3DMark2001 and GF4 MX440 questions

[Edward2]

I just recently decided to see how far I could overclock my Gainward GF4 MX440 AGP 4X video card, and see how high I could push my 3DMark2001 score. I have the latest nVidia drivers (45.23) and am using the stock cooling fan on the video card. I have a separate partition on my HD for benchmarking purposes, which does not have any software installed except for the basics (W2K).

I ran 3DMark2001 back in July with my video card running at default speeds (270/405) and I scored 7004. I ran the test again yesterday with my video card overclocked to 324/486 and I scored 8068 (which is good enough for 3rd place on the team site BTW). I did not get any artifacts or tearing while running the test. Tonight I tried running the 4 gaming tests with my video card overclocked to 324/513 and I started getting some tearing and/or artifacts. It finished the test and I scored 8333, but obviously the test was not valid because of the tearing/artifacts.

My question is - will lapping the stock heatsink and applying AS3 be enough to get rid of the tearing/artifacts? Will I gain any additional overclocking from just doing that? Or would I have to upgrade my video card cooling?

I really don't want to spend any money right now on additional cooling, because it is not worth it on this video card. Based on what I have read, I would really like to get a TI4200 video card but I don't have the money right now.

Thanks for any suggestions

[Kato]

Lapping the heatsink plus AS3 will bring down your temp, but don't expect anything more than a couple of degrees. You will get better temp by just increasing the airflow inside the case, cooler air = cooler temp. While it may take out some of the tearing away, but its still a stock heatsink, and theres a limit on how much you can improve your stock heatsink's performence. If you want to upgrade the card cooling, but still want to stay on air, then may be you can consider one of those 1u heatsink(Cooljag, for example), and mod/epoxy them on.

[john240sx]

another idea for upgrading cooling would be to use an old socket A or socket 370 heatsink (many people have these just laying around collecting dust), the majority of even the cheapest one's will ourperform the stock cooling with no contest.... the downside is losing a couple PCI slots (that's why the 1u heatsinks are so popular).

[cV]

Lap the core and you'll get more of a speed boost, with the back of the card feeling a lot cooler :)

Also lap the memory, should give you some extra speed without the need to do voltage modifications :cool:

[Overclocker550]

the ram on geforce4 mx440s dont get hot, i wouldnt bother lapping or ramsinks and just save up for a ti4200