Overclocking the Strix GTX 1080

[Azazl187]

If you look at the specifications sheet, the Strix GTX 1080 OC model has an official GPU boost of 1936 MHz. So stability is guaranteed up until that point. Any extra megahertz that you manage to squeeze out of the graphics card is considered overclocking. Your sample doesn't seem to be stable at 2050MHz at higher resolutions. What you can do is downclock the GPU Clock to maybe around 2000MHz - 2025MHz to find your stable frequency.

That doesn't really make sense though does it. Why would the card advertise having an oc mode that it cannot run. What is the limiting factor here? It cant be the mhz as it runs the higher clocks fine at a lower res. If I know why it's crashing at higher loads I can attempt to do something about it

[Chino]

That doesn't really make sense though does it. Why would the card advertise having an oc mode that it cannot run.

As far as ASUS is concerned, OC Mode implies running at 1936MHz. In your case, the graphics card runs absolutely fine at that frequency.

What is the limiting factor here?

Luck of the draw. Each GPU is unique. Some overclocks better than others.

[Nate152]

Hi Azaz1187

If you haven't already you could try increasing the voltage to 100%.

On my ROG Strix 1070 it only adds another .03v which is hardly anything, I'm not sure what the max voltage for the ROG Strix 1080 is but it barely affects temps and might let you hit 2100MHz+.

If you try it let us know how it goes.

[Azazl187]

Hi Azaz1187

If you haven't already you could try increasing the voltage to 100%.

On my ROG Strix 1070 it only adds another .03v which is hardly anything, I'm not sure what the max voltage for the ROG Strix 1080 is but it barely affects temps and might let you hit 2100MHz+.

If you try it let us know how it goes.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have switched over to MSI afterburner as it seems like a much more stable overclocker. The card doesnt seem to care whether i adjust the slider to +100% or not really, the power delivery to the chip is always between 1.040v - 1.062v. All i have to do is slide up the power limit to 120% and the temp limit to 92 and the GPU boost seems to do the rest. The issue i have here is it boosts upto 2062 and then starts decreasing as the temps rise. When the card gets upto around 70 degrees the clock speed drops to 2000mhz. During one benchmark set at the extreme pre-set and 4k resolution the driver crashes about 3 or 4 times, each time it crashes the screen goes black and then comes back saying the driver has recovered.

This is with 0mhz overclock on the GPU main chip and +500 on the memory which seems fine. Im pretty sure i have a problem somewhere as the drivers should not be crashing when the card is set like this and just GPU boost is in charge of the over clocking

[Chino]

Just to discard it being a software issue, I would do a fresh Windows installation. Do not install any Windows updates or other programs. Just install the necessary drivers for the motherboard and NVIDIA driver. Clear your CMOS to bring your system back at stock defaults as well and test your graphics card.

[Azazl187]

Just to discard it being a software issue, I would do a fresh Windows installation. Do not install any Windows updates or other programs. Just install the necessary drivers for the motherboard and NVIDIA driver. Clear your CMOS to bring your system back at stock defaults as well and test your graphics card.

You have to be kidding me..... You want me to reinstall a complete copy of my operating system to test that the drivers or my card are stable? Am i the only person that thinks that reinstalling the OP from the beginning is a bit extreme? It takes years to gather programs and personalise your windows installation and i have to delete all of that just to test a potentially faulty GPU? Would you?

FYI 3D mark 11 and the newest Time Spy one crash as well. Ill reset the CMOS anyway tonight and see what happens but the only thing different from default is the Genie OC mode on my MSI Mobo. The problem i am having is the drivers crashing and i fail to see how reinstalling windows could resolve that, no offence. I also have OCD issues with my PC and keep it extremely well tidy on the HDDs ensuring no rouge software is installed or kept if needed.

[Arne Saknussemm]

Nice guide Chino!

One thing...isn't the granularity on Nvidia cards still 13 for steps of core clock. If so maybe adding steps of 1 or even 5 when fine tuning is going to test patience for nothing... or has that changed?

+500 on the memory which seems fine.

This makes little sense to me...

Does the driver crash when the card at stock? If so does it stabilise when underclocking? If so RMA it.

+500 on the memory may easily introduce instability...not all these cards will OC the same.

Maybe use DDU to remove all things Nvidia and reinstall Latest Driver?

[protos]

I finally figured out the MSI afterburner, just for kicks I set my non OC GTX 1080 to I can't remember how much percentage but it was around 2200+Mghz.
Temps around 61C-65C, fans were full ball(really loud), I've got it on an aggressive custom fan curve. Ran it for about 5 minutes while gaming, worked well. I got it now on normal no OC as my gpu is powerful as it is.
Comparing from the stock asus gaming mode to the MSI OC I got a 100 FPS increase(vsync disabled on my game). I just wanted to see what this gpu can do. Thank you Asus for making an awesome gpu, only downside is your software department needs improvement, also the gpu
is slightly on the long side. Loving the GTX 1080 so much that i've decided to get a GTX 1070 for my backup pc, but the strix is too long and it wont fit in the case.
I might try an MSI as they tend to be smaller in length, hope they perform just as good as my asus.
I really wish Asus had an MSI afterburner alternative.

PS. I'm using the latest Nvidia driver from nvidia, which could probably enhanced the performance a bit, I'm not sure why asus hasn't updated their drivers on the asus website???

I just noticed there's an Asus Dual GTX 1070. I might get that instead of the MSI. I hope it performs well like my asus strix 1080.

[cljustin@ROG]

Generally, how many times should i run the bench mark to see if my GPU Clock is stable? I noticed although it has passed bench marks, when i play actual games i'll get a black screen

[Chino]

Generally, how many times should i run the bench mark to see if my GPU Clock is stable? I noticed although it has passed bench marks, when i play actual games i'll get a black screen

Depends on you. Some users test for a few minutes while others test for hours. The Heaven test will loop infinitely until you stop it.