low-end graphics cards... has anyone tweaked them at all?

[KemoKa]

I was putzing about in the basement of the Tokyo Radio Department Store for a bit when I went past the box of older graphics cards that they have down there. They've got stuff like old firepros, quadros and old GT/ATi's there all thrown in a cardboard box going for literally less than $10 a piece. Under normal circumstances I would never EVER consider buying one of them because of that whole rant Linus did on low-end products, but it got me thinking:
 

Has anyone here ever either done themselves or heard of someone else taking a lower-end/older GPU, sticking a whacking great cooler onto it and just clocking the hell out of it, even if only just to have a bit of a laugh? because I'm trying to think of what would happen...

[Krytopsy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/short_circuit

[Volbet]

I tried doing LN2 overclocking on lower end cards in the past.

You just end up blowing the power delivery. 

The overclocking potential of lower end GPUs are usually quite bad, due to the power delivery not being up to the task.

[Razor Creed]

well i overclocked my old gt 210 and since they dont have a power connector it made a difference of about 3 to 5 fps so its really not worth it

[Guest]

it would work if the power delivery on the card was stable, like an old high end one, but an old, low end cardwill probably have terrible power delivery.

[shadowblitz3]

they will still be low powered after overclocking it and will probably break immediately.

[TwOne]

I overclocked a Club 3D GeForce GT 610 1GB DDR3 810MHz (rare, because Club 3D stopped making Nvidia cards). I first clocked it to 900MHz. Little FPS increase, but the DX9 benchmark in PassMark got a nice FPS boost, and the GPU stayed cool. Then I brought it to 930MHz (it's currently running at that). Still stays fine, 35 degrees celsius at idle. Then, I went to the 1 Gigahertz. And it became unstable. Started crashing, graphical glitches and stuff. I think it has been running with no problems for at least 2 years now.

[harrynowl]

<snip>

@DEcobra11

 

you've been called

[Briggsy]

unfortunately the older GPU's were on a much larger process node, and the voltage needed to boost clock speeds to hilarious levels will likely fry every pathway and circuit on the way to the gpu.

[ObeseWalrus]

I overclocked a Club 3D GeForce GT 610 1GB DDR3 810MHz (rare, because Club 3D stopped making Nvidia cards). I first clocked it to 900MHz. Little FPS increase, but the DX9 benchmark in PassMark got a nice FPS boost, and the GPU stayed cool. Then I brought it to 930MHz (it's currently running at that). Still stays fine, 35 degrees celsius at idle. Then, I went to the 1 Gigahertz. And it became unstable. Started crashing, graphical glitches and stuff. I think it has been running with no problems for at least 2 years now.

you say that's rare? I have a Club3D GTX570 running in my rig right now.