How far is too far?

[Mbiker72]

Ok, so I am going to town on my xfx 9600gt xxx alpha dog. A reference 9600gt is clocked at 650 on the gpu, and this edition is factory clocked at 740. Thats pretty substantial. However, I am currently about 20 north of 800 and climbing. My 3DMArk06 score keeps rising, 13355 single gpu at time of writing this. How do I know if Ive pushed it too far. What tools are best to detect? The max temp ive ever seen on this card is 71C, but thats only if its about 90F in the room (on stock cooler mind you). It usually comes in around 67-68C max.

[GT3mich]

Your computer will lock up. I've been running 3Dmark06 tonight as well and have had to reboot many times when I push the GPU too far. I'm using EVGA Precision to push my GPU.

[Spawn-Inc]

first off change out the thermal paste. if i would add as many fans or ever move your computer to a cooler place if you can when benching. i could see you getting 850 for sure with good cooling.

use Evga Precision (http://www.evga.com/precision/) with ATI tool (http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/) as your overclock test program.

(ati tool will work with nvidia as well as ati, so don't worry about its name) also get that q6600 to 4ghz, that will really boost your score.


Your computer will lock up. I've been running 3Dmark06 tonight as well and have had to reboot many times when I push the GPU too far. I'm using EVGA Precision to push my GPU.

thats all fine and well but it wastes time having to reboot, testing with ati tool works best.



the way to tell with ati tool is to set your clocks at what you want then hit the "Scan For Artifacts" button, a window will open to the left with a fussy cube that will be still. if you see any yellow dots then your overclock will be unstable and your clock should be reduced. i let the scan run for 10 seconds 2-3 times.

[Mbiker72]

hmmm, i think ill try those. I think 850 will be no prob as well considering how im going. Im waiting for a new MB for my 4.0 run on the CPU but isnt less than 70C a good temp for a video card? Do i really need noisy fans. As it is, I only have the on board fan at 45% during the runs, I could just up that no?

[Spawn-Inc]

is this for a 24/7 overclock or just benching?

when you bench you should have all fans full speed and as much cooling as possible.

extra cooling will also help get a higher OC.

70 is to high for my likely but well within the limits of video cards.

here are 2 picture of ati tool and precision with my card. the first is a safe oc and the second is to much and you can see the yellow dots that tell you its no good.

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/3347/n1da3.jpg

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/7039/n2ao1.jpg

[GT3mich]

With EVGA Precision you can adjust the fan speed. The stock speed/temp for my card were 58c. With EP I can move the slider to 56 and my temps go down to 45c. On full it gets down to 39c but the fan is too loud.

[Mbiker72]

Im doing this because i enjoy pushing the limits, but the reality is that this is a daily use machine. It gets shut down most nights but i use it for games, homework, web browsing, everything. So i want it to be ok. Im not really seeing any temps higher than what was stock, so i havent been too worried. Is there any reason not to continue using RivaTuner to up the clocks? Is evga precision a better tool?

[Mbiker72]

Ok, i just ran ATI tool at 834Mhz for nearly 3 min and not a single "error". Does this explicitly mean that the card is stable at this setting. And does stable+good temp=safe?

[Mbiker72]

One more quick Q, will the same rules apply for memory and shader overclocks, will they result in artifacts the same way as a GPU freq does? Aka, do i use the same technique whilst overclocking those two clocks?

[chevro1et]

Your temps are fine.
You can use RivaTuner or EVGA Precision, both are fine.
Same method for OCing/ testing OC on mem and shaders as core speed.

You will not know if you truely have a stable OC until you run the card hard for awhile at the OCed clocks. Additionally, some games are more sensitive to OCs and while your OC may be stable for one game, it may be unstable in another. To really push your card, d/l and run Furmark (http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/)to test for stability.

[Mbiker72]

Ok, thanks for the temp guidance. I just ran at 834 and my 3dMark06 Score plummeted, which makes me think thermal throttling took place, so I went back to 824 and ran it again, and it pretty much crashed. Does this type of crashing hurt the card? Can i permanently damage the card by asking too much of it during this process?

[Spawn-Inc]

no, the card should be fine, i oced my 8600GT's all the time, and oc my current one all the time. since your keeping the same voltages then its not really going to hurt it as bad.

when i try going to 830-840 on my card i would get worse scores then at 820. so that, to me anyway, means the oc is no good. i've tried volting modding it and i can get up to 890 without artifacts but i get bad scores. this card is crap for ocing, ( i think its the actual card, not the series.