I've never overclocked before, can someone brief me?

So I got MSi afterburner for my GTX 560M, and all I know how to do is make the core/shader/and memory clocks higher, then test temps under load. What I don't understand is what undervolting/overvolting does. Could someone explain to me what all of this means to a beginner, and how far the 560M can actually go. (Now, I'm at core 852, shader 1705, and memory 1302. Core voltage and fan speed are grayed out)

And also, is a restart required for changes to take effect?

 

Dont think about under / overvolting.

But when you restart the clocks goes back to normal since you are using a program to do it.

Overclocking depends on the card itself, how good the notebook is at cooling it and then the drivers.

 

Remember when testing overclocking to go in small increases (5 MHz or so).

 

If you overclock and manage to destroy your computer, the warranty is voided.

 

it's unlikely this will happen... most cards/drivers will have built in throttling to bring the clocks back down if the temp gets too high, however cards are tested to run at their reference clock speeds - it's possble the card you have is faulty and, at the standard clock speed it would work for years but push it too high and it could go "pop" (unlikely, but still possible). Also don't know how easy it would be for a company to prove you caused a hardware issue through overclocking.

I'm not convinced you'll be able to change the voltages without a BIOS mod, sometimes upping the voltage can give you more stable overclocks but I personally wouldn't do this on a laptop anyway as it generally means more heat.

your best bet is to google "GTX 560M overclock" and see some of the results other people have posted, start with a figure around that point, stress test using a combination of things like 3d mark11 and some graphically intensive games for an hour or two and then if the temps get too high and/or you get some artifacts/downclocking then lower the overclock and try again.

it's trial and error, the GTX560M is already a pretty capable card, if you don't like the small (but still possible) risk of damaging your card then don't bother. It's worth setting profiles to only use the overclock on games that really need it, increasing the life of the card

 

I was looking to overclock for Skyrim, and maybe BF3 in the future. I guess I'll just leave it how it is until it's really outdated and my laptop breaking would just be an excuse to get a new one. :3