Overclocking your graphics card (GET A BETTER FPS RATE!)

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TekBubs

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Jul 18, 2008
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Alright after reading some of my tutorials are you still getting a low FPS rate?
There is another solution and that's overclocking your graphics card.

Since I'm not all that familiar with overclocking and I'm not sure exactly what it does (If someone can explain that would be nice) however I do know that it boosts your FPS (and that's the main purpose).

Alright, this works for ATI cards and NVIDIA cards, I'm not sure if it works with anything else. You're going to need a tool called ATItool which you can download it @ http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

Once you download it, start up the exe and and hit "Find Max Core", this will see how much power your G-card can use without causing any errors. If you have a really good G-card (why would you be doing this O.o) it could take a while because they tend to have more power. Anyways once thats done hit "Find Max Mem" after THAT'S done the 2 sliders to the right (Core and memory) should now be further up the line, hit "set clock" and load up a game.

PLEASE DO NOT MANUALLY MOVE THE SLIDERS, IF YOU GO TO HIGH UP YOU WILL START GETTING ERRORS AND COLORED SQUARES WILL START APPEARING ON YOUR SCREEN!!!!!!! THAT BEING SAID, NOTHING BAD WILL HAPPEN, JUST RESTART YOUR PC, BUT DONT TAKE THE CHANCE!
 
Just going to throw this out there, if you do not know what you are doing, you should not overclock. Overclocking with poor cooling, low airflow, or a very factory-clocked card, can lead to permanent hardware damage. Make sure you do your research before you overclock any of you hardware, and make sure you have the proper cooling (this goes for CPU's too). Up the clock slowly and VERY gradually, and make sure that once you get it to the point where it is no longer 100% stable, clock it down a few mhz and then leave it.

But in the long run, overclocking will not dramatically increase your FPS. A small overclock will most likely only result in an average of 2-3 more average FPS, and a greater overclock will lead to about 4-5 more average fps. If you have an older card that only gets about 30 fps on source games, overclocking won't really work that well and will most likely do nothing for you. At this point you are better off just upgrading your video card. However if you have something a little more mainstream, like a 8800GT or a 3800 series ATI card, you will most likely be able to benefit from overclocking (mostly with high-intensity situations). The overclock will help your FPS not dip down as low when there are multiple things going on (i.e. lots of explosions and people who are lit on fire in TF2). Instead of dropping to 25-30 fps, you would only drop to about 30-35. Like I said earlier, overclocking does not significantly affect FPS in game.
 
I understand you're just trying to inform everyone but 5 FPS is a lot to some people, of they're at 20-25 FPS it helps a lot, and about the cooling, that RARELY happens.

Dont forget...theres a line between criticizing what someone wrote and correcting them...You're talking as if its all bad...Plz refrain from doing that, thanks. Some opinions are better left unsaid

And btw.. a low overclock is NOT 2-3 FPS its 5 fps, a normal one is about 10 which can help a lot of people...
 
Thatguy said:
Just going to throw this out there, if you do not know what you are doing, you should not overclock. Overclocking with poor cooling, low airflow, or a very factory-clocked card, can lead to permanent hardware damage. Make sure you do your research before you overclock any of you hardware, and make sure you have the proper cooling (this goes for CPU's too). Up the clock slowly and VERY gradually, and make sure that once you get it to the point where it is no longer 100% stable, clock it down a few mhz and then leave it.

But in the long run, overclocking will not dramatically increase your FPS. A small overclock will most likely only result in an average of 2-3 more average FPS, and a greater overclock will lead to about 4-5 more average fps. If you have an older card that only gets about 30 fps on source games, overclocking won't really work that well and will most likely do nothing for you. At this point you are better off just upgrading your video card. However if you have something a little more mainstream, like a 8800GT or a 3800 series ATI card, you will most likely be able to benefit from overclocking (mostly with high-intensity situations). The overclock will help your FPS not dip down as low when there are multiple things going on (i.e. lots of explosions and people who are lit on fire in TF2). Instead of dropping to 25-30 fps, you would only drop to about 30-35. Like I said earlier, overclocking does not significantly affect FPS in game.
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Good points that guy. Also if you oc 8800 GTS 320 and 640, 8800 gtx, or 8800 ultra expect extra heat, above usual predictions. The G80 cores tend to put out a lot of heat even when not oc'd. Just watch the temp monitors constantly.
 
TekBubs said:
Guy, take some notes from MrQ he didnt demolish my topic :D

Nah I <3 you
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I didn't kill your thread, I just don't want to see a someone go overclock a radeon 1800x pro and break it because they think they can get 10 more fps. If you are getting 20-25 fps, that means you are getting a 50% performance increase with a 10fps boost. That is not possible. I'm just making sure that if people are going to be tampering with hardware that they know the risks and the actual output that it brings.

And for future reference, things like this belong in the tech help/tech talk forums.
 
MrQ said:
Good points that guy. Also if you oc 8800 GTS 320 and 640, 8800 gtx, or 8800 ultra expect extra heat, above usual predictions. The G80 cores tend to put out a lot of heat even when not oc'd. Just watch the temp monitors constantly.
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Take it for what it's worth from a veteran oc'er, but with graphic intensive games (ie crysis, oblivion) I have gotten 5-10 fps more by ocing my card. This allows me more options in tweaking visuals. Just make sure you up the fan rpm as the old drivers (I'm still on them) don't change the fan speed when detecting heat. I use rivatuner which I like because I can change my overclock script quickly if I need the boost. Obviously, any valve game doesn't need this even when I'm running 19x12 everything high.

OCing comes out more in 3dmarks if benchmarking is your thing.
 
Overclocking really isnt all that worth it imo. If you cant deal with your current FPS, get a new card. Overclocking only becomes worth it if you start doing custom rigging and cooling.
 
OCing can do wonders. It can also do terrible things. Make sure you know what you're doing.

Overclocking refers to increasing the frequencies within your graphics processor. As a result, it is able to process more information faster, but gets quite a bit hotter.
 
In effect your putting jet fuel in your honda civic four-banger. You will get more speed but it will wear out your engine much faster.
 
TekBubs said:
I understand you're just trying to inform everyone but 5 FPS is a lot to some people, of they're at 20-25 FPS it helps a lot, and about the cooling, that RARELY happens.

Dont forget...theres a line between criticizing what someone wrote and correcting them...You're talking as if its all bad...Plz refrain from doing that, thanks. Some opinions are better left unsaid

And btw.. a low overclock is NOT 2-3 FPS its 5 fps, a normal one is about 10 which can help a lot of people...
Click to expand...

Thatguy is right and I don't think he was criticizing you. Hardware damage is actually a very popular thing with cooling problems. CPU's and GPU's are the main items. CPU overheating is not only going to screw up your PC, it is going to slow down your cpu, damage it, and then you start to lose money. Your GPU is the same thing, and is also an essential unit. These can damage very easily if under extreme temperatures.

If you do some research on how hot your CPU and GPU are right now, its enough to burn your hand. Most cases these days don't have sufficient airflow, minus some coolermasters and the Antec 900 etc. For those who do not have a good airflow, most cards and processors can reach probably around 150+. I have great airflow and am only overclocking minimally, and i have a cpu running at about 100F and gpu at about 130F.

What he was talking about is serious stuff, and overclocking should only be done when you know what your doing. Reading your post, you asked what overclocking was. If you don't even know what overclocking is or what it does, you should not be doing it. It will only put your hardware at risk, and i know gpu's and cpu's these days dont come cheap.
 
Since I'm not all that familiar with overclocking and I'm not sure exactly what it does
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Oh boy, you sure do know how to make me feel comfortable when I'm pushing my potentially expensive and sensitive electronics to warranty-voiding levels.

~Gooda~
 
evga has a over clocking program on their website for their graphic cards. Its called evga percision.
 
bakerthree said:
evga has a over clocking program on their website for their graphic cards. Its called evga percision.
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All nvidia cards come with a similar program called Ntune, but I would only recommended that for very small CPU overclocking. For example going from 2.5 to 2.6 or something along that line. The only problem with it is it assumes everything and changes your memory timings, voltages, depending on your overclock, and sometimes you can get a better overclock if you do it yourself and put all the settings to what it really needs to be at.
 
M3dley -TR- said:
All nvidia cards come with a similar program called Ntune, but I would only recommended that for very small CPU overclocking. For example going from 2.5 to 2.6 or something along that line. The only problem with it is it assumes everything and changes your memory timings, voltages, depending on your overclock, and sometimes you can get a better overclock if you do it yourself and put all the settings to what it really needs to be at.
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CPU is different then GPU. Never overclock a cpu with a program, do it in the bios. Also, each system is different with different ambients. OC'ing requires trying an oc, testing, modifying, testing, repeat, until you're comfortable with the results. Never forget to test and monitor your OC.
 
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