Windows 7 Will it overclock?

[GeneralHiningII]

Alright, so this is the deal -

I have a not-that-bad-but-really-still-horrible computer from Dell with a GPU that can barely run most of the games you see today. I'm thinking "Hey, why not push it up just a bit, just until I get a new computer?"...

I've seen one or two other people who have failed trying to overclock a graphics card (or any hardware) from a PC manufacturer.
But the thing is, my card isn't from Dell (well I don't think it is). It started screwing up mid 2011, and so I sent for a repair. The new card comes (came) from Pegatron, which, from a quick scan of the Wikipedia article, is not related to Dell.

So I'm wondering -
Can this card be overclocked?
This I'm not too sure of, because my Motherboard and BIOS are from Dell - would this have any affect/impact on the overclocking?

 

[kemical]

Hi,

in theory anything can can overclocked if you know how.. If you list the actual card I'll be able to help you better but usually you can squeeze a few extra megahertz. Heat is your main enemy and it's always desirable to have good airflow around your components. Let me know what the card is and we'll go from there..

I checked your profile and your card. If I remember correctly (it's a while since I had an nvidia card) isn't there an option to overclock within the drivers? Also what will make a big difference is if the card is passively cooled or not. If you have a fan then your chances of a reasonable clock is much better. Have you ever overclocked before and do you know the danger signs when overclocking a graphics card?

 

[GeneralHiningII]

Pegatron Geforce 310

I swear it's actually been underclocked when it was made in the factory.

A: Yes I have good airflow in my case (not the best - Exhaust fan of PSU, 2 Case Fans) for a computer like mine.

B: I tried looking through the drivers and there isn't an option - I've heard of downloading Nvidia tools or some program like that, but I'm not too sure.

C: It has a (in my opinion) small fan (one fan blade is ~2 cm, 9 fan blades in total) clipped on to a heatsink (low profile - the actual heatsink (not the case) has a height of about 7 or 8 mm, with the length of it taking about 1/3 of the total card), if that's of any help to you.


No I have not overclocked before (never felt like I needed to, until now) but I'm willing to learn!

 

[kemical]

Cool, (no pun intended) it's got a fan. Normally these smaller cards are often passively cooled which would have reduced your chances of gaining a decent overclock. Each chip whether it's GPU or CPU is different and some overclock better than others. So as you can see what one person may get is not necessarily what anyone else will get although it can give you an idea of what to expect.
The corner stone of overclocking is to be armed with as much information as possible. Use Google and read up as much as you can find on the subject as it will serve you well. A handy little guide for starters is this from Toms hardware:
How To Overclock Your Graphics Card : Introduction
I can certainly vouch for Rivatuner as I've used it many times myself. Just remember to go slowly, watch your temps and if in doubt back off. I've only ever burnt out one card and that was years ago although I did kinda brutalise it somewhat..
You might only see a small increase or even nothing at all, then again some chips just love it and I've seen gains of up to 1GHz but that's in rare cases.
Just take your time, go slow and you'll do fine.

Good luck and post back with results, I'd love to know how you got on..

 

[GeneralHiningII]

Just another question, instead of RivaTuner would MSIAfterburner work as well? What would you do (ie: what would you choose + justifications if possible)?

Thanks

 

[kemical]

Well MSI Afterburner uses the Rivatuner engine as it were so it's up to you. Personally I'd stick with Rivatuner but I don't think there's a deal of difference and I'm sure if I used the msi version first I'd prefer that.

 

[GeneralHiningII]

Successful Overclock -
Core Clock raised by 106MHz (589 - 695)
Memory Clock raised by 158 MHz (790 - 948)

Ran it through FurMark 1920 x 1080 Burn-in test, survived the whole 15 minutes with the max temp at 76 degrees.

Looks alright, time to test it out!

Thanks for your help

 

[kemical]

Sounds good. Have you tested it with games yet and if so what improvement are you seeing?

 

[GeneralHiningII]

I have tested it - nothing *too* big of a change but I can see diagonal lines as straight lines now (and that sort of thing). But I can finally enable all the settings (AA, Ambient Occlusion etc.) on most games, so all I have to do is endure 'til I get a new one!

Thanks

 

[kemical]

Hehe that's great and all free too. Just watch for artifacts, strange blobs or shapes appearing on screen, as this is a sure sign of a too big overclock or overheating.

 

[GeneralHiningII]

Well it seems that, when a game is running, everything else is slow.

Example:
I start playing the game and it's all running smooth, no problems there.
ALT+TAB
Chrome loads pages slower, my mouse moves slower, everything seems slower.
Does this have anything to do with the OC? (should be, I don't remember doing anything else) If so, is there any way to fix it without under-clocking the card?

 

[kemical]

Sorry bud, didn't see your post until now.. The slowness could well be down to the overclock and I'm not sure there is much you can do about it. You could try enlarging your page file but apart from that upgrading is probably your only answer.