First things first. *puts a Harjun free zone sign infront of topic*

I acquired Call of Duty 4 the day after its release. And I really enjoy the game, to the point that I want to start all over again. And I noticed on wikipedia that the graphics on that screenshot had more additional features that I would have turned off in my game. Shadows, and such etc, tiny things, but would require the CPU and Graphics card to work harder.

Screenshot on how I would the game to look like:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Cod4_captain_price.jpg

I got the game in 1024 x 768 Resolution, with X4 AA, with automatic texture settings (they were on high settings) And the game runs nicely. But don't have the other tiny features, because it may lag the game up.

Here are my specs that I use for the game.

Dual Core 2.8ghz AM2
AM2 2GB RAM
Nvidia 7600GT 256MB PCI-E

I tend to go for the 8 series graphics cards next year when the DX10s are out, which was why I bought a 7 series *this card was a bargain, so I bought it* to keep me at bay until next year.

And I thought of overclocking today, because of the winter season, I have my PC literally right next to a window, and with the fan sucking in the cold air when if I wanted to open the window.

What would I need to do to overclock my graphics card slightly, to use the other additional details and prevent the game from lagging? With a lot of cold air breezing through the window, and plenty of fans to suck it in, I shouldn't have any problems with temperature wise. Graphics card have a warning message when it comes to cards becoming too hot don't they?

Cheers.

RivaTuner is the best programme to overclock your card.
You can download it here.

And here is a guide to help you through the settings of RivaTuner.

Good luck

Thanks, I'll have a play with that tonight, after I try out the settings again tonight.

How much of an improvement/difference does it make when overclocking a graphics card? Particulary the Nvidia 7 or 8 series?

Quote from jamesc :

RivaTuner is the best programme to overclock your card.
You can download it here.

And here is a guide to help you through the settings of RivaTuner.

Good luck

I'm not a fan of RivaTuner, much prefer ATiTool (which works on nVidia cards - Inbuilt Artefact scanner is a life-safer)

The one "misconception" about cooling is that if you have a lot of fans and cold air the card must run cold - actually the most important part is the quality of the heatsink (ie is it actually exchanging any heat) and the link between the cooler and the core, ie the TIM.

Cards don't give any warning of running too hot, however you will need to Artefact test, and if it's going to cook it'll do it then.

Quote from Jakg :

I'm not a fan of RivaTuner, much prefer ATiTool (which works on nVidia cards - Inbuilt Artefact scanner is a life-safer)

The one "misconception" about cooling is that if you have a lot of fans and cold air the card must run cold - actually the most important part is the quality of the heatsink (ie is it actually exchanging any heat) and the link between the cooler and the core, ie the TIM.

Cards don't give any warning of running too hot, however you will need to Artefact test, and if it's going to cook it'll do it then.

Where can I do the Artefact test?

While imo you should overclock just to get the extra 'free' performance, it is unlikely to really improve the performance noticably. You'll go from 30 to 33fps or something, unless the 7600s of today are extreme overclockers..

I.e. don't expect to really be able to make it look better and keep framerates.

Quote from Niels Heusinkveld :

While imo you should overclock just to get the extra 'free' performance, it is unlikely to really improve the performance noticably. You'll go from 30 to 33fps or something, unless the 7600s of today are extreme overclockers..

I.e. don't expect to really be able to make it look better and keep framerates.

Thanks for the heads up.

Quote from BigDave2967 :

Thanks for the heads up.

"Cynics see the world as it is, not the way people want it to be."

That sounded very wise, didn't it?

Priority wise, maybe you should overclock your driving ability first before considering overclocking your gfx card, thats where the real work is needed.

The man was talking about COD4..

Quote from Leprekaun :

Priority wise, maybe you should overclock your driving ability first before considering overclocking your gfx card, thats where the real work is needed.

Said the Egyptian F1 driver... sorry but where did that comment come from?

From the mind of a Leprekaun

i was going to say it made as much sense as a third armpit. but thought maybe he's talking about some technical term or something. didn't give it much thought tho i would say.

Quote from hrtburnout :

"Cynics see the world as it is, not the way people want it to be."

That sounded very wise, didn't it?

Indeed it did. *smokes pipe*

Oi!!

Quote from Leprekaun :

Priority wise, maybe you should overclock your driving ability first before considering overclocking your gfx card, thats where the real work is needed.

it's a bit like saying Priority wise, maybe you should work on your F1 career first before considering playing a racing sim/game, thats where the real work is needed.

well, you know, I'm finished working on it so I'm just gonna send out my proposal tomorrow so...

there's always tomorrow lep . but seriously, how does driving abillity become more important in a first person shooter? or overclocking ?

I'd try different settings before you start overlocking. The first one would be turning off the AA and trying all the other settings on high(er) or at least have it on 2AA. AA is what will lower the FPS the most. Could also try a higher screen resolution.

If you do try a little overclock go with the ATItool, it's very simple and easy to use. You won’t get any warning messages (from the card) come up if you overclock it too much either but the ATItool can find the best/safest overclock and scan for artefacts, these are graphics glitches on screen, you'll know them when you see them.

Overclocking that card might take away and lag or stutter that you have already come across on the settings you have, just extra FPS to smooth things out, I don’t know if it will be enough to crank up any settings though

Quote from garph :

I'd try different settings before you start overlocking. The first one would be turning off the AA and trying all the other settings on high(er) or at least have it on 2AA. AA is what will lower the FPS the most. Could also try a higher screen resolution.

If you do try a little overclock go with the ATItool, it's very simple and easy to use. You won’t get any warning messages (from the card) come up if you overclock it too much either but the ATItool can find the best/safest overclock and scan for artefacts, these are graphics glitches on screen, you'll know them when you see them.

Overclocking that card might take away and lag or stutter that you have already come across on the settings you have, just extra FPS to smooth things out, I don’t know if it will be enough to crank up any settings though

Yeah I had a go, went to 1280 x 960 *max option* and it ran smoothly until it got to bushes and sniping through the bushes. Don't want to go back to 1024, now that I like the 1280 res lol.

I'll give the overclocking a go tonight after I have done my sport activities for the evening. Got the settings that I require, just need to get that extra FPS, and problem solved... hopefully. If it doesn't satisfy me, I'll go back down to 1024 to save the hassle .

OK....

Theres a few tools you can use Dave

Nvidia make a prog called N tune -- freely availible from them to down load. N tune works along side your current operating system and g card. Its designed specifically for your board and card - (Which you happen to have the same mobo as me and G cards)

http://www.nvidia.com/object/ntune_2.00.23.html

If you go into your g card control panel - you can select n tune - and work your way through it - does a cracking job - before starting the overclock process. It also has a built in overclock facility. I would not recommend over clocking if your looking for graphics, I would settle for slight under performance till you get the new g card.

I would also, not rely on external cooling to cool your machine either - Fans are £2 each - (8cm blue LED) even your not that tight. Sure stand it next to the window and allow it to draw cold air in - but make sure its fanned up.

There is another app that works similar to N Tune... mentioned on this forum elsewhere - which I have and use - but it takes a fair bit of reading to get through - Its called N hancer

http://www.nhancer.com/

Its pretty much the same as N tune - but its not made by Nvidia - Works well - but I struggle with all the options and understanding what they mean.

It would be alot easier if there was a g card profile database out there - so we could upload and d/load g card profiles - like LFS setup field - would be awesome.

Hiope that helps , me lil old Scottish (read tight-wad) friend....

Quote from Widdowmaker :

OK....

Theres a few tools you can use Dave

Nvidia make a prog called N tune -- freely availible from them to down load. N tune works along side your current operating system and g card. Its designed specifically for your board and card - (Which you happen to have the same mobo as me and G cards)

http://www.nvidia.com/object/ntune_2.00.23.html

If you go into your g card control panel - you can select n tune - and work your way through it - does a cracking job - before starting the overclock process. It also has a built in overclock facility. I would not recommend over clocking if your looking for graphics, I would settle for slight under performance till you get the new g card.

I would also, not rely on external cooling to cool your machine either - Fans are £2 each - (8cm blue LED) even your not that tight. Sure stand it next to the window and allow it to draw cold air in - but make sure its fanned up.

There is another app that works similar to N Tune... mentioned on this forum elsewhere - which I have and use - but it takes a fair bit of reading to get through - Its called N hancer

http://www.nhancer.com/

Its pretty much the same as N tune - but its not made by Nvidia - Works well - but I struggle with all the options and understanding what they mean.

It would be alot easier if there was a g card profile database out there - so we could upload and d/load g card profiles - like LFS setup field - would be awesome.

Hiope that helps , me lil old Scottish (read tight-wad) friend....

No offence, but what?!

nTune is just like RivaTuner - you set the clocks, it does its thing - no Artefact scanner etc. nHancer sets up profiles for AA etc, NOTHING to do with overclocking. Each card overclocks different amounts anyway, so it seems a little pointless...

Quote from Leprekaun :

Priority wise, maybe you should overclock your driving ability first before considering overclocking your gfx card, thats where the real work is needed.

...helpful. Perhaps i should first work on pulling girls before trying to overclock my CPU...?

:thumbsdow

Ahhhhh - Jakg - I see my error - I was typing far to quickly to get my point accross....

Im trying to say that rather than coverclock - Little Dave should set up the profile corrctly and get the best out of the g-card - rather than overclock when its not nessercary.

When I was reffering to overclocking in N tune - I meant..... In the nvidia control panel (and n tune is now part of the nvidia control panel), there is a Performance tab - which is overclocking - through adjust motherboard and GPU setting.

But as I dont know what Im talking about (in relation to overclocking) - Ill leave it there. I just think you really dont need to overclock, with your system...