Can Overclocking damage your video card? (need advice)

What title says and also, give specific examples on how does it destroy the video card.

 

Yes, and if you need to ask the first question, please don't try it just yet.

Increasing the amount of electricity, and heat along with it, while overclocking may damage/fry the circuits is how I understand it.

 

Well about overclocking I have done that and I was just wondering because if it might be the cause of my 6970m not showing being able to be detected by my m17xr3. Thread is here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...r3-could-not-detect-my-6970-help-pls-srs.html

 

If it is running games fine and you return it to its stock clock settings, I doubt that overclocking damaged something specific to just recognizing the card.

I read your previous thread just now and agree with the other posters, particularly Katalin.

 

But it could be possible that the video card cant only be recognized but it may also be phucked. Dunno what to do

 

Did you take out the card and put it back in (reseat it) as others mentioned previously. I would not think it fry'ed until I removed and inspected the card and reseated.

 

Overclocking rarely causes damage if within reason.
Of couse if you go around raising your frequencies and voltage by the hundrends then yeah, that will shorten the component's life and even damage it.
I can also happens that your component was faulty to begin with, like a poor chips or soldeer point, and overclocking was like salt on an open wound and caused it to break down permanently.

 

ohhh thanks. so it just leaves me to this problem which my m17x couldn't recognize my discrete video card. sigh...

 

Don't overclock just to overclock, i bet you don't really need to do it.

 

as long as you don't increase the voltage, you'll be fine. Just keep an eye on your temps. You want to experiment and find the point where you achieve stability, then drop it down a notch for safety. The worse that will happen is you will BSOD, freeze etc.

I was able to run through all the tests of 3dmark11 @ 840/1175. i bet i could have gone higher...however, for everyday gaming i usually run 815/1100

Also note that in many games, you don't need to overclock. It was only after i downloaded the Crysis 2 DX 11 tessellation pack and Ultra High texture pack that overclocking was required to keep my fps at a comfy level

 

I have had two dead graphics cards in last 2 months, and I am pretty sure yours is dead also. I have had 1 dead 6970m and 1 dead 6990m. I gamed with them at stock clocks, but I occasionally overclocked both simply for benchmarking. I also undervolted the 6990m to reduce temperatures.

In theory, if your overclocking does not increase temps, it shouldn't affect the GPU. Unfortunately in reality, I have seen a 4 GPUs that were undervolted or overclocked die in the last 2 months. Now it is possible that this is merly coincidience, and considering Dells excellent warranty coverage, it isn't really a big deal if your GPU does die (unless you are out of warranty); but if you are out of the country, or in a situation where Dell wouldn't be able to easily replace your GPU, I would recommend you NOT overclock or changes voltages just on the off chance it could increase your risk of GPU failure. Overclocking is nice, but the 6970/6990 are pleanty powerful at stock clocks, there is no real need to overclock.

 

unless you are playing a game that is borderline playable. Overclocking in this case can make the frames more fluid and your gaming enjoyment higher. I do agree that it is pointless to overclock just or the sake of overclocking...unless you want to benchmark or just see what your system can do. For everyday, run stock.

 

Two things can damage your video card, heat and excess voltage.

1. Voltage
It is typically required to increase the voltage to the GPU in order to achieve high overclocks on the card. This is currently not possible with the 6990m, and can only be done with the nvidia cards on the R3. It requires flashing the vBIOS on the card. Overvolting is probably the most dangerous thing you can do and should not be attempted unless you don't mind bricking your GPU and you know what you are doing.

2. Heat
Heat is your enemy. As you increase clock rates heat will increase. Sustained periods of high heat on the GPU or its memory can permanently damage the card. As a rule of thumb, you probably don't want your GPU temp to be over 80C for any significant period of time.

As long as you monitor your temperatures carefully, you can overlock as much as you like using stock voltages without any real risk of damaging the GPU. I'd also highly suggest repasting and repadding your GPU prior to any overclocking, especially if you will be running an overclock long-term. Most people get 5-10C lower temps under load after doing this. To give you an idea of what is attainable, I can get a roughly 20% FPS increase from overclocking my 6990m on stock voltages (can't overvolt the 6990m).

 

my GPU doesnt ususllay even reach more than 75 celsius and I only messed up the core clock and memory clock. Does this mean the GPU is dead?

 

EDIT read valkerie's post. I guess ima send it to jp. Does the 1 year regular warranty include free change of the GPU?

 

your GPU is dead if you can't see anything on the screen. If it turns on and you're able to use it, it isn't dead

 

lol i turned on my computer again this evening then bam. DETECTED! After playing and letting my m17 sleep, I turn it on again and to check it is gone again.