Overclocking video cards using software. What does forcing triple buffering do?

"Overclocking" tab of the RivaTuner program.

There is an effective solution for overclocking video cards: RivaTuner. This feature-rich application is not limited to Nvidia graphics cards; it can also be used for overclocking AMD video cards. (If you remember, the first Nvidia accelerators were called Riva. You can read about the history of Nvidia video cards in the article " History of nVidia in video cards: 13 years of success ".

Metered acceleration

RivaTuner allows you to overclock the system without any frequency restrictions (in any case, you can go much further than AMD and Nvidia would like when using the overclocking interface in their own drivers), and can also desynchronize certain frequencies. An interesting feature of the RivaTuner program is that it can change the shader unit frequency independently of the GPU, while other programs can only act in accordance with the GPU (the shader unit frequency is set relative to the GPU frequency).

The RivaTuner utility can be downloaded. By the way, it was this utility that we used to adjust the fan speed of the 4800 family video cards before the Catalyst 8.10 driver appeared.

PowerStrip cannot overclock GMA 950.

One of oldest programs for overclocking is PowerStrip. This utility for managing PC graphics options has been helping overclock video cards for many years and is quite mature. Its only drawback is that it is not free, unlike other programs that we have discussed. However, PowerStrip can be used for more than just overclocking.

A program that is worth the money

The big advantage of PowerStrip is that it works with most video cards on the market, not just models from AMD and Nvidia. It can be launched from the Windows taskbar, which means you can set the necessary parameters faster than through drivers. In addition, PowerStrip can customize many display parameters, such as refresh rate, and, more interestingly, output resolution: a necessary option for some HDTV users.

The PowerStrip program can be found.

ATI Tray Tools and ATITool are two different programs

The next two utilities have very similar names, but in fact they are completely different. ATI Tray Tools only supports AMD video cards, while ATITool (despite the seemingly obvious name) works with both AMD and Nvidia models.

ATITool and its test image.

This overclocking program is compatible with all Nvidia and AMD graphics cards and is interesting for at least one reason: it has 3D animation rendering that loads the graphics core of the video card and allows you to check if the overclocking settings are working by detecting artifacts. It also has a function for determining the maximum frequency that the GPU can accept (similar to the Auto-Tune function of the Catalyst driver).

The latest version of ATITool can be downloaded.

ATI Tray Tools for AMD only

ATI Tray Tools. Click on the picture to enlarge.

This little program sits in the system tray (hence the name) and helps tune AMD (formerly ATI) video cards. ATI Tray Tools has one small problem: its maximum frequency detection function is too optimistic, which leads to crashes. Like some other applications, this utility is capable of storing profiles that can be loaded in accordance with a particular program, for example, a profile for games, a profile for office applications, etc.

Updated versions of the ATI Tray Tools utility are located.

The development of technology not only opens up new computer peripheral devices for us, but also allows us to increase the potential of already purchased devices. We will talk about overclocking an AMD video card.

This process does not involve any complicated operations. You don't need to be a genius or a programmer to improve the capabilities of your device. Just read the instructions carefully and use the right AMD.

What it is?

Perhaps that's all experienced users PCs have come across the concept of “overclocking”. This term came from English and was adapted to our language. Therefore, overclocking and overclocking are synonymous.

Both concepts describe the process of increasing the frequency of one of the system components. In our case we are talking about an AMD video card. Overclocking can increase the frequency and, accordingly, the voltage, which will lead to an improvement in the speed of the device.

Overclocking can be effective or ineffective. In the first case, the user will be able to achieve the maximum frequency value with stable operation. In the second case, system errors and adapter problems may occur.

It is important to understand that overclocking an AMD Radeon HD graphics card will affect heat dissipation, power consumption and noise.

Goals and methods

As mentioned above, overclocking is needed to improve the performance of the device, in our case the video card. The process has a downside - noise, increased heat generation, and instability. All this can be caused by:

• incorrect operation of the video;
• failure to comply with acceleration rules;
• not enough efficient work cooling system;
• lack of nutrition;
• errors in adjusting indicators.

You can overclock not only a video card, but also processors, memory, motherboards, routers and other devices.

There are several overclocking methods:

• Using BIOS. Here you need to set higher frequencies for one or more system devices.
• BIOS update. In this case, you can use alternative software, which will already have increased frequency and voltage indicators.
• Special proprietary or third-party programs.

Utility

It just so happened that programs for overclocking AMD Radeon video cards proved to be the most effective. Therefore, it is important to consider several utility options that will help you quickly, easily, and most importantly, effectively do overclocking.

Among them:

• Over Drive;
• ATITool;
• MSI Afterburner;
• ATI Tray Tools.

Over Drive

Very often people turn to this program to overclock an AMD Radeon video card. But there is one interesting fact, which you need to know before using it.

The fact is that, in addition to software with this name, there is a section of the same name in proprietary program. Both options have the same tasks. But there is one detail.

The fact is that the independent utility is aimed at overclocking the processor, and the section specializes in video cards.

To use the adapter, you need to install AMD Radeon Software Crimson. This software and a driver for branded “red” video cards.

Last update The utility was released a year ago. Since then it has worked with many series of desktop adapters. For example, it can easily cope with overclocking an AMD Radeon HD 7700 video card. To improve this model, you need to go to the Over Drive section in the program.

The disadvantage of this option is that the frequency can only be increased to the values ​​​​set by the manufacturer. That is, the performance gain in this case will be insignificant.

ATITool

Another good utility, but somewhat outdated, since it was updated in 2011. However, it is an automated program that can work with AMD and Nvidia graphics cards.

The software, in addition to overclocking, deals with monitoring, managing general and special settings. Based on the name, it is clear that it is aimed more at video cards of “red” models. Hence there are so many features from this company.

The utility runs on a module with automatic overclocking. In the process, it tries to select the frequency by comparing the installed 3D image with the one that is displayed at certain adapter speeds.

But since the program is still somewhat outdated, there is no point in talking much about it. It can only be useful for overclocking an old generation AMD video card.

ATI Tray Tools

As the name of the program implies, it was also developed a long time ago (ATI was conditionally renamed to AMD in 2006). Nevertheless, it continues to function stably. It has become popular due to the fact that it can fine-tune and overclock video cards from the “red” company.

It is located in the system tray and gives access to many options. Works with the oldest Windows versions. Among the latest updates, it supports “seven”. Starting with the Radeon 9500 version, it works with all models. This is one of the few programs for overclocking AMD video cards in Russian.

What can this software do? It supports a lot of the company's proprietary technologies and also works with some functions. Can overclock in automatic mode, switching to a 3D picture. Creates game profiles and configures global hotkeys. Copes with monitoring temperatures in the system and performs low-level color correction.

There are functions for low-level overclocking and the creation of special profiles for this process. Supports a lot of useful plugins, creates screenshots and much more.

MSI Afterburner

Despite the fact that this utility has been working for more than 8 years, the developers still provide support for it. For example, a month ago an updated version of MSI Afterburner 4.4.0 was released.

The main feature of this application is that it is used almost always, regardless of the device manufacturer. This is due to many factors.

When this software appeared in 2009, it was often associated with another proprietary work of EVGA Precision. But it was the product from MSI that became a universal overclocking tool.

A lot of time has passed since its release, the software interface has changed dramatically. Although overclocking an AMD video card is still simple and straightforward. The latest update introduced the final release of the program, which was devoid of errors and endowed with a bunch of innovations.

The software began to support graphics adapters on the Vega 10 GPU platform. Now it can regulate the voltage on the latest generation cards from Nvidia (GTX 1030, GTX 1070 Ti, GTX 1080 Ti and Titan Xp). The program now displays information regarding processor loads, frame rates, and temperatures. The new shell is called Cyborg White.

Cryptocurrencies

It would seem, how are cryptocurrencies related to our topic? While the whole world is watching the growth of Bitcoin, part of the earth's population is trying to make money on it. For this purpose, many purchase special stations that could help in this matter.

Mining is a set of computational tasks that helps produce Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. For everything to run efficiently, you need to have a productive system. Some people decide to buy special equipment - ASICs. And someone decides to improve the existing system. That’s why you need to overclock an AMD Radeon video card for mining.

Peculiarities

You can choose equipment for cryptocurrency mining forever. One good option is the Sapphire NITRO+ Radeon RX 580 Limited Edition GPU. This is an excellent video card model that was developed by Sapphire.

It has an increased frequency thanks to factory overclocking, and also improved auxiliary components. To understand the overclocking features of this model, it is important to briefly review its technical characteristics.

The video card operates on 2304 stream processors and is manufactured using a 14 nm process technology. Clock frequency reaches 1.4 GHz. There are built-in video memory chips with a capacity of 8 GB GDDR5 type. The model consumes 225 W.

These indicators may differ slightly for the same model, but from a different manufacturer.

Overclocking for mining

It so happened that in order to mine cryptocurrencies it is necessary to improve not the processor frequency, but the memory speed. Hence the slightly different overclocking technology for the AMD Radeon RX 580 video card.

For example, for an Nvidia device you need to use three utilities:

GPU-Z, which monitors all video card parameters;

MSI Afterburner, already familiar to us, is needed directly to overclock the adapter;

any benchmark that effectively copes with testing the system under stressful loads.

It doesn't matter whether you are overclocking to improve performance in games or for mining, the process consists of three stages. First, we increase the frequency, then we check the behavior of the system in a stress test, and then we can analyze the behavior of the device in the game.

You need to increase the frequency carefully. It’s better if the process itself takes longer and you increase it by 40-50 MHz, than you won’t be able to detect a critical indicator of the chip’s speed. If you get an error, then you need to return to the previous value that was set and use it. The same process must be repeated for video memory.

In the case of an AMD device, everything is somewhat simpler. You just need to change the adapter parameters. Because of this process, many have chosen the RX series for mining. The models in it differ in frequency random access memory. Therefore, when choosing, you need to look only at this indicator.

The most advanced parameters are for 8 GB models. But some have already gotten the hang of working with the 4 GB version, since you can overclock the RAM and change the timings.

Conclusion

Overclocking a video card is a simple process. Often inexperienced users are afraid to do anything, thinking that they can ruin the entire system. In fact, there is nothing wrong with overclocking. The video card will not burn out under increased loads. It will simply display an error and reset all settings.

Therefore, when overclocking, it is important to do everything consistently and carefully. In this case, you will be able to achieve the most effective results for both simple games, and for mining.

In the case of AMD video cards, MSI Afterburner software will definitely help. This program can handle almost any model. There is an option to use proprietary utility, which may come complete with drivers for the adapter. But, unfortunately, they are not always successful and effective.

Along with it, you will have to install a couple more programs that will help you analyze the overclocking process itself, and then test the performance result. Such tools may also be included in the kit.

If you have an outdated card model, you can try using ATITool and ATI Tray Tools. They are aimed at older generation video cards. Although it is somewhat more difficult to work with them, since their interface remains the same and the functionality does not meet modern requirements.

ATI Tray Tools (ATT) is a well-known utility for working with the settings of video cards and drivers produced by ATI. It became widespread thanks to the inclusion of Radeon Omega Drivers in the package, which are now gaining momentum very quickly. In this review, we will touch on the basic settings of ATT, talk about its functionality, overclocking methods, and compare it with RivaTuner.

ATI Tray Tools

After launch, the program hides in the system tray and provides convenient access to its functions using a drop-down menu. With its help, you can change the frequency of the chip and memory, adjust the frame rate of the screen, manage screen parameters and much more. An undoubted advantage is the ability to create settings profiles for specific applications and issue full reports about AGP, PCI slots and your video card. All settings are grouped into separate items, of which there are 16 pieces.

Main menu of the program

Since ATT is more aimed at users who know what they want to get, it often contains abbreviations and concepts that are inaccessible to the average user.

Let's look at the main settings that need to be explained.

Game Profiles

GameProfiles Window

• General– basic parameters of user profiles, contains the following items:
• Profile Name– profile name;
• Executable– selecting the exe file for which the profile is created;
• Parameters– parameters are set here command line;
• Direct3DOpenGL– in these fields you can select the Direct3DOpenGL profile that will be installed when the specified application is launched;
• Delete outdated game profiles– deletes selected profiles;
• Create desktop shortcut– makes a shortcut for a given profile.
• Hardware selecting frequency settings for specific applications:
• Before– setting frequencies before launching the application;
• After– setting frequencies after launching the application;
• Take no action– video card frequencies do not change;
• Manual Overclocking– load your own overclocking profile;
• Use Auto 2D/3D – automatic detection frequencies for 2D/3D applications;
• Force to use Color Profile- force the selected color profile in the application.
• Additional – additional profile settings:
• Exit from ATT after finish– unloads ATT after profile completion;
• Switch desktop resolution to – the selected screen resolution is set before launching the profile;
• Disable OSD support– includes OSD support;
• Use custom FPS color– enables the ability to select FPS display color.

Direct3D Settings

Antialiasing a method of processing pixels in which the edges of objects become much sharper, eliminating the “ladder effect”. Can take the values ​​2x, 4x, 8x, 16x and Application Controlled. As the values ​​increase, the picture improves, but the load on the video card increases, and, accordingly, performance decreases. When set to Application Controlled, applications themselves control the launch of Antialiasing mode;

Anisotropic Filtering – a method of texture filtering in which textures applied to polygons located at an angle to the screen become clearer. Can take the values ​​2x, 4x, 8x, 16x and Application Controlled. As the values ​​increase, the picture improves, but the speed of processing a 3D scene decreases. When set to Application Controlled, applications control how Anisotropic Filtering runs. You can also select the type of anisotropic filtering optimization (Performance, Quality and Quality with Full Trilinear);

Texture Preference– select the level of preference for textures. Accepts the values ​​High Performance, Performance, Quality, High Quality;

MipMap Detail Level – This setting improves image quality by using different resolution textures for different objects in the same image depending on their size. When moving an object away in a 3D scene, textures with low resolutions are loaded, and when moving closer, textures with higher resolutions are loaded. MipMap Detail Level takes the following values: High Performance, Performance, Quality, High Quality.

Wait for Vertical Sync – When this option is enabled, the number of frames per second will not exceed the frame rate of the screen. Will accept the values ​​Always On (always on), Always Off (always off) and Application Preference (selected by the application);

TRUFORM– Allows you to enable the use of higher order surface geometry to create more detailed and realistic surfaces and characters in applications that support TRUFORM. Accepts the values ​​Always Off (always turned off) and Application Preference (selected by the application);

Refresh Rate Override – allows you to select a specific frequency for all Direct3D applications. Accepts the values ​​Disabled (disabled), Same As Desktop (desktop frequency) and Custom (allows you to choose the frequency yourself);

FlipQueueSize – allows you to set the number of frames that will be rendered ahead into the buffer. If necessary, processed frames will be displayed on the screen. It can help in cases where FPS "jumps". That is, for example, the game produces 50 frames, and at the moment of the explosion they drop for a split second to 25. To avoid jerking, the video card calculates the frames with the explosion in advance, which allows minimizing the drop in FPS. Accepts values ​​0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and Undefined;

1. Additional options – additional settings:

Alternate pixel centers- allows you to get rid of problems with unreadable fonts in some applications;

Support DXT Textures – includes support for DXT (compressed) textures;

Support Bump Mapping– includes support for bump mapping. This technology adds additional detail and volume to objects without changing their geometric dimensions, using normal maps.

Optimizations – filtering optimization:

Enable Anisotropic Filtering Optimization– enable anisotropic filtering optimization;

Enable Trilinear Filtering Optimization– enable tri-line filtering optimization.

CatalystA.I. - for every CATALYST A.I. application selects the most appropriate rendering mode. Three modes are available: Off (switched off), Low (low quality), High (high quality);

Settings – All the above settings are collected here.

Direct3D Profiles– selection of Direct3D profiles. There are three profile values:

Auto Balanced

1. Max Ouality– maximum quality;

Max Speed maximum speed.

OpenGL- setting up a video card for OpenGL applications. Includes 11 bookmarks. Most of which are similar to the settings in the menu Direct3D.

OpenGL Settings

1. Antialiasing
2. Anisotropic Filtering;
3. Texture Preference;
4. MipMap Detail Level;
5. Waitforverticalsync- waiting for vertical sync. Takes values:
1. Always Off (always turned off);
2. Always On (always on);
3. Default On (enabled by default);
4. Default Off (disabled by default).
6. TRUFORM;

Force Z-buffer depth– forced setting of the Z-buffer depth. You can set the values ​​Disabled (off), Force 24 bit (24 bit depth), Force 16 bit (16 bit depth);

7. Refresh Rate Override;

Additional options – additional settings. Triple buffer included;

8. Save As Profile;
9. Settings.

OpenGL Profiles– selection of OpenGL profiles. The following values ​​are preset:

AutoBalanced – automatic setting quality;

1. MaxOuality– maximum quality;
2. MaxSpeed ​​– maximum speed.

Hardware includes settings for overclocking and monitoring the video card;

Overclocking Settings – The submenu is intended for overclocking the chip and video memory of the video card.

Overclocking Settings Window

Let's look at the settings:

Overclocking tab – The current frequencies of the chip and memory are displayed here, as well as those frequencies that are protected in the video card BIOS. When you click on the check mark ShowasDDR Double the video memory frequency will be displayed. Below is a group directly responsible for overclocking the core and video memory. There are two frequency generation methods to choose from:

Low precision (use default divider)- when using this method, frequencies are generated less accurately, because the default divisor is used for this;

High precision (calculate best divider)- when using this method, frequencies are generated according to the manually specified divider. The window for setting the divider is below;

• Button Calculate calculates the best divisor for your video card, and using SetDefaultClocks program resets the current frequencies to default settings. Below are two sliders responsible for the core and memory frequencies of the video card. Option Apply Clock Values ​​at startup is responsible for automatically applying the current overclocking parameters every time Windows startup, A Restore after suspended mode for restoring the required frequencies after exiting standby mode. Below is Artifact Tester. This module is necessary to check the video card for stability and find its maximum frequencies.

Timings tab allows you to configure the following memory parameters:

• WRlatency;
• CASlatency;
• CMD latency;
• Strobe latency;
• additional memory parameters:
• TRCDRD;
• TRCDWR;
• TRP;
• TRAS;
• TRRD;
• TR2W;
• TWR;
• TW2R;
• TW2R SameBank;
• TR2R;
• Memory Refresh Rate and TRFC

option Include In Profile is responsible for entering the set delay values ​​into the profile.

Fan tab– here you can set the parameters of the cooler on the video card. There are two modes: automatic (the operating parameters of this mode are set below) and manual (the rotation speed is set as a percentage). In automatic mode, when the temperature changes, the fan speed automatically changes.

Auto Overclocking – includes automatic frequency control function for 2D and 3D applications. To do this in the menu For applications required 3D mode load this profile And After application finished, load this profile for 2D mode you need to load the created overclocking profiles for 2D and 3D applications, respectively. Menu Playsoundwhenentering 3D And Playsoundwhenentering 2D allow you to download sounds that will be played when you turn on 3D and 2D applications.

General Settings– changes the latency of the PCI video card; there are two checkboxes in the menu:

Apply hardware settings at start up- changes are applied every time Windows starts

Restore after suspended mode- restores changes when exiting standby mode

SMARTGARD– configuration and acceleration of AGP and PCI slots;

SystemInformation– system information about video memory and PCI and AGP slots;

MotherboardMonitor– shows voltage on motherboard, as well as fan rotation speed;

SystemTrayHardwareMonitoring– displays current temperature parameters in the tray;

Monitoring Graphs- allows you to visually observe changes in frequencies and temperatures of the video card, as well as fan speed and CPU load.

Tweaks– this menu is intended for more detailed settings of the video card:

Menu Tweaks

Standard Tweaks– setting parameters such as PixelVertex Shader Version, Geometry Instancing, Force Mip-Map Filtering, HyperZ. It is also possible to enable/disable the following options: VPU Recover Disable DMA, Copy Disable Block Write, WMV Acceleration. Inexperienced users are not recommended to change anything in this menu;

Advanced Tweaks– allows you to change more than a dozen settings in sections such as Display Tweaks, Advanced D3D, Advanced OGL, CCC Mode Switch, Video Tweaks and etc.

HotKeys– in this menu you can assign hotkeys for various events (changing resolution, brightness, contrast, loading profiles, etc.)

Plugins– connection of external modules.

Run Time Plugins - contains two Run Time plugins:

CPU Load Meter- displays processor load in the system tray;

PCI Set Plugin- using this plugin, you can create a list of PCI registers that are assigned when the computer starts;

HDDTemperature– displays the hard drive temperature in the tray.

Display– menu with screen settings

Screen Settings

Settings- this menu allows you to configure monitor and TV-Out parameters;

ExtedDesktop- enables extension of the desktop to a second monitor;

Reset Display Driver– reloads the monitor driver;

Turn off monitor– turns off the monitor;

Display Properties– opens screen properties;

DefaultSingleDisplay- Restores the default video card settings to single monitor.

Refresh Lock– in this menu you can set a fixed monitor refresh rate for a specific screen resolution

Refresh Lock window

Rotation – rotate the image on the screen

Default 0– the image position does not change;

To Right 90 – the image position changes 90 degrees clockwise;

To Left 90 - the image position changes 90 degrees counterclockwise;

180 - the image position changes by 180 degrees;

Colors- in this menu you can change monitor settings such as brightness, contrast, gamma;

Colors window

Tools& Options– several settings for the video card and desktop

Tools&Options window

Save Desktop Icon Positions– saves the current position of shortcuts on the desktop;

Restore Desktop Icon Positions- restores the previously saved position of shortcuts on the desktop.

OnScreen Display– allows you to configure the display of various video card parameters on the screen.

GeneralOptions– this contains settings for the program.

An undoubted advantage of ATT is the creation of profiles. You can fine-tune your video card for each application. With all this, RivaTuner looks very dull, although it also has some small advantages: changing settings from the registry, displaying full list drivers, compatibility with ATI video cards and NVIDIA (this is perhaps the biggest plus). The developers of ATI Tray Tools often update their product and add support for new ATI solutions.

A little about overclocking

First, you need to decide for yourself: do you need overclocking? If you have a Hi-End video card at home, then there is little point in overclocking it. The manufacturer has squeezed all the juice out of it, and not many gaming applications have come out that use the full power of the most modern graphics chips, or rather, only a few.

It's another matter if you have a low or mid-price video card (for example, the Radeon 9600-9800-X700 series). It is the younger models that the manufacturer specifically cuts down on speed and functionality to reduce their cost. Let's briefly describe the method for overclocking a video card using ATI TrayTools.

When overclocking a video card, we have three options: either use an increase in the chip frequency, or increase the memory frequency, or both. Which component makes the most sense to overclock depends on the specific video card. Some models suffer from a lack of memory bandwidth. They are the ones that need to increase the memory frequency, but we must remember that it is impossible to raise it indefinitely, because the microcircuits have a threshold of frequency characteristics, and the peculiarities of the board layout should also be taken into account.

The worst enemy of overclocking is overheating, so you should install a good fan in advance if you want to push the card to its limit. It is advisable to know the manufacturer of your memory. According to statistics Samsung memory less resistant to acceleration than Hyundai/Hynix, Ascend or Micron. Brands like EliteMT and EtronTech overclock even better.

For some cards, overclocking the chip will be more profitable, although here the frequency is limited by technological standards or intense heating.

In order to start overclocking, you need to open the item Hardware->Overclocking Settings. Then you need to set the frequency generation method: Low precision or High precision. We advise you to choose the latter, since when you press the button Calculate the best divisor for your video card is calculated, which will be used in High precision method.

Next we see two sliders that are responsible for the frequency of the chip and memory. Here comes the most crucial moment - adjusting the frequencies at which your card will work stably. If you do not have sufficient experience in setting frequencies based on memory markings and cooler configuration, then it is better to increase the frequencies by 15-20%.

First, it is preferable to increase the chip frequency, and then the memory frequency. After each increase, be sure to run the built-in test, which will identify artifacts when the frequency limit is reached. When bright spots or other artifacts appear on the screen, you must quickly return all values ​​to their original values ​​in order to avoid freezing the computer (button SetDefaultClocks). It is also recommended to test the overclocked system on gaming applications or synthetic tests, such as 3DMark20032005(2006).

This will take quite a long time, since artifacts may not appear even after 20-30 minutes. To quickly find them, you can use the GLMark benchmark. It takes him 4-5 minutes to identify bugs. If no artifacts are noticed on the screen, then increase the frequency again and run the tests again until you find the maximum overclocking parameters. When you have already overclocked the card to maximum values, then your settings must be saved under one profile, and set it in the Load Selected Profile At Startup line.

conclusions

In conclusion, we can say that if you need a small program to overclock, tune and monitor your video card, then ATI Tray Tools is undoubtedly your choice.

Hello.

In most cases, game lovers resort to overclocking a video card: if the overclocking is successful, then the FPS (frames per second) increases. Thanks to this, the picture in the game becomes smoother, the game stops slowing down, and playing becomes comfortable and interesting.

Sometimes overclocking can improve performance by up to 30-35% (a significant increase to try overclocking :))! In this article I want to focus on how this is done and typical questions, which arise in this case.

I also want to point out right away that overclocking is not a safe thing; if you do it ineptly, you can damage the equipment (besides, this will be a refusal of warranty service!). Everything you do according to this article is done at your own peril and risk...

In addition, before overclocking, I would like to recommend one more way to speed up a video card - by setting optimal driver settings (By setting these settings, you do not risk anything. It is possible that by setting these settings, you will not need to overclock anything). I have a couple of articles about this on my blog:

• - for NVIDIA (GeForce):
• - for AMD (Ati Radeon):

What programs are needed to overclock a video card?

In general, there are quite a lot of utilities of this kind, and one article is probably not enough to collect them all :). In addition, the principle of operation is the same everywhere: we will forcibly need to increase the frequency of the memory and core (as well as increase the speed of the cooler for better cooling). In this article I will focus on some of the most popular overclocking utilities.

Universal

RivaTuner (I will show my example of overclocking in it)

One of best utilities for fine tuning NVIDIA video cards and ATI RADEON, including overclocking! Despite the fact that the utility has not been updated for a long time, it does not lose its popularity and recognition. In addition, you can find cooler settings in it: enable constant fan speed or determine the number of revolutions as a percentage depending on the load. There are monitor settings: brightness, contrast, gamma for each color channel. You can also deal with OpenGL settings and so on.

PowerStrip

PowerStrip (Program window).

A fairly well-known program for setting video subsystem parameters, fine-tuning video cards and overclocking them.

Some of the utility's features: switching resolution, color depth, color temperature on the fly, adjusting brightness and contrast, assigning different programs their own color settings, etc.

Utilities for NVIDIA

NVIDIA System Tools(formerly called nTune)

A set of utilities for accessing, monitoring and configuring computer system components, including monitoring temperature and voltage using convenient panels control in Windows, which is much more convenient than doing the same through the BIOS.

NVIDIA Inspector: main program window.

A free, small utility that allows you to access all kinds of information about the NVIDIA graphics adapters installed in your system.

Quite an interesting program for overclocking and tuning video cards on maximum performance. Works with video cards from EVGA, as well as GeForce GTX TITAN, 700, 600, 500, 400, 200 based on nVIDIA chips.

Utilities for AMD

A utility for overclocking and monitoring the performance of video cards based on Radeon GPU. One of the best in its class. If you want to start overclocking your video card, I recommend starting with this one!

Quite a powerful utility for overclocking and fine-tuning cards from AMD. Using the program, you can adjust the supply voltage of the GPU and video memory, core frequency, and control the fan speed.

ATITool (supports older video cards)

A program for fine-tuning and overclocking AMD video cards ATI Radeon. Placed in the system tray, providing fast access to all functions. Runs Windows OS: 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 7.

Utilities for testing a video card

They will be needed to evaluate the increase in video card performance during and after overclocking, as well as to check the stability of the PC. Often, during the process of overclocking (increasing frequencies), the computer begins to behave unstable. In principle, your favorite game can serve as such a program, for which, for example, you decided to overclock your video card.

Video card test (testing utilities) -

Overclocking process in Riva Tuner

Important! Don't forget to update your video card driver and DirectX before overclocking :).

1) After installing and running the utility Riva Tuner, in the main program window (Main), click on the triangle under the name of your video card, and in the pop-up rectangular window, select the first button (with the image of the video card), see the screenshot below. Thus, you should open the memory and core frequency settings, cooler operation settings.

2) Now you will see in the Overlocking tab the operating frequencies of the memory and video card cores (in the screenshot below these are 700 and 1150 MHz). Just during overclocking, these frequencies increase to a certain limit. To do this, you need:

• check the box next to the item Enable driver-level hardware overclocking;
• in the pop-up window (it is not shown), just click the Detect now button;
• at the top, in the right corner, select the performance 3D parameter in the tab (by default, sometimes there is a 2D parameter);
• You should now be able to move the frequency sliders to the right to increase frequencies (but take your time doing this just yet!).

3) The next step is to launch some utility that allows you to control the temperature in real time. You can choose any utility from this article:

A similar utility will be needed to timely monitor the state of the video card (its temperature) as frequencies increase. Usually, in this case, the video card always starts to heat up more, and the cooling system does not always cope with the load. In order to stop overclocking in time (if something happens), you need to know the temperature of the device.

4) Now move the memory clock slider in Riva Tuner to the right - for example, to 50 MHz and save the settings (Please note that the memory is usually overclocked first, and then the core. It is not recommended to increase frequencies together!).

utilities for testing a video card: .

5) If the picture in the game is of high quality, the temperature does not exceed the limit values ​​(about the temperature of video cards -) and there are no artifacts - you can use Riva Tuner to increase the memory frequency by the next 50 MHz, and then test the work again. You do this until the picture begins to deteriorate (usually, after a few steps, subtle distortions appear in the picture and there is no point in overclocking further...).

An example of artifacts in the game.

6) When you find the memory limit, write it down, and then proceed to increase the core frequency ( Core Clock). You need to overclock it in the same way: also in small steps, after increasing it, testing each time in the game (or a special utility).

When you reach the limits for your video card, save them. Now you can add Riva Tuner to startup so that these video card parameters are always active when you turn on the computer (there is a special checkbox - Apply overclocking at Windows startup, see screenshot below).

Saving overclocking settings.

Actually, that's all. I would also like to remind you that for successful overclocking, you need to think about good cooling of the video card and its power supply (sometimes, during overclocking, the power supply is not enough).

All the best, and take your time when overclocking!