How to Overclock an nVidia graphics card

[flowerpot]

So,this thread will show you exactly how to overclock your video card,and gain some performance,anywhere from 5% to 25%....This can really help you squeeze out some extra performance if you have a less hardcore card like a 5500 or a 6200 or even a high end 7900! I've been doin this stuff for a while,trust you wont blow anything up,just take it slow!

 

First thing you must do is download an overclocking utility,Coolbits is a registry edit that enables overclocking in Nvidia cards,once you apply the registry entry(Located at end of this thread,unzip double click-click yes to apply) an extra option will appear in your nVidia menu named Clock frequency settings,if you right click Desktop and select nVidia Display(See screenshot below).This entry will allow you to increase the core and memory clocks of your card,which gives you the boost in performance.

 

There will be 2 sliders: one for core and the other for memory.You must work in the 3D clocks section not 2D.Now first just work with the core but you can do either core or mem first. Move the slider about 5-10Mhz and then go into 3d mark 2003/5/6(see my tutorial in DVKB on system benchmarking utilities) and check for 'snow' otherwize known as artifacts....noticeable discrepancies in the display(see artifact definitions at bottom of thread),if there are some then your card is OC'ed too high,also check if it locks up if so back down about 5Mhz and re-check. If there is no snow then you're good to overclock further. So repeat by increasing another 5-10Mhz until you reach your maximum with no 'snow or artifacts'. Also, once u have reached the maximum it is a good idea to check your temps.You could depending on your card comfortably on average achieve an extra 40Mhz on the core and 100Mhz on the memory.

 

Now to the memory, firstly return your core to stock. Now move the memory slider about 5-10Mhz and check in 3d mark 03/5/6 for any artifacts. Repeat until you get artifacts.Trust you will know an artifact when you see it,even the first time!

 

Now return your core to the OC'ed speeds you had before in order to make sure the OC'ed core and memory work together. Run 3d mark 2003 a few times to see if you have any artifacts or any sort of problems. It is also a good idea to play your favourite 3D game for about an hour to check for any signs of problems.

 

If you get artifacts or other problems then back down both the core a memory 5Mhz at a time.Keep doing that until you get the most stable speeds.An example would be :Your card comes stock at 300Mhz Core,500Mhz memory....You could comfortably achieve 350 core,600 Mem on the average card without heavy aftermarket cooling.

 

With that done you've finished. Everything has worked out good and you have succesfully OC'ed your card. If you want to OC further then you will have to buy better cooling. Eg. Water cooling,aftermarket VGA etc...

 

If you max out the core or push the core too far you will get artifacts or random restarts. If the core hits a certain temperature, its different for all cards but you may experience artifacts and random restarts again. Cooling the graphics card will allow you to max out your core but how far is upto how well the core is. Artifacts can be little black dots/white dots/polygon corruption. Doing a Vcore mod will often net you 30mhz more but is only suggested if you have good cooling.

 

With the memory if you overclock that too far you will have polygons flying all over the place (stretched) quite far, as well as the normal artifacts of different pixel colours almost all over your screen. Cooling the memory will fix the pixel colour artifacts but the stretched polygons mean that you have hit the limit of the memories capabilities or the extra speed on the memory is capped by voltage by the manufacture.

 

Coolbits 2:

http://downloads.guru3d.com/downloadget.ph...d31533e05c6b10f

 

Any questions dont be afraid to ask me,and have fun and dont be scared to experiment!

 

[Liam]

I'd clock your memory BEFORE I clocked the core. The memory speed seems to bottleneck almost all cards I've ever seen; obtaining the highest memory speeds generally yeilds the best benefit. Clock up your memory THEN clock up your GPU. Sometimes it won't make a difference, other times stressing your GPU limits your memory overclockability. Hit the mem first.

[Liam]

Also: upping the AGP voltage is NOT the same as performing Vcore mod... don't do it. Ditto AGP frequency. Leave these setting stock.

[flowerpot]

Thanks for those contributions Liam,definately valid points,take note everyone!

I should probably add those in but I will just leave it in your replies.

[foryounow]

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[Clownstyle]

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*****

 

Good guide FP

[flowerpot]

Well whatever he said Clownstyle,he stretched the thread with that.I edited his post and your quote of his thread to make it fit again(As much as I dont want to edit the Owner of this site).

I will find out what the hell he was on about.

[x2k]

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*****

 

Good guide FP

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

When you see code like the stuff which was there it was a attempted attack on the site...banned the user involved!