Overclocking: the benchmark score
As usual, we started by testing the card at its original frequencies using 3DMark Time Spy, to see what gains had been made. It’s important to have a reference score with GPU-Z open so that you can measure several values. Note that the fans are in AUTO mode and that we haven’t touched the fan curve. So let’s see what our three models have in store.
As far as the configuration is concerned, here it is. Please note that our OS is not at all optimised and that it is intended to be as close as possible to a ‘normal’ installation. As far as the benchmarks are concerned, we have only modified the frequencies and voltages, without making any other optimisations that would improve the gains in terms of points.
- Motherboard: ROG Maximus Z790 APEX Encore
- Processor : Intel Raptor Lake Refresh i9-14900K delid
- Cooling system: EK-Nucleus AIO CR360 Direct Die D-RGB – 1700
- Memory: 48 GB Corsair Dominator Titanium 8000 MT/s CL38
- Graphics card: ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 5060 Ti OC, MSI RTX 5060 Ti Gaming Trio OC and PALIT RTX 5060 Ti Infinity 3
- SSD: Western Digital Black SN750 2 TB EKWB radiator
- Power supply: Corsair AX1600i
- Operating system: Windows 11 64-bit 24H2 (26100.2894)
STEP 1: performance at original frequencies
We launch a first run with 3DMark Time Spy to see how our cards behave. The idea, of course, is to have a reference score to measure the gain throughout this overclocking session. We chose 3DMark Speed Way because it doesn’t last long and will give us an idea of our card’s potential fairly quickly.
We’re going to start by keeping an eye on three values: the score obtained on Speed Way, the maximum frequency of our Boost frequency and the power consumption recorded in GPU-Z.
We’re going to focus on the GPU score first and not the overall score. Our PALIT’s score is 16116 points, followed by the MSI with 16283 points (+1%) and the ASUS, with 16401 points (+1.8%). As we can see, despite factory overclocking for two of the models, the scores are very close. If we look at the maximum boost frequency during the benchmark, we find 2820 MHz for the PALIT, 2872 MHz for the MSI and 2880 MHz for the ASUS.
GPU-Z also shows us the power consumption during this Time Spy, with 181.3 watts for the PALIT model, 178.4 watts for the MSI and 174.8 watts for the ASUS TUF. We can also see that the cooling systems of the TUF Gaming and Gaming Trio models perform better than those of the PALIT. Now let’s get on with overclocking!
