overclocking for dummies?

[benhonda]

I have just started looking into upgrading my machine, it is starting to have a hard time with games.

I will likely upgrade my CPU and GPU. But it will take some time to gather money and the knowledge to buy the right parts.

Until then, can a graphics card be overclocked? what is involved in overclocking a GC or CPU? I don't think I will try to overclock my current CPU for fear of killing it. but if I were to kill my current GC I could slap in the old one to get by.

I have a Nvidia Geforce GT 430 (see why id like more performance?)

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

Overclocking a GT 430 isn't worth your time and you shouldn't attempt it at all if the card is passively-cooled (that is, cooled only by a heatsink).

I would just keep the graphics quality as low as possible until the card could be replaced.

 

[benhonda]

Overclocking a GT 430 isn't worth your time and you shouldn't attempt it at all if the card is passively-cooled (that is, cooled only by a heatsink).

I would just keep the graphics quality as low as possible until the card could be replaced.

the GT 430 is fan cooled. I downloaded a benchmark program and MSI afterburner (after many google searches) I was able to squeeze out 3-4 more frames per second out of it...basically bumped up the gpu and memory clocks by a little over 200mhz each. After that, I had to set a manual curve for the fan to keep things nice and cool. That said, the couple of extra frames don't make a huge difference on my current games. a new GPU is really the way to go. Also, there are functions on the MSI afterburner that are locked out...so I assume the GT 430 does not allow adjustment of all settings. That card was such a huge boost over the intergrated graphics (the machine is at least 8 years old) that I was happy for a year or so. Now it doesn't even meet the min requirements for many games.

but my CPU is also having a hard time on some of my games (ones with lots of physics involved)
But after lots of reading I find that my Bios has overclocking locked out. I was considering buying a $50 amd quad core cpu and putting it in...but after finding out the bios on my MoBo is restricted, im thinking I may wait until I can afford a new MoBo before I buy a new CPU.