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#1: Overclocking Guide Author: Odini, Location: UK

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 11:11 am
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Hi all,

Having spoken to Soulfly recently and his interest in overclocking, I thought that I would post some information here to help. I would probably start out without touching voltages, this way you definately won't cause any damage as you are not giving it any extra power. This will however limit how far you can push your hardware before giving it more juice. Once your more comfortable with the various numbers mean, you can start playing more with voltages.

A couple of rules for overclocking,
1. Ensure you have a decent branded power supply, generic ones really cannot overclock as they barely provide the stated power as they are
2. Keep an eye on temperatures! DL something like CoreTemp to see your CPU temps
3. Benchmark for at least 12 hours to ensure stability with something like Orthos. (Remember to manually set the affinity as this can only address 2 Cores if overclocking a Quad Core)
4. Don't attempt this if you use a stock cooler for the CPU, not so important for graphics as most have custom coolers as standard
5. And finally, overclocking is not a set science! Your Milage May Vary (YMMV) is definately true!

Please feel free to post comments and/or results of your ventures.

CPU Overclocking:
PCStats' Overclocking Guide
Tech Radar's Guide

Video Card Overclocking:
Bit-Tech's Guide

#2: Re: Overclocking Guide Author: Soulfly, Location: Edinburgh,Scotland

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 1:46 pm
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Thanks mate,ill probaly not be over clocking.I was really asking members about some water cooling systems seeing if they would be worth buying for a standard system or they only really worth gettin if i was to over clock.If i do get brave and decide to tinker with pc settings ill check out the guide again.

#3: Re: Overclocking Guide Author: Colin747, Location: Northern Ireland, UK

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:50 pm
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got my i7 to 4.2 Ghz a while back, put it back to stock though as there is no way i'd need that much power lol

#4: Re: Overclocking Guide Author: Odini, Location: UK

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 4:22 pm
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I would argue that it depends on what you're doing. Things such as video encoding have a massive difference if overclocking as they are very dependant on clock speeds, gaming however tends to be limited by the graphics so you won't. Although they do have graphics card overclocking, which would.

I would say that as long as you're not pushing it to the absolute limit, the slight reduction in life (probably will still last 10 odd years...) is worth the pay-off.

That's just me though.

#5: Re: Overclocking Guide Author: larsier, Location: Hoorn

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 7:49 pm
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i build my pc so i would be able to do it without extra cooling and the likes, but so far i don't need the extra power, but thanks anyway Razz

#6: Re: Overclocking Guide Author: Colin747, Location: Northern Ireland, UK

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 7:56 pm
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— larsier wrote
i build my pc so i would be able to do it without extra cooling and the likes,

ehh?

don't get what you mean there, no way stock cooling will do when overclocking

#7: Re: Overclocking Guide Author: Jefri, Location: Edinburgh

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 10:25 pm
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— Odini wrote

I would probably start out without touching voltages, this way you definately won't cause any damage as you are not giving it any extra power.

Sorry mate, but I dont think its that easy way... of course you can not cause that easy damages when just touching the clock frequenzy but you definetly can damage your hardware...

#8: Re: Overclocking Guide Author: Nighthawk, Location: Somewhere in Cyberspace, but always on the Battlefield.

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:22 am
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I'm a qualified PC engineer....and WILL tell anyone DO NOT OVERCLOCK...why????
People think that the secret to overclocking is keeping your system as cool as possible and that keeping it cool will prevent any damage being done to the CPU, RAM, and graphics card.......well sorry to tell you but giving your CPU,RAM or graphics card more voltage to overclock will in fact shorten the CPU, RAM and graphics cards life due to giving it more voltage.....it's the added voltage you give the CPU that shortens it's life....NOT HEAT......intel CPU's will automatically shut down to protect them if they get too hot, AMD Cpu's or at least older AMD processors didn't shut down when too hot....so they could be overclocked more if you have great watercooling, BUT as i said upping the voltage on your CPU to gain higher clock speeds will shorten the CPU's lifespan...NOT HEAT. Search the internet type in google " does giving your CPU more volts when overclocking shorten the CPU's life" and you will get many many overclockers telling you "YES".....how come an intel core 2 duo E8400 running at it's stock 3.00GHZ with a half decent heatsink and fan like the arctic freezer 7 pro last for anything between 6-10 years, yet the same processor overclocked to 3.8GHZ die after 3-4 years....god i have an old pentium 4 3.00GHZ (one of the first released by intel) and it's still going 7-8 years after i built the PC and my daughter is still using it....SIMPLE.....IT'S NEVER BEEN OVERCLOCKED..

#9: Re: Overclocking Guide Author: Odini, Location: UK

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 8:31 am
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— Nighthawk wrote
it's the added voltage you give the CPU that shortens it's life...

I completely agree, however I still think that the pay-off is worth the reduced lifespan. I would argue that the spans you stated are a little extreme. I still have an old AMD 64 3200+ that had a mild OC that is running just fine (I think it was 3-400 MHz).

Also with the evolution of CPU development, the risks have reduced. Modern CPUs (Core i5/i7) overclock themselves with Intel Turbo Boost Technology anyway.

And finally, most gamers will update their hardware more often than the life span of the product. For example, most games will no longer run on CPUs such as the original P4. It does completely depend on what you use your machine for and how long you intend to run it but most people if using decent kit have little to worry about when overclocking.

#10: Re: Overclocking Guide Author: larsier, Location: Hoorn

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 1:00 pm
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— Colin747 wrote
— larsier wrote
i build my pc so i would be able to do it without extra cooling and the likes,

ehh?

don't get what you mean there, no way stock cooling will do when overclocking

i'm saying that i have 7 vans (and not small ones eather)

#11: Re: Overclocking Guide Author: Odini, Location: UK

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 4:05 pm
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— larsier wrote
— Colin747 wrote
— larsier wrote
i build my pc so i would be able to do it without extra cooling and the likes,

ehh?

don't get what you mean there, no way stock cooling will do when overclocking

i'm saying that i have 7 vans (and not small ones eather)

Vans?! Do you mean fans?

#12: Re: Overclocking Guide Author: larsier, Location: Hoorn

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 8:54 pm
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those things that blow wind Razz

#13: Re: Overclocking Guide Author: Nighthawk, Location: Somewhere in Cyberspace, but always on the Battlefield.

Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 12:26 am
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Another thing is all this new technology....new i7 core processors......you don't need them.....yes a graphics designer, video encoder, game designers need this latest technology because of the intensive tools and programmes they run. but c'mon how many games out there just now absolutely need and use multicore technology....VERY FEW.
it's all a gimmick and sales point for intel to get more money from gaming enthusiasts.

#14: Re: Overclocking Guide Author: Odini, Location: UK

Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 9:05 am
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That is true, although it could be argued that this isn't because of a lack of willingness on behalf of the designers and more a limitation of cross-platform development. As we keep on being told 'piracy is killing the PC and the only money to be made is on the consoles' (if you believe what Epic tends to say at least), so game development is primarily done for the console market. Console technology is somewhat old hat now and even modest hardware can run the latest games with all the eye candy turned up, combine this with the fact the most games are limited by the graphics card not the CPU. This is unfortunately unlikely to change for the foreseeable future as both Sony and Microsoft do not have plans to develop another console until at least 2015!

This said though, there are tangible differences between say a Core i3/5/7 and a Core Duo when doing tasks such as video encoding or image manipulation. Again, a lot of this programs are very responsive to Mhz, so buying a mid range CPU and clocking it higher is a sound way to get high-end CPU performance without paying the costs normally involved.

And finally, we haven't really touched graphic card overclocking, which really can make the difference between something being playable or not. For example, taking a low end card such as HD5770 and overclocking it often means you get close to the performance of a card such as GT460 which is 33% higher in cost. Albeit for a reduced life span (although I would argue most people wouldn't keep the same graphics card for longer than 3-4 years).

#15: Re: Overclocking Guide Author: Odini, Location: UK

Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:34 pm
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A guide to the new Sandy Bridge CPUs
Sandy Bridge Overclocking (Bit-Tech)

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