Can I Overclock My Card If I Dont Reach 90/100º?

[jordibax]

Hi all, I have made a custom cooling case system that keeps my CPU and VGA really fresh, so much that I have overclocked my 8800gts core from 513mhz to 660mhz reaching as much 76º/168F with no artifacts.
Is it still safe to keep increasing clockspeeds until i reach normal load temps like 90º or I get artifacts?
I know that temps below 100º of nvidia gpu`s could be considered still safe, but it is the first time that i overclock so much a card and i am afraid of being burning it.

[Headfoot]

Increase the fan speed on your card to 80% or higher when you overclock. That should take care of the temperatures. You can overclock until you get artifacting and instability, but at 80% or higher temperature won't be a problem.

You can change fanspeed in both the nVidia driver panel and Rivatuner.

[jordibax]

Increase the fan speed on your card to 80% or higher when you overclock. That should take care of the temperatures. You can overclock until you get artifacting and instability, but at 80% or higher temperature won't be a problem.

You can change fanspeed in both the nVidia driver panel and Rivatuner.

yes, i also had done it, fanspeed to 100%, just in case riva tuner or atitool shows bad temps, but temps go from 52idle to 76 load. even HWMonitor (cpuid) shows the top temps of 76º at 660mhz at full idle (running 3dmark and Frontlines gameplay).
The question is if to keep on increasing mhz until i get artifacts or not , since core clocks are even higher than 8800gtx yet (currently 137mhz increase )
I dont know if other components besides the core or mems could be damaged with so much overclock although temps are OK and i dont get artifacts

[Headfoot]

76 degrees at load is acceptable for your card, I used to have 2. ;)

Also you have gotten a nice overclock so far, very good. You can keep overclocking until you get artifacting. Make sure you overclock your memory as well. On that card I hit over 80 degrees and used it at that with 100% fan, and I never had problems. These cards can go over 80 and stay stable. So yes, keep overclocking, keep your fan at 100% and tell us what the maximum overclock you get before artifacting is. :D

Good luck!