Is Overclocking GPU safe and should I do it?

[MemeRat]

I have an MSI GTX 970 Twin Frozr V and its good but recently the performance has been getting worse i've been losing a lot of frames in games i used to get very good frames in and idk why this is happening but i might overclock my gpu to get better performance so is overclocking gpus safe and should I do it? and can you give any beginner tips?

 

[WildCard999]

I would highly suggest you find out why your 970 isn't performing as good as it used to before overclocking it. Make sure the driver is up-to-date and the card is clean of dust. Any dust buildup on that 970 will cause higher temps and can reach the point where the card will throttle performance to keep it from overheating.

Here is a good guide for GPU overclocking however try the steps I mentioned above before trying this.
http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2749337/safe-gpu-overclocking-guide-2016.html

 

[Elegost3000]

Clean the dust off your card and maybe do a clean install of your windows if you didn't do it for some years,overclocking is safe as long as you are careful and don't overdo it right from the start.

 

[Dunlop0078]

A GPU's performance should not degrade over time. Like said above I would find out why your card is not performing as well as it used to before you consider overcloking.

As for the safety of overclocking, I have overclocked every GPU and CPU I have ever owned and never had an issue, my old gtx 760 saw heavy use with a heavy overclock its entire life, I used it for several years and it still works to this day. Heat is what kills electronics not overclocking and with your msi twin frozr gpu heat should not be an issue assuming its not caked with dust. You will more than likely upgrade long before the GPU dies, with or without any overclock something like msi afterburner and the stock bios for your card will allow.

 

[MemeRat]

I would highly suggest you find out why your 970 isn't performing as good as it used to before overclocking it. Make sure the driver is up-to-date and the card is clean of dust. Any dust buildup on that 970 will cause higher temps and can reach the point where the card will throttle performance to keep it from overheating.

Here is a good guide for GPU overclocking however try the steps I mentioned above before trying this.
http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2749337/safe-gpu-overclocking-guide-2016.html

Clean the dust off your card and maybe do a clean install of your windows if you didn't do it for some years,overclocking is safe as long as you are careful and don't overdo it right from the start.

A GPU's performance should not degrade over time. Like said above I would find out why your card is not performing as well as it used to before you consider overcloking.

As for the safety of overclocking, I have overclocked every GPU and CPU I have ever owned and never had an issue, my old gtx 760 saw heavy use with a heavy overclock its entire life, I used it for several years and it still works to this day. Heat is what kills electronics not overclocking and with your msi twin frozr gpu heat should not be an issue assuming its not caked with dust. You will more than likely upgrade long before the GPU dies, with or without any overclock something like msi afterburner and the stock bios for your card will allow.

Thank you all for the answers, i've only had my card for 6 months and looking at it through the window theres not much dust on it at all but I will clean it tomorrow and I think the performance drop maybe cause of the fact I haven't updated my GPU drivers since I got the card. I will update the drivers tomorrow aswell and i'll let you all know if anything changes.

 

[jungle14man]

Overclocking can be safe... if you know the boundaries. I wouldn't touch the voltage but mabie the core and memory clock.

 

[MemeRat]

I would highly suggest you find out why your 970 isn't performing as good as it used to before overclocking it. Make sure the driver is up-to-date and the card is clean of dust. Any dust buildup on that 970 will cause higher temps and can reach the point where the card will throttle performance to keep it from overheating.

Here is a good guide for GPU overclocking however try the steps I mentioned above before trying this.
http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2749337/safe-gpu-overclocking-guide-2016.html

Clean the dust off your card and maybe do a clean install of your windows if you didn't do it for some years,overclocking is safe as long as you are careful and don't overdo it right from the start.

A GPU's performance should not degrade over time. Like said above I would find out why your card is not performing as well as it used to before you consider overcloking.

As for the safety of overclocking, I have overclocked every GPU and CPU I have ever owned and never had an issue, my old gtx 760 saw heavy use with a heavy overclock its entire life, I used it for several years and it still works to this day. Heat is what kills electronics not overclocking and with your msi twin frozr gpu heat should not be an issue assuming its not caked with dust. You will more than likely upgrade long before the GPU dies, with or without any overclock something like msi afterburner and the stock bios for your card will allow.

I've updated my drivers and there hasn't been any difference made. Any other suggestions on things I can do to fix my card?