How to Overclock a graphics card?

Being an enthusiast extracting every ounce of performance out of my hardware has always been my passion. Today, most of us are familiar with GPU overclocking but still there are very few “brave” enough to try it. Let me tell you that the risk involved is negligible and with new features like thermal throttling the risks are further minimized. One should remember that risk is necessary for success.

Overclocking aims at running the hardware at frequencies higher than the stock ones which improves the performance of the device.

In this article I’ll concentrate on software based GPU overclocking, reviewing most of the popular applications available listing their pros and cons.

General: Do not take huge jumps in core/memory speeds. Use about 2MHz increments. First, go for the core and as soon as you notice artifacts or non-responsiveness stop lower by 1 MHz then repeat the same for memory. That should give you the max speeds. Now set the both memory and core clocks 2MHz lower than the max you got. You may restart in case the system hangs but take a note of the speeds and set 1MHz lower on restart. After overclock, you must verify the system stability and GPU temperatures by running some benchmark for atleast 1 hour.

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1. NVidia’s Ntune (NVidia Only):

Perhaps, the simplest and most basic overclocking application available. The version available on the official website is quite old but still works even on the latest Win 7 64/32 bit editions. It installs as an addition to NVidia Control Panel.

To overclock:

Open Nvidia Control Panel.

• Expand performance--->Adjust GPU settings.

• Select custom clock frequencies and customize according to your wish. You can reset by selecting factory shipped frequencies.

Pros: Simple, profiling possible.

Cons: No advanced features.

2. RivaTuner (ATi/NVidia)

Extremely popular and requires no introduction. One of the many distinct features is that you can de-link the core and shader clock which might help you get a little more boost in performance.

To overclock:

• Click on the arrow box next to Customize (Lower One).

• Click the icon that represents a graphics card.

• Now you'll see similar bars in the overclocking tab. Adjust them to get the overclock you want. You can also save your settings in a profile.

Pros: Nice feature set, profiling, shortcut creation, de-link core-shader clock.

3. MSI Afterburner (ATi/NVidia)

With funky interface and a nice hardware monitor MSI Afterburner is a strong contender in this department. It might limit your max overclock but there is a workaround available. You can also de-link clocks like Rivatuner.

To remove limitations:

Open MSIAfterburner.cfg in the installation folder with notepad and change “EnableUnofficialOverclocking” to 1.

To overclock:

• Simply adjust the Core/Memory clock sliders to adjust the frequencies.

Pros: Interface, de-link shader/core clocks, profile creation.

Cons: No testing utility.

4. EVGA Precision (NVidia)

Interface is very similar to MSI Afterburner. You can test your settings. Moreover, you can even take screenshots of your favorite games!!

To overclock:

• Simply adjust the Core/Memory clock sliders to adjust the frequencies.

Pros: Interface, de-link shader/core clocks, screenshots.

Cons: None

5. ATi Tool(Ati/NVidia)

Has almost every feature but what makes it standout is its excellent utility to find maximum stable clock.

To Overclock:

• Simply adjust the Core/Memory clock sliders to adjust the frequencies.

• You can also use Find Max Core/Find Max Mem options on the left to automatically find out your max overclock.

Pros: Many but best advantage it offers is the great utility to find maximum stable clock.

Cons: Scary for newbies.

6.ATi Overdrive (ATi Only)

ATi Overdrive comes with the ATi Catalyst Control Center. It is a very good utility and can take care of most of your overclocking needs without installing any other application.

To Overclock:

• First, check the box to enable AMD OverDrive. Then,

• a. Use Auto Tune:

..............Auto Tune is a utility that pushes the overclocking limits on your graphics card. It takes awhile to do, but will give you its best estimation of what the maximum settings you should run your video card at are.

• b. Manually:

..............Simply adjust the GPU/Memory clock sliders to adjust the frequencies.

Pros: Comes with the catalyst control center, easy to use, testing utility available, Autotuning.

Cons: Might limit your maximum overclock in some cases.