Overclock gtx 550 ti

Should I overclock my gtx 550ti? and how much? would I notice a difference? How would I do this? Could you guys answer these for me? I also have a i7 3770k, and 16gb ram..
Not sure about the psu how would I check?

oxymoron02 said:

Your PSU may have the wattage stated on the back, or else it's the task of taking off the side panel of your computer case to check what it says on the side of said PSU.

And whether or not you'll see a difference depends on how well it handles games now, what games you play, and on what settings you play them.

To quote an example I throw around everywhere, my 6870 was stuttering a fair bit on Saints Row the Third on its base clock speeds. I tweaked the core clock from 900MHz up to 930MHz and voila! No more stuttering. I left the memory clock alone, but this can of course be adjusted to.

A lot of people use applications such as MSI Afterburner or Sapphire Trixx, but there are plenty of others. Quite often modern video cards come with software suites which allow you to do so from within the card's own control panel.


Overclocking is best done in small stages and can vary from machine to machine, so these forums could only give you a very vague idea of what to aim for. My advice though would be to take it slowly and adjust it in increments of 5 or 10MHz (10 if you're feeling brave).
Start with the core clock and keep adjusting until it crashes during gameplay; many people prefer to use benchmarking or burn-in tools, but I find that simply testing overclocks in the games you play is the greatest test. Remember that you're not trying to turn your system into a supercomputer, but boost your gameplay a little (or a lot).
Once you've found a limit for your core clock, move on to the memory clock and use the same process. Small adjustments until you find the limit for your card.

Simply going by what people have achieved before as situations can vary wildly; someone who achieves a 100MHz overclock may be able to do so because they live in the arctic circle; if you try the same clock in the saharan desert; you're asking for trouble!

It says it is 700w.. And uhm, Could you give me some more advice? this is my first overclock

oxymoron02 said:

Well your PSU should be fine for overclocking, although what make and model is it, just to be sure?

I can't think of much more that I could tell you without knowing the absolute specifics of your setup (including variables completely out of our control). Even identical cards do not overclock to the same degree, in identical systems in the same room, right next to each other.
This has something to do with the manufacturing process and, as I understand it, it can be pretty much luck of the draw, which is why the best advice is to clock only in small steps.

You would probably be best off not even testing your card to its limits, to begin with, until you've gotten a feel for overclocking and are fully understanding of its various ins and outs, and the risks therein. It gets even more fun when you have to take into consideration the voltage reaching the GPU, which if too low means you crash; too high means you crash (and in worse case scenario, burnout your GPU's die).


Whatever you do, don't do what this guy did.
Overclocking my Gtx 550 ti - Nvidia - Graphic-Displays

Currently I can play all my games maxed out and not lag one bit and have high fps.. The GPU isn't amazing but it certainly runs well.. What would you consider this gpu low-high end? You think I should just keep it stock and whenever I feel I NEED a OC I overclock then? I just got this computer 3 days ago btw. And I don't wanna mess it up too! lol. Thanks for the help btw!

oxymoron02 said:

No problemo :) I (and all members of the forums) are always happy to help. Don't forget to rep if I've helped (and yes I know that sounds very highly self-involved of me ).

Your card is far from low-end! If I were so inclined to swing the nVidia way, it's probably the card I'd go for, but I'm happy with my AMD allegiance so no switching for me!
As to your OC, I would say there is honestly no need to bother. As you say, if you ever feel a dire need to overclock; say if you get some new game that's just a smidgen too demanding for the card, and a small boost would tip it over the edge to make it playable, then absolutely do so, but for now leave her as she is :)

Haha I have heard GTA IV is resource demanding and I play it on a high res and maxed out and I get about 70 fps.. I suppose its fine for now. I play mw3 and get like 100-250 fps on max do you think Black Ops would run well? Might buy it tonight

oxymoron02 said:

Black Ops should run about as well as MW3, to be honest :)

I ended up getting BF3 instead of black ops.. I can play it on high fine
ultra I can but it is a bit choppy in areas