Questions about Overclocking

[Sup3rkirby]

Well, after seeing so many people who overclock and knowing that is surely can improve the speed of a system, I have begun to consider it. I realize the risk involved and that I actually could lose my PC entirely.

But knowing what could go wrong, I also know what could go right. And while I might not be ready to try it on my main PC, there are a few older ones I might check it out on.

After reading this tutorial: http://forums.x10hosting.com/tech-corner/19478-how-over-clock-cpu-tutorial.html, it would seem that I could give this a shot. But of course I would like to be as prepared as I possibly can and become as informed as I possibly can.



So, firstly, are there any other good tutorials out there that I could use? That one was translated into english, and while it is not bad, I would still like a second source that was written in english originally.

Next, how much of a difference does OCing make? For instance, with, lets say a 2.2 Ghz processor with 1GB RAM. If I could OC that processor, would I get a noticably faster system? What about something a little slower(1.8-2.0 Ghz) and 512MB RAM?

Also, what are the chances of a failure? Does anyone know if your are more or less likely to fail than succeed? What variables play a part in your success?

And I'll make this my last question, what about graphics cards? Anyone have a tutorial on OCing one of those(nVidia would be the one I would go for if I did)? I'm pretty sure you can OC those, or I've at least seen some stuff about it.

 

[unpixelatedgamers]

Well, how much of a performance difference you see depends on how much you overclock it, and that depends on both your cooling, and your actual processor's OC abilty.

Can't tell you much about the rest i'm afraid!

 

[Blazer9131]

Also, Go in small Incremental. first OC .3 ghz, then .7, then a full ghz. This insures that your CPU will be slowly introduced to the new heat produced. And the extra load. Don't go, lets say, from 1.8 ghz, to 2.7 Ghz directly. That will almost defanatly blow your system. fro from 1.8 to 2.1, to 2.5, etc... Good luck.

USE BIOS, NOT PROGRAMS. USE BIOS!!!

 

[Christopher]

I have a question.
My processors temp is normally 100F when my outtake fan is running at 800rpm. My fan has a max speed of 2,400rpm. My processor fan is the fan that came with my Intel Core 2 Duo Retail Processor. The processor fan is covered by a thing that goes to the outside of the case. I do not have a intake fan. Would that be able to keep my pc cool when if I overclock?

 

[GamingX]

Here's one for overclocking CPU http://computershopper.com/howto/overclock-your-desktop-200709 and here's one to overclock your graphics card http://computershopper.com/howto/overclocking-your-graphics-card-200709.
I myself haven't tried it, but any tutorials from Computer Shopper are always worth it.

 

[Sup3rkirby]

Oh dear. It would appear I have a problem.

After some googling and reading, I found some explainations and such that explained something about the front side bus(FSB) and how it was locked on most commercial PCs(Dell, HP, Gateway).

And so after reading this it appears that this would be true with pretty much any computer I would try it on(or laptop for that matter). They are/were all store bought PCs. The site listed those 3 brands(without an 'etc' at the end), and only one of my computers is related in any way(Compaq desktop), but I am sure that the FSB is locked on all my other computers as well.

And so, could someone give me advice here? I tried looking up ways to unlock your FSB, but a lot of sites are processor specific and this made the search process hard since the things I found weren't for my exact model(processor). It seemed that there was some modding involved(inside the PC, such as connecting certain things with a small wire, etc.). I would prefer to not mod my PC just to overclock.


It might turn out I just won't be able to, and it so, that sucks because I know most all processors are capable of much more than the factory default gives you.

 

[o.simon]

This is true indeed, most standard built pc's are locked.
This in regard to rma procedures.
When u overclock your cpu it will deteriote faster then when using on normal speed, even though these change are minimal.
The core duo's are the best for overclocking, even with the standard cooling.
U can better search on your pc model, u might find some tweaks or an adapted firmware for the motherboard which is in your pc.
Only use firmwares who have been tested, since this can seriously damage your pc.

Any ways, good luck sorry i couldn't help any further.

 

[brittain]

i built my pc and overclocking is a very powerful way to get gd framerates in games and you overall performance on your pc.

 

[bigmanbfa2]

in my own experiences, if the CPU multipier is no allowed to go up, sometimes it can go down. that may sound like a non-overclocking thing to do, but if you drop the multiplier and boost the FBS, you can get some pretty insane clocks.. heat is ALWAYS an issue though, make sure you have adequate cooling and you can get some good tweaks.

I have an e6600 with AIR cooling, and I have a stable 3.8ghz OC right now. I had a 4.0, but after a few minutes of gameplay in Oblivion, it would lock up.

Also, grab a copy of Prime95 or 3DMark05 to stress your chip/cards. Use prime95 iif you have multiple cores to stress them seperately at 100% utilization.

 

[dpogary]

my suggestion on overclocking:

overclocking is like taking drugs. its dangerous, you can loose your pc if ur not careful...yea there might be good things about it...but like drugs...your chances arnt infinite...sooner or later, something goes wrong...lol its how my dad lost his comp...pretty cool seing how some people do it...and its cool to see the processors and stuff melt, its kinda cool

 

[Slothie]

Depends on which processor you have actually to overclock. Some are locked which aren't able to be O/C-ed, some have limited multipliers and some are totally unlocked.

The best experience I've had O/C-ing is with the P805D. 2.66->4Ghz stable. I had to switch from air based cooling to water cooling to keep it a this rate though.

 

[agaitu]

i tried to overclock my pc 1.6ghz 376mb ram first i tried to increase my bus speed with easytune it has shown an increase in frequency but it stuck and restarted and i tried again to overclock but the same result so i quit from trying it again
but without overclocking you can increase the performance increasing the cooling by keeping another fan or some other cooling method now a days nitrogen cooling is in research that can increase the performance greatly

 

[Sohail]

Overclocking can be very dangerous and i suggest that you don't do it. PC's default speed should not be changed as the speed that was set for it was chosen to prevent it from completely freezing, overheating and more...

Though it does have advantages i suggest you don't because there are more disadvantages then advantages so it's definitely not worth it and you can take my advise that if you end up with a broken computer then you won't be able to do anything about it as it was you yourself that messed it up because you messed with the internal system hardware which, as i said can be extremely dangerous and should be avoided.

If you want to go ahead and overclock it then fine, no one is stopping you from harming your own computer but don't complain to me if you mess anything up in the end because you wouldn't be able to say i didn't warn you!

I hope you find the right path, i think overclocking may even be classed as hacking :O

Well you can do anything you want anyway...

 

[epoclaen]

Whether or not any of those PCs can be overclocked depends on the CPU model and sometimes, on really old CPUs, the date of manufacturing. Used to be that you could overclock just about any CPU until Intel started locking their front side buses and a little later on I think AMD started locking theirs for a year or so before unlocking them again.

We'd need to know the CPU models, preferably including the CPU alias names since some are more or less overclock-able than others. To find exact details on the CPU and motherboard, you can use Lavalys Everest Ultimate Edition or SiSoftware Sandra.

The tutorial you first mentioned talked about using the BIOS settings to adjust the clock speed and multipliers. On really older CPUs (and on locked ones) these options might not even be available. I had an old PCChips m571 motherboard with an old AMD-K6 CPU (Pentium II roughly) in it that required moving jumpers on the motherboard to adjust these things.

Is it worth the risk involved? Well my opinion is that it's worth trying only if you actually have some need to do so, not a desire to get more speed from the CPU. In my case with the m571 board, I was practically broke and was already using such an old system that most applications were really struggling to run. I pretty much had nothing to lose and ended up boosting a 166Mhz CPU to 500Mhz. This jump in performance was amazing and was only possible due to the specific overclocking capabilities of the CPU and the motherboard and it saved me roughly $120 for a new CPU at the time. It lasted me for an additional 3 years before I had enough to upgrade my entire system. Note that this kind of result is unheard of nowadays.

I've heard of some boosting a 2.0Ghz CPU up to 2.8Ghz with solid system stability. More often people get a 2.0Ghz CPU to 2.6 or just 2.4Ghz and don't push them too hard by straining them any higher. Technically speaking, the CPUs are built to withstand x amount of heat over the expected lifespan but most manufacturers will lower the clock speeds to play it safe. Sometimes this means a 200Mhz safety buffer and on rare occasions (although I imagine its unlikely today) they used virtually the same CPU and simply locked them to a lower clock speed and sold them as cheaper CPUs.

You can try downloading CPUFSB or CPUCool (which includes CPUFSB) from http://www.cpufsb.de/index.html to adjust the settings from right within Windows. It doesn't work for all motherboards but it's worth a shot if the BIOS doesn't allow changing the clock speeds.