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Need help undoing 8800gt overclock

Last response: in Overclocking
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This may be a bit of an annoying question, but I couldn't find anything related to this elsewhere, so here goes...

A few years back I built my PC, using parts I bought online. Everything's been pretty fine, pretty stable, until quite recently. Certain games cause my PC's screen to go black, and my monitor tells me that there is no signal input. The strange thing was that the PC was still running and sound would continue to play, however nothing but turning the PC off and on again would make anything happen. Because the computer did not shut down I assumed it was a driver problem, not overheating, but now after about 10 driver uninstall and reinstalls, I think it is overheating, as I downloaded GPU-Z which is showing it running at about 80 degrees C when idle... so yeah

What I hadn't realised was that the card I bought came overclocked, something I realised when I took the card out to clean it and saw that it said overclocked on the side. My question is, how can I:

a) Undo the overclock, hopefully making the card stable again. I have never overclocked anything before, and have had no desire to risk components by overclocking in any way. I have no idea how to even get to the BIOS settings, or whatever.

b) Cool the card in some way. GPU-Z says that the cards are running at about 50%, which I assume means that, if it's still 80degrees when idle, then full speed fans aren't going to be enough. This is not really what I want to do, as I'd rather have a stable GPU - none of the games I play should require overclocking anyway.

So yeah, I know it's pretty stupid not to notice the card was pre-overclocked, but it happened. Can anyone give me a rough guide of what I might be able to do? If you need any info you'll have to tell me specifically as I don't know anything about overclocking, or what speeds would be increased.

The card is an Nvidia 8800gt if you missed the name of the post.

Thanks in advance.

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Graphics card Master
Overclocking Expert

If the graphics card was pre-overclocked by the manufacturer then the manufacturer is essentially guaranteeing that the card will operate without issues at that clock speed. If the graphics card is still under warranty then it should be RMA'd.

If the graphics card is out of warranty you may be able to find a BIOS for that graphics card that runs at the standard GeForce 8800 GT clock speeds. You may even take a copy of your current video BIOS and modify the clock rates to standard clock speed and reflash the video BIOS with the new clock settings.

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT Specifications

GPU Engine Specs:
CUDA Cores ........................... 112
Graphics/Core Clock (MHz) ............ 600 MHz
Processor/Shader Clock (MHz) ......... 1500 MHz
Texture Fill Rate (billion/sec) ...... 33.6

Memory Specs:
Memory Clock (MHz) ................... 900
Standard Memory Config ............... 512 MB
Memory Interface Width ............... 256-bit
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) ............ 57.6

Feature Support:
NVIDIA SLI®-ready* ................... 2-Way
NVIDIA 3D Vision Ready ............... yes
NVIDIA PureVideo® Technology** ....... HD
NVIDIA PhysX™-ready .................. yes
NVIDIA CUDA™ Technology .............. yes
Microsoft DirectX .................... 10
OpenGL ............................... 2.1
Bus Support .......................... PCI-E 2.0
Certified for Windows 7 .............. yes

Display Support:
Maximum Digital Resolution ........... 2560x1600
Maximum VGA Resolution ............... 2048x1536
Standard Display Connectors .......... Dual Link DVI HDTV
Multi Monitor ........................ yes
HDCP ................................. yes
HDMI ................................. Via adapter
Audio Input for HDMI ................. SPDIF

Standard Graphics Card Dimensions:
Height ............................... Single Slot
Length ............................... 9 inches
Width ................................ Single-slot

Thermal and Power Specs:
Maximum GPU Temperature (in °C) ...... 105 °C
Maximum Graphics Card Power (W) ...... 105 W
Minimum Recommended System Power (W) . 400 W
Supplementary Power Connectors ....... 6-pin & 8-pin
High Dynamic-Range Lighting .......... 128bit
Unified Architecture ................. yes

ko888 said:
If the graphics card was pre-overclocked by the manufacturer then the manufacturer is essentially guaranteeing that the card will operate without issues at that clock speed. If the graphics card is still under warranty then it should be RMA'd.

If the graphics card is out of warranty you may be able to find a BIOS for that graphics card that runs at the standard GeForce 8800 GT clock speeds. You may even take a copy of your current video BIOS and modify the clock rates to standard clock speed and reflash the video BIOS with the new clock settings.


Thanks for taking the time to reply

It's definitely out of warranty I'm afraid. I didn't quite understand what you meant, but I found on another site that you could use software to change the settings, so I downloaded Evga Precision tool and set the card back to the settings you provided. The thing is that the card was barely overclocked: the Core clock had been bumped from 600 to 625, which shouldn't have made it run that hot I would think. I put it back down anyway, but I still had the same problem.

My dad suggested cleaning the case out, so I got rid of every bit of dust I possibly could, took everything out and put it back in clean as possible. The card is now running at 60 degrees C on idle, and the fans are only running at 30%. I guess that might have fixed it? I don't have time to test with games etc now, but I guess if there are any more problems they don't belong in the Overclocking section of the forum.

Thanks for your help.

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Graphics card Master
Overclocking Expert

Just get nvflash and save the original bios to a floppy disk or flash and load up nbitor to change the clocks then go back and flash the card with the new rom and you are done. It is very very simple in a single gpu rig. be sure to clean the card as it is still clogged with dust inside the cooler or it wouldn't be 80c idle.
Graphics card Master
Overclocking Expert

madass said:
My 4870 idles at 72, with 27% fan speed......
Compared to that, your GPU is ice cold gangsta.


Sure, checks for dust... The only time my cards get that hot is when it is 40c room temp due to heat wave.
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