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Written by Miljan Stamenkovic
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Thursday, 15 February 2007 |
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Page 1 of 3 One of the ways to increase the level of 3D performances of your computer without any additional investments is overclocking of graphic card. In this case, we will deal with overclocking of graphic cards with ATI chips. The tool which we need is called ATI Tool. Via ATI Tool beside alternating of operating frequencies of the chip and memory on graphic card, it is possible to test overclocked card using Artifact Tester which will help you to see if settled frequencies are too high, and if they are, on 3D model the artifact will appear i.e. „cracking“ of polygon and textures. Artifact Tester is not confident that much so it is better to initiate some 3DMark test after this one, or some of more demanding 3D games. The most important thing for good overclock is patience, so it’s better to shift chip frequencies and memories step by step of 5-10 MHz.
After each frequency increasing, mandatory test it with Artifact Tester and 3DMark. In case if you shift the slider more times for 5-10 MHz and frequency is higher than nominal for 50-70 MHz, and 3DMark and Artifact Tester don’t send message on faults, try just in case some of demanding games in order to verify stability of overclocked card, so if artifact occurs in games, return to ATI Tool and decrease frequencies for 5-10MHz. Also very important option which ATI Tool has is “Fan Control” which is used to set fan rotations for particular temperature, therefore reducing noise in the computer when there are no 3D applications running, but also when you start some game or benchmark program pay attention that number of rotations must be higher because graphic card might get overheated otherwise. Simply use Fan Control and find balance by yourself. Also, ATI Tool has an option Voltage Adjustment where you can increase graphic chip, memory and memory buffer voltage. This option is very useful for reaching higher frequencies, although it’s recommendable only for experts, because excessive voltage can cause permanent card damage.
On the market, there are lot of companies involved in cooling of various components, which also include graphic cards, and in case if you buy cooler made by ArcticCooling company, Zalman or CoolerMaster, you will get additional space for 10-30 MHz on the frequency you set with default cooler. Naturally, if you want to extract maximum out of chip of your cards, there are solutions with water cooling like “Sub-Zero” or even liquid nitrogen packages intended for graphic cards, but these solutions are extremely expensive. But, as we mentioned at the very beginning of this text: “without any investments”, so we will stick to that, and it means pure overclocking without extra cooling. Given we got acquainted the Tool, it’s time to do some job.
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