About overclocking software

[Gary R.]

Hi all. I am using in conjunction with my 6600GT both RIVA and the included overclocking utility that came with the 6600's software.  What I need to know is will one software take precedence over the other?  Does one recognize the changes I made to the card using the other software?  Or, do I loose effectiveness running two different overclocking utilities?

Thanks.

[congo]

Use one or the other. I use the supplied utility, in case I break it ...... I can at least point the finger back at the manufacturer for supplying the software     though that would be a dubious claim......  

I have the Winfox software supplied with my Leadtek 6600GT, it's easy to use and it works.

[4_Series_Scania]

Get 3DMark 01, 03 &05  and Nvidia Coolbits from www.guru3d.com (05 is not totally necessary, but as it is an example of newer technologies it is wise to test anyoverclocking in 05 to minimise problems with newer games.) Get these from either the link above or from futuremark


Right now to get your hands dirty! If you dont have any extra cooling in your case then DEFINATELY go out and buy as many fans as you can because the lower the case temp the better the air going to the card will be and the better the overclock will be!!

Also, if you dont know what brand your PSU is then id be tempted to go out and get a good one.

So now youve got the juice and a cool case then what else? Go for an arctic cooler, really, volts dont kill bits, frequencies dont kill bits, twiddling dont kill bits! HEAT KILLS BITS!!!!!!

Right now your all frosty inside, time to right click the desktop and click the hallowed 'clockfrequencies' tab in the driver properties sidebar (its only there once youve activated coolbits)

Now youll see 2 sliders, both of which will be greyed out, one for Core Clockspeed (the speed the processor is run at) and one for memory (the sum total of the memory frequency, ie div by 2 for mem speed). Above the sliders you'll see a dot box, check it to manual overclock, a box pops up basically absolving nvidia of any responsibility should you fry the card, yourself or any hardware by overclocking, just scroll to the bottom and click accept.

NOTE: If you havent already Benchmarked your cards at stock (normal) speeds then now would be a good time to do so, keep a note of the results for 3D01/03 &05

The slider should now have become available, so depending on your card start bumping it up, id say start with 25mhz on the core clock and 50 on the memory, youll probly have to click test changes but first adjust the 2D sliders to the same levels (use the dropdown box to see the 2D sliders), then click test settings on each of the 2d & 3D clock pages. If all go well get testing!

Run The 3Dmarks and make a note of the change (with any luck it should be an increase!) But be sure to note any corruption, freezing, artifacts or sparklies, if you get these then it is not a valid overclock because you cannot really play games (except older ones) with these problems, plus it suggests your pushin your hardware too hard.

REMEMBER! Sparklies are a core problem (usually) and Artifacts are a memory problem, so if you see any you only need to downclock the one thats causing it!

Hope this helps.

[Gary R.]

Thanks for the tip 4_series.  I will pop over to 3D guru and download those softwares asap.  I just don't understand it.  See, I'm running on a new hard drive now and I installed exactly the same drivers on my 6600GT that my old hard drive had installed and for some reason I get the short nview window with no clockiing settings available on the new drive and on the old drive the clocking window was present. Now, I'm also running stock XP.  No service packs installed.  My old drives installation has service pack 2.  Maybe that makes a difference in the way certain softwares appear.  I have no worries though because my local PC shop will download on their DSL the full service pack 2 for me for the cost of their cdr to burn it on.

[4_Series_Scania]

[quote]Thanks for the tip 4_series.