Overclocking GPU/Is it worth it?

DKFish

Commendable
Jun 18, 2016
37
0
1,530
GPU: Gigabyte gtx 950
Clocks: 1279 MHz/ Base: 1102 MHz in Gaming Mode( thats what i use)
Temperature: 70-73c when set to auto, 65c if i set it to go to 65c ( note that outside its about 38-40c)

I wanna get some extra juice but i dont want to damage my card at all. Could someone help me get through this?

More specificly i wanna know how to overclock, by how much( settings, clocks etc), and if its worth it, i also wanna know what to do if i meet failure, bsod or stuff like that that i've heared about. I would prefer not to raise voltage, because thats the main reason lifespan is shortened when something is oc'd, I think.
 
Solution
Overclocking doesn't really damage it if you OC in proper limits. As far as simple tweaking softwares let you go, it most likely won't damage anything.

DONT touch the voltage as that's extremely sensitive when it comes to GPUs and it's the one thing that can easily let you damage the card.

Start a benchmark like Heaven Benchmark on extreme, start GPU tweak or Nvidia Inspector by the side
Increase the clock speeds by 10 MHz at a time and memory by 20 MHz or 30 MHz at a time.

Apply one increased step, and wait for a minute. If it keeps working, increase and apply again. Do this until you think it's enough.

If you go too high, the GPU drivers will crash and restart, resetting all clocks to default, so remember which was the last...
If you don't want to raise voltage, just tweak your gpu core and memory clocks until you start seeing some artifacts during benchmarks. Start with core clock and once you find your maximum frequency, move to memory clock.
Shortening the lifespan, i guess the card will be obsolete when it dies either way. What kills the card is the temperature. With afterburner you are allowed to raise voltage up to a safe number. Just keep your card to those temps you mention and you are fine
 

Achint2000

Distinguished
Feb 10, 2013
692
2
19,165
Overclocking doesn't really damage it if you OC in proper limits. As far as simple tweaking softwares let you go, it most likely won't damage anything.

DONT touch the voltage as that's extremely sensitive when it comes to GPUs and it's the one thing that can easily let you damage the card.

Start a benchmark like Heaven Benchmark on extreme, start GPU tweak or Nvidia Inspector by the side
Increase the clock speeds by 10 MHz at a time and memory by 20 MHz or 30 MHz at a time.

Apply one increased step, and wait for a minute. If it keeps working, increase and apply again. Do this until you think it's enough.

If you go too high, the GPU drivers will crash and restart, resetting all clocks to default, so remember which was the last clock settings when it crashed and set it to atleast 20 MHz less than those clocks, because they're the limit.

I've crashed the drivers like a million times, nothing goes wrong. Worst case you can end up with a BSOD or a black screen until you force restart.

Even if you see any glitching things like objects going purple in games or flashing or black, lower the clocks.

This OC'ing will add about 5 to 10 FPS boost in all your games but it's worth it when you hate those slight 55 FPS instead of 60 FPS xD
 
Solution

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