Overclocking a graphics card, ill effects?

Shuzer

Shuzer

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Are there any ill effects associated with overclocking a graphics card? I have my 9700 OCed to 328.75/306, it runs stuff quite alot quicker than stock, but, is there any downfall to overclocking (ie. less life expectancy, lower framerates under load, anything like that)?

Also, does overclocking a graphics card make it run alot hotter? I have a desk fan blowing directly into my case at all times, do I even need this? I'm still waiting on my Vantec Aeroflow to come in to cool my CPU properly, and this deskfan drops my CPU temp by about 10ºC
 
Less of a video card life and yes it does run hotter, but if you do burn it up you can buy a new one. I dont really push my video cards to its limit, its not like i see a difference in games, 1-10 fps doesnt matter to me.
 
Well, obviously it runs hotter, but I was looking for specifics, if anyone knew.. anyway, how much shorter a life? I want it to last as long as possible, not kill it off in a year..
 
Yes it will make it run quit hotter. With the life shortening, youll have a new card before it craps out if you always ran it like that. Most of all when OCing GFX cards, you get artifacts. You always have them, some you may not notice. Have you noticed anything weird yet when playing?
 
well, I haven't been running at 308.75/306 all the time, basically, I've just been trying different settings to see what works best and runs best

Before I noticed MAJOR artifacting, I pushed it to about 342/303.75, so I lowered it to about 330/303, for awhile I didn't notice anything, but while playing games I noticed white artifacts in the distance, so I kept dropping it down until I didn't notice anymore, and that's where I arrived at 328.75/306, have yet to notice any artifacting with that setting

Anyway, so I should prolly just leave the card at stock then? I get a new graphics card made once every 2 years, and then hand down the old card to someone who needs it
 
does the card have a fan on it or just a heatsink. if theres a fan, i wouldnt hesitate to OC it. if not, then maybe consider only OCing just a little or buying a fan. as long as there are no artifacts or screen splitting then you should be fine.
 
Of course there is a fan, its a 9700 pro. Stock speeds are absolutley fine on it, so its up to you. It really wont shorten the life by much. Its like forever down to mybe 18months-36months.
 
Yep, there's a fan on it, so I should be okay with overclocking?

Oh and, does it only run hotter when using 3d apps, or at all times? 'cause, I keep setting it back to stock whenever I quit out of games, should I even bother doing that?

Edit: It's not a pro, that's why I'm looking at OCing to get that extra kick to it, I'm overclocking to pro speeds.. I could be wrong, but someone said 9700 pro ran at 330/310?
 
It will really only run hotter when under load. Maybe like 1C higher idle.
 
Actaully, contrary to what most people are saying, OCing doesn't ruin it's life expectany all that much. Once you find a spot w/o artifacting you cna leave it there as long as it's properly cooled. I had a g43 ti-200 with only a heatsink oced a quite a bit for 1 1/2 years. it was still going stong when I got my 9600pro.

It will most defintly last for 2 years if you've oced it.


if you're really worried, get a PCI slot fan to put under it.
 
mmm, thanks guys, I'm kinda low on cooling anyway, I might just get one of those PCI slot fans, missing 2 brackets as is, and for $6 each, I see no reason not to do that :)
 
yeah the pci fans are very cheap, not much of an investment :)

Glad I (we) could help :)
 
One fan pulling in, one going out, and for now, I have a desk fan blowing into the open case (since I'm low on cooling)

I'm gonna leave the desk fan until I atleast get a couple more case fans (prolly just those pci fans, always bothered me about losing the PCI brackets)

Edit: My CPU generally runs at 43ºC with stock fan and deskfan, mobo at 29º, gets up to maybe 50/32 at load
 
yea it will last for 2 years if you dont oc it to its stress point which you arent. enjoy your 9700, im still stuck with my geforce 2 mx/mx400...........kill me.....

btw Igneri, not all 9700's have fans..
 
i have a gf4 ti4600, and it has a thermaltake heatsink/fan + memory heatsinks now, instead of its stock heatsink/fan...
i was wondering, how much i can overclock? its at 300/650 as default.
wondering this for when hl2 comes out, and i might want a little improvement
 
Best you can do for figuring out a good overclock is pushing up the core clock until you get artifacting, then drop it down by 10 or so, then push the memory up until your computer locks up/artifacts..

Then try it for a few days, if you notice slight artifacting, then drop the clock speed by a little bit, and see if it goes away, takes a little while, but once you find that sweetspot setting, it's nice

By overclocking my 9700 I went from just under 4100 3dmarks to a little over 4900, and about a 3000 point gain in AquaMark3
 
Desolate... you have the same card as me =).. If you think of it.. Its the most crapiest card almost ever built (except for the matrox cards...)..
It costed about 100$ 2½ years ago.. i mean.. i was crap already then!
puhh... luckeliey i wont have to stand up with this card... getting av new one after the release of HL2...
 
Originally posted by Fat_Bob
Desolate... you have the same card as me =).. If you think of it.. Its the most crapiest card almost ever built (except for the matrox cards...)..
It costed about 100$ 2½ years ago.. i mean.. i was crap already then!
puhh... luckeliey i wont have to stand up with this card... getting av new one after the release of HL2...
Click to expand...
lol yes it is probably the crappiest
 
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