XFX GeForce 8500 GT 512MB

[ginmardo]

Hey guys,

First things first: I simply want to discuss overclocking a XFX geforce 8500gt video card.
What I know about overclocking so far in headlines:
-In some cases it is futile, spending a little extra on a newer/stronger card is recommended.
-Cooling is important.
-Things might go wrong during/due to the process of overclocking
-There exist the highest probability that the card might burnout.

On to the main point of this thread:
I own a XFX 8500 gt 512mb card with passive cooling.
I read up on the overclocking process included in a .pdf file from the manufacturer itself.
I followed the instructions yet I am unsure that overclocking was successful.
Don't worry, the card is still working.
It is a fairly old card, yet not so old that overclocking is out of the question.
I currently have 2 graphics cards of which I deem this one expendable thus am I willing to take my chances on overclocking this bastard.

Have any of you ever successfully overclocked a XFX 8500 gt 512mb?
Could you post the procedures?

*I got all the up to the point where I can manually toggle and set the memoru clock manually in the advance properties tab. The thing is; upon selecting manual overclock, 2 setting bars should be active to raise the memory clock speed of the card. This is not so in my case. By selecting "manual overclocking", the bars still remain inactive, so that I can not adjust the memory clock speed.

I'm looking forward to your responses on this topic.

 

[wolfram23]

Firstly, you don't say which program you're using to OC them. IMO, you should give MSI Afterburner a try.
Older generation cards never really overclocked well. But it's worth trying.
Cooling per se is important, but you shouldn't really need to change anything but the fan speed. Again, MSI Afterburner is great because you have fan control and can even make a custom fan profile (fan speed vs temps).
The card shouldn't burn out unless the temps get far too high (in excess of 100C). Again, Afterburner shows the card temps and you can easily see if you need to change the fan speed or if you should just relax the OC.

Testing, the first step is to run FurMark (or Kombustor which comes with Afterburner). These are GPU stress test programs. Run for 15 minutes if you think you found your good OC. If there's freezing/black screen/grey or blue or whatever colour screen then the OC is unstable, generally those are symptoms of too high memory clock. Reduce by at least 5-10 mhz and try again. The most common cause of too high core clock is artifacts. Those appear as small squares that are the wrong colour/texture. If you don't see them and stop the test, it will probably cause any of the above symptoms.

In any of those cases, simply reboot the PC and lower the OCs. While trying to find a stable OC, NEVER use the OC at start up.

I hope this helps.

Although my honest suggestion is to upgrade to a new card... but have fun trying to OC in the meantime.

 

[ginmardo]

Aha, that's just it; I didn't use an OC software. Following the manufacturer's instruction, it led me to e .reg file which got me to the extra NVIDIA Advance properties tab. Thanks for the recommending MSI Afterburner, though. I am a bit familiar with it when I purchased and installed the MSI N9600 GT 1GB video card. I'll be sure to get MSI Afterburner off the internet.

*Note: I am simply doing this out of technical curiosity.

I'll try out the recommended OC utility software to tweak the video card.
Q: does it matter that I am using a MSI tweaking utility on a non-similar brand video card [Using MSI Afterburner to tweak XFX GF8500 GT card]?
Brand name probabaly doesn't matter, but knowing that MSI supplies its video cards with the Afterburner software, raises the questio if it is also applicable to different brands GPU cards.

Keep you posted...

 

[wolfram23]

Ah interesting way of tweaking that they recommended. I have no experience with registry editing, and I have to say I would steer clear of doing that unless absolutely necessary. MSI Afterburner will work with any brand of card.

 

[ginmardo]

Well, simply put:
Opening/double clicking the overclocking_utility.reg activates the "extra" Advance Properties tab. Usually it is not activated, but initializing the .reg file expands the options for the NVIDA display properties which leads to the sub menu to overclock. It just wasn't as helpful nor effective as I thought. I reset the display properties settings back to "regular" NVIDIA standard. Couldn't get much out of it.

 

[Guest]

Hmm, Ginmardo, Get a 80mm fan, strap it to the Passive cooling heatsink and plug the fan in (Molex or 3pin header its irrelevant)

Download rivatuner from www.guru3d.com and use that to OC your little sucker..

Youy will get a little more performance out of it (actually, if you don't care about possibly killing the card you should get a heck of an OC), but.......

-In some cases it is futile, spending a little extra on a newer/stronger card is recommended. = True!

 

[ginmardo]

I recently discovered upon overclocking the video card, it doesn't make too much of a difference. I used the MSI Afterburner with Kombustor and also gave Rivatuner a go. Result: either very subtle or not extremely noticeable.

The difference that occur are the slightest changes in fraps [differs with a point or 3] depending on the resolution, AA and other other settings. The stress test or stability test run consequently stable with temps running from 59degC up to 62degC. Rivatuner has a lot more features and tools to tweak the card with, but have not touch any of those, having no idea what they're for and how those tools function. Lagging does occur on medium to max settings [CoD: MWF2].

Are there perhaps other things I might have missed on the topic?
I am using Modern Warfare 2 as an example to tweak an XFX Geforce 8500GT card so that the game can run without lagging on ultra settings.

 

[wolfram23]

I doubt you'll get max settings in nearly any games with an 8500GT. I had an 8600GT in my last rig and almost always had to lower settings. If you want to max or near to max games out your only option is a new video card. If you need a cheap one something like a 5670 or 5770 is good, from NV maybe a GT240 or GTS250.

The GT240 is basically a renamed 9800GTX+, and I got one on sale for $45. Just look around at local retailers and you can probably find a similar deal.

 

[ginmardo]

Best answer selected by Ginmardo.

 

[ginmardo]

I doubt you'll get max settings in nearly any games with an 8500GT. I had an 8600GT in my last rig and almost always had to lower settings. If you want to max or near to max games out your only option is a new video card. If you need a cheap one something like a 5670 or 5770 is good, from NV maybe a GT240 or GTS250.

The GT240 is basically a renamed 9800GTX+, and I got one on sale for $45. Just look around at local retailers and you can probably find a similar deal.

Thanks for the input, yours as well as the others who pitched in on this topic. It is more likely that I'll up and get me a new video card.

With games demanding a whole lot more from gaming rigs, it is logic to keep up with the developments in pc gaming. You get to spend a lot more, but the knowledge is the ultimately rewarding. How else to learn about gaming hardware other than trial and error & personal experience and in some cases experimenting with hardware

Thanks again.