PCIE Frequency

[Crazymilk]

After lot of trial and error I have managed to get my system 24hrs+ prime/memtest stable with all temps etc fine and within my personal limits.

Great I thought mission accomplished:clap:

However.....

When playing my games I find that after anywhere between 10mins and a couple of hours I get crazy artifact with my graphics. ie all messed up graphics/bright colors etc etc.
FYI the card is at stock speeds with the latest driver and temps are fine (I monitored them while playing)

I have listed my specs and settings below:
Asus Maximus Extreme X38
QX9650 @9x450 = 4050 with 1.4vcore (Prime blend 24hrs+ stable)
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair Dominator XMS3 TW3X4G4096-1800C8DF @1.89v 8-8-8-24-2T at rated speed of 1800Mhz.(memtest 24hrs+ stable)
280GTX @ stock
2x 300GB WD velociraptors in RAID0
Galaxy 1000w PSU

CPU PLL 1.6v
NB VOlts 1.63v
SB Auto
LLC Enabled
CPU GTL 0.63x
NB GTL 0.67x
PCIE Frequency 100

My question is regarding the PCIE Freq. As my OC seems 24hrs plus stable with prime and memtest could this setting be the cause of my graphic problems in game.

I know its not the 280GTX itself as I borrowed another 280 which I know is fine and the same thing happened.

Also to note that I dropped everything down to stock and sure enough the Graphical errors seemed to stop.(well at least for an hour while I was playing and beofre it was happening within 30mins)

Would bumping up the PCIE freq to 110 help. I havent tried it yet as I dont really know much about that setting (other than it controls the info from the NB to the PCIE devices) and wanted to get some feedback first.

Thanks guy sand gals

[Solarfall]

well usually when i see graphical errors while im playing around with my cards its cos i've overclocked em and the heat just gets too much for the heatsink to handle..soo that in mind what are your cards temps under load ?? it could be that your card has a bad mount, i had a horrible contact with my 260gtx and i would get exactly the same sort of crashes even at stocks clock while playing games.

[Crazymilk]

I use rivatuner to set the fan at 65% and under max load on the card I reach 72c.

I have tried 2 different 280GTx's. Both I get the same issue.

I have also tried both the cards in different PCIE slots and again the same issue and for good measure I have tried about a dozen different drivers

[REVHEAD]

Try a little more NB volts 1.65 through to 1.71 and see if that helps, if not then you can disscount that factor.

[Crazymilk]

Try a kittle nire NB volts 1.65 throu to 1.71 and see if that helps, if not then you can disscount that factor.


Thanks m8. I have been right up to 1.71v on the NB and still the same

[Solarfall]

I use rivatuner to set the fan at 65% and under max load on the card I reach 72c.

I have tried 2 different 280GTx's. Both I get the same issue.

I have also tried both the cards in different PCIE slots and again the same issue and for good measure I have tried about a dozen different drivers

thats a bit too high temps imo. even when i overclock my card to 780mhz and stress it i never get so high temps with the stock cooler.
check the contact that your card is making with the cooler

[Crazymilk]

thats a bit too high temps imo. even when i overclock my card to 780mhz and stress it i never get so high temps with the stock cooler.
check the contact that your card is making with the cooler


Checking the nvidia spec sheets is says the max temp on the 280GTX's is 105c?????

[SoulsCollective]

Erm...noone's mentioned the 101 fix?

On some boards (usually older boards, but I saw this recently on a Gigabyte P45 board), leaving PCI-E frequency at stock or 100 can sometimes cause problems whereby the frequency doesn't stick to 100 properly but rather latches to the FSB frequency, either completely or more usually partially, such that raising FSB inadvertently raises PCI-E frequency. The fix is as simple as specifying 101MHz rather than 100.

This may or may not be your problem, however, from the described behaviour it's sounding more like an unstable OC or more likely temp issues, but I thought I'd mention it given your thread title.

[Crazymilk]

Erm...noone's mentioned the 101 fix?

On some boards (usually older boards, but I saw this recently on a Gigabyte P45 board), leaving PCI-E frequency at stock or 100 can sometimes cause problems whereby the frequency doesn't stick to 100 properly but rather latches to the FSB frequency, either completely or more usually partially, such that raising FSB inadvertently raises PCI-E frequency. The fix is as simple as specifying 101MHz rather than 100.

This may or may not be your problem, however, from the described behaviour it's sounding more like an unstable OC or more likely temp issues, but I thought I'd mention it given your thread title.

Again thanks I shall see if that helps.

Can I just ask about you unstable OC comment? I thought that as well but, surely if I am 24hrs prime blend and memtest stable with no errors my OC is OK or am I missing soemthing?

Also ragarding the temps issue: I have read around and my 70c on full load seems to be fairly typical with many people on the same temps. Also before I started with the OC I ran the card with the same temps with no worries or issues for hours on end. This along with the fact that when I run eeverytign at stock the issue seems to go away, my gut feeling is this issue is related to the OC soemhow?

[billdavis]

Artifacting can also be from ram atleast it was back in the ddr1 days


to me it sounds more like a vga heat issue but the no oc =fine and w/oc=bad then id first guess your ram

[RejZoR]

Has anyone ever measured PCIe overclocking effect on performance on different platforms (Intel/AMD) ?
Higher clock should naturally show some gains (even very small). Any recent tests out there regarding this?

[T_Flight]

This could be caused by a bad mount or a grpahiocs driver issue...corrupted driver download, bad driver install, driver/game mismatch, or setting that the game doesn't like with that driver combo. Try other games to try and isolate it to that one title. If the issue follows to other titles it's in the game, and something the game doesn't like. If it follows to other programs and games, then I'd look at the hardware.

You might try removing and reseating all sinks with good TIM. You also might try taking the cooler and lapping it if possible. If you've never done it, be gentle removing things. If it doesn't come loose, don't force it...kinda twist and eeeaaaaassssse things loose...don't pry. Make sure you get all screws loose too. i had a freind that broke a board one time when he swore he had all the screws out, and got rough with it...yep, it broke. The core is a little easier to work with on the GTX280 becasue it has a IHS to protect it, but still be careful.

You might wanna read up about how to disassemble stuff. There are some tabs on these cards that are kinda tricky to get loose. It helps to have a bunch of very snall and thin screwdrivers. Gotta be careful with them too. They are easy to break. Don't wanna break those tabs. There is a thread on installing a waterblock by Talonman in the watercooling forum that describes how to disassemble one.

Maybe this will help you some. :)