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Is it good to overvolt the GPU


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I just have a noob question. Is it good to overvolt the GPU or just overclock it with default volt? I heard that overvolting the GPU would extremely increase the heat or might brick it.

The two main concerns with overvolting are the extra heat causing temps to hit temperature limits, making the GPU slow down, and the voltage regulation FETs overheating and exploding. I am not aware of any current graphics card where the latter is a concern, but there have been a few in the past (desktop GTX 570, desktop GTX 590).

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Overvoltage is a very individual thing and depends on what GPU in what laptop you're going to overvolt.

TDP will increse dramatically according to formula TDP=c*f*v^2 where c is constant for your GPU

For example my GTX470m has 75W TDP with 535 GPU clock, and overclocks to 630 with stock 0.94 voltage and to 720 with 0.99 voltage

0.94v 535 MHz 75W TDP 2600 3dmark 2011

0.94v 630 MHz 88W TDP 2850 3dmark 2011

0.99v 720 MHz 112W TDP 3150 3dmark 2011

The last case cause 90+ degrees temps during load and also result in shutdown during CPU+GPU full load because of power circuitry overload on the laptop board.

So calculate and experiment, just don't go to the extremes.

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I'd say there is a good chance of turning it into a brick without prior knowledge of course. As said previously, it would be a good idea to not to go for large increments right away, but gradually increase the voltage and have a program to simultaneously monitor temperatures when stressing the GPU.

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My opinion is based on personal experience after running my 5870M's overvolted permanently. I think a reasonable overvolt would be fine for short periods such as benchmarking. For continuous use such as gaming I would advise against it since it will degrade your cards performance over time and you will have to lower your settings for stability.

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