Overclocking cards for gaming is a bad idea, here's why!

I have a 6990m and it runs at 715/900 stock I can overclock to 848/1060 which is massive for this particular card.

I gain 1.15 frames per second with this overclock, so if I were to get unplayable framerates would this massive over clock help? lets do some simple math read below


If I were to get ( ) stock :

(10fps) I would get 11.5 fps (unplayable no matter what)
(15fps) I would get 17.25 fps (unplayable no matter what)
(20fps) I would get 23 fps (unplayable no matter what)
(25fps) I would get 28.75 fps (unplayable no matter what) *
(30fps) I would get 34.5 fps (unplayable no matter what) *


*Working with average framerates and anything below 40 would dip into unplayable frame rates throughout the game.


So what is overclocking good for?

Answer: E-PEEN

And why is it bad?
Answer: added heat and power draw and gpu stress, along with memory not having sensors to detect dangerous levels of heat!

 

What if you are getting 36FPS and it gets you to over 40?

What if like me you run with a 50% overclock?

30 -> 45
45 -> 67.5

Even for higher frame rates it reduces those minimum frame rates.

The practical use of overclocking involves looking at what you need and at the end of the day if you need to upgrade or not.

 

Depends on your FPS/MHz and the how much headroom your GPU has. If you have a GTX 680M then reaching 30% OC and keeping it under 80C is not a problem at all, also its FPS gain per MHz is much larger than what 6990M could offer. And if you don't mine reaching 85C you could go for 40~50%OC.

 

Since when on earth does a card's framerates scale linearly with clocks? Sorry, but your numbers are completely fudged, unlike the OP's.

 

Just because your one use case does not yield results that you are happy with does not mean someone with different hardware won't see different results.

One real world case is if you like playing with vsync and oc is getting you into a scenario where your game is not ratcheting down to the next lowest frame multiple you will get much more consistent play with oc.

One size does not fit all here.

 

Sorry I did not realise you were looking for so much accuracy from my statement:

720/900 Dirt 3 ultra: 57.47 minimum, 68.24 average
1065/1245 Dirt 3 ultra: 77.73 minimum, 96.36 average

48% core overclock, 38.3% memory overclock yielding a 35.2% increase in minimum frame rate and 41.2% average frame rate increase.

This is a worse case result as well for overclocking since the frame rates are already pretty high and will run into other limiting factors more.

 

sure bud. nice story

 

Just for fun I under clocked to 300/400 to match an overclocked 5870 that 3 yearold card and it can run the newest games with high and some low settings in 1080p. cool having more power but not nessessary. I think this card will be god for another year and a half then its up to me to decide if its worth upgrading for better shadows and lighting. 4 years max though. you people with 680ms should be good until 2015 so in the end overclock or not it will last a long long time and you will get your moneys worth from the 680m upgrade.

My numbers were real world and TBH I opened farcry 3 and set everthing to ultra at stock clocks, then minimised window and overclocked significantly and saw an extra 1.5 fps which is exactly what I predicted. and since when do different cards overclock differently with performance increases that are different?

I have owned a hd 2600,260m gtx,6990m, and overclocked all of them results were always the same. yet people on here claim massive increases.

Meaker I dare you to make a movie of farcry 3 maxed at stock then show your massive overclocking gaining 50 percent. in fact ill send you 50 dollars if you prove it! deal or no deal?

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y143/Meaks/DRITOC_zps25182f47.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y143/Meaks/DIRTS_zps46ee6e3c.jpg

I'm quite happy to push it up to 1140mhz but I don't think that's really required to prove my point.

EDIT: It's not actually a game I own at the moment, maybe you would settle for crysis 2?

 

He won't really give you 50 bucks, he promised the same thing to me if I could name a DX9 game he couldn't max out. I did (The Witcher 2 btw) and he never paid up.

Either way x, it seems that you've got a serious inferiority complex related to having an older gpu, so you constantly rationalize it by saying that max settings don't change anything, overclocking is pointless, the 7970m sucks, etc. It's getting old bro. Just because you don't see gains on your card doesn't make it "pointless." There are plenty of people who see great results from overclocking (like Meaker has already proven.)

You should show him more respect btw, he's one of the most knowledgeable and experienced members on this forum.

 

Oh wow you sound like such a nice guy.

It's not because your beloved 6990m doesn't show a great leap in performance by overclocking that other cards don't. Overclocking can do wonders sometimes, there are so much threads, videos,... that show great in game improvements thanks to OC'ing. How can you deny that?

Overclocking almost never is about your e-peen. It's about maximizing the performance of a component. How are you against that?

Nonetheless, I find your threads with the tales of you and your 6990m amusing.

 

well. I don't have a complex just a point.

most people agree with me!

perhaps your blinded by the positive feed back like QDs post who is superior to meaker in everyway.

I said video he could have easily changed settings to get those results. bro when will you give up, 6990m is a great card and the 680 is even better...I'm just saying I dont need a 680 to enjoy max settings. and read below

I will indeed pay via paypal 50 dollars cad. failwheel drive I can max the witcher 2 in dx9? are you talking about adding 128x AA on top cause if you are why not use 1000x AA to prove your point in which case no gpu in the world can max games with that type of AA.

ok.

FOS you see I dont have anything against meaker I just find you rookies amusing with your tall tales, 25 percent overclock cannot and will not net you a 25percent increase in frames per second. that is my current point..

someone with an IQ above 130

 

Please, make a video of you playing the Witcher 2 maxed out at 30+ frames per second. You can't do it lol. Add ubersampling into it and there's no way. Maxing out means just what it sounds like: running the game with every single option set to the highest available setting. Still waiting for my paypal cash lol.

lmao this again? Are you going to take another BS internet test to prove it again?

 

^^^^
This right there.

Overclocking to the max to me is a stop-gap until I can upgrade my GPU. That being said, I do like to find the best combination of heat, power, voltage, and performance. I don't necessarily go for maximum speed, except just to check the limits, but optimize my hardware as best as I can. Like with my 680m right now, I have it fixed at 900MHz Core, 1100MHz vRAM at stock voltage and temps are only ~ 2C higher at peak. That's about 25% core and vRAM overclock resulting in ~ 20% FPS improvement, and definitely helps with minimum framerate in BF3.

 

I have to agree rep when it lets me

 

Lol I didn't say that now did I? I thought your point was that overclocking is useless? Well imho it is not.

 

Damn, that made me want to overclock my card a bit...

 

So you're repping the guy that disagrees with you? Wut?

 

Meaker I tried dirt showdown also. at stock I got 29fps stock and 32 overclocked not 45fps.

maybe the new generations of cards have greater increases as they are double the power? what do you think is the reason for the results?

 

Your card is as good with overclocking as some others are. And you know he knows that 1.5x clocks does not equal 1.5x fps.

 

Why not post a screenshot with XTU and MSI afterburner graphs too? Would let me see exactly what is going on.

 

This thread is a complete disaster. I see proof from both sides, but going on with this is a total waste of time, not to mention waste of resources.. what the hell

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=692242

You keep making the same thread twice.

 

It definitely varies. See my 680m benchmarks overclocked to something reasonable: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...50em-review-lots-680m-benchmarks.html#benches

It can make a reasonable difference depending on the game. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Up to the user and depends completely on the game.

 

since when 30 FPS is unplayable ?

even if it's average, not every game vary 0 to 60 FPS to make that average ..

 

He should write for a crap blog. Sensationalist headline (post) with information from one configuration, completely unscientific and useless.

 

I was confused as well.

 

There once was a kid named eazy_e, who spammed threads about whatever was the latest GPU he had,in a never ending battle against his own insecurities...

 

ok I was wrong!

It's just my crappy card, sorry guys.

this forum is kinda dead, just trying to start a fire to make it more informative and interesting. maybe someone could make a thought provoking thread that I can join and type my opinion without people flaming me for having an opinion or Idea!

 

No one is flaming you. You started a thread with incorrect generalization about overclocking, then got defensive when people disagreed. You didn't think it might be a bad idea to tell the hundreds of overclockers on NBR that they're all wrong?

 

5 STAR RATE THREAD! Created by the brother of the one who created "Why so much disrespect for mobile gaming rigs?". Thread "Nobody really needs faster SSD or How manufacturers screw us!" is in progress.

Is the sarcasm in my words very obvious?

 

If you didn't come across as an arrogant individual with an axe to grind, if you didn't insult long time members that have proven themselves knowledgeable and more than willing to help other members out, and if you DID post something that substantiated your supposed 130 IQ, then you probably wouldn't get flamed.

That's just my opinion of course.

 

Naw! We're not sarcastic around here are we?

 

on my laptop I get 10-12% fps increase when OC which is nothing in my opinion.
I would love to get more but it's not possible on my gtx670

 

even if my IQ was above 200 you would not notice it in a forum ligustically speaking as smooth talking is not akin to high IQs. news reporters anyone. my IQ shows in my defense. agree to disagree

 

Most people I know with an elevated IQ have mastered the art of grammer, spelling and capitalization. Just sayin'.

 

This thread has run it's course, closed. Some comments are borderline trolling in there, you're better than that guys.