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A graphic card is considered the heart and soul of a computer because it handles all graphic-related work on a PC. The performance of a GPU determines the PC’s performance and it should give its best. Gaming PCs need the highest performance of a graphics card to get smoother screen resolution.
Do gamers need a guide on how to overclock CPU and GPU? GPU overclocking is the same as CPU overclocking. In this article, we are going to discuss how to get an overclocked graphic card for your PC.
A graphics card that has been overclocked means it has been gradually boosted in speed so that it will perform better. To increase a graphics card’s processing power, overclocking involves slowly increasing its core frequency.
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What is Overclocking?
Each hardware component on the motherboard has a fixed working speed to handle the input/output task. In these components, we find a graphic card that handles the output screen. GPU is a processor chip on the motherboard that has to take out display screen output and data transfer work. The speed of the GPU is fixed by the manufacturer that is measured in hertz.
The past graphic cards had high core chips with hundreds of hertz clock speeds. But the new processes are not as powerful because they had a few Gigahertz clock speeds. This limited clock speed becomes insufficient while working on high-intense games on the CPU. If you want to get a high-resolution display screen you can increase the GPU clock speed which is termed as overclocking the GPU.
Overclocking a GPU is a way to boost gaming performance by increasing the speed of a working GPU. This process increases the clock speed of a video card to get a sharpened visual screen. The clock speed of the graphic card is set by default by a GPU manufacturer. But the gamers can increase this core clock speed to get a faster output screen with better resolution.
Overclocking refers to increasing the performance speed of processor chips and in the case of GPU overclocking, we increase its working speed.
How to Get an Overclocked Graphic Card?
How to overclock my GPU? GPU overclocking is simple and easier than a CPU overclocking process. In this, we need some tools to open the GPU and then increase the clock speed. Before overclocking the graphic card, you must check the PC performance and driver updation if needed.
Before overclocking the graphic card, you must check the PC performance and driver updation if needed. Here are the steps to follow to overclock a GPU:
Install the Best Overclock Software
Before overclocking the GPU, you must check whether You need to select the best overclocking tool in the market to overclock your graphics card. MSI afterburner is the best overclocking tool in the market that is easier to handle. The software has an easier interface that helps the users to overclock the GPU easily. Install this software on your PC before going with GPU overclocking.
Benchmarking or Stress Test
Once you have installed the afterburn software on your PC, you have to take the temperature-limit test to get GPU stability in games. When we put a graphics card on overclocking, it means we are going to increase its temperature while working at high speed. So here, we need to make sure of the temperature limit of the GPU.
You can use a benchmark tool to measure the GPU temperature stress and keep a balance between GPU performance and temperature. 3DMark and FurMark are the best tools to check stability.
Adjust Fan Speeds
As we know overclocking increases the GPU working speed and hence the temperature also rises. In normal conditions, the GPU does not need too high of a cooling system on a PC. But due to overclocking your system and GPU need a fast cooling system. So here you need to speed up the GPU fans to work faster and maintain the temperature at normal.
Open the overclocking software on the system and go to settings to increase the GPU fan speed. In this software, you find a “fan control” option to increase its speed. It is important because, during overclocking, the temperature may rise to 70 degrees Celsius. So in these situations, you need high-speed fans on the graphics card to cool it down.
Overclock the Graphic Card to Test
Now after increasing the fan speed, you need to overclock the graphic card. To do overclocking, open the overclocking software and set the clock speed you want on the system. It will be best to check by increasing the speed by 10% or less. If you find no issue with this overclock speed then you can increase the speed to the wanted limit.
Set the Fine Tune of Overclocking
Once you have tested that your system and games are working well after increasing the GPU clock. You can set the final tune of the overclocking on the graphic card. You can increase the speed by 10 Mhz and set its final clock speed to work on the system. Make sure the testing and check that games are not creating any issues while running.
Test the GPU and system by benchmarking and also take the temperature test to ensure the GPU performance after overclocking.
Increase the Power Limit and Memory
When you have overclocked the graphics card, you need higher memory and power usage on the system to handle it. In this case, you have to increase the memory and power supply to the graphic card. Increase the memory speed of the graphic card with the GPU memory clock. This is because memory has to handle the workload on the GPU.
When the clock speed is higher on a card, you need higher memory to work with a higher data transfer rate on it. That is why, it will be better to increase the memory speed by 50 to 100 MHz. to support the overclocking, increase the voltage by 10mV or more. You can do it by setting it on Afterburn software.
Run a Final Test on GPU Overclocking
After putting everything to a final limit including clock speed, memory speed, and power supply, you have to take a final test. To do it, go to the benchmark or stability test in the afterburn. This benchmark test runs a program for a long time to check the GPU stability of the system.
If this is an issue the program is quiet. You can also run a game benchmark test on GPU to test the stability. If everything is okay and no issue is found, finalize the overclocking to get higher performance.
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Should You Overclock Your GPU?
The main purpose of GPU overclocking is to enhance the display output on screen by increasing the GPU clock rate. It increases the data transfer rate on the screen and enhances the system’s performance. But in some cases, it creates serious issues which may crash the system. You need to check before overclocking by taking a benchmark test.
This is because overclocking needs a higher memory rate and power supply to maintain system stability. If there is no sufficient power supply and enough memory to handle the tasks at a more elevated speed, it may crash the system.
Final Words
GPU overclocking lets gamers and professionals do all tasks at higher speeds. Gamers can run games on screen with a smooth clock rate. Above we have guided you about; how do you overclock a GPU and what you need to do. but it also needs more power and higher memory speed to work without any issues.
