Greetings all, I am back in EVGA land after being away for over 3 years using other cards and makers, and because I need some direct help with this rare card, I figured I better ask right from the source
 
I recent aquired one of these amazing cards for an incredible $450, especially considering its a near 79% ASIC rated card. Long story short, I sold my MSI Gaming in the bandwagon hype of the 1080 only to find it proved to be really dissapointed with the overpriced Founders Edition BS, so i'm gonna stay in 980Ti land until Nvidia gets it act together with I hope a 1080Ti
 
That being said, I am well aware from previous research that these kingpins are meant for hardcore watercooling and LN2 cooled setups to push the cards into near black hole creation speeds. For my setup however, I deal strictly with air cooling for convenience and cost.
 
I have been unable to get the card to pass Valley and Heaven benchmarks without totally crashing my system at the 1520 core speeds via precision X, even with no memory overclocking.
 
1. I have already switched to OC BIOS and moved power limit to 150%
2. The fan approaches near 90% speed when the temps are at 68c on the core with aggressive fan curve
3. Maximum intake from twin 140mm fans 1 inch away from card is best my case can manage for airflow
 
 
I can try repasting with Gelid GC extreme but beyond that, I dunno what else I can do to get this card just to be happy with a 1530ish overclock core speed. What else can I throw at this huge black sucker to get it to be happy? I've never seen a GPU so picky about running tempratures and its really starting to piss me off Even my MSI 980 Ti Gaming with BIOS modified voltage was able to deal with upper 70c temps at 1450 core and 400 memory. I am on 365.19 driver
 
If im totally SOL with trying to get this thing to run stable on air, does anyone know if the NZXT Kraken G10 adapter will work on a Kingpin?

I think there is a site called overclockers.net that deals with classifieds and kingpin gpu they have bios mods and other info that may help you sorry I don't remember the exact name.Also jayztwocents did a review of the kingpin and your case sounds like his check out his video
/edit it is called evga classified & kinpin owner's club

Sounds like you'll just need to dial back your overclock a bit for those specific apps.

Zuhl3156
Here is a good site to help you with anything you need to get the most out of your 980 ti Kingpin:
 
You could always request someone here to mod your BIOS to unlock the Voltage and TDP limits. I know he did a great job modding my BIOS. He didn't just go in and max out certain settings. He went into every category and made sure that each value was correctly proportional to its counterpart. The man is a true artist when it comes to BIOS modding.

I was under the impression the voltage and TDP was basically already unlocked with the Kingpins? Also, im basically life banned from overclock.net after I got into fight years ago with Enterprise and his crap managing of the forum after the big upgrade years ago so....yeah.  

Looking at the oc bios the tdp is set to 300w.

If it is crashing at 68C, then the problem is probably not enough voltage. 
 
I know with Classified cards you need a special tool (now software based) to increase the voltage beyond what EVGA's PrecisionX or MSI's Afterburner allows. I'm betting it being the same for the Kingpin.

Sajin
 
Adding voltage may make it worse since it's maxwell we're talking about. Undervolting/overvolting may/may not help, the op should definitely experiment with the voltages.

 
So should I add voltage via the switch on the back of the Kingpin or use that voltage boost setting on precision X? Kingpin says adding voltage is never a good idea with these cards on air but he's not replying/posting in the Kingpin forums anymore so...im basically on my own

Arct1c0n

Sajin
 
Adding voltage may make it worse since it's maxwell we're talking about. Undervolting/overvolting may/may not help, the op should definitely experiment with the voltages.

 
So should I add voltage via the switch on the back of the Kingpin or use that voltage boost setting on precision X? Kingpin says adding voltage is never a good idea with these cards on air but he's not replying/posting in the Kingpin forums anymore so...im basically on my own

If both switches near the pci-e bracket are enabled it will increase the core by +50mV. I'd start with software adjustments first.

Arct1c0n

Sajin
People who own the kingpin say temps need to be below 65c to help the card clock better. guy was able to attach the G10 to his 980 ti classified.
 
 
If both switches near the pci-e bracket are enabled it will increase the core by +50mV. I'd start with software adjustments first.

Removed, i'll never get those temps on air.  So, the software voltage adjustment is that slider on the right side of precision right?

Undervolting might get you those temps. Yes, right side is correct.

Arct1c0n

Sajin

Arct1c0n

Sajin
People who own the kingpin say temps need to be below 65c to help the card clock better. guy was able to attach the G10 to his 980 ti classified.
 
 
If both switches near the pci-e bracket are enabled it will increase the core by +50mV. I'd start with software adjustments first.

Removed, i'll never get those temps on air.  So, the software voltage adjustment is that slider on the right side of precision right?

Undervolting might get you those temps. Yes, right side is correct.

HOw much should I raise that small bar up to start with with?

Just experiment. Adjustments via precision are safe.

Arct1c0n

Sajin
Just experiment. Adjustments via precision are safe.

So the switchs in back give too much voltage to start with?

Should be ok since the switches are included on the pcb. With both switches on it will put the card at 1.26v which is safe.

The switches on the back are more meant for vdroop while using LN2. I had absolutely horrible luck overclocking the 980kingpin while using those switches, and since you are air, where I was not, I highly suggest not using those.

Go to overclock.net, visit the classified/kingpin thread, post one under the classified 980ti section you will see the classified voltage tool. Download that and utilize it for voltage, or use Overboost in precision.

If you have a multimeter, you should watch your voltages. Using the standard overvoltage, you will not see an increase in voltage at idle and you should check it under load. Using overvoltage, I never saw an increase with any card I have ever owned.. Using Overboost, you will see an increase even at idle. Be aware, when the card is at idle, Overboost will keep the voltage static and it will not decrease.

Last, but definitely not least, please visit the general section and read the rules on language. You will be able to scroll back through posts and see that all posts that were quoted and now have the word Removed were where I had to remove vulgarity. Do read that masking vulgar language so that it passes the language filter is against the terms of service. It will be much easier to just keep them out, as I only have 1 bar of reception and no wifi at home, so editing every instance of language is not easy.

OC Bios is limited to 1.21v. Add +50mV via switches and your at 1.26v.

Scarlet-Tech


You should visit the Kingpincooling forum and read up on the guide that T|N wrote. I mean, he designed the card and tested it with K|ngp|n, so they would give some 

 
Read it over three times and im still struggling

Never, ever, use a reference board bios on your kingpin. The reference bios does not account for all the extra vrm and other hardware. The kingpin also has 3 power plugs and has been programmed as such, where the reference, ftw and Classified only have a maximum of two power plugs.

Just consider, you may not be able to go further because you may have hit the limits of the card. If you read the disclaimer for our having a new card, you will see that further than stock overclocking is not guaranteed, and you may have found the hard limit.