I've just ran the Omega ATI overclocking utility, and it reckons I can safely bump the GPU core speed from 324Mhz to 400Mhz...It has no artefacts or glitches, but I'm not sure if it's ok to run at that speed, with it's little 5 year old fan (I also have an auxiliary fan not too far from the card)... It also thinks that the GPU memory speed can be brought from 290Mhz to 320Mhz, which seems reasonable. When running at 400/320 I gain about 150fps in the test renderer that comes with the utility, but is it worth it? Will this fry my card? I'm using 350/320 in the mean time...

Reason I ask is, it's my first GPU overclock Any help would be lovely on this one!

E: 20 FBMs @ SO is 10-ish FPS, but I know my processor isn't very good...2.60Ghz
But I still get 100+ fps on my own or with a couple of cars on screen.

E2: This is with all full graphics settings btw...and 8X AA / 16X AF in Omega panel...

The main bottleneck in a full grid is your CPU.

Overclock your card as much as you like as long as it doesn't go over 70 degrees or Artefact.

Thanks Jakg. The problem is, it's a 9800PRO, which doesn't have a temperature sensor. Should I stick a standard thermometer in under the fan or something? Artefacts occur at about 395Mhz for the core, and 330Mhz for the memory. So I'm running 390/320 i for now, but I don't know how hot it's getting in there...The case is a dell aswell, so as I'm sure you know, cooling isn't exactly top-notch...

Mine is overclocked with ATITool.
It works a treat since you can tweak almost everything with it!

Yea, I used that to overclock lol. But I don't know if I'm doing damage at this speed

In the mean time I've set the fan to run at 100% all the time

if its artifacting around 395 I would be safe and do like 380, you shouldnt melt the chip tbh, they can withstand quite a lot past the point it artifacts anyway.

Yea, I've dropped about 10Mhz from the artefact point. I'll leave it run for a while and thermometer it (turned off, of course!) when it's warmed up I suppose...

If it's not got a temperature sensor built in then unless you can put on inside the core (hint - you can't) then your stuffed.

Quote from Jakg :

unless you can put on inside the core (hint - you can't)

/me grabs a pliers and a hacksaw

Thanks for the help anyway, I hope it doesn't implode on me anytime soon (planning on a new one soon - this one's over 5 years old )

Quote from dougie-lampkin :

/me grabs a pliers and a hacksaw

Thanks for the help anyway, I hope it doesn't implode on me anytime soon (planning on a new one soon - this one's over 5 years old )

As long as your not volt-modding it and/or pushing it way past the limit, you should be fine. If anything goes wrong it will probably just crash and you can just reset the clocks.

It's nowhere near the limit atm, it's about 10Mhz down from the point of artefacting

I'm not a fan of hijacking a thread, but, I have a related question and, I'd really prefer not to start a thread.

I have a 8600GT OC Edition, and I'm curious what I should OC too. I'm getting a 9 series by july, so I want to OC this thing, nothin to lose, but I'd like to aviod frying it, since my budget atm is crap.

Stock clocks for a normal 8600 are 540/700. Present clocks are 576/730. Since it's already OC'd out of the box, I'm slightly hesitant, I don't want to damage it.
I plan to use RivaTuner, and create only one fan profile, just one simple moderate OC, anyone familiar with this card? I could use some numbers, it would save me the trouble of tweaking and tweaking, thanks.

If it's already overclocked it won't make a difference, it'll still have some go in it.

Do NOT ask for numbers to use - every card is different, and so any setting probably wont be the max for your card. You have to tweak it, if your too lazy to do that you shouldn't be overclocking.

I don't like doing it, because I don't have experience, I guess my lack of experience makes me lazy...right. Had I known I wouldn't have asked, but I also would have undercut the numbers some. I had never OC'd a card until a few months ago, and I didn't try maxing it out.

I'm sorry for trying to help you, I won't do it again.

I'm used to people saying "hai i want 2 overclock my PC giv me t3h program and t3h numbers please". Now this seems to have died down, and now it's the same question (although with better English), but still over and over again.

My stance is that if you want to overclock you should read up on it in your own time, but meh, maybe i'm too "old school".

Each card is different as already said, even some of the same type cards...certain factors such as case ventilation/cooling, card fan, room temperature, power supply etc.

There is no real way for us to tell you some specific numbers or even rounded numbers for your card mate, its something you'll need to tweak yourself.

All you really need to know is, artifacts means your pushing it too far and if you smell burning silicon (very unlikely) just run away.

Aight guys thanks. I took your advice, and took the time to do it, I got a very surprising OC out of it. I cleaned the case and fans really well before hand also. It doesn't get too too hot, and I got an extra 10-15% in most games, thanks.