ATIcelerator II: Brain-free overclocking


Thomas Perrier has released his latest overclocking tool for ATI graphics cards, ATIcelerator II. This truly automagical widget delivers on the fly overclocking on nearly every ATI chip from the Rage Pro on (check compatibility before starting).

And, the results for dozens of users (XLR8yourmac.com) have been both immediate and largely pain free (the odd hardware crash).

For example, after pushing the processor by 25+ percent and memory 5-odd percent, Unreal Tournament 2004 frame rates are palpably better on my RADEON 9000 equipped Quicksilver. Further, testing with Cinebench bears out what my eyes are seeing -- 10 to 20-percent better graphics performance depending on the measure.

Caveat emptor

Perrier's ATIcelerator is free and doesn't include any warranty for the damage you might inflict by using it. That said, the ATI graphics accelerators in my 1GHz eMac, 900MHz G3 iBook and, now, G4 tower have all been successfully overclocked and are providing noticeably better performance.

However, if you're driving more than one display, this user and others have noted a significant performance degradation. So, a word to the wise...

For those with the inclination, ATIcelerator can be downloaded here.