Overclocking 2080 ti?

[MrGuru]

Hi there!

I just recently bought an EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti XC GAMING (11G-P4-2382-KR) and would like an opinion on if I should flash the Galax 380w BIOS to it.

Side note: research led me to this site actually via this thread: https://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/how_to_flash_rtx_bios/

First, through a little bit of research I believe the XC GAMING edition is an "A" chip. I guess I'll find out when it gets here tomorrow for sure, but in the event it is and this is possible I have a couple questions.

First, I am not going to upgrade the cooler at all - leaving it stock air. Any concerns there yet?

Second, I realize this voids my warranty. I've tried to get the most out of my EVGA cards over the years (580, 680, 780ti, 980ti and now this card) and I have never had problems with overheating or a card dying or anything - but I've never flashed a card to a different cards' BIOS before. I've also read that this is one of the single best things you can do and there's virtually no risk. Is this true? I'm planning on keeping this card for a long time as I don't play that many cutting edge games, so I just want to set it at the most I can get out of it and forget about it. 

Current specs, if that makes a difference:

7700k @ 5ghz
Maximus HERO IX Z270 chipset
32GB RAM @ 3200mhz
980ti SLI at a mild overclock (+170 mhz core, +300 mhz memory)
EVGA platinum rated 1000w PSU
Samsung 950 Pro SSD 500 GB
Dell U3011 (2560x1600 @ 60hz)

I'll be happy to answer any other questions. Looking forward to joining the single GPU club again!

[Braegnok]

Unless your running benchmarks and want higher scores, or you don't plan on keeping the card vary long,.. putting 100W above spec on your GPU is foolish.

As the card is already more than capable of playing any game with max settings at (2560x1600 @ 60hz),.. why would you want to bump the Vcore 100W.

My advice would be after you get your new card try running Nvidia Scanner & EVGA Precision X1, and after the scanner is complete, then crank up your power, temperature limits to max,.. and you should see +150MHz to +181MHz at apx 262W,.. then you can decide if you need to flash 380W BIOS on your card. 

[Boinker]

MrGuru , I believe the version you have should be an A chip. I am pretty sure if you can go above a 112% power limit then you do have an A chip. I think the version comes down to The gaming, XE, XE ultra and FTW branding divides which chips are the higher binned ones. The bios version should confirm that BUT I do not have the hyperlink to the thread on EVGA's site for that. 

As far as needing to do a bios update, I must ask does it really.  I am in a bit of the same predicament. I own a 2080 black edition, I want to keep my card for the next 3-5 years. So I put the EVGA hydro copper water cooler on it and left the bios alone. 

 

My thoughts, 

Boinker

[ir_cow]

Your video card is using the A-Chip and all the reference PCB components (VRM Controller, etc). Only 11G-P4-2281-KR (Black Edition)  and 11G-P4-2483-KR (FTW3) have Non-A Chips.

So Flashing it to the KAF2 / Galax BIOS will not be a problem. I would certainly do it because I want every little bit out of the video card. Because of NVIDIA restrictions, you actually still cannot harm the card. The voltage limit is still 1.098v (Must be below 40c). With the normal operating load voltage of 1.068v for everyone that isn't using a LN2 or Chiller. Raising the Power Target, just allows the voltage to stay stay at its peak. Will you see a difference in gaming? doubtful unless you have a waterblock on it.

FYI your card pulls up either the XC Black Edition or XC. Either way the BIOS are the same and PCB is the same for all the reference cards from EVGA. EVGA issued an official BIOS update as some of the cards Limit was 292 Watts.

EVGA Reference PCB

Target: 260.0 W 
Limit: 338.0 W 
Adj. Range: -62%, +30%

 

KFA2 RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB BIOS

Target: 300.0 W 
Limit: 380.0 W 
Adj. Range: -67%, +27%

 

Edit: Also video cards don't have eFuses so it's impossible to tell if you flash it or not once you flash it back. So if the card starts to act up (like failing memory). Just flash it back and send it off for RMA.  Just make sure to backup YOUR original BIOS. Because some BIOS online that are the same model still can have different numbers. IDK what they look for during a RMA besides a physical check. Is EVGA matching the BIOS to the cards model? IDK, so its safer just to flash the BIOS that came with the card back onto it.

 

[olokul]

My RTX 2080 Ti FTW3 Ultra on the stock air cooler does pretty well.    The power target slider goes up to 124 but you can type 130 in there and hit enter and it will take it even if the slider doesnt go that far.   Even at stock setting the card will Boost to 1988MHz on the GPU by itself far exceeding the stock 1755 MHz boost clocks they state on the webpage

 

With the power target set to 130% and both the voltage and cpu temp set to max i can do +1450 on memory and +120 on GPU clock.  Temps max out around 65*c at 100% fan.

[ir_cow]

+1450 on memory is insane! Are you sure that stable? Everything I seen has topped out around 1,100 for the reallly nice cards

[olokul]

Ive had it running on that with multiple runs in Fire strike, time spy, and heaven benchmarks without issues.  

[ir_cow]

Nice! You got lucky I guess.