Hack 74 Overclock Anything

PowerStrip, shown in Figure 7-7, detects and allows overclock settings for dozens of different video adapters.

Figure 7-7. Dozens of video options can be set with PowerStrip

A trial version of PowerStrip is available for download from http://www.entechtaiwan.net/util/ps.shtm. The program runs resident and provides access to its settings through a right-click on its icon in the system tray. Myriad general video monitor and performance settings are available. PowerStrip Version 2.78 can soup up legacy video cards and chips, such as those from 3dfx, Number Nine, Cirrus Logic, Rendition, S3, and Tseng Labs.

Using PowerStrip to overclock an ATI Radeon 7000 card in a 2.1 GHz AMD Athlon system, I measured a 10% frame-rate performance increase for a 10% increase in clock speed. Overall performance changed only 2%, leading me to believe the card was already maxed out due to the high PC system speed.