(GPU) Performance drop after testing... why?

[BulgarianBoy92]

Hey guys, ive been trying to find a stable and efficient GPU clock on my 9600GT, I was testing performance with a test from 3dmark03 and writing down the results like this:

(overclocking only GPU from nvidiacontrolpanel)

GPU clock | Result (avg FPS)

661mhz | 140,1
671mhz | 137,7
681mhz | 138,2
720mhz | 141,6; 139,7; 141,5 (three times in a row)
740mhz | 142,3; 142,8; 142,7
767mhz | 144,2; 144,3; 144,3
785mhz | 145,2; 145,1; 144,9
794mhz | 145,3; CRASH;
----------------------------------
790mhz | 127,0; 121,6; !? ?!
765mhz | 121,1; 119,7 ?! ?!

Why does it drop like that? It happened before, just like that, i get a crash and then low results on lower frequencies. All I know is that It can't be overheating.

Has anyone got an idea what causes this?

 

[antuk15]

Lack of voltage, Maybe the VRM's can't cope so the card gets starved of power and crashes.

 

[LifeOnMars]

What CPU are you running? What memory? Better yet fill in your system specs and it will give us all more of an idea what you are working with.

 

[zehpavora]

When nVidia driver crashes, the card goes to 2D mode, the lowest clocks possible int its BIOS.
The only way to reset this is by restarting the computer.

Trust me, I have 2 GTX275, overclocking them was quite painful at start...

EDIT:
I forgot to add that, once you restart your computer, you can try overclocking it again.
However, if crashes again, you'll have to restart your computer.

 

[BulgarianBoy92]

thank you, zehpavora, that explains everything,

My sys specs are: 400W PSU, Athlon x2 5000+ 3050mhz, 2gb Corsair XMS ddr2 800 @ 440mhz, Gigabyte 9600GT with a zalman cooler, Gigabyte motherboard with a 690V chipset (old, and the main bottleneck)

Thank you guys for everything If someone is interested in the progress, post here

 

[zehpavora]

No problem.
Looking at the clock table you've set up in the first post, it seems that your card is a good clocker (I don't know if that's normal for 9600's). Keep those clocks up!

On a side note, you can input your system configuration into your profile,
so you won't have to paste them in your questions making it easier for you.

 

[BulgarianBoy92]

No problem.
Looking at the clock table you've set up in the first post, it seems that your card is a good clocker (I don't know if that's normal for 9600's). Keep those clocks up!

On a side note, you can input your system configuration into your profile,
so you won't have to paste them in your questions making it easier for you.

Thanks , And i think if i can find a bios thingy that can tweak voltage, i can take it to the limit very easily... i have not searched, i saw one but it was long time ago, i aint got much free time this month


and about the sys config, i was ashamed, its old as F*ck :shadedshu

 

[zehpavora]

Don't sweat about it.

About the voltage:
Be extremely careful about that! You can end up frying your card!
Leave voltage tweaking only to professionals, you got to study a lot of overclocking to do that.

TPU has some programs for BIOS tweaking. i don't know the names from the top of my head, but it's there on the main page. However, I don't recommend it.

Since you're using an nVidia card, you could download EVGA Precision. It will let you set profiles and it will monitor your card status, which is very useful for any overclocker.
EVGA and MSI have tools for overclockers such as OC Scanner and Afterburner, respectively.

Hope that helps.