GPU Core Clock vs Memory Clock

[blade061188]

Hi Toms Forum,

I have looked around a fair amount looking for the answer to this question, have never seen it adequately answered (in my opinion).

The question is this: What gains can be had from overclocking the Memory clock of your GPU?

Increasing the core clock directly affects raw performance and FPS, but I haven't seen a good answer as to what benefits come from increasing the memory clock (aside from a higher 3Dmark score)

Answers and insights would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[blade061188]

Any insights?

 

[Fortunex]

Memory overclocking helps on cards with low memory bandwidth, and with games with a lot of post-processing/textures/filters like AA that are VRAM intensive.

 

[blade061188]

Does anyone know of an article that benchmarks VRAM clocks compared with Core clocks?

I am looking for a more quantitative idea of how much affect VRAM Frequency has compared to Core clock frequency.

 

[Fortunex]

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/08/17/asus_rog_matrix_gtx580_platinum_video_card_review/11

Generally it's better to focus on core first then memory, but overclocking the memory does help. I think Tom's had an article on this a while ago, can't find it though.

 

[blade061188]

Thanks Fortunex,

I think that's good enough for me. Let me know if you find any other articles

 

[blade061188]

Best answer selected by blade061188.

 

[Twist86]

To add to this question without making a new thread is will overclocking your memory higher decrease how far you can overclock your coreclock? For example my 7850 2GB will do 1050mhz core / 1300mhz memory without any voltage increase, if I lowered memory to 1100mhz could I do 1100mhz on core with the stock voltage?

Just a curious question

 

[Poor bill]

I get a lot higher scores when overclocking my ram vs cpu ratio. 3dmark is about 1000 higher on a single 970.