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Race Your PC Thread2 of Voiding Warranties

Damn... now I need a GTX 680 too. I think I can hit 11-12k 3dmark11 points on just one 680.

Most I got with the ref/stock cooler was 10215, but that was with a i7 950 @ 4ghz, so I'm sure it's possible to push it a bit further with the newer i7's. 11.5k is a fair estimate.

It OC's pretty damn nicely as is although there's a bit of a learning curve to it. Waiting on aftermarket coolers to push the OC further.

I guess my score can be updated too. No more GTX 590 for me, so I'm off the dual card list, but only gain one spot on the overall list lol. Whatever, I'm just glad to be rid of SLI microstutter and such.
Thanks for keeping the thread updated, mkenyon!

EDIT: Score removed, updated.
 
In honor of Sk3tch's ridiculousness, and Scogoth's excellent OC run, I have updated the ladders.

Fuckers knocked my second rig out of the top 25, and took #1 AMD Single away from me. I guess time for my 7970 waterblock has arrived.
You didn't add my score >:O

The AMD single card title belongs to meh.
 

scogoth

Member
What about factory OC models and such?

Nvidias bios is programmed by the drivers so even if you did manage to change the base clocks they would be reset when you load up drivers. So unless a board maker circumvents the drivers or power control board then I don't see how its possible. Makes me curious for things like the EVGA Superclocked cards. I assume they will be binned for lower voltage requirements and have a default offset.

Edit: techpowerup has the best explanation on GPU boost
 

sk3tch

Member
Damn... now I need a GTX 680 too. I think I can hit 11-12k 3dmark11 points on just one 680.

Yeah, the SLI scaling on the GTX 680s is a bit whack right now. Drivers should improve it. I couldn't even max out Crysis 2 (60 FPS solid) at 5760x1080 (with hi-rez textures and DX11 enabled) with tri-SLI 680s...definitely some room for tweaking there.
 

scogoth

Member
Yeah, the SLI scaling on the GTX 680s is a bit whack right now. Drivers should improve it. I couldn't even max out Crysis 2 (60 FPS solid) at 5760x1080 (with hi-rez textures and DX11 enabled) with tri-SLI 680s...definitely some room for tweaking there.

I read the tri SLI scaling is whack sometimes being beaten by 2-way SLI. Definitely needs some driver love. Oddly enough 4way SLI scaling seems to be fine. You know what you must do!
 
I read the tri SLI scaling is whack sometimes being beaten by 2-way SLI. Definitely needs some driver love. Oddly enough 4way SLI scaling seems to be fine. You know what you must do!

Harder to scale an odd number of cards over an even number of cards. It's gonna be funny when the GTX 690 in SLI is raping 3-way and 4-way 680's. :O
 

sk3tch

Member
Harder to scale an odd number of cards over an even number of cards. It's gonna be funny when the GTX 690 in SLI is raping 3-way and 4-way 680's. :O

Not sure what will be funny about it? Newest card is much faster than older cards? Whoa! :)

Don't worry, I'll be swapping these bad boys out for the hottest shiz as they drop. :)
 

scogoth

Member
Not sure what will be funny about it? Newest card is much faster than older cards? Whoa! :)

Don't worry, I'll be swapping these bad boys out for the hottest shiz as they drop. :)

You got some competition. Smokey and I are both going for triple 3d monitors and the hardware to back it. We'll see who ends up number one after at the end of ivy bridge launch.
 

sk3tch

Member
You got some competition. Smokey and I are both going for triple 3d monitors and the hardware to back it. We'll see who ends up number one after at the end of ivy bridge launch.

Nice! You guys going 580 3GB or 680s? It's sad how hard Nvidia brought it. They're the only vendor I will trust with multi-GPU. After my 6970 CFX experience...never again AMD! Hell, even my single 7970 has problems because I'm using HDMI, DVI-D, and DisplayPort > DVI so I get that flicker problem due to mixing connection types.
 

scogoth

Member
Nice! You guys going 580 3GB or 680s? It's sad how hard Nvidia brought it. They're the only vendor I will trust with multi-GPU. After my 6970 CFX experience...never again AMD! Hell, even my single 7970 has problems because I'm using HDMI, DVI-D, and DisplayPort > DVI so I get that flicker problem due to mixing connection types.

680s 4GB when they come out with IB
 

Smokey

Member
680s 4GB when they come out with IB

:fap

Nice! You guys going 580 3GB or 680s? It's sad how hard Nvidia brought it. They're the only vendor I will trust with multi-GPU. After my 6970 CFX experience...never again AMD! Hell, even my single 7970 has problems because I'm using HDMI, DVI-D, and DisplayPort > DVI so I get that flicker problem due to mixing connection types.

I'm most likely going to stick with my SLI 580 3GB's. Doesn't make sense (in my mind) to go down to 2GB RAM. Now when the 4GB 680s hit....

edit: I'm number 7 on "The Ladder" now? Sliding. fuck fuuuuuuuuuuuuu
 

sk3tch

Member
680s 4GB when they come out with IB

That'll be sick. SLI? We'll see who can out-OC eachother. That extra 2GB won't do much for this competition (as you can see from the ladder....my 1.5GB 580s were close to Smokey's 3GB 580s. :))

If they have reference-style PCBs I'd be in. So far I've only seen ones with one to three fans blowing hot air into the case. Fine for single or SLI...but not for tri-SLI. :(

I'm most likely going to stick with my SLI 580 3GB's. Doesn't make sense (in my mind) to go down to 2GB RAM. Now when the 4GB 680s hit....

edit: I'm number 7 on "The Ladder" now? Sliding. fuck fuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Yeah, I was almost tempted to stick with my 570 SLI but they were only the 1.25GB ones. 580 3GB...sick cards. I always wanted those Lightnings but they wouldn't fit in my case. Now I have the NZXT Switch 810 so I can fit 15-16" cards in LOL.

 

scogoth

Member
That'll be sick. SLI? We'll see who can out-OC eachother. That extra 2GB won't do much for this competition (as you can see from the ladder....my 1.5GB 580s were close to Smokey's 3GB 580s. :))

If they have reference-style PCBs I'd be in. So far I've only seen ones with one to three fans blowing hot air into the case. Fine for single or SLI...but not for tri-SLI. :(

SLI with EVGA hydrocopper, i don't trust myself putting on aftermarket waterblocks. It'll be interesting to see how close I can get them to TriSLI performance.
 

Xavien

Member
Not Sure how i can follow sk3tch's ridiculous post but what the hell:

P9688 - 2x GTX 580 SLI - 800/1600/stock - i7 860 @ 3.57GHz - 8GB @ 1700MHz - Biostar Tpower I55 - Xavien - Custom Water Loop - link

My CPU is preventing me from reaching higher scores but I'm not CPU bound at 1920x1200 so whatever :p I also haven't even bothered overclocking the 580's in any real way.

SLI with EVGA hydrocopper, i don't trust myself putting on aftermarket waterblocks. It'll be interesting to see how close I can get them to TriSLI performance.

Aftermarket GPU blocks are pretty easy to install tbh, mostly a matter of unscrewing the old, applying thermal tape to the right areas (aftermarket blocks come with a manual telling you where), bit of thermal paste on the GPU and just screw it all back together.
 

sk3tch

Member
SLI with EVGA hydrocopper, i don't trust myself putting on aftermarket waterblocks. It'll be interesting to see how close I can get them to TriSLI performance.

Don't you have to install a pump/etc. with those? What's required to get them up and running? I was under the impression that you had to supply all the cables, etc. - it just has the connectors to put the cooling in...
 

scogoth

Member
Not Sure how i can follow sk3tch's ridiculous post but what the hell:

P9688 - 2x GTX 580 SLI - 800/1600/stock - i7 860 @ 3.57GHz - 8GB @ 1700MHz - Biostar Tpower I55 - Xavien - Custom Water Loop - link

My CPU is preventing me from reaching higher scores but I'm not CPU bound at 1920x1200 so whatever :p I also haven't even bothered overclocking the 580's in any real way.



Aftermarket GPU blocks are pretty easy to install tbh, mostly a matter of unscrewing the old, applying thermal tape to the right areas (aftermarket blocks come with a manual telling you where), bit of thermal paste on the GPU and just screw it all back together.

And losing warranty. I'll stick with the factory wc cards just for that. And you can push your comp way more, my SLI 470s put up a better score.


Don't you have to install a pump/etc. with those? What's required to get them up and running? I was under the impression that you had to supply all the cables, etc. - it just has the connectors to put the cooling in...

Yes you need to do a full custom loop setup but I just like the comfort of know the paste and block were applied properly and its under warranty should anything go wrong.
 

sk3tch

Member
Yes you need to do a full custom loop setup but I just like the comfort of know the paste and block were applied properly and its under warranty should anything go wrong.

Cool. Where would one go to learn about this stuff? Keep in mind, you are educating your competition. ;)
 

mkenyon

Banned
So, i'm doing something that could be easily construed as stupid. Part of it is to help a buddy out, and part is to have at least one card with displayport for the interim (need it for monitor).

So, getting rid of 7970, getting a 580 Lightning Extreme and 2 Classified 580s.

I wonder if you can SLI them together.

Will update the people I missed tonight!
 
So, i'm doing something that could be easily construed as stupid. Part of it is to help a buddy out, and part is to have at least one card with displayport for the interim (need it for monitor).

So, getting rid of 7970, getting a 580 Lightning Extreme and 2 Classified 580s.

I wonder if you can SLI them together.

Will update the people I missed tonight!

Dumb!

But yes, you can SLI them together. Even if they have different amounts of VRAM.
 

Mystery

Member
My Danger Den Double Wide 21 (replacing Corsair Obsidian 800D) is in the mail, and I'm just patiently waiting for the Hydro Copper GTX 680s (replacing SLI GTX 480 HC) to come out, so I can purchase 3 of them.

Plans for my loop are 3 360 rads to cool the GPUs, and a single 360 rad for my CPU/chipset. Right now I'm only using one 360 rad in a single loop with some things downclocked, but I get great temps passively cooled. Looking forward to going back to dual loop, though.

Should be able to easily take first place tri-sli in a few weeks.
 

sk3tch

Member
My Danger Den Double Wide 21 (replacing Corsair Obsidian 800D) is in the mail, and I'm just patiently waiting for the Hydro Copper GTX 680s (replacing SLI GTX 480 HC) to come out, so I can purchase 3 of them.

Plans for my loop are 3 360 rads to cool the GPUs, and a single 360 rad for my CPU/chipset. Right now I'm only using one 360 rad in a single loop with some things downclocked, but I get great temps passively cooled. Looking forward to going back to dual loop, though.

Should be able to easily take first place tri-sli in a few weeks.

Sick! http://www.dangerden.com/store/dd-double-wide-tower-21-black-series-edition.html

Damn...
 
Interesting, the GPU Boost for the 680 seems to have a strong reliance on fan speed as well. Seems the fan speed must be faster than the temperature (70%>69 degrees, etc.) or else it'll downclock, and when benching, that usually leads to a crash. Maintaining a max fan speed allowed me to overclock much further than I had posted a few days ago:

P10462 - EVGA GTX 680 - 132%/+160/+560 - i7 950 @ 4.0ghz - 12GB @ 1600 - ASUS Rampage Formula III - Revolutionary - Air - Link

Now, to create a nice fan curve. :) Can't wait for the aftermarket coolers to come out for this baby.
 

scogoth

Member
Interesting, the GPU Boost for the 680 seems to have a strong reliance on fan speed as well. Seems the fan speed must be faster than the temperature (70%>69 degrees, etc.) or else it'll downclock, and when benching, that usually leads to a crash. Maintaining a max fan speed allowed me to overclock much further than I had posted a few days ago:

P10462 - EVGA GTX 680 - 132%/+160/+560 - i7 950 @ 4.0ghz - 12GB @ 1600 - ASUS Rampage Formula III - Revolutionary - Air - Link

Now, to create a nice fan curve. :) Can't wait for the aftermarket coolers to come out for this baby.

Not exactly. GPU boost will try to go to max frequency below 70C. The faster the fan though the more it can keep the card below 70C. It steps the frequency down every 5C over 70C
 
We need a way to modify it so that limit goes from 70C to 90C. It's such bullshit to have to work around that limit. I don't mind letting my card hit 80-85c if it means 1.3-1.4 Ghz core clocks on air.
 
Not exactly. GPU boost will try to go to max frequency below 70C. The faster the fan though the more it can keep the card below 70C. It steps the frequency down every 5C over 70C

Ah! I noticed that the threshold was 70c but I thought it was in direct relation to the fan speed. Thanks man. Have you tried an OC Tri-SLI run yet?
 
If I had three 680s then I would. Sadly I am not sketch

iwaqm1kJtVCaP.jpeg





Still looking for dat 4th GTX 680
 

sk3tch

Member
We need a way to modify it so that limit goes from 70C to 90C. It's such bullshit to have to work around that limit. I don't mind letting my card hit 80-85c if it means 1.3-1.4 Ghz core clocks on air.

80-85C? Shit. 90C ain't a thing. Especially for the tri-SLI sandwich and air. Heh. I haven't even OC'd AT ALL...but after a round of BF3 these puppies are at 89C/87C/79C for their max.

Yup...still having that 4th 680 elude me. I went home from work about 30 min before they dropped on NewEgg. I was F5'in and running a script all day to check, too.
 
80-85C? Shit. 90C ain't a thing. Especially for the tri-SLI sandwich and air. Heh. I haven't even OC'd AT ALL...but after a round of BF3 these puppies are at 89C/87C/79C for their max.

Yup...still having that 4th 680 elude me. I went home from work about 30 min before they dropped on NewEgg. I was F5'in and running a script all day to check, too.

I got one on order @ Amazon if you want to take over the order. I put a hold on it. I decided not to pick it up because...
 
I fucking figured out how to run SLI on my non-SLI, Crossfire-only Asus P8Z68 V LX. That's right, this thing only OFFICIALLY does Crossfire.

But thanks to the Russians, there's a hack that allows SLI on Crossfire only mobos. Fucking GENIUS. So I popped in that 2nd 2.5 GB GTX 570 after patching, rebooted twice and... HELLO SLI!!!!!!!...well, hello potential SLI. It shows up in my NV Control Panel which confirms it's working...

BUT NVIDIA WON'T ALLOW ME TO ENABLE IT WITHOUT AN SLI BRIDGE. GD IT. Bitches. So I found an old SLI bridge from '07-08ish... too short. Won't fit. Gotta go try to find one tomorrow.

So close... yet so far.
 

sk3tch

Member
I got one on order @ Amazon if you want to take over the order. I put a hold on it. I decided not to pick it up because...

I appreciate it but that's a Gigabyte, right? I know they're all the same reference boards, but I want to have 4 EVGAs if I'm going 4. That difference will bug me until the end of my days if I dont. :) Thanks though, man.
 

mkenyon

Banned
How'd it go, mkenyon? I love those 580 Classifieds and Lightnings...should be fun OC-wise.
I just got a $4700 vet bill.

I'm actually going to keep it in my desk. So, when that Cosmos/Switch810/Shinobi, rads, and multiple 680 classified hydro coppers appear in a box, my wife can't give me shit.
 
I just got a $4700 vet bill.

I'm actually going to keep it in my desk. So, when that Cosmos/Switch810/Shinobi, rads, and multiple 680 classified hydro coppers appear in a box, my wife can't give me shit.

Fuck vet bills. My mom borrowed $5k from me to save her 28 year old horse's life, he ended up dying a couple of years later. That was 6-7 years ago. Still waiting for that $5k. Should get it back in a couple of months.

Also, GOOD NEWS! I found a guy on Craigslist 5 mins away. He sold me a brand new SLI bridge... put it on... AND IT WORKS!!!!! Benchmark/gaming time!!!!
 

scogoth

Member
I just got a $4700 vet bill.

I'm actually going to keep it in my desk. So, when that Cosmos/Switch810/Shinobi, rads, and multiple 680 classified hydro coppers appear in a box, my wife can't give me shit.

Just once I wanted to top the gaf pc ladder, first sketch, now you and smokey will probably break down and upgrade. Guess birthday this year will be begging for more money.
 

Smokey

Member
Fuck vet bills. My mom borrowed $5k from me to save her 28 year old horse's life, he ended up dying a couple of years later. That was 6-7 years ago. Still waiting for that $5k. Should get it back in a couple of months.

Also, GOOD NEWS! I found a guy on Craigslist 5 mins away. He sold me a brand new SLI bridge... put it on... AND IT WORKS!!!!! Benchmark/gaming time!!!!

For some reason I am anxiously awaiting your results :p oh lawd thank da russians

scogoth said:
Just once I wanted to top the gaf pc ladder, first sketch, now you and smokey will probably break down and upgrade. Guess birthday this year will be begging for more money.

i feel someone must step up to challenge sk3tch...stepping up means going ALL THE WAY IN with him though lol
 
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