Is it worth it? if so, how should i go about it?

[Mr_Happy]

Im not in a very financial situation at the moment:p so i was wondering, is it worth overclocking my radeon 9800pro 256meg? If so, how would i best go about OCing it & what are safe limits to take the card to?

atm my sys specs:
2.8ghz P4
1gig RAM
256meg 9800pro
300W PSU (upgrade soon to Enermax Liberty 620W)

any & all help is welcomed

[public_eyesore]

no, it's not worth it. Your not going to see much of a gain, maybe at the max 1-2 fps per game.

[monoflap]

First you have to be willing to blow the warranty on the card and mabey even the mobo. Then you'll have to decide how far you wanna push the card. I have overclocked a nvidia card and i actually saw quite a boost, well over 5 fps in Half Life 2. I would oc it a little and see how it goes.

[bartvandenberg]

google answers questions like that. and i wouldnt get too worked about about voiding your warranty. if you find the safe overclocking limits of your card without changin or upping voltage, you'll be ok. ive got my 6800 ultra from 400/1100 to 460/1220 stable without temp change or voltage changing. just dont be dumb and crank it up off the bat. take it sllloooowwww

[Mr_Happy]

thx ppl, when i get home from holidays 2morro ill give it a go, if it works, it works, if not o well.

hopefully ill be upgrading soon, i just need to get some money & a job. (im too lazy for ma own good)

so much to buy, so little money

[DaveW]

If it's the SE edition of the Radeon 9800, then you can do even better than that-you can open up 4 more pixel pipelines with a bit of luck.

I think it's 4 anyway-the 9800 Pro had (8 ?) pipes, but if one was found to have even the smallest fault, 1/2 were disabled and it was shipped as the 9800 SE. There's software out there to re-enable the pipelines; it's possible on a large % of the SE cards.

-Dave

[Mr_Happy]

did some messing round with the card using ATItool, got some performance increase, then found a web site bout flashing the 9800pro to a 9800XT. i did that & now its even better then jus overclocking it to the same clock speeds as a XT . i now have up 2 6x AA rather then 4X, & the card is more stable as its default clock speeds are being used, not just overclocked speeds.

im gunna put up a DIY guide to doing this as i think its worth it, but you need to make sure you check the card thouroughly to make sure the flashing will work. one of ma mates attempted it after i bragged @ school & (because hes a stupid n00b) he couldnt get it to work. luckily he backed up his 9800pro bios... otherwise he'd be ****ed.