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How To Overclock Your Graphics Card : Introduction

12:40 - Friday 25 April 2008 by Florian Charpentier
Source: Tom's Hardware – Keywords: overclock, graphics, card
Categories: Graphics

Introduction

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Overclocking is more popular than ever. And since it’s so easy to boost the frequency of your Intel processor, it would be a shame not to. But CPUs aren’t the only components that can be overclocked. The GPUs on graphics cards can also be speeded up, and so can their memory. And since an affordable card only differs from more expensive ones in its clock speed, overclocking can be your key to some real savings.

overclocking radeon geforce

Overclocking a GPU is a less common process than overclocking a CPU, and above all, it’s more complex. One of the reasons for that is that a graphics card’s BIOS is not as easily accessible as a motherboard’s. This article will shed some light on the different methods that can be used and the results you can expect when overclocking your graphics card.


Talkback

mi1ez 25/04/2008 02:52
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mi1ez
A very insightful article. May have to experiment pushing my 3850 a bit further!
David345 25/04/2008 03:32
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David345
I havent read all of the article so forgive me if it already answers this questtion but what would be better overclocking a graphics card yourself or buying one factory overclocked?. Also couldn't there have been a list of the overclockability of some graphics cards
spudd91 26/04/2008 10:35
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spudd91
Will overclocking in BIOS overclock all cards in case of SLI mode?
Solitaire 30/04/2008 06:33
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Solitaire
Funny, my 3850 could be pushed to 820MHz GPU within Catalyst's Overdrive page, not 730MHz. And Overdrive's Auto-Tune is very, VERY optimistic too - it pushed my stock-voltage 3850 to 775MHz core. Worked in SupCom:FA for three whole minutes! XD

mi1ez: Be careful, many 3850s have bad overheat issues under OC, and mistakenly pumping up the voltage will make that situation worse. I found out the hard way... With boosted voltage a 3850 can reach crazy speeds... if you decided to use watercooling, that is...

David345: Manufacturer-OC will yield lower speeds than DIY while costing a whole lot more. But the cards are usually much more stable and if you don't mess with them then its not your problem if the card gets borked. DIY saves (money)... unless you bork the card, in which case, good luck. You'll need it... :o
sdack 01/05/2008 04:06
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sdack
David345 :
I havent read all of the article so forgive me if it already answers this questtion but what would be better overclocking a graphics card yourself or buying one factory overclocked?. Also couldn't there have been a list of the overclockability of some graphics cards


Of course, getting hardware that is already overclocked by the manufacturer is better. It however costs you considerably more money, too. Money which you could have invested into a completely different graphics card perhaps.

I personally avoid manufacturers who overclock hardware since I like to overclock it myself. If you then buy a card from a manufacturer that sells overclocked as well as standard hardware you will get only a little gain out of their standard offerings simply because they ones with a high gain got sorted out. Therefore best for overclocking is hardware that is being sold only as standard without an option of getting an overclocked version. These provide a better chance for a high gain and cost only little.

Note You are going to post a comment as anonymous.



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