The core of the graphics card does not take as kindly to overclocking as the memory does, as such it is usually unwise to raise the core clock by a great deal, as its more likely to go boom, and then its goodnight Vienna I’m afraid. As a general rule of thumb I would say raise the core no more than 20 percent above its original spec. For example, in the case of my card, another 50MHz to 300MHz. Personally, I rarely raise the core more than 30Mhz, because I’m of an overly cautious disposition and would rather be safe than sorry. Also I’m too poor to go and replace my card just like that and for this reason (although I’ve never actually managed to damage a card by overclocking) I only push the core up to 280Mhz, despite knowing it can in fact do 300MHz.
Note Well: Those whose card uses passive cooling (i.e. no fan) should purchase a fan to cool the GPU core, before embarking upon overclocking the core.
With memory, heat is less of an issue, as you can simply lower the clock speed when graphical oddities occur, a warning sign that you are pushing too hard.
So having increased incrementally and benched, and increased and benched for quite some time now, you should reach a point whereby you begin to notice some unusual graphical glitches in your games and benchmarks. For example, textures may flicker a lot or colored dots may appear. My friends, you have hit the ceiling for your overclock. All that you can do now is lower your clock speed by 15MHz or so to a point you know from to be stable your incremental method.
And there you have it! You’ve just squeezed some extra performance out of your card for free, not bad eh? Of course the downside to this is that you will lessen the lifespan of the card by overclocking it, but given the rapid rate at which hardware becomes obsolete today I wouldn’t lose sleep over this matter. Well in my case it’s been quite worthwhile as I’ve pumped quite a bit extra from my card, which is now running smoothly at 280/600, which is quite a boost. Remember overclocking gains vary from card to card, so don’t be confused if you don’t get quite as much as myself and more important don’t come bragging if you push more from your machine!
In Conclusion
Now we’ve seen how far the card has overclocked, let’s see how well this translates in terms of performance. I ran a quick benchmark with 3dmark 2001, available from www.madonion.com, both before and after overclocking on my “bag of bolts.” The specs of my system are:
Epox 8rda+
AMD Thoroughbred ‘B’ XP2400+
MSI Geforce 4 ti4200 64MB
512MB PC2700 CL2 Crucial RAM
Windows XP Pro (SP1)
(As standard for my machines, a few BIOS and OS tweaks have been applied)
Without Overclocking
With Overclocking
As you can see quite a healthy improvement, and free of charge too. I’m actually surprised at the original benchmark at stock speeds, which is usually in the upper 9000 range. Oh well, mustn’t grumble. Well, that concludes today’s lesson. All that remains is for you to go and run 3dmark and some games and marvel at your boosted FPS’, and squeeze a few more months out of your card. I hope this guide has been helpful to all and if anyone has any queries I’m easily reachable via the forums and will be happy to help with any problems.
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