[eeevan]

Hey all, Im a reall noob to the OCing scene.

I recently bought a new HP PC w/ an Athlon X2 4200. Being a big gamer I bought an XFX Geforce 7800GT.

I'm really happy w/ the performance but its always nice to get a little more..

I bought an Antec SmartPower 400 watt PSU to handle my new video card. The case has pretty basic cooling..

Do you have any advice about OCing the CPU and or video card?? I'd like to keep within a safe distance from melting my baby...

 

[Retrospekt]

You'll need better cooling, i recommend the big typhoon, great fan, it'll drop your temps 5c+. Heres the link- 50$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835106061
Also, if you want to overclock your card you'll need to downlaod a program called "coolbits". Thats all i cant telll you, im not too familiar with amd.

Edit: For us to further help you, go to your profile and fill out your system specs. This will help us help you to see what were working with. Try to be detailed in the specs.

 

[pbasil1]

well i dont think your gonna OC the cpu because all the settings in the bios will be locked to do so.... so you only way of OCing you cpu is to do it through software which isnt as good

for the videocard, download coolbits or rivatuner for that.
when you run coolbits, its just a registry edit and then you can go into your nvidia utility(right click desktop>display>your monitor) then there will be a new tab on the left called "clock frequency settings" and there yo can OC the card.... but riva tuner is a little better because you can set fan speeds for different apps and such, which helps keep the temps down. heat=enemy

 

[Retrospekt]

Oh, didnt realize it was pre-built. Ya, your oc will suck with software, so maybe the big typoon wont matter much......

 

[pbasil1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retrospekt Oh, didnt realize it was pre-built. Ya, your oc will suck with software, so maybe the big typoon wont matter much......

yup the BT is a pointess buy with a prebuilt systems for it probably wont OC high enough to need better cooling....

can you buy a new MOBO for say $60-80 atleast? then you can really unleash that beast of a cpu!

 

[eeevan]

If the CPU cant be overclocked very easily, thats mo big deal.

Does anyone know a safe amount to OC my 7800GT that wont melt anything??

 

[Retrospekt]

Push it up by incriments of 5. Whats the stock mhz speed on those? 400? If so, go up by incriments of 5mhz, until your reach 430mhz, and benchmark it.

 

[eeevan]

The core clock is 450mhz
The memory is 1050mhz

it has already been OC'd a little bit from the standard Nvidia model
[(+50mhz) core]
[(+50mhz) clock]

 

[Retrospekt]

Go up by incriments of 5-10 until you get up to 480mhz core. Run benchmark and decide if you want to push it farther.

 

[pbasil1]

there is a "detect optimal frequencies" in the nvidia utility... do that and then benchmark it and if it doesnt have any artifacts(lines and/or colors that are not supposed to be there) then keep pushing it up higher, also run a few games for atleast 10min. to heat the card up ,which is when artifacts will appear... if no artifacts,keep OCing

artifacts:
lines are typically from the core clock being to high.
splotchy colors are typically from the memory clck being to high

 

[eeevan]

whats the highest safe temp. I should push it to??

remember, I have VERY basic cooling

 

[pbasil1]

im thinkin no higher than 75c... but you will most likely get artifacts before that temp, so youll be underclocking it to prevent the artifacts... there are aftermarket coolers for about $35 shipped...

 

[eeevan]

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[eeevan]

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[laboitenoire]

If you need a good GPU stress test to see if it will artifact, do the following:

1. Download and install a Program called ATI tool. The name says it's for ATI cards, but it works on newer nVidia cards as well.
2. Open up your GPU temp tab under the nVidia control panel (same place where you go for clock speeds).
3. Run 3D view on the ATI tool, and it will quickly heat up your GPU. Also, you can use ATI tool to find the max speed on your core and memory. I usually set memory to the highest speed that coolbits will pass the test with. If you don't want to run this high, back it down by 100MHz. For the core I subtract 30-60MHz off of what ATI tool says the max stable core is. Why? Well, the graphics will get pretty hot unless you invest in third-party cooling.