject of noise, people who own these cards seem to say 70% fan speed is quiet. My GTX260 at 40% is silent, but once it goes over 45% it gets very annoying. Im guessing the fan characteristics are different, so at which % does the noise start becoming audible? and does it have that high pitch whiney tone to it?

I am finding that with a closed case, and the case on my desk (about 2 ft. from my head)
that I can handle up to 70% on 2xGTX480s. Anything higher than that becomes very noticeable, and 100% is an F-16. This is with stock clocks on the SLI setup. I haven't tried to o/c both cards at the same time yet, but will soon.

Temps vary per app, but so far, Unigine 2.0 and AvP seemed to heat them up the most. At auto fan, GPU1 reached 85C and GPU2 reached 92C. Upping the fans to 65% lowered GPU1 to 72C and GPU2 to 82C. <--correction

 

[nitromullet]

Can you

A) give more info on your case. Does it have a top fan (a la antec 900)?

I have Rocketfish full tower. Four 120mm exhaust fans up top on a Swiftech 420 rad, one 120mm rear intake (right below the rad), one 120mm intake on the front, another 120mm exhaust fan on the bottom mounted on top of an XSPC 120 rad, and finally another 120mm fan in a side mounted Lian Li bracket exhausting hot air from the video card. All fans are 1200rpm Yate Loons.

Here's a pic from a few months ago after I put my loop together. The basic setup is still the same, although that is obviously not a GTX 470 in the photo:

My temps are pretty typical from what I've been reading. I don't think air flow is an issue.

B) comment on the fan noise at different percentages of use?

My thoughts on that:

• 40% quiet. Mine idles at 40%
• 50% noticeable, but still quiet. Blends with the rest of 1200rpm fans.
• 60% an unobtrusive hiss around.
• 70% a definite whoosh. Fine while gaming or otherwise preoccupied, but probably too loud for most at idle/web surfing. Leaving the fan on auto makes mine hover around the mid 70s at load.
• 80% about as loud as a regular house fan. Definitely noticeable no matter what you're doing. Distracting while gaming.
• 90-100% sounds about the same to me - too frikken loud!

...of course, the subjective rankings are all IMO.

 

[ashishmishra]

Here are some limited benches for my eVGA GTX 470 at the following clocks:

Stock: 608-1215-1675 (Stock Fan Profile)
OC: 700-1400-1700 (Fan 65% Constant)

CPU: Core i7 920 4Ghz (200x20)
RAM: 12GB DDR2-1200 (8-8-8-24-1T)
Motherboard: MSI x58 Platinum SLI
Resolution: 1680x1050
PSU: PCP&C Turbocool 860W
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

Unigine 2.0

Settings
Render: direct3d11
Mode: 1680x1050 4xAA fullscreen
Shaders: high
Textures: high
Filter: trilinear
Anisotropy: 4x
Occlusion: enabled
Refraction: enabled
Volumetric: enabled
Replication: disabled
Tessellation: extreme

Stock:
FPS: 28.5
Scores: 718
Min FPS: 16.4
Max FPS: 70.7

OC:
FPS: 32.0
Scores: 807
Min FPS: 18.6
Max FPS: 79.0

World In Conflict Complete Edition (In Built Benchmark)
(All in game Settings max and 4xAA & 16xAF)
Stock
Min:29, Avg: 60, Max: 150
OC:
Min:31, Avg: 65, Max: 160

Dirt 2 DX11 (In Built Benchmark)
8xQCSAA
Stock
Min:57.7, Avg: 75.7
OC:
Min:67.8, Avg: 82.7

Far Cry 2 (Benchmarking Tool)
(DX10 All Max 4xAA)
Stock
* Average Framerate: 90.25
* Max. Framerate: 129.85
* Min. Framerate: 71.08
OC:
* Average Framerate: 100.86
* Max. Framerate: 145.20
* Min. Framerate: 80.45

Batman Arkham Asylum (In Built Benchmark)
(All Max 4xAA PhysX High)
Stock
* Average Framerate: 65
* Max. Framerate: 97
* Min. Framerate: 35
OC:
* Average Framerate: 71
* Max. Framerate: 104
* Min. Framerate: 39

Just Cause 2
(DX11 All Options Maxed incl CUDA options 4xAA & 16xAF)

Stock:
The Dark Tower: 40.14
Desert Sunrise: 53.41
Concrete Jungle: 32.68

OC:
The Dark Tower: 44.87
Desert Sunrise: 59.96
Concrete Jungle: 37.18

 

[nitromullet]

Okay thanks, I didn't want to assume fan noise levels would be the same for both products.

Nitro - do you know what the max fan speed gets up to @ stock clocks?

The highest mine has gotten to on auto is 79&#37; at like 93-94C.

I think you might be onto something with the fan profiles being different for different cards. Keys is talking about bumping "up" his fan to 65%, when mine surpasses 65% in about the first 30 seconds of any game.

 

[Keysplayr]

The highest mine has gotten to on auto is 79% at like 93-94C.

I think you might be onto something with the fan profiles being different for different cards. Keys is talking about bumping "up" his fan to 65%, when mine surpasses 65% in about the first 30 seconds of any game.

Strange idea, but have you ever considered removing that silver side fan? the "120mm fan in a side mounted Lian Li bracket exhausting hot air from the video card."?

Just a thought, but give it a try just for the hell of it. Or just unplug it. Sometimes turbulence from nearby fans can interfere with the amount of air the vid card fan wants to take in. Even when a fan is designed to remove air.
I know it sounds nuts and may not amount to anything, but can't hurt to give it a try.

 

[tviceman]

Hmmmm... thanks everyone for all the help with the fan noise. And it's good to see some gtx470 overclocked results.

 

[BD231]

Unless the dual 6 pins and/or power efficiency of the lower bin hold it back.

Less rops and stream processors.

 

[cbn]

Less rops and stream processors.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2977/...-gtx-470-6-months-late-was-it-worth-the-wait-

Yep, it appears the decrease in ROPs is far greater than the decrease in CUDA cores (when comparing 470 GTX to 480 GTX).

How will this affect 470 GTX scalability?

Could impede any attempt by MSI (or others) to make a "Lightning" version of 470 GTX that scales linearly with increasing core speed?

 

[nitromullet]

Strange idea, but have you ever considered removing that silver side fan? the "120mm fan in a side mounted Lian Li bracket exhausting hot air from the video card."?

I might have to give that a shot, although I've been running Lian Li cases with the side fan for years with a number of different cards from both ATI and NV and the temps have always been better with the fan than without.

I just placed an order for an EK water block, but it has to come from Slovenia (where EK is located). Given the massive issues with transportation in Europe due to the volcano I imagine I'll have some time to play with the air cooler.

 

[SHAQ]

Don't use auto fan. Get Afterburner and set a custom fan profile. You can have 8 different nodes and Afterburner will take care of it automatically. It even continuously varies the fan speed instead of 8 discrete speeds. Beta 5 was out last night.

 

[ashishmishra]

Don't use auto fan. Get Afterburner and set a custom fan profile. You can have 8 different nodes and Afterburner will take care of it automatically. It even continuously varies the fan speed instead of 8 discrete speeds. Beta 5 was out last night.

Thanks for the tip, I was going to wait for nibitor to support GTX400 series, but this should do the trick. Also do you get a UAC prompt on Windows start-up in Afterburner just like EVGA Precision?

 

[Janooo]

The highest mine has gotten to on auto is 79% at like 93-94C.

I think you might be onto something with the fan profiles being different for different cards. Keys is talking about bumping "up" his fan to 65%, when mine surpasses 65% in about the first 30 seconds of any game.

The coolers are different so do these cards have the same fan?

 

[nitromullet]

Don't use auto fan. Get Afterburner and set a custom fan profile. You can have 8 different nodes and Afterburner will take care of it automatically. It even continuously varies the fan speed instead of 8 discrete speeds. Beta 5 was out last night.

Yeah, that's what I use. I don't actually ever set it to run 100% all the time.

Thanks for the tip on Beta 5. Gonna grab that when I get home.

 

[buckshot24]

I couldn't imagine running my 5850 fan on 100%, it is ridiculously loud at that point. Keys, how loud is your gtx 480 and is it a realistic setting to run your computer at? I suppose if you game with headphones it doesn't matter.

 

[nitromullet]

I gave Afterburner 1.6.0 Beta 5 a shot, and my results with a volt tweak are almost identical to guru3D's... http://www.guru3d.com/article/overclocking-geforce-gtx-470-with-extra-gpu-voltage/2

Max I can get is 775/1550/1700. She runs hot though (94C)... For now, I'm sitting on stock volts/fan and 650/1300/1700. I'll have to re-visit voltages when my water block gets here.

 

[Shmee]

hmm, this thread seems to be making me a bit more happy with the fermi cards after all! I am still unsure what my upgrade path will look like, but I may go with a 480 or 2 after all. I was originally waiting for the 5870's to drop in price, kinda waited too long. My bad.

So far these results seem somewhat promising. I currently have a GTX 260, which i sometimes run at 100 fan when OCing to play more demanding games. I game with headset btw. My question is, how does a 5870 or 470/480 at max fan compare to that of the 260? Honestly, I am not so much worried about noise, but rather OC margins.

I suppose I could always get water blocks for the cards. Would the rad that came with my danger den kit be enough to handle the heat from an OCed 980x and 1 or 2 oced 480's? Or would I want to add more rads to my loop? I suppose this is more of a Question for the case/cooling forum

 

[Keysplayr]

Video of Danger Dens GTX480 water block.
http://www.dangerden.com/New-Products/gtx480-update-4.html

Furmark 51C
Unigine 46C
MSI afterburner 51C

The guy in the video stated that he was using an older radiator and a fairly weak pump, but you can get the idea. I'm a bit tempted to go water cooling, but I change out cards so frequently that I can see a big hassle for me, and the expense of a water block unique to each video card. Yikes!

Anyway, enjoy.

 

[ashishmishra]

Thanks Shaq for the tip on MSI Afterburner. Created a nice custom fan curve for my GTX 470. Check out this first OC I tried with the voltage tweak, temps are not bad as well:

One experience I mirror with Guru 3D is that the memory doesn't like to be OCed so I am planning to leave that alone. I'll check that OC in games and see how it does.

Initial Volt Tweaked OC: 800/1600/1675
Idle Temp: 42C
Max Temp and Fan Speed: 89C @ 79%
(after I finished tweaking my fan profile, while I was tweaking the max I saw at the above settings was 91C)
32min MSI Kombustor Stable

 

[nitromullet]

Thanks Shaq for the tip on MSI Afterburner. Created a nice custom fan curve for my GTX 470. Check out this first OC I tried with the voltage tweak, temps are not bad as well:

One experience I mirror with Guru 3D is that the memory doesn't like to be OCed so I am planning to leave that alone. I'll check that OC in games and see how it does.

Initial Volt Tweaked OC: 800/1600/1675
Idle Temp: 42C
Max Temp and Fan Speed: 89C @ 79%
(after I finished tweaking my fan profile, while I was tweaking the max I saw at the above settings was 91C)
32min MSI Kombustor Stable

Nice. Mine is a dog on the RAM as well. I guess that extra $150 for the 480 isn't for nothing.

edit: weren't you getting more out of your RAM before the volt mod? (1675 vs 1700?)