Is it really worth overclocking a gpu

[ladcrooks]

I have just purchased a Gigabyte HD 7970 OC WindForce and happy with what it does. If I stick to its own parameters - Gigabyte's. Then I should be covered fully by their own warranty.
And food for thought - why doesn't the manufacture of any card clock it to the limit? Safety barrier springs to mind!

From what I have seen in various forums, the amount fps is not a great deal more when overclocking further! Not just my card but others in general.

What are the implications to its running life? Will it shorten it? I think if you have an old card that's passed its warranty, then yeah, overclock it to the max!

Or is it that in Amd's case, they under volt their PCB's in the first place. Hope you get what I am trying to say here, ha!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It depends on the graphics card. Certain cards like the HD5850,HD7850 and HD7950 are underclocked quite a bit to make the jump up to the next card seem higher. Hence,overclocking can give you a decent performance jump in those cases.

[ladcrooks]

I must admit the HD5850 was a bloody good card! That was I had previous to my HD7970.

[Willzzz]

Well if you are getting the performance you want, then no don't bother.

It does make a difference when considering what card to buy tho, as CAT said certain cards have a lot of overclocking head room making them good value for money compared to the next card up.

The reason manufacturers don't clock it to the limit is because the limit is different for different cards, so they clock conservatively so the cards are 100% stable, but even the average card can manage better and certain lucky cards can go even further.

[Bugbait]

Any damage (shortened life span) from increasing GPU and VRAM frequencies for the medium term (5 years) is arguably minimal if you don't touch the voltage. The increased heat could be an issue but the card will exhibit OC problems such as visual corruptions and freezing that will prevent you from using it in this state. It's when you start messing around with the voltage that more immediate damage can occur. If you keep these within reason, especially with improved (eg. Watercooled) cooling then it's not really an issue for the medium term either.

I overclock every GPU I get but often use full cover waterblocks and never keep them longer than 1-2 years. The longest I've kept a GPU was the 5970 for 2.5 years. That was used almost every day for that period with a 950 overclock (725 was default). The waterblock kept the GPU's under 50C even in the UK summer. Have yet to have a GPU fail on me while I owned it but your mileage may vary though.

I have OC'ed my current 7970 because there's a very obvious difference in SWTOR with and without the OC. At the default 1010/1375 the game stutters in the Fleet with it's loaded (200+ players). With a 1200/1600 OC it's smooth as butter. Client FPS shows 25-30FPS vs 41-50 when OC'ed. It shouldn't be this drastic and I'm thinking a memory bottleneck of some kind when not OC'ed but that's what it was reporting.

[PmanUk]

Any damage (shortened life span) from increasing GPU and VRAM frequencies for the medium term (5 years) is arguably minimal if you don't touch the voltage. The increased heat could be an issue but the card will exhibit OC problems such as visual corruptions and freezing that will prevent you from using it in this state. It's when you start messing around with the voltage that more immediate damage can occur. If you keep these within reason, especially with improved (eg. Watercooled) cooling then it's not really an issue for the medium term either.

I overclock every GPU I get but often use full cover waterblocks and never keep them longer than 1-2 years. The longest I've kept a GPU was the 5970 for 2.5 years. That was used almost every day for that period with a 950 overclock (725 was default). The waterblock kept the GPU's under 50C even in the UK summer. Have yet to have a GPU fail on me while I owned it but your mileage may vary though.

I have OC'ed my current 7970 because there's a very obvious difference in SWTOR with and without the OC. At the default 1010/1375 the game stutters in the Fleet with it's loaded (200+ players). With a 1200/1600 OC it's smooth as butter. Client FPS shows 25-30FPS vs 41-50 when OC'ed. It shouldn't be this drastic and I'm thinking a memory bottleneck of some kind when not OC'ed but that's what it was reporting.

I have overclocked all my cards at one point just to see how far they go. There are several theroeies about shortened lifespan if you over clock cards but tbh they way I upgrade as long as they last a year or 2 then I dont mind after that as I do a major upgrade quite often.

I clocked the rubbish out of my 670 FTW's and get roughly an extra 15-20% out of the cards. In most games I will never notice the difference.

The only exception so far is Max Payne 3 on full settings inc 8 x AA and only when I play in 3D

If you are on a budget I would look at getting excellent bang for your buck by getting a card known to overclock well and get a little extra performance out of it.

Pman

[dangel]

Like bugbait I overclock my GPUs all the time but like him I also use a full cover waterblock. The temps are so low that even voltage increases don't see the car anywhere near on-air temps and so it's pretty safe. I had to up the voltage on my 580 to play crysis 2 because at stock clocks the card was unstable(!). I think i'm on 1.0050V or so if I remember rightly.

[ladcrooks]

Hi guys - thanks for replies. Its food for thought! I think when the games become more demanding, then yes, i will up the ante on my card! :-)

[Zak33]

and happy with what it does.

if you're using the 1080p screen described in your system spec to the left of your post.. then frankly.. no.. no point overclocking your GPU at all.

it's already a BEAST... why push it harder when it's not broken a sweat yet.

[Phage]

I have the same card as the OP at 1100/1400 and I notice the difference in BF3 at 1920.1200.
Mind you, drivers need work.

[MoneyShot239]

Planning to get the 7850, so good to hear that it OCs nicely. Besides its not that hard to OC a GPU anyway bud

[bamford]

Free performance is always woRth it in my opinion

[DLUK]

Good example for 'is worth it' is using a single card to run 1440-1660p or Surround or Eyefinity, bit of OC can make the 'unplayable' playable.

Most of the time it's just Epeen, Intel Sandy&Ivy bridge CPU OC has many many benefits for games and app's. Intel sells those chips at very low stock speeds rather like if the GTX 680 or 7970 where being sold as stock 500 MHZ! Most people run well above 4.4 +GHZ and ignore the included turbo or stock settings so you get an extra 20-25% 'ommph' as Intel where total cowards with the stock settings. But the latest decent high end GPU cards normally, only net 10%-15% safe OC.

So if you need more FPS and don't want to Sli or CF then go for it. Rest of the time GPU stock is fab' as hardly any games annoy a GTX 670-7950 or better at 1080p unless you want 16-32xAA and 120 FPS min... (Although the lack of 100% GPU run time changes fast with triple screen or 1440p etc though!)

If you jump to 1440p or triple screen, then 10-20 games are a bit more playable on the top end cards with a bit of OC even on a single card. (Shogun 2, BF3, Crysis 2, Sniper V2 etc) that 10-20% oc above stock can keep you the right side of 40+ fps even with a single card.

[deano131]

If it is working fine and you are happy with the performance then I'd leave it as is, in a year or so if it isn't performing quite so great or a particular game is stretching it then look to overclock it then.