How to tell what your best OC would be?

[zombiegenesis]

I recently moved my unlocked 6950 to 900/1325 and I got a 2FPS increase over my usual 30 in the Metro Benchmark. How can I identify what the best 'safe' overclock would be for my card?
Though depending on the numbers I might not want to move off stock volts simply because of past problems, but that's theoretical.

 

[Cythx]

Usually what I do is look up what people consider are safe voltages and temps, then clock it as much as I can while being comfortable with the voltages/temps I get to.

Lots of people have difference preferences for what they feel are safe voltages/temperatures so it's really up to you.

For me, I am fine with letting my card peak at 90 throughout crysis/metro/furmark/unigine

However, a card may not last as long as it was designed to if you run it hotter than you got it.

But I'd like to think these components are made to last a very long time, and that when overclocking, even if it brings what would be a life expectency of 10 years down to 5, that I won't be affected because I will surely be upgrading before I get anywhere close to that 5 year mark.