Overclocked 9800 GT in NP8660

[Zatara214]

Before you read this: I AM NOT GOING TO OVERCLOCK MY LAPTOP!!!

I want to know if anyone has done this, just to see if there was any performance gain. The only reason I wrote in cruise control there is because I don't want a million guys coming in here telling me NO DONT DO IT, YOUR LAPTOP WILL BREAK!! I know lol.

Now, I just ordered an NP8660 with a 1920 x 1200 WUXGA screen, and so I'm still waiting for it. In waiting, and being that we all know that antsy feeling, I decided to do a little research on the current lineup of cards, and I found out something interesting.

According to Notebookcheck, the 9800 GTS performs very similarly to the 9800 GT. The GTS has 64 stream processors, while the GT has 96. So, you might say, 'How is that possible, then?'

Good question! Apparently, (from what I saw anyway, Justin, correct me if I'm wrong) the GTS has a core clocked at 600 Mhz, while the GT has it's core at 500 Mhz. So the higher clock speeds take the GTS to about (probably not completely equal to, but I don't notice a 1-2 fps difference...) the same performance as the GT.

So, that being said, do you guys think it would be possible to OC the 9800 GT to get around, if not better than the performance of the GTX? Just very curious about it is all :)

tl;dr: Can the 9800 GT be OC'd to the performance of the GTX and above?

[dwoodward]

I am not sure why you think overclocking a video card in a notebook would cause it to "break", as you put it.

Anything can be overclocked. Your best bet is to find out for yourself.
(Also I take no responsibility for burn marks on your GPU and/or failures)

Get a cheap laptop cooling pad and use a tool like Speedfan to monitor your CPU/MB temperatures. Use a tool like Rivatuner or EVGA Precision to montior your GPU temps and turn up the core and memory a little bit. Then run ATItool or Crysis Benchmark for a couple runs to check stability and see if the card starts artifacting. Remember small intervals of about 5mhz max. Go as far as you can go while keeping the temps under 90C and without artifacting, once you hit a point, back off a couple levels and call it good.

I have no experience overclocking laptops but am very knowledgable with desktop overclocking. I am sure you can reach GTX speeds or atleast get close. However, matching performance might be a bit tougher on a notebook due to temperatures becoming a problem I am sure.

[Woody]

I personally don't recommend overclocking a notebook simply because of the expense involved and because of the fact that you have such limited cooling overhead.

That being said, it is of course possible and generally easier than overclocking a CPU. ATiTool is a very good utility for overclocking NVidia graphics cards as well as ATi cards. Ironically enough, NVidia also provides good tools for overclocking with their NTune software that integrates right into the NVidia control panel.

I overclock my desktop graphics card as a routine thing and generally set it about five to ten percent below the maximum stable overclock that I've tested. I also have aftermarket cooling and am not out as much money if it overheats and gets damaged. You may want to wait until your warranty has expired since you'll be voiding it anyway.

If you choose to overclock a notebook graphics card just be very careful of the temperatures. It's not the overclocking that will damage it, it's the temperature. Find out what the maximum temperature it will reach when under load at default settings while your notebook is sitting on a desk at normal room temperature. Consider this temperature a limit since notebooks aren't designed with much cooling overhead. You can then find a way to run the GPU cooler such as blowing air conditioning across the notebook and using a notebook cooler or somehow improving airflow across the graphics card heat sink.

You can then slightly overclock the card keeping careful watch on the temperatures and see how far you can go while keeping the tempurature close to the stock max tempurature you determined earlier. Overclock the memory and core separately finding out what effect each has on both temperature and performance.

[dwoodward]

You should never overclock through Ntune, and I always recommend uninstalling it if you even have it installed. Ntune is the cause of a wide array of system crashes even if you do not actually use the program. It also is linked to your BIOS and can corrupt it if something goes wrong.

There is nothing in Ntune that cannot be accomplished better with another program.

[Zatara214]

You should never overclock through Ntune, and I always recommend uninstalling it if you even have it installed. Ntune is the cause of a wide array of system crashes even if you do not actually use the program. It also is linked to your BIOS and can corrupt it if something goes wrong.

There is nothing in Ntune that cannot be accomplished better with another program.

Lol yeah, I had a WONDERFUL experience with nTune with the 8800 GTS 640 in my desktop. That was a great 2 weeks...

Anyway, I use Rivatuner for most of my overclocking adventures now, and indeed in 5 - 10 Mhz increments. The only reason I would not overclock this laptop is for heating problems. I didn't buy a cooling pad (and I don't intend to, as I mostly use my laptop at work, and it'd kind of be dumb to bring a whole setup with me...), and so any overclocking at all would be CATASTROPHIC... ok not that bad but quite bad indeed.

I pretty much use Rivatuner as a complete replacement for the nVidia control panel, I use it for AF, AA, and whatnot.

[Woody]

Interesting....

I always used ATiTool on my desktop 8800GTS but after installing the latest drivers it crashes when I overclock it. I tried NTune and it seemed to allow the same overclock that ATiTool wouldn't.

I think I'll listen to you guys and uninstall it and start over.