Rivatuner and overclocking an nVidia 9600M GS?

Ok so I've got Rivatuner and I want to overclock my GPU because I'm getting stuttering on Race07 in Vista (it works fine in XP but I'm going over to using Vista because my Avermedia A577 express card TV tuner only works in Vista) and I want to see if that will eliminate it.

I've tried everything else, latest drivers, older drivers, new sound drivers etc. and nothing has cured the slight stuttering the game has so overclocking is the only thing left afaik.

My question is this though, is there any long term (or even short term) damage I can do to the GPU that may mean it breaks, thus leaving my notebook being a £1000 brick?

Thanks in advance for any advice on this.

 

stuttering or low fps?

 

yes, you can destroy the card if it overheats, at least damage it in a very severe manner.

Use rivatuner to monitor the temps and make sure it doesn't go above 85 c. Make sure you have good air flow under the notebook and possibly force all your fans to 100% for more airflow if they don't do it automatically.

if you are careful and keep the temp under 85 then you should be ok. but i suggest reading an overclocking guide.

 

Have you tried the setting in Window Colours and Appearance? Vista allocates a certain amount graphic performance to vista unless you have it set to basic vista, the difference can be unbelievable.

 

Stuttering. Not low fps. Once in a while there is a very big pause but mainly the scenery jerks by every now and then, usually every couple of seconds.

If I have to monitor temps and whatnot I think I'll leave overclocking alone, I have XP setup and Race07 works fine on max settings in XP.

I can only conclude that once again Vista is not built at all for gaming, shame really because all my other games in Vista work either fine at max settings or pretty well with a in-game settings tweak or two (C&C 3, MoH Airborne, GRID to name a few).