Video Card Overclocking......Why?

[petreza]

Hi,

I am wondering: do you guys overclock you video cards just to see how far you can push them and how high a benchmark can you get OR you overclock them and you play games while overclocked?

(the reason I ask is because I remember a while back a bunch of overclockers posting that they only play with stock clock)

 

[funnyperson1]

mostly for benchmarking, overclocking doesnt give enough of a real performance boost to help ou get more than 10fps unless you are very lucky

 

[petreza]

Well, I guess 10fps isn't that small of an improvment.

To expand my previous question: Does overclocking a video card justify the increased risk of freezes, reboots etc. How about if the core (and possibly memory) are watercooled?

The reason I ask is because I plan to buy a Ti 4600 soon and I am wondering if I should buy a model that overclocks well or one that's cheaper. But that is another thread that I will post in a few minutes.

 

[Arkaine23]

Overclocking Cards

I think there is usually enough real world difference to justify overclocking a video card. Even at worst, you can probably still get the same framerates as a stock card, but with higher detail graphics options turned on. I usually don't play games with the same overclock on my card that I run benchmarks.

 

[repo man11]

I found how far I could push my GF2Ti, and it gave me a noticeable improvement over default. It has been running strong for allmost a year.
I just do it for game performance, the idea of changing my settings, or setting my card to frequencies I know it can't maintain just for 3D Mark isn't something I would do. I don't really care about my score, other than to see if new drivers, etc, have improved performance.

 

[o770]

well, mostly because games, much less because scoring high...

i think its worth when you want to set the the anisotropy level a little higher or running it at the higher resolution etc.
its just not worth if you really cant overclock it high enough, so that performance increase wouldnt be noticealbe at all.


most of the time you do get some improvement, worthy,.

 

[Emericana]

games and for getting the most out of what you pay for. if you pay for a ti4200 but can overclock it to around ti4600 speeds then you save a lot of money. basically cause if you can get more performance for free why not?

for me overclocking usually yeilds a higher resolution. for example, while runnin my card at stock speeds i oculd only play ut2k3 w/ a lot of the goodies turned up at 1024x768 but when i overclocked it i can now play at 1152x864 which looks a bit nicer

 

[ElroyCarbon]

I crank mine cause stock is boring.......just the fact knowing its tweaked lets me sleep at night. I hate having stuff run stock just cause you know its being marketed at the limits set by the manufacturer..I do benchmark, surf and game online ALL at the same clock speed myself. CYA!

 

[FTC]

Hi,

I also overclock and USE the card overclocked,... but I am a bit conservative for that. Found my 4200 could do 315/615 (instead of default 250/513) absolutely stable, so I ended up adding memsinks, a better HSF and then reflashing the card with vga bios modded so that it boots at 300/600 which is how I run it normally... and have whatsoever no problems at all.

Regards
FTC

 

[james.miller]

the gf4 440mx sseems to benifit quite a lot from o/c'ing. i get upto another 60fps when i o/c mine

 

[Slayn]

Didnt you know? The bigger your overclock the bigger your penis.

 

[baqai]

Slayn LOL

Err umm what about a friend of mine "she" overclocks too

As for the question, i know that my video card is capable of giving better performance and quality with more "aggressive" settings (which might include some risks which i am knowingly and willingly taking) than what's the harm? plus its plain ol fun

 

[Henry Rollins II]

This is intresting. People have all kinds of weird O/C´s in their sigs. When I ask if that a stable result everybody always says yes. But now it turns out that some O/C only to achive a high 3Dmark2001 score and then clock it down for everyday use.

In my opinion a valid benchmark and O/C is one that is good enough for everyday use.

 

[james.miller]

mine gf4mx 440 has stayed at 320/470 since the day i brought it