I recently finished building a PC with a Ryzen 5 3600 and an RX 580. I'd like to get the most performance possible, but I've heard mixed opinions about GPU overclocking. I'm not interested in noticeably higher temperatures or noise for only a tiny FPS improvement. Is overclocking this card worthwhile, or would another approach be better?
4 Answers
For older games, the RX 580 is probably fast enough at stock settings. For newer demanding games, a modest overclock won’t transform its performance, so lowering settings or upgrading later will make a much bigger difference. I’d leave the core near stock and try a mild undervolt instead.
A typical RX 580 overclock usually gives only around a 3–5% performance increase, while increasing power use, heat, and noise. Polaris cards already run fairly close to their practical limits, so it probably isn’t worth pushing hard unless you enjoy tuning and benchmarking.
If you want to experiment, make small changes and test for artifacts, crashes, and temperature increases after each adjustment. Tools such as 3DMark, FurMark, or long gaming sessions can help check stability. Avoid BIOS flashing or using another card’s firmware unless you’re prepared for the possibility of permanently disabling the GPU.
The card’s built-in protections make ordinary software overclocking unlikely to cause physical damage, but unstable settings can still crash the system. Excessive voltage and heat are the things to avoid.
Undervolting is probably the better first step. Try lowering the voltage on the higher clock states while keeping the stock clocks, then test with a demanding game or benchmark. Many RX 580s can maintain their boost clocks with less power, which can reduce heat and noise and sometimes improve average FPS by avoiding thermal or power-limit throttling.
Even when it doesn’t increase FPS, undervolting is still useful because the card runs cooler and quieter. It’s also much safer than raising voltage.
I’d check your current temperatures first. If the card is already warm or loud, the small performance gain definitely isn’t worth it.