Overlocking the Go5200

Hi there!

I have a nVidia GeForce FX Go5200 in my Inspiron 8600 and I was wondering if I have room to overclock the processor and memory in my graphics card. I understand that overclocking is a "cheap" way of upgrading the graphics, but this is just for my information.

Recently, I ran 3DMark03 to test my card. It told me my graphics card was running at these frequencies:

Core Clock: 100 MHz
Memory Clock: 230 MHz

These are the factory set speeds that Dell has configured as I have not overclocked them... yet.

I read a review of the Go5200 at Adian's Rojak Pot and it says the Maximum Rating for the card is:

Core Clock: Up to 300MHz
Memory Clock: Up to 300MHz (600MHz DDR)

Inspiron 8600's also come with an ATI MR9600 option, and I'm sure it's clock frequencies are alot higher. (Can someone enlighten me what the default clock frequencies are that come with the M10 on Dells?) So would it be considered safe to overclock my Go5200 and make it run a little faster than stock speeds? If so, how far should I go? Can anyone suggest recommended overclocking frequencies for this card? Do Dell motherboards have any kind of limitation?

I read around the forums and I heard that the GPU fan not only cools the GPU, but it also cools the chipset somewhere in the notebook. Is this true? If so, if I choose to risk overclocking my graphics card, is any other component in the notebook exposed to this risk?

If I choose to overclock my graphics, I can use Coolbits (some program I found that's integrated into nVidia drivers... does anyone know about it?). So if I choose to install Omega drivers instead, will I not have access to Coolbits? Can anyone recommend another overclocking program for nVidia cards?

Thanks... any opinions would be helpful :bouncy: .