How Do You Overclock ATI Video Cards?
Nearly all modern video cards have the potential to be “overclocked,” which means that it’s possible to increase their processor and memory speeds, and therefore their performance—sometimes dramatically. Luckily, gone are the days when overclocking your video card meant opening up your computer case and fiddling with tiny switches on the card’s surface. In the case of ATI video cards, a free utility called ATI Catalyst is available for just this purpose. When you purchase an ATI video card, ATI Catalyst should be included on the same CD as the video card’s drivers, which means you likely already have it installed. If not, it can also be downloaded from the AMD website (see Resources). Open ATI Catalyst, and in the drop-down menu at the top-left of the program select “ATI Overdrive.” This is the part of the utility that deals specifically with overclocking. Select the video card you want to overclock in the drop-down menu under the “ATI Overdrive” heading. If you only have one video c
