Do you think I should over clock and is it worth it?

[MrSpartan1717]

I'm wondering about overclocking my CPU and what ever else I can. And wonder is it safe and is it really worth it. I do play games not extremely or anything. But I watch a lot of High Definition Content. Anyways what is the worst that can happen. Short term and long term. I have been told it wears out your hard ware a lot quicker. Is this true? And also how much hotter do things usually run? And do you think the air flow in my case and CPU cooler our good enough for the over clock. Any ways I will post my computer specifications on the bottom. But as for the air flow design in my computer I have 2 Antec 80MM intake fans on the front of the case. And two Antec 80MM exhausting air out the back of case. There all set on high for maxiuam spin. Plus I have the added support of the Zalman exhausting too. And has for my Asus features I have AI Nos turned off for now. CPU fan set to optimal and My Fan our at 90% Spin I guess. And AI Gear all the way up. Also my case is Huge Do not know the make. Had given to me as a gift . But it is bigger then most ATX cases I have seen. Lastly how much of a over clock would I get and is it worth it. I do plan on keeping the computer for a while and I have never over clocked either. So at this time I just want get some ideas possibly.

Computer Specifications

Mother Board:

Asus P5K-E/WIFI APP Socket 775

Processor:

Intel Core2Duo @ 3.16GHZ 6 MB Cache 1333 FSB Socket 775 (E8500 Wolf Dale)

CPU Cooler:

Zalman CNPS9500AT Socket 775

Random Access Memory:

Kingston DDR2 2GB @ 1066

Hard Drive Disks:

2X Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB

Raid Fashion:

Raid 0

Graphics Card:

ATI Radeon HD 3450 512 MB HDMI Out (RV620)

Power Supply Unit:

Antec TruePower Quattro 1000 Watt

Monitor:

Acer x213w 22Inch Connected Via DVI Using 1680 By 1050

Operating System:

Windows XP Professional 32 Bit Service Pack 3

[thephilosophizer]

Well, the E8500 chip can offer a lot more performance if overclocked, with your board and cooler I would think that you could crank up to 4ghz without too much trouble.
You graphics card is a bit sub-par, so I might just leave that one as is, but your cpu does have a lot of potential that is easily accessible.

[pullmyfoot]

Thephilosopizer he does high def content and not gaming, so the GPU doesnt matter too much.

You got a good CPU cooler, so youre good to go. In any case, you don't look like you actually need even an E8500. Its really an overkill for what you use it for (you can trade with my CPU kidding). It would be pretty fun to try for the sake of trying though. You can always bring your clocks back to stock, since it does make more heat and use up more power when OCed, and since you don't rally need all that processing power.. Anyways, overclocking your CPU is gonna wear it out faster, but by the time it dies it will be long obselete.

[MrSpartan1717]

Thanks. Ya I know I debated the E8500 but for performance and price at the time it was a deal. I have started getting into PC games more and more. So I might be getting a 4870. After I get some more RAM. Anyways how would I go about getting the over clock done. Im really "noob" at over clocking. And how much doe's it wear out the CPU. Like by this time next year or Would I still have the CPU even lets say 3 years from now. I wont have to get a new CPU will I after such short period of time having it. Plan on keeping the PC for a while. At least 2 years. granted I problly have a new bulid by then. But still I can then give PC to my mom. And also Im worried about tempture. Right now I run at about 30C-34C on the CPU and 25-28 on the Motherboard. And that is pretty average. When my office is a bit colder. It does drop more degrees. I wanna try it but i'm gonna a bit of reading on the topic. Just kinda paranoid do not wanna be out of computer anytime soon.

[MrSpartan1717]

Hey all again!!!

Anyways I wanted to post a thread on this topic. And get your guys and girls oppinons. My Mom has an Old Dell Demension 1100. And I have an old ASUS P5VD2 MX SE motherboard here doing nothing. Equipped with a Pentium 4 processor at three gigahertz with a eight hunread megahertz front side bus. Anyways I want her to go Vista and then Seven here eventually. Because Windows XP support is going up soon. Anyways I wanna slowly wanna upgrade her part by part. Basiclly I wanna reuse some of her parts for the motherboard. The case. Her power supply is pretty brand new. I think I got her 350 or 450 which is still reuseble. And also hard drive for now. Which is 80GB seagate 5400 RPM I beleave. The motherboard does have IDE connectors. And as for Video she will have to use Intergrated Video. Anyways will the Processor RAM and Video Slow her down real bad in Vista. All she does is Facebook,email,insant messageing,internet and the odd flash movie. I know the video is a big thing so I'm thinking of giving her my ATI Radeon 3450 HD 512MB. Once I get my 4870. So basiclly should she stay with XP and wait for the parts. Or do you think the upgrade will be fine. And then eventually get her some SATA drives. Basiclly will the ATA drive slow her down alot and same with the procesor and ram. And in the end all I wanna upgrade is the hard drive and Video Card. Or do you think the Petnium 4 is still to slow. and Same with the Ram. I'm thinking on cost here and also the fact she does not need a real fast computer. Im just worried a single core processor and two gigabytes of ram is still not enough for her. Basiclly the rig would be something like this. the ASUS P5VD2 MX SE with the Pentium 4 processor and the 2GB of kingston DDR2 at 533. A cheap ATI card possibly my 3450 or something a bit better. But at least 512 VRAM. And Two Sata Drives. But I wanna do this all in time. I just wanna kinda keep it real cheap for her. Plus I want to get rid of the motherboard to her since it is doing nothing. But if it still seems like a bad rig I'm just hold out. And possibly work something better in a later date. I just feel bad too that she using a really slow computer and does not even know it. So I figured this will do I just do not want to do the upgrade if is not worth. Because I can always use it for Ubuntu or something. So should I upgrade her? Save the motherboard for something like linux and wait and bulid her a better PC. I just figured if she had a better motherboard processor and video card. She would at least be able to Vista on something. Sorry if this is confusing. And thanks for help again and please tell me what you think. I want her to have a decent computer. Just I do not want her to have another computer like dell demension. Slow and Crappy.

[MrSpartan1717]

Motherboard Specifications

ASUS P5VD2 MX SE
Pentium 4 3.00GHZ
2GB DDR2 @ 533

Dell Demension 1100 Specifications

Intel Motherboard Socket 478
Celeron D 2.80GHZ
512 DDR @ 400MHZ
80GB Seagate Hard drive 5400 RPM
96MB Integrated VRAM Intel Extreme Graphics 2
802.11B/G WIFI Card
USB 2.0 PCI Card
350-450 Watt PSU

[MrSpartan1717]

Shit!!!! I put my new thread in reply box to this one instead. Was not thinking sorry dudes.

[pullmyfoot]

No its not going to be phrased out soon.. In fact Microsoft has extended XP support to 2011 or something like that.

As for overclocking, read up on some good guides.
A beginner's guide to overclocking - The Tech Report - Page 1
HOWTO: Overclock C2Q (Quads) and C2D (Duals) - A Guide v1.1 - Overclockers Forums
CPU Overclocking Guide - X-bit labs

[RamonGTP]

Shit!!!! I put my new thread in reply box to this one instead. Was not thinking sorry dudes.

When you view this forum, does it not have an "edit" function on posts that you've made?

[MrSpartan1717]

Who know I'm noob to this forum stuff. Anyways that is good to know XP support will be for a while longer. Thanks

[MrSpartan1717]

Ya I thought about it and I'm not going to. One I do not want to void warranty. Because my motherboard is good for 3 years and my power supply is good for 5 years. Two I feel my system is already fast enough for what I do. But hey thanks for the Tips and Help all.