Apparently, most modern computer users have heard about the concept of overclocking and the people who do it. All processes related to this term are nothing but acceleration of “iron” equipment. But if earlier this applied exclusively to central processors, today it is often possible to meet overclocking of video cards, or rather, graphic processors and memory. Physical overclocking methods are a thing of the past, and at the present stage of development of computer technology, software methods are being applied more and more. But how to overclock a video card in order to prevent its failure? But it is precisely on these issues that you should pay attention in the first place, since incorrect actions can lead to the fact that the graphics adapter after some manipulations will refuse to work, and it can simply be thrown away. Unfortunately, buying a new graphics accelerator of the most modern type is not a cheap pleasure.
Overclocking a video card: general principles
Before starting to consider the steps for overclocking graphic chips, first we’ll dwell on several important issues, the knowledge of which is mandatory for any user who is going to do overclocking.
Let's see what overclocking is all about, and what it consists of. It is clear that the purchase of a modern video card is far from affordable for all computer users or game lovers. Therefore, many, instead of acquiring new equipment, try to squeeze maximum performance out of old models. Not everyone knows how to overclock a video card. Or rather, not everyone is aware of how to get a performance boost. For the most part, this is used to increase the clock frequency of the GPU (by the type of actions previously performed with the CPU). And due to what increases the clock frequency? By increasing the voltage supplied to the equipment. Thus, you should immediately pay attention to possible risks, which will be discussed separately.
How appropriate is overclocking?
Not only the above should be considered. Suppose a user needs to overclock a GeForce graphics card or similar hardware. Immediately pay attention to the very possibility of increasing productivity. The fact is that overclocking graphic chips of even one line does not always make sense.
The greatest, as it is believed, overclocking potential is possessed by cards like Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming, ASUS Matrix and some other similar models. In them, based on official statistics, the potential for increasing productivity is about 40-50% of the initial one. Mid-range graphics cards, for which some performance indicators can be artificially lowered only to keep up the sales ratings of top-end chips, have a power reserve of 25-30%. Finally, the flagship expensive models and chips embedded in motherboards accelerate the worst. Something is almost impossible to squeeze out of them. By the way, if someone has questions about how to overclock the video card on a laptop, if it belongs to the integrated (Video-on-Board) class, keep in mind that instead of the expected overclocking, you can get many problems of a much more serious nature than the failure of the graphics adapter, because such chips are not intended at all for the overclocking methods described below.
Possible risks
Finally, it is worth highlighting some risks separately. When carrying out overclocking manipulations of video cards, it should be noted that with an increase in frequency, power consumption, chip heating and noise level will automatically increase. Therefore, to avoid breakdowns and negative effects on the chip of these factors, you should immediately stock up on a powerful power supply (400-450 W), check the cooling system and the condition of coolers (fans). Sometimes, when overclocking video chips, some specialists use liquid nitrogen as a refrigerant, but, I think, in relation to home conditions this is not the best solution.
Preliminary Actions
Finally, you can proceed with the required actions. But for starters, again, pay attention to some conditions. Many professional overclockers use flash firmware from their own primary BIOS BIOS for overclocking video cards. However, it is better for an ordinary user without special knowledge to install updated software of this type to do such things. In extreme cases, it is better to update the main BIOS of the motherboard, but when performing such operations, you must be extremely careful. The task is simplified if, instead of outdated BIOS systems, UEFI is installed on the computer. In this case, the flashing can be launched directly in Windows. The main thing is to use a compatible firmware version (Firmware) downloaded from the developer's site.
In addition, it is desirable to simultaneously update the driver of the video card itself, and install not only its most recent version, but also the most stable one. Otherwise, the card at one of the stages of overclocking may simply stop working. Finally, another update concerns the DirectX platform. If updates for it were not automatically installed during the process of updating the operating system, they must be downloaded on the Microsoft website and installed independently.
What programs will be needed for overclocking?
Just now, let's see how to overclock an AMD Radeon graphics card or a similar one from any other manufacturer. For these purposes, we will need to use three types of programs:
- Basic Performance Monitoring Application (GPU-Z);
- program directly for overclocking (Afterburner, NVIDIA Inspector, ATITool, etc.);
- utility for conducting tests for an overclocked video card (Furmark, 3DMark, etc.).
Thus, it is easy to guess that the overclocking process will include the initial and subsequent verification of the main parameters of the chip, overclocking itself and performance testing in overclocked form with identification of possible failures or errors.
Afterburner: overclocking the video card with the simplest method
Now directly about the actions being performed. For example, consider the process of increasing the performance of video chips in Afterburner. So, how to overclock a video card (of any manufacturer, and not a specific model)? The technique for all chips is exactly the same.
First of all, we launch the GPU-Z utility and look at three important characteristics: CPU Clock (core frequency), Memory (memory frequency) and Shader (frequency of shader units). We memorize or write down these values, after which we go to the main program.
In the Afterburner application, it is advisable to immediately select not the new interface, but to install the Default MSI Afterburner v3 skin, which is more convenient for work. Now, in fact, the process itself begins. How to overclock a video card in this application? Everything is simple! First you need to move the Power Limit fader to the far right position, and then click the Apply button. After that, you need to increase the Core Clock, but not more than 40-50 MHz at a time, and click the Apply button again.
Now run the Furmark utility and select the stress test in it. We are waiting for 30-40 minutes. If nothing happened to the graphics during this time and the system did not give any warnings regarding the operation of the video chip, we return to the application for overclocking and again increase the frequency by the above interval, after which we again perform stress testing. And so on until a message appears stating that the video driver stopped responding and was restored. This indicates a critical threshold for graphics chip capabilities.
Now, in the Afterburner application, we set the frequency value that precedes the one at which the driver crashed, click the Apply button, and then increase the indicator by a little bit, after which we start testing again. The meaning of such actions is to approach the threshold of safety margin as close as possible. Once it is identified, you should run some resource-intensive game that would load the GPU at 95-100%. We play for 1.5-2 hours. If a failure message appears, lower the frequency. If it is not, increase it. The task is to find the boundary value for the game itself. When it is revealed, we carry out completely similar actions for the item Memory Clock.
When the desired result is achieved, we use the GPU-Z utility and see how much the previously indicated performance indicators have changed. The increase may surprise anyone. Yes! If the card heats up too quickly, try increasing the cooler (fan) speed slightly.
How to overclock an NVIDIA GeForce graphics card?
There should be no ambiguities with the order of actions. Now let's see how to overclock a video card of a serial line of GeForce chips using the NVIDIA Inspector software. In it you need to enable the Show Overclocking mode.
In the acceleration panel, the actions performed are almost completely similar to those described above, only the increase needs to be done with the fader in the Shader Clock item and no more than 15% of the base indicator at a time. After testing, we perform the same operations for the Memory Clock.
Additional Actions in the NVIDIA Inspector
As an additional tool, you can advise using the ability to save the settings made in the program as a configuration file on the “Desktop” (Create Clocks Shortcut button). This object must be moved to the startup section (shell: startup in the Run menu) so that the parameters specified in it are applied to the video card directly at the start of the operating system.
Overclocking AMD Radeon Graphics Cards
Finally, let's see how to overclock an AMD graphics card. By and large, the actions are the same. Yes, and Afterburner can also be used.
However, you can use the rather simple AMD GPU Clock Tool utility, which is designed for the novice user, and is one of the best in its category in terms of performance improvements.
Additional utilities for overclocking and monitoring the state of graphic chips
So, how to overclock a Radeon graphics card or NVIDIA models, figured out. The consolation is that all procedures, regardless of the software used, are the same in all cases. Here the main condition is not to increase the frequencies at a time too much so as not to overdo it with the installation of unsupported parameters. As for additional utilities for overclocking video chips, programs like NVIDIA System Tools, EVGA Precision X and their analogs are not bad, apart from the ones described above.
Brief Summary
As for the debriefing, it should be noted only how appropriate it is to deal with such things. Of course, you can increase the performance of the graphics chip to some limits. But with the achievement of boundary values, which, as they say, will balance on the verge, it is not worth experimenting. If we use them, it is only at our own peril and risk, since a huge number of third-party factors can influence the increase in the load on the graphics processor and memory.