8800gtx: To Overclock or Not To Overclock?!...

[hertzuk]

Hey, i have searched forums for threads liek this, and have found similiar(ish) ones... but i want an opinion suited to my personal card if possible...

i have an eVga 8800gtx ACS cooled edition, and have tried OC'ing it using ATItool, got it up to 620/1020, and it was idling at around 55C, not too bad IMO, and am getting a few fans to go around it to dissipate more heat...

however a mate told me that overclocking GPU's ain't worth teh risk... i don't wanna f*** it up, it was expensive!!

will a small overclock liek this, regarding that the temps ain't really high, bodge it, i mean i am lurrving the extra fps im getting (huge increase in 3dmark06, up to 12400+ now...)... but how much damage could this potentially do to my gpu?

i ain't messin with voltages or anything, just the core + mem clocks...

also, aftermarket cooling... the thermaltake hr-03 i think it is? massive beast of a thing which rocks everyones socks... how easy is it to install... for an absolute shocking n00b like me?

bear in mind i am getting further fans to cool this, apart from heat (as i dont think its an issue), what is gonna kill it if i Overclock?

Cheers Chris

 

[Mugz]

Come on, overclock it! My 8800GTS is on a core clock of 770 so far, after volt mods and a waterblock setup. So far, no problems.

*touches wood*

 

[hertzuk]

770?!?!?! thats insane! even just 620/625 would do me fine for now, just wanna be certain that in a few months time its not gonna explode,

i know with cpu's temperature is the main issue when overclocking, i dont know if this is the same with GPU's, if temperature is the only thing to really worry about (bear in mind im not changing voltages) then i will happily do it, as i am comfortable with the temps i was getting!

cheers chris

 

[Mugz]

Without voltage adjustments, the most I got to was about 680 core, 975-odd memory, and the influence on temps was minimal. I only actually saw a difference when the card was under load, and then it was only about two or three degrees hotter.

Heat is always an issue with OCing, no matter the component. You generally only run into heat issues with voltmods, though, so you shouldn't have an issue.

Have a good one!

 

[hertzuk]

ah, good stuff then, i had it on 625/1020 for a bit, and the performace was markedly better, ive also changed some RAM timings and overclocked that ever so slightly, so should be running faster, after ive done a massive gaming sesh and stability test ill give 3dmark06 a go and see what happens


Cheers Chris

 

[hertzuk]

oh yeh, on more thing, ive overclocked the C2D to 3.33ghz and its running stable at a lower voltage than i expected, but hey im not gonna complain...

is 3.33 still gonna bottleneck my cards performance? i tried to get it up to 3.4 but was having trouble stabilizing... dont wanna up the volts too much, although it still runs very cool

 

[hertzuk]

pushed the boat out and went for the GPU oc... got it to 625/2040, run artifact scanner in ATItool for about 15 mins (should be enough...?) absolutely fine, and the temp peaked at around 76, pretty high but not nearly as high as some...

ordered a new case, the stacker 830, gna set the fans up to drag air across the heatsink at the top of the card!

should be fine and dandy then!

Cheers Chris

 

[Hatman]

Run it for a few hours, to make sure. You'd hate it if ur game turned off halfway thru and u lost all your progress.

Im getting a 8800gts 640mb and the Stacker 830 like you, I don't plan to overclock it until get my water cooling setup though. It really makes no difference on gameplay unless you go mad with it, but it does make quite a bit more heat. Unless you're on water