About: Overclocking

[GoGeTa006]

So, I'm back at gaming (just got out of finals )
I have my eVGA nVidia 9800 GTX it has a 700 MHz. and it comes with an overclocking utility. I increased all the thingies that you can increase in the games and the load time has increased by . . .idk from 10 seconds to like 15 seconds. . . not much but anyways, this one time the screen went poof for a couple of seconds and then came back on and then windows said that the drivers had an error and had to shutdown/restart. So I was thinking I should O.C. the video card. . . never done overclocking. I know it kind of cuts the lifespan of electronics (but c'mon they last for 4 years at the most before you upgrade) but on video cards. . .is it worth overclocking? i can increase the fan speed also. . .I dont have spots in the motherboard for more fans tho. . . but I guess its own fan should be enough?

[relic2279]

I know it kind of cuts the lifespan of electronics

Depends on the overclock. 'Heat' is probably the biggest factor in slicing off the lifespan of PC components. If you do a low to moderate overclock and can keep your chip temps within factory spec, then you likely won't shave a day off the lifespan. As someone who used to repair electronics (handset repair tech for verizon wireless) I can say that heat does more irreparable damage than water. With water damage, at least there is a possibility of repair by cleaning the corrosion. With heat damage, there is no hope.

"Yeah, my phone got wet and I read on the internet that you could dry your phone out in the oven at 150F and it would work again"

"I left my phone on the dash of my car in a heatwave for 2 days, now it won't turn on."

"Dropped my phone in a pool so I used a blow dryer and left in on it for a half an hour to dry it out"


/facepalm

[JoonasTo]

I always OC my graphics card.
I use profiles so it's underclocked when not in heavy use and when I play something that needs heavy duty I switch to the OC profile.
Haven't had a single card die on me. Current one, x1600pro has been on duty since 2006 or 2007 I think. Still enough to play even Mass Effect 2 with decent graphics due to OC so it definitely does make a difference.

As for the life span. If the heats stay down and you don't mess with voltage the life span won't change. Of course if you add RPM to the fan it will wear faster.

But that driver error sounds like a reason not to overclock instead...
I'd check your GPU, CPU, Memory and MB for possible problems. Heat, dust, loose fan, loose wire, etc.
If it persists try with another card, if still nothing then it's probably in windows or MB.

But hey, PCs are mysterious machines so do try,

[vuzedome]

You don't really need to OC your graphic card, even if you do usually the results are within 5~30% improvement of performance.
The only way to really up the performance is to go SLi or Crossfire, or just go and buy the meanest and baddest kick ass card available.