Why should I overclock ?

steveinspain

steveinspain

steveinspain

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OK, as any of you who have read and replied to any of my threads will know by now, I am a beginner who asks lots of silly questions - however, I am learning, albeit slowly...
So, todays question is - why should I overclock ?
I don't play games, but am ripping loads of cd's, do a little photo-editing, so nothing major. My cpu is an E8400 wolfdale, mobo is an Asus P5QL with 4gb ram powered by a Corsair 650W psu. Temps are already low, and I am getting a sunbeam core cooler in a few days, so expect them to be even lower.
Now, for someone who uses his pc in a 'non-intensive' way (ie no games etc) would there be any point in overclocking, and what difference would it make - meaning just how would I see any difference ? I understand that gaming will be faster and easier, but for 'normal' use, just what difference does it make - do apps load faster, does the pc boot faster or what ?

So please explain exactly what happens IN EVERYDAY USE when one overclocks please !
Cheers,
Steve
 
Uhm to be honest in everday computing you wont notice a difference. Overclocking helps performance intensive applications such as games and photoshopping software. It will not make ur emails download faster or google search faster. you can always try it to see if its your cup of tea just make sure you dont do any damage.
 
I don't really see what your question is. Most E8400s will clock to 4ghz. It's free performance.

Windows starts up noticeably faster with my i7 @ 3.8ghz compared to with it at 2.66ghz.
 
All I would say is that I took my Q6600 to 3Ghz very easily in about 5 minutes (with no experience at all) after reading through the posts on here. I haven't even scratched the surface with overclocking, I know nothing about the finer details, such as RAM speeds, and overclocking graphics cards, but my PC is noticeably faster than when at it's 2.4Ghz standard setting. All I did was up the FSB. I didn't have to fiddle with voltages or any other settings.

So, as RJC says, performance gain for a few minutes work. Costs no money. And you get a kick out of accomplishing it when you are a noob like me! Win. Win. :D
 
i had an OLD P4 1.4, then overclocked it to 1.8, i had a noticable difference, i never used this computer for games, it would get to the desktop quicker, load apps quicker and actualy put a big smile on my face.

a couple of weeks later i got a 1.8 P4 off eBay for a couple of quid which i managed to overclock to 2.4Ghz which really was a huge jump, and again i noticed loads more improvement to the OC'd 1.8 P4 i used before.

otherthings to consider is RAM overclocking, this will also benifit yourself.
 
Things in Windows and general use will be faster, you'll have to wait for things less. You won't notice these things now because you're used to them, but if you were to go back to a slower system, you'd notice them straight away.
 
Ben M said:
Things in Windows and general use will be faster, you'll have to wait for things less. You won't notice these things now because you're used to them, but if you were to go back to a slower system, you'd notice them straight away.
Click to expand...

Right - That is the sort of answer I was looking for, along with neotiger, Gepatto and original.wood.
I understand that my pc will run faster, but never understood, not have never been given a reason to get a faster processor or overclock, in real terms given my usage of a pc.
I will try it, but for the fun, and only a little at a time, but guess I don't really need to push my pc too hard.

Reflux - I may be bad at explaining things, but I never understood what was affected by a faster processor - loading programs, photoshop etc clearly is, as I now know !

Cheers All !
 
Well yeah, the processor is the brain of the PC. So a faster processor means the whole thing runs faster.

Obviously there is a point at which the basic uses of a PC don't benefit from increased speed - I think this is what you were getting at; but this point isn't as close as people might think.

Also bear in mind that overclocking can future proof, to some extent, your machine. With an extra 1ghz or so, the machine can perform similarly to newer CPUs, which saves you having to upgrade.

It's basically a money-saving exercise; like tweaking anything to get extra performance out of it. Whilst the parts are stressed running at speeds faster than the manufacturer sets them at, their safe limits are usually very conservative because a wide variety of different quality chips have to pass the factory tests. The poorer quality chips usually end up at the bottom end of the spectrum, but with a design like Intel's Core 2 Duo, which scales very well and is a very mature process now, the bottom end chips are very similar to the higher end chips in terms of the quality of the silicon.
 
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E8400 overclocks to 3.6Ghz without changing the voltage, so theres really no reason not to. Give it a go and see if it makes any difference to you
 
reflux - you understand my ramblings - thanks for explaining further !

Years back, I asked my local computer builder why I needed a faster chip, and never understood the reply, despite many attempts. It just seemed like a marketing ploy.
I know I have a good chip, so will try it, but now with slightly more idea what to expect - plain English helps people like me, who are just about out of their depth !
selven - I will !
 
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