Overclocking for Skyrim

[Ulfric1]

Ok so I'm following the STEP guide and I get to overclocking...since I've never tried it before I thought I'd try to get advice from some of the smart peeps here on the Nexus who would be more experienced.

 

I'm using a Nvidia 8400 GS card with 512 MB DDR2 RAM(A total of 3 Gigs roughly), with my GPU clock, Memory clock, and Shader Clock at 567 MHz, 266 MHz, and 1400 MHz at the default settings(P0 performance level) running at 68-71 degrees Celsius. The locked min-max are 142-1134, 67-1416, and 350-2800.

 

I want to know what I could safely set these values to, and what I should change to get the best performance(while keeping temperature at a safe range). I've looked around for a while but I still can't find what I'm a good answer. STEP glances over overclocking, but also doesn't give me anything concrete to go on... :mellow:

[vlaka]

Try overclocker forums or toms hardware.

If you're going to overclock, do it right and not just for Skyrim.

Edited September 29, 2013 by vlaka

[Ulfric1]

Try overclocker forums or toms hardware.

If you're going to overclock, do it right and not just for Skyrim.

I don't need to overclock for anything except Skyrim though...the most intensive graphic program I run besides Skyrim is New Vegas, and I can play that modded on high settings without lag.

 

Thanks I'll head over to overclocker to make a post there in the meantime. :)

 

 

But isn't this site better? I thought more people would have experience with PCs like mine here?

[vlaka]

 

Try overclocker forums or toms hardware.

If you're going to overclock, do it right and not just for Skyrim.

I don't need to overclock for anything except Skyrim though...the most intensive graphic program I run besides Skyrim is New Vegas, and I can play that modded on high settings without lag.

 

Thanks I'll head over to overclocker to make a post there in the meantime. :smile:

 

 

But isn't this site better? I thought more people would have experience with PCs like mine here?

 

 

It's just that not only does the internet allow for full anonymity but anyone can claim to be a'pc expert' which can land you in big doo doo by frying your cpu or ram or w/e else you're thinking of overclocking based on false info.

Do a quick google search for overclocking your cpu and motherboard and go from there. More than likely you'll get few hits on toms hardware and overclockers.net.

I'm not saying you can't get help here but you're better off from actual hardware sites than a gaming one.

[DarknessEternal]

I wont claim to be an overclocking expert honestly your best bet would be to get a cheap video card and OC it alot of the DDR2 cards arent exactly stable when overclocking , a good cheap card would be an EVGA GT640 2GB DDR3 its what im using , i get 50 fps solid on max settings with just locking my voltage , when i Oc i get 25 - 30 frams running sweet fx and ENB tandem with 4000 + resolution texture packs from the nexus i would use GPUZ and PRECISION X in tandem and only do it little by little at a time and always do a benchmark test to make sure there are no graphical errors , also another good tip would be to defrag your saves i know it sounds wierd but the less time you computer spends going through its index for a save file the less stress it will have on game performance , not much of a forum person so if you want pics of my clock just shoot me an email or something

[DanielCoffey]

From looking at...

 

 

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:System_Requirements

 

your 8400GS card can only really run un-modded Skyrim at Low to Very Low anyway. You really should be looking at a better card to get more out of Skyrim.

[bben46]

Overclocking is not done just for Skyrim - or just for gaming. It is a geek thing to try to get just a bit more out of a system than it was actually designed for. Overclocking to save money on a system is entirely the wrong reason to do it. As it can easily cost you far more when the system smokes and you have to spend the money you thought you would save on a new system. (it has happened to me)

 

A safe setting on one system can be a disaster on another one - the biggest thing here is temperature - it can go up fast with just a small increment in voltage. So watch that temp if you do try it.

 

Before starting an overclocking project be sure there is absolutely nothing on that computer you cannot live without - such as the only copy of pics you want to keep or your financial records. As it really can lead to destroying a system. When a video card overtaxes a power supply, the damage can extend to the hard drive no longer being able to work also.

 

The very first thing to look into if you really want to try to overclock is better cooling - Stock cooling on an off the shelf PC is pitiful at best. Then - as OCing will cause a bigger drain on your power supply, be sure you have a better than stock Power Supply.

 

I see people recommending 'just get a new more powerful video card' - But what they don't say is if you have an off the shelf inexpensive PC. The power supply is likely barely powerful enough to supply enough for the stock components - so you may want to look into a better power supply as well. If the PS cannot supply enough power, the video card, motherboard and hard drives (and anything else it runs) will run hotter (geek explanation on request - but it involves math) And, undervoltaged hot components do tend to fail. There is nothing like the smell of burned electronics to let you know your bank account just took a hit.

 

Then, is it really the video card that is your bottleneck? Or is it a slow hard drive, the cpu or something else? - in your case, my guess is all of the above. - Increasing the RAM to 3 or 4Gig should help far more than overclocking. But unless your system is 64 bit ( and from those specs, I doubt it) more than 4 gig of ram would be wasted. But, with just 512 M video ram, ( 1/2 Gig) it will still never be anything better than low video quality. An inexpensive 1 or 2 gig video card will probably work - just be sure to check the power requirements before you spend a lot of money on one. And, be sure the new card is compatible with your computer - the 8400 GS was used in a lot of low profile cases and many cards will not fit if yours is one of the small form factor low profile cases (too tall, too long or too wide) These usually have non standard power supplies also and many aftermarket Power supplies will not fit.

 

If you post your computer brand and model number we can check for you.

 

Your upgrade path should be

1. RAM - it's usually fairly inexpensive - you may only have 2 ram slots - in that case you may have to remove the existing ram and install 2 new 2G sticks.

2. Replace the video card with one that has at least 1G of ram - but one that will not overtax your existing power supply

3. Any more than this and you would likely want replace your existing computer with one that can be upgraded.

 

I overclock, - I just wanted to let you know what you might get into if you join us in overclocking. :cool: