Does overclocking alone cause heat/damage?

[Jonathanese]

I just got a Geforce GTX 660, and I was interested in overclocking it.

Using Precision X, I got a 400MHz DDR overclock (200MHz Base, 800MHz QDR), but, remembering that my rear memory chips are unsinked, I've decided to hold off until I can get some RAM sinks.



So my main question is this: Does raising the clock speed alone increase the heat or reduce the life expectancy of the card, or is this only caused by over-voltage?



I mean you figure, on one hand, you aren't actually changing the voltage, so the power distribution should be about the same. On the other hand, more clock cycles translates into more precharge cycles, translating to more current, more power, and thus more heat.

 

[Rustyy117]

Hi,

Yep, a higher clock = more cycles = more heat, so overclocking without touching the voltage will still decrease the life of the card, though I wouldn't imagine by much providing temps are still acceptable.

 

[AirSKiller]

I just got a Geforce GTX 660, and I was interested in overclocking it.

Using Precision X, I got a 400MHz DDR overclock (200MHz Base, 800MHz QDR), but, remembering that my rear memory chips are unsinked, I've decided to hold off until I can get some RAM sinks.



So my main question is this: Does raising the clock speed alone increase the heat or reduce the life expectancy of the card, or is this only caused by over-voltage?



I mean you figure, on one hand, you aren't actually changing the voltage, so the power distribution should be about the same. On the other hand, more clock cycles translates into more precharge cycles, translating to more current, more power, and thus more heat.

Noooooooo, come on... If you don't touch the voltage you can increase the clocks all you want! heat rise will be minimum (5ºC maximum) and life of the card? Please... the GTX 660 is build to last 10 years+ are you going to old it that much long? xD
Don't be afraid of OCing! Just be gentle with the voltages (you probably can't even change them it the version you have of the GTX 660)