Do you overclock?

[sexytool]

Cat you should visit the over-clockers forums
Most motherboard vendors these days will have applications available from their website. It'll be called something like EasyTune5 or Cool'N'Quiet or etc.

Avoid these programs like they are the plague. I can overclock from 2.66 to 3.33 in my motherboards BIOS fine. Every single time i try to do it in windows, WITH my vendors' OFFICIAL overclocking software, my PC hard locks and won't even reboot unless i hit the reset button.

All CPU and RAM overclocking should be done in the motherboards' BIOS. You may have to update your BIOS to get the options "unlocked". Some vendors & motherboards do not allow overclocking at all.

Your system may Blue Screen or hard lock after the overclock. That's nothing to worry about, it just means yuo've over-clocked too much and you need to lower it a bit.

 

[catilley1092]

I have a laptop that is a playtool in this stage of it's life now, and want to see how far I can push it. I would never do this to my desktop, it's less than four months old. But I would like to squeeze every last drop of performance out of this laptop, just to see what I can make it do. It's a stock Dell Latitude D610, Intel Pentium M processor 2.13GHz, 2GB RAM, Mobile Intel 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset Family.

 

[sexytool]

It's a word Ian, very frequently used

Core 2 Quad/Dual maximum temperature is available though the application Core Temp. In the readme it specifies multiple VERY useful links such as the sources they have gotten your maximum CPU temperature from.

My C2D e7300 sits at 50*C when IDLE and has a maximum warranty covered temperature of 105*C. I don't think any of you have to worry about temperature - but if you're really that worried, you can set CPU overheat warnings on in your BIOS and in Core Temp in most cases.

EDIT: As far as i know, ALL athlon XP, X2's and phenoms will fry at 71 degrees celcius or higher. Not just start taking damage, but FRY.

 

[Veedaz]

Overclocking requires small increments in all settings and the hardware to keep everything cool. Benchmarking to reach system balance and performance, also an understanding of what you are about to perform.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Overclocking is a tricky thing to do. It requires patience and time.

Personally, for me, I don't mess with it. Plus it shortens the life of the CPU.

 

[Veedaz]

Overclocking is a tricky thing to do. It requires patience and time.

Personally, for me, I don't mess with it. Plus it shortens the life of the CPU.

This is very true, also Overclocking will void the manufactures guarantee, I don't know who first said the following but its a good one not to forget - Don't Overclock What You Cant Afford To Replace.

 

[sexytool]

Intel processors have always been warranty covered for overclocking. Always.
To begin with it was only a 10% allowance since there is a 10% error margin in their processing methods and you may have gotten a CPU slower than what was advertised.

These days you're warranty covered to overclock a C2D or Quad to ANY value, as long as the voltage doesn't go over 1.3 volts and the temperature doesn't exceed the design specifications.

 

[Veedaz]

Intel processors have always been warranty covered for overclocking. Always.
To begin with it was only a 10% allowance since there is a 10% error margin in their processing methods and you may have gotten a CPU slower than what was advertised.

These days you're warranty covered to overclock a C2D or Quad to ANY value, as long as the voltage doesn't go over 1.3 volts and the temperature doesn't exceed the design specifications.

Overclocking is a system wide exercise ... not just the CPU

 

[msdos622wasfun]

Obviously everybody looks at this topic a little differently, and everyone seems to have different degrees of luck and success with their overclocking attempts. I'm not too worried about shortening the lifespan of my CPU, mainly because my overclock is moderate, and I'm not taking it to any kind of extreme. But I think the main reason I feel the need to do it in the first place is because if you ever spend enough time in certain forums like EVGA's (I have an EVGA motherboard), it seems like most of the regulars there are quite serious about the practice, and the general consensus is that overclocking is almost a requirement in order to fully utilize all the power of today's high-end video boards. I, for example, have a Radeon 5870, and I don't like the idea of anything "bottlenecking" my graphics card. But I suppose even that can be a subject of debate. One thing's for certain, though -- I see no reason to overclock my video card. It seems powerful enough as it is.

 

[Veedaz]

A few years ago I would spend days / weeks OCing, today i don't bother as I purchase the hardware that fits the job, I find no need to OC my main rig as it does all I need it to do.

 

[sexytool]

We were talking specifically and only about CPU's.
And no, it's not a system wide change - you can choose what to overclock.
It's not necessary to overclock everything and some things can't be overclocked. Like your hard drive.

 

[catilley1092]

Where are these places at that instructs you on how to overclock? A good source of information, if possible. I want to get some performance out of this laptop.

 

[Veedaz]

System wide change refers to all that can be OCd and HDDs can be made to perform better when two or more are set up in a RAID config. Single components can be OCd to an extent but to much will affect system balance, system locking is just one effect, but every Overclocker has there own way

 

[sexytool]

I've been in I.T tech support for 12 years & administrated a gaming focussed internet cafe for 7 years of that. I know extremely well what can and can't be done to get a performance gain out of a PC.

Cat, your #1 issue with a laptop will be heat. Most makes and models struggle to keep themselves cool without an overclock and in ambient temperatures.

Please leave the laptop alone or it is almost certainly going to fail due to heat stress and physical warping. Your best bet in regards to laptops is to simply tweak the OS to it's maximum and ensure you are running vista or 7 on it for use with ReadyBoost on a 4gb USB solid state device.

We should take your specific case to private communication - preferrably MSN or IRC so i can talk to you in real time Message me with your preferred contact method please.

 

[Kougar]

Well, the CPU lifespan argument is valid, but when the lifespan of a CPU is measured in decades I don't mind exchanging some years for significantly higher performance in the short term. If done properly there shouldn't be any appreciable damage done beyond normal everyday usage. If done improperly, then it might only live a few weeks. (I'm still amused to think that Anandtech managed to kill two Core i7 chips fairly early on OCing them and applying aggressive stability loads.)

For example, my overclocking kick got started when a friend of the family took my Compaq running a 500MHz AMD CPU and hard modded the board to work with a more powerful 1GHz CPU, the performance increase was nice and I used that machine throughout highschool. The power supply in it had problems even before the mod, but it otherwise ran well enough. That Compaq still works ~12 years later.

Wanting to avoid cheap components I built my replacement, the first computer I self-built was a Pentium 4. I ran a mild ~400Mhz overclock on it for years and that system also still works today. Yet both of these computers are so slow they are a chore to use today beyond surfing, they've outlived their practical usefulness. Hence why I now overclock.

For the moment I'm running my Core i7 920 2.66Ghz @ 4.32Ghz. It's my most aggressive 24/7 overclock so far but I don't compromise stability to run it. I expect to be using this CPU for a very long time to come, and the performance scaling is well worth it. It probably helps that I find it rather fun to overclock them even without the direct benefits factored in, but yeah. High grade components, time & effort, proper cooling and no blatant abuse of the hardware means for the most part, the computer should last well past it's "practical usefulness".

For laptops, I just don't recommend it. Most aren't built to keep components as cool as possible, just as cheaply. And instead of making the priority to be keeping components cool, fans are configured to stay silent first at the sacrifice of cooling performance, only ramping up as a last resort. Heat and voltage are the two main killers for electronic chips and motherboards, and cooking a laptop by overclocking it isn't so hot an idea in my opinion. Laptops rarely last very long, by their nature they (or components in them) break before the owner has bought a new one to replace it.

 

[msdos622wasfun]

For the moment I'm running my Core i7 920 2.66Ghz @ 4.32Ghz. It's my most aggressive 24/7 overclock so far but I don't compromise stability to run it.

That's quite a massive boost. Impressive!

 

[|_33+/\/\45+312]

I prefer not to over clock since it reduces the lifespan of the hardware in question

 

[WindowsGeek]

Overclocking doesn't really reduce the lifespan of hardware unless you do a rather large OC. I don't worry about shortening the life of my hardware, as it will be obsolete in a few years anyway at most.

 

[Veedaz]

Myself and a mate managed to shorten the life of a nVidia GeForce 8600GT, we pushed it a bit to much ... went like hell for a bit

 

[andsome]

The only clock that I know anything about on computers, is the one in the bottom right hand corner of my screen.