Memory overclock, worth it/safe? (GTX 460)

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metallicaband

Limp Gawd
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Nov 3, 2007
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I'm going to receive this ASUS DirectCU GTX460 1GB 256-bit card either tomorrow or the day after:

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1953&pageID=9775

I'm planning to overclock it as much as possible while the temps remain under 80 Celsius degrees during 100% load with reasonable fan speeds. I'll first overclock the core/shader clocks but I'm not so sure about overclocking the memory, I'll appreciate it if you guys could clear up a few things for me:

- I read that only certain GTX460s provide VRAM cooling, I couldn't find out whether the one I'm getting does or not, so what's the safe limit to overclock the memory if it doesn't have proper cooling?

- Should I even overclock the memory? i.e will the memory bandwidth bottleneck the overclocked core/shader clock speeds? I prefer to see real world video game performance difference, not just fancy stats.

My aim is to reach 675 > 900-950mhz core and 900 > 1000mhz memory speeds if possible.
 
Just do it. Most memory is clocked under its max effective speed anyways. Leaning on it abit ain't gonna hurt it. I reccoment using OCCT to make sure your OC is stable though. It'll check for errors.
 
Alright thanks.

If the VRAM or any GPU part temp reached dangerously high temps, it should crash and shut off automatically, right?

I'll use both OCCT (never used it before, gonna have to look up more about it) and heaven benchmark to test the stability, definitely not going to use Furmark this time around though, that application creates a stupid amount of heat that will never be seen during even the most demanding games.
 
metallicaband said:
Alright thanks.

If the VRAM or any GPU part temp reached dangerously high temps, it should crash and shut off automatically, right?

I'll use both OCCT (never used it before, gonna have to look up more about it) and heaven benchmark to test the stability, definitely not going to use Furmark this time around though, that application creates a stupid amount of heat that will never be seen during even the most demanding games.
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While overclocking my 670 all it did was freeze for a few seconds and then I got a message the the display adapter was not being responsive and had been restarted. I never had a hard crash or anything while overclocking. If you are on the edge you will start to see artifacts.
 
I had a 480gtx and oc'ing the memory 250mhz gave me 0 fps boost.

All the fps boost came in core clock. 110mhz gave me 6fps
 
I think the memory overclock only becomes a factor when the available bandwidth is actually limiting the core/shader overclock, I read somewhere that some games like memory overclocks more than others and actually give you a real performance boost like Metro 2033

I'm obviously new to GPU overclocking and could be completely wrong here, so some please correct me if that's the case.
 
yeah I'm pretty sure hat your doing the right thing. In going with COre/Shader stability first. Play BF3 / Metro 2033 to test stability. (Most demanding games I personally know of)

I used to OC my memory on my GPU but I doubt it makes a dif. Try for yourself and post back. Memory now days is like what? GDDR5 and it's very fast to begin with, might do a few percents best...Do a test with a benchmark that can be re-run to check for any performance advantage.
 
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