Some questions about GPU Overclocking

Hey guys. I have a few more questions today.

Firstly, after some initial head-scratching with Furmark, I finally got it running. I ran the standard burn-in test for a little over 5 minutes and didn't BSOD or notice any artifacts... can I assume that my current OC is stable?

Second, my current OC is 510/1310/835, my last unstable trial was at 515/1315/840 and I BSOD'd out of World of Warcraft. I've been decreasing in 5mhz intervals, and decreasing all 3 values at a time. Is it safe/a good idea to only change 1 variable at a time? AKA: Should I try OC'ing at 515/1310/835 again and seeing if it is stable, and if indeed I can, is it even worth it to do so? And if it is, is there 1 value that gives more of a performance boost than the others, or are all 3 about equal? Basically I'm trying to pull the last drops of juice out so to speak and make my little alien as powerful as it can be (while still being safe in regards to the machine).

Third, I've been using MSI Afterburner, is there any reason at all to try out VGA Precision?


As always, thanks a ton guys!

 

Afterburner and Precision are both Rivatuner based, so it doesn't matter, just stick with Afterburner. And, yes, 5 MHz intervals is good, just keep core and shaders linked. Core will always yield more performance than memory, so if you start hitting instability, it is most likely your core.

Watch temps, test in furmark with burn-in (I use extreme), and play a bunch of games. That should determine stability or not.

 

I currently do NOT have core and shaders linked, someone that was helping me set it up gave me some values to start at and it required me to unlink those 2. Is this something that I should change back asap?

 

It's not pertinent, but I have broken some air cooling records in 2007 with first-gen 8800 GTS cards with them linked. I suggest keeping them linked since raising one without the other a little bit more is not really going to produce substantial gains over keeping them linked.

 

Yeah, I found it best to keep them linked. Games are definitely the best stress tester as both your GPU and CPU will be hit pretty hard.

 

One thing I would like to add is just because you don't crash using Furmark doesn't mean its stable.

I spent weeks trying to get the clocks perfect on my R2. I would be able to run hours on Furmark, but as soon as I would go play BF2 and even now BF3 I would crash within a few minutes.

So don't stress your self too much and wondering why you might till crash playing games when it didnt crash with Furmark.

 

try 550/1350/875, it's a clock that works for me for all of my games