Very simple question from someone totally clueless about overclocking

[dan_mackers]

Hey guys, I have a Radeon 7970, when looking around in CCC, I noticed that the default speed sliders for the settings aren't all the way up



what is the benefit/risk to just turning that all the way up? I'm assuming higher temps, but is performance going to be significantly increased to make it worth it? I'm assuming this isn't properly 'overclocking' as such, just adjusting settings within an acceptable range? or am I way off completely? It's my understanding that the 7970 Ghz edition is just the card I have with better clock speeds, so I was wondering if this is how I did that, if I would be risking my warranty and what the clear benefits/risks would be.

Thanks guys!

Dan

 

[Rakk]

if I would be risking my warranty

Yes, if you overclock your graphics card it will immediately void the warranty on it.

 

[steaky360]

As Rakk has pointed out overclocking your graphics card WILL void your warranty. There are no exceptions to this rule (or if there are, they are few and far between).

To answer the questions though, the benefits are few, you will get a wee bit more performance out of the card but not much in the grand scheme of things. As you say the temps will increase and the lifespan of the card may decrease because of this. Changing the base settings in CCC is overclocking (or underclocking if you take them down) but as far as I'm aware doing either is not covered under your warranty. You may be right that the Ghz edition is just overclocked but I guess they do it in a different way to using CCC to change the settings on the card.

 

[dan_mackers]

OKay cool thanks guy. I am not even particularly bothered about overclocking since I tend to be able to run any game just fine, but I did wonder why those sliders weren't all the way up basically. Kinda odd really, seems a bit weird I could have so easily changed a setting that essentially voided my warranty without realising