Thoughts on overclocking...

Big B

Big B

HWF Godfather
I've been thinking (uh-oh) about overclocking and I've come to a few conclusions:

-Overclocking is not all there is to the PC
-Your overclock is worthless if you can't remain stable.
-It's only fun til you destroy something
-That extra 2MHz is not worth it all the time.
 
yeh, I'd have to agree, but these days do you really need to overclock? I don't think so...
 
No, no need to overclock, but it sure is fun to do.

I'm not anti-overclocking, I do it myself, but I don't think it's worth it for a few MHz. I have 2 PC's that are not overclocked and one that is. And when I overclock, I'm not willing to do more than the "L1 bridge trick". People wanna do the overclocking overhaul, be my guest. However, it's not the end all.

It's just for fun, IMO. Let's put it in perspective.;)
 
I don't need to overclock. But I tried it for the heck of it. The results were not exactly great. The system was pretty unstable.

Don't know if it is my board, or processor. But Intel systems are (can be) a pain. I know it wasn't the memory, although a P4 system puts more stress on Corsair XMS.

Gigabyte 8PE667 Ultra
P4 3.06

Back to stock FSB speed, with memory timings 333 and very
tight settings Cas2 5,2,2 works great now.
 
I had my 1.6A northwood up to 2.32GHz with the stock cooling and a little voltage bump. Ran through Prime95 stable for over 24 hours. It can also depend on alot of factors. Gigabyte doesn't come to my mind as a real leader in overclocking. I'd like to have some of that Corsair XMS stuff on hand, but I just can't bring myself to buy the stuff yet.
 
i'm 13. i can't get good stuff. i knew i shud have bought pc3200 instead of 2700. i should have got a better motherboard. i should have got a nf7. i should have got better stuff. i bet if i put my ram in the wrong way i chud say that i needed some better stuff. i also could overclock my cpu too much and burn it. maybe they'll getme better stuff then...
 
Big B said:
-It's only fun til you destroy something
Click to expand...

Exactly my thought.

That's why I don't oc my video card. I can't play at insane resolutions anyway because my monitor can't do it !

I didn't understand why people oced at first because I didn't see the point, and I didn't have money so I didn't wanna' break anything....not that I do wanna' brek something now but still.

But I realized how fun it was and now I can understand why people do it.

However, I wouldn't do any volt mods or any of this stuff because it's too extreme for me. Heck, I wouldn't even do that pencil trick on the Palominos :p
 
The Pencil trick only works for the old school T-bird Socket A's and any Duron running under 1GHz. The P4's are pretty good OC'ers, but the trick is getting the right chip if you want a monster OC.
 
If you end up with a good overclock you could save some $£$£, Barton 2500 goes to 3200 easily, with good cooling. price difference prob around £100, which you could add to a powerful card or save it!
 
While I do agree with the idea that it's often futile or even destructive to overclock, an experienced OC'er will have the knowledge and experience to know when and what to overclock, and how much. Usually it is not clock speeds that damage hardware; too many cycles and the system will typically just be temporarily unstable (or shut down completely). It's the voltage you have to truly watch out for. Over-volt a device too much, and you just might cook yourself some silicon. :swt:

On the other hand, I've got a Radeon 9500 modded to 9700 Pro. In order to get those killer clocks, I had to over-volt the card about 0.15v. It's perfectly stable, with 0% artifacting and killer performance. I had to add some aluminum heatsyncs to the RAM, re-grease & increase tension on the HSF and turn up my chassis fans a touch, but the cost vs. performance increase makes it all worthwhile. Not to mention the geeky-fun appeal :chk:
 
i have a amd 2400+ and i have it overclocked @ 2400mhz its very stable but very very hot for sum reason i think over clocking is good in one way because if i wanted to buy a processor at 2400mhz i would have paid alot more then wat i paid for the new heats sink and fans. Overclocking is not fun unless its a computer under 1000mhz and you have no need for it and you can blow it up, i love seeing cpu blow Muahahaha. but my top overclock was a 600mhz @ 1200ghz and it was stable for bout 40 mins and then it blew and i didnt even get to see it :(
 
1200GHz...wow. That's one helluva an OC. :p

I think I've only killed on CPU by voltage, but more than likely it was the core chipping off ...that was the bad thing about the original Socket A Athlons.
 
I think I've only killed on CPU by voltage, but more than likely it was the core chipping off ...that was the bad thing about the original Socket A Athlons.
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Agreed, I've chipped a few 1st gen (socket A) Durons in my day. :) It also has a lot to do with the heatsync you're using though. There's always been some good Cooler-Master / Antec / Thermaltake HSFs that use a tensile arm rather than the old "use a screwdriver to install the HSF and try not to slip and gouge your $150 MoBo" method.
 
As u may have read, i scrapped my old motherboard and order a new one, i stumbled across my old Duron 750mhz, whilst waiting for my new board 2 be delivered, a sudden evil and destructive grin came across my face muhahhah ;)

i took my stock heatsink (3500rpm) + no case fans :) + no case holes + a 150W PSU stuck my old mobo back in with the 750 and tried overclocking it hahah

I managed to overclock the 750mhz processor to 950mhz ran XP Pro for around 15 minutes + 640mb sd 133 ram thought it was great, then managed to fry the motherboard whilst running unreal II lol

but it was fun :)

wouldnt do it with a new system unless i built it specifically for it.
 
lol so true ahahah nice i got bout 20 computers from a auction all bout 400mhz or less which are gunna be my best buds for overclocking over the next few weeks till there all blown muahahahaha!!!!!!!!
 
misunoko said:
lol so true ahahah nice i got bout 20 computers from a auction all bout 400mhz or less which are gunna be my best buds for overclocking over the next few weeks till there all blown muahahahaha!!!!!!!!
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Have you considered refirbishing and selling some? You could make a nice profit off of your investment by cleaning those things up and slapping a user-friendly Linux distro on 'em. Inexpensive e-mail boxes for John & Jane Q. Public. Also, I find it's always nice to have a few idle boxes lying around for labs and beta OS trials. You don't wanna have to do that ignoble kinda stuff on your primary system(s), now do you? :)
 
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