GTX 1070 red squares after increasing GPU Clock (no VRAM OC)

[Rick11]

Hello,

I have overclocked my new GTX1070 Strix (GPU Clock only) and get from a certain value single, very sporadically flashing, red squares (about 10 cm tall on a 55 "TV) in Project Cars 2.

However, I only play Project Cars 2 & Far Cry 3.

As I increase the GPU clock, the frequency of the red squares increases.

So far, I have had a different 1070 Strix and a 2070 Strix in this computer, both of which crashed when I reached a certain OC value without these squares.

As I said OC only affects GPU Clock and not VRAM.

Actually, you always read that only VRAM OC can produce artifacts.

Should I see in it now an indication that the VRAM of the new card is broken, or can the GPU clock alone (without VRAM problem) be responsible?

[Nate152]

Hi Rick11

Most of the time artifacting can be from too high of a Vram overclock but in certain games can be caused by the Core clock too. Try backing off your overclock a notch or two.

You can check out the Strix 1070 overclocking guide and see where you stand with your overclock. - https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?86398-Strix-GTX-1070-Overclocking-Guide

Post us a screenshot of your max stable overclock.

[Rick11]

Hi Nate152,
thank you for your answer.

I already put the OC back to 1880 MHz in GPU Tweak 2.
This is the value where I don´t get red squares anymore in Project Cars 2.
I think for a non OC Version of the 1070 Strix, this is a goog Overclocker.
I didn´t increase the voltage, only set the powerlimit to 112%.

My formar 1070 Strix only reached 1835 MHz stable in Project Cars 2 under same conditions.
But it never showed artifacts, so I was concerned that something is wrong with my new card allthough it is a better overclocker...

[Nate152]

I don't think there's anything wrong with your gpu. Try setting the voltage to 100% (it's safe as Nvidia has it capped to 1.093v) and see if this yields you a higher overclock.

Most Strix 1070's can hit 2000+ MHz on the Core clock.

Hitting the power limit and too high of temp will reduce core clock and voltage, try and keep below 70c and see where this lands you.

[Rick11]

The core clock of 1880 MHz (+187) is shown in the GPUTweak 2 settings.
In Games the OSD shows me 1987-2063.
So I´m very satisfied with the result.

[Nate152]

Yeah that's about average and pretty much where mine overclocks to, a select few can hit 2150MHz on the core.

+187MHz overclock is extremely good.

Have you tried the unigine valley benchmark to compare with others in the overclocking guide ?

[Rick11]

This is running with no voltage increase, it could go further but I am concerned that it´s not healthy for the card, seen in the long run.
I´m not a benchmarker, just looking for the best settings for daily use...

[Nate152]

You can probably squeeze a little more out of it with the voltage increased, you won't damage it with Nvidia capping the voltage. But on the other hand if you're happy with where it is that's fine too.

The memory overclocks very well, most can hit 1000+MHz overclock on the memory although there were some with Micron memory that couldn't go quite that far.

[Rick11]

My formar 1070 Strix had Micron Memory. I tried +500 MHz OC of VRAM, but hardly could see a benefit of + 1 FPS.
My actual 1070 Strix has Samsung Memory, seems to be a better overclocker, is cooler and has until now no coil whine, what I like the most 🙂
After my first 1070 and a 2070 had coil whine, I was starting to believe that can´t avoid it nowadays...

[Nate152]

My Strix 1070 has Samsung memory and can hit almost a 1400MHz overclock.

You should see a 10 FPS increase in games with both the core and memory overclocked.