# Overclocking my Graphics Card
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overclocking-my-graphics-card/144268
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 21, 2002, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overclocking-my-graphics-card/144268 "2002-12-21T21:25:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@a\_gherkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a_gherkin)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2002, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overclocking-my-graphics-card/144268/1 "2002-12-21T21:25:24Z")
i just brought a new PC and im pleased with the system i now have. it certainly isnt cutting edge, but it is a fast system!
in this system i have got an MSI GeForce 4 Ti4200 graphics chip, and i have been playing about with the settings. i came across a menu which talks about over clocking
1.the memory clock (which is currently at 446MHz)
2.the core clock (which is at 220MHz)
now i have heard about people overclocking their cards but on my old system, there was no obvious menu through which to do it. i was just wondering
1. if i adjust it too far, will it damage my system?
2. what would be a sensible level to have the 2 options?
3. will i see any benefits?
4. what benefits?
5. disadvantages
and generally anything else you see fit to tell me
here are my specs
AMD Athalon XP 2100+
512MB DDR RAM
80GB Matrox 7200RPM Hard Drive
Windows XP
blah, blah, blah
thank you in advance
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### Author:  [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2002, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overclocking-my-graphics-card/144268/2 "2002-12-21T21:57:31Z")
check [=http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/shownotes/story/0,24330,3359086,00.html]this out
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### Author:  [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2002, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overclocking-my-graphics-card/144268/3 "2002-12-21T22:00:41Z")
ok, try [this](http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/shownotes/story/0,24330,3359086,00.html) instead
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2002, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overclocking-my-graphics-card/144268/4 "2002-12-22T00:59:04Z")
Isn’t overclocking a HW T&L graphics card overkill?
And isn’t overclocking a non-HW T&L graphics card pointless? (because it is still held back by the rest of the system)
(HW T&L = The graphics card does most of the 3d mathematics)
(non HW T&L = The pc does all the maths - the graphics card just ‘flattens’ it all into a 2d picture for the screen)
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2002, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overclocking-my-graphics-card/144268/5 "2002-12-22T01:00:57Z")
ANd you have a Geforce 4? overclocking it would **definately** be overkill. It is not worth the risk to overclock a card which can already perform better than any other commercially available card or console in the world.
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2002, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overclocking-my-graphics-card/144268/6 "2002-12-22T01:13:26Z")
> **[\[H\]ard|Forum](https://hardforum.com/)**
>
> HardOCP Community Forum for PC Hardware Enthusiasts
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### Author:  [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2002, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overclocking-my-graphics-card/144268/7 "2002-12-23T21:09:43Z")
While it is possible to overclock your GeForce card, I recommend to everyone that they not do it with newer ones. You _may_ see a very modest improvement in frame rate, but in my personal experience it is not worth the hassle and the chance of causing your system to become more unstable.
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### Author:  [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2002, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overclocking-my-graphics-card/144268/8 "2002-12-23T21:47:38Z")
The Ti4200 of virtually any type is still _the premeire_ overclocking card today. With a little bit of luck, you can match or exceed the performance of the (still) top of the line Ti4600 for what? like $200 less, perhaps.
And, you can do it through the use of nVidia’s own reference drivers, via the [CoolBITS](http://www.3dchipset.com/utilities/nvidia/overclocking/coolbits/) registry hack, which enables nVidia’s own overclocking control panel. Please be certain to read all the accompanying documentation. Generally speaking, overclocking the memory will get you a larger performance advantage than overclocking the core.
Sure, you can roast a video card, I suppose, by turning everything all the way up and then not shutting down your computer once everything goes to hell. My advice to you is… don’t do it that way. Instead, start at your current settings, and incrementally overclock your card until you reach the highest level of performance that does not cause your computer to lock up or display artifacts. Be sure to have some sort of program which you can use as a benchmark to compare your perfomance before and after–I still use Quake III.
And if you’re going to do this, it’s a given that you _back everything up_ and _have the product key and disc for your operating system_. If you don’t follow instructions well, you have a chance of screwing up all sorts of things. If you do, you have a good chance of getting 10-15% extra framerate out of your favorite games. That can equate to an entire step up in screen resolution at no extra cost.
And believe me, if you chop the card’s lifespan from ten years to five by doing this, it’s still going to be just as much of a piece of junk at the end of its lifetime as your old Voodoo 2 is today, so why worry about it?
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### Author:  [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2002, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overclocking-my-graphics-card/144268/9 "2002-12-23T23:36:56Z")
Oh, one last thing. If you’re using Windows 98 or its even worse variants, you might want to also find a decent, free registry backup program.
I’ve never heard of a registry getting smoked by overclocking a video card, but once you catch the bug, well, you probably will want to move on to other conquests such as the front side bus. When going too far on the FSB, Windows 98 seems to like spazzing out and then saving its unworkable settings, rendering your system useless. I’ve saved many hours of re-loading the OS by simply keeping a registry back-up program on and running at all times.
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### Author:  [@rookie523](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rookie523)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2002, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overclocking-my-graphics-card/144268/10 "2002-12-23T23:49:07Z")
there’s nothing wrong with overclocking done right.
will it give the performance gain you want vs the risk you take?
i think overclocking a ti4200 won’t bring too much gain.
basically if you overclock a ti4200… it will bring it up to the level ofa ti4400… or close to it. the differences between the ti4600 and ti4200 is the core speed/memory speed.
you will need a really good cooling system. i think the one supplied on the card will only give you a slight increase in speed.
you may experience freezing, sudden reboots and even a burnt out card if the video chip overheats.
or sell the ti4200 to a friend and buy the radeon 9700 pro.
overclocking now isn’t as good as it used to be. the gains you get are minimal unless you have a watercooling system or your pc is in a freezer.
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### Author:  [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2002, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overclocking-my-graphics-card/144268/11 "2002-12-24T00:11:43Z")
Another good benchmark (even a standard of sorts) is 3DMark2001, downloadable from [madonion.com](http://madonion.com), IIRC.