OC'ing Questions

[njcgamer]

My System is the following:

Nvidia GTX 260
4GB ram not sure about the speed or anything.
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400

im using Windows ultimate 64bit

im curious if i should overclock anything, and if so what should i overclock. also im wondering if i would see any noticeable increase in perfrormance in any games? mainly playing Brink and i would like to see some better performance in it. right now im on all min setting as 1680x1050 and i get around 30fps moving.

thanks in advance and if you need anymore information about my system just let me know

 

[T_T]

Overclocking generally doesn't yield significant results in gameplay, as there are other things that affect your frame rate. Overclocking your system would show its gains in benchmarking more than anything else.

If your ultimate goal is to see an increase in your FPS, you can turn off certain features, such as Anti Aliasing, as this drastically reduces frame rates. Of course, more powerful cards, like the GTX 4 or 5 series would likely be able to handle the game on higher settings, but ultimately, I think your RAM and CPU are problably what's holding you back.

Another point to make is that frame rates are affected by:

1. GPU
2. Monitor
3. RAM
4. CPU
5. In-game settings

In conclusion, it is best that you list the type of RAM you have (make, model, and specs) as well as the mobo (this helps determine OC capabilities).

 

[jfby]

Overclocking generally doesn't yield significant results in gameplay, as there are other things that affect your frame rate. Overclocking your system would show its gains in benchmarking more than anything else.

If your ultimate goal is to see an increase in your FPS, you can turn off certain features, such as Anti Aliasing, as this drastically reduces frame rates. Of course, more powerful cards, like the GTX 4 or 5 series would likely be able to handle the game on higher settings, but ultimately, I think your RAM and CPU are problably what's holding you back.

Another point to make is that frame rates are affected by:

1. GPU
2. Monitor
3. RAM
4. CPU
5. In-game settings

In conclusion, it is best that you list the type of RAM you have (make, model, and specs) as well as the mobo (this helps determine OC capabilities).

Where do you get the info that it doesn't really help frames? This might be true in general, but I have cases where this isn't true.

When I had just one 5850, I saw a direct correlation when playing Star Trek Online with both FPS increase at a constant setting, and being able to raise graphic settings and have the same FPS going from stock GPU core of 725 to 850. Even with a modest boost I saw pretty significant differences in performance.

I would say for most people, you will be GPU bound first, CPU second, and RAM last. A 15% boost in GPU may give you 15% boost in FPS, but a 15% boost in CPU may not give you anything.

 

[T_T]

Where do you get the info that it doesn't really help frames? This might be true in general, but I have cases where this isn't true.

When I had just one 5850, I saw a direct correlation when playing Star Trek Online with both FPS increase at a constant setting, and being able to raise graphic settings and have the same FPS going from stock GPU core of 725 to 850. Even with a modest boost I saw pretty significant differences in performance.

I would say for most people, you will be GPU bound first, CPU second, and RAM last. A 15% boost in GPU may give you 15% boost in FPS, but a 15% boost in CPU may not give you anything.

Every OC scenario is different, yes. What works for you is not a guarantee to work for all, not even with the same hardware setup. One could expect to see the same results if using the same hardware, but not all hardware operate equally. I do agree though, that GPU-intensive/dependent games are far more likely to see an increase in FPS with a GPU OC, than with a CPU OC.

In general, the hardware that the build is comprised of is what makes the difference. For example, I can OC my P2X2 945 3.0 GHz, stock, to 4.0 GHz, but that does nothing to increase my system's performance. The reason being is that the simple tasks aren't intensive enough to appreciate the OC.

So, if the OP runs with your statement and does an OC to the 260, but doesn't see an FPS increase, does that mean your facts are incorrect? No, because if the rest of the system isn't up to par, the GPU OC may end being meaningless.

Edit: Besides, the 5850 is faster and more powerful GPU than the 260, anyway, so the gains you experienced wouldn't necessarily be what the OP would.

 

[jfby]

T_T, I was definitely not saying that OC'ng works across the board, but in a few cases it does help.

You have to understand what in your system is limiting the performance of a particular game/task.

I OC'd my 5850 while waiting for my second 5850 to show up. Now they are both running at the high end of what CCC allows.

For my CPU OC example, I play a bit of Civ IV, and it seems to respond extremely well to my CPU being OC'd to 4.0 GHz. The mod I play has long time between turns, even with a newer system, and my 42% OC actually reduced the time about 40% on average. The game uses a few (2) of the threads heavily, and the rest (6) stay near idle, but it does help the game go by faster =).

I'm not saying the OP should OC regardless of his/her scenario, but rather they understand why they need/want to do so.

My recommendation: find a repeatable area in your game and record your FPS over several 'runs'. Downclock your GPU by 10-20% and see if this affects your FPS (or if you can do so easily, OC it by 5% and check the FPS). Then do the same for your CPU. Whichever item you change that causes a change in performance is, for that particular task, a bottleneck.

 

[T_T]

I agree. OP, you should still list the details of your components. While the statements made by both jfby and myself are correct, without knowing what parts your build is made of, it is nearly impossible to tell you that an OC will or will not help, as the type of RAM you have is just as important as the type of GPU or CPU you have.

 

[njcgamer]

Best answer selected by njcgamer.