Newbie at video overclocking - need advice

[DrJeff]

I know this is a newbie question, but can anyone point me to a FAQ or primer article that will get me started on the learning curve of overclicking videocards? I have a GF3 Ti200 I would like to tweak and some lower animals that need flogging, but I don't know anything about this. Do you need some utility to enter the card's BIOS and a program to benchmark your results? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[canadianpsycho]

Best bet is search for the "coolbits" registry "hack"

All it does is enable a "clock settings" tab in your advanced GF3 properties under "display" properties.

Best bet is to slowly raise core and mem until you get graphical gliches or instability. Then take it down a few notches, then play with either core and mem individually to find the limit.

 

[AnAndAustin]

canadianpsycho covers it perfectly. There are other tools like RivaTuner but Coolbits is the easiest.

You will find o/c'ing is easy and very risk-free so long as you use small steps and test thoroughly at each setting, then back off a bit when you find your limit. As close to no risks as is ever possible and for most cards VERY well worth it

GF3TI200 like GF4TI4200 are clocked far below their true potential to promote sales of the more expensive options, as such they o/c very well indeed. GF3TI200 should o/c to within 10% of a GF3TI500 and some can exceed TI500 speeds. In clock speeds the GF3TI200 run at 175/400 and the core should hit about 240 and the RAM depends upon the ns rating. 5ns is usual and won't usually go much higher but 4ns is much better and should get you to 500mhz, so you should get to 240/440 (5ns) or 240/500 (4ns) compared to TI500 at 240/500.

 

[DrJeff]

(just back home)
Thanks, large, both of you guys. This gets me on my way into OC 3D land. So the video just gets flaky at the limit, not fried? Is there another program I use to test for graphical glitches, a benchmark you guys favor, or something else?

On a related note, if I OC my XP 1800+, does it just fail to post at the limit, or does it fry? I have good cooling.

 

[canadianpsycho]

You will see stuff like white specks, or other graphical artifacting.

Just bump it a bit, then play a game for 15-30 minutes, the artifacting or glitches will show themselves.

I don't think you can fry your card easily if you take it slowly, it will crash before it burns

 

[DrJeff]

Gotch, canadianpsycho.

When I Googled for "coolbits hack", I found a .reg file, not an executable.
What do I do with this? The only registry tweaking I have done was with a lot of handholding from REGEDIT. I'm on W2k now and I don't know if it has regedit like W98se had.

 

[canadianpsycho]

Just d/l it, open it, and accept entering it into the registry.

I'm not sure, but I think there's a different one for Win2k.

It justs adds a line or two into your registry, enabling the "hack"

 

[canadianpsycho]

Link to coolbits, from the OCing forum here at AT.

 

[DrJeff]

Thanks, canadianpsycho.
Everything above worked smoothly. I am now at 200/440 and will play with it this way for a bit. I owe you.

 

[geoff2k]

I came across these articles (1,2) on another forum recently. The first is a "how to overclock your video card", the second talks about squeezing every last drop out of 3dmark2001.

 

[DrJeff]

Originally posted by: geoff2k
I came across these articles (1,2) on another forum recently. The first is a "how to overclock your video card", the second talks about squeezing every last drop out of 3dmark2001.

Thanks, GREAT stuff. I am having plenty of success, so far. Will explore these techniques in the AM. Getting kinda sleeeeeepy...

 

[geoff2k]

If you scroll down the first article, there's some stuff in there about removing stock heatsinks, etc, etc. Not that you're going to do that at this stage of the game... ;-)

 

[DrJeff]

Looks like I got up to 215/455 on a stock Visiontek Xtasy GF3 Ti200 just using Coolbits in the most out-of-the-box manner. Above 455 memory speed, I saw white dots, and backed down to 455 with cleanliness. Same above 215 core; white dots. I am pretty pleased for now. I will find a benchmark tomorrow. Do you have a preference of program for benching?

 

[geoff2k]

I haven't done a lot of benching, but I think I'm going to start, now that I have more serious hardware (Radeon 8500 in hand and a ti4200 on the way). Most of what I've done is run variations of driver settings and clock speeds with 3Dmark2001.

 

[geoff2k]

My best result so far.

 

[canadianpsycho]

Originally posted by: geoff2k
My best result so far.

Nice, my rig refuses to break 12k... I've been playing madden and CS at 1280x1024, looks so gorgeous (especially Madden)

 

[AnAndAustin]

DrJeff, if 215/455 seems to be your limit then I'd rec dropping to 210/450 if not 200/440. The speed you've gained should be very noticable and just lowering from the absolute limit helps to reduce the strain and wear on your gfx card's components and help to ensure a good long term stable o/c, esp if the weather gets warmer

Either way you have gained a very nice speed boost over the standard TI200 clocks of 175/400. Most people use 3Dmark2001 for benchmarking but most games have a timed demo feature if not a 'Show FPS' hack so they're very good too. Other than raising the res and details also try forcing '2xAA' or 'QxAA with 2xAniso', these will hit your perf by about 10% and 20% accordingly but you should see nice benefits esp in certain games.

 

[DrJeff]

Originally posted by: AnAndAustin
DrJeff, if 215/455 seems to be your limit then I'd rec dropping to 210/450 if not 200/440. The speed you've gained should be very noticable and just lowering from the absolute limit helps to reduce the strain and wear on your gfx card's components and help to ensure a good long term stable o/c...

Done, and done. Thanks for the tips, all.
This seemed too easy. It must be illegal, sinful, or something vice-ridden. Now I'm gonna want to find a good deal on a GF4 Ti4200 just to OC it! Compulsions are a killer...