Does a graphics card overclock reduce the lifetime?

Orlean

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Any sort of overclocking puts more stress on the component thus reducing lifespan. To give you a exact number on how long it's going to last is impossible but if you do it cautiously and keep overclock's mild and temperature in check it should last you well into your next upgrade.
 

Mahisse

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+1 if you don't raise the voltage there's really no difference.
 

mathew7

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Overclocking by itself, no (at least not enough to count). The problem comes when you also increase the voltage to achieve even higher clocks. Too high voltage combined with insufficient general cooling (still on OEM cooler) could lead to some transistor destruction.

I abandoned overclocking since I don't have time to do stability tests and the gains are not so big (10% overclock will NOT bring 10% performance). If a game is barely playable, overclocking will not make it playable.
 

Schytheron

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When it comes to voltages Im really confused... In the TRIXX OC software it shows 1.187 voltage (load voltage) but when i press reset in the TRIXX software it changes voltage to 1.256 (with stock clocks). Soo should this be the stock voltage for my card? I searched the web and some say you should keep under 1.25 voltage... others say that that is the stock voltage.

Can anyone who owns a Sapphire 7870 XT tell me stock voltage and safe temps?
People say that safe temps for this card is around 80-90c. Mine only reaches 64c during load. VRM temps go up to 82c. Which should i worry/not worry about?
 


Voltages at stcok are dynamic, meaning it goes up and down (within parameters) as the card requires different amounts of power. The HD7870 XT will not go above 1.28v at stock, so that is perfectly normal.
if you do not increase the voltage yourself, it will remain within stock specifications.
 

Schytheron

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Nice to finally have this confirmed by someone. By voltages being dynamic so you mean that every card has a diffrent stock voltage or that they have different voltages when idle and in load, cause i have 0,8 voltage when idle.

Do you know anything about safe VRM temps for my card? I dont have to worry about core temps since 64c during load is pretty low... right?
 

Schytheron

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Really? when I oc'ed my card i got a 10 FPS improvment
 


Correct to the first(different voltages at different loads) and last part. VRM temps are safe upto 90C but I do not like it when it exceeds 75C. Really depends on specific card model.
 


LOL yeah 10% is possible on most AMD cards, easily in fact. Especially on Tahiti based GPUs.
 


And once again im agreeing with MLP. Lol. But.10%+ gains on AMD GPUs are easy on stock voltage and basically free. 10% is not 10 FPS though. That depends on the game
 


Do not make it a habit! :D
 

Schytheron

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I get a 10 fps increase in both Heaven Benchmark and Metro Last Light
 

mathew7

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But what is the base fps? 25 vs 35 fps means unplayable to playable. 75 vs 85 is unnoticeable (except the measurement itself). Both are 10fps changes. That's why % is relevant.