Software vs BIOS OC ?

psikey · 17 Feb 2011 at 16:39

Whats the negatives in just doing a software OC with utilities that come with a motherboard once booted into the OS that arn't resident settings on reboot?

I'm only really looking to OC when gaming (and maybe occassional media encoding) so isn't it best to just use the software OC rather than have a permanent OC in the BIOS? I'm thinking about component life, fan noise, power usage etc.

90% of time the PC is just used for general stuff such as Web/HTPC/iTunes/Office type stuff with gaming only around 5-10hrs per week.

OpenToSuggestions · 17 Feb 2011 at 23:11

You can overclock a fair amount with no voltage increases. Extra voltage is then needed to a decent overclock. Then loads more voltage is needed for that final 100mhz.

Overclock you PC by a fair amount and leave it clocked that that.

Software is rubbish for overclocking and will likely use high voltages. The bios is always the best way (GPU's are ok for software though).

Only worry about component life if you have added a lot of voltage.

Hope that was of some help to you

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Cob · 17 Feb 2011 at 23:38

If your bedroom has Fisher-Price scattered around it then go with the software. Otherwise...

Your BIOS should let you set up several profiles, so you can switch between default and an overlocked setting.

psikey · 17 Feb 2011 at 23:59

Thanks for the feedback. Just gone for a mild BIOS overclock to get the RAM from 1333 to 1600 and CPU from 133x21 to 160x21 so from 2.8GHz to 3.34GHz. I have a basic motherboard so am limited even though I have the i7 860 and 4GB XMS3 RAM.

Gets me min of 33fps on Crysis at 1080p with everything maxed so good enough for me (OC 5850 GPU).

zoomee · 18 Feb 2011 at 08:36

Cob said:
If your bedroom has Fisher-Price scattered around it then go with the software. Otherwise...