Do you overclock?

[Cobra]

The subject says it all I think.

Obviously I do it - mainly because it's fun to see how much I can push it before it breaks! The extra speed is nice, too. Who else does, and for what reason?

Cobra

[Grimey]

I don't. I have a 2.4 Ghz processor, so at the moment, I don't need to overclock it. but wait until Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 come out...

[Ripper2860]

Avid overclocker since the Pentium 100. Unfortunately -- budgetary constraints have put a damper on my "Hobby"!

Here's one of my many O/C'ed rigs ...


Soltek SL75FRV (KT400) w/ AMD AthlonXP 2500+ Barton @ 2.3GHz (3400+) -- 185x12.5 and 1.75 vcore | Vantec AeroFlow | 2x512MB Kingston HyperX PC2700 - CAS2, Fast, 1T, 8W, 4-way | PNY GF4 Ti4200 128MB -8XAGP | Hercules Fortissimo II | Antec SX-1030 case w/ Tru430 PSU | 2x Maxtor 80GB 7200 RPM ATA133 | Pioneer 116 DVD | LiteOn 32x CD/RW | WinXP Pro | Prime95 Tested Tough


Also got a Athlon XP 1700+ at 2.01, a PIII 600 @ 852, a Celeron 600 @ 900 and a Celeron 333 @ 602 (w/ peltier). Sold the rest !!

Shhhh! Don't tell anyone...

I O/C'ed my system at Work -- XP2500+ (locked) at 2.1GHz. Hell I even O/C'ed my IPAQ PDA !!!

[Craig Tucker]

No my XP2800+ gets hot enough as it is.

[stiltman]

I did with my P4 1.6, but since I upgraded to a 2.6, I haven't

[redwudz]

My setup does what I want as is. I do most of my long encodes at night with the computer set up to shut off when done, so a need for higher speed is not really an issue.

[Capmaster]

Never have. I always was satisfied with its performance.

[flaninacupboard]

running at 62C i think my chip gets warm enough already! plus my mobo has no overclock support.

[freak_in_cage_10k]

yup!

why?! because it doesn;t cost any extra £ and gets things done quicker?

its quite fun too, although i dont push things to the limit! i dont go much higher than stock volts (my cooling is aimed at silence, not max cooling!) my main cpu & MB died a few months back, but i have a 2400+ Mobile coming early next week and a NF7-S so i should be back up to 3400+ speeds no probs, doubt i will need more than 1.7v either!!!

im not bothering with A64 yet because Socket 939 CPUs are too expensive and Socket 754 boards arnt THAT much more future proof that socket A! i guess i dont really need that kind of speed, although for the first time in a year i will be playing a PC game next week: Farcry, oh, and will prob get HL2 and Doom 3 when they are out also!

[vioxx]

All my life is IN my PC.

Can't risk it!!!

[glockjs]

now why did i expect this topic from cobra???


well i tried it, buuut i bought the cheap ram(corsair bottom of the line stuff) haha, my computer laughed at me when i tried upping the fsb

[Faustus]

Processors get faster and cheaper everyday. Over clocking raises heat on the CPU even if you help to bleed it off with watercooling (expensive and overboard, risky) or giant heat sinks/fans (faster fans= more noise)

The hotter a CPU is the less efficient it runs, so while indeed you manage to over clock the CPU an extra 500 mhz and while indeed it is faster in reality is it 500mhz?? I've seen arguments both ways, personally its not worth it.

Just buy as much CPU as you can, then upgrade later. I long ago stopped seeing my comptuers hardware as some sort of contest, if it can do what I need then its fast enough until more is avalible within my price range.

I'm doing fine right now, 4 machines, ones a 3000+ the other is a PowerMac G5, fast by alot of standards but far from top of the line, and I'm happy with them until significant improvement can be purchased within my budget.

Edit: around the begining of the year I expect to buy a Dual Layer burner, maybe a new video card. In the near future a stick of RAM for my new Mac.

[flaninacupboard]

yeah, the noise of this machine irritates me. i wish the CPU was in a more logical place so i could do something sensible to cool it.

[fmctm1sw]

I'm running a 1.7GHZ Celeron at 2.0GHZ... and 65 degrees Centigrade.

[Cobra]

Well, I've just this minute ordered an XP2500 Mobile CPU. It will arrive sometime next week, and I'm hoping for 2.4GHz out of it (up from 1.83GHz).

My current CPU is a standard XP2500, running at 2.07GHz. It peaks at 66 deg C.

I'm wondering how far I can push my RAM - I have two Kingston DDR466 modules - they're not a problem. My problem is with the standard PC3200 module I have - I wonder how much higher than DDR400 it will manage. I'll perhaps give the RAM a bit more voltage if it struggles.

now why did i expect this topic from cobra???

It's become a hobby. I love seeing how fast I can make it run!

Cobra

[flaninacupboard]

when you see the smoke, it's time to throttle back....

Incidentally, took my machine to a LAN party last week, and did indeed get smoke out of it! bit scary, but all sorted now

[Capmaster]

when you see the smoke, it's time to throttle back....

Incidentally, took my machine to a LAN party last week, and did indeed get smoke out of it! bit scary, but all sorted now

Or when your CPU is so hot it's lighting up the inside of your case

I have nothing against getting a little extra speed, but I've always looked at overclocking like pushing your car engine past the red line .......you may get away with it for a while, but eventually .......

[flaninacupboard]

I have nothing against getting a little extra speed, but I've always looked at overclocking like pushing your car engine past the red line .......you may get away with it for a while, but eventually .......

......you realise 6,000RPM in second gear isn't exactly efficient, and you get landed with a $200 gas bill?

[-DVD-]

Overclocking rules, P4 2.80C> 3.36, relativly low 50°C max load.

[rallynavvie]

I replied "no", as in "not yet". The DH800 is a mad overclocking board with some getting their 2.4 M0 Xeons up to 3.6 and 1066 FSB with good RAM and a couple simple hard mods. Since I had to prematurely buy the 3.06 Xeons only 8 HOURS before Intel cut costs on that very processor I plan to OC these CPUs out of spite. Also because I plan on getting Nocona Xeons later this year so I don't have to overclock. Once I get some time I'll insulate AB3 on both chips and turn them up to 200x16 or 200x17 (800 FSB and 3.2 or 3.4 GHz). Currently with the Swiftech heatsinks and Stealth fans I see 48°C tops with 25°C intake temps and a very quiet system. I don't see temps getting any hotter than 55°C with the higher OC so that's OK with me. However my MCH gets unbearably hot as it is and only has a passive aluminum heatsink on it. I've got to find a better solution for that first I think. Unfortunately I don't think it uses the same retension mechanism as most Intel boards

[rhegedus]

Yep - got my P4 2.26 cranked up to 2.53 with a Zalman cooler with only a 3C change in temp and no voltage changes.

[Will Hay]

...I did consider it (as you know) but decided against.
Decided the marginal increase wasn't worth the risk (and I was frightened)
Will

[glockjs]

...I did consider it (as you know) but decided against.
Decided the marginal increase wasn't worth the risk (and I was frightened)
Will

you mean you didnt want to push that chip to 82C. your just sittin pretty at 72C

oh come on, you knew it was coming

[Will Hay]

...I did consider it (as you know) but decided against.
Decided the marginal increase wasn't worth the risk (and I was frightened)
Will

you mean you didnt want to push that chip to 82C. your just sittin pretty at 72C

oh come on, you knew it was coming

Nope, good shot
Although I'm averaging 45-50° now
Will

[flaninacupboard]

good thing you removed the peanut butter.....

[Cobra]

I'm on the lookout for a voltmod for my A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard - I want to be able to set vCore higher than 1.85V. Still, with my XP-M2500 that's a 400mV raise on standard - I'm praying that I get a good one!

It seems the average speed people get out of these is 2.4GHz. That'd suit me fine!

My current CPU is being retired to another machine. It's back to standard (1.65V, FSB333, 1.83Ghz) and passed it's pi and prime tests, doesn't get too hot either. Poor thing has seen a good four months or so of being way past the redline...

Anyone know how well RAM clocks up? I have a PC3200 module which might hold me from going past FSB200 (board-side) - I'll increase vDimm to regain stability if need be, but I'm hoping this budget module holds out!

Ahhhh, the excitement of a fresh overclock!

Cobra

[lordsmurf]

"I would, but I'm afraid I'll break it"

[Cobra]

That's the fun bit! When you've clocked it so high it can't even get BIOS up!

EDIT - I found my voltmod, but I don't think I'll try it until I'm finished with this motherboard. Here's the link:

http://www.geocities.com/amd_info/A7N8X/mods.htm

Cobra

[zzyzzx]

No. At one time overclocking made some sense. But given the risk/reward ration at the moment, given how CPU are so powerful now and realtively inexpensive, I see no reason why anyone would want to do it now.

[rallynavvie]

You have to be careful OCing RAM, it's a lot more sensitive than the CPUs. Keep in mind that when you clock that PC3200 beyond it's limit you need to slack timings off. Start at the something like 6-6-8 and bring it down after prime testing for errors. Or better yet: PC4000 from Corsair. Timings are a bit slow on it but it's still 500 MHz memory. Price is actually pretty good.

I'd rather have the faster RAM timings than have to sacrifice it for an overclock. My 2460 had ECC reg RAM and it slowed things down a bit, now I'm noticing better performance in RAM-hungry apps with the current set-up. I guess it's up to whatever you use it for.

Also for those that don't know: the next series of Intel chipsets is going to block OCing almost completely via the MCH rather than the CPU itself. I guess they finally got sick of the crazy overclocks people were getting from even before the release of the 875 chipset.