# Is it safe?



## Hexer (Nov 30, 2005)

Hey.. I'm kinda new to overclocking etc, But I just downloaded SysTool and ATiTool and I was wondering if it's safe to use them, I mean... I dont want to destroy my graphic card  .

so.. is it "100% safe" to use those tools?

What is un-safe if so?
What is 100% safe to do?

I really want to know  .


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## grazzhoppa (Dec 3, 2005)

It's safe because ATItool will stop overclocking before things get hot enough to melt/damage themselves.  

Overclocking works on the principle that the part will start to malfunction before it dies.  So you overclock it until it starts to malfunction, then turn down the speed until the computer or part is stable.  ATItool works in the same way.

This isn't a foolproof way obviously, and thats why it's never 100% safe.

It's not safe because you are adding extra heat which stresses the compounds that make up the electronics of the components on your video card.  The way to make overclocking safer is to have good cooling to remove the extra heat.  

If you have a passive heatsink (just a piece of metal without a fan) on your video card I suggest not overclocking at all because it lacks enough capacity to move the heat away from the card.  ATItool or any other overclocking program might say the card can overclock a good amount, but over time (30 minutes playing a game) as the extra heat builds up, the components on the card can get overheated to the point of total failure.

Having a fan makes sure the heat doesn't build up to an intolerable level, and the overclock that you find manually or let ATItool find for you will be "safer."



Overclocking your video card is the easiest thing to do (thanks to ATItool), because there are only a few variables you have to worry about: cooling, the GPU core, and the GPU memory.

Overclocking a CPU and ram is harder because you have a bunch of factors: CPU, motherboard and all the components on it, RAM, and cooling.  And how all those parts interconnect to each other (front side bus, cpu multiplier, voltage, etc).

If you want to get into overclocking, start with the video card and do small overclocks.  Get informed about cpu overclocking before you do it.


And the bottom line is: don't expect miracles.  If you mess up and damage a part of your computer, its a very expensive mistake, especially if you use the computer for work/school.


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