I have stumbled upon something truely awesome while looking for overclocking help on my FX5500...... two words..... OMEGA DRIVERS.
They can be found here--->http://www.omegadrivers.net/

What are Omega Drivers you ask?
They are enhanced versions of Nvidia's (and ATI's) standard video card drivers. Basically, this guy named OmegaDrive takes official driver releases, enhances them so your card runs even faster, and adds new tweaking features (including overclocking functions). I recently downloaded a demo of the upcoming game "Just Cause" (think what it would be like mixing Far Cry, GTA, a James Bond game, and Pursuit Force from the PSP, a must download!) and was disappointed at how slow it ran (I will not quote such a low figure in public). Well after installing these drivers (and overclocking my card to 331/418 from 290/400) my framerate went up 12-14fps!!!
Trust me, you need to get these drivers, they are totally worth it!

Dont just go for software fixes to slow choppy slideshows. The best solution, although not the cheapest is to just a new video card. A GF6600 or a RX800 isnt that expensive and are more than worth it to play games from this year to the next 3 years or longer. OCing your current video isnt going to do anygood, although it may make it perform faster it will make it wear out faster aswell. Eitehr way you are still going to end up spending on that new hardware.

My computer's hardware are all under clocked, from my Opteron down at 33% of what it can really do, to my X700 that can go even further. I dont plan on ever overclocking this to make the money last longer until it really is time to upgrade - thats about 3 or 4 years from now with DX10/11 hardware. When upgrading, you will be upgrading the GPU twice more than the CPU and the Motherboard more than the ram. To think, you only really upgrade the core hardware parts cpu, gpu, mobo, ram, and hdd. The rest dont need to, things like mice, keyboards, monitors, speakers, dvdrom drive etc. dont need to be changed as often.

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If you really want to enjoy that new game, I suggest just go upgrade.

I know what I should do is upgrade (and I will be as soon as possible), but the thing is my INCOME is total crap right now and my only hope is to get a job at Best Buy (which I am steadily working towards). Besides, I have a BFG Tech card, all I would have to do if it broke down is send it to them, and they'd send me a brand new one right back....lifetime warrenty...... trust me, I'm not flying blind here, I know what I'm doing. I'm just overclocking my card just a bit to squeeze all I can out of it before I upgrade.

Actually, overcloking voids all warranties. Any modification to hardware done in either hardware change or software alteration of the way the hardware works VOIDs your warranty.

Unless they have some way to tell if it was overclocked, they would never have to know. I would just send it to them, and if it worked it worked, but if it didn't...... oh well, I would just have to wait till I upgraded. You never know what people will go for...... one of my friends recently took his GF7800 (destroyed by a faulty water-cooling kit) to a Best Buy in another city and convinced them it was a 7900. As a result, he got to trade a 7800 (with a voided warrenty) for a brand new 7900. He had it SLi'd with his other 7900 for a while, but he decided he wanted to sell it to get himself a new LCD monitor. I'm willing to take such a risk because it basically doesn't matter anymore wether or not it dies. I'm gunna upgrade as soon as I can anyway, so who cares?

in some cases they will find out. overclocked hardware especially videocards tend to heat up alot more leaving scorchmarks etc.

My card isn't OC'd by all that much really. My core speed is up 21 points, while my memory speed is only up 18. I tried pushing it further, but it started having artifacts and glitching during gameplay, so I toned it down to what it's at now. I don't see it as such a big deal seeing as it isn't overheating whatsoever, even during intense moments in games. Besides, it's like I said... if it dies, so what..... I'm not going to cry if it does, I realize what I'm getting myself into.

well it is your hardware.

EXACTLY.

my gpu is a pile of crap. it makes ET lag.

yes, it messes up ET. sh'up.