Hi! I'm a noob in terms of overclocking cards, but I've got myself a GTX 1080 founders edition that i want to get some extra % out of, with as little risk as possible.
I heard % voltage increase is the most risky in terms of OC, so is it safe for me to slowly try to aim at a 1900-1950mhz gpu boost without touching any voltage settings at all?
 
I'm thinking of only touching the gpu boost and fan settings, by increasing it 25mhz at a time up until 1900ish gpu boost (increase from 1733 boost), and increasing the fan % a bit to reduce heat and potential throttling. Would this work?
 
Thanks!

Increasing the voltage of your card is not risky if you stay within the limit imposed by precisionX or afterburner. The card has already overvoltage protection on it to prevent itself from permanently damaging it's components. Even if you modify the bios of the card to push the voltage father you wont be able to go beyond a certain limit that is harmful for the hardware. The only way would be to reduce or short some resistances directly on card.
 
Overclocking and overvoltage can potentially decrease the lifespan of your card. By the time that your card has come to the end of its life you will probably already be looking to buy a new one anyway.
 
The best way to overclock your card is to increase the core clock until it start to become unstable then decrease it by 35mhz and test for longer period to see if it remain stable. If you are still not satisfy you can start to add voltage. Sometimes it help, sometimes it may make it worst. More voltage will make the card run hotter that's where a custom fan curve will help to maintain your boost clock. Even if you decide to not overclock a custom fan curve has proven to be very helpfull to prevent the card from thermal throttleling on stock clock.