What are the dos and don't of overclocking a GPU?

[muckymucks]

Is having a permanently overclocked GPU safe or am I just suppose to overclock it when I want to squeeze more performance from a game or some other demanding program?

Userbenchmark has a video explaining how to overclock a GPU. It looks easy enough but how often and for how long should I do it?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbq-XpeNckY&list=FLWA1QVpyH-1LiwNn5rk6Dcg&index=96

[Komarimaru]

All my GPU's have been overclocked for their lifetime, if a stable overclock and no overheating, should last the life of your hardware.

My 3 GTX 280's in one of my retro rigs have been overclocked since got them in 2008 without issue.

[r.linder]

Makes more sense to undervolt when it comes to modern cards because you get more consistent frequency, power consumption, etc.

[DevaVictrix]

Imo, the only do is don’t, and the only don’t is do! Just leave it be.

[Supafly]

Originally posted by 尺．し工几句ヨ尺:

Makes more sense to undervolt when it comes to modern cards because you get more consistent frequency, power consumption, etc.

Yup and if you paid for factory overclocked card you often get a card with better cooling that can also be undervolted whilst maintaining overclocked speeds

[r.linder]

Originally posted by Supafly:

Originally posted by 尺．し工几句ヨ尺:

Makes more sense to undervolt when it comes to modern cards because you get more consistent frequency, power consumption, etc.

Yup and if you paid for factory overclocked card you often get a card with better cooling that can also be undervolted whilst maintaining overclocked speeds

Yeah, overclocking is on its way out when it comes to modern hardware because everything has become so powerful yet hungry, there’s hardly even a point to pushing it further because the increase in power draw is way more than that extra performance is even worth. The real boon of RTX 40 series is the fact that it gets impressive performance relative to the energy consumed; the 4070 getting essentially 3080 performance for 180W less is insane.

[Rod]

Originally posted by 尺．し工几句ヨ尺:

Originally posted by Supafly:

Yup and if you paid for factory overclocked card you often get a card with better cooling that can also be undervolted whilst maintaining overclocked speeds

Yeah, overclocking is on its way out when it comes to modern hardware because everything has become so powerful yet hungry, there’s hardly even a point to pushing it further because the increase in power draw is way more than that extra performance is even worth. The real boon of RTX 40 series is the fact that it gets impressive performance relative to the energy consumed; the 4070 getting essentially 3080 performance for 180W less is insane.

I oc every rig and this new one will be the first since pentium 3 800mhz that i wont oc really. 7800X3D can not overclock anyways, I guess 6000mhz EXPO is an overclock ok ok but i will not overclock my next GPU. Theres no gains on 4000 series etc to warrant it and rarely do games need 10% extra to meet the min framerate really you should upgrade if the edge is that close to stutter. What i will gain is one less app to worry about in MSI Afterburner so theres a few cpu cycles saved!


PBO and undervolting a 4090 would be the new normal, Compared to rinsing 37% out of an i5 3570k (4700mhz OC) and 10% on gpus its weird.

[Jamebonds1]

Most important "don't" is undervolt since it could stressed some components on board, but it is locked on most GPU.

[emoticorpse]

My rule is "don't do it" heh, I just pay the little more for the one that comes at that overclocked speed at stock so the work is done for me and no headaches