Overclocking a GeForce 4 TI4600

Hey great news! I managed to get an increase of 50 3D Marks in 3DMark03 from just a 12MHz increase of both engine and memory on my video card. Games also seem to run a lot better!! I definitely recommend this to all of you with a TI4600. I am not going to risk taking it any higher without additional cooling. My results are as follows:

default :1618
raised 2MHz :1613
raised 4MHz :1616
raised 6MHz :1630
raised 8MHz :1643
raised 10MHz :1651
raised 12MHz :1665

Bare in mind that I had a lot of applications running in the background (same ones each time) and used the 41.09 detonator drivers from nvidia. Not bad ey?

big increase... ;o i had a 150 mhz increase on my gf3 ti200 (memory clock) and a 70 mhz increase in my clock speed... i think youll be able to pump that more =P

Impressive, do you not have any exta fans/heatsinks attached? I have to be careful not to raise anything too high, I'm not in the greatest financial way at the moment. What would you say is a safe increase without extra cooling?

Yea you should be able to get much more out of your GF than 12 mhz. I don't remember the exact specifics of my overclocking experience iwth my 4200, but it was at least 50 mhz on both clock and memory.

Post your default speeds (ie proc - 275, memory - 300) or whatever, and then we might be able to recomend some safe high speeds. By the way, what brand is your video card, and does it seem to have a high quality fan/heat sink on it?

Originally posted by timmoore
What would you say is a safe increase without extra cooling?

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Well, seeing as most cards come with a very cheaply made fan, I wouldn't OC at all until getting a better fan. That is just my opinion, though I do tend to try to keep everything more cool than necessary, rather than push my luck with the shoddy quality of an HSF.

My default speeds are:

memory: 648MHz
engine :300MHz

It is an OEM package, I believe it is VisionTek. The fan appears to be quite good quality as well.

my gf3 ti200 is a visiontek as well... it has stock cooling (cant take off hs on visiontek cards, they are glued on)

I'm quite sure that my fan can be taken off, are you sure it's not just a GeForce 3 thing?

Yes, I was right, I just checked now and it looks like it can be removed. I would have a closer look to be sure, if I could actually get my card out! Its super glued in there (not literally). Does anyone have any ideas on how I could get my video card out without ripping my motherboard out at the same time?

Um yea AGP cards can sometimes be quite hard to get out. Just turn the case on its side, with the computer off of course, make sure your grounded, and grip the card firmly with both hands. Use strong force but not excessive you'll probably not break it.

Oh yeah, make sure you take out the screw holding in the card and the monitor cable in the back.

Originally posted by Nick
my gf3 ti200 is a visiontek as well... it has stock cooling (cant take off hs on visiontek cards, they are glued on)

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Yes you can take it off. You must carefully pry it off.

Okay, I finally got my card out, and the fan can definitely be removed. I'm not taking it off until I have a replacement though (in case I can't get it back on). Does anyone know any places to buy a good cooling system for my GPU? If only I could get the FX FLOW! That would be nice.

here
This one looks really nice here

Taking the heatsink off a graphics card is very simple. Put it in a sealed plastic container, and pop it in the freezer for an hour of so. This will make the glue freeze and become brittle, so easy to pop off.

And personally, id recommend the Zalman Heat Pipe for the cooling, as your not going to get much more out of that graphics card with better cooling. Your looking at maybe 30mhz core, 70mhz out of the RAM, tops.

So this thing will keep it cool enough, and is passive, so cuts down on those annoying noisy fans

Zalman Graphics Card Cooler

Thanks for all the help. I think that the Zalman Graphics Card Cooler and the one StormBringer described as really nice are the same. Will these heatpipe coolers keep my card as cool as a water cooling system? Because I was thinking of purchasing one if I can find one that's not too pricey. And one more question, will I have to remove the fan from my GPU in order to install these heatpipe coolers?

Yer you will have to remove the fans to install the heatpipe,

...now its going to be nothing compared to watercooling! But there is no point in simply watercooling a gfx card...only look into it if you are considering cooling the whole system!

Hmm, sounds very appealing!! But I'm affraid the budget won't allow a fully water cooled system at the moment, it's either going to be the NV30 or the heatpipe. (NV30 will get better performance than a water cooled 4600) In the end, I will end up buying the heatpipe cooler; and about a couple months after the release of the NV30, buying that . Man that card is hot!

Hmm, sounds very appealing!! But I'm affraid the budget won't allow a fully water cooled system at the moment, it's either going to be the NV30 or the heatpipe. (NV30 will get better performance than a water cooled 4600) In the end, I will end up buying the heatpipe cooler; and about a couple months after the release of the NV30, buying that . Man that card is hot!

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Hot..being the main word in that sentence! I presume you haven't seen the reviews on that thing...head on over to
AnAndTech

Firstly 9700Pro is a better card, for less money...and you not going to get hold of a Ultra version of the card, as Nvidia will not be sending out any other than those pre-ordered (due to that fact it sucks for the price, and makes more noise than your average CPU cooler)

So yes...get hold of a 9700Pro, once the 9800 hits the shelves(as the price will drop)....and i gurantee, you cannot go wrong!

...but you ent gonna be gettin a GeForceFX Ultra matey maybe the non-ultra...but thats even further behind the 9700Pro

I have seen the reviews, but what everyone is failing to notice is this on the last post. Don't get me wrong though, I have nothing against ATi, it's just that I'm the type of person who stays with the same company. + I have heard of their driver problems . But who knows, maybe the 9800 will change my mind!!

was abolut to say - cooling!!
check out:

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/index.php?s=


Cooling
http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=6

Some people have some sweet vid card water cooled systems.

imyself have the ti 4600 and am buying a 2.4 400mhz and getting a liquid cooling system to try and do some mad over clocking - aiming for over 3.*

Originally posted by timmoore
I have seen the reviews, but what everyone is failing to notice is this on the last post. Don't get me wrong though, I have nothing against ATi, it's just that I'm the type of person who stays with the same company. + I have heard of their driver problems . But who knows, maybe the 9800 will change my mind!!

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The "excuse" of drives problems is OLD and dead! - so find a new excuse - i own both ATi and NVIDIA.
it is the only thing NVIDIA user had left to try and put down ATI cause ATI is know kicking the crap out of NVIDIA.

also, i have never ONCE had a driver issue related to ATI - where as i have had NUMEROUS!! b.s.o.d's due to nvidia drivers.

Originally posted by Mr.Guvernment
also, i have never ONCE had a driver issue related to ATI - where as i have had NUMEROUS!! b.s.o.d's due to nvidia drivers.

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Ditto.