I need help picking the right overclocking settings for my computer using Afterburner.
I need help picking the right overclocking settings for my computer using Afterburner.
Here are my specs: CPU is Intel Pentium G4560 running at 3.50 GHz, and it has an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 graphics card with 2GB of dedicated video memory. My computer uses an H110M PRO VD PLUS motherboard, 8GB of RAM, Windows 10 Home Edition as the operating system, a power supply unit I don't know exactly what model it is (it's probably around 500W), and if you need more details just let me know in a comment.
I agree with Karadjgne on this point. I've done some GPU overclocks before using nvidia cards, and usually you can just bump up the clock speed a tiny bit. But in real life, that gain isn't enough to fix instability issues. The only safe way is to start at the base clock and then increase it slowly step by step. On this 950 card, I think one of those right cards could give you an extra 150mhz. Overclocking sounds cool on paper: more performance without paying extra. But there are dangers involved. If you crank up the speed too much, things can break. I haven't had anything explode in a long time, but the bigger risk is instability even when you be careful. You could get a blue screen of death right in the middle of playing your favorite game!
I am with Karadjgne on this one. I have worked some GPU overclocks on nvidia cards before and while you can usually push the clock speed up just a little bit the real world performance gain isn't enough to change the instability. The only real way to do it is to start from base clock and then work your way up a little at a time. From what I see on the 950 you might get an additional 150mhz on the right card. Overclocking sounds pretty romantic at first, more performance with no additional cost. However there are risks involved. If you overclock too hard you can do damage. I haven't blown anything up in a very long time but the more likely risk is instability even if you are being careful (BSOD in the middle of your winning game and random freeze ups). With dynamic clocks today I have all but quit doing it, and then only on hardware kit that is known to give a serious boost to when overclocked. Benchmark results on the 950 are only giving like a 3-5 fps gain at best on the right card. Unless just trying to do it for fun the OC on that card is not going to let you play the latest games on ultra in 4k.
Other people say overloading things isn't a good idea. But you can try lowering the voltage on your processor to keep things cooler and maybe make them last longer. If you like saving power and staying cool, just do it.