Cooling GForce 2 GTS card when not overclocking it?

[neddog]

I have my system overclocked but not my video card, I am wondering If I need to add extra cooling to my card and if it could help with the overclocking of my system. The only reason I havent overclocked the video card is I havnt seem any posted results that were a huge gain..


NeDDoG

 

[Nighthawk69]

The cooler the card is, the cooler the system is.

 

[XGamer]

Any computer expert will tell you, Overclocking a video card is prolly one of the most moronic things you can do. I wouldnt bother with it unless you want to have to buy an new one after a week or so. Ive already heard lots of people OCing Geforce2's and roast them. A good $400 down the drain... People have to understand, OCing a video card gives such a small performance increase, you wont even tell the difference, but the temp. increase is significant. I wouldnt mess with it, unless you have a lot of extra cash sitting around.

 

[Overman]

I have to disagree on the moronic thing...I can tell a huge difference when I bring my Herc G2 Pro card from

Core 200
Mem 400

to

Core 210
Mem 433

I played StarTrek Voyager Elite force with and without overclocking...the parts in the game that kinda slowed down (from a constant 85 fps to around 74 fps) no longer did so after overclocking.

Not an overall big gain in speed...but if the game is a constant 85 fps (refresh rate set at that on monitor)...you DO notice a dip below that when it occurs. Doesn't happen anymore though!

Haven't heard anything about people frying their cards though? Is this a common thing with the G2...if so I might reconsider the overclockin'!

 

[BlueWeasel]

As long as you have the proper cooling and use common sense/caution when overclocking then everything should just be peachy . . .

 

[kyoshozx]

I haven't heard of anyone frying their video cards before either. But Performance boosts aren't as great as overclocking a cpu. The most performance I got was about 10% gain in q3, from 90fps to 100 fps in demo127.

 

[neddog]

Thanks for the feedback...

Last thing I want to do is spend an extra 400 bucks cause I freid the card, however, am wondering if an "unclocked" card can hold back my system overclcking? Not that this is the right forum but when I try to take my FSB up on my Tbird 900, the only thing that seems to have problems is Quake3 so was assuming that it may be Gforce doing it. Hence, the question.

NeDDoG

 

[XGamer]

You are right, if you know alot about computers and hardware, and get proper cooling, you can OC a video card A VERY LITTLE without much to worry about. But let me tell you this, even if you OC a video card and it works fine with good cooling and all, you still CUT that cards life expectancy in HALF. If it would last 6 years, it will now only last 3 years. Which I guess is fine still since you probably go through a video card every 2-4 years anyways. I am a professional gamer and have been in many lan tournaments. I have seen many overclocked computers, and people who OC their video cards, I have never seen a justifiable FPS increase to bother OCing a video card. You would have to get at least 20 FPS more to notice even a small visual difference. Its up to you, if you think otherwise, go for it. You have been warned.

 

[WyteRyce]

Uh...just about every computer expert I've ever met or talked to has overclocked their video card.

The difference can be very apparent at high resolutions, where that extra 10+fps can make a big difference. I can play Quake 3 at 1600x1200 at 53fps, as opposed to my normal 40. Big difference in smoothness.

Roosting video cards? If you have good cooling and keep the dust off you should have no problem. In my experience, I've seen only 2 fried cards. One was my friend's defective voodoo 3, which died at an underclocked speed of 155/155. The other was another friend's tnt 2. He never cleaned off the dust in the 1 year he had that card and frequently ran that computer 24/7. The poor thing suffocated to death.

If you are pushing the card to a speed it can't handle, you generally get some signs before its death, i.e. crashes, artifacts, and/or complaints from the power company.

And so what if it cuts its life in half. Its the same with CPUs. Generally, the people that overclock are the same people that buy new hardware every 1-2 years.