need help dont no how or wat overclocking is

[sorbie]

hi i have a radeon 9550 vguru extreme overclocker but i have no idea wat overclocking is could some one please tell me how or wat it is?

[Tex]

It's pushing your componets over their rated speed. Causing more heat and often instability and even componet failure.

This isnt something to take lightly. If you have no real reason to OC and do not understand the inherant dangers and risks involved in OC'ing a video card.... please keep your wallet open on the desk and your credit card out as the lessons can be rather cruel and expensive when your starting out and pushing the limits.

The sport of OC'ing sounds cool untill reailiy bites you in the butt.

Or "wallet" for most folks.

Tex

[Komete]

That reminds me I have a 9500pro i need to flash back and RMA. ;D

Oh, you may want to try out ati tool and let it overclock for you and find your max safe settings. Good thing to check is that you're heatsink doesn't have any dust on it. You gotta keep things cool. I may be mistaken but I don't think you are going to gain much from a 9550.

[Leonardo]

Tex was right on the mark. Overclocking is simply hotrodding. It's fun, it may (or may not) bring extra performance to your computer. As Tex said, don't do it unless you can replace the part you are overclocking. I overclock because I enjoy the challenge. Look for overclocking guides. We have a couple here at Short-Media. Click the "Search" button at the top of a forum page, and start reading. Go to an internet search engine and look for "overclocking guide", "overclocking 9550", and so forth. Pay particulary attention to the caution statements. Necessary for overclocking:

clean, dust free components
robust, quality computer power supply unit (PSU)
a well designed case with plenty of ventilation
moderate or cool environment (room where the computer resides)

[GnomeWizardd]

I concure, If you arent sure how or what to do dont do it! I used to be a HUGE fan of oc'ing with the Abit NF7-S v2 mobo and my 1700+ i had it oc'ed to 2.5 ghz which is quite an OC on air cooling but since i went A64 cpu's i havent oced more than a50 mhz cause I just dont quite get it all yet

[Komete]

The scarry thing about overclocking videocards is that often they will keep going after they get artifacts. My 9500pro that got burned was because I had ran 3dmarks 03 and just let it keep looping to see if it was stable. Well somthing on tv caught my eye and 20 minutes later when I returned nothing but checkerdbords. Once it cooled down it worked fine but now It can't handle an overclock. I've never ruined any other hardware components. System has allways crashed before it could do any damage. But I allways play close attention to temps etc when pushing it hard.

[GrayFox]

That reminds me I have a 9500pro i need to flash back and RMA. ;D

Oh, you may want to try out ati tool and let it overclock for you and find your max safe settings. Good thing to check is that you're heatsink doesn't have any dust on it. You gotta keep things cool. I may be mistaken but I don't think you are going to gain much from a 9550.

My buddys 9550 went from 250mhz (stock) to 530mhz without a vmod... but he needed to change the stock cooler.