Overclocking

[gigabyte9]

What is considered a nice overclock?

[rspassey]

I would consider a nice overclock to be at least a 10% increase in clock speed, 10% increase in FSB, and keeping temps down... But that is just me, some people would say otherwise.

[Cricket]

I'm not an overclocker, but I'd guess an overclock of 25% or higher is pretty good. A 50% overclock would be pretty awesome. The ultimate overclock would be 100% overclock.

Cricket

[kosova]

Originally Posted by Cricket I'm not an overclocker, but I'd guess an overclock of 25% or higher is pretty good. A 50% overclock would be pretty awesome. The ultimate overclock would be 100% overclock. Cricket

so uer saying u would expect uer CPU clock say 2.0ghz to go as high as 4.0? that's a little way too high, too extreme, it would require a huge heatsink, not impossible tho, or with liquid nitrogene like they did in tomshardware

from what i understand OC levels go like this
100-400Mhz (Average)
500-900Mhz (Top)
900-? (Extreme)

ya have to remember that OC'ing cuts lifetime in half, the higher it is It will run faster but for a way less shorter life-span 10% would be smart.

[gigabyte9]

I have a P4 3.0 @ 3.28 is that a good oc? The temps are around 31 degrees C idle.
I thought high temps cut lifetime.

[Tin]

What I consider a nice overclock, the farthest you can get with maximum stability or without breaking something .

[rspassey]

Originally Posted by gigabyte9 I have a P4 3.0 @ 3.28 is that a good oc? The temps are around 31 degrees C idle. I thought high temps cut lifetime.

I would say yeah, that is a good OC as long as it is stable, you might not notice any changes in impcreased performance though.

[gigabyte9]

OK. But what exactly cuts lifetime?

[kosova]

Originally Posted by gigabyte9 OK. But what exactly cuts lifetime?

Overclocking is making something do more than it can..its like this: my car, say that at normal driving im only making my engine work at 1000 RPM..i can push it to 2000RPM but it will heat everything up. If i put say better Anti Coolant, a big fan on top of it, it will still be cool, but not as cool as it was when i was at 1000RPM. You have Oc'ed, at stock cooled without being oc'ed i bet uer cpu was around 27C, now its 31..see the diff? Btw 31 is under normal. Now when u use uer comp for a long time this extra heating well it will wear an effect, OCING is best when u buy crappy parts like 1.8ghz to a 2.5ghz and uer whole rig costs less then buying a 2.5ghz cpu, by this u manage to stay ahead of everyone at a cheaper rate.

[gigabyte9]

Ok now I have a much better understanding.

[Cricket]

Overclocking doesn't reduce CPU life by half...where did you hear that? Aside from guys frying their overclocked CPUs with too much vcore voltage, I've never heard of any CPUs just giving up or dying just because it was overclocked. I've never heard of a non-overclocked CPU just dying from use either...it's usually from a cheap power supply sending a huge spike to the system or from lightening strikes.

And if you're going to overclock you don't want to do it with cheap parts...cheap parts will fold under the stresses of overclocking. You buy good quality parts because they can tolerate the rigors of overclocking better than cheap parts.

Where are you getting your information?

Cricket

[kosova]

Originally Posted by gigabyte9 Ok now I have a much better understanding.

thats what i picture in my mind, i could be wrong, OCing is one of those simple and yet complicated matters, some advise it as a must others are totally against it

[MaxRat]

I consider any overclock out side standard perameters and fully stabil a nice overclock....

Take my chip for example...2600 XP-M (mobile)

stock speed is 2000mhz *or* 2.0ghz
133 (266)fsb with a 15 x's multiplier... (133 x 15 = 1995)

Now for the overclock

200 (400) fsb x's 10 multiplier.... 200 x 10 = 2000

chip still runs 2.0 but I effectively increased the fsb from 266 to 400
which is a real good speed improvement

now I am 210 x 11 = 2310....fully stable....next with some ram change I will be 240 x 10 = 2400mhz effective FSB = 480

[enhanced08]

Originally Posted by Cricket Overclocking doesn't reduce CPU life by half...where did you hear that? Aside from guys frying their overclocked CPUs with too much vcore voltage, I've never heard of any CPUs just giving up or dying just because it was overclocked. I've never heard of a non-overclocked CPU just dying from use either...it's usually from a cheap power supply sending a huge spike to the system or from lightening strikes. And if you're going to overclock you don't want to do it with cheap parts...cheap parts will fold under the stresses of overclocking. You buy good quality parts because they can tolerate the rigors of overclocking better than cheap parts. Where are you getting your information? Cricket

I agree, Cricket, except when talking about the Northwood chips. Anything over 1.6ish volts and it might run fine for 3 months then one day just fry all at once, SNDS.

Its hard to say what is a good OC or not. most of the time you can get more mhz out of an Intel over an AMD, but the AMD will get more of a performance boost from it so even at a "lower" OC it runs faster.

Also different chips OC differently. I have a P4 3.2 that will load windows at 4Ghz, 800mhz more thats a 25% OC! But I also took a P75mhz chip and clocked it at 133mhz, only 58mhz more which is a 77% OC!

If it looks good to you and its as far as you can go then its a good OC!

[boyskry01]

what is overclocking (forgive my newbie-ness)??

thanks

[enhanced08]

It is running a system above stock settings.

ex. My system is a 3.2Ghz Pentium 4 and I have overclocked it to run at 4Ghz. If this sounds like something you want to do search the forums and read and learn as much as possible before you try it, I have personally lost many cpus, boards and even video cards because of OC'ing.

[Tin]

Originally Posted by enhanced08 I have personally lost many cpus, boards and even video cards because of OC'ing.

I feel your pain, I have a graveyard in the corner of my basement .

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by boyskry01 what is overclocking (forgive my newbie-ness)??

Overclocking: An Overview

Cricket

[gigabyte9]

Is stock voltage ok then?

[Cricket]

For a mild overclock stock vcore voltage is fine. You only up the vcore voltage to push the system higher...the higher vcore voltage helps stability but will cause the CPU to run hotter.

Cricket