stupid noob question



Unless I read it wrong, he's trying to make sure the card is at least running as fast as it says it should. He has attached a link to a screenshot which shows the comparison so that's where I got that idea.
 


Yes.

If you want even more headroom for it to run faster on its own, try increasing the Power Limit to the maximum. If the fans get too loud for you at that setting, start backing off on the power limit by 5% at a time until you get a good balance of performance and minimal noise.
 


Make sense now that I looked at the image.