What are the Do & Don’t when Overclocking GPU (Explained)

If you want to overclock GPU, and will like to know if your PC cooler and PSU support it, then read on. 

If you want your computer’s graphics card to have a little more power without spending a fortune on a new model, overclocking the GPU is a simple way.

And it becomes that simple, especially on a Windows PC. Although the process is lengthy, it doesn’t require specialized knowledge or highly developed skills.

Warning:

While the risk is relatively low, it’s still possible that overclocking the GPU could damage other components in the computer, so exercise caution when overclocking the graphics card.

Before you start, you need to prepare something like this:

1. A PC running Windows
2. A discrete graphics card
3. Performance tool
4. MSI Afterburner
5. GPU-Z

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• A PC running Windows

While GPU overclocking is possible on macOS and Linux, Windows is still the ideal place to play games.

• A discrete graphics card

PCI-Express-based video cards are still the primary means of playing high-end PC games.

This tutorial will work on AMD and NVIDIA mobile graphics cards on laptops, but you should not overclock those machines because laptops have a hard time cooling. And don’t overclock on Intel graphics or other integrated systems.

• Performance tool

It would help if you had the means to push your graphics card to its maximum capacity to check overclocking stability.

You can use the built-in performance measurement tools in PC games or other programs designed to measure performance.

We will use the Unigine Heaven tool here because it shows stats like GPU clock and temperature during runtime, which is handy if you only have one monitor.

• MSI Afterburner

This is a tool for overclocking GPUs based on Windows. However, even though the software is offered without charge by graphics card manufacturer MSI, you are not required to use an MSI card. It still works on NVIDIA or AMD GPUs.

• GPU-Z

Another central element of computer overclocking. It’s best to open it while overclocking to see the results in real-time.

Here is the discuss about what you need to do while overclock GPU.

Once all the above tools are installed, follow these steps to overclock the graphics card to improve gaming performance.

1. Search for your graphics card information on Google.
2. Evaluate the original configuration performance
3. Use Afterburner to increase GPU clock and voltage
4. Perform stress test for final overclock

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• Search for your graphics card information on Google.

Every graphics card is different and is a very complex machine. Your overclocking results will be specific to your computer and GPU.

You won’t get the same outcomes as someone with a Strix ASUS GTX 970 graphics card, and you’ll need to test your graphics card’s capability for overclocking on your own to see if it can handle it.

Users should check and know information about their computer hardware as much as possible. Do a Google search for overclocking your graphics card and see what other people have gotten for reference.

For example, this article will overclock an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 graphics card, which is notoriously problematic for memory but doesn’t affect overclocking.

Search for “overclock GTX 970” and find many results; there are even a few videos on YouTube, and it is beneficial to consult these instructions before doing it yourself.

Note that you should also check if your computer is running the latest video driver for your graphics card.

• Evaluate the original configuration performance

Before performing any overclocking, run the performance measurement tool and set the graphics card high to push the GPU to its maximum power.

(Test GPU-Z while running the performance meter or later to make sure it pushed the card up to 100% – if not, set the graphics up in the performance test program).

In this tutorial, we will use three performance testing tools on the original GTX 970 graphics card before changing it in the Afterburner application; the results are:

• Shadow of War benchmark: average number of frames per second: 40.9; max: 79.9 and 24.2.
• 3D Mark Sky Diver: graphic score: 33683, physical score: 7814, and combo score: 16826.
• Heaven: Total score: 1381, the average number of frames per second 54.8, 123.6 maximum, and 24.5 minimum.

Save your results in any of the available formats. (Some in-game performance tools don’t have an option to save the results so you can record them.) If using Heaven, note that to record the test, you need to. The “Benchmark” button is located in the top left corner.

• Use Afterburner to increase GPU clock and voltage

We will use the Afterburner overclocking tool to increase the GPU voltage and clock. The clock is the internal speed at which the GPU core processor runs on its own, and voltage is the amount of electricity in volts the card sets up to draw from the computer’s power supply.

Changing either of these values may result in instability with your GPU and computer. Until maximum stability is attained, the clock and voltage gradually increase.

To display the adjustment slider in the most recent version of Afterburner, you might need to click the Settings button (gear icon), then enable the “unlock voltage control” option.

Record the factory settings or take a screenshot of your computer if you want to return to the original settings.

Change the clock first, raise it to 10 to 20 MHz, then apply the settings with the tick button. Resist overclocking with large chunks; otherwise, it will cause the computer to crash and abruptly stop the process altogether.

Check GPU-Z to ensure that the GPU uses the new core clock value. After applying the changes in Afterburner, GPU-Z will display the default “active” clock, and new overclock values ​​in the “Default Clock” and “GPU Clock” fields.

Now run the performance test tool; you should pay attention to the FPS values ​​and scores. Repeat the above procedure and use the performance test tool to run it until you observe one of the following:

1. The performance test program fails.
2. The GPU driver is faulty.
3. Begin to see strange elements show up in the performance testing tool’s graphics, such as black or monochromatic blocks.

This is the result of unstable overclocking.

When this occurs, you have two options:

• Revert to the last MHz level; the computer wasn’t affected.
• Perform a slight overclock.
• Possibly increase the GPU voltage allowing it to stay at an even level.

Even higher. Increase it to 5mV and rerun the test tool; hopefully, no more weird signs, and everything is back to normal.

Keep repeating this process, increase 10MHz to the core clock until you see the point or performance gauge collapse, increase 5mV (millivolts) for the processor, rerun the test tool and see if it is stable?

Note that if the voltage increases, the GPU temperature will also increase, so be aware of the temperature.

The Heaven tool is beneficial because it shows GPU speed and temperature by default. The GPU will automatically run the fan for cooling if necessary, but there is a pre-set maximum that will trigger a shutdown if it is exceeded.

Even when overclocking, you should not exceed that threshold, so try to keep the GPU at least a few degrees below this limit, which is displayed as “Temp.

Limit” in Afterburner. You can adjust beyond the manufacturer’s limit, which will damage the graphics card.

Once the level has been reached where the clock and voltage can no longer be adjusted because of excessive temperature or a crash, revert to the final stable voltage, clock value. This is your last overclock.

• Perform stress test for final overclock

This results from overclocking the graphics card: the clock reaches a value of more than 210MHz, and the voltage increases by 5mV. Here is the final performance test value:

• Shadow of War benchmark: The average number of frames per second is 44.3, the maximum is 72.2, and the minimum is 24.1.
• 3DMark Sky Diver: graphics score: 33797, physics score: 7808, and the combined score is 16692.
• Heaven: total score: 1512, the average number of frames on wire 60.0, 134.3 maximum and 27.3 minimum

Once you find your “final” install, you should get Heaven up and running for about an hour or two. This will test the card’s stability for longer game sessions.

Long-term use will cause the card to work more and accumulate high temperatures. If you run the benchmark for a long time and you see an unstable phenomenon, you can return to the previous overclock to be able to play extended game sessions.

Do you know the pros and cons of GPU overclocking?

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Advantages of overclocking GPU

Overclocking your GPU has two significant advantages, which are:

•  Better performance with the same hardware
• Save a lot of money

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Better performance with the same hardware

Overclocking speeds up instruction execution, which means your computer can handle more tasks than before.

Overclocking can help you run high-graphics games you couldn’t run back if you’re a gamer. You will also notice an increase in FPS when playing these games. Your game will run without any lag or hiccups.

You can also run heavy 3D modeling and rendering software without any lag. The tasks will be completed much faster, and you can save time.

The increased performance means you can enjoy memory- and graphics-intensive tasks without worrying about sudden system crashes and frequent lags.

Save a lot of money

Overclocking boosts your computer’s performance without investing in expensive hardware.

You must spend a lot of money upgrading the CPU, GPU, and RAM if you want to boost your computer’s performance without overclocking.

All these components cost a lot of money, so you will have to spend a lot of money to achieve the same level of performance.

With Overclocking, you can save that money without spending expensive hardware to overclock your computer. You can buy a cheap CPU or GPU and overclock it to act like a higher-end CPU or GPU.

Disadvantages of GPU Overclocking

While overclocking looks extremely profitable, it comes with a hefty price tag. Here are the main disadvantages of overclocking.

• Overheat and high temperature
• Reduce the life of the CPU, GPU, and Battery of the Laptop

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Overheat and high temperature

Increasing CPU and GPU clock will increase its Operating Voltage. This means they will now require more power and voltage to operate.

This increase in power consumption leads to an increase in heat production and causes overheating.

High temperatures can also cause thermal throttling, where CPU/GPU performance is reduced until the temperature drops back to normal. Your system may even fail due to high temperatures.

It can also damage the computer’s internal components, and in severe cases, these components can catch fire.

Reduce the life of the CPU, GPU, and Battery of the Laptop

Operating the CPU/GPU at a higher than regular clock speed consumes more power and generates more heat.

The increased heat can slowly damage components and reduce the overall life of the internal components and the computer.

Every CPU/GPU has a range of clock speeds where performance remains consistent. Excessive clock increase causes system instability. An unstable system does not last long, and you will find that the system’s life has decreased.

Final Thoughts

If you’re using a graphics card that didn’t have a factory overclock, overclocking it can be an excellent way to increase performance.

Many modern cars are modestly overclocked out of the box, but you can frequently get a little bit more version with a few tweaks.

One last word of caution:

Just because you initially tested and overclocked something and it seemed stable does not guarantee that it will always be challenging.

Even factory overclocked cards have been known to malfunction at their default settings, necessitating an increase in fan speed or even a decrease in GPU clocks.

In the upcoming months, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the temperatures of your graphics card.

Related article: 

Is GPU Overclocking Worth a try? (Explained)