All you non overclockers tell me why you don't overclock?

funny i was just thinking what buzz do guys get out of overclocking and then i saw this thread! I never tried any of this stuff mainly coz im too scared to busy something and also cause i wouldnt have a clue what im doing...

Is it easy to get going?? I dont want to get into all the watercooling stuff.. thats maybe taking it a wee bit too far.

I buy a PC to use, not to break it so thats why I dont overclock
 
there's 3 types of overclocking:

beneficial: overclocks that result in noticeable performance gains (not small changes in 3dmark scores, that's bs) that involve little cash spent on cooling so are worth it

expensive overclocks: watercooling, custom this, that and the other, in fact the money spent on hardware to overclock equals high end hardware your trying to clock to.

extreme: pointless, unstable, spend hundreds even thousands on cooling or cherry picked parts etc. to do some superpi which doesnt proove anything.


try to fall into the first category :p

it is easy, just hit del at the post and change your fsb upwards slowly (5mhz at a time) using some form of stress testing each clock up to check its all good and well.
 
lay-z-boy said:
extreme: pointless, unstable, spend hundreds even thousands on cooling or cherry picked parts etc. to do some superpi which doesnt proove anything.
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That's what I thought... Then I was reading Custom PC this month, and in the reader's build page there was a comment along these lines "I used to race motorbikes, but I can't do that any more, so now I race PCs instead". Now it makes a bit more sense to me...
 
lay-z-boy said:
it is easy, just hit del at the post and change your fsb upwards slowly (5mhz at a time) using some form of stress testing each clock up to check its all good and well.
Click to expand...


There's abit more to it than that.

But with a bit of research and tweaking great results can be achieved.
And if you are careful and sensible its perfectly safe. :)
 
easyrider said:
There's abit more to it than that.

But with a bit of research and tweaking great results can be achieved.
And if you are careful and sensible its perfectly safe. :)
Click to expand...

wasnt aiming to write a guide on how to do it, was just showing how easy the basics are. :)
 
I used to be afriad of clocking however after a while I got used to it, and am very happy with the 800Mhz performance boost I get out of my trusty 4000+ :D
 
celliott said:
I used to be afriad of clocking however after a while I got used to it, and am very happy with the 800Mhz performance boost I get out of my trusty 4000+ :D
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thats one of the best clocks ive seen on a 4k+ :eek:
 
lay-z-boy said:
there's 3 types of overclocking:

beneficial: overclocks that result in noticeable performance gains (not small changes in 3dmark scores, that's bs) that involve little cash spent on cooling so are worth it

expensive overclocks: watercooling, custom this, that and the other, in fact the money spent on hardware to overclock equals high end hardware your trying to clock to.

extreme: pointless, unstable, spend hundreds even thousands on cooling or cherry picked parts etc. to do some superpi which doesnt proove anything.
Click to expand...


I beg to differ, there are different types of overclockers:

1. The budget overclocker - spend very little (If anything) for a reasonable gain / little effort.

2. The enthusiast - High end air cooling / water cooling. Hand picks parts on the basis of overclocking. Maybe watches FPS gains.

3. The extreme overclocker - High end water / water chiller / volt mods / TEC's / Phase / Cascades / Bong's. Done purely for high speeds and or benchmarking.

I would fall into the latter. I usually put speeds back to stock or maybe only slightly overclocked. It's the fun of overclocking I do it for, not the performance.
 
i don't agree. i spend as little as possible to gain as much as possible. That makes me a tight arse but more importantly, that would group me into lay-z-boy's first category more than any of yours:)
 
I overclock. As of late I've pulled the clocks of my 3700+ back to stock, and I enabled cool'n'quiet :eek:

Barely play intensive games nowadays and I'd rather have a quieter system.

Mul
 
I'm not overclocking just now but have done in the past and will probably do so again in future. My first overclock was taking my K6-2 from 300MHz to 333MHz, so I've been at it a while.

I had an MSI K7N2G-L and an XP2500+. Ran it at XP3200+ speeds for months, so the motherboard was OCed as well as the CPU. At first it was Prime95 stable and rock solid. Over a few months I noticed it crashing occasionally, as well as hearing some whining noises coming from the power regulation circitry on the MB. Eventually I was getting kicked out of pretty much every game I tried to play and it couldn't make it through 3DMark05 without booting me out. I had to underclock to get it stable. With hindsight I think I let too much dust buildup on the CPU heatsink and maybe it got cooked. I saw it go over 70ºC at one point.

The buzz from upgrading to my current MB and CPU and the relief of being able to game for hours on end without crashing was far better than any buzz I've had from overclocking. Given the choice between stability and speed I'd always take the former.

Since then I've had an 6800GT that I overclocked to over Ultra speeds but it was more to see if I could than for any performance gain and once I'd done it I put it back to stock.
 
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Can't be bothered overclocking anymore, I find it easier just to upgrade rather than spend hours overclocking, sorting out airflow etc. Hardware changes so fast these days that it's not worth the hassle to me. If a new game comes out that is sluggish and I REALLY want it to run well then I may spend time overclocking for that.
 
Hardware changes fast exactly. Overclock your components and they will last longer, giving you improved performance and saving you money at the same time.

You could purchase the next model of a CPU up, and someone elses overclocked one outperforms it, when you could have done the same and saved money.

Chris.
 
mspumperer said:
Overclocking is garunteed to reduce the life of your CPU. Some people simply don't want to update their CPU every few months, or year.

If you want to have a CPU for a few years, don't overclock it's ass into oblivion.
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Spelling that like is guaranteed to make people think you are talking bull. :p
 
harris1986 said:
lol, i highly doubt that a overclocked cpu will die within a year!
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The old P4 Northwoods died within months, but back then people were pumping 2.0volts through a 130nm chip. Sudden NorthWood Death Syndrome or SNDS was the name it was given.
Many a brave silicon soldier succumbed in that war :(
 
Two things kill cpu's


Heat and Voltage.

If you have sensible volts and nice cooling then no harm will come to the cpu.


My last opty 170 was prime stable at 2.8ghz 1.375 volts.

The stock voltage of this chip was 1.35volts.

The temps where well within specs for the chip and it ran cool.

Do you think running the chip 24/7 with a tiny bump in voltage would kill it?

No.

Do you think that running the chip 800 Mhz faster than what it said on the box would kill it?

No.

There would be no reason whatsoever why that chip would fail.

Making a cpu run faster than spec does not kill cpu's.Overclocking does not kill cpu's

Have rubbish cooling and go crazy with the volts and over time the CPU will be affected.But keep things sensible and the chip will easily outlast the time you have it.
 
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