This is my first time overclocking a graphics card and I just want to make sure that I've done it safely and that my card won't die in a month or so. I just got this r9 and I want to use it for a long while but I also want to get the best performance. I've upped the voltage a bit, is this safe? Is everything I've done safe so far?
My Build: Amd 8350 @ 4.2 Sapphire R9 390 @ 1135 core 1650 memory\ MSI 970 Gaming Mobo 16gb 1333 ram salvaged from old dell pcs, stuff works and I don't want to buy new ram because I plan to upgrade when Zen comes out. EVGA 750w Gold+ fully modular psu Cooler Master Hyper 212 evo cpu cooler with two fans Define S with 3 front intake fans and 1 back exhaust
On to the overclock and voltages. I'm using MSI afterburner to OC the card and it's been working well.
All of these screenshots are taken while running Unigine Heaven at max settings.
Since I can't post more than 5 links or upload more than 2 images here is a link to both albums:
Did you run a burn in test to check stability? If it's stable then you're most likely fine, if not then dial back the oc a bit and try again (there's a lot of rinse and repeat when overclocking).
Also do some research to see what others have gotten with their cards, that should give a decent ballpark estimate of what yours can do (though every card is different so its a ballpark not just a base in the ballpark).
Any time you overvolt the card you will shorten the lifespan of it (that's one of the inherrent risks of overclocking). The amount of time that you shorten it by is dependent on how much you overvolt it and the silicon lottery. I don't have any first hand long term experience w/ overclocking however so hopefully someone more knowledgeable than myself can come help you out. I'd keep the voltage as low as possible w/ the clock & memory speed you want (assuming of course the minimum voltage to run that oc isn't really high).
i think in order to push the voltage to a really dangerous level you'd have to do some bios hacking (though don't quote me on that). If that is the case then the voltage slider won't harm your card much (certainly not in the short term) though you should do some research on the subject to get a better understanding.
I personally don't like the idea of changing the voltages on video cards. Most motherboards are explicitly designed to run higher voltages, but I'm not so sure that most graphics cards are.
1135/1650 clocks are decent speeds for Hawaii, and +44mV shouldn't harm a thing. People regularly take this GPU to +100mV on air, even higher on more exotic cooling.
You might even be able to get the voltage lower and or clocks higher after stability testing. I'm getting 1100/1525 from a reference 290X at 1.262V (+12mV), so with the more mature manufacturing of the 300 series I wouldn't be surprised if you can improve your OC over time.
As far as safe voltage goes, unless if you do an 'ignore voltage limits' in MSI afterburner or similar program you'll be fine at whatever setting. Going beyond +.08 (80mv) I'd highly suggest watercooling. Make sure you keep your card nice and cool, the more voltage you add the cooler you'll want to keep it to avoid damage... So if you're at something like 90c at +.08 that's no bueno gotta run cooler if you want longevity.
