Warranty after overclocking HIS HD 4890?

[FrPSh]

Hey Guys,

If I overclock my HIS HD 4890 using the "safe" overclock settings in CCC, will HIS still honor the warranty? To what extent of overclocking (if at all) would HIS's warranty cover? Anybody have experience with them and their warranty?
Is it worth doing this safe overclock? Will it substantially shorten the life of my card, or would it be worth the extra performance?

FrPSh

 

[Dougx1317]

I've got the exact same questions. From what I've been reading, it gives a definite performance increase. Below is a few links to the performance of it. I'm just wondering if it's dangerous to do and if HIS will cover it.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/overclocking-the-radeon-hd-4890/1
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1410581

 

[FrPSh]

Which 4890 do you have? Mine is the iCooler x4 version. Just got it off Newegg a week ago.

 

[Dougx1317]

Same here. My actually hasn't arrived yet. I'm just excited to upgrade from my 3870. $159 just made more sense for me then the $300 5850.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161299&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-
http://www.hisdigital.com/us/product2-466.shtml

 

[FrPSh]

My thinking exactly. It's a really nice card. I upgraded from an XFX 8800 gts 320mb, and it blows anything out of the water (Crysis at 1920x1200 very high/AA all the way is maybe a little slow, but it's totally playable - I'm actually getting back into the game again, it looks beautiful). It's a beast of a card.
So I guess I don't really need the overclocking... but I want to find out about the possibilities.

 

[Dougx1317]

The review I linked shows getting the card from 850/975 to 1000/1200. They seem to be able to get a decent increase in performance from the overclock. I'm at 1680x1050, so I may not need anything more than stock for now. But I've read that a 4890 is wasted if you don't overclock, and I tend to agree. The only issue I have is about the life of the card and voiding the warranty.

Also, do have GTA 4? I'd like to know what to expect in it from this card in terms of settings and fps. I went up to a quadcore almost exclusively for this game.

 

[FrPSh]

I've heard that game is really crazy graphics-wise, but no, I don't own it.

 

[FrPSh]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYTA-F0XkPs&feature=related
Looks like you can do it, but apparently it depends significantly on your CPU. So, since you have a quad, I'd think it should be pretty good.

 

[Dougx1317]

Yeah, GTA 4's recommended settings includes a Q6600 or better. I just got an i7 860, so I should be fine in that department. And those do look like pretty high settings for the game. It's too bad that there is no anti-aliasing, and that it takes 1.8GB of VRAM to max out the draw distance.

 

[Dougx1317]

I think I just discovered why noone has come to answer the original question. This thread is in a strange category. Graphics cards would be a much more appropriete place for it. Just a thought.

 

[FrPSh]

How would I move it?

 

[Dougx1317]

I'm not sure. I've seen threads moved to the appropriate section by admins, but I don't know if you can. You may have to make a new thread. Graphic & Displays>Graphic Cards section would probably get the most visibility. If you create a new thread, let me know. I'm still curious about the original question.

 

[paul mohr]

My guess is if you tell them you over clocked it may just void the waranty. The question is can they tell if you over clocked it without admitting to it.

As far as will it degrade the life of your card? Probably depends on how hot it gets. Overclocking anything will shorten the life span especially if it runs hotter. Heat is one of the major factors in how long something will last. If you can keep your temps at a fairly sane level or close to what it was stock you probably won't notice a difference. As in it will most likely last until it becomes outdated and you replace it, or the whole system.

Keep in mind these are only guesses. I doubt anyone could say for sure one way or another. Really depends on your individual card. If you managed to get a really good one you are probably ok. If you happened to get one that wasn't that great off the shelf it may go to hell faster. Then again it might have went bad without the over clock too. Kind of a crap shoot sometimes I think.

Computers are a lot like cars I have found. If you want to make it fast, don't expect it to last as long.

Paul

 

[FrPSh]

Thanks for the info Paul.
Doesn't EVGA or some company have an overclocking warranty that covers wrecked cards by overclock?

 

[Dougx1317]

I think XFX has a warranty that allows overclocking, EVGA might too. Although, he's right that they probably won't check. Just don't tell them you did it.

As long as the temperatures stay in check, won't overclocking be pretty safe?

 

[paul mohr]

"Pretty" safe is the key word there. There is always a risk with overclocking though from what I understand. I will admit I am fairly new to the overclocking scene, but everything I have read so far always warns there is a danger in it.

However keep in mind some cards come overclocked off the shelf. Sometimes the difference between one card and another is simply they overclocked or underclocked the GPU and or ram.

And with computer parts its always a gamble, given the same model number not all of them perform the same. One person might be able to really ramp one up and another person simply won't get the same performance. You can't say XXX CPU or video card can be clocked to a specific number and be stable. It just doesn't work that way.

You can make another good analogy for this with archery equipment. I am really into archery so this might make more sense to me though lol. When you buy certain brand of arrows they have different arrows at different price points. The arrows are all the same, they just get sorted is all. The ones with higher tolerances are the more expensive "high end" arrows and the ones that don't hold as close a tolerance or normally the cheaper versions. They all came off the same machines though.

I believe with computer parts its called Binning?

Paul

 

[Dougx1317]

I think RAM companies do the same thing with their products. I'll probably overclock mildly and see if it helps the performance in the games that I play. If there is no difference or it doesn't matter, I'll put it back. If there are significant changes, I may leave it overclocked.

I won't even try until the card has been used for 60 days. 90% of computer parts that break do so within the first 60 days of use. It separates the lemons out, hopefully. Like I said before, the advantage of the 4890 over the 4870 is suppose to be the overclock potential, so I at least want to try it. My 3870 being overclocked from 775/900 to 840/1000 did give 8-10fps increase in some games without much of a heat change.

 

[paul mohr]

I run a 9800 GTX+ with the GPU and ram overclocked. It makes a considerable difference in bench marking but not a big deal in actual use to be honest. Then again I am not a big gamer. I play Flight sim X and am hopelessly addicted to Second Life. Surprised I am not there now lol. Most of my tweaks and upgrades are geared around improving my Second Life experience.

Paul

 

[Dougx1317]

I thought I'd let you know that I ended up trying to overclock my HIS 4890. It only gets to 925Mhz/1050Mhz maximum. From what I've read online, this is pretty low. Even with the overclock, I never get above 75C on full load. That's impressively cool. I just wish I could get closer to the 1000Mhz/1200Mhz that some people are reporting.