Overclocking help needed with 8600M GT!

Hello! I am very new to graphics cards. The 8600M GT that came with my laptop (specifications are in my signature) is the first one I've ever had.

It has 256 MB GDDR2, has a core bus frequency of 475 MHz, and the memory bus's frequecy of 400MHz.

I have learnt how to install the latest drivers with the "Have disk" method (I am currently using 163.69, and am downloading 163.71), and just today found out about nTune. It is made by nVidia, and lets me overclock.

I have a few quesions, if you could help me out.

1) How much can I stretch the Core bus and the Memory frequency to? I mean at what point do I think that it is the best that this card can give me?

2) What's the difference between the modded INF's from laptopvideo2go and the ones that come with the setup from nVidia? I have read about it on their forums and here too, but still can't figure out. I mean, we can use the Forceware drivers (by nVidia) and use the have disk method to install them, what's the use of a modded INF? Is there something I am missing? Do the modded INFs givem ore stability/performance boost/etc? Please explain it to me.

3) If I overclock the graphics card (carefully, of course, using stabilty tests and guides if you can provide me),how much chancce is there of the graphics card being damaged? I mean the hardware.

Please understand that I am a novice when it comes to this.


Thank you!

 

Sorry not related to your question but why 4gb of ram?

you could have gone for 2gb ram and at least 2.0ghz c2d because no matter if you oc' your gpu your cpu is bottlenecking it....

So no real performance gain due to your cpu...

 

Sorry, but i do disagree--if you are gaming 4GB is completely nessesary. But anyway, about the overclocking-I wouldnt overclock, that card is already a great graphics card, and overclocking makes your computer run hotter and louder. I had an HP blow out and fry everything on my couch from the heat, (couches and beds are not good places for laptops, but I left it there for an hour when i ate dinner)-Anyway, also, you could fry the card hardware wise. As you can tell, im not a person for overclocking. I would stay away from it. -- -Hope I could help!

 

2GB RAM + T7300 > 4GB + T5250 all the way.

4GB is 100% useless on a 32bit OS.

 

Hmm how much to overclock can be decided only by you.... The best thing I can suggest is to increment the core and memory clocks by small values individually and play some graphics intensive games and check the stability.... If you start noticing artifacts in the game then you have exceeded the overclocking limit.... Also one more thing with notebooks in case of overclocking is that you should provide adequate cooling mechanism for the components inside it.... Try to get some good notebook pads with fans that blow air into the notebook's bottom.... Also consider overclocking only as a last alternative.... try upgrading your processor instead....

And as for the modded infs for laptopvideo2go I do not know.... What I was thinking was that the only way to install the latest nvidia drivers for laptops is by modding the inf file.... I did not know that the have disk method works as well.....

 

Only 2.75 or 3 GB of 4 GB ram will be recognized by 32 bits OS.

I you want to o/c download 158.18 drivers, i have heard that it is possbile, but i didn't try

 

Errrr guys, I got it (the 4GB RAM) for free from DELL. I had ordered 2 GB of RAM (now removed and packed in a box).

I think you'd agree that 2 GB of RAM < 4 GB of RAM at a price less than that of 2 GB????

I think it's true, too. I have removed the virtual RAM altogether. My system sometimes uses 2 GB of RAM while I am playing games and a program is running simultaneously, and still no problems. I am waiting for every driver and some important programs to be compatible with the 64 bit Vista, it'll take maybe 6 months, or maybe more, and then I'm gonna go for it.

In December, I am going to buy a Quad core processor. I didn't have much money now, so I chose the slowest of the ones available. And in February, a 7200 rpm hard-disk (probably 500GB or nerest, if available).

 

For starters, your drivers can't OC.

Either you use the default Dell drivers (101.28--it's a pretty good driver), or you use one of the 158.X versions. The 16X.X series doesn't seem to let mobile GPU's OC. I'm not sure if it'll change for 163.71.