Overclocking laptop CPU- worth the risk?

almoststew1990

almoststew1990

almoststew1990

Soldato
Joined
12 May 2011
Posts
6,305
Location
Southampton
I have a HP Pavilion DV3-4100sa, with an Intel P6100 2GHz (ATI 5470, 4GB 1333MHz) and it performs pretty weakly in games that are not graphically demanding (allowing CPU bottlenecks to show?) such as fallout 3 and ARMA 1.

I know it is generally not advisable to overclock any component in a laptop, but here is my logic: in games my GPU (I assume) is not working too hard (I've limited the frame rate to 30, but I still get fps dips when the CPU struggles, and I used to get dips when the frame rate was unlocked and reached 40+ in various games, so therefore it is the CPU causing the dips?), so is not emitting much heat- the fan does not spin up too much (anymore; it did when the fps was 'unlocked', but i locked it so to not tax the GPU too much/noise/heat).

So I am thinking this leaves more headroom / capacity for the cooling system to deal with CPU heat (in a laptop the copper heat sink/pipes all connected up as one, right?), as the GPU is not emitting so much.

Also, my processor is the second weakest (only ahead of the P6000 1.86GHz I think) for my laptop's platform/chassis, so therefore the cooling system/layout/structure can deal with higher heat output than it currently has to deal with?

I was thinking a simple overclock, not increasing the voltage, and it would have to be done by software as the BIOS is very limited. I have overclocked components before (on desktops) so I consider myself fairly competant at it.

So is there any truth behind my logic? Or should I just not go there and not overclock...
 
usually its not recommended as cooling can be a problem.
does your laptop have overclocking options in the bios? as most low to mid ones have a locked bios.
if you do this, then take your time, and CHECK your temps
 
Sincerely, it's not worth it.. Laptops are the worst pieces to OC..

Besides, OC under software/Windows is the worst stable way to do it.. It will crash, for sure..

All you said is logical, and almost answered yourself.. ;)

But, as we never are satisficed with things, you can give it a try and see what happens.. Advice: do it in small increments, let say .05MHz each.. Is the most I think you could get from it.. And always monitor your temps with MSI Afterburner/CoreTemp (both). At the very first glich/freeze/crash, roll back to default and analize it... ;)

Best regards.. :)
 
Heat might not likely be the issue here, especially if the laptop comes with better specced cpus though it seems to only come with the 6100 from what i can see. Likely issue is finding the right software to actually overclock it and there likely won't be much of a gain in what you can get to make a real difference. The HM55 supports a lot of better cpus that might make the difference you're looking for, however i don't know if your BIOS and cooling will support it.

http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Intel_(chipsets)/HM55_Express.html
 
Last edited:
you would be better off finding the service manual and checking what type of CPU socket it has and what is the fastest CPU it will take. Then see if you can find it cheaply, buy it, and install it.

However taking a laptop apart can be very time consuming and not one for the faint hearted.
 
Looking at the support list a lot of the i7 and i5 support same or lower TDP so as long as the BIOS supports them there will be no cooling issues. Haven't worked on those particular laptops so can't tell if the cpu upgrade is easy or not (i.e just a panel job or complete disassembly).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom