Overclocking GPU for the first time

So I have a few questions and need some help! This is for an R1

I understand the basic idea..increase slowly, at values 5-10 at a time, and test for stability.

Now for questions...what is the best program. Most say MSI Afterburner..but whats the best way to test stability?

Is there any average OC settings that I could just go to?

Will OC'ing my GPU void my warranty?

And last..based off of the games I play, and want to play, is there really any value in OCing my GPU?

I play the Stalker games, and have been having a bit of stuttering with Clear Sky..

Homefront

Mass Effect 1 (stuttering)

Starcraft 2

And the only thing coming out that I really want is Red Orchestra 2.

I also want to play Metro 2033 but have heard not to even try on the R1...

Thanks for helping!

 

MSI Afterburner is probably the way to go, it comes with a program called Kombustor that lets you test your stability, use the GPU burn in. second, most people have sucess with the overclock 550/1350/875. Third, no, GPU overclocking doesnt void your warrenty. and fourth, i dont know about Stalker, homefront, starcraft or red orchestra but Mass Effect for some reason doesnt like GPU overclocks very much and it isnt very stable with that game. Hope i helped

 

That does , thank you! I was most unsure about if it would void my warranty

I will go with the settings you provided and test it out and see how different games run, thanks!

If anyone else has more to contribute, please do!

 

For some reason, my GPU doesn't like to be overclocked, even if it's by 1 MHZ, it'll just blue screen. It's quite frustrating but in all honesty, my CPU won't benefit much from it, so that would also be why it hates being overclocked. There's no one else I can compare it to because no one else owns the R2 with the U5400! Lol! Good luck though, take it in small steps, dont wanna burn out your graphics card

 

Thank you! I did the settings Deadboy recommended, and I got some artifacting. I lowered slightly and I seemed to get around a 10 fps frame boost in homefront, and Clear Sky seems to be running a little better overall.