Included Software
Yes, we know that there are plenty of free programs out there which will help you overclock and monitor your graphics card. From Rivatuner to GPU-Z, they can be downloaded in a few clicks of the mouse and are regularly updated to support the latest and greatest hardware. In order to try and break into the GPU tuning scene, graphics card manufacturers are turning to their own proprietary software. We haven’t really focused much on what manufacturers offer but in this roundup we decided to take a look at the programs each of these companies distributes with their cards. Unfortunately, some of the cards featured here do not come with any included overclocking software.
Gigabyte GamerHUD Lite
System Resource Usage: ~4.8MB
Click on image to zoom
Gigabyte’s GamerHUD is a straightforward program that offers basic overclocking functions as well as a temperature and usage logger. There are also areas in which you can see the specifications of the GPU and control whether the card downclocks itself in a 2D environment. This is all presented in a highly stylized pop-up box that is actually more confusing than it is functional.
Unfortunately, the issues with this interface are everywhere. There is no way to drag the sliders so you have to endlessly click away on the tiny arrows in order to increase your clock speeds. Want a 50Mhz bump in core speeds? That’ll be 50 clicks, sir. In other overclocking programs it is possible to link and unlink the Core and Shader clocks; not here. Temperature “monitoring” isn’t monitoring at all considering the program doesn’t keep a record of past temperatures or GPU load. In addition, the GTS 250 1GB OC came with the Lite version of GamerHUD so it was missing the voltage tweaking section (which never worked to begin with) that comes with the full version.
Stick with Rivatuner, you’ll be happier for it.
EVGA Precision
System Resource Usage: ~6MB
Click on image to zoom
Even though EVGA’s Precision isn’t bundled with their GTX 275 cards, it is readily available on their website. We decided to include it here because it is simply one of the best manufacturer-released overclocking and GPU monitoring tools in existence.
Above we have the main window which has every single feature you could possibly want right at your fingertips. Directly below the Precision logo are sliders to control the speed of the core and memory as well as simple buttons to link or unlink the core / shader speeds as well as fan speed control. Next to the fan speed control is a button to toggle on and off the automatic fan speed profiles. To the left of the sliders is an area to select individual GPUs if you are running more than one card in SLI as well as a button to sync or unsync the clock speeds of all GPUs.
To the left of the settings section is where all of the GPU health and clock speed monitors are located in a setup reminiscent of Rivatuner. Directly below this is a button to set the program to apply all your new settings when Windows boots as well as a box where you can save and select custom profiles.
Click on image to zoom
In the Properties dialog box, there are a stunning number of options for you to play around with. This includes compatibility with certain Logitech keyboards’ LCDs, setting on screen displays for your GPU temperature and other properties, screen shot capture options and countless other things. It is brilliant, well done and only available if you are running and EVGA card.
MSI CoreCenter
System Resource Usage: ~5.5MB
Even though MSI doesn’t offer their CoreCenter software on the installation disk with their cards, it is linked directly from the product pages so we decided to include it here.
When it first starts, CoreCenter opens in a small compact window on the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. Here you are able to see clock speeds as well as power savings if you happen to have one of the power savings modes enabled. At the left there is a number of tabs ranging from AV to Cool that can be selected to overclock or downclock the card to suit your needs. Most of these are superfluous considering Nvidia’s own power savings features will be more than enough for pretty much anyone. At the bottom, there are four circles with pictograms that can be pressed in tandem to bring up…
This thing. When you dig a bit deeper, CoreCenter offers you everything from overclocking options to hardware monitoring and even incorporates functions for motherboard monitoring of you have an MSI motherboard. Unfortunately, even though we had an MSI card installed when we took the above screenshots, the voltage options were not available and the fan options were locked. Ironically, EVGA’s Precision tool allows you to control the fan on MSI Nvidia cards without an issue.
All in all, we think MSI could have done a lot more with this software. First and foremost it isn’t user friendly at all and most of the options are locked by default. Overclocking using it is a serious pain in the butt yet if you venture into the Help documents, you won’t find much help. If you have had success with this program, we would love to hear from you.
Included Software
Yes, we know that there are plenty of free programs out there which will help you overclock and monitor your graphics card. From Rivatuner to GPU-Z, they can be downloaded in a few clicks of the mouse and are regularly updated to support the latest and greatest hardware. In order to try and break into the GPU tuning scene, graphics card manufacturers are turning to their own proprietary software. We haven’t really focused much on what manufacturers offer but in this roundup we decided to take a look at the programs each of these companies distributes with their cards. Unfortunately, some of the cards featured here do not come with any included overclocking software.
Gigabyte GamerHUD Lite
System Resource Usage: ~4.8MB
Click on image to zoom
Gigabyte’s GamerHUD is a straightforward program that offers basic overclocking functions as well as a temperature and usage logger. There are also areas in which you can see the specifications of the GPU and control whether the card downclocks itself in a 2D environment. This is all presented in a highly stylized pop-up box that is actually more confusing than it is functional.
Unfortunately, the issues with this interface are everywhere. There is no way to drag the sliders so you have to endlessly click away on the tiny arrows in order to increase your clock speeds. Want a 50Mhz bump in core speeds? That’ll be 50 clicks, sir. In other overclocking programs it is possible to link and unlink the Core and Shader clocks; not here. Temperature “monitoring” isn’t monitoring at all considering the program doesn’t keep a record of past temperatures or GPU load. In addition, the GTS 250 1GB OC came with the Lite version of GamerHUD so it was missing the voltage tweaking section (which never worked to begin with) that comes with the full version.
Stick with Rivatuner, you’ll be happier for it.
EVGA Precision
System Resource Usage: ~6MB
Click on image to zoom
Even though EVGA’s Precision isn’t bundled with their GTX 275 cards, it is readily available on their website. We decided to include it here because it is simply one of the best manufacturer-released overclocking and GPU monitoring tools in existence.
Above we have the main window which has every single feature you could possibly want right at your fingertips. Directly below the Precision logo are sliders to control the speed of the core and memory as well as simple buttons to link or unlink the core / shader speeds as well as fan speed control. Next to the fan speed control is a button to toggle on and off the automatic fan speed profiles. To the left of the sliders is an area to select individual GPUs if you are running more than one card in SLI as well as a button to sync or unsync the clock speeds of all GPUs.
To the left of the settings section is where all of the GPU health and clock speed monitors are located in a setup reminiscent of Rivatuner. Directly below this is a button to set the program to apply all your new settings when Windows boots as well as a box where you can save and select custom profiles.
Click on image to zoom
In the Properties dialog box, there are a stunning number of options for you to play around with. This includes compatibility with certain Logitech keyboards’ LCDs, setting on screen displays for your GPU temperature and other properties, screen shot capture options and countless other things. It is brilliant, well done and only available if you are running and EVGA card.
MSI CoreCenter
System Resource Usage: ~5.5MB
Even though MSI doesn’t offer their CoreCenter software on the installation disk with their cards, it is linked directly from the product pages so we decided to include it here.
When it first starts, CoreCenter opens in a small compact window on the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. Here you are able to see clock speeds as well as power savings if you happen to have one of the power savings modes enabled. At the left there is a number of tabs ranging from AV to Cool that can be selected to overclock or downclock the card to suit your needs. Most of these are superfluous considering Nvidia’s own power savings features will be more than enough for pretty much anyone. At the bottom, there are four circles with pictograms that can be pressed in tandem to bring up…
This thing. When you dig a bit deeper, CoreCenter offers you everything from overclocking options to hardware monitoring and even incorporates functions for motherboard monitoring of you have an MSI motherboard. Unfortunately, even though we had an MSI card installed when we took the above screenshots, the voltage options were not available and the fan options were locked. Ironically, EVGA’s Precision tool allows you to control the fan on MSI Nvidia cards without an issue.
All in all, we think MSI could have done a lot more with this software. First and foremost it isn’t user friendly at all and most of the options are locked by default. Overclocking using it is a serious pain in the butt yet if you venture into the Help documents, you won’t find much help. If you have had success with this program, we would love to hear from you.
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