Just starting to OC my 9800Pro...need advice.

[Chum]

I know to try bumping the core and memory (one at a time) to find the max and then drop it 5 or 10(to stay safe)....just a couple of questions...please
1. When raising the memory clock by 5 should I consider this a 10 because of the 2XDDR?
2. What symptoms should I look for when I am approaching my max...artifacting? Tearing?
3.Unsure of what artifacting looks like...could someone link me to a picture? I think I have seen tearing back when I was OCing my older TI4200.
4. Other things I should look for when overclocking...I assume a freeze would be a sign of too high...anything else, I want to play it safe :D

[bRiCe]

run 3dmark03 and in the nature scene.... look for little white dots in the water... and that means ur core is too high. That is where i get my artifacts at least that are noticable..... but white dots are indicitive of too high core speed

u will get geometric shapes when ur memory clock is too high. These are a little harder to notice for me personally, but u will see them when u get too high up there. the white dots will be noticeable and u dont need a screne shot for those... but maybe someone can link u to some memory overclock artifacts

[jcsurg]

try this rthdrib demo
http://www.daionet.gr.jp/~masa/rthdribl/
it is most sensitive program for error detection

You cannot miss the artifacts . They start by flashing at you . it will detect errors before the atitools or the 3dmark program

[hooah]

or use ati tool and it will search for the max stable overclock for you. http://atitool.ocfaq.com i belive is the site. it will search for max stable mem and core and also has a scan for artifacts part too so you can double check your max. i combine this with 3dmark tests and an hour of atitool searching for artifacts as well