WaLshy11

So I want to overclock my video card, and I have read many forums and posts etc and I think this is how to do it but can anyone clarify / steer me in the right direction?

Download RivaTuner and ATITool.
Install both.

- Open RivaTuner > System Settings > Overclocking tab
- Tick 'Enable driver-leve hardware overclocking (performance 3d)'
- Make sure 'Link Clocks' is selected
- Increase 'Core Clock' by small amount (I was going up by 2 notches, around 8mhz~) then hit 'Apply'
- Open ATITool up and 'Scan for Artifacts' for 10mins. If no artifacts are detected close ATITool and increase 'Core Clock' in RivaTuner a little more, then open ATITool back up and scan again.
- When ATITool finds an artifact, decrease 'Core Clock' by 10mhz. That should be stable clock?

- Set core back to default, do the same for Memory Clock (going up by 10mhz).
- When find stable for Memory Clock, increase Core Clock back up then scan with both.

- Run a 3D application or game (CS:S for an hour, 3D Mark etc) to see if stable
Does this seem the proper way of doing it?

I have read that ATITool isnt the best for detecting artifacts. If not, is there another alternative?

bebster

You do not have to have link clocks selected. Apart from that, you seem to have a FAR better grasp that most people starting off OCing. (I myself learned from trial and error and 1 broken 7950gt ^_^ )

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WaLshy11

Fankx :~)

The only reason I say select 'Link Clocks' is that on another post on these forums is says the core clock has to be under half of what the shader clock is otherwise it wont go any further (so the core maxes out at 700 if the shader is 1400)

bebster

I've heard something like that before, but I find my shader clock likes to go WAY higher than double my core clock. If you have the link clocks option checked, the ratio is locked at 1:2, where as mine is like 1:2.5 atm.

Aka: Core clock 820, shader clock 2000,

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ducrider

Pretty much what you wrote is the way to overclock.I find running 3Dmark 06 ater a overclock to see if its stable.Just because you have no artifact doesnt mean it will be stable.After I run 3Dmark06 then I go in to a game thats really GPU intense to do a real work test.

Gwias

Just reading this makes me want to go home from school and play with my settings... my god i didn't know OC'ing is this addictive LOL!

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WaLshy11

Yer I was thinking of running 3D Mark 06, excluding the CPU tests, which runs around for 6mins. This will check to see if stable and gets the video card all heated up. Then run the artifact check for 5mins to make sure.

zomgiwin

easiest way imo is evga precision then atitool for artifact scanning
evga precision works on any nvidia card, regardless of maker, and its just basically a slimmed down skinned rivatuner
you can unlink core and shader, and higher shader will probably benefit you more than high core
then in atitool, you scan for artifacts, say 25-30mins for 100% stability
maybe longer
i personally do 5-10 mins between clock changes to get a general idea of how far ima go, then once i start artifacting, i go back a bit, and test for longer
hope this helps! good luck!

oh, and dont forget to add your system in the user CP

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WaLshy11

Bumping this instead of making a new post..

When overclocking the core and shader clocks separately, which is better to do first?
Apparently the core can only go as far as half the shader (so if the shader is 1400, core max is 700).

I was thinking to do shader first, finding its max, leaving it as its max then starting on the core.
Or should I put the shader back to default then start on the core?

Mikecdm

I've been overclocking my gtx 260 for the past two days, while I have time. I found that it was easier for me to find out my max shaders first. I was really just looking to max out the shaders for folding, but right now I'm doing the core as well.

You have heard about the 2:1 ratio, but do you know about the shader straps? The shader moves in 54mhz increments. Even if you move it by 10mzh or 5mhz, for it do anything you need to move by 54mhz. If you select numbers in between the straps it will go to one or the other depending on how close it is.

With that in mind, I got my shaders upto 1566mhz, with stock core, then started working on the core. Right now core speed is at 771mhz, but I have only been testing with ATItool. It might be really unstable doing anything else, but ATItool hasn't found any artifacts yet.

It does artifact in just a few minutes with the shader at the next strap, which is 1620mhz. Also, I haven't gotten to the memory yet.