Can Overclocking Help Improve My Used GPU's Performance?
Asked by
TechieTurtle42
I recently upgraded from my old GTX 960 to a used 1080 Ti from eBay, but I'm seeing some seriously low performance compared to other 1080s, and honestly, it's even underperforming compared to my old 960. I ran the Unigine Heaven benchmark and my results were pretty disappointing:
- FPS: 36.9
- Score: 929 (while other 1080s are scoring around 4400)
- Min FPS: 7.2
- Max FPS: 317.4
I'm running it on Windows NT 6.2 with an Intel Core i7-9700K CPU, and my GPU is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti with 4GB of VRAM. I've tried various NVIDIA drivers but it hasn't helped. The seller claimed the card was from a server facility that never went into production, so I'm starting to think I was sold a dud. I'm considering overclocking it to see if that improves performance, but I'm unsure if it'll really make a difference or if there's something else wrong. Any advice?
Answers
You should check the temperatures of your GPU while gaming. Are the fans working properly and is the heatsink clean? Sometimes a dusty heatsink can cause overheating, which impacts performance. Also, what temps are you seeing?
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First off, what operating system are you using? It might not be a hardware issue, but sometimes certain OS settings can limit GPU performance.
TechieTurtle42: I'm on Windows 10!
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The indicator you showed indicates your GPU is recognized correctly with 4GB of VRAM. Just to be sure, run GPU-Z to see more details about your card’s performance. Also, did you run DDU to clean out any old drivers? That's important for ensuring the new GPU runs well without interference from the old drivers.
TechieTurtle42: I haven’t run DDU yet. Should I have my old GPU plugged in when I do that?
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Be careful, I've heard stories of people getting scammed with fake 1080 Tis that are actually lower-end models like the GT 730. You might want to check the device ID.
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Sorry to say, but it sounds like you might have been scammed. It’s not uncommon for sellers to flash lower models' BIOS to pass them off as better ones. If that’s the case, there might not be much you can do other than return it.
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TechieTurtle42: Temps were around 57°C last I checked, and the heatsink was clean. I could hear the fans, but I’ll double check that they're all spinning.