# Overclocking 8500 GT 512MB



## PhoenixWright (May 25, 2009)

Hey Guys, 
I was going to buy a GTX 275, but till I get it, i'm stuck with my 8500 GT.
So i thought of overclocking it to play the games i have.And i got EVGA precision.
My current clock speeds are:
Core Clock - 459
Shader Clock - 918
Memory clock - 400

How much should i overclock it?


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

10% max, but your not going to see a lot of difference.


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## Horusrogue (Aug 31, 2009)

wrench97 said:


> 10% max, but your not going to see a lot of difference.


There are mixed results in the online literature. I am sure if you invested time and more specialized cooling setups you could go over 600 core clock comfortably. Is the time and investment worth it? No. 

» http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=514&card2=574#

Comparison of a theoretically OC`D 8500Gt vs 9500GT stock.


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## McNinja (Jun 22, 2008)

Why don't you wait for the new ATI 5000 series graphics cards or the new Nvidia GTX 300 series cards to come out?


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Theoretical is correct the card will fall on it's face before seeing those readings and have any stability.


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## McNinja (Jun 22, 2008)

This card is not meant for overclocking and supports the very basic needs of a running a computer and running games at low resolutions.

The cards that get the real performance boost are in the 800 range of cards. Like the 4850 or a the newer GTX 200 series cards. These cards do have the capacity to overclock well and the cooling for the card is insufficient for the needs of overclocking. Keep in mind that aftermarket coolers will cost half the price of a card when you could have bought a way better card for the same price.


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## Horusrogue (Aug 31, 2009)

Mcninjaguy said:


> This card is not meant for overclocking and supports the very basic needs of a running a computer and running games at low resolutions.
> 
> The cards that get the real performance boost are in the 800 range of cards. Like the 4850 or a the newer GTX 200 series cards. These cards do have the capacity to overclock well and the cooling for the card is insufficient for the needs of overclocking. Keep in mind that aftermarket coolers will cost half the price of a card when you could have bought a way better card for the same price.


Well the 9600 and above series overclock well. The GT up to 9800 stock specs easily and upwards with more success.


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## Horusrogue (Aug 31, 2009)

Horusrogue said:


> There are mixed results in the online literature. I am sure if you invested time and more specialized cooling setups you could go *over 600 core clock comfortabl*y. Is the time and investment worth it? No.
> 
> » http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=514&card2=574#
> 
> Comparison of a theoretically OC`D 8500Gt vs 9500GT stock.


Apparently it doesn''t save the specs scale-up parameters. I had it up to 600 on the 8500GT.

I retract that and instead say it could be possible.


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## McNinja (Jun 22, 2008)

The gain on a 8500GT would be very low and although yes it may be possible, having a well vented case would be a must too. The amount of heat that small fan can vent is very small. 

Mostly, will it stable for a long time or even in the short term and is the performance gain noticeable? I would have to say no to both of them. The low end cards should not be bothered to overclock as they have a very limited performance already.


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## PhoenixWright (May 25, 2009)

I know...the 8500 GT is a piece of junk.
I overclocked it and the performance boost is hardly noticable.
I was thinking of getting the GTX 275 in december because of the Christmas rebates.
I thought of the ATI 5000 series and the GTX 300 series but the problem with that is my budget is not that expandable
I thought of the GTX 275 as its only 220-240$
The 300 series is probably going to be really expensive.Not to mention that the 5000 series may be around $350(Radeon 5870).
So is my investment worth it or can i buy some other card in that price range?
BTW, i also have to buy Corsair 750W power supply.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

What CPU, Ram and Motherboard do you have?


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## McNinja (Jun 22, 2008)

Yea the GTX 275 looks fine for you then as long as we know what ram, motherboard and CPU you have, like what Wrench asked.

If your CPU is too low end then it could bottleneck the graphics and not allow it to perform to its hearts content. The ram needs to be fast enough too. If we need to suggest a faster CPU or ram then we need to know your motherboard too. I just wanted to expand on what Wrench said in the last post.


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## PhoenixWright (May 25, 2009)

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53 GHz
Intel DG31PR motherboard
2 GB 667 MHz RAM (i was thinking of getting another 2 GB RAM)


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## PhoenixWright (May 25, 2009)

BTW, this upgrade is meant for the sole purpose of gaming.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Put a matched pair of DDR2 800 or 1066 in it for best results with the GTX275


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## PhoenixWright (May 25, 2009)

Will it make much more difference than a pair of DDR2 667?


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

If you only have 1 stick of 667 now 2 sticks for dual channel mode of faster ram will help keep up with the card.


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## PhoenixWright (May 25, 2009)

Oh...ok...how long will this card last me? I mean, when will the card not be able to play games at max settings?(When will it get outdated)


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

2-3 years max, a lot will depend on how fast DX11 is picked up by the game developers and the screen size/resolution you use, I think the CPU will the limiting factor here after a year or 2 for max settings.


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## PhoenixWright (May 25, 2009)

ok...but then i'll have to throw away the ram stick i currently own.The maximum frequency of ram that my mobo can support is 800 Mhz.


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## PhoenixWright (May 25, 2009)

ok...but then i'll have to throw away the ram stick i currently own.The maximum frequency of ram that my mobo can support is 800 Mhz.I guess i'll have to buy 2 800's.
By the way, whats your opinion on sli(or crossfire)?


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

A single more powerful card is better then 2 lessor cards in SLI or Xfire, the dual cards usually only average out to a 10-20% boost overall, if the game is optimized to run one or the other a little more, but I find the results to be disappointing overall.


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## McNinja (Jun 22, 2008)

The only time I find that SLI can have a massive maybe double performance is if you have a motherboard which support SLI with 2 PCI-E x16 slots at the same time. Those motherboards are usually only seen in the newer Core i7 (X58) motherboards.

Otherwsie you are looking at a small increase maybe 30 - 40% with a slotrunning at 16x and a another running at 8x. 

The gmae has to be optimized for SLI too. The chance of getting more performance is not worth it. 

Getting one nice graphics card is better. SLI is a luxury.


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