J.D

**Note that overclocking and fan speed modifications, etc. can cause harm to your system and neither I, nor overclock.net assume responsibilty for any damage done to your PC as a result of this tutorial**


In this how-to, I will provide an explanation on a software (from windows) overclock of an nVidia GPU.

Getting Ready

First you must download RivaTuner.Once you have installed the Tuner. Install a certain registry value by clicking on the button in the first red circle, a small popup will appear, click on the option furthest to the left (green PCI card) and a popup window will open, press the install button. Reboot your PC (if asked) and continue.


Once you have everything ready, open RivaTuner and click on the button in the 2nd red circle. Click on the option furthest to the left (green PCI card) and a popup window will open, check the box at the top that says: "Enable driver-level hardware overclocking" and select the performance 3d option to make the overclocking work when you start using demanding 3d applications (e.g.: games). Make sure that the "Apply overclocking at windows startup..." is checked, and that you save your settings after overclocking (you can select other options too, but personally I do not think that I need to overclock for 2d applications:).Use the tabs along the top to change other settings, like fan speed (note that adjusting fan speeds can lead to overheating and damage to your Video Card).

Overclocking and Benchmarking

To overclock simply move the slider to the right for Memory and/or Core clock by about 5MHz before clicking Test, Apply and run your favourite benchmark, if your card becomes unstable, then reduce your overclock. Now you can finally feel better about your 2 year old card!

Modki

Should probably let them know to have the Hardware monitor open, constantly check temps, move up in small increments, hold down ctrl while windows is booting to disable rivatuner if the new settings are causing problems, invest in aftermarket cooling if their temps exceed 80 Cº...

Posting a warning and then not telling them how to avoid it in the first place is kinda the easy way out.

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theoorton

how to ulock pipelines?????????????:)

JohnRogers

Depends what card you have :)

Mootsfox

Great FAQ, I decided to not use Rivatuner because it was too hard : P I've been using coolbits and atitool, but now i'll try riva.

J.D

sorry for the long reply on my own FAQ:) Hope it helps and feel free to post more comments and I will gladly edit the FAQ.