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Overclocking a MBP GPU - problems?
- Thread starter Killyp
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I have no idea how (or why) you would do this... but the risk are clear: You'd more than likely void your warranty and you could get serious heat problems (which is my guess to why Apple delivers it at that clock speed in the first place).
ATIccelerator should do the trick for you, I run it on my Power Mac with the X800XT, and I'm more than likely going to do the same as you with my newly aquired MacBook Pro.
I think that Apple has probably downclocked the GPU for power consumption and heat issues, although I doubt that there'd be much more heat generated by overclocking, it tends to be increasing voltages etc which cause a chip to run considerably hotter.
EDIT - Just noticed from the ATIccelerator page that the X1600 in an Intel Mac isn't yet supported.
I think that Apple has probably downclocked the GPU for power consumption and heat issues, although I doubt that there'd be much more heat generated by overclocking, it tends to be increasing voltages etc which cause a chip to run considerably hotter.
EDIT - Just noticed from the ATIccelerator page that the X1600 in an Intel Mac isn't yet supported.
You can only overclock it in XP when you download ATITOOLS. Nothing in os x as far as i know at the moment. Ah well!
Apple didn't clock the X1600 like that for fun, its there for a reason. But if you are happy with a wee bit more heat, the X1600 should be able to handle faster speeds. But as far as I'm aware there's no OC utility in OS X for X1600s.
Yeah, as they said above, no solution to o/c in OS X. In Windows I only recommend it for really intensive gaming, and with that in mind... don't keep it on your lap when it's clocked at 430+. Even with the thermal paste reapp it gets HOT, and I mean HOT. It runs stable for me and I can run WoW at 1920x1200 w/ full detail level (obviously with the screen mod for the MBP) but ouch... so hot.
Well overclocking will not void your warranty because Apple has no way of knowing if a card's been overclocked or not... unless of course you flash and by the look of things it seems like flashing will be your only choice, there was some application which allowed you to dump the rom, write the new clockspeeds to it and reflash your card, well actually if you keep the original rom and reflash it should you ever need to apply for warranty then all will be fine.
I don't know of any programs for mac but there are probably some, I remember there was a program for nvidia cards but there is probably one for ATI cards too, you can always do the flashing from windows though... (the card will work in OSX)
The risks are minimal, you won't fry your computer or your videocard, at least not from a minimal overclock like that, however if you notice any signs of instability, graphical glitches or anomalies (artifacts) or crashes\hangups\kernel errors then return the card to stock speeds, a good way to test stability is to run long benchmarks of an intensive videogame, however, with such a minimal overclock I don't think any testing will be needed.
The big risk would be messing up the flashing process, flashing is very easy however if something goes wrong then you can effectively render your card useless however I've never messed up a flash so I don't know the real consequences.
I don't know of any programs for mac but there are probably some, I remember there was a program for nvidia cards but there is probably one for ATI cards too, you can always do the flashing from windows though... (the card will work in OSX)
The risks are minimal, you won't fry your computer or your videocard, at least not from a minimal overclock like that, however if you notice any signs of instability, graphical glitches or anomalies (artifacts) or crashes\hangups\kernel errors then return the card to stock speeds, a good way to test stability is to run long benchmarks of an intensive videogame, however, with such a minimal overclock I don't think any testing will be needed.
The big risk would be messing up the flashing process, flashing is very easy however if something goes wrong then you can effectively render your card useless however I've never messed up a flash so I don't know the real consequences.
