Do nVidia cards clock themselves down?

[ArcticFox]

OK, so I go out and build my system using a BFG Asylum Ti 4200 128mb. The stock speed is 250/444 (core/mem, 222mhz DDR), and I OC it to 275/500. My 3DMark2001SE score boosts by over 500 points as a result, which is nice. Now I recieve a score of 6000 something upon doing another run, so does this mean my card is clocking itself down to reduce heat? I know Intel CPU's do this, but graphics cards? I thought they just crashed.

PS: I brought the speed down to defaults until further notice.

EDIT: LOL hahah.... I did it again. Right before I ran 3DMark another time, I was playing Counter-Strike (Counter-Suck?) with 2x AA and 4x Anisotropic Filtering on. I've done this with my old comp and it's GeForce2 MX, forcing my freinds to reinstall CS because I thought it was a problem with their PC's, when it was only me and my quality settings. So that problem is fixed, but the question remains....

[311Sam]

I the fx series of cards have a dynamic clock but not the ti series.

[soulja]

for older versions like mx or ti u need to download geforce programs to overclock em'

[ArcticFox]

I used powerstrip to clock my Ti 4200 to 345/545 and got a 3DMark2001SE score of 12110!!!

[pinoy87]

Just because a card can be clocked higher than default it doesnt mean that it is clocked down. The rated speed for cores and ram isnt a sure thing, some perform better than they should. I believe companies clock the core and ram a little lower than its maximum for safety reasons such as to make sure the majority made will run at that speed. There are always bad batches. No one can be sure of the exact speed a chip can run at.

[cbuddha42]

nope gf4 should run at whatever its set for

[Xtreeme]

Yep-G4 and G3 dont autoclock down. FX does but ONLY if useing 2d not 3d games and such. THe fan also turns off. Its to cut down on noise and power is all.

[ArcticFox]

OK, I think it was just fluctuations in benchmarking, as I get my 12000+ in 3DMark but when I watch the game tests, the framerate is lower than before. Strange, but it's the end result that counts.