MSI N580GTX

This card came clocked at 800 MHz out of the box a couple of weeks ago. It's much faster than my old MSI N460GTX Hawk. After running it awhile I bumped the GPU voltage up to 1.1v There's more overhead but I don't plan to go any farther. I started moving my GPU Clock Speed up in 5 MHz increments until about 855 MHZ and in 10 MHz increments above that number. I stopped at 900 MHz mostly because the GPU temp now hits around 70C and I find that to be the high end of my personal comfort range. It leaves me 27C of remaining temp. I can run any project I wish at 900 MHz, even Genefer which warns against overclocking. Other projects are SETI, PrimeGrid, Milkway and Einstein. So I am very happy with my new 580.

I have a question about what I find reported for some work units here. Here's what I found this morning. "# Number of cores" is being reported as 128 but the 580s have 512 cores in them. Is that an erroneous number or is that the number of cores being used? I was running an "MJHARVEY" workunit at the time. Regards, dave


Stderr output

<core_client_version>7.0.25</core_client_version>
<![CDATA[
<stderr_txt>
# Using device 0
# There is 1 device supporting CUDA
# Device 0: "GeForce GTX 580"
# Clock rate: 1.80 GHz
# Total amount of global memory: 1610285056 bytes
# Number of multiprocessors: 16
# Number of cores: 128
MDIO: cannot open file "restart.coor"
# Time per step (avg over 750000 steps): 12.343 ms
# Approximate elapsed time for entire WU: 9257.604 s
called boinc_finish

If you've reached the maximum temperature and therefore clock speed you're comfortable with, but have not reached the stability limit yet, you might push the chip a little further: lower the voltage until you find the edge of stability, then add some safety margin. I guess you're already close.. but if you can lower the voltage significantly, you'll safe on electricity cost and lower temperatures. Which in turn might allow you to choose a higher voltage (below 1.10 V) and slightly higher clock speed.

Never mind that number of cores, it means nothing. It's meant for information purpose only, but is still based on the first CUDA capable GPUs, which used 8 Shaders per multiprocessor. This number has gone up over time and has reached 192 on Kepler.

MrS

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Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002

I flashed the BIOS on one of my 570s that was really hot ~82C. The fan will now go to 100% and this keeps the card in the 70s. I also added a couple of fans to help push air to the fan but it looks like a job for a new blower and some case modifications :-).

The BIOS flash is simple and takes about 2 min. to complete. If you have EVGA cards and they are running hot, use this new BIOS and open up the fans. The amount of cooling at 90% of the fan is far more than at 85%.

Keep Crunching!

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Thx - Paul

Note: Please don't use driver version 295 or 296! Recommended versions are 266 - 285.

GTX 670 w/ 301.42
Core@ 1249, Memory@ 3206

Win7 x64, BOINC 7.0.25, i7-920 @4.317

This card has completed 7 WUs across 3 different types so I think it's good.

IBUCH_5_affTRYP, MJHARVEY_MJHXA1, PAOLA_3EKO

When I have some more time I'll push it a bit harder but for now it is running smooth and cool (fan at 75% temp@50c).

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Thanks - Steve

GTX 670 w/ 301.42
Core@ 1249, Memory@ 3206

Win7 x64, BOINC 7.0.25, i7-920 @4.317

This card has completed 7 WUs across 3 different types so I think it's good.

IBUCH_5_affTRYP, MJHARVEY_MJHXA1, PAOLA_3EKO

When I have some more time I'll push it a bit harder but for now it is running smooth and cool (fan at 75% temp@50c).

Interesting how 6X0 cards are different in that you can not force a clock setting, you can only set what you would "like" it to be. This usually works just fine under load... and that's the big key ... under load. GPUGrid tasks typically load the GPU sufficiently so the GPU figures it should run full throttle but the load from the IBUCH_5_affTRYP WUs is so low the GPU sees no need to run full throttle and slows down to core@1032 ... 24% reduction ... whine whine whine ...

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Thanks - Steve

Reporting in that on my GTX670 (301.42) w/OC of Core@ 1249, Memory@ 3206, BOINC 7.0.25, Win7x64 box I have been successfully running the new Long WUs (cuda 4.2) all day. Utilization is higher, power usage is up, WUs run very fast = big points for me and lots of nice results for the project!

3 NATHAN_RPS average a bit under 4 hours compared to my GTX480 @1556 shaders on cuda 3.1 app which was closer to 8 hrs. While I realize some of the improvement is the hardware and some is the new app (great job GPUGrid) ... seeing a 2x improvement makes me a happy guy.

Just for a laugh I looked the NATHAN 3.1 WUs on my GTX295 and those were almost 16 hrs :-)

So I guess I'm lucky that all my cards have plenty of stable OC headroom but that's why I buy good solid cards :-)

In the future I won't go dual GPU again (too hard to keep cool, fans must always be at 100%)
I probably won't go reference design either (not as tough as dual but can still be a challenge to cool)

What works for me is to research the card I am OCing to learn it's general characteristics and then figure which WUs at the time push our GPUs the most. Then I crank up the voltage until I can't keep the keep temps roughly at 75c or lower. Next comes upping the clocks as appropriate for the GPU model. Once I reach the OC limit I start stepping down the voltage until I find the sweet spot for the card I am working with!

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Thanks - Steve