What can I do with it. How can i make it run better or Nick N's tips are all that I need? I have the GF8800 GTS 320 MB.

But on the other hand you wont really ever learn to OC untill you try. At the same time, as Nick said don't ever overclock a component you are not prepared to replace with your own cash. Overclocking a video card is about the easyest for medium overclocks. Don't need to worry about fsb settings, ram settings or voltage. Just heat for the most part. There still are risks involved though.

a1 wrote on Jul 28^th, 2007 at 8:16pm:



a1

It was not my intention to scare you. But being a parent, I know how to get your attention, fast.

Now that you have that thought in the back of your mind, to overclock a video card is very simple but it also takes knowledge in how to monitor temps and know when to stop. It also takes knowledge of the card and system and knows what the theoretical limits are before starting.

You will need special software that will access the video card clocks and you will need to know how to set it up and use it correctly.

With overclocking there is ALWAYS a danger that the card or device you are pushing has defects that may not show up in normal use but pushed, they may POP.

Overclocking is a combination of art and science. Its science with the art of experience in knowing what is happening by the temps, visuals, performance, readouts, etc, and making subtle changes to tweak performance to where it is at its maximum.

Overclockers, the people who do that, accept the risks and learned by trail and error. Those who are not tech savvy, end up with more errors and usually a few burnouts as they learn the art.

So, after reading the above you would like the opportunity to try and increase your performance and you accept the ass-kicking you may get from dad if you mess up, I will post the process.

You of course have to answer to Dad, not me.

a1 wrote on Jul 28^th, 2007 at 9:30pm:



The instructions will be 2-3 posts long and you will have to go to the tech sites (video card reviews and hardware clocking sites) and find out what they are getting for LIMITS on the core and memory speed of THAT CARD, not a 8800GTS 640 or a GTX, but the exact model of card you own which should give you an idea of the limits you don’t want to get too close to or exceed.

NOTE: Be careful of forums with kiddies who brag about what they are getting from their cards. Most of the little $hits are liars and are not getting the clocks or benchmark or frame rate numbers they claim. Some of them are getting the numbers they claim and thay are frying their cards to do it out of ignorance of the limits. It is best to get that data from several different reputable web sites and compare their results to see what values fall in line to start.

I can’t do that for you. That is the part you need to find out yourself. I will however post the process for clocking the card tomorrow as I get time. You will need to insert the values and test it, MONITORING the TEMP to make sure you are not exceeding the ability of the card and watching for artifacts and errors being displayed on the screen,. NOTE: There is NO TEMP MONITOR for the memory so you have to be very careful in that area. Usually max memory is found by watching for errors in 3D and reducing the memory clock until they go away.

An overclocked video card can LOCK or blue screen a system and you have to know how to bypass the clocked settings on boot to set them lower should you go too high by mistake.

I will post the process tomorrow

a1 wrote on Jul 29^th, 2007 at 1:09am:



Now that makes more sense to me.

There is nothing wrong with learning how to do such things but I would suggest the learning process be done on a cheap project tower. Not one you would use for games and such but more of a science project in which you would purchase cheap used parts that work and learn how to clock them, monitor them and the ins and outs of cooling the components. That way if you burn a 25 dollar processor or a 35-50 dollar video card, it’s not a loss but a learning experience.

You need to learn how to look up specs for cards and processors and then how to tweak without damaging the products. You also need to learn how to upgrade fans and heatsinks to to the job right. Yes, you can put a mild overclock on a system without replacing the cooling devices but before you do something like that you still need to know where to stop the increase so the results do not significantly shorten the life of the parts and/or have the opposite effect and make them run slower because they are running too hot.

Someday you are going to come across a post in a forum that will be a "How To Clock Your Video Card" in which the poster will supply you with superficial instructions and probably links to software. It can be very tempting to use the information but without experience, I can guarantee you there will be allot of information left out of that tutorial because the writer assumes those reading it will not be complete nubes. It’s like watching a TV show on 'how to' do something. You usually get enough information to be dangerous because it takes real experience, not a tutorial, to successfully clock a system.


All the G80 cores are being phased out for the next generation of cards. What you have will also go away too.

And I dont know where you got your information from but the 640 far exceeds the abilty of the 320. How can a card with 1/2 the memory run the same? You put a 320GTS in a identical system next to a 640GTS and launch FSX on identical settings geared for the 640. Your card will crap out on visuals and start choking well before you get off the runway.

chiptas wrote on Aug 1^st, 2007 at 8:37am:



It's not really a guide. I can post how to use RivaTuner or ATI Tool to change the clocks, something that can be found all over the net. You have to find the values that work for your hardware and in that process you may exceed the hardware ability even though you think you are not and if the parts have any defects from the factory, you may end up with a black screen, especially if the memory gets cooked because there is no temp monitor that will show you how hot the chips are getting.

I usually replace the HSF and memory heatsinks on a video card before I clock it because I can spec components for that purpose by calculating the heat dissipation based on the type of material being used and its molecular thermodynamic properties, size, method of contact and retention.

Those are important elements of overclocking that can only be learned by doing. Theory, math and science gets the parts list ordered but then there is the experience in installing the componets and then clocking the card and knowing when/where to stop.

Also, clocking can involve a video card BIOS flash that will allow the base shader clocks be raised. Another very dangerous process and one that requires the tech know how far that shader clock can go because as the core speed goes up, the shader gets multiplied.

A simply clock which does not involve all of the above can be easy, but it can also be the end of a video card too, and not right away but a few months down the road because the user forgot to keep the fan and heatsinks clean, does not keep a monitor running with an alarm level and smokes the card in the middle of a game.

It happens all the time, simply because someone thinks they can set up a clock and forget the rest.