Overclocking Video Cards 101!!!

[x86]

How does one OC a video card? What are the steps involved? I am thinking on OCing a Ti500 or Ti200.

Thanks

-x86

 

[Goldfish]

I'd recommend buying Powerstrip.

 

[CrackRabbit]

OC is actualy quite simple, all you need is the video card and a program such as powerstrip (there are lots of them powerstrip just happens to be my fav) find the speed for your core and memory and start upping it, start in 10mhz incriments, and keep going up testing after each adjustment (3dMark 2k1 is good for this) looking for artifacts. when you start seeing artifacts go back one notch and leave it there! Wala! your card is now OCed

Good Luck

CrackRabbit

 

[Amused]

<< I'd recommend buying Powerstrip. >>



Why??? Just do the "Coolbits" registry tweak and overclock using nVidia's own drivers. Your clock settings will be right there in Video Properties>Settings>Advanced>GeForce Tab>Additional Properties>Clock Frequencies." No need for buggy third party programs at all.

Do a web search for "coobits" to find instructions on how to do this. It's safe, simple, and fun

 

[Amused]

Instructions on how to do the coolbits tweak and enable nVidia's clock frequency tab:

Just to be safe, I'm going to assume you're not completely familiar with the registry.

BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY BEFORE MESSING WITH IT!!!

-Go to the start menu and select 'run'

-a box will appear. Type in the following word and hit the OK button

regedit

You are now in the Windows Registry editing tool.

Next you need to find this key value by navigating the Registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\NVIDIA Corporation\Global

To navigate the registry, you click on the + next to the key that you want to expand. So to get to the correct area of the Registry, do this:

-Click on the plus sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

-Click on the + next to software

-Click on the + next to NVIDIA Corporation

If you don't see "NVTweak do this: (If you do, skip to the next step)

Now you need to make a new key under the global key and you need to name it NVTweak. To do this, simply right-click on the global key (keys look like folders) and a menu will appear. Select 'New' from the menu, and then select "key".

A new key (folder) will appear under the global folder. Name this new key

NVTweak

Now you'll have this new listing in the Registry.

----------------------

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\NVTweak

-Now right click on the new NVTweak key and select 'new' from the menu again.

-Now make a DWORD value in the NVTweak key and name it 'Coolbits' (no quote marks)

-Next you need to set the value to 3. To do this, right click on the new 'Coolbits' DWORD that you just made, and click on 'modify' in the menu.

-a box will come up with a value that is set at zero as the default. Change the zero to a three and click OK.

When you reboot, a new hardware options tab will appear in the GeForce advanced menu. To find the new option in nVidia's driver applet go here:

Control panel > display > settings tab > advanced button > GeForce xxx Tab > additional properties button > Clock Frequencies Tab.

Move the memory slider to the right. Go in 5 MHz increments and then test the system to see if you've gone too far. Remember, you need to test the settings with the test button before you can apply them.

Happy overclocking!

 

[x86]

Will OCing the Video Card have the same detrimental effects as OCing a CPU? How do you determine if you are OCing the RAM or GPU itself?

-x86

 

[CrackRabbit]

DOH! I completly forgot about Coolbits!
<----- Radeon User!
Still if you dont feel comfortable digging about in the Reg Powerstrip is the way to go.

Yes, OC can be bad for your GPU, and it will cause its lifespan to be shorter (how much is something i dont know) but if you keep the GPU properly cooled, you shouldnt have any problems. if you feel your GPU is running too hot you can always add a new heatsink and fan to it.

If i remember cool bits correctly there should be two sliders one for GPU speed one for Memory Speed.

 

[Amused]

<< Will OCing the Video Card have the same detrimental effects as OCing a CPU? How do you determine if you are OCing the RAM or GPU itself?

-x86 >>



There will be two sliders. One for the Core, one for the Memory. And yes, extreme overclocking can shorten the life of your video card. However, video cards have such a short "usefullness" life anyhow that 8 years instead of 10 isn't going to matter.

Clock in 5MHz increments, then test your machine. Do NOT check the "use these setting on boot" check box until you're sure your machine is stable.

 

[TheBDB]

There are options to increase either the GPU frequency or the memory frequency, or both.

 

[Amused]

<< DOH! I completly forgot about Coolbits!
<----- Radeon User! >>



INFIDEL!!

 

[Amused]

A few more hints:

Make 100% sure your machine is 100% stable before OCing. This means run all your games and loop 3DMark a few times. If everything is fine, then you can start OCing.

Too high of a GPU speed will cause a hard lock. Most often, you wont see this until you're in a game. So when OCing your GPU, I suggest running 3DMark to see if it can pass. When you run a game or 3DMark and it locks up, clock back your GPU 5MHz and that's the limit.

Too high Memory speeds will at first cause "artifacts" or visual anomolies in games. When you start seeing this, clock back 5MHz and that's your card's limit. If you keep going higher, your machine will lock up with a rainbow/static type pattern. Don't clock it this high.

Like I said, clock 5MHz at a time, then test.

 

[x86]

<< There are options to increase either the GPU frequency or the memory frequency, or both. >>



Using which program? I am not too fond of messing around with my registry, so does Powerstrip allow you to OC the memory and GPU one at a time?

-x86

 

[Amused]

One more hint:

There's nothing wrong with a conservative overclock. If you like to keep your card OCed all the time, I suggest running it 20% lower than the card's limits. This way you wont burn it up too soon if you plan on using it for many years.

 

[Amused]

<<

<< There are options to increase either the GPU frequency or the memory frequency, or both. >>



Using which program? I am not too fond of messing around with my registry, so does Powerstrip allow you to OC the memory and GPU one at a time?

-x86 >>



The tweak I spoke of is incredibly easy. BUT, there are programs out there that will do the tweak for you. Just do a websearch for "coolbits."

Like I said, there's no need for third party programs that need to be running in the background.

 

[x86]

<< A few more hints:

Make 100% sure your machine is 100% stable before OCing. This means run all your games and loop 3DMark a few times. If everything is fine, then you can start OCing.

Too high of a GPU speed will cause a hard lock. Most often, you wont see this until you're in a game. So when OCing your GPU, I suggest running 3DMark to see if it can pass. When you run a game or 3DMark and it locks up, clock back your GPU 5MHz and that's the limit.

Too high Memory speeds will at first cause "artifacts" or visual anomolies in games. When you start seeing this, clock back 5MHz and that's your card's limit. If you keep going higher, your machine will lock up with a rainbow/static type pattern. Don't clock it this high.

Like I said, clock 5MHz at a time, then test. >>



You seem pretty knowledgeable of VCs. Where do you accumulate all of this knowledge?

Does Powerstrip or Coolbits allow increments of 1Mhz? What VidC do you use? What/how did you OC it?

-x86

 

[Grendel99]

Think we could get some links to overclocking tools?

 

[BeauJangles]

you should first try to overclock the GPU as high as it will go. Then test the FPS in a game. Then go back and clock the GPU back down to stock and put the memory speed up as high as it will go. Check the FPS in the same game. Whichever has the largest improvement is where your bottleneck lies (for most cards the memory throughput is the bottleneck)... Then go back clock the limiting factor as high as it will go and then clock up the other as high as you can before it becomes unstable.

 

[Amused]

<<

<< A few more hints:

Make 100% sure your machine is 100% stable before OCing. This means run all your games and loop 3DMark a few times. If everything is fine, then you can start OCing.

Too high of a GPU speed will cause a hard lock. Most often, you wont see this until you're in a game. So when OCing your GPU, I suggest running 3DMark to see if it can pass. When you run a game or 3DMark and it locks up, clock back your GPU 5MHz and that's the limit.

Too high Memory speeds will at first cause "artifacts" or visual anomolies in games. When you start seeing this, clock back 5MHz and that's your card's limit. If you keep going higher, your machine will lock up with a rainbow/static type pattern. Don't clock it this high.

Like I said, clock 5MHz at a time, then test. >>



You seem pretty knowledgeable of VCs. Where do you accumulate all of this knowledge?

Does Powerstrip or Coolbits allow increments of 1Mhz? What VidC do you use? What/how did you OC it?

-x86 >>



It's been a couple of years since I fooled with Powerstrip, so I'm not sure. But I'm pretty sure it offers 1MHz increments. I choose 5MHz because if I messed with 1 MHz I'd be here all day.

Coolbits (nVidia's built in clocking utility) does offer 1MHz increments.

What I know, I've learned from other like me here on the net, and from trial and error. What I've told you is what works for me, everytime, without fail.

And trust me, Coolbits is the way to go. Ever since I've known about that, I've stopped using any and all third party clocking utilities... simply because they were more trouble than they were worth, and I'm extremely anal about having as little as possible running in the background.

 

[CrackRabbit]

Sorry i dropped out earlier, GF Called
Anyways, Powerstrip does do 1mhz increments so you can squeze every last mhz out of your core if you felt the need to.
I think Amused is right, try coolbits first, if you dont like it/feel comfortable, get powerstrip. powerstrip is a must for a Radeon user though .
(dont worry amused i wont be an infidel forever, i have seen the light, my next mobo and vid card will all have a big n on them )