Overclocked Editions

[Vanzagar]

Are these generally worth the extra few $$:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143142

How does this work, does a manufacturer such as BFG, test all the cards that come off the assy line, then set aside the best over****ers, set them to higher clock speeds then sell them a little higher? I would assume you could get lucky and buy a normal card and overclock it similar or the same, but if you don't get lucky then your losing out on the extra % increase...

Couple other questions about these OC'd editions:
1. Are all the OC'd editions clocked the same?
2. Can they still be overclocked more?
3. What is the typical percent increase over a non overclocked edition?

Thanks,

rh

[mojoman0]

Yes, most companies these days can do a quick speed test of the silicon in order to weed oud which ones can perform the best. The best chips get the highest factory overclocks because they are more likely to handle them better. You will still be able to overclock a vanilla card but nobody will guarantee that you can clocks as high as the factory overclocked versions...at least ones that won't fry your card. I ended up paying $10 more for my superclocked version as it is probably slightly better than the vanilla, with more room for OC if I feel up for it.

[BCKator]

I've wondered about this before (and posted). At what point are things binned, at the chip foundry, after board assembly, at the card supplier, all of the above? If all of the card suppliers get a random sample of cards and then companies like BFG and EVGA bin them and sell them according to OC-ability then, if you want to buy a card with standard clocks, it would seem you would do better buying it from a company that doesn't bin. You may get lucky and get something that OCs to evga-ftw levels. Similarly, if the OC-ability is simply a function of the card assembly and how well the cooler is making contact w/ the GPU, you may be better off buying a std card. Again, this is based on all card suppliers getting a random sample of cards. Now, if the faster GPUs are being binned at the chip foundry (just like they do for CPUs) and the cards based on those GPUs are being tracked and sold for a premium to the card suppliers, then I guess that you get what you pay for.