Can overclocking....

[Clarentavious]

Can overclocking a video card too much actually result in a performance decrease/framerate drop because of too much heat?

I mean, can heat affect performance, or do you simply risk burning your GPU or memory chips out?

I have a Leadtek 4200 with 128MB, how high do you think is the safest speed I can go?

-----

Benchmarks don't lie 🙂

 

[umheint0]

All I've seen is that if you go too high, you get artifacts and BSODs, but that's all. My card must run at 70+ degrees sometimes, and it goes just fine (I mean, I burn my hand by touching the transistors on the back of the card). Now with my improved case cooling, it isn't as bad, but it's still hot, and the performance is just fine. I get the full 60fps in Operation Flashpoint, because my monitor can only handle 60hz at 1024x768, and it keeps it there all the time. I don't think heat affects it at all.

XP 2500+ Barton @ 2235Mhz
A7N8X Dlx
2x512MB Corsair PC3200
MSI GF3Ti 500
16x DVD-ROM
2x80GB 7200RPM Maxtor
Onboard audio

 

[skligmund]

just for reference, 140 degrees F is the time when something get too hot to touch. At that point, it feels like it is burning. Just for reference, I felt I needed to say it for some unknown wierd reason.

Water cooling is for the weak. Get liquid nitrogen.

 

[speeduk]

I recently oc my 9700 pro to 9800 levels (soft mod and a lil gpu o/c 360/340) and it would run fine for a while but heat build up made it unstable so i just leave it as it is.

 

[umheint0]

Then the back of my card must be about 120-130 degree. I can't keep my finger on it for longer than a few seconds before it starts to hurt a lot.

XP 2500+ Barton @ 2235Mhz
A7N8X Dlx
2x512MB Corsair PC3200
MSI GF3Ti 500
16x DVD-ROM
2x80GB 7200RPM Maxtor
Onboard audio

 

[skligmund]

No, it is 140 or higher, at 130 you could hold on to it indefinently, or at least for a few minutes, before it became uncomfortable. So I would say your card is at 140-145F. Just a guess. If you can obtain access to an infrared thermometer, you could get the EXACT temperature.

Water cooling is for the weak. Get liquid nitrogen.

 

[umheint0]

Kewl.... I guess that's pretty damn hot then ;-)

XP 2500+ Barton @ 2241Mhz
A7N8X Dlx
2x512MB Corsair PC3200
MSI GF3Ti 500
16x DVD-ROM
2x80GB 7200RPM Maxtor
Onboard audio

 

[error_911]

well yeah, obviously if you clock it too high the heat will damage the memory/core or other card components, therefore decreasing its performance... But generally when OCing a video card you will notice "artifacts" which are little discrepancies in the graphics during a game or other graphic intense utility... to OC you vid card just increase its core and memory speeds by a few mhz until you experience instability, at which time you take a step back and verify that your card isn't just fooling you, heh, and that it can sustain stable operation at the OC'ed settings... OBVIOUSLY cooling your card and system down additionaly will allow for a better and higher OC so you might want to take that into consideration

<b>people are only idiots when they don't realize - when they do it just gets funnier, like a dog chasing its own tail, or like george bush's public address(es)</b>

 

[skligmund]

I think it is funny, I'm overclocking my GeForce4 MX440-SE (don't ask).

GPU (270) 350 [artifacts at 386]
Mem. (400) 550 [Artifacts at 593]
NOTE: I like to ensure stability

All that overclocking, with a stock lame-ass passive heatsink. It stays at about 110-120F (I have a thermocouple on it). I got about a 35% performance gain.

Water cooling is for the weak. Get liquid nitrogen.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Skligmund on 03/31/03 05:21 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[error_911]

are you serious ?!?! damn those are nice speeds from an MX440 <b>SE</b>... what manufacturer? I know that my Mx440 (Chaintech) can go up to 375/380 with my Thermaltake Crystal Orb, and the mem can run stable at 480, though no thermister to check temps (yet).... damn, what kinda 3d-mark scores u getting and what kinda system you runnin?

<b>people are only idiots when they don't realize - when they do it just gets funnier, like a dog chasing its own tail, or like george bush's public address(es)</b>

 

[skligmund]

Ooo, i have to do a 3dmark yet, i just fixed my computer, so now it will run directx 8 (long story). I have no heatsinks on my RAM niether. It is a cheap "Asylum" Geforce4 MX-440 SE (yes, SE). I got it a CompUSA on a steal-of-a-deal.

I'll update you tomorrow with all the details, I have to go to work in a few minutes.

Imagine if NVIDIA made CPU's......

Water cooling is for the weak. Get liquid nitrogen.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Skligmund on 03/31/03 05:59 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[error_911]

oh you don't see the drool on my face... imagine nvidia into cpu design... no wait, imagine ATI for that matter

<b>people are only idiots when they don't realize - when they do it just gets funnier, like a dog chasing its own tail, or like george bush's public address(es)</b>

 

[skligmund]

OK, here is my lame ass computer 3DMark scores.
First the specifications:

PSU: ANTEC 430 Watt
Motherboard: A-Bit KT7E
Chipset: KT133E
CPU: AXP1800 T-Bred B @ 1696 MHz (40C Load)
RAM: 896MB PC133
RAM Speed: 139.4 MHz
Video Card: Geforce4 MX-440SE
Video Overclock Speed:
GPU: 350 (270)
RAM: 550 (400)
Sound Card: Hercules Muse 5.1 DVD
Hard Drives: WD 7200RPM 40GIG
MAXTOR 7200RPM 40GIG
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition (All updates)



3DMark Score: 5569
3DMark score before Video Card OC: 5206

Definently not worthy by nowdays standards, but good enough for the girls I go with..... for now.

Water cooling is for the weak. Get liquid nitrogen.

 

[wschuerm]

3dmark tweaking

First i tested it plain (no tweaks) 8774
Then i used rage 3dmark2001 tweak just some softwre thingy 9033
Then i oc'd the vid card 25mhz (gpu and mem)
10175

i've got an asus P4pe, PIV 2.4, 512mb corsair cas2 and radeon 8500LE 128mb ram

you see that ocing can boost performance but still you should only do it when you can see the difference in a game



SL6EF OC's GOOD

 

[error_911]

Well dude, you still kick my system's ass on your 3D-Mark scores, I got a score of 2600 [shock]. My system is:

AMD Athlon XP Palamino 1600 @ 1,400Mhz (not OCed - yet), with Vantec Aeroflow (idle at 35/36, load 42/43)
MSI KT3 Ultra w/VIA KT333
Samsung PC2700/333Mhz DDR-RAM @ CAS2.0
Chaintech GeForce4 MX440 - core@375Mhz, RAM@380
Maxtor 40Gig 7,200rpm
WD 2.5Gig 5,400rpm
LG DVD-ROM
Enermax 350W PSU
Win XP Professional

Yur damn lucky, I still can't figure-out the bottleneck in my system, caus my score's way too low, though I also have OCing problems (can't go above FSB 139 without stability issues) and I know its not the RAM or CPU, and I'm thinking it might be the video card, but I'm just not sure. When I start watercooling I'll have a new CPU (oh sh!t, I'll have it by next week! nothin great, probly an XP2200 T-bred, but still better than the Palamino I've learnt to hate) and then a new mobo by this summer (hopefully even upgrade to a hammer cpu), and I'll have a new vid card (a Radeon 9500Pro or a 9600Pro, will see) pretty soon too, so somethin is bound to be the problem, and I guess we'll see when I upgrade... as long as I can kill the sh!t outa my t-bred when i get it (hopin to hit somethin high, we'll see) i'll be happy, even if my FSB can't get above 139Mhz, hehehehe.

<b>people are only idiots when they don't realize - when they do it just gets funnier, like a dog chasing its own tail, or like george bush's public address(es)</b>

 

[skligmund]

I can see the performance gain in Return To Castle Wolfenstein, MSFS 2002PRO and GTAIII. So it is worth my while to overclock my card. I can get another 25 megahertz out of both GPU and RAM, but when my room gets hot (75+F) I see artifacts sometimes in hardcore games. So I drop it as to keep this from happening. Maybe I'll get a fan for the heatsink on my card, then overclock the gpu a little more........

I 3dMarked it with clock speeds of 375 and 575, this is what I got: 5654

Water cooling is for the weak. Get liquid nitrogen.