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overclocking? my 7900GT with RivaTuner
Captain K
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I'm getting crummy performance lately and I would love to give some overclocking a try on my 7900GT. I'd also love to have control over the fan speed, even if I end up sticking with the stock clock speed.
I downloaded RivaTuner and I can't get it to do a damn thing. I don't want to randomly push buttons and fuck everything up, so I'm making this thread--do any of you guys have experience with RivaTuner? Especially with the video card I own?
I downloaded RivaTuner and I can't get it to do a damn thing. I don't want to randomly push buttons and fuck everything up, so I'm making this thread--do any of you guys have experience with RivaTuner? Especially with the video card I own?
Captain K on
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Load it up. Go to the Main tab. In the middle of it will be Driver Settings ForceWare Detected. Click onto the arrow next to cusomize. Then hit the one that looks like a little gfx card. Which is system settings. Check to enable driver level overclocking. Click the little drop down button and select performance 3d. Your clocks will be shown on the left. Only Core and Memory for that one. Take both sliders up about another 50mhz.
The reason I say 50mhz is that you need to see if it is stable and how hot it runs. To do that install a program called ATI Tool. After you set your clocks in Rivatuner. Run the artifact scanner for at least 10mins. If it isn't too hot and is stable close ATI tool and go back to rivatuner. Increase another 25mhz on the core and 15 on the memory.
Rinse repeat with ATI tool. I have no idea what average OCs are for 7900GTs. You'll just have to get to that through trial and error. I also only use ATI tool for my overclocks on my old 7900GS KO. I have been able to reach 620mhz Core and 800mhz (1600 effective) memory.
EDIT:
Forgot about the fan. It's in the tab next to the overclocking one in riva. Click onto the drop down and select direct control then set it at the speed you desire. Apply and the restart.
Every tutorial or screencap for RivaTuner I've ever seen shows a fan control tab in this window, but I don't have one. What's the deal?
In that case your fan could be automatically controlled and will increase speed under stress. I have never seen this function without the possibility to software-controll it though.
On my 6800GT there was a physical slider on the card that controlled the fan. I couldn't do anything from within windows. I had to open the case and change it, you might wan to check for this. You should keep a good look on the temperatures in general when upping the MHz, especially if your fan is tricky to controll
Also, my 2 cents on the subject:
Overclocking is pretty meaningless in my opinion. The performance boost is often neglible and translates into maybe 2-4 fps in your average shooter on a good clock. I usually overclock all my stuff to some extent after a couple of years but that's because I find it fun to see where the limits are and what untapped potential there is in my equipment. If you do it in search for performance you might as well not.
As far as overclocking goes. I feel it is worth it in order to get the most performance. Say for instance K gets 30FPS in TF2. He then overclocks his card and gets 33-35 FPS. That's a 10% and higher boost in performance for nothing. My 7900 can get 10 or more FPS in certain games when running OCd. In the process you have a higher average in FPS and a higher minimum FPS. That translates to smoother gameplay.
Sure, this is all true but I'm not certain you will even notice 3 extra fps. In the end it's all about personal preferences anyway. I just tried to point out that you shouldn't expect miracles from clocking your card a bit. If your games are starting to run choppy (as is K's problem) it's time to decrease the resolution or try finding the money to upgrade.
Also overclocking doesn't just apply to older weaker cards. People that own 9600GT who overclock and get better performance than a stock 8800GT. The person that has an overclocked 8800GT who gets better performance than he would with a stock 8800GTX.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to achieve the highest performance that your hardware can allow for only a little effort and careful monitoring. It saves people money and they achieve the performance levels that elite hardware owners have. Many times besting them.
It's free and easy. There's no reason not too.
Also I was guessing on the performance increases through overclocking. It was much lower than some games will see. Captain K and others will get better performance. It's just a matter of how much. Also they may already be at lower resolutions and don't have the funds to upgrade.