Overclocking
If your current videocard isn't fast enough there is always a way to make it a little bit faster by running the 3D chip core on a faster tact-frequency. This way you can pump up your average Framerate a little bit. Is overclocking really a must ? Nah, not really ... you card works fine. At its default speed. And with today's fast videocard technology you really won't know much difference in Frames Per Second significant .. Still it is fun to push you card to the limit. And by all means, some of you might actually do see a difference in FPS. On this page we will supply you with some information about Overclocking your 3D card. Overclocking is a something that should be done on a wise and proper manner. We take no responsibility in everything noted within this page. If you decide to overclock your card then that is your choice and the consequences are for your own risk.
All chipsets are made within a safety margin regarding its default clockspeed. Voodoo one cards had a default core of 55 Mhz, Voodoo2 had a default tact-frequency core of 90MHz. When you cool down your card a bit with a little fan or heatsink (fan is preferred) then it is in general relatively safe to overclock within a 10% margin of your default clockspeed. The key to a good and relatively safe overclocking process is to make sure that your card is cooled so it can not overheat itself.
Things have changed for the better. Graphics processor units have a much higher core-frequency and memory can be clocked much higher. Examples of the most used NVIDIA videocards:
- GeForce2 MX 166/175MHz Core 166/175MHz memory
- GeForce2 GTS 200MHz core/333MHz memory
- GeForce2 Pro 200 MHz core/400 MHz memory
- GeForce2 Ultra 250 MHz core/460 MHz memory
All these videocards core and memory can be increased by about 10%
If you are going to overclock the take the following steps :
- Cool your card, preferably with a Cooling fan. If not available use a heatsink on the fan. (most videocards have these already)
- Make sure that you stay within a 10% limit of your default clockspeed
- Overclock you card in small steps. From ex. 200Mhz to 210Mhz. Test your card by playing a game for a while. If nothing happens, then go up another 5Mhz. and so on until you reach the 10% limit.
- If you notice bad polygons or other strange glitches while using your 3D card then you have seriously reached the limit. Go down at least 5Mhz to be safe and try again.
- If your card locks out (black screen) then follow step down 5 to 10 MHz from your last setting.
- If you smell something weird ... hey turn your computer off like the speed of light and prey that your 3D chips aren't fried.
Point 6 seems a bit steep. I have never experienced this before (and I overclocked and tested a lot), but it doesn't mean it can't happen.
There are several programs around that can alter some settings on your 3D videocard.
Coolbits :
We'll keep this short and simple , coolbits is a registry patch that allows for an extra tab in your driver that allows you to overclock your NVIDIA videocard.
If you download this patch and click on it after downloading it will modify your Registry to enable the hardware Option Tab.
As you can see, it allows you to overclock both the core and the RAM. Be careful when overclocking and try not to go to overboard as it can damage your card.
Personally I think the little extra performance gained by overclocking isn't justified by the amount of extra pressure you put on your card.
If you have a Leadtek Card however , you don't need to download coolbits as Leadtek have been generous enough to include an overclocking utility of it's own. The "Speed Runner"
Above : Leadteks Speed Runner , use this instead of Coolbits if you have a Leadtek card.
Other manufacturers have similar utilities. You can also use a third party utility like our RivaTuner to swiftly overclock and tweak your NVIDIA videocard.
Other videocards like Matrox, Radeon and 3dfx should look into our downlaod section where some nice utils are on-line.
