Is overclocking 8600M GT necessary?

just curious about this....is there really any benefits to oc'ing the 8600m Gt? Forget about 3dmark or fraps...I don't use those benchmarking programs, but I do play games. Right now I'm running Bioshock, MOH:Airborne, Madden08, Company of Heroes, etc. and I'd like to play future games that come out like Stranglehold, Call of Duty 4, and *cough* Crysis.

Is there any real in game performance or graphic increases that are noticeable from overclocking? Is it worth the risk of frying the card?

 

I personally dont see the need to OC it, but I've heard others say that it won't make your game play anything it can't already play, but it might bump your fps up a notch.

For me, it's not worth it. Entirely up to the owner, however.

 

though Over clocking does increase your framerates in a game yet i dont reckon the change you notice would be that significant and worth burning up your graphic card too
personally i wouldnt recommend it
too many issues with heat and battery life
im surprised you would want to OC it too the 8600GT being a midrange card capble of playing almost all new games with medium medium high settings

but then again its completely up to the owner and the risk he/she is willing to take
cheers,

 

YES!!! absolutely! If you aren't burning holes in your desk or getting convicted of arson from the friendly neighborhood cops, then you ain't no gam3r. The extra 2 FPS is definately worth the jail-time.

Edit: Good gracious people, this is sarcasm. Your laptop will not land you in jail for arson. Only assault if you decide to throw it at someone.

 

If you care about what resolution you play at, then it may very well be worth overclocking your mem some, as with the DDR2 version that can make a game (like Bioshock) playable at native wheareas you might have to reduce the rez with stock clocks. However it's entirely up to the owner, and personally I wouldn't recommend OC'ing until you see the need for it (when games start to appear laggy or slow).

 

ditto what everyone else says. Bottom line is to do it when you need to. With the overclocks that people can get with the 8600m GT and keep reasonable temperatures going from 475/400 to 525/500 may garner you a few fps. Which IMHO is not worth it. If you are getting slowdowns and running below 30fps, chances are o/c'ing it, won't get much more.

8600m GT should be fine to run anything at 1280x800 with med to high settings with anything out today, and probably med settings for the most demanding games like Crysis. But sounds like Bioshock runs great on the 8600m so there's hope.

 

Makes no sense Overclocking The DDR3 Version but it wont Hurt To do the DDR2 but know your Limit!!!! Dont push it too far

OVERCLOCK AT YOUR OWN RISK !!!!!

 

You can get 650/550 from a good DDR2 Version, that's almost like a 10-15% performance increase for free. Say hello to a free upgrade?

 

I just have to lol at all the misconceptions about overclocking.

 

Gotta agree with this.

 

If you're talking about the risk, it's not a misconception at all. While a card frying because of OC'ing is rare, especially if you watch your temps and/or use a notebook cooler, it is a real possibility. Also remember that even cards at stock can fail (due to incorrectly seated heat sinks, bad thermal paste, design/manufacture flaws, etc) however if you've OC'd it, you no longer have the warranty coverage.

 

Yes but especially with the newer cards, this whole "fire" business is ridculous. The probabality of even frying your card has even gone down and the probability of actually starting a fire is slim to none. I respect the fact that some people are deterred because of the warranty being voided but it is funny some people consider it a fire hazard.

 

You don't get into fire hazards unless you stick paper over your gpu or overvolt it so the resistors burn out, or something.

Fry it is a different term - you can do longterm/total damage to a chip by keeping it a temperature it isnt designed to run it at.

However, in the case of the 8600, just oc till you artifact, then back a little.

 

The warranty is only voided if they can prove the problem is due to overclocking.

Overclocking softwares usually do not let you go past certain clocks and if it is not stable, the system will BSOD/freeze itself so if you watch the temp, you're okay


If it's a DDR2 8600, even only overclocking the memory from 400 to 500 mhz should give you a noticeable boost

 

They only need to prove you OC'd your card. In fact some companies will void your warranty if their's any OC'ing software on your HDD.

That's why I said frying is not probable, and it even happens to cards which aren't OC'd. However, OC'ing will increase temperatures, and even if your card is stable, in the long term any increase in temperatures will jeopardize the lifespan of the system.

Yup, this would be the main reason I would recommend OC'ing, as it can be the difference between native resolution being playable or not.

 

And no company will go to that extreme for just one customer. So you're covered if (on the extremely off-chance, as in it won't happen) it goes boom.

 

You would be suprised at the lengths some companies will go to in order to deny a warranty claim.

 

Luckily it's none these people would be dealing with.

 

is dell one of those companies that really goes that deep? judging from their customer care, i def. doubt that....

 

They probably don't even know what "overclocking" means. Considering the fact that they require to reorder a whole new laptop just to add the accidental damage protection blows my mind, so I doubt they can figure out if the system were overclocked.

 

It depends, if you can keep your temps in a safe comfortable range, then sure,if your if your overclocks end up generating a good deal of heat, and your only getting a handfull of FPS, its not, and i wouldnt put much faith in a big 3d mark jump, thats a synthetic benchmark,actual games at the actual setting you want are how you should measure.

 

hey im new to OCing anything.

What does 'artifact' mean?

 

Artifacts are anything out of the ordinary when playing a game. While boxes/dots, random color issues. Its not hard to miss.

 

so what would be safe and unsafe temps? i OC TO 550/450 on my 8600 and reach max temps of 75 under heavy gaming.

 

Lets see here. My 8600GT nets me around 3700-3900 stock in 06. With O/Cing my card to 630/900 I jump to 5K. That is a great boost and will provide me with the ability to use higher res, or use a lower res with more details ect... all in while my temps never go above 75C under full load. O/Cing is worth it in every regard so long as you know your cards limits, have common sense and watch your temps.

 

I've never OC'd before and I'm pretty much a noob to computers in general. What would be a user-friendly overclocking program? And another program that could possibly monitor my card so it doesn't get fried? Also what would be a safe setting to OC to, but still see a decent performance increase.

 

I use riva tuner to OC and it works great. it can also monitor your temps.
today i bought a laptop cooling pad for AU$50. It droped my temps down from 80 to 65! and i have OC the card to 650/450. so now i only get up to max temp of 69 celcius!

 

Is that a GDDR3 version? or were you able to get that with DDR2? And what laptop are you using? I doubt you can reach that with DDR2.

 

haha! mabe on a desktop 8600GTS, no way a stock 8600mGT of any kind can get 3900 06 marks, yea well mabe at 1024x769 or less..

 

With good drivers a stock clocked GDDR3 8600M-GT can get up to 3700-3900.

 

hell yeah, my stock one gets 32xx(not braggin), so ddr3 one should def. get around 37xx if not more

 

Yes its a GDDR3 model and its from my new HP 8510w.
with XP and better drivers, I bet I could score around 5500 in 06

 

1. I don't think you can bank on the fact that because some random forum-goer said that a company won't refuse a claim due to OC software, they won't. If you've ever dealt with them, they can do whatever the hell they like.
2. It is not a free upgrade. Battery life suffers. For those people who don't stayed tethered to an outlet their whole life, it may be an issue. Your mileage may vary.
3. Stop running 3DMark 06 at anything but default settings. Your scores are misleading.

 

No way you are getting 5500 in 06 with default res.

 

humm, I smell a challenge. Might have to try. My best score in XP using old drivers was 51XX. With a few tweaks and newer drivers, I could see me hitting 5500.

 

What res???

 

Yes, a screenshot of your 51xx score would be much appreciated.

 

Yeah you are not getting 5500 at default res (1280 x 1024) thats for sure. I'm sure its possible at 1024 x 768.