Is overclocking a GPU worth it.

[naybag]

Hi everyone I just bought a Sapphire 7870 2gb GHZ OC edition. Although I dont know much about the ins and outs of pc builds. I was drawn to this card purely because it is OC'd already and has big head room if you want to overclock it further.

My question is though, What benefit do I actually gain by this card being overclocked, or even overclocking it further.

Thanks! ^^b

 

[manofchalk]

Big benefit to performance by overclocking a graphics card, and from personal experience with that exact model, you have a ton of headroom even over the factory overclock.

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

Getting to the performance of cards a full tier higher sounds worth it to me. You can often times get them past the next strongest card in the line. My 7950 is oced past a 7970 at stock, so I would say that it's definitely worth it.

 

[lostgamer_03]

I wouldn't say. We're talking a few FPS in difference, depending on the game. Would you like to void your warranty and take the risk of possibly damage your GPU?

I've been there, and I've done that. Not worth it.

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

I've RMAed a gpu that was overclocked before. So, I don't know what people are talking about. It's also pretty hard to damage. My bro got a 20-25% boost in unigene's heaven.

 

[darkspartenwarrior]

It makes your stuff run faster, but only do it if you think it's necessary(i.e if games are running fine, dont take the risk, if they're lagging, overclock).

 

[naybag]

Thanks for the info everyone. The card as is with the factory OC on it is good enough to play most games on high settings. But I can't see how overclocking can void the warranty because CCC has the ability to overclock the card with the click of a button. It's not like I would be using 3rd party tools.

Also I believe I can get an extra 200mhz from the card without Ltering the voltage.

 

[manofchalk]

^ Think 30Mhz without altering the voltage. My card is overvolted a fair bit to achieve the clocks it has.
Also about 1200Mhz is as far as you can push a 7870, beyond that point it is too unstable and raising the voltage wont do anything except push out more heat.

And yes, you want to be using something like Afterburner. Much better UI and you can see how hot the card will get with its built in stress utility. Plus, you get greater control over the fan curve, which is important if you dont want that thing running full throttle at idle.

 

[lostgamer_03]

Thanks for the info everyone. The card as is with the factory OC on it is good enough to play most games on high settings. But I can't see how overclocking can void the warranty because CCC has the ability to overclock the card with the click of a button. It's not like I would be using 3rd party tools.

Also I believe I can get an extra 200mhz from the card without Ltering the voltage.

AMD's marketing lives on the ability to overclock, nothing else. The manufacturers are the ones that decides wether the warranty will be voided or not. Not AMD. AMD simply provides the technology and the manufacturers makes the GPUs, which provide the warranty.

If AMD were like Nvidia that has put a bit of a limit on their overclocking only to prevent damage on the GPU, then AMD would be long gone. It's cool that YOU can decide how high you wanna fly, but remember - The higher you fly the further you fall.

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

So basically, don't move all the sliders to full.