Can I get some help with overclocking and dedicated GPUs?

[bungusboy81]

I recently got my first computer with a dedicated GPU, a GTX 1660 Super, and I want to know if there's anything I should do differently in terms of maintenance or settings. I also want to know some overclocking basics, like what exactly overclocking does, what it can do for me, and what I should be careful of. Yes, I know I could just google it, but google never answers my questions the way I want them answered.

Thank you in advance!

[Levent]

Its kind of straight forward. From my own experience;

• Maxing out Power Limit before even overclocking can result in improved performance in some cases.
• Changing your fan curve to be more aggressive before overclocking can also improve your performance but I am not sure if that will be the case for your graphics card.
• Test out stability every 100 mhz increments (on the core) until your card crashes in Heaven Benchmark before completing a run.
• Once you hit the limit of what you can do without increasing voltage, check if you can increase the voltage, if so see how much of an impact added voltage has.
• Keep monitoring your graphics card VRM temps, keeping them below 100c is advisable.
• Memory overclocking is identical to the steps above, however memory overclocking usually requires aggressive fan curve.
• Overclocking takes time, dont try to overclock multiple things at once.

If you have any other questions ask away.

[bungusboy81]

17 minutes ago, Levent said:

Its kind of straight forward. From my own experience;

• Maxing out Power Limit before even overclocking can result in improved performance in some cases.
• Changing your fan curve to be more aggressive before overclocking can also improve your performance but I am not sure if that will be the case for your graphics card.
• Test out stability every 100 mhz increments (on the core) until your card crashes in Heaven Benchmark before completing a run.
• Once you hit the limit of what you can do without increasing voltage, check if you can increase the voltage, if so see how much of an impact added voltage has.
• Keep monitoring your graphics card VRM temps, keeping them below 100c is advisable.
• Memory overclocking is identical to the steps above, however memory overclocking usually requires aggressive fan curve.
• Overclocking takes time, dont try to overclock multiple things at once.

If you have any other questions ask away.

How do I change the power limit and voltage? Can overclocking reduce the lifespan of my GPU or fans? What will be the benefit of overclocking anyways? How much will it increase the heat?

[gloop]

6 minutes ago, bungusboy81 said:

How do I change the power limit and voltage?

You can download MSI Afterburner. 

 

6 minutes ago, bungusboy81 said:

Can overclocking reduce the lifespan of my GPU or fans

Yes, but usually only if temperatures are too high, as graphics cards have limits to prevent you damaging the cards. 

 

7 minutes ago, bungusboy81 said:

What will be the benefit of overclocking anyways?

The GPU will perform better due to the faster speeds. 

 

7 minutes ago, bungusboy81 said:

How much will it increase the heat?

That depends on the overclock, current temperatures, case, cooling, and other factors.