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Overclocking & Tweaking

Before we dive into an wide-ranging series of tests and benchmarks, we need to explain overclocking. With most videocards, we can do some easy tricks to boost the overall performance a little. You can do this at two levels, namely tweaking by enabling registry or BIOS hacks, or even tamper with Image Quality. And then there is overclocking, which will give you the best possible results by far.

What do we need?
One of the best tool for overclocking NVIDIA and ATI videocards is our own Rivatuner that you can download here. If you own an NVIDIA graphics card then NVIDIA actually has very nice built in options for you that can be found in the display driver properties.

Where should we go ?
Overclocking: By increasing the frequency of the videocard's memory and GPU, we can make the videocard increase its calculation clock cycles per second. It sounds hard but it really can be done in less then a few minutes. I always tend to recommend to novice users and beginners not to increase the frequency any higher then 5-10% of the core and memory clock. Example: If your card runs at 300 MHz then I suggest you don't increase the frequency any higher than 330 MHz.

More advanced users push the frequency often way higher. Usually when your 3D graphics start to show artifacts such as white dots ("snow"), you should back down 10-15 MHz and leave it at that.

The core can be somewhat different. Usually when you are overclocking too hard, it'll start to show artifacts, empty polygons or it will even freeze. I recommend that you back down at least 15 MHz from the moment you notice an artifact. Look carefully and observe well.

All in all... do it at your own risk.

This XFX GeForce 6600 seems to be a very nice card to overclock but it was right at it's limit. A few MHz upwards and we'd see corruption. Results will vary per card, and you might need to back down a little the minute you see artifacts or simply want to play it safe. None the less, tweaking is a simple trick to get some more bang for your buck. Obviously the overclocking matters, look at the chart below:

Overclocking your card too far or constantly to its maximum limit might damage your card and it's usually not covered by your warranty.

You can alter the default clock settings by using Rivatuner, which you can download here.

One small sidenote: Our overclocking results are never a guarantee for your own results. Manufacturers' choices in components differ and so will the end-results. This however is a good indication of what is (or isn't) possible.