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Why dont Dell / Nvidia overclock ?

post #1 of 8
6/25/05 at 10:00am
Thread Starter 
How safe is overclocking video cards ect ?

Does it reduce the cards lifespan ?

If it's so safe, why dont Dell and /or Nvidia overclock them out of the box ?
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post #2 of 8
6/25/05 at 10:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluenose
How safe is overclocking video cards ect ?

Does it reduce the cards lifespan ?

If it's so safe, why dont Dell and /or Nvidia overclock them out of the box ?
Yes, Overclocking reduces lifespan and they don't do it because they might lose life and you'll wan't a new one!
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post #3 of 8
6/25/05 at 10:45am
They dont allow it because its not a supported feature.
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post #4 of 8
6/25/05 at 11:17am
Thread Starter 
So how much quicker will it reduce the lifespan of the card ?

They dont allow it because its not a supported feature.

But it is possible so why dont they do it ?

Im sure if it was safe and didnt reduce the lifespan of the card by much, companies such as Nvidia would overclock the cards themselves.


You overclockers are nutters.
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post #5 of 8
6/25/05 at 12:01pm
Nvidia doesn't OC them for several reasons. 1. Not all cards will OC to the same level, so nvidia chooses a 'safe speed' that all the cards will safely run at. 2. Not OC'ing some cards will allow them to create gaps between markets, while still being able to run off the same core. And actually nvidia does make OC desktop cards. OCing will reduce the life of your card so little you will replace the laptop because it's obsolete before the card burns out.
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post #6 of 8
6/25/05 at 8:33pm
The kind of overclocking we're doing is not going to reduce the lifespan of the parts by any measurable amount. The only risk associated with overclocking is heat, and we can monitor the temp of the cards rather easily. The card is limited in speed by voltage output, not heat.

When we overclock 25% or so, the temp goes up about 10 degrees or so. The cards are supposed to be able to run as hot as 100*c constantly, and us overclockers are running at a maximum temp of around 70*c.

Nvidia and dell don't overclock for two reasons that i can see. One is the ability to use the same core for different upgraded cards and because not all cards can clock the same because of manufacturing variances as Reaver said. The other has to do with the heat sink collecting dust and becoming ineffective after a while. It is possible that after running the computer for a year or two that the heat sink will get clogged with dust, and suddenly us overclockers will be looking at much higher temps than non-overclockers. Of course, spraying air in the exhaust will fix that problem.

Most end users won't spray out the exhaust with air or monitor temps. Another reason OEMs don't overclock.
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post #7 of 8
6/25/05 at 9:05pm
Only the XPS doesn't allow overclocking of the video card, all the other companies that supply the 6800go U do OC. Dell locked us out. Plus every part is rated at a certain spec. Nvidia calls for the 6800goU to be clocked at 450/1.1 our cards are clocked at 450/1.06. Overclocking won't hurt a card if you know what you are doing. I bought an X800 pro and then flashed it to and X800XT PE. By doing this it raised the clocks from 475/900 to 520/1120 and opened up 4 extra pipes. The card has been running fine since october 2004. The memory won't really OC any more but the core sure as hell can! talk about a nice OC.
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post #8 of 8
6/25/05 at 9:06pm
Most chip makers do something like this:

- Make the chips.
- Test them rigorously at the fastest speed possible.
- If they pass, great, sell them at that speed.
- If they don't pass, test again at the next lower speed.
- Repeat until the part passes. That's the safe speed.

So Nvidia won't sell you a part as a 450 MHz then say "it's ok to OC it to 500 MHz." If they were happy with it at 500, they would sell it as a 500 and charge more.
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