If i have this straight...GPU OC is not restricted

[mikeydee81]

Ok....
Im working with an ivy i3 3220... No K on the model so as i understand i cant OC it
Going with an H77 MB cuz im on a budget.....and i cant OC the 3220 anyways

Question is.....and i believe im accurate...in saying i can still OC a discreet GPU. Am i correct to assume OC is done through software provided with the Graphics card?

Im looking at either a HD7770 or 7850. Im not an avid gamer by any stretch but would like to play current games at reasonable settings at 1080p. I understand the 7770 is just barely capable of that and the 7850 has a little more room to handle that....so thats why id like to maybe OC whichever one i get to give myself some more headroom.

Any specific manufacturers that provide better OC capability....or do they basically all come with some sort of OC tinkering software?




Edit: Ok..i just read MSI has afterburner software that i can dowload thats free. So i can use there software with any card???

 

[C12Friedman]

Question is.....and i believe im accurate...in saying i can still OC a discreet GPU. Am i correct to assume OC is done through software provided with the Graphics card?

That is correct

Any specific manufacturers that provide better OC capability....or do they basically all come with some sort of OC tinkering software?

No difference that I have noticed, what you can get out of the card depends more on how highly the card was binned at manufacture

Edit: Ok..i just read MSI has afterburner software that i can dowload thats free. So i can use there software with any card???

I'm pretty sure it is possible as long as the series of card is supported but there is the possibility of reduced functionality

 

[steddora]

It's usually best to stick the manufacturers, but for the most part they will work with each other. However, the biggest differences can be card specifics being non reference and controlling voltages and the like differently.

Either way the CPU and mobo combo you have selected; definitely awesome for a budget gamer. Just grab up 8GB of a ram and drop a 7850 or GTX 660 into it. Get one with a non-reference cooler and you'll be satisfied. The i3 isn't going to hold you back as much as you'd imagine it would. Would a more powerful 2500k or 3570 range CPU perform better? Of course, but in framerates; it's not going to be large at all.

Just make sure you have 8gb of ram or more since it's cheap these days, get a decent GPU and you're set. Clocking the GPU is usually as easy as pressing some buttons and testing.

 

[steddora]

I forgot to add, the 7850 and 660 should just about run max settings on all the games out there today at 1080p. The GTX 660 performs just above my pair of 550's and I run BF3 at ultra settings on everything aside from the anti-aliasing. The lowered memory bus does hit the frames there; but the games look absolutely amazing even at 2xAA. BF3 and Metro2033 are the only games I've ran into any issues with my current setup and it's all AA related aside from tesselation which is killer on most cards. Most games however, I'm cranking max settings and holding 45-60FPS the entire time. You won't be disappointed for the money you're going to be tossing at the machine; trust me.

 

[mikeydee81]

Best answer selected by mikeydee81.