This is my first time over clocking so I want to be careful.

I'm going to buy a GeForce 8600 GT (I don't have much money and this is a pretty good card, I have it at work and runs pretty nicely). I've been looking around and because of its low power consumption it doesn't dissipate much heat. Over clocking it some 30% extra is supposed to be safe and stable, but I don't know about how hot things would get.

I'm feeding my PC with a 450W PSU and it has 5-6 fans in the tower. Would that suffice? Anyone have experience with Nvidias nTune?

How safe is over clocking? Does it reduce it's life time considerably?

Sorry for being such a n00b.

Also, are there any other good(better) video cards in the same price range as this one?

http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?page=rivatuner
I have the same card, but I just ordered a 1gb 4850!

That's pretty cool. Are you OC-ing your card? How much? Any problems? Any special cooling?

...

I have the same card, but in 512 version. It kicks ass. Do it.

Also, Zupper:

Depending on what other hardware you're running, 450 could be enough. It's cutting it dangerously close IMO.

Overclocking doesen't reduce life significantly; it reduces it so little that you'll probably upgrade before it dies.

Save yourself some time and get the 9600GT, it's basically the 8600 but done right.

this

try get the 9600GSO if you can.

I would... but electronics are expensive here... :(

To me at least, conversions fuck your wallet up.

8600GT: Around 84 dollars
9600GT: Around 154...

That probably doesn't sound like much, but that's 294 and 539 (arg)pesos respectively. I get payed 1900 per month =|

lol, economy...

I'm feeding my PC with a 450W PSU and it has 5-6 fans in the tower. Would that suffice? Anyone have experience with Nvidias nTune?
That should be ok, one of my rigs used to have an 8600 GTS in it with a 400W PSU and it did fine. I have two 9800 GX2's in my current rig and the driver cd came with nTune. The software does it's purpose but limits your options. I would recommend RivaTuner. It gives you a bunch of options to change registeries, change fan speed individually and adjust clocks. You could also bios overclock your card but I wouldn't recommend that to a beginner. The last card I did that on I royally fucked up, ended up having to put the stock bios back on it. (was a 7900 btw)

How safe is over clocking? Does it reduce it's life time considerably?
Pretty safe, just monitor temperatures carefully and don't go crazy right away. Slowly ease up the memory clock, because if you go to much you will get MAD artifacts. As long as you do a realistic overclock won't see aa difference in lifespan. My last three sets of graphics cards (all nvidia) were overclocked significantly and I ended up getting more money for selling them that when I bought them.


Also, are there any other good(better) video cards in the same price range as this one?
The 9 series are more expensive but you can pick up a 8800 series for a few bucks more than a 8600.

Where are you shopping? I highly recommend if you don't already know shop at newegg or tigerdirect. Your wallet will thank you.


Cheers,
Windhack

That should be ok, one of my rigs used to have an 8600 GTS in it with a 400W PSU and it did fine. I have two 9800 GX2's in my current rig and the driver cd came with nTune. The software does it's purpose but limits your options. I would recommend RivaTuner. It gives you a bunch of options to change registeries, change fan speed individually and adjust clocks. You could also bios overclock your card but I wouldn't recommend that to a beginner. The last card I did that on I royally fucked up, ended up having to put the stock bios back on it. (was a 7900 btw)


Pretty safe, just monitor temperatures carefully and don't go crazy right away. Slowly ease up the memory clock, because if you go to much you will get MAD artifacts. As long as you do a realistic overclock won't see aa difference in lifespan. My last three sets of graphics cards (all nvidia) were overclocked significantly and I ended up getting more money for selling them that when I bought them.



The 9 series are more expensive but you can pick up a 8800 series for a few bucks more than a 8600.

Where are you shopping? I highly recommend if you don't already know shop at newegg or tigerdirect. Your wallet will thank you.


Cheers,
Windhack

Never....NEVER use nTune to overclock your hardware. nVidia themselves do not recommend this. Use riva tuner for a software overclock or search online and start messing around in your Bios with the Volt settings and multipliers.

Newegg is not an option, I live in Argentina and it would cost me more to have it sent here...

I'm buying from an eBay equivalent, prices are much cheaper than buying from a store obviously, so I'm buying from the best place I know of.

I looked up the 8800 and it consumes almost 3 times what the 8600 does, so I would most likely have to buy a new PSU and probably better cooling...

I'll check out Riva Tuner, maybe read up on it a bit more before doing anything.

Thanks.

I pretty sure you can squeeze by with an 8800GT.....despite what many people think, most people with PSU's more then 500W very seldom use the max output.

dont mess about with an 8600GT, if you cant afford the 9600 series then have a look at the 7 series card.

7900GT, 7900GTX, are both cheaper than the 8600GT and faster

you could check out the 7950GT & GTX but I think they are a bit more pricey.

The 7900's are pretty good, they have a few things better than the 8600, but one thing I see that sucks is that it's dirX 9.0c compliant, not 10. :/

Are the newer games out today demanding a dirX 10 compliant card? Crysis or Fall out 3 for example?

The 7900's are pretty good, they have a few things better than the 8600, but one thing I see that sucks is that it's dirX 9.0c compliant, not 10. :/

Are the newer games out today demanding a dirX 10 compliant card? Crysis or Fall out 3 for example?

Well when looking at DX10 and the 8600 you might as well throw that out the window, running Crysis with 1 8600 is going to hurt, so basically you're going to be running everything in DX9 anyway.

Most games are still DX9.

Get the 7 series.

Well, I ran Crysis pretty decently. I only got lag when there were explosions near me and I was zooming in... It wasn't on high...

I'll go for the 7's if I can find 'em.

This is my point, The only time Crysis uses DX10 is when it is set to the Ultra high setting, all the other settings are DX9. So there is most likely no chance you can run a DX10 game with an 8600 and thoroughly enjoy the experience.

This is my point, The only time Crysis uses DX10 is when it is set to the Ultra high setting, all the other settings are DX9. So there is most likely no chance you can run a DX10 game with an 8600 and thoroughly enjoy the experience.

Ah thanks, I didn't know that. I was under the impression that if a game is DX10 it'll always run DX10.

The more you know, eh?

When I buy it I'll report back. I bought a few things and I can't right now :P

Ah thanks, I didn't know that. I was under the impression that if a game is DX10 it'll always run DX10.

The more you know, eh?

When I buy it I'll report back. I bought a few things and I can't right now :P

I hope everything works out fine.