Manufacturer over-clocked gpu's - worth price?

[wjgollatz]

I have seen some manufacturer overclocked video cards. Will these cards have the same lifetime as non-overclocked cards?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161252

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127339

 

[starfireone]

They run really hot. If you opt for one...be sure to have really good airflow in your case. As far as how long they last....depends on how cool and dust free you keep your case in my opinion. I have had one running in my desktop case for about 2.5 years now. No complaints.

 

[Denithor]

As I pointed out to you in your General Hardware post, grab this card.

Powercolor 4830

At only $75 after rebate it's in the same range as the two you're considering but it will kick the crap out of both.

 

[imported_wired247]

look at the % overclock from stock... that gives you a rough idea of how much extra you're paying for a few FPS. and OCing video cards typically does yield a *FEW* fps, on the order of the % overclock.

the reason to get factory overclocked is for the warranty. it breaks - not your problem.

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: starfireone
They run really hot. If you opt for one...be sure to have really good airflow in your case. As far as how long they last....depends on how cool and dust free you keep your case in my opinion. I have had one running in my desktop case for about 2.5 years now. No complaints.

What are you talking about? Oced videocards in general or those OP listed? Because the 4670 runs cool, so is that 3850 with the custom cooler.

 

[Jacen]

Unless I can get them for close to the same price I generally don't worry about them. Most adquetally cooled systems can usually hit a lot of those clocks anyhow so why pay a premium?

 

[alcoholbob]

Every piece of hardware has different thresholds. Some retail products have nearly zero overclockability. These factory overclocked variants are cherry picked and guaranteed to run at these clock rates. Also the factory overclocked ones typically will have warranties that won't be void from overclocking.

 

[taltamir]

1. they are liable to be less stable
2. their lifetime is shorter
3. they produce a lot more heat and consume more electricity (electricity and heat increase exponentially relative to speed)
4. 90% or more of the non OC versions you buy WILL achieve the same OC level or higher as an OC version

 

[faxon]

most nvidia manufacturers now warranty overclocking of video cards, since the stock coolers supplied are usually not running their fans at full capacity. hell, you can even remove the stock cooler on some of them, put on your own, and if the card DOES break, you can just put the old one back on, and RMA it for a replacement, no questions asked. i would check on the warranty specific to whichever card you get though, since not all of them do. as for factory OCed cards, they dont all always work. i got an Evga 7900GT Superclocked for $300 back when they were the shit, it came with pretty bad artifacting issues out of the box. i RMEd said card, and instead of sending me a refurb back, they "fixed" it, sent it back, and it came back DOA. this was before EVGAs system allowed for multiple RMAs. by the time i got done with their email tech support and they were going to allow me to RMA it, it had been a year, and i had already replaced it with an HD2900PRO

 

[angry hampster]

If you don't tell a manufacturer that you overclocked their card, they wouldn't know. It's all software-based unless you volt mod.