eVGA GTX 260 (216SP) overclocking expectations

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MaxTheLimit

Limp Gawd
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Sep 18, 2007
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I'm ordering an eVGA GTX 260 (with 216SP). The model I'm getting is the lower stock clocks. Specifically the 896-P3-1265-AR with the core speed of 576MHz, and the memory speed of 1.99GHz. I went with this because I wasn't going to pay extra for an out of the box overclocked card, when I was just going to overclock the card myself.

What I was looking for was a bit of a collaboration of folks that have these cards, and have done some overclocking. I would like to know what some reasonable goals for clock speed for memory and core. I know results vary, and I don't plant to push to the bleeding edge, but I would like to get a ballpark for overclocking expectations.

Any posts would be helpful. Just let me know if you are using the original, or the re-releas with the extra shader processors.
 
I'm not certain I should take too much from the GTX 280 as a comparison, but what did you get for the memory and shader clocks?
 
I got mine running comfortably at 729/1458/1230. I have the exact same card...the vanilla EVGA GTX 260 216.
 
I got a vanilla Core 216 also. I run it 710 / 1410 / 1180. I saw some corrupted pixels I didn't like at 1440 shaders...so I dialed all the settings back.
 
Starting to get a general idea as to what the limits of these cards are. Seems like the shader max is around 1400 or just over, with some being lucky to get a bit more?

seems like just over 700 for the core, with the possibility to get over 730.

around 1200 for the memory.

Might set a goal of 720/1420/1230 as a goal, then dial it back as needed. Unless someone has got some information about some potential on any clocks that could go any real amount higher. Has anyone tried Just memory, or core overclock so see how far they go alone?
 
I noticed something with rivatuner that if you set the shaders at 1450 the highest you can set the core clock is 725. So if you you up the shaders to 1500 the highest you could go would be 750. It's like the limit is half the shader clock. I thought that was kind of weird.
 
Yeah that is right. The core clock can't be more than 1/2 the shader clock. That is why mine is set to 729 MHz...my shader clock is set 1458 MHz. If the software you are using allows you to set the core higher than 1/2 the shader clock you will see the core clock actually plummet to around 300MHz or so.

Another thing is the shader clock is locked to certain frequency "bands." For example, Ogilvy said that his is stable at 1410 MHz, but not at 1440 MHz. If you put those into your overclocking software (I am using EVGA Precision) you see that setting to 1410 MHz actually runs the shader at 1404 MHz and setting to 1440 MHz actually runs the shader at 1458 MHz. If you set the shader clock between 1378 and 1431 the shaders run at 1404 MHz. Go between 1432 and 1485 and the shaders set to 1458MHz. The next shader clock band is 1512 MHz. So that clock basically goes in in 54 MHz jumps.
 
aznative said:
Yeah that is right. The core clock can't be more than 1/2 the shader clock. That is why mine is set to 729 MHz...my shader clock is set 1458 MHz. If the software you are using allows you to set the core higher than 1/2 the shader clock you will see the core clock actually plummet to around 300MHz or so.

Another thing is the shader clock is locked to certain frequency "bands." For example, Ogilvy said that his is stable at 1410 MHz, but not at 1440 MHz. If you put those into your overclocking software (I am using EVGA Precision) you see that setting to 1410 MHz actually runs the shader at 1404 MHz and setting to 1440 MHz actually runs the shader at 1458 MHz. If you set the shader clock between 1378 and 1431 the shaders run at 1404 MHz. Go between 1432 and 1485 and the shaders set to 1458MHz. The next shader clock band is 1512 MHz. So that clock basically goes in in 54 MHz jumps.
Click to expand...


Huh...I did not know that. :confused:

You are correct, sir. :)
 
aznative said:
Yeah that is right. The core clock can't be more than 1/2 the shader clock. That is why mine is set to 729 MHz...my shader clock is set 1458 MHz. If the software you are using allows you to set the core higher than 1/2 the shader clock you will see the core clock actually plummet to around 300MHz or so.

Another thing is the shader clock is locked to certain frequency "bands." For example, Ogilvy said that his is stable at 1410 MHz, but not at 1440 MHz. If you put those into your overclocking software (I am using EVGA Precision) you see that setting to 1410 MHz actually runs the shader at 1404 MHz and setting to 1440 MHz actually runs the shader at 1458 MHz. If you set the shader clock between 1378 and 1431 the shaders run at 1404 MHz. Go between 1432 and 1485 and the shaders set to 1458MHz. The next shader clock band is 1512 MHz. So that clock basically goes in in 54 MHz jumps.
Click to expand...

The same exact thing happens for the core and memory clocks too, although in much smaller jumps. If you're using Rivatuner, open the hardware monitoring window to see what the actual speed of each clock is.
 
Ya I planned on refining by checking the resulting clocks in GPUz for the actual clock speed.

As for the memory versus shader, isn't there an option in riva tuner to have the shader and core speed go up jointly, so as you raise the core for example, the shader goes up to the needed speed also?

Haven't used riva tuner in a while.
 
GPU-Z doesn't give the actual speeds either. Right now in Rivatuner, I have the shaders set to 1397Mhz, which show as 1404Mhz effective in the hardware monitoring screen. Guess what GPU-Z shows? 1397Mhz.

Yes, Rivatuner allows you to keep the core and shaders locked so they rise together.
 
Weird. Seems to do the job with the 8800GT, and the 8800GTS 512. If you change the core clock speed to something weird it will show the actual clock speed in GPUz.

Maybe GPUz needs to be updated eventually or something to read the correct actual clocks. I dunno, I don't have the card yet :p
 
I am running three of them at 735/1507/2400 for benching. For day to day, 666/1404/2214. There is a clock delta. 735 set is really 734 and if I choose 736 it bumps to 756.
 
Well I ordered the card, but I've had to switch to a ZOTAC card because of some confusion with DirectCanada.
 
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