1001 questions on oc'ing

[2ltjoel]

hi there, i am quite a newb at overclocking so i would like to ask a few questions haha. i have a gtx 560 ti and i would like to overclock it.
1.what precautions can i take to prevent overheating of my graphics card?
2.does increasing the fanspeed along help to prevent overheating? or must i get a proper cooling system?
3.is there any likely negative consequences that may result if my fanspeed is set high like >60% when gaming for long periods?
4.what implications does oc'ing of your graphics card have on your power supply? must i increase my power supply to my cpu/gpu when i oc or will the card do that by itself?

 

[cats_Paw]

1: get programs that monitor heat and that stress to 100% the gpu. Test each increment you make and look for artifacts or dangerous temperature (google it)
2: It helps at cost of noise and reduced lifespan, especially over 80%.
3: Normally a fan running at 30% (idle) lasts 4-5 years, 60% (load), 3.5-4.5,
80%+ (heavy load or manual) 2-3 years.
Note that those are very very, rought estimates. Depends on the fan, its quality, the ammount of dust in the case, the power it gets etc.....
4:It will draw more Watts and AMPS. The amps is what matters. however, untill you up the voltage, those incresses should be marginal.
Do not do this however if your PSU is barely hanging in there (in a PSU you always want to have spare room, at 100% load PSU die in about a year of heavy use).

 

[2ltjoel]

do you overclock your graphics card? how much did you manage to overclock it to and do u use any special cooling eq?

 

[the fong]

A fairly basic and cheap method to help from overheating as well, is to pull the current cooling solution off, remove the rather cheap thermal compound, and replace it with something decent, eg arctic silver, often nets a decent drop in temp, especially for the minimal costing

 

[2ltjoel]

Best answer selected by 2ltJoel.