Do you overclock?

[Wolfram23]

Hey there Escapists! I have a question for the PC gamers out there - do you overclock? Whether it's CPU, GPU, RAM - whatever! I ask because I just researched, bought, and built a new PC a few weeks back, first time I've done that, and now I'm working on overclocking it after reading a ton of guides and how-tos and just all the info I can. I find it's a lot of fun actually, but very time consuming.
As of now, my CPU is an i5 750 up from 2.66ghz to 3.8ghz
GPU is a Sapphire 5850 up from 750 core/ 1000 memory to 985/1200

Also, if you do, what are your favorite apps for stability and benchmarking? I run Prime95 and LinX, and I just got Everest which looks like it's really only good at checking RAM and HDD speeds. For monitoring I have HWMonitor and CoreTemp. And for GPU OCing I use MSI Afterburner with Kombustor to test it - based on the popular Furmark.

 

[Randomologist]

I don't overclock anything, I don't want to risk it. And wow, 2.66 to 3.8? That's some jump, I hope the cooling system is up to it. I doubt mine is, being a laptop.

 

[TriggerHappyAngel]

hell no, i don't want my computer to go up in flames D:

 

[Danpascooch]

I never overclocked, because I heard it can cause long term damage to my computer, and my computer is more than fast enough for what I need, so why would I risk breaking it?

 

[Outright Villainy]

Well I could certainly use it, my processor is pretty pitiful, but to be honest, it'd be too much hassle for a laptop, and I can just steal my brother's in the summer anyway. What's embarassing is that my younger brother has a better comp than I.

 

[Pingieking]

I'm a total newb at overclocking, but I do a little bit.
Overclock the CPU from 2.66 to ~3.2 ghz so that my PC can emulate stuff like Okami and Valkryie Profile 2 effectively. The frame rates are sitting at about 30~45 fps if I don't overclock.
As for what I use, it's something that a TA gave me which I can't remember the name of. I'll probably look it up when I get home and update or something.

I never overclocked, because I heard it can cause long term damage to my computer, and my computer is more than fast enough for what I need, so why would I risk breaking it?

From what I understand, it shortens the lifespan of your components. Since for most components lifespan >> time until obsolescence it's generally not a huge problem unless you don't plan on replacing it for 6 or 7 years.

 

[Wolfram23]

Hmm well from what I've found, the biggest threat when OCing is temperatures. CPUs are good up to mid 70s, GPUs into the 80s. As my OCs stand, the CPU tops out at 61C under max loads and the GPU at about 78C, but when gaming only about 65-70. Yes, I have a large aftermarket cooler - the Zalman CNPS10X Extreme.

Also, I totally understand the worry of overclocking. However, I picked all the components of my PC specially for their overclockability. I don't think everything is overclockable. If you bought a Dell or HP or something, it's a lot harder to do.

 

[SomeBoredGuy]

This is probably really stupid but, what is overclocking?

 

[Randomologist]

This is probably really stupid but, what is overclocking?

Changing the power supply to various components in order to improve performance. Naturally, this puts them under more strain, hence the risk.

Edit: I stand corrected, it's actually more to do with the BIOS settings, the power increase is only necessary for stability.

 

[VincentX3]

Yup

C2D E8400 from 3Ghz to 3.3Ghz
Nvidia 9600GT also overclocked.

 

[dariuskyne]

This is probably really stupid but, what is overclocking?

Changing the power supply to various components in order to improve performance. Naturally, this puts them under more strain, hence the risk.

the power supply has little to do with overclocking, it only supplys electricity to the components, thus the term power supply...

overclocking is using the internal bios settings (on modern computers, older ones used jumper settings) of the pc to force the cpu to run at a faster speed, most cpus are capable of higher speeds than they are rated at, and yeah the biggest thing is heat the harder you push the cpu the more heat will be generated, when i worked at radio shack, there used to be a guy that would come in every week to buy thermal paste, because he was pushing his cpu much farther than it needed to be pushed.

 

[Wolfram23]

This is probably really stupid but, what is overclocking?

Changing the power supply to various components in order to improve performance. Naturally, this puts them under more strain, hence the risk.

Well, more importantly it's increasing the speeds at which your motherboard communicates with the CPU, memory, graphics cards etc, as well as the speeds at which those components themselves run. The increase in power is more of a side effect that needs to be done for stability otherwise it crashes.

EDIT: Ninja'd haha. oh well.

 

[SuccessAndBiscuts]

This is probably really stupid but, what is overclocking?

Think of it as the computing equivelent of artificially upping the RPM of the engine in your car/motorbike. More performance when it comes to flat out speed but it produces more heat and wear too.

 

[Woodsey]

I don't overclock anything, I don't want to risk it. And wow, 2.66 to 3.8? That's some jump, I hope the cooling system is up to it. I doubt mine is, being a laptop.

I think the biggest OC ever was on a Pentium 4 on 2.*something* GHz, and they ramped the fucker all the way up to 8. Needless to say, I think the cost of keeping it cool meant they couldn't run it long enough for much practical use xD

OT: No, although it's not a particularly viable option considering I have no money if I fuck up, me being 15 and all. I know there are some programs that pretty much do it for you though, so I'm only against the idea (for now) because I can't afford to make a mistake.

 

[Randomologist]

@dariuskyne and Wolfram01:
Whoops. I blame my ignorance on my briefly looking at this last year in an IT lesson, turns out that part was quite oversimplified. My bad

 

[Sampler]

Have my Core2Duo OC'd from 2.4GHz to 3.6GHz by upping the system FSB to 400 from 266 which means I can leave my 800MHz RAM at a 1:1 ratio without having to OC it (as there's all four banks populated with 2GB modules it gets a bit touchy running normally never mind OC, had to up the voltage slightly just to get it to run with 8GB of RAM).

Graphics card wise I generally leave at stock (ATi Sapphire 4750 512MB) but when I disable the secondary monitor I can OC it to the full limit of the ATi OC tool built into the driver (Primary monitor is 1680x1050 - 22"). With the secondary on it doesn't OC that well. As I said though, generally leave it at stock as I don't game much but have the juice pumped up for encoding, play with video alot.

As the system overclock is mearly an FSB increase it doesn't generate that much more heat, though I have an Artic Cooling Pro Freezer 7 with some AS5 compound which are a great combination, half the temps of the stock HSF. Case cooling also has 5x80mms (2 intakes, 3 vents) and a 120m (intake) plus the 120mm in 80mm out on the PSU - and it's a thin aluminium case so it transfers heat itself quite nicely whilst still being very strong.

Even have the OCZ RAM cooler which has two 60mm fans sat over the DIMMs.

Yeah, my machine sounds like a tornado - used to have water cooling but the topping up, draining and all that annoyed the hell out of me. Least maintenance with this is a quick blast with a can of compressed air every other month.

 

[Wolfram23]

I don't overclock anything, I don't want to risk it. And wow, 2.66 to 3.8? That's some jump, I hope the cooling system is up to it. I doubt mine is, being a laptop.

I think the biggest OC ever was on a Pentium 4 on 2.*something* GHz, and they ramped the fucker all the way up to 8. Needless to say, I think the cost of keeping it cool meant they couldn't run it long enough for much practical use xD

OT: No, although it's not a particularly viable option considering I have no money if I fuck up, me being 15 and all. I know there are some programs that pretty much do it for you though, so I'm only against the idea (for now) because I can't afford to make a mistake.

Just fyi, from everything I've heard and read, using a program to overclock anything except your graphics card is asking for something to break. The ideal way is to simple boot into your BIOS and start tweaking. Older systems you tweak with Front Side Bus speeds, while new ones you tweak a Base Clock speed, and from there use multipliers for CPU and RAM speeds. There's other stuff too tho, you can tweak a ton of latency settings on RAM which I barely understand, and of course there's always the voltage settings.

Oh and about that 8ghz OC, while I don't know of that one specifically, that is insane! And also, only acheivable using a liquid nitrogene cooling system. I've seen some high OCs in the 5ghz range that way, as well as really crazy video card OCs.

 

[Wolfram23]

Have my Core2Duo OC'd from 2.4GHz to 3.6GHz by upping the system FSB to 400 from 266 which means I can leave my 800MHz RAM at a 1:1 ratio without having to OC it (as there's all four banks populated with 2GB modules it gets a bit touchy running normally never mind OC, had to up the voltage slightly just to get it to run with 8GB of RAM).

Graphics card wise I generally leave at stock (ATi Sapphire 4750 512MB) but when I disable the secondary monitor I can OC it to the full limit of the ATi OC tool built into the driver (Primary monitor is 1680x1050 - 22"). With the secondary on it doesn't OC that well. As I said though, generally leave it at stock as I don't game much but have the juice pumped up for encoding, play with video alot.

That's a pretty good OC. I hear that system of mobo and ram runs best at 1:1 ratio. I'm on a different system, can't compare directly but... yeah. I actually don't really intend to run 100% of the time at max OC but I find it a lot of fun to play with. In the next week I aim to have a stable 4ghz. Although I'm also trying tweaking with the Base Clock (similar to FSB). I have it set to 200 right now (200x19 for 3.8ghz, x8 for 1600mhz RAM) but I got it stable at 220, with underclocked CPU and RAM speeds since it's not a perfect multiplier. At 230 I couldn't get it to boot. For the video card I also leave it stock 80% of the time but when I boot up a game, I load the OC profile.

Sounds like a sweet set up you've got. I bought the Antec 900 II case, large tower case with 2 front fans, 1 rear, and 1 top all with spiffy blue lights lol. Also has a side window with a vent that I could attach a fan to, as well as a slot for an internal fan right in front of the GPU but for now that's overkill since I play in a cool basement anyway.

 

[Low Key]

I'd overclock if I knew how, played games on my PC, and had a liquid cooled system. But no, I don't. My computer is already plenty fast without doing anything to it.