Overclocking an ATI SVGA card
- Introduction
High performance SVGA cards have become very popular now days. As you may be
aware, almost all PC components can be overclocked (CPU, Memory, CD-RW drive)
and of course SVGA cards. Our goal in this article, is to present an easy guide
for all users on how to get an additional performance boost, mostly when playing
their favorite game. We will describe how to overclock your ATI SVGA card, how
much performance you can possibly gain and how to test if your system is stable
enough. Let’s begin!
- Basic Overclocking Info
A SVGA card has two parts that can be overclocked. First, the GPU (Graphics
Processing Unit) and second the Video Board Memory. It is advised, in order
to find the maximum overclocking limits, not to have an overclocked CPU. The
basic idea is to increase the GPU clock speed, test, increase again, test until
you reach the limit.
But how do you know when you have reached the limit? Very simply, you will
start noticing the so-called “Artifacts”, which are graphic glitches
in your favorite game, or the system reboots. At that point you have reached
the GPU’s limit.
Lower the clock speed by 5 ~ 10 MHz and then repeat the process with the Video
Memory. Note, that usually the Video Memory won’t go as high as you would
wish, compared of course to the GPU. At this point, it is time to load up the
stability testing software and see if your graphics card can maintain 100% stability
for a long time. Running a stability test for something like six (6) hours will
ensure that you have a stable system with the maximum overclocking gain.
However, for most people the above procedure may sound rather complicated and
time consuming just to gain some FPS on their favorite game. Well, we have good
news for those of you who fall into this category. A new utility called “ATI
Tool” will make the above procedure so simple, that you only have to press
two buttons to find the maximum overclocking limits of your ATI card. The software
is still rather new, but from our tests it seem to work quite well…
