I decided to try out EVGA Precision X software and try a slight overclock on my card. All I did was add +100mhz on the core clock and +100mhz on the memory clock. I've never done this before. I was playing some StarCraft II HOTS when my screen froze. The game was still playing, I just was stuck on one frame. I paused the game, alt-tabed out then back in. Saw the updated picture with the menu and exited the game properly.
I went back to Precision, I set all the defaults back the way they were then restarted my computer. I went back into game and I was only pushing just over 30fps. I decided to try out some Batman Arkham City and I could barely get 20fps. I used to push 60fps (I always had V-Sync on) on both of these games at stock. Now my card isn't performing half as well as it did before, and its loud.
I had GPU-Z on a separate monitor the whole time. I did not see anything that was out of the ordinary. My temps were always sitting around 48C. The only thing I saw that was unusual was that it reported a PerfCap Reason 'Pwr' a couple of times for short periods. (that's supposed to mean that the GPU was limited by total power limit).
If anyone can tell me. Did I break something? Was that a coarse overclock that I should not have done??
EDIT:
At a second glance, I noticed that my core and mem clocks were stuck at 405mhz. and the PerfCap Reason reports Util (meaning that no limits have been reached). I have a snapshot of GPUZ and what it reports while I'm playing Batman @ 20fps
The EVGA ACX 2.0 cards are not that great...I bought 2 and I found out the hard way that the cooling design is faulty ( only 2 of 3 heat pipes make contact with the GPU) and the cooler is poor, both of the examples I bought ran hot, loud, and were extremely noisy...they actually ran almost at max temp and one was also thermal throttling. This GPU may not be able to handle much of an overclock without reaching max temp or getting extremely loud. Although your particular problem sounds strange...I had problems with my Precision X software, it was causing my pc to randomly freeze up and it had to be hard reset, I had an exact same problem with Samsung Magician, I removed both and the problems went away. I'm sure this post was of no help to you at all but I would uninstall and try without the PX software and see where your at.
Did you notice that the core and mem clocks were stuck at 405mhz?? I just realized that when I did some further testing. I'm updating the original post. EDIT: How do you get a screenshot up there? sorry aha
you guys did it!! I got rid of Precision X and did a fresh install on the drivers. Everything is back to normal. I threw a fit there. Thank you guys sooo much for your support. and fuh q Precision X. I don't think I'll ever do this again
Was probably just a fluke. Happened on my friend's laptop with a GTX 870M. Nearly the same thing only he was using Asus GPU Tweak. A reinstall of the drivers fixed everything and he OCed again with no ill effects.
I personally prefer MSI Afterburner and would suggest it if you want to try again. Generally does the same stuff as PX but I prefer it.
its a shame you had a bad experience. My 980 runs at 1450mhz all day every day without any overclocking (just gpu boost 2.0) and never even hits 70 deg. and i run it on a 4k monitor.
ACX? Wow, never heard it being that good, I went through 2 examples of the samething, and my friend also ran into it with 2 of his, so i know its a widespread problem, theres posts about it on the bigger forums
well thats fine but you didn't try to oc it im assuming, and how is the sound? 70c is actually pretty warm for that card. my 4g limited editions are oc to 1550mhz each and they only reach 59c
Your welcome, its a fairly common problem. Glad you could work it out. I find it best not to use those types of software, its more bloatware than anything
Reinstall the drivers etc. If your card still doesnt perform as it should, then RMA the card. Or just ask for a refund by the seller, and pick a diffrent brand. Like the Gigabyte G1 gaming, Asus strix, Msi Gaming, Zotac AMP Omega.
@Fendi, the problem with temps on the 970 were due to inadequate fan profile. This has been corrected with a bios update.
The cooling design is not faulty. The GPU makes contact with the 2 large 10mm heatpipes which transfer direct gpu heat to the furthest part of the fin array. The third heatpipe smaller 8mm transfers residual heat from the aluminium base to the center of the fin array.
And with cards crashing under an unstable overclock 8/10 times will corrupt the driver and/or MS .Net Famework.