How to Overclock GPU Safely for Higher FPS
Understand GPU Overclocking
I am in this field for 5 to 7 years, and when firstly I heard about GPU overclocking, I thought like it is for the hardcore games, the Battlefield games, and like PUBG, Free Fire that are thoroughly connected to the internet, and every pixel is just loaded by the internet, but I was totally wrong.
When I go into that app, I learned that overclocking is the increase in GPU clock speed, which is basically the thing which makes the speed ultra faster. It allows us to use more resources from the GPU. Basically the default setting allows us to use certain GPU resources, but we go for the GPU overclocking.
This can boost FPS, can improve smoothness, and will give a handsome gameplay. And on the other hand, it also means that pushing the system’s hardware to run more than its capabilities. So in this case, the safety is ignored, and performance is prefered. If you want to know more about this then take help from the following article.
Knowing the Risks Before You Start
Before going to turn on the overclocking, you must make sure that your system is capable of this because you are going to run your system more than its capabilities. It is dangerous too because it will make your system heat up which is a sign of shutting down.
Few important things like drivers might go wrong and it can also push a GPU which can lead to Ic crash, screen flickers, or a permanent hardware change or maybe a destroyment. It is every time not about maxing everything because sometimes it is a sweet spot but in many of the cases it is not a sweet spot because of few reasons as I have discussed above.
So if you are going to start the overclocking, make sure that you have saved the backup in another storage device which helps you in reverting any change. Before doing this, you must be aware of the problems that can occur.
Your hardware can be destroyed, your software can also be destroyed. Do have stored your backup. So different models have different level of condemning. Some can resist more but some cannot even resist a few kind of problems which causes a huge flashback.
3. Choosing the Right Overclocking Software
Many systems are compatible with few types of software. It totally depends upon your system’s spec, hardware, and software capabilities. Make sure that you use the correct software in order to get the measured accurate result without any kind of a mishap. For most of the cases, software choice making is not just a preference but it depends upon the priorities.
Many people have priority to run the game smoothly. Many people want their system to be safe. So, it depends upon different factors. The tools like MSI Afterburner or EVGA Precision X1 are reliable because they are beginner-friendly. They are safer as well. And they offer real-time monitoring which is very good. You can monitor your system’s problems on another monitor too.
They let us to tweak clock speeds, voltage, fan curves safely without any kind of heating up or other problems. Their built-in option of stress relieving is just another blessing. These features help us to escape our system from tension, stress, or any other kind of a timely problem.
These are useful for tracking the performance changes accurately and automatically. Having the right software is not just a right of choice but it is a thing which gives the gamer a confidence so they do the thing more awesomely.
| Software Name | Key Features | Ideal For | Safety Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSI Afterburner | Core/Memory tuning, fan curve, FPS overlay | Beginners & pros | Temp monitoring, profile saves |
| EVGA Precision X1 | GPU voltage/fan control, real-time graphs | NVIDIA GPUs | Power limit control |
| ASUS GPU Tweak III | Multiple modes, voltage/frequency tuning | ASUS GPUs | Safe mode reset |
| Gigabyte AORUS Engine | RGB sync, simple tuning interface | Gigabyte GPUs | Auto fan optimization |
| AMD Radeon Software | Built-in overclock and performance tuning | AMD GPUs | Auto undervolt/restore defaults |
| 3DMark | Benchmarking & stress testing | All GPUs | Safe stability test modes |
Incremental Overclocking: The Safe Approach
There are many mistakes a beginner make but the most common ones are that incremental overlocking. This is basically an aggressive approach. In this thing, we want our system performance to be super-duper awesome, but we didn’t care of its safety. In this system, we increase our system’s GPU core clock by large increments, and it can crash.
But the alternative approach is to increase your system’s GPU by small, small increments, like 25 to 50 MHz at a time, and test the stability after each change. And do not change frequently in an hour or in a day. Change day after day, day after day. It gives smoother gameplay and fastens up slowly, slowly, not once push the pedal and give a full meter cut.
The same is the case with the memory clock adjustment, slowly, gradually, and steadily, waiting for the system’s response. If it gives good response, then carry on with this approach, otherwise stop it, because your system’s safety is first, then performance.
This helps us to avoid system crashes, and with the help of this approach, we can understand exactly how each tweak step can affect performance. Never jump straight from a lower core to a higher core at once. It vanishes your gaming journey.
Lastly
Another thing most of us ignore is that fan curves. When we go for the higher performance, we want our system to run smoothly. But we didn’t think that our system, when it is running smoothly, it is giving more than its capabilities. We should think of its relax, which is basically the fan’s power.
When GPU temperature starts climbing up and down, you must check that your fan control is okay, is it running smoothly, or is giving any kind of a problem. Most of the cases, in our lacking, tools allows us to customize the fan curves to increase or decrease the speed. And it totally depends on us that we wanted to run the fans faster for quickly temperature releasing or slower for making the system smooth and do not give more power to the fans.
This keeps your GPU cool and without any kind of noise too. And let me explain my kind of gaming. I usually set more fan curves than usual or in default because I wanted my system to be cooled down. I am not interrupted with sound because I have headphones that’s why. So you can go with your own choice.
