Video Card Overclocking - Overclocking ATI
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Now it's time to take a look at the ATI side. I will be using a 9800. For overclocking I used the program “ATITool”. I have used other programs, but this one tests each clock speed for you, and can find the maximum overclock available to the card by itself. Unlike Coolbits, ATITool tests each speed and adjusts from there.
The program is fairly self explanatory. I like to hit “find max core” and let it run a while, and then come back 15 minutes late and do the same for the memory. Just make sure that after you find the maximum overclock you click “Set Clocks” so the clocks take effect. I have done this many times and didn’t hit set, and it went back to the original clock speeds. Now I run 3DMark05, and then spend a while playing my favorite game. Here are the same tests as I did above, but this time with an ATI card. The results are typically the same. The overclock of this card was 388 for the core, and 300 on the memory. Remember that this is the non-pro card, so the memory is clocked lower.
3DMark03
Look at that 600 point gain. It is not as much as the nVidia, but the scores were higher, and based on percentages, it would make a higher score for nVidia. The percent here is roughly 10 percent, which is more or less the same as an nVidia card.
3DMark05
Here we see half the points gain of the 2003 test. Again, roughly 10 percent.
Doom 3
The gain here was just about the same as with the 6800.
Counter Strike: Source
Here is a prime example of what overclocking can do: 27 FPS more. This is a lot of free performance. Remember this card really couldn’t produce a great overclock and I still gain 27 FPS. We are looking at roughly a 27 percent increase. This is a prime example of video card bottleneck. The greater the increase with overclocking, the more the video card was a factor in the performance.
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