Overclocking 9800GTX

[Mike1161]

I am trying to OC my GPU as a place to start learning how to OC other components. Why there, simple, EVGA just came out with a new Utility called Precision v1.0 that makes the effort to make the adjustments very simple.

 

Anyway I started with the 9800 GTX at 675 with shaders linked. I took it up to 700 core and shaders of 1825. I then ran 3dmark06 as a way to quickly test stability and temps. I didn't write it down my stock score (12800-12900 I think) but after the OC it was 13011 and it looked fine. the went up to 740 and 1855 with a score of 13046. Not much improvement and at the higher settings I had to run the fan higher to keep temps under 60. At 750 and 1890 the score went up to 13178. Thats where i have stopped for now.

 

What I really don't know is what is a reasonable result? When do you know when to stop? How do you stress test the settings? What about the memory settings?

 

So much to learn and so little money to left over.

[Praz]

Go until it locks up or artifacts. A good test is looping the Assault Harbor benchmark in Crysis.

[Mike1161]

Go until it locks up or artifacts. A good test is looping the Assault Harbor benchmark in Crysis.

 

 

I have Crysis, but I don't know what Assualt habor is or where to get it.

[sailindawg]

When overclocking your vid card, just play the most graphic intensive part of a game that you have. Get to know how that scene plays out and renders. Then after making clock changes, go back to that game and see how it plays now. It should play smoother with no artifacting or lock-ups.

 

How do you like EVGA's OC tool? I use Riva Tuner.

[Branjo]

Dayum! you don't waste time pushing the limits of the very latest tech...lol

[Mike1161]

LOL... I warned ya that I was going to play with OCing this system. I have just figured out how to get the RAM working at 1066 with 5-5-5-15 2T setting as per the RAM specs. Now I am rerunning the tests to see how the results change from 800 RAM settings.

 

But I have only the basic edition of 3DMark06 and you have to view the rsults online and for some reason that function isn't working on either PC today. Could Futuremark be having issues? It worked fine last night.

 

The other question is; is it worth buying the 19.99 version or is the basic good enough? What about the new one, Vantage? Both are the same price, but I wouldn't want to get the worng one or waste money if having a full version is better/more useful or whatever.

 

The new EVGA program is rather simple to use and only works on GPUs and fans. It's so simple even a complete noob like me can figure it out.

[slick2500]

Yeah I tried out precision and I like it a lot better than Rivatuner, its simple and has everything you need on one page.

Here is a screenshot of what Precision looks like.

 

DO NOT buy 3DMark Vantage. If your going to buy any of them buy 3DMark 06.

[Mike1161]

I don't want to buy either if there is no real need. I got my latest score on 3DMark06 to 13275 using 750 core for the gpu, 1875 shader clock and 1150 for the memory clock. The rest of the system is stock with the RAM at 5-5-5-15 2T 1066 and the CPU a 3.0.

 

I pushed the GPU up a bit and the score fell 100 points, but it could have been background stuff getting in the way.

[Mike1161]

Still playing with the GPU OCing. Got the core up to 810, shadders 2028 and memory at stock 1100. Benched marked 13425, which is my best so far. I also update the MOB BOIS to the latest version. Now I just wish they would fix the bug in the GPU driver that won't control the fan correctly.

 

The question I have is what should I leave the shadders linked and what kind of increase in memory should I be trying?

 

I am not "seeing" any real difference in game play since I am not really used to this new system which has better performance than the prior rig.