Beginner's Guide on Overclocking for Better Performance

New to Overclocking? Look no further! How to Overclock For Better Preformance



Since I have seen many people asking how to overclock using Nvidia and ATI Graphic's Cards, I decided to put together a guide. This is by no means a Complete Guide, But I Am trying to be as thorough and descriptive as possible. As Always, I take no responsibility for anything that may happen, but that it is extremly unlikely. Any Suggestions will be gladely appreciated. Special Thanks to the crazy cats in TRT for thier sugestions. Now, to the Good stuff.

Presection: Table of Contents
Section I. Utilities
Section II. The Art of Overclocking
Section II. Subsection A. nTune
Section II. Subsection B. RivaTuner
Section II Subsection IGP. The Integrated Truth
Section III. ATI cards
Section IV. Underclocking
Section V. CPU Overclocking
Section VI. EEEPC Overclocking
Section VII. Linux OverClocking
Section VIII. Results
Section IX. Links

Section I. Utilities
For Nvidia GPU's, there are two main programs to use. They Are nTune and Rivatuner.


nTune ScreenShot

RivaTuner ScreenShot
A Simple Google Search Will Link you to these Utilities. For Vista x64 Users, Make sure to get Rivatuner 2.08, since any previous version does not have a signed driver. OverClockable Drivers are also required.
nTune
RivaTuner
169.09 Vista 32bit
169.09 Vista 64bit
These are Two VERY popular drivers. If you need help installing, I suggest you read Chaz's Guide to installing new notebook drivers.
Another Very Usefull program is 3dmark06. It can be used to measure the preformance increase of an overclock, and to stress test the GPU.

Section II. The Art Of Overclocking
Now that we have Either Rivatuner or nTune Installed, Its time to start overclocking. Overclocking is not a science, it is an art. Every GPU is NOT made equal. Some may overclock by an enormous amount, while others can't manage even 1mhz over stock. When Overclocking, you bump up the mhz of either the core or the memory, you do it in small increments, usually in the 3-5mhz range. In a subsection, I will show you how to do this with both nTune and Rivatuner, but for now, lets get the basic idea's down. When Determining the highest overclock possible, adjust only the core frequency until you hit the highest stable clock. Once you find it, set the core frequency back to stock and start with the mem This is because we want to find the highest frequency of the SPECIFIC component that is being overclocked, not the combination of them. Another thing to take into consideration is temperature. Since most people reading this guide are new to overclocking, a safe thing to do is keep the overclocked temperature within 5 degrees C of your stock temperature at load. It is not required, but for someone new to the art, it's better safe than sorry. Another Item that affects overclocking is the memory type on the Graphics Cards. The Difference between DDR, DDR2, GDDR3, and GDDR4 (on desktops) all overclock differently. Below is a list of which cards have what.

Card Name	Generation	DirectX Level	Memory Sizes	Memory Types	Stock Core Speed	Stock Memory Speed (x2 due to DDR)
Go 7300	7xxx Series	Direct X 9c	128,256	GDDR3	300	350
Go 7400	7xxx Series	Direct X 9c	128,256	GDDR3	450	350
Go 7600	7xxx Series	Direct X 9c	256,512	GDDR3	450	400
Go 7600 GS	7xxx Series	Direct X 9c	256	GDDR3	400	400
Go 7600 GT	7xxx Series	Direct X 9c	256	GDDR3	500	500
Go 7700	7xxx Series	Direct X 9c	512	GDDR3	450	500
Go 7800	7xxx Series	Direct X 9c	256	GDDR3	400	550
Go 7800 GTX	7xxx Series	Direct X 9c	256	GDDR3	440	650
Go 7900 GS	7xxx Series	Direct X 9c	256	GDDR3	325	500
Go 7900 GTX	7xxx Series	Direct X 9c	256/512	GDDR3	500	600
Go 7950 GTX	7xxx Series	Direct X 9c	512	GDDR3	575	700
8400m G	8xxx Series	Direct X 10	128,256	GDDR3	400	600
8400m GS	8xxx Series	Direct X 10	64,128,256	GDDR3	400	600
8400m GT	8xxx Series	Direct X 10	256,512	GDDR3	450	600
8600m GS	8xxx Series	Direct X 10	128,256,512	DDR2, GDDR3	600	400,700
8600m GT	8xxx Series	Direct X 10	128,256,512	DDR2, GDDR3	475	400,700
8700m GT	8xxx Series	Direct X 10	256,512	GDDR3	625	800
8800m GTS	8xxx Series	Direct X 10	512	GDDR3	500	800
8800m GTX	8xxx Series	Direct X 10	512	GDDR3	500	800
9300m G	9xxx Series	Direct X 10	128,256	GDDR3	400	600
9500m GS	9xxx Series	Direct X 10	256,512	GDDR3	475	700
9650m GS	9xxx Series	Direct X 12	512	DD2	625	400

Section II Subsection A. nTune
Overclocking with nTune. Nvidia's nTune is an add-on to the Nvidia Control Panel, and unlocks a special preformance tab. It comes with the nTune Utility itself, and the NVIDIA Monitor program, which is very usefull for monitoring temperatures. To open the temperature tab, click the arrow in the bottom right hand corner of the NVIDIA Monitor.

NVIDIA Monitor closed...

...And NVIDIA Monitor Open!
The Actual nTune program is accessible through the Nvidia Control Panel, which is installed with the Nvidia Drivers. To get to it, right click on the desktop,and scroll down to Nvidia Control Panel. You should be greeted by something like this:

After Clicking on the Preformance Tab, you will be greeted by an End User Lisense Agreement. Click Accept to activate the main program. For Most Laptops, inside the Preformance tab there will be 6 sub-tabs. They Are Adjust GPU Settings, Tune System, View System Information, Launch NVMonitor, Adjust Custom Rules, and Led Control.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, we want the "Adjust GPU Settings" tab.

Inside the tab contains 3 sliders, however, the third one may be unselectable, depending on the laptop. The First two sliders adjust the Core speend and the Memory speed, respectivly. Each time you move one of the sliders, run 3dmark06 3 times, in order to make sure its stable. If 3dmark06 does not complete, the laptop shuts down, an error appears on the desktop saying that the driver has stopped responding, or artifacts appear on the screen (Artifacts are strange symbols that are caused by improper gpu operation. Google can help you find a better definition, and provide you with pictures), then the Graphics card is not stable. A Few Examples Follow:

Artifacting Graphics Cards

Another One...

Yet Another...

Another common sign of Instability

Section II Subsection B. Rivatuner
Rivatuner, Like nTune, is a full featured program. It has both an Overclocking utility and a hardware monitoring utility. At a first glance, however, it looks a lot more daunting. To get to the Overclocking utility, click on the blinking arrow under driver settings. A menu should pop-up. The Overclocking Section is the First icon in that menu.

Once we are there, we want to check the box that says "Enable driver level Over-clocking." Another popup box should appear that asks us to reboot, so do that now.

Once that is taken car of, navigate back to the Overclocking sub-menu, and click on the drop down box that says "Standard 2d"

We want 3d Preformance

The Three sliders all adjust the clocks of the Core, the Shader, and the Memory of the Card. The Shader and Core clocks are linked, so we can't adjust the Shader individualy. Thats ok, since it will be adjusted with the Core. To get to the Hardware monitoring tab, click on the topmost arrow. The Hardware monitor is the Last icon. A popup should appear, just click yes, since it removes something else to worry about. A new window should appear, which contains the Hardware information.

The Menu that contains the HardWare monitoring tab.

The Hardware Monitoring Tab

Section II SubSection IGP. The Integrated Truth
Intel Integrated Graphics (Which Include the GMA900,GMA950,x3000, and x3100) are not directly overclockable(At least according to my research. I would be more than happy to be proved wrong about this .) The Easiest way to Overclock these Integrated Graphics Products (IGP's) is to use Clockgen to Overclock the PCI bus speed. More on that later, though. NVidia and ATI integrated graphics also will benefit from a higher ram speed (which is tied into the FSB speed for intel cpu's) and a higher PCI bus. They do have limited overclocking capabilities available through nTute, RivaTuner, and ATITool.

Section III ATI
An older ATI Overclocking guide exists Here. While It may not be suitable for overclocking modern cpu's, but it is still usefull for ATI Graphic's cards. Overclocking ATI Cards is extremely similar to Overclocking NVidia Cards. ATITools is what people generally use for ATI cards, and it can aslo be used for Nvidia Cards.

ATITools has one feature that is absent from other Overclocking utilities. It has the ability to test for Artifacts, even ones that are not visible to you or me.

Section IV. Underclocking?!? Why?
Underclocking is, as should be assumed, the opposite of overclocking. An Underclocked Video Card produces less heat, and therefor uses less power. This can be usefull if you need more battery life, at the expense of a little graphics power. On my C90s, I can squeeze another 5-6 minutes of battery life out. And since I only have about an hour and a half of battery life to begin with, thats a big increase for me.

Normal Battery

Underclocked Battery
Some Great utilities for measuring battery life are RMClock for 32 bit Windows, and Everest for both 32 bit and 64 bit Windows.

Section V. CPU Over and Under Clocking. For that extra little boost.
Cpu Overclocking/Underclocking, while not the main focus of this guide, deserves to be mentioned. Some Laptops, like the Asus C90s, have their own overclocking programs. But what about Overclocking other notebooks, or Underclocking them? This can be achieved using a Combination of Clockgen and RMClock. However, RMClock is does not have a signed driver for 64 bit Vista. There are workarounds, but that is beyond the scope of this guide.

Section V Subsection A. RMClock.

RMClock is used to change the voltage of the CPU. Upping the Voltage allows for higher clock speeds, but an Increase in Voltage results an Increase in Heat and Power Usage. Lowering the Voltage creates less heat and Uses less power, which results in more battery life. RMClock allows for different Voltages to be applied to the Differnet Multiplier's, so a higher Multiplier can have a higher Voltage in order to be stable, while a lower Multiplier can have the lowest voltage needed to be stable.

RMClocks Voltage Regulation
If You need any more help I suggest you read BlackBirds Very Informative Post of RMClock Another VERY Informative post is flipfires Undervolting Guide

Section V Subsection B. ClockGen.

Clockgen is a Utility to change the Front Side Bus (FSB) on Select chips. To Operate Correctly, you need to choose the right pll for your notebook.

The List of Available PLL's
You can Search Online for the right pll for your specific notebook. If you can't find any helpfull links, then there is always Trial and Error . The Right PLL should allow you to adjust the FSB and aither the AGP Bus or the PCI-Express bus speed.

Clockgen's Clock Control
The Topmost Slider adjusts the FSB, While the Bottom Slider Adjusts either the PCI-Express Bridge or the AGP Bridge.

Section VI. EEEPC Overclocking!
Well, you want to Overclock that new EEEPc now, do you? Well, This guide is here to help! The way That I am going to outline here is the SetFSB Method.

SetFSB
First, we need to download it. The PLL we want is "ICS9LPR426AGLF". Once we have that set, the bottom slider adjusts the FSB. Have Fun!

Section VII. Linux Overclocking!
In linux, the main Overclock is for Nvidia Graphics Cards, using Nvclock. For Debian based distributions, just type apt-get install nvclock in the terminal. Once its installed run "nvclock". Voila! Overclocked GFX card in linux!

Section VIII. Results
There will be a table of all the stable overclocks reported to me. If you want to be mentioned here just leave a post with your Laptops Specifications, laptop type (I.E. Model), GPU, core, mem, and, if applicable, shader overclocks along with your starting 3dmark06 score and temp, and your overclocked 3dmark06 score and temp. Please also include your driver version.

[/TR]

Position	Name	Laptop Type	Card Type	Driver Version	Operating System	3dmark06 resolution	Stock 3DMark06	Stock Temp	Oc'ed 3dmark06	Oc'ed Temp	Core Overclock	Memory Overclock	Shader Overclock	Average Overclock
#1	flipfire	HP DV2637tx Verve SE	8400m GS	169.04	Home Premium x64	1280x800	1232	74C	1894	80C	150% of Stock	133% of Stock	150% of Stock	144.3% of Stock
#2	Willy_S	Unknown	8400m GT	167.43	Home Premium	1280x768	2656	64C	3429	68C	133% of Stock	133% of Stock	133% of Stock	133% of Stock
#3	Quimbos	IFL90	8600m GT	174.32	Home Premium	??????	3650	72C	4550	77C	136% of Stock	118% of Stock	???% of Stock	??127% of Stock??
#4	Nattfoedd	G1s	8600m GT	?????	?????	??1280x1024??	?????	?????	5269	89C	?????	?????	?????	?????
#5	Leon	Inspiron 1520	8600m GT	?????	Home Premium	??1280x1024??	?????	?????	4080	72C	?????	?????	?????	?????
#6	?????	?????	?????	?????	?????	?????	?????	?????	?????	?????	?????	?????	?????	?????

Section IX. Links
This Section Contains the Links to every program mentioned hear, some popular video drivers, and other guides that I have referenced.
Programs

nTune
RivaTuner
ATITool Beta
Everest
RMClock
Clockgen
Guides

Main Sticky! ***READ IT***
wPrime CPU Charts
Old ATI Tutorial
BlackBirds Tutorial
Drivers

169.09 Vista 32bit
169.09 Vista 64bit
174.85 Vista 64bit
174.85 Vista 32bit

 

Changelog
*Added RMClock and Clockgen info
*Added section on IGP's
*Added Results and Results table info
*Added Links Section

 

awesome + rep.

 

Nice guide thanks +rep

 

Writing up the ATITool part right now...

 

AWESOME, thanks for this

 

Quick Guide, such an over achiever lol.

Excellent guide though, was good to include pics and the two most popular ways of overclocking.

 

It was a quick guide for me to make, since I had already written most of it for a friend. I just adapted it and added a Rivatuner section.

 

Added New Sections...

 

Great guide...where the overclocking integrated GPU section( my GMA 900 overclocked can play crysis) .

Title changed as requested. If you need it changed again, PM me or report it...

-Kdawgca
NBR Mod

 

Working on it...
Havent Uploaded the sections on Clockgen and RMClock yet, I have to take my little brother to Jamba Juice First.

 

New Sections added again

 

Cool guide *VERY* usefull for beginners!

*cough* sticky*cough*


T7250
2gb ddr2 ram
8400m gt

Driver 167.43
Ran rivatuner @ 1280 x 768 res

Stock: 450core 900shader 600 memory: 2656 points temp 64C max

OC: 600core 1200shader 800memory: 3429 points temp 68C max

 

Need More People to post their info

 

8400m GS 169.04 1280x800

Stock: 400/800/600mhz 1232pts 74c max

OC'd: 600/1200/800mhz 1894pts 80c max

 

New Link added. New Section on Bios Overclocking Coming soon

 

Optimized!!!!!

 

Wouldnt have done it better myself A++

 

EEEPC and linux overclocking, list of what 7,8 and 9 series nvidia gpu's have what memory type

 

8600M GT 512MB DDR2
174.32

Stock: 475 Core, 400 Mem
3dMark06 - 3650
Max Temp: 72 degrees celsius

Overclocked using Rivatuner
650 Core, 475 Mem
3dMark06 - 4550
Max Temp: 77 degrees celsius

 

Missing your shader clocks...

 

c90s..same as yours so you have that. great guide +rep

 

I will start updating this guide after I finish with all my AP tests that are comming up. (Because, I REALLY need to study for Computer Science AP, our teacher does nothing!!!)

 

How come i can't get ati tools to work?

 

What are your system specs?

 

Sager NP2090
C2D 2.2Ghz
2 gig ram
8600gt 174.74 drivers
Vista Ultimate x86 sp1

 

My OCing results
Asus G1s
T7700
2GB
8600m GT (gddr3)

GPU overclocked using riva-tuner:
Core: 629 MHz Shader 1258 Mhz
Mem: 859 MHZ

Max. Temperature (using self-made cooler) 89°!

3dMark 06: 5269 Marks!


That is my second highest stable overclock, I was once over 630Mhz but my points were going down then.

Unfortunately I can't seem to overclock my cpu properly with setfsb - my graphic-card produces first artifacts then the driver crashes at the 2nd test of 3dmark (firefly forest) - not sure what's causing the problems, since the 1st test runs really well.

I don't think it's a heat-issue since the OCed CPU runs stable at max. 80° when doing a stress test with orthos (@2,6GHz).

 

It should work. I looked up the error through google and all i could find was a registry edit fix for ati cards I'd try different drivers but your best bet is to use rivatuner for oc, good luck

 

Dell Inspiron 1520
T7300 2.0 GHz
2GB
8600M GT DDR2

GPU overclocked with RivaTuner
Core: 630
Shader: 1260
Memory: 590

Max Temperature:
72 C

3DMark06: 4080 Marks

 

i will update the results later tonight, but magma saber, try the ati-tool 0.27beta3. It is much newer and has support for the newer cards.

 

Fantasic Guide HH. Really detailed. + Rep.

 

O MY GOD!!! I LOVE DREAMWEAVER!!! I was coding it by hand, and changing something in the tables was really time consuming. Not with dreamweaver!!!


On Topic: I needs more information from people who posted! I will finish adding the rest of the info I have later tonight