Would like to overclock my vid card, could use some advice

[kan099]

I'm new to this forum, and overclocking graphics cards, and i couldn't find a good tutorial on the forums here (maybe my searching skills are bad i dont know lol) on how to overclock sucessfully.

for reference, my specs are:
P4 3.2GHZ (Overclocked to 3.5ghz)
ATI Radeon x800 PRO AGP 256mb (Gigabyte Technology)
80gb Internal Hard Drive / 120gb External Hard Drive

I have a couple questions though that hopefully you can answer:

1. When im playing games, for example battlefield 2 or Day of Defeat Source, I get a really bad drop in my FPS. I can run the games just fine on high visual settings (I get a nice frame rate) but out of nowhere my fps drops to 5fps for 4-5 seconds (When using all default clock speeds for my CPU and GPU). Does anybody know what's causing this? I've tried everything i could think of to fix it but nothing worked.

2. Should i "flash" the bios of my card to something like an x800 xt pe? And whats the advantages of flashing the bios? and which program would be best?

 

[kan099]

Excuse my ignorance :/

I just realized i put a bad thread name on this thread.
I figured since it was an overclocking/cooling forum, asking for "help" would usually mean help on overclocking or cooling.

My apologies

 

[Thermopylae_480]

Do your framerates drop during a battle with gunfire or explosions. This can cause your fps to drop significantly. Framerates very with what the surroundings are like and what is going on in the game. Also if your PSU is going bad a drop in power could cause sudden drops in framerates. Is your X800 PRO a VIVO card. If you are going to successfully flash it to XT PE it needs to be VIVO.

 

[kan099]

My frame rates drop when im just going somewhere, doesnt need to be any action (gunfire, explosions).

My card is simply x800 pro

flashing it to XT PE was just an example, if you (or anybody else) has any suggestions for me, I'm eager to learn.

 

[Thermopylae_480]

No much you can do with the Pro. You can overclock it with ATITool, and get a better cooler for it. If your brave you can try a voltmod, but you would have to talk with someone else about that. Do you have a friend or someone you know with a more powerful powersupply you could borrow to see if that is the problem?

 

[Slayerstaps]

I just realized i put a bad thread name on this thread.
I figured since it was an overclocking/cooling forum, asking for "help" would usually mean help on overclocking or cooling.

My apologies

Good you realised this the thread title is now changed please keep this in mind the next time

 

[ericlikeseatin]

in games such as BF2, the RAM also makes an impact on FPS, especially when there are lots of players on the screen or explosions going off, etc.

 

[Thermopylae_480]

Yeah. How much memory do you have. You really need at least a gigabyte, but I think Battlefield really likes two the best. Try posting computer specs in your signature, that way people always know what you have and can help more easily and quicker.

 

[Vario]

I usually have a frame rate drop for awhile after loading a level, especially on the larger levels. I only have a gig of ram. I am certain that is the same problem you are having.