Is an OC worth it (GPU)

[Series Of Tubes]

I have a Radeon 7750, It's getting a tad old but runds nost every thing I need to on 1080p
Any ways, It's an 800Mhz card. I can use CCC to take it to 900Mhz. Is it worth? It has a good fan on it so heat is not a problem.

[Soylent_Merchant]

Oc 'ing is something i reccommend doing 2-3 months before you know your about to upgrade the gpu (or cpu) if its doing everything well and without problems, then dont bother

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Only u can really make that decision. As a user of the product, weigh the risks.
After any applied OC, do a good test run of it to help ensure it's stability. As it may appear stable at first, or in certain apps, but not stable in most, and that is what is important. Otherwise the OC is pretty much useless/pointless.

I highly doubt 100mhz increase will change anything really, if u are not getting a stable enough or high enough FPS in a certain app/game. But it's always worth a shot. If the OC proves unstable, just revert the GPU back to it's defaults.

Run benchmarks to see differences in average FPS at the various clock changes and compare your results. Sometimes an OC can appear to not make a difference if your CPU is bottenecking the setup, so keep that in mind too.

[PowerHaus930]

I had a 5770 and I believe I had it OC'd from 800Mhz to 900Mhz maybe even more. It did get a little warm but it was also a single slot GPU and I ended up replacing the heatsink with an arctic cooling one and it stayed really cool after that. I now have an XFX 7950 DD Black Edition which is factory OC'd from 800Mhz to 900Mhz. Default clock is 900/1375 and I run it at 950/1425 all the time. Any more then that and it becomes unstable and I don't want to increase voltage so I am happy with it where it is. You will see a slight performance increase depending on how much you OC it. I would recommend downloading MSI Afterburner if you want to OC. It monitors GPU temp, fan speed, core clock, memory clock, memory usage, and GPU usage and you can also set a custom fan profile in the settings. I think it's important to do a custom fan profile because from the factory most GPU's fans don't reach full speed until 75c or more. I have mine set to 100% at 65c so it keeps it cooler. I think it also has the option to increase voltage but I wouldn't mess with that unless you know what you're doing. You should also download a GPU testing/benchmarking program to make sure the OC is stable. I have used Furmark in the past but let me warn you that it will heat up your card like it's in the oven. Keep an eye on the temps and don't let them get beyond 75c-80c or look up your card's maximum operating temp. I hope I didn't overwhelm you. It's really not difficult you just have to make sure to keep an eye on the temps.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Yea MSI Afterburner is very good, as stated but before u install/launch such a program, make sure to go into Catalyst where it has the GPU clock/fan settings and re-set those defaults. Otherwise a program like Afterburner may give u problems, due to the conflict of already applied settings in Catalyst.

No point in using that feature in Catalyst when programs like Afterburner exist.

[Rove]

If you can OC it without raising the voltage I've had good experience with that. I overclocked a HD 7790 to 1200 mhz (mine was factory overclock 1075 mhz, regular reference model is 1000mhz) at stock voltage and then I ran it at 100% load 24/7 for over three months. It still works fine with or without the overclock and the only reason it's not still running is that Bitcoin Mining is no longer profitable with it and it was not my primary GPU. Now I'm trying to give it to my father. I assume it will work for several years to come, maybe even a decade or few depending on how much it gets used.

So ya if you can overclock it on stock voltage and have decent venting in your case then I think it is pretty much risk free. Changing the voltage or increasing the power is where you start to risk damage to the GPU.

I'd probably recommend it if you believe you currently would see any performance improvement from a better GPU. If your GPU runs everything at maximum already then there is no point.

[【K A M I N A】]

It depends if it is a stock cooler or an aftermarket cooler.

I would say yes, especially for that entry level card. You could raise the core clock by at least 100mhz and see a performance boost in your games. If you see any artifcats, you know you've reached your card's limit. If the drivers crash, you'll want to underclock it a bit as well. These are indications to keep an eye on, as well as temperature on full loads.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

The cooler onboard the GPU really shouldn't matter, long as you have effective air-flow within your case. As long as it's not a cheaply designed GPU, then it's stock design should hold true, especially with newer GPUs within the last few gens.

The thing with OC'ing GPU is that the Fan Profile will not change, thus once you apply any OC the GPU may run hotter. In order to combat this you must manually raise the GPU fan % up so that it can keep the GPU cool at all times. While this may add to noise, it is better then leaving the fan speed on auto, which doesn't really start raising the fan's rpm until the GPU reaches approx 70*C, by the time the fan reaches a high enough rpm, the GPU's temps could easily reach an un-safe point (above 85-90*C).

Whenever u apply a GPU OC, set a % for the GPU Fan; then run FurMark. This will stress the GPU enough to allow it to reach pretty much whatever max temp it is going to in any gaming envirnment, allowing you to then see if your manually set fan % is high enough to keep the GPU cooled over time.

Make use of Profiles within Afterburner. Have one of the profile be that of the GPU's default clocks and fan set to auto. Use that profile for everyday OS usage. When u want to play a game, select a different profile (once u've saved more) that has a stable OC, along with the manual fan % setting; and apply that profile before launching a game. Very easy to use and all, once u get used to it. But again it's very handy and gives plenty of user control.