Overclocking Woes

[REVENGE]

I just received my 9600GSO 768MB and I tried overclocking it right out of the box. I got it to stabilize and ran ATiTool and 3DMark Vantage for a while, and it seemed ok. Last thing I did was let it run a 3DMark06 loop with max IQ settings for around 7 hours last night, and when I turned on my monitor this morning everything was artifact'd, from 3DMark to ATiTool to the desktop.

I rebooted and everything went back to normal, but should I continue to try and overclock or stop? I don't want to damage the card. It runs ok on the overclock for short periods of time, but fails in the long run it seems...

[smoth]

overclocking carries the possibility of damaging your hardware. If you wish to do it expect that to be a possibility. If I said anything else it would be opinion.

[lurker]

I personally overclock to where it'll never overheat in the long run at max load, but if you want short bursts of MORE POWER I guess that works. I wouldn't be worried about artifacting, just don't go... past... the point where it starts to artifact after a time.
If you actually meant you were worried about overclocking it less than you aleady had, all I have to say is

should

opinion

Heh.

[REVENGE]

I personally overclock to where it'll never overheat in the long run at max load, but if you want short bursts of MORE POWER I guess that works. I wouldn't be worried about artifacting, just don't go... past... the point where it starts to artifact after a time.

Hmm, I never saw the GPU temperature go past 80C. It would seem that maybe the memory or something wasn't getting cooled enough. At the end of the long loop, the GPU looked like it had pretty much failed as it wouldn't even heat up. Anyways, bumped it down a bit just to be safe.

If you actually meant you were worried about overclocking it less than you aleady had, all I have to say is

should

opinion

Heh.

wut

[lurker]

That was two separate things.

1. If you're going to overclock less than where it failed, why are you worried? You already did more with no damage (probably).

2. You ask about what you should do and smoth is saying it's bad to give an opinion? Wha... Okay time to mock smoth.

[smoth]

I am saying that hardware sometimes isn't built perfectly which is why you have to find a range that works for your card sure you can ask for values but maybe his has slightly better heat tolerance because of less glue here or a better mix metal there. etc. Hardware is somewhat inconsistent. ESP because his power supply may be less or more stable same goes for the power going into his machine. I have heard too many times of people's shit frying because it was oc'd. You change the factory specs of hardware and push it a little more, that heat can cause changes in the stability of the hardware. That is all known and the observations of people's shit eventually frying are from experience with people I knew.

My statement was saying that if he cannot handle the danger then don't fuck with it. If he is fine with a possibility of hardware failure because no matter how small hardware always has a chance to fail and computers have several places to falter and give irregular voltage to a glass house you build when you over clock. I said I was avoiding opinions because I have always felt that ocing a machine people tend to get cycle greedy and fry their shit. So that is my opinion, if you play it conservative you might be fine if all the laundry list of already present possible hardware failures aren't enough to scare you, sure go ahead and push you machine further. Then again, I live in the southern united states and shit get really hot down here so the climate here might very well influence my perspective. I am a play it safe kind of guy.

[lurker]

Nice rant, but I stand by the original light mocking of wording it as not wanting to give opinion because it is opinion.

[REVENGE]

I was mainly wondering if the sort of symptoms I described are characteristic of me having gone way over the limit. I haven't seen similar things happen when I overclocked video cards in the past.

No worries, of course there are reasons why you'd be disinclined to give an opinion on something like this. The answers you guys have given are good enough, thanks.

[smoth]

no problem, Lurker is right though there is a good chance your shit is fine. It didn't catch of fire, that is FUCKED man.

[Boirunner]

Okay time to mock smoth.

smoth is as smart as a bag of potatoes, and he likes to satisfy himself with the help of ranch dressing

[REVENGE]

Wait, what the hell you're in my thread too???

[Beherith]

I usually just push the clock higher, dont like pushing voltage up, as I find that much more potentially devastating to the hardware.
Seems to me that vga cards cards usually dont have much OC potential in them. OTOH newer intel CPUs offer a lot of potential gain.
I dont think its worth the extra 10% gain to risk frying a new pretty card. But then again, if you bought it at a brick and mortar store, then you can always take it back.

For temp references: my 8800gt runs at 90deg with spring on, and its not OCd, and has more than adequate cooling and fresh air.

[Caradhras]

GPU temperatur is not the only important value.
Many modern gfx cards have problems with overheating voltage converters if a custom heatsink is used.

So if you oc your card take care of them.

[Spawn_Retard]

pro tip: Buy a better cooling system and a better card

[RogerN]

Just be aware that heat is not the only problem caused by overclocking. You also increase the probability of bit errors, which can cause all sorts of instability and odd behavior. Bit errors can occur at any temperature if you're heavily overclocking, so if you want a stable system then you can't rely on just the heat measurements.