Note: This guide only applies to Nvidia graphics chipsets and computers that are running Windows XP or Windows Vista. I've seen a lot of posts from people who have had difficulties overclocking their laptops and I've written this guide to alleviate some confusion. I personally advise against overclocking your laptop unless you are experienced with computer hardware and overclocking. Remember that any damage caused by overclocking is your fault, and yours only!
Caution! Be warned of the following!
1) Overclocking your graphics card will technically void any warranty that have on your laptop. I say technically, because the act of overclocking does breech the terms in the warranty, but it's improbable that anyone will ever find out, or care for that matter.
2) Laptops obviously cram a lot of hardware into a small package. The hardware creates a lot of heat when it's all packed in tight, and the small form factor of the laptop leaves little room for sufficient cooling. For this reason laptop GPUs are intentionally underclocked as to prevent overheating.
With that being said, you can see how overclocking the GPU can be potentially harmful to your system. Overclocking desktop GPUs is simply a matter of pushing the hardware further than what the manufacturer deemed reasonable for that GPU. When it comes to laptops, overclocking the GPU is not just a matter of pushing hardware limits but rather completely disregarding the manufacturer's idea of what is reasonable and safe.
Before you just jump into the overclocking process, I advise that you seriously consider the above warnings, as well as any other general dangers of overclocking as those dangers are essentially magnified when it comes to laptops.
After considering the above follow these steps:
1) First you will need a driver for your GPU that will allow overclocking. Laptop drivers are modified from the desktop version to prevent overclocking. You will need to download a desktop driver that will allow the overclocking software to recognize your GPU. You can download the latest desktop drivers from laptopvideo2go.com. Here is a link:
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers
Now, this is a desktop driver so by default it will not be compatible with your laptop GPU. In order to make it compatible you will need to download the .INF file from laptopvideo2go that is associated with the driver you download. The .INF file tells the driver which GPUs it is compatible with, so the laptopvideo2go .INF file has been modified to include mobile GPUs. Here is a direct link to download the driver I am currently using, and here is a direct link to download the .INF file.
2) Before you extract the new driver and attempt to install it, you need to remove whatever existing display driver you already have installed. To do this, you need to access Device Manager. For Windows XP, click Start -> Run, type "devmgmt.msc", and press enter. For Windows Vista, click Start and type "device" into the search bar.
Once you're in device manager, click to expand "Display adapters" and double click on your graphics card. Then click on the "Driver" tab and click "Uninstall". This will uninstall your current display driver and prompt you to restart your computer to finish installation.
Note: Some people suggest that it is important to use a different utility to clean and remove other driver files that may have been left behind after the uninstall process. For this, you can use Driver Sweeper which can be downloaded here.
http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/
3) Once you have rebooted your computer you need to extract the driver files you downloaded to a folder. I created a folder on my hard drive called NVIDIA. Once you have a folder created you can extract all the files to C:/NVIDIA (or whatever folder you created).
After you have extracted the driver to your C:/NVIDIA folder, you will need to replace the nv_disp.inf file with the new one that you download. You can just click and drag the new one into the C:/NVIDIA folder and choose to overwrite or replace the file when prompted.
4) Now that your files are extracted and you have replaced the nv_disp.inf file with the modified one, you are ready to install the new driver. Simply open your C:/NVIDIA folder and open the file "setup.exe". This will run the Nvidia installer and will walk you through the setup process. Once again, you will need to restart your computer.
Note: If you are running Vista you may receive a message that Vista requires digitally signed drivers and that the driver you are attempting to install is not signed. To fix this you have to tell Vista not to require digitally signed drivers. To do this click Start, search "cmd", right click on cmd.exe, and click "Run as administrator". Then execute this command "Bcdedit.exe /set nointegritychecks ON" without the quotation marks. Then restart your computer and try installing the driver again.
5) The last thing you need to download in order to start overclocking is RivaTuner. This is the program that will allow you to adjust the speeds and settings of your graphics card. RivaTuner can be downloaded here:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/RivaTuner-v2.24-download-163.html
After you've downloaded RivaTuner, create a new folder for it (mine is C:/Rivatuner) and extract the files to that folder. Then, navigate to setup subfolder and open the file "RivaTuner224.exe" (note: the numbers may be different if you have a version other than v2.24).
6) If you've completed all of the above steps successfully, you should be ready to go with RivaTuner and a compatible driver installed. If not, RivaTuner will not be able to recognize your GPU.
For the actual overclocking process, please follow one of these RivaTuner guides:
This is a great guide to GPU overclocking that was written up by our very own RedDragonXXX.
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=398013
This is a fabulous guide to using RivaTuner.
http://www.vaguetech.com/index.php?pageid=rt207
I will post updates as needed. If you have problems or questions I'll do my best to answer them or direct you to something that can.
Caution! Be warned of the following!
1) Overclocking your graphics card will technically void any warranty that have on your laptop. I say technically, because the act of overclocking does breech the terms in the warranty, but it's improbable that anyone will ever find out, or care for that matter.
2) Laptops obviously cram a lot of hardware into a small package. The hardware creates a lot of heat when it's all packed in tight, and the small form factor of the laptop leaves little room for sufficient cooling. For this reason laptop GPUs are intentionally underclocked as to prevent overheating.
With that being said, you can see how overclocking the GPU can be potentially harmful to your system. Overclocking desktop GPUs is simply a matter of pushing the hardware further than what the manufacturer deemed reasonable for that GPU. When it comes to laptops, overclocking the GPU is not just a matter of pushing hardware limits but rather completely disregarding the manufacturer's idea of what is reasonable and safe.
Before you just jump into the overclocking process, I advise that you seriously consider the above warnings, as well as any other general dangers of overclocking as those dangers are essentially magnified when it comes to laptops.
After considering the above follow these steps:
1) First you will need a driver for your GPU that will allow overclocking. Laptop drivers are modified from the desktop version to prevent overclocking. You will need to download a desktop driver that will allow the overclocking software to recognize your GPU. You can download the latest desktop drivers from laptopvideo2go.com. Here is a link:
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers
Now, this is a desktop driver so by default it will not be compatible with your laptop GPU. In order to make it compatible you will need to download the .INF file from laptopvideo2go that is associated with the driver you download. The .INF file tells the driver which GPUs it is compatible with, so the laptopvideo2go .INF file has been modified to include mobile GPUs. Here is a direct link to download the driver I am currently using, and here is a direct link to download the .INF file.
2) Before you extract the new driver and attempt to install it, you need to remove whatever existing display driver you already have installed. To do this, you need to access Device Manager. For Windows XP, click Start -> Run, type "devmgmt.msc", and press enter. For Windows Vista, click Start and type "device" into the search bar.
Once you're in device manager, click to expand "Display adapters" and double click on your graphics card. Then click on the "Driver" tab and click "Uninstall". This will uninstall your current display driver and prompt you to restart your computer to finish installation.
Note: Some people suggest that it is important to use a different utility to clean and remove other driver files that may have been left behind after the uninstall process. For this, you can use Driver Sweeper which can be downloaded here.
http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/
3) Once you have rebooted your computer you need to extract the driver files you downloaded to a folder. I created a folder on my hard drive called NVIDIA. Once you have a folder created you can extract all the files to C:/NVIDIA (or whatever folder you created).
After you have extracted the driver to your C:/NVIDIA folder, you will need to replace the nv_disp.inf file with the new one that you download. You can just click and drag the new one into the C:/NVIDIA folder and choose to overwrite or replace the file when prompted.
4) Now that your files are extracted and you have replaced the nv_disp.inf file with the modified one, you are ready to install the new driver. Simply open your C:/NVIDIA folder and open the file "setup.exe". This will run the Nvidia installer and will walk you through the setup process. Once again, you will need to restart your computer.
Note: If you are running Vista you may receive a message that Vista requires digitally signed drivers and that the driver you are attempting to install is not signed. To fix this you have to tell Vista not to require digitally signed drivers. To do this click Start, search "cmd", right click on cmd.exe, and click "Run as administrator". Then execute this command "Bcdedit.exe /set nointegritychecks ON" without the quotation marks. Then restart your computer and try installing the driver again.
5) The last thing you need to download in order to start overclocking is RivaTuner. This is the program that will allow you to adjust the speeds and settings of your graphics card. RivaTuner can be downloaded here:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/RivaTuner-v2.24-download-163.html
After you've downloaded RivaTuner, create a new folder for it (mine is C:/Rivatuner) and extract the files to that folder. Then, navigate to setup subfolder and open the file "RivaTuner224.exe" (note: the numbers may be different if you have a version other than v2.24).
6) If you've completed all of the above steps successfully, you should be ready to go with RivaTuner and a compatible driver installed. If not, RivaTuner will not be able to recognize your GPU.
For the actual overclocking process, please follow one of these RivaTuner guides:
This is a great guide to GPU overclocking that was written up by our very own RedDragonXXX.
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=398013
This is a fabulous guide to using RivaTuner.
http://www.vaguetech.com/index.php?pageid=rt207
I will post updates as needed. If you have problems or questions I'll do my best to answer them or direct you to something that can.
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