Overclocking GTX 1060s with Coolbits with Persistence Through Reboots

A path for overclocking GTX 1060’s on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS:

Install NVIDIA drivers via the GUI: Start Menu -> Software -> Software & Updates -> Additional Drivers Tab -> “Using NVIDIA binary driver…” radio button -> Apply -> Restart
Know that there is a graphical interface for managing your NVIDIA GPUs: Start Menu -> NVIDIA X Server Settings
See that you cannot manually adjust clock settings via the “NVIDIA X Server Settings” application under the PowerMizer settings for each GPU
Understand that there are two important configuration files that govern configurations for your NVIDIA GPUs: /etc/X11/xorg.conf and ~/.nvidia-settings-rc. The latter, I believe, is populated once “NVIDIA X Server Settings” is run.
To “unlock” the fields to adjust clock speed in “NVIDIA X Server Settings” open up a terminal window and run:
```
$ sudo nvidia-xconfig --enable-all-gpus
$ sudo nvidia-xconfig --cool-bits=8
```
This will update the xorg.conf file for each of your GPUs and set cool-bits flags. (More information on cool-bits)
Now reboot:
```
$ sudo shutdown -r now
```
Once rebooted, “NVIDIA X Server Settings” will show you the unlocked graphics clock and memory transfer fields under PowerMizer.
Like many things with Ubuntu, there is a potential for drama now. Sometimes you can update the field by hitting enter. Other times, you can hit enter and the field will not update. In either case a better approach that persists through reboots is to edit the ~/.nvidia-settings-rc file.At the end of the file, I added the following to overclock my two GPUs:
```
[gpu:0]/GPUPowerMizerMode=1
[gpu:0]/GPUGraphicsClockOffset[3]=150
[gpu:0]/GPUMemoryTransferRateOffset[3]=1000
[gpu:1]/GPUPowerMizerMode=1
[gpu:1]/GPUGraphicsClockOffset[3]=150
[gpu:1]/GPUMemoryTransferRateOffset[3]=1000
```
There are many different ways to do things, and the above steps came about to work around existing command line issues that exist that prevent overclocking via the nvidia-settings command from taking hold. The above also required the X server be running, and there may be ways around that – but I take it as a given that I will be running some sort of GUI as a convenience. Much of the flow of the above came from this discussion. Lastly, here’s a good discussion that may work in the future when existing driver issues are resolved.