Free Performance: Guide to overclocking video cards (NVIDIA)
Today we have an interesting guide for you if you are interested in entering the world of overclocking or getting additional FPS from your video card without investing more. By overclocking your card you will get from a modest 5% more performance and with luck, up to 10% more FPS when gaming. I will help you with all kinds of questions when doing OC, such as what hardware requirements are required and what tools I suggest.
Table of Contents
What is overclocking a GPU (video card)? - Concepts
Overclocking a GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) refers to the process of increasing the clock speed and possibly other parameters of a graphics card beyond its factory default settings. Clock speed represents the frequency at which the GPU processes instructions and performs calculations. When overclocking, users seek to improve the performance of their graphics card, leading to an increase in frame rates (FPS) and an improvement in overall graphics processing capabilities.
Here are the key aspects of GPU overclocking:
Clock speeds (Core Clock): Overclocking involves increasing the core clock speed and, in some cases, the memory clock speed. The core clock speed determines how quickly the GPU's processing cores can execute tasks, while the memory clock speed affects the speed at which the GPU accesses and processes data stored in its memory.
Voltage (optional): In addition to adjusting clock speeds, overclockers can also modify the voltage supplied to the GPU. Increasing the voltage can help stabilize higher clock speeds, but it can also generate more heat.
Cooling: Overclocking tends to generate more heat, and proper cooling is crucial to prevent the GPU from overheating. Many users who overclock their GPUs invest in advanced cooling solutions, such as aftermarket coolers or liquid cooling systems.
For the purposes of this guide, we will not make any changes to the default graphics card dissipation.
Stability tests: After making adjustments, users often perform stability tests and benchmarks to ensure that overclocked settings do not cause system crashes or graphical artifacts. Stability testing helps users find the optimal balance between improved performance and system reliability.\
Risk and warranty considerations: Overclocking can potentially void your graphics card warranty as it involves operating the hardware beyond the limits specified by the manufacturer. Despite this, it is VERY DIFFICULT for a manufacturer to know that you have overclocked your video card, since the guide focuses on overclocking within the manufacturer's limited parameters, without making any type of physical modification to the card.
It's important to note that not all GPUs can be overclocked to the same degree, and results may vary even between identical models due to manufacturing variations. Overclocking should be approached with caution, and users should be mindful to educate themselves before making changes to factory settings.
Important information and hardware considerations
Before continuing, it is crucial to take into account an important detail when overclocking, which not only applies when doing OC, but to everything in general. This means keeping in mind that overclocking will only work in situations where the limitation is the GPU.
This means that if you are in a situation where the bottleneck is the game engine (limited FPS) or the CPU (using a low-end processor compared to the GPU), overclocking will have little to no impact .
Appropriate hardware – It is important to take this into consideration
It is not necessary to have a ASUS ROG STRIX, MSI GAMING X o AORUS MASTER to get the most out of overclocking. In fact, these models may have limited overclock headroom, as they usually have a default overclock from the factory. Base models (or those close to the MSRP price) are more likely to gain significant benefits from overclocking.
The only crucial thing to consider is having selected a model from any AIB (Add-In-Board) brand that has adequate thermal dissipation, since it is likely that we will increase energy consumption (higher TGP, power draw) and, therefore, , the temperatures.
The only way to confirm which model has good dissipation is to do your research and read specialized reviews where this information is available.
Having the right model of video card, the other part of the equation is having a decent power supply. It doesn't have to be high-end, but using an obscure brand name supply or a very cheap model wouldn't be something I would recommend when overclocking.
Step number 1 - Tools (software)
The first thing we will need is to download the necessary tools to overclock our graphics cards. Here we have the list of necessary software.
MSI Afterburner
MSI Afterburner is a graphics card overclocking utility developed by the team at Guru3D RivaTuner. It is a popular and widely used software tool that allows users to overclock their graphics cards to improve performance. MSI sponsors said software.
3DMark
3DMark is a computer performance evaluation software developed by UL (previously known as Futuremark). It is widely used to evaluate the performance of a computer's graphics processing unit (GPU) and central processing unit (CPU) by running a series of graphical and computational tests. 3DMark provides a comprehensive suite of tests that measure various aspects of a system's performance, including graphics rendering capabilities, physics simulations, and overall gaming performance.
I would recommend buying the paid version of the software (it's worth it) which can be found in online stores for 10 US dollars (or a little less).
HWInfo (optional, but strongly recommended)
HWiNFO (Hardware Info) is a comprehensive hardware monitoring and diagnostic software designed for Windows operating systems. Powered by REALiX, HWiNFO provides detailed information about a computer's hardware components, helping users and system administrators gain insight into system performance, temperatures, voltages, and other crucial parameters. It is widely used for troubleshooting, hardware analysis and monitoring.
Step number 2 – Test the video card first and have a reference point
Although reviewers (myself included) overclock immediately when reviewing a video card, I would recommend that an end user first use the card for a week or two without overclocking it. The reason behind this suggestion is that, using the factory settings, there should be no problem.
By doing this, any problems inherent to the video card can be ruled out. Otherwise, if an overclock is performed immediately and a problem arises, the user may think that it is the overclock that is causing problems, when in fact it may be a previous problem.
By giving it a usage time, you ensure that the video card works perfectly with the default settings.
Benchmark – Time Spy Extreme
Before overclocking, it is crucial to establish a baseline. This will help us evaluate the additional percentage of performance we are obtaining. The easiest way to do this is to run a benchmark about three times and note the results. Make sure you run these tests without running any additional programs in the background, like Chrome or a game. Between each test, there should be a difference within the margin of error of 1-2%.
We'll use the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER Founders Edition as an example for today. We will take the data from the Timespy Extreme benchmark of the review as reference.
The result we need from this test is not the Time Spy Extreme Score, nor the CPU Score, it is the GRAPHICS SCORE. In this sample, The result gave 9938 points.
Step number 3 – Time to use Afterburner
The following “numbers” apply to the RTX 40 series, especially entry models.
Step 1: Increase the power limiter (TGP) to the maximum that the card allows. Depending on the model, this will vary. In the Founders Edition, one can increase up to 9% more power limiter.
Step 2: At the same time, increase the TEMP LIMIT, or temperature limiter to the maximum.
Step 3: Here I leave it to the user's discretion, but for RTX 40 entry models, try increasing +200 MHz to the Core Clock. In case the PC restarts immediately, don't be afraid. Use +100 MHz in that case.
Step 4: Try Memory Clock +1300 MHz (or if you have any doubts, another variable that should work with RTX 40 is +1000). In the event that after modifying this option, your PC restarts, don't worry. You can go down -300 MHz and try.
Another option is to simply not move this option and start with just the Core Clock, to roughly check how much more you can change this variable.
Step number 4 – Time to validate the overclock
It's time to stress test the video card to check overclock stability. Each person may have their preferred way of doing this, and one of mine (among several) is to use Time Spy Extreme. In case the free version does not offer access to this tool, you can use regular Time Spy or some iteration of Firestrike.
The idea here is to subject the card to a constant load, running the test several times. The paid version of 3DMark also includes the Stress Test option.
If you pass the test: You can decide to leave your current overclock or explore the possibility of increasing the frequency even further. For example, with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER Founders Edition, I increased the Core Clock to +300 MHz, but it failed the stress test. Next, I tried +260 MHz; Although it did not fail immediately, artifacts occurred in the image, so the final result was +240 MHz.
If you do not pass the test: You can reduce the frequency by -20 MHz and I always recommend making adjustments in multiples of 20 (20, 40, 60, 80, etc.).
Additional: If you think the memory frequency is what is causing the instability, lower -200/300 MHz and try.
Step number 5 – Time to compare with the reference point
We've reached a point where we consider our overclock to be stable, so it's time to compare the new performance with the original result we had in Time Spy Extreme. Remember that what we want to compare is the “Graphics Score”, and originally we had 9938 points. With the overclock, we now get 10776.
This represents an increase of 8.4%. Theoretically, we should see a similar increase in games, a little more in some and a little less in others. We will have a section dedicated only to the results with the overclock that we have achieved.
Final Step – Final Overclock Adjustments
Although the overclock may seem stable based on stress tests, sometimes this may not apply to all games. Therefore, we suggest the end user gradually try games that they usually play. We recommend creating a “save point” after each adjustment, in case the game crashes. We do not recommend initially using the overclock in competitive games, as there is no worse situation than being in the middle of a fight and the game crashing.
If it's been a week and most of the games you usually play are stable, you can consider the overclock valid.
