Manual Overclocking vs Factory Overclocked

theguitarfreak

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Jul 25, 2008
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Hi there, i wanted to know if you could reach the same speed if you manually overclock a graphics card (say an XFX Geforce 9600 GT standard) and reach the same speed as that of the factory overclocked version (XFX Geforce 9600 GT XXX Alpha Dog)? Or is it that only the companies can reach such high speeds?
 
99.9% of the time you can get just as good a clock, sometimes higher as the companies still have to keep it stable on what is basically a stock card. There are things the home user can do, like increasing voltages to stabilize a higher clock that most factory overclocked cards bother with.
However there are cards out there (and this is where doing some digging and reading some decent reviews can pay dividends), that have non stock parts and settings that will help you get even higher clocks. Asus i think it is make a 3850 that has a button on it that increases the voltages to assist when overclocking. Some of the Factory overclocked cards are said to have the best of the best chips on them, both GPU and Memory wise. While this is true for some of them the vast majority of them are just stock cards ramped up to a level easily attainable by the end user, just to get more money out of us.

Mactronix
 
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if the chips on the OCed cards actually were consistently better than the normal chips... i'd get the oced part... for 30 bucks more you can get a much higher OC... sadly however... thats not the case
 

theguitarfreak

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Jul 25, 2008
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HOLY ****!!! So thats the thing! Thanks guys. I will not be buying a factory overclocked card and waste the extra money. I will be buying the standard stock card and overclock it myself and save some penny. But what about the fan on the card? are the overclocked ones better to provide better cooling or are they the same as on the standard edition card?
 

efeat

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Factory overclocking of cards is basically the vendor/manufacturer separating OCable cards from "duds". A stock card very well can reach the factory overclocked speeds, but there's no promise it will.

The question you need to ask yourself is "Am I willing to pay X dollars more for a guaranteed overclock?" (emphasis on the word guaranteed)

Personally, I tend buy stock and do it myself, though I've bought a couple before when they were only like $5 more than the stock version.
 

tomdrum

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I bought myself a factory overclocked 8800GT (£170 for 700mhz o/c). At the time it was the same price as other lesser overclocked and even standard cards, although it wasnt as a good a make (Gigabyte) however it came with a zalman fan, which i thought was a bargain. Especially as stocks on all cards were low at that point.
 


Just as long as you understand that the factory overclocked card is as efeat says guaranteed to run the clocks stated. It is possible to buy a standard card and find you cant get a decent overclock on it no matter what you tweak.
As far as the coolers go, they do tend to put third party coolers on overclocked cards. It helps the overclock by keeping the temps down. Generally speaking a double slot cooler that exhausts out the back of the machine is the best option. Thats not to say standard side cooling fans are rubbish its just better to get the hot air straight out the back instead of it circulating around the system first.
HIS have several ranges of the same card with different coolers. The ICEQ Turbo cards are quiet and overclocked well. My experience with them (i have owned 3) is that there is usually a slight OC left but not much.

Mactronix