Should I OC my GPU? ( please read )

*embarassed facepalm*...

So higher the core clocks, higher the fillrates?

 

Your inability to OC the chip's memory is going to hold you back.

Yes, in fact, that is a waste of time.

Anything that brings next to zero tangible improvements to gaming, is indeed bogus.

 

Ok guys, from many months here, I have seen many users with OC'd machines. I will try it. But, I have 4 questions :

1) When I OC, if the artifacts appear, and then I put to the original clocks again, will there be any damage done to anything?
2) When OC'ing the core, if I have a BSOD and/or pink/blue screen, does it mean I damaged something?
3) When OC'ing, if I go too far or something goes wrong, will the PC auto-shutdown and revert to original clocks?
4) If I start getting artifacts/core-related probs, and with the re-set of the clocks they don't stop, what does it mean? Does it mean I bricked my GPU? What are the odds of that happening?

If you think these Qs are stupid, please forgive me I'm freaked out and reaaally nervous... I don't wanna ruin my first own laptop

EDIT : Now, my word is final : I'm NOT OC'ing. Just did a 15min run of Furmark, and I got 90C. If I OC, I will get 100, and that will be BAD.

Thanks for all the help!

 

It's time to kills the hypotheticals. Do it or don't. Your notebook isn't going to explode, and your GPU isn't going to commit seppuku over a few megahertz.

None of your questions are worth answering, until you've at least sought and gained a modicum of personal experience. There's plenty of overclocking guides out there, enough to where you shouldn't be sweating the fear of destroying your GPU. Unless you're dense enough to raise the clocks hundreds of megaherts at a time, nothing will go wrong.

Just do it.

If you are unhappy with your current performance, you either lower the setting, or overclock. The only other choice is to buy a more powerful machine.

If you're that concerned, don't overclock and be happy with what you have.

 

So, if I go 10 by 10, there won't be any problems?
Still, 90C is kinda high... :/

 

90C is scary high. I wouldn't overclock at all with that temp.

As others have said, mobile Radeons are highly constrained by memory bandwidth. My 5830 sees very little change from a 10% core overclock (500->550), but it sees an almost linear framerate improvement when I overclock the memory by 20% (800->1050).

So, if your machine isn't behaving nicely with memory clocking up, you're pretty much stuck. And seeing 90C temps, even at stock clocks I'd consider giving the machine a good de-dusting and possibly re-applying thermal paste to the GPU.

 

Guys, it's ok to disagree, but please keep it civil. Delving into insults is not a sign of good discussion skills. Some posts have been deleted.

 

Thank you

@Pitabred
It is scary indeed. I am imagining reaching the 100s when OC'ing. Also, I will only apply the thermal paste in like 6-7 months, just when my warranty voids.
And also, by your experience with OC, I see that my OC goal ain't worth the risk.

As again, thank you all for the great help

 

Probably won't reach that high. The difference in my max temps is only about 3C higher than stock (77 vs 80 w/FurMark). Though I wouldn't OC either if my stock temps were 90.

Like Pitabred said, clean out your heatsink/fan with some compressed air. If your temps don't drop, seriously consider replacing the thermal grease. It's a fairly simple thing to do, and could give you a significant temp drop, especially if the stock stuff wasn't applied correctly. Changing the thermal paste won't violate your warranty unless you seriously screw it up.

 

And what do you mean with " seriously"?
I don't even know how to remove the heatsink Probably I will ask the retailer to do it : I get the stuff, and they apply it.

And again, you have helped me : +rep
I'm a generous guy, you know?

Damn it, can't rep you

 

By seriously I mean you break something else while you're in there. Don't worry about it though, you almost have to try to screw it up. Unscrew the heatsink. Follow the instructions here: http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth/int/ss/intel_app_method_surface_spread_v1.1.pdf Screw the heatsink back on. Done.

 

Oh, it's that easy?
Basically, not only it will drop the temps, it will also expand my laptop's lifespan?

 

Yes, but the degree that it helps depends. If the original stuff was applied correctly it will only help for a degree or two. If it was applied incorrectly/sloppy (it usually is) then it could help by much more.

 

Yup. The only thing to be very careful about is using screwdrivers. It's easy to slip with it and scratch the mobo or something because they sometimes tighten screws down pretty well at the factory, so use as light a touch as you can. Not to scare you, just something to be careful of.

 

If you think your going to be getting temps that are decent in a heated room your sadly mistaken especially with a non mxm gpu cooled by one fan that cools both processor/gpu. Overclocking is not going to raise your temps like you think. If you keep your room cool(keep your heater vent shut) and have a fan pushing air around you will see a difference.

Just like any datacenter has fans swirling air around along with air conditioners, there to keep the ambient temps from destroying internal hardware. Same things applys with your laptop just in less of a degree. You will get errors sometimes, things don't always go 100% perfect but that is just how it goes. You cant keep drawing conclusions and then giving up. Hardware now isnt like when they first started coming out, there is a reasonable amount of safety when it comes to changing your settings around. You have a nice community to ask your questions to also.

My temps sound exactly like yours. Just raise your machine up with some bumpers, put some air movement around it and keep your room temps under 60 degrees when your doing intensive stuff.

 

People really do underestimate the effect the ambient room temperature has on internal temperatures. My desktop is in a separate room from the desk that I sit at. This other room is not heated, and this winter I have regularly experienced CPU temperatures below 10C on my Q6600 overclockd to 3.2 Ghz (from 2.4), all with air cooling. Even under load it will not go above 30 if the room is cold enough. Of course this desktop has a half dozen fans and a giant CPU heatsink, but the same thing will work to a much lesser extent with a laptop.

 

If you want to go ahead with the repasting job i would recommend not to use AC5 as it's electrically conductive. (as it's your 1st time , you never know ..)

Get Mx3 or 4 .. And get yourself a cooler

 

Even though you're not OCing, here are the answers to your questions: (and by the way: asking questions is NEVER stupid, especially in these cases where high risks are involved)

1) It should not if you were scaling the clocks slowly (10-20 MHz is slow enough)
2) Not necessarily.
3) The 'something goes wrong' usually means temperatures goes too high. Many people have commented this is the case (auto revert to original clocks), though I have no direct experience.
4) Not bricked in the sense that still works, but permanently damaged. The odds are low, but it is quite possible that in the long run the life of the video card will be severely reduced due to the extra heat (and thus heavier thermall stress to the components).

As a rule of thumb, increasing 10% clocks should be safe because components are not designed to run at its highest limits.

Just my two cents.

 

agrees with dead* ... preferably something that doesn't require a huge curing time either (shin etsu g751, ic diamond, antec formula 7, etc). idk, i prefer the shin etsu for now (you get less but if you don't botch your application job/s you'll get a good couple applications with it) as it spreads well, does a good job of keeping temps low, has no curing time - the other 2 only need a couple hours of curing but they're all good.

i wouldn't use gamebooster personally as it's just another program to run... just permanently disable services you don't need. and if you can't figure out how to do that or are afraid that you'll botch it THEN use GB lols.

the bumpers are a good idea if you aren't getting good circulation as well - airflow is very important for keeping temps lowered (there is almost no use in re-applying thermal paste if you don't even let your card dissipate the heat) if you don't have a laptop cooler such as OutletPC.com - Thermaltake CLN0008 Massive23 CS Black Laptop Cooler Pad w/ 200mm Fan (just an example, cheaper ones will work just as well most likely), then get one if you want to preserve your hardware when oc'ing (good for everyday use too).

and just making sure... your gpu is the bottleneck for sure? have you tried oc'ing your cpu?

oh, and for hardware monitoring i LOVE msi afterburner (only use this during testing if you're strapped for processing power) - you can choose to display your gpu temps, usage, fan speed, fps, and more while in game (so you don't have to keep switching screens to check). it's freeware MSI Afterburner i always have it running on my desktop so i can make sure nothing is amiss and to see how much juice my sli gpu cards are pumping out haha.

and lastly, stop worrying so much, if you go a little bit at a time when oc'ing (which requires patience) and don't overheat anything (i don't like going over 85c in any of my hardware) for prolonged periods of time (a little bit is probably ok) then you will be FINE.

 

Thanks for your great reply! +rep

Now, as you said, you worry with 85c, I have 90c in STOCK!

I already have a laptop cooler. A 3-fan busting lots of cold air under my laptop.

 

would it be possible for you to post what fan speeds you are at (for the gpu card)? sometimes they don't always kick in as fast or as strong as they should (also, if you haven't already getting the latest drivers sometimes helps). 85c is really way out of line for idle, if it's not dust then that's crazy. i would look for the appropriate guide for your laptop model and crack it open to reapply worthy aftermarket thermal paste and reseat the heatsink... do you know if your temps have always been this high? oh - and if you decide to do anything i would recommend getting a can of compressed air and clearing out the vents well (if you see dust come out you'll know if that's your problem haha) - and then test temps. oh, one last thing - if you want to try to manually set fan speeds per temps (which can have a big impact) - try using the msi afterburner program and set the fan speed per temp curve (if you mess it with you should be able to find advanced options). not sure what is recommended but i have mine set so that temps = fan speed (60c = 60% fan speed), but that doesn't always work for every setup... yours may need to go a little bit higher (unless if the cleaning out dust and fixing the heatsink/thermal paste lowers temps).

edit: this can probably help you out a bit... http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...rket-upgrades/263039-nbr-cooling-central.html
edit: i just went through that link and realized - do you know how to undervolt your laptop? http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...arket-upgrades/235824-undervolting-guide.html

 

I'm using G751 right now as well, and it works great, I'd highly recommend it. The link I posted to arctic silver was their instructions on how to apply thermal paste, it's a good guide with pics, not necessarly a recommendation for the product. Though I'd also say that AS5 is nearly as good, and the danger of its capacitativeness is way overstated (though the curing time sucks). I've used it in many a desktop and laptop and never had a problem, even on my first time using it where I was a bit sloppy and used too much.

Unfortunately, you can't undervolt core-i series CPUs...

 

Woah, thank you for helping!

My fan speeds, according to GPUz and MSI AB, they always read 30%. never more, never less. If I turn up the fan speed with MSI AB, I hear no changes : nor in sound nor in temps.

 

Mine is the same way. It's because the CPU and GPU share one fan. The fan is controlled by the thermal sensors in the motherboard and the CPU, the GPU has nothing to do with it. There's no way to adjust it.

 

Is there any way to force laptop fans to run at 100%? I'm not sure if mine is while I am gaming, but I do know that it sometimes slows down when I wouldn't like it to.

 

you can't adjust voltages for the core-i series? i thought that you could (never bothered trying myself except for on my desktop - which i can but i have a feeling you're talking about laptops?) with the right software. idk if this will work with your fans but try the program speedfan (this link should open up a download window http://www.almico.com/speedfan442.exe). hopefully it'll let you play with the settings a bit (i would try myself but i don't have my laptop with me).

edit: and i'm not a guru on technology, just trying to share some helpful tips that have helped me in the past

edit: are you sure you can't undervolt with the core-i series? i'm pretty sure unclewebb's software Throttlestop can do it... or at least i read somewhere him saying that it could be done (somewhere in the 550's pages in the undervolting guide link). here is a link to his profile with throttlestop download links http://forum.notebookreview.com/member.php?u=296710 but i promise nothing haha ! make sure you learn how to use the software if you're going to play with settings first though (i bet you could send unclewebb a message - he's pretty good at getting back to people even with his attention being demanded often... very helpful)
and one last thing - even if you end up not being able to undervolt the cpu, i hear tell that UV'ing the gpu is a whole other story?

edit: remember, updating drivers can sometimes help with setting parameters for fan speed (it will do it automatically if so - but it'll kick up the speed of your fan at more appropriate times instead of letting it sit at 30% while your gpu is burning up... but that's not a guaranteed fix of course)

 

Yeah, I have all my drivers updated. Even with 11.1 aka latest drivers, the fan speed doesn't change. And I don't feel safe about undervolting... I'm not really that good with that kind of stuff...

I have also tried speedfan, but it doesn't recognizes my fan, so it's useless... It's only useful for measuring CPU temps.

 

ah sorry then :{

 

Ok guys!

My laptop just came from RMA, and it's working like a charm. Max temps are 72C compared to 95C. Way to go ASUS!

So, the retailer has said that they would replace the motherboard, therefore, the GPU, and apparently, they did. So, should I give another shot at the OC? maybe I got a new GPU that is more overclockable. Should I expect 5+ FPS gain from a non-extreme OC?

Thanks!

 

To the op, imho it really isnt worth o/c ing with your laptop and gpu as the gains are minimal.
If you really want some o/cing in a laptop it is best to buy one that was made for such like the sager models.
My old sager 8690 with a 280m gpu went from 6000 vantage to 7600 with an overvolt and overclock and temps slightly increased from 78max to 82. It was almost like having a new gpu. I cant remember the fps gains for specific titles but they were on the average of 10 to 15 fps on fhd.
So my advice, if younreally want to o/c try to get h/w that can handle it

 

The Asus is as capable of OCing as the Sagers are. Sager does not make huge beefy cooling systems on mid-range (laptop) GPU models either (NP5170 with GT540M is also a single fan, sideport system).

Your overclocking advice should be applied to all laptops, not singling out Sager as the exception. The exception shoudl be based on the cooling system. I agree that a single fan system like the OP's model is not well suited for OCing. But then MSI's single fan system is a beast on the GX640 for example and can OC better than a lot of Sager models HD5870M for example. So it just depends, I wouldn't generalize, except to say OCing is not recommended for any laptop model.

@Phistatio, your system as trvelbug has hinted at, I agree with, is not made for overclocking. The N series were just meant as entertainment systems, not high end gaming/overclocking. As for your issue with artifacting, artifacting is an indication that your GPU is unstable. Instability is what leads your GPU to fail. If you MUST overclock, you should run stability tests. There are plenty of threads with basic advice on what programs to run, OCCT, Furmark etc. These all should be run at minimum of a few hours straight, some like to do nearly a day. Stability means temperatures below 90C and preferably around 76-82C, with no aftifacting.

 

One more question :
Do I increase the clocks while running furmark, or not?

 

@mushishi
i wasnt putting down other brands, sger is what im familiar with so that was my example.
however i agree that some top models of asus, msi and aw have v good cooling too, i am just not familiar with them except for the g73jw.

 

Guys, good news :

I have successfully OC'd my GPU to 750/860! Stable, no artifacts, and a 10 FPS increase!

Thanks for all the support!