Those who have a recent computer or at least 3 or 4 years old, most likely mount an AMD Radeon graphics card (GPU) inside. When installing the AMD drivers, the video card management program is also included, which includes a tool to overclock the Radeon video card and squeeze it to obtain higher performance for video games or programs that use 3D graphics. By opening the Radeon Software, in fact, you will notice a function under the Games> Settings section, called AMD Wattman (which for older video cards was called AMD Overdrive) which, by default, is disabled.
With AMD Wattman you can overclock the GPU or let it work at higher clock speeds and higher performance.
Without going too technical, Overclocking is the process of exceeding the manufacturer's specifications, forcing a computer component at a clock frequency (number of cycles per second). I want to say that this article is not intended to carry out experiments that can risk damaging the computer and there will not be any steroid pill to be swallowed by the PC. Only he will be told, as the manufacturer himself allows, to fully exploit his performance potential and release full energy .
READ ALSO: GPU Overclock: Guide to enhance the graphics card with Afterburner
In fact, we must consider that the hardware components for each computer are different from each other. For example, two video cards of the same model and brand may not be able to be overclocked at the same speed even if they are the same with identical specifications. The manufacturers of video cards and processors therefore lower the power of the chips so as to be compatible with any combination or assembly. We therefore want to ensure that the piece works in all circumstances.
Overclocking is the procedure to overcome the clock frequencies specified by the manufacturer and, thanks to AMD Wattman, it is possible to increase the performance of the GPU without risking burning the computer due to overclocking.
The AMD Radeon Software is automatically installed when installing updated drivers from the AMD website, for AMD Radeon graphics cards.
AMD Wattman, the tool inside the CCC, allows you to safely overclock the Radeon video card, without the risk of ruining the PC.
Then open Catalyst Control Center by pressing the right mouse button on the empty desktop screen and, from the Games section, click on Global Settings and then find the Wattman settings.
The most striking feature of WattMan revolves around its real-time graphics, nicknamed "Histogram", which maps the level of activity of the video card, the current speed of the core clock, the memory frequency, the temperature and the fan speed. In other words, every crucial parameter that needs to be monitored when overclocking the graphics card.
Before we go any further, we need to explain a few things: first of all, note that it is possible to adjust the clocks of the graphics card (GPU) separately using some sliders. AMD's PowerTune management engine switches between seven performance states, which are defined by unique clock speeds and voltages. Using the WattMan tool, you can configure each of these seven states according to your personal preferences and, therefore, overclock the clock state at the maximum stable speed possible. The power limit slider determines the amount of energy that the graphics card allows to absorb. If you increase it, you can reduce the limitation related to energy consumption to bring a higher stable overclock while if you reduce it you can reduce the overall energy consumption. If you do not want to play too much with overclocking, you can select one of the profiles already set, to increase or decrease the performance of the graphics card and the energy consumption. If you make a mistake or want to undo any changes, just load the default profile.
For each model of AMD video card you can search on the forums (and on Google), what are the maximum values supported to obtain the best performance.
Also in AMD Wattman, it is possible to activate the manual control of the fan that cools the graphics card. By default the fan is managed (well) by the AMD driver automatically. I do not recommend setting manual values unless you are playing with some very heavy video games, in very hot environments or in the height of summer.
Increasing the performance of the video card, the graphics programs and the video games will be better and will be more fluid however, as a side effect, you will have a greater consumption of electricity therefore, if you do not use the PC to play or with heavy graphics programs, it is not convenient to do any kind of overclocking.
On the AMD website there is a guide to using AMD Wattman.
There are other overclocking programs listed in another post.
