What is Overclocking?

Over the past two decades, the computer industry has changed a lot: what was previously considered a priority, has become secondary and vice versa. Perhaps, many still remember times when each owner of a personal computer was faced with the problem of choosing: to purchase an expensive monochrome monitor and a video card of the prospective VGA standard or to save on the video subsystem by buying a faster CPU.

From the video card of that time it was required only to display the image on the screen, and its own computing capabilities by modern standards were very primitive. Now the video card is one of the most complicated computer devices, especially when it comes to discrete models. On the video card, as in a full-fledged computer, there are memory chips, a processor, and controllers.

The market includes products of three main manufacturers: an integrated HD-graphics card from Intel, as well as built-in and discrete from NVidia and AMD. The most productive solutions are offered by the last two companies. And AMD-video cards are more optimal in terms of price / performance, and NVidia is more popular and additional features.

Of particular interest is the overclocking of the video card. This operation makes it possible "in two clicks" to increase the performance of the entire graphics subsystem. Let's see, what exactly is "overclocking a video card"?

As is known, when manufacturing a batch of microcircuits, several samples are taken and tested. Based on the received data, the whole lot is marked. Thus, the chips placed on the video card are more likely to be more productive. Overclocking a video card is an adjustment of the operation of microchips, the purpose of which is to increase the speed of their operation. Applicable to the central processors of desktop computers, portable devices, etc. For example, if the nominal operating frequency of the video memory chips is 800 MHz, the overclocking of the video card makes it possible to work at 1 GHz or even more (depending on the sample).

Please note that if you use this feature (work outside the normal mode), the manufacturer disclaims all warranty obligations. On the other hand, a small overclock is almost safe. The main thing is not to forget to control the temperature of the overclocked elements, especially under load. Ignoring this in some cases can lead to burnout of the chip. Sometimes it is useful to think about upgrading the cooling system.

To overclock the graphics cards from AMD, the easiest way is to use the built-in driver utility. In the free area of the desktop, we press the right mouse button and go to the Catalyst control center. Select the "Performance" item and activate OverDrive. We carefully read the conditions and accept them. Choose "Autotune". Now we'll have to wait for the tests to finish. For stability, it is recommended to reduce the obtained values by 30-50 MHz.

More extensive opportunities provide specialized utilities from the manufacturers of the video card itself (MSI, Asus, Gigabyte). They can be downloaded on the appropriate sites. You can overclock the memory chips and / or video processor.