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Basic Guide to Overclocking using Rivatuner

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newtekie1

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Ok, I've seen a lot of people wanting a simple way to overclock their video cards, and with ATITool no longer supporting a lot of newer cards, they find themselves at a loss. Rivatuner is usually the first thing suggested to them when they come where asking for ways to overclock their new graphics card, and they usually respond with something like "Rivatuner seems to complicated, there aren't any clock speed sliders anywhere".

Being that Rivatuner is such a powerful tool, it does have a lot of features, that can be overwhelming to the beginning user. However, if all you are looking to do is overclock your graphics card, Rivatuner is actually very easy to use once you know where to go. So I decided to write this very basic, and very simply quide on how to overclock using Rivatuner.

ATi:

When you first open Rivatuner, you will see the following:

Rivatuner_ati_1.png


You want to click on the small box that I have circled in red.

Then you want to click on the box with a picture of a video card, that I have circled here:

Rivatuner_ati_2.png


That will bring up the screen you see here:

Rivatuner_ati_3.png


These are the clock speed sliders, that most people struggle to find, they work just like the sliders in ATITool. There is no "Find Max" buttons, like on ATITool but those buttons haven't worked correctly in ATITool in years anyway. So you will have to do it manually, by increasing the sliders a little bit at a time, and testing for artifacts using benchmarks or even ATITool's test.

Most of the options on this screen are self-explanitory. And if you don't know what something does, chances are you don't need to mess with it.

If you click on the "Fan" tab, it will take you here:

Rivatuner_ati_4.png


This will allow you to adjust the fan speed on your video card, if you like.

Most of the options on this screen are self-explanitory. And if you don't know what something does, chances are you don't need to mess with it.

nVidia:

When you first open Rivatuner, you will see the following:

Rivatuner_nvidia_1.png


You want to click on the small box that I have circled in red.

Then you want to click on the box with a picture of a video card, that I have circled here:

Rivatuner_nvidia_2.png


That will bring up the screen you see here:

Rivatuner_nvidia_3.png


These are the clock speed sliders, that most people struggle to find, they work just like the sliders in ATITool. There is no "Find Max" buttons, like on ATITool but those buttons haven't worked correctly in ATITool in years anyway. So you will have to do it manually, by increasing the sliders a little bit at a time, and testing for artifacts using benchmarks or even ATITool's test.

Most of the options on this screen are self-explanitory. And if you don't know what something does, chances are you don't need to mess with it.

There is something special about nVidia cards, and that is the ability to change the clock speed of the shaders independently from the core clock speed. If you uncheck the box next to "Link clocks", Rivatuner will allow you to change the clock speeds of the core and shaders independently. If you leave the box checked, when you change one, the other changes also.

If you click the "Fan" tab, it will take you here:

Rivatuner_nvidia_4.png


This screen will allow you to change the fan speed on your graphics card if you like. You must select "Direct Control" from the drop down box that I have circled in red.

General:

When you have first installed Rivatuner, and are entering the overclocking screens for the first time, you will this:

Rivatuner_general_1.png


If you have not used any other overclocking software, it is safe to select "Detect now", otherwise select "Reboot".

Also, remember that not all graphics cards allow manual fan control, even if Rivatuner allows you to move the slider around. If the slider does not affect your cards fan speed, then your card likely does not support manual fan speed control.

Automatic Fan Control:

The first thing you need to do is open up the fan control windows for either ATi or nVidia, as descibed above. Then set your fan to a setting you want, and click on the floppy disk icon to save that fan setting as a fan profile.
Rivatunernvidiafan1.png
rivatuneratifan1.png


After you do this for each fan speed you want to save you should have a list of fan profiles.
rivatunernvidiafan2.png


You then need to go to the Launcher tab. Then you need to click on the green arrow.
rivatunerfan3.png


You will get this window, just press ok.
rivatunerfan4.png


That takes you to this window. You need to fill in the name yourself, make it the same as one of your fan profiles you have saved. Then put a check next to Associate with Fan Profile. If you are using an nVidia card, make sure it is set to driver-level, if you are using ATi make sure it is set to low-level. Then select the fan profile that corrisponds to the name you entered at the top. Do this for each fan profile you have set up.
rivatunerfan5.png


Then go to the Scheduler tab and click on the green cross.
rivatunerfan6.png


In this screen, you need to configure to look like mine, using your own fan profiles and filling in your own temperatures. On mine, this will raise the fan speed to 50% when the GPU core goes over 45C. You do this for each fan profile you made.
rivatunerfan7.png


Then you need to make another one for the same fan profile. This one will lower the fan speed when the temp goes down. Always make this one activate at 5C lower than the upward trigger. This will stop the annoying fan speed changes that drive a lot of people nuts.
rivatunerfan8.png


Planned Additions:
*Temp Monitoring
 
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I wasn't sure if I should put this in the overclocking section of the Video card section, so I just put it here. Mods, please move this if you feel necessary.

For all you HD4890 and HD4770 owners out there:

The current version of Rivatuner does not natively support the HD4890 or HD4770. However, you can use it to overclock your cards. Here is how:

1.) Install Rivatuner.
2.) Download the Config file which I have attached to this post.
3.) Unzip the config file into the Rivatuner install directory.(Usually C:\Program Files\Rivatuner 2.24 or C:\Program Files(x86)\Rivatuner 2.24)
4.) Start Rivatuner.
5.) Overclock.

Getting Rivatuner to work with the nVidia 185.85 Drivers and later:

Rivatuner does work with the latest released drivers from nVidia. However, to get them working you must do the following:

1.) Go to the power user tab.
2.) Double Click on "Rivatuner \ System".
3.) Scroll down to "Force Driver Version".
4.) Set the "Force Driver Version" field to your driver version.(No periods or puncuation of any kind, so 185.85 would be 18585.)
 

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Great guide newtekie1!!!!
 
Awesome guide.

TYVM. :toast:
 
Can someone help me to overclock HD 4850 using Rivatuner??
 
What problems are you having?
 
Can someone help me to overclock HD 4850 using Rivatuner??

Just follow the guide above. Start overclocking with small increments on the core first. After each increase, test the overclock with 3dmark06/Vantage or OCCT GPU tool. Once you get artifiacts, back it down a bit until the artifacts go away. Then do the same with the memory. That's all there is to it! Please remember to watch your temps!!
 
Yes, always make sure to keep track of you temps when overclocking.
 
Quick bump for the weekend crowd.

I'm going to add some things to the guide here in the near future. Right now, I'm planning on working on adding how to monitor temps using Rivatuner and how to log temps.

I'm open to suggestions for other basic tasks to add to the guide also, but I don't want this guide to get so out of control that people get overwhelmed reading it.

Maybe I'll use the second post I made as a place to post more advanced guides...
 
Nice little guide newtekie.
I must admit it took me a while to get to grips with rivatuner after using atittol for so long. It can seem a little daunting for the first time user.
 
Hi I'm new to tweaking computers and I thought this guide was very hepful. I would like to know if rivatuner can work on the gpu that comes stock with a premade laptop. Thanks for any help you guys give.
 
You're doing a good thing for new OCers and people looking to use Riva as well. Good job man. Very straightforward.
 
Hi I'm new to tweaking computers and I thought this guide was very hepful. I would like to know if rivatuner can work on the gpu that comes stock with a premade laptop. Thanks for any help you guys give.

It should work with mobile GPUs in laptops, as long as it is an ATi or nVidia GPU. Though certain features might not work the same, such as memory overclocking if the GPU uses system memory.
 
Hi There,
I am using Sapphire HD 4830, i have problem OC with Riva Tuner.

For my system, in the 'Low-level system tweaks' screen only 1 single 'Fan' tab appearing and no tab for Overclocking.

How to configure this? Thanks!
 

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First, make sure you are using the latest version of Rivatuner, it should support the HD4830.
 
I am using 2.24, what is the next step?
 
What version of the Catalyst Drivers are you using? The latest drivers might not be support by Rivatuner yet. You might try dropping back one notch if you are using the latest.

It seems that Catalyst 9.1 was the last supported and last reported to work propery, though I swear I was using 9.3 with my HD4670 in the guide, I'll have to check.
 
Hi There,
I am using Sapphire HD 4830, i have problem OC with Riva Tuner.

For my system, in the 'Low-level system tweaks' screen only 1 single 'Fan' tab appearing and no tab for Overclocking.

How to configure this? Thanks!

Make sure you have the first 4830 selected. To check this, click on the black down arrow that is next to your listed video card and monitor. In the original post and first picture, for ATI, it is to the right of "ATI Radeon HD 4670\Generic PnP Monitor". Click that black down arrow, you can see it right above the tab that is circled in red in the very first picture.

For instance, yours will say "ATI Radeon HD 4830\...." and what ever monitor driver you have selected after the slash.

Newtekie, I've used up to 9.4 without a problem with it. The only thing that happens for me is I get a pop up that tells me that some of the functions of Rivatuner may not work because of an unsupported driver. Though, I've read that you can force support. I think it might be in the power user tab somewhere, but I'm not sure where.
 
All, thanks for the help, i am such a noob, after updating to latest driver, the OC option appears ..

time for some overclocking!!! ;)
 
Glad you got it sorted out.
 
do i enable "apply overclocking at windows startup"? i got my 4870 to 810/1060 while testing with furmark...
 
good guide thank you very much ^^ ill try it a bit later
 
well...when i test my 4870 with furmark my temps go to 74C max and with it im able to do 810/1060 - but when i test that clocks on OCCT gpu the temps go waaaay high like 86C and it crashes (VPU recover interrupts) so i brought my clocks to 800/1070 && ran OCCT now its stable at 82C and on furmark its at 75C...

why the difference? in clocks especially!!!...i know the temps may differ like when running prime95 & intelburn test
 
do i enable "apply overclocking at windows startup"? i got my 4870 to 810/1060 while testing with furmark...

All this option does is automatically apply the clock speeds when you restart the computer. You can enable it if you want. Though you have to disable and renable after every clock change for it to use the new clock speeds. If you don't enable it, you will have to apply your overclock each time you boot the computer.

well...when i test my 4870 with furmark my temps go to 74C max and with it im able to do 810/1060 - but when i test that clocks on OCCT gpu the temps go waaaay high like 86C and it crashes (VPU recover interrupts) so i brought my clocks to 800/1070 && ran OCCT now its stable at 82C and on furmark its at 75C...

why the difference? in clocks especially!!!...i know the temps may differ like when running prime95 & intelburn test

OCCT really stresses the GPU, which is why it crashes while Furmark doesn't. If you do the furmark stability test and it runs fine, I wouldn't worry about OCCT.
 
Friendly Bump to hopefully help out some people.

Once I get my new rig built, and drop the HD4770 in it, I'm going to write the guide on how to monitor temps. I want to do it on a brand new machine because I think there are one or two prompts that only come up the first time you run the monitor, and I want to make sure I get those in the guide.
 
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