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beep Dec 28, 2016 @ 4:45am

Advice needed! Accidental GPU memory overclock

So just to start off I'm a first time overclocker. As such, I don't have much experience.

This was a silly mistake on my half, I'll step through it:

I was benchmarking when I noticed in Afterburner that my GPU memory clock was half of its advertised clock (at this time I didn't realise that Afterburner divides your memory clock in half). Then I changed the memory clock from +0 to +1000, thinking that it would then utilise the whole card. I clicked apply but before I had the chance to save it to a profile my screen spasmed out. All of a sudden I was panicking and I just sat there for thirty seconds before a hard shutdown (holding the power button).

Since I didn't save the profile in Afterburner, when I restarted everything booted up fine and I ran the benchmark again, now knowing the mistake I had made. Everything seemed OK and there were no artifacts.

My question is could this extreme accidental GPU memory overclock (which lasted around 30 seconds) have damaged my GPU? What are the symptoms? Do you have any suggestions?

Also, when in the benchmark, the card makes quiet whine sounds and as soon as I close the app they stop. I don't know if this was also happening before the accident but I haven't paid attention to it until now.

Hoping for a clear answer!
Cheers

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Showing 1-11 of 11 comments

Elon Mosque Dec 28, 2016 @ 4:53am

GPU should be fine and i think you just noticed that whine because you are paying more attention than ever before. Try some games if you have no problems then it's okay.

Bad 💀 Motha Dec 28, 2016 @ 5:13am

No, to be honest it shouldn't really damage anything at all, especially given the short time involve. Yes the GPU Memory is always x2 so apps might show just the halved # value (compare to what the GPU specs state for Memory Clock)

But yes, in the future, make use of those Profiles for saving any changed values. And for safety reasons, DO NOT select the "Apply OC at OS Startup" option. This way if an OC locks up the whole system, you won't be auto-applying any OC change on next OS startup.

I would recommend setting up MSI Afterburner like this:
http://imgur.com/a/PxgZ3

beep Dec 28, 2016 @ 1:04pm

Thanks for the feedback

I like having Apply OC at System Startup turned on so I don't need to think about it, but if my system locks up can't I just plug my display into my motherboard instead?

Bad 💀 Motha Dec 28, 2016 @ 1:09pm

It is un-safe to use "Apply OC at OS Startup"
If the last applied OC was unstable, then u could run into a boot crashing loop.
There is simply no reason to use it. The GPU is fine on all defaults for OS Desktop usage needs. Then before you launch a game, click a saved Profile in MSI-AB and click Apply. When you are going to be done gaming for a long enough period, click Reset in MSI-AB to re-apply the GPU Defaults.

Don't make changes to GPU settings once a game is running however; that can lead to easier crashes. Some games are simply picky this way and GPU OC changes too drastic can often times be the reason a game engine crashes/locks-up.

beep Dec 28, 2016 @ 9:43pm

Also, do you think it is possible that overclocking memory too high and going through the process I had can cause coil whine? I don't know if it just started after the accident or if I just haven't noticed it before.

beep Dec 28, 2016 @ 10:10pm

My card, ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1070 claims that it negates any coil whine, so I might consider an RMA. What do you think?

Zef Dec 28, 2016 @ 11:21pm

You can use "apply OC at startup", but i'd only advise doing so after you tested your last stable OC for hours, maybe even days in several different games and see wether you get artifacts or not.

Zef Dec 28, 2016 @ 11:23pm

Originally posted by Malloxxo:
My card, ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1070 claims that it negates any coil whine, so I might consider an RMA. What do you think?

Say goodbye to your warranty if you'd OC'd it btw. Or maybe the company you bought it from doesn't care and will accept the RMA.

Elon Mosque Dec 28, 2016 @ 11:42pm

Originally posted by Malloxxo:
My card, ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1070 claims that it negates any coil whine, so I might consider an RMA. What do you think?

If you think the noise is really annoying i think you can possibly replace the GPU with ease.