OverClocking

Right.. I have no idea what Tim is on about.. WHAT THE F***K is Overclocking?

Over clocking is when you increase the memory, core clock speed of a component of your computer such as the graphics card, CPU, etc. Of course... with speed comes heat, and this is the one thing you must be very careful of when overclocking.. as too much heat = DEAD card or CPU etc. So there is a balance that needs to be found when over clocking any component of your PC.

That is:
The performance increase vs. the temperature gain and risk of destruction.

The ambient temperature of your computer also plays a large role on how far you can push the overclocking, so it’s a good idea to have a computer case that has enough fans to keep it cool! So therefore.. Summer months vs Winter months… Be careful, because overclocking during winter when it is cooler, will be different to overclocking during summer.

What happens when you push it too far?

Well.. When over clocking you push the component to the maximum settings. To do this you slowly increase your core clock frequency and core memory frequency in stages of 5 MHz or less. You test the machine after every stage ensuring no artifacts or problems with your PC occur... e.g. Snow, mouse cursor sticks, game crashes, ghosting, any other issues that might arise out of the ordinary. If you push it too far... These things will start to occur, and you must immediately set it back to the last known working setting.

So what did I use to overclock my card?

After many weeks of research and surfing many overclocking websites etc, I decided to give it a go myself. The program I used to do the overclocking is a registry file less than 100kb that adds an extra option to your NVIDIA settings panel under display properties. It is called: Coolbits.

It can be found here: www.overclockers.com.au/files/CoolBits.reg

(just right click and OPEN!)

This is what it gives ya:

Image taken during tests.

The settings I have found for my card a 6800GT 256 are:

DEFULT:

350 MHz Core clock frequency

1.00 GHz Core memory frequency

I OVERCLOCKED TO (for these tests):

400 MHz Core Clock frequency

1.10 GHz Core memory frequency


What program did I use to test my card?

I used a program called 3D Mark 2005 to test the performance increase of over clocking my card compared to the default settings of the manufacturer. This is a program that measures many things on your computer, such as CPU speed, RAM, Graphics card speed etc. It has three demos which are used to create these measurements. I was only interested in the Graphics side of things so that’s what I started measuring.

RESULTS:

Default:
GT1 - Return To Proxycon 20.9 FPS
GT2 - Firefly Forest 13.9 FPS
GT3 - Canyon Flight 24.4 FPS


Over clocked:
GT1 - Return To Proxycon 22.5 FPS
GT2 - Firefly Forest 15.7 FPS
GT3 - Canyon Flight 27.4 FPS

What you see here is the average FPS (frames per second) of each demo tested in both default, and over clocked settings. You can see an increase of a couple of FPS. However during the demos there is a noticeable difference in FPS in certain areas, where there has been an increase of 10 FPS or more.

First Person Shooters:
(these are measured during certain scenes of the game)

DOOM: An increase of around 5 fps
Lost Coast Demo: An increase of around 3 fps
QUAKE: An increase of around 6 fps
DODS: An increase of around 4 fps

So… conclusion:

If you are interested in getting the most out of your machine, living on the edge, like to gamble, and are obsessed with amazing graphics (like myself) then GIVE IT A GO! If not… then you are probably best just to use your default settings.

What is my card set too now?

Well I finally finished overclocking my computer. And the 6800GT 256 is now running faster than the 6800 ULTRA 256.

6800GT: 350MHz Core Clock Speed
1.00GHz Core Memory Speed

6800 ULTRA: 400MHz Core Clock Speed
1.10GHz Core Memory Speed

MY CARD: 410MHz Core Clock Speed
1.15GHz Core Memory Speed

So… as you can see… If you are tempted to buy a 6800 Ultra… DON’T BOTHER.. the GT is cheaper, and can easily be overclocked to be faster than the Ultra, saving you BIG $$$$$!!!

If you are interested in OC your card… and have any questions, Just post and ill help ya out!

Written/Directed/Produced by Timmeh:P

SCREENIES OF 3DMARK 05!:

Canyon Flight:



Firefly Forest:



Return to Proxycon:



EDIT: Before you attempt to overclock your graphics card, I suggest, research a bit, find out what the max settings that other users managed with the same card. Overclocking works for all graphic chipsets, the increase gained in some can be huge, in others not worth it. So surf the web before you start messing around with your expensive equipment!

whoa... I'm sure I'm not reading through that whole thing!

hehehe

well you would if you wer interested! so...

next time u come ova timmeh do that nerdy thing to my g card!!

you might break sleep's computer if you do that

Fat Hobbit wrote:

you might break sleep's computer if you do that

what .. u mean it isnt??

that gun is ridiculously large.