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In the Forums... |
Posted: May 30, 1999 Updated: July 15, 1999 Written by: Dan "Tweak Monkey" Kennedy Overclocking Programs You should now know what overclocking is and hopefully you've found sufficient cooling. Now, to overclock your video card, you just need programs! These are some of the more popular programs for overclocking video cards. If you know of any important programs we missed, let us know! PowerStrip Entech Taiwan's PowerStrip program is the big daddy of overclocking programs. It has a reputation as being the best because it supports nearly every video card that can be tweaked or overclocked. It supports video cards using chipsets from the following manufacturers: 3Dfx, 3Dlabs, ATI, Cirrus Logic, Intel, Matrox, NEC, NVIDIA, Rendition , S3, SiS, Trident, and Tseng Labs. Note that not all of these can be overclocked. You will need to download PowerStrip and try it out for yourself. To download PowerStrip, click here for the latest shareware version, or here for the latest beta version. To overclock a video card using PowerStrip, first run the program. Right click the window that pops up, or the icon it creates in the system tray (bottom right corner of your screen). Choose Advanced Options near the top. Choose About the PowerStrip near the bottom of the sub-menu that pops up. Click the Performance tab. You can now adjust the clock speed. Take caution when overclocking... as we have told you before, make sure to only increase the clock speed by a few MHz at a time, and test it out after each increase. Note that an unregistered version of PowerStrip will not save changes. You will need to re-configure your clock speed each time you reboot your computer. TNTClk TNTClk is a program that recently appeared on the Internet to meet the demands of several TNT/TNT2 owners. It will allow you to overclock TNT and TNT2 cards. Why would someone use this instead of PowerStrip? Unlike the unregistered PowerStrip, TNTClk will save changes you make to the clock speed. Also, it will let you restore these settings automatically when you restart your computer. Overall, it will save you some time and effort. You can download this program here. Note that this program may not work with all TNT cards. If it does not work with yours, download PowerStrip or use a program that came with your TNT card. This program is freely distributed. For more information on overclocking the TNT and TNT2, check out the TNT/TNT2 Tweak Guide. BGR Software BGR Software makes a couple programs for overclocking video cards. Matrox Overclock is a program specifically designed to adjust the clock speed of several Matrox video cards, including the Matrox Millenium (I and II), Matrox Mystique (and Matrox Mystique 220), and of course, the G200 cards. Other supported cards are listed at the site. This program is freely distributed with the intention of overclocking Matrox video cards. BGR's TweakIt program supports 3Dfx Voodoo, Voodoo2, Voodoo Rush, and Voodoo Banshee cards. Besides being just an overclocking program, it allows you to tweak various other settings to boost performance and compatibility. It even has an option to restore the card's default clock speed when it is not in use. This program is also freely distributed. S3Tweak If you have an Savage3D or Savage4 card, you can overclock it with this program. This program also has a number of tweaks which can boost performance with your card. Grab it here. Fast Card Fast Card is a program designed to give users options to tweak and overclock their video cards. Currently, this program offers limited overclocking support of TNT based cards. Fast Card should have flawless TNT and TNT2 overclocking abilities soon. It does, however, have full support for 3Dfx Voodoo, Voodoo2, Voodoo3, and Banshee chipset based cards. Much like the BGR programs, it offers plenty in the area of tweaking as well. This is a cool program to keep your eye on. It should get better with every release. To learn more about Fast Card, click here for the homepage. This program is freely distributed. V3 Overclocker If you have a Voodoo3 card, you can overclock it as well using this independent program. V3 Overclocker will allow you to adjust the speed of any 3Dfx Voodoo3 card. This program will install a page into your Display Properties (accessible by right clicking the desktop and choosing properties). The page it inserts will let you choose between 140 MHz on the lowest setting and 220 MHz on the highest setting. It's a very valuable program for Vodooo3 owners. Grab the program here. For more information on overclocking the Voodoo3, check out the Voodoo3 Tweak Guide. |
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