Overclocking...

[ZeeClone]

Mmkay...

So as the title says: Overclocking.

I've just bought a watercooling system cos I was getting really pissed off with my computer sounding more like a jet taking off than I would like.

With this new found cooling ability I've turned my mind to the thought of overclocking.

I've got a Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 2.4GHz on an Asus P5Q deluxe with a Zalman V1 reserator cooling tower running Windows 7 Eval.

Any advice on programs/settings to try or avoid? And at what temperature should I stop pushing the CPU? Failing any of these, does anyone have another forum they'd suggest with nuts and bolts advice on overclocking.

Thank you in advance my fellow Escapists.

 

[Proteus214]

I've never been a fan of it because of the stress it puts on the hardware. The question is, do you want to take the risk for a few extra FPS in game?

 

[Dys]

Use bios to overclock, do it conservately and watch your tempuratures (I think your motherboard comes with overclocking software that will let you check the tempurature in windows).

The Q6600 will overclock a fair bit without putting any serious strain on the hardware on the stock heatsync, so I suspect you will get significant cpu boost. The important thing is to not get carried away and try to keep the system tempurature below 70 degrees C at idle (at least until you've tested it under stress).

 

[Halfbreed13]

I dont fuck with that shit. I have a good PC for a reason, so I dont have to melt it to play Crysis.

 

[RYjet911]

I've never been a fan of it because of the stress it puts on the hardware. The question is, do you want to take the risk for a few extra FPS in game?

I'm deeply sorry, OP, for my off topic post, but I just wanted to point out how seriously puerile posts like Proteus' are...

No, the question was not "do you want to take the risk for a few extra FPS in game?", not in the slightest. It was in fact, pretty much, "can you give me some recommendations on how to overclock?"

I know very little about how to perform the overclock, my disinterest in learning about it for the moment as I own a case that's unsuitable for air flow and only stock cooling on the fan, but I do know, having the same processor, that it is supposedly incredibly overclockable with decent cooling. I think I've read on some sites recordings of 3.5 to 4 GHz for that processor obtained without considerable stress on the hardware, if I remember correctly.

More on topic, from what I've read, it's done in advanced options in the BIOS menu of most motherboards. I've also read to only increase it by very small amounts, restarting and increasing it further each time if you feel it necessary or at least if you feel the hardware is capable of doing so. That way you shouldn't be able to overclock too much and keep your hardware safe from possible surges, overheating and other breakages.

 

[aussiesniper]

O/Cing a graphics card is dead easy. Nvidia provides a special overclocker's driver for it.

Anyway, when overclocking a CPU, just be sure that you keep it at a fairly low idle temperature (55-60 degrees is good, 70 is pushing it a little) and you should be fine. Also: don't screw with voltage settings unless you really know what you're doing.

For a Q6600, it will be a stable overclock at 3.6GHz when in the hands of an expert. As you're just starting out, I'd say be conservative and bump it up slowly from 2.8 to a ceiling of 3.2/3.3.

 

[Uncompetative]

My advice is for you to trade in your PC for a Mac Mini and a 360 and Xbox LIVE Gold subscription. After all, it is all about the software anyway.

- and before I get flamed... ask yourself 2 questions:

1. What software do you actually need to run? (Adobe Creative Suite is just fine on my 1.66 Ghz Intel Core Duo, iWork and iLife are also fine)

2. How long do you think it will be before Halo 3 comes to the PC? (The point I'm making here is that unless you love MMORPGs most AAA games come to console first. Right now, the only significant game you would miss out on is Crysis, which isn't reckoned to be that good anyway as an actual game and which one could argue hasn't been released for the PC yet because so few people own the hardware it needs...)

I can tell you one thing, my Mini is utterly silent and I can't grasp how PC users can claim to be into Multimedia/PC-as-Media-Centre when there is all this damn fan noise. The 360 isn't such a problem as I can't hear its fans over the sound of the explosions...

 

[RYjet911]

My advice is for you to trade in your PC for a Mac Mini and a 360 and Xbox LIVE Gold subscription. After all, it is all about the software anyway.

- and before I get flamed... ask yourself 2 questions:

1. What software do you actually need to run? (Adobe Creative Suite is just fine on my 1.66 Ghz Intel Core Duo, iWork and iLife are also fine)

2. How long do you think it will be before Halo 3 comes to the PC? (The point I'm making here is that unless you love MMORPGs most AAA games come to console first. Right now, the only significant game you would miss out on is Crysis, which isn't reckoned to be that good anyway as an actual game and which one could argue hasn't been released for the PC yet because so few people own the hardware it needs...)

I can tell you one thing, my Mini is utterly silent and I can't grasp how PC users can claim to be into Multimedia/PC-as-Media-Centre when there is all this damn fan noise. The 360 isn't such a problem as I can't hear its fans over the sound of the explosions...

Uuuh... £649 for the decent version of the Mac Mini that I could recreate for around £300 building a PC myself? Or get for £400 prebuilt?

Another £150 for a 360? Another £40 a year on top of internet?

THIS WAS NOT A THREAD FOR PEOPLE TO SUGGEST HE SHOULD USE OTHER TECHNOLOGY

I really am sorry to ZeeClone for essentially hijacking his thread to moan at people like you who just want to portray your bullshit messages when all they do is ask a simple question. Is it really difficult to answer "How do I overclock?" without going into "Oh, instead, buy one of these even though you've already got a computer and just bought a superb cooling system for it."

I looked at the Mac Mini, and by god is it SHITE for the money you pay. £499 for the basic model, which only has one gig RAM, 2 GHz dual core and a 120 gigabyte harddrive. The £649 I mentioned is for the better one which is only really a RAM and space improvement (Same processor, doubled RAM and 320 gig hard drive). My PC from FOUR YEARS AGO was fifty quid less and only had a smaller hard drive. And mine had a 2.8 GHz Pentium D, although now the same 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo ZeeClone wants to overclock.

For two hundred quid I will be getting a whole new computer with getting a decent fan cooled case, motherboard, graphics card and 4 gigabytes of RAM (The aforementioned processor and the powersupply for it were ones I got off a friend for a drastically reduced price admittedly) and working it out I should be capable of playing most PC games on high to highest graphics with said setup WITHOUT overclocking. With overclocking I should be able to get highest on most modern games.

Perhaps, considering he has a PC and wants to overclock it, he actually LIKES PLAYING FUCKING PC GAMES. Considering most people on the Escapist have both a PC and at least one of the current gen consoles, he may already have your suggested 360. However, there are many games on PC which aren't available on consoles, or simply play better on PC than they would on a console.

Please, Uncompetitive, and ANYONE else who wants to contribute to this thread, or in fact any other regarding a query made by someone, if you are going to post, answer his question. Even with my rants I've tried to answer it to the best of my knowledge.

Again, sorry ZeeClone for these inappropriate rants.

(P.S. The fans in my case are barely audible over the noise of my open window. This is STOCK COOLING. Get lost with your Apple-fanatic ways of how it's sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than the Windows PC, when I can barely hear my fans with no noise coming from my own.)

 

[Horticulture]

Orthos [http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/] to test stability and load temperatures (the maximum temperature the CPU reaches under 100% use for extended periods). Try to keep temperatures below 70 even at load. It shouldn't be a problem at all on water.

Edit: you'll also have to raise the voltage to get the best stable overclock...do this very, very slowly. It's a huge factor in temperature increase. You'll want to devote some time to stress testing the lowest possible voltage for your desired overclock to minimize stress to the CPU.

 

[Max_A_Buck]

With overclocking, you really should google 'safe' settings for your processor. The old rule of thumb was that you could overclock 10% with no problems. Now days it would be substantially higher. Don't forget to keep an eye on the temperatures and as you raise the FSB (Front Side Bus) or Clock Multiplier, you'll need to raise the Core Voltage. If you google 'overclocking Q6600' I'd dare say you'll find something. That said, it's usually the video card that holds the system back. Well, in my case anyway.

 

[Horticulture]

My advice is for you to trade in your PC for a Mac Mini and a 360 and Xbox LIVE Gold subscription. After all, it is all about the software anyway.

- and before I get flamed... ask yourself 2 questions:

1. What software do you actually need to run? (Adobe Creative Suite is just fine on my 1.66 Ghz Intel Core Duo, iWork and iLife are also fine)

2. How long do you think it will be before Halo 3 comes to the PC? (The point I'm making here is that unless you love MMORPGs most AAA games come to console first. Right now, the only significant game you would miss out on is Crysis, which isn't reckoned to be that good anyway as an actual game and which one could argue hasn't been released for the PC yet because so few people own the hardware it needs...)

I can tell you one thing, my Mini is utterly silent and I can't grasp how PC users can claim to be into Multimedia/PC-as-Media-Centre when there is all this damn fan noise. The 360 isn't such a problem as I can't hear its fans over the sound of the explosions...

What does this have to do with overclocking, exactly?

 

[Nutcase]

I looked at the Mac Mini, and by god is it SHITE for the money you pay.

To the contrary, it's the very best PC in its class on the market. My friend built a PC in that form factor. It turned out slower, noisier, and cost more.

 

[koichan]

My advice is for you to trade in your PC for a Mac Mini and a 360 and Xbox LIVE Gold subscription. After all, it is all about the software anyway.

- and before I get flamed... ask yourself 2 questions:

1. What software do you actually need to run? (Adobe Creative Suite is just fine on my 1.66 Ghz Intel Core Duo, iWork and iLife are also fine)

2. How long do you think it will be before Halo 3 comes to the PC? (The point I'm making here is that unless you love MMORPGs most AAA games come to console first. Right now, the only significant game you would miss out on is Crysis, which isn't reckoned to be that good anyway as an actual game and which one could argue hasn't been released for the PC yet because so few people own the hardware it needs...)

I can tell you one thing, my Mini is utterly silent and I can't grasp how PC users can claim to be into Multimedia/PC-as-Media-Centre when there is all this damn fan noise. The 360 isn't such a problem as I can't hear its fans over the sound of the explosions...

interesting post, even if i do disagree with most of it!

I will give you the fact that some games seem to come out on consoles first/only (that is the only reason i own a 360)

depends what you want from games really: if you're happy with the lesser graphics of consoles, controller-only inputs and never being able to alter the games yourself, they're fine.

A reasonable spec PC blows consoles out of the water graphics wise nowadays
eg. fallout 3 i'm playing 1920x1200 res with every option set to max and with added high-res texture-packs made by modders
almost no current console games can output 1080p (1920x1080) video natively, they render at lower resolutions and scale it up (which is very noticeable in some games)

All things considered, i buy games on the PC by preference and only for the 360 if they're console-exclusive

noise-wise: a PC can be as loud as you want or completely silent, depends what parts you use to build it.

As for the mac mini: if you want it as a basic web-browsing and light-usage PC, like you mentioned, it's perfect.
my little laptop is used pretty much the same way and is fine even with it's 1.2ghz core duo.

My main PC is different though, a lot more powerfull and actually gets used to it's max most of the time (especially when i start editing video on it )

Anyway, enough derailing the thread
Q6600 overclocking article might be handy.

but overclocking in general, as long as you don't go too fast in ramping up the settings, theres next to no risk.
just keep bumping up the speed until it becomes unstable, increase the voltage a little bit to counter, then check for stability usually does the trick

personally i have my Phenom 9950 quad up from it's stock 2.6ghz to 3.1ghz fairly easily, though you should be able to get a much greater overclock with the 6600

 

[evilgenius134]

Halo 3 probably won't come to the PC and even by then no one will be playing it anymore when it does considering Halo 2 came out in '07 and few people play that.

For Ocing about 70C is a max temperature for a CPU but with water cooling that would be quite serious overclocking and be less of a heat issue and more a stress issue. For teh CPU you have 3GHz will be a good place to get to before doing mroe tweaks, but rememebr you'll be wanting to maybe bump your memory up a bit assuming your MoBo can handle it on the FSB since that is the main bottleneck on systems.

For teh PU as said the nVidia and ATI control panels offer easy ways to OC clock and memory speeds and can easily be pushed much higher. You can even buy after market coolers for them to get even more.

Oh and for Crysis even at release there was plenty of hardware to run it at 1680x1050 just the current system needed a different approach to play rather than slow 2GB of RAM and low VRAM GPUs. When Crysis was released you needed to have 800MHZ 4GB DDR2 RAM and a 1GB GPU. which were both around then.

 

[ZeeClone]

Thank you one and all for your comments and suggestions. On the subject of graphics card overclocking, the sink that came with the reserator only covered the GPU not the ram or the MOSFETs.

I'll be back later I just found out some important paperwork just arrived at the office

 

[SilentHunter7]

Remember one thing:

It's not the clock speed that makes a processor run hotter. It's the voltage. A hundredth of a volt (0.01v) can potentially increase the core temperature by as much as 5 degrees Celsius. You can increase the clock speed as much as you want without too much fear, but you're eventually going to hit a wall where the CPU isn't getting enough juice, and starts doing calculation errors. Thus you're going to have to bump up the voltage. When you do, do it in the smallest possible increments you motherboard will allow, and give the cpu at least 1-3 hours of full load testing, while you watch the temperatures.

To tell if your clock speed is stable for your voltage, you should download an overclocking stress tester, and let it run for about an hour. If it reports any errors (or if the system crashes), it's time to either scale back the speed, or up the voltage. Once you're satisfied with your settings, you should do one more stress test, and let it run overnight, just to be sure.

As far as temperatures go, anything below 60 degrees C (140*F) is generally safe, and you shouldn't want to go above 75 (167*F). After 80, your processor will start to show burn marks, and at 90, your transistors are so hot, they'll start melting the soldering around the processor socket, if the processor core doesn't burn away first.


Also, one last thing, you should let the thermal paste on your heatsink cure for a few days before you start overclocking. Until the paste dries, it won't conduct heat as well.

 

[Uncompetative]

My advice is for you to trade in your PC for a Mac Mini and a 360 and Xbox LIVE Gold subscription. After all, it is all about the software anyway.

- and before I get flamed... ask yourself 2 questions:

1. What software do you actually need to run? (Adobe Creative Suite is just fine on my 1.66 Ghz Intel Core Duo, iWork and iLife are also fine)

2. How long do you think it will be before Halo 3 comes to the PC? (The point I'm making here is that unless you love MMORPGs most AAA games come to console first. Right now, the only significant game you would miss out on is Crysis, which isn't reckoned to be that good anyway as an actual game and which one could argue hasn't been released for the PC yet because so few people own the hardware it needs...)

I can tell you one thing, my Mini is utterly silent and I can't grasp how PC users can claim to be into Multimedia/PC-as-Media-Centre when there is all this damn fan noise. The 360 isn't such a problem as I can't hear its fans over the sound of the explosions...

What does this have to do with overclocking, exactly?

Anyone as clueless as the OP shouldn't do be Overclocking at all. I was just presenting an alternative.

Why risk cooking your new CPU that has cost you as much as a 360. I just don't get it... unless it is a "hobbyist" thing, like fixing cars.

 

[Baneat]

Do it in bios, a little bit at a time, and stress it with prime95 to test for stability

 

[Horticulture]

Anyone as clueless as the OP shouldn't do be Overclocking at all. I was just presenting an alternative.

Why risk cooking your new CPU that has cost you as much as a 360. I just don't get it... unless it is a "hobbyist" thing, like fixing cars.

Overclocking a Core 2 is somewhere between tying your shoes and setting up a DVR in terms of difficulty...we're not talking open-heart surgery here.

Though lots of people are, like you say, into overclocking for its own sake, almost anyone can get a significant speed boost by spending a little time in BIOS and checking temps, with barely any risk of CPU damage. It's not the hyper-delicate operation it;s often made out to be.

 

[chronobreak]

Check out overclockers.com

Also, I would recommend having someone do it who is familiar with overclocking, or at least has done it before. Unless you have another computer laying around to practice on, you have a pretty nice comp, don't want to kill it. In fact, I would recommend you not do it at all, you should have no trouble with speed issues with your current setup.