Can O/C'ing damage the GF3?

[Barium56]

Please don't immediately say "Yes", I know it can...

I'm talking about a unknown (no, it doesn't say ANYWHERE) brand GF3 with good case cooling but otherwise stock fans, etc. Can running it at 230/530 once in a while damage it? I'm seeing quite a few artifacts...does that mean anything? I really don't want to spend another $300 ;)

Thanx

[-=UR=- Ranger]

When you start seeing artifacts you are too high in my opinion, and yes, I think when you start seeing artifacts you could damage something.
Slow it down as far that you don´t don´t see any artifacts. If you definately want the speeds you mentioned above, you should look for some better cooling.

[Morphoius]

If you only overclock it for benchmarking you should be fine.

other than for benchmarking the stock speeds seem fast enough

[batboy]

Running the core too high for too long can overheat the GPU and if that happens, you're screwed. Running the memory too high is not nearly as bad. Usually if the core is too high, you'll experience instability when 3D gaming or benchmarking. If you're only seeing a few artifacts, then I'm guessing the vid RAM is running a bit too high. To be on the safe side, back off to 225/525 and I bet you'll be fine.

Ok, I have to brag now. I have an OCZ Titan3 GF3 and I can overclock and benchmark it at a blazing 250/590... wow! Of course, I paid a lot more for it too. They claim it's the fastest GF3 in the world right now. Default runs at 215/515, just to rub it in some more.

http://www.ocztech.com/images/titan3.jpg

[Barium56]

Originally posted by batboy
They claim it's the fastest GF3 in the world right now.


Hmm...what's the theoretical top speed of a GF3 before it becomes unstable at any temperature? I bet if I cooled my case some more, put a Delta on a lapped GPU with thermal paste, and put some thermal epoxy on my RAM sinks, I could match or beat your record ;)

I'll try benchmarking it at 225/525 and see if that's better. I only O/C it when playing games or benchmarking, though.

[Oni]

You can't kill a videocard merely by overclocking it a little bit. You're system will freeze before any irreversable damage occours.