Why would you overclock?

[Jüš† ä gü¥]

..I'm just wondering. It seems to me (now correct me if I'm wrong) that overclocking actually kills the life expectancy of your computer. In other words, you will need to replace it sooner

Also, if you accidentally overclock it too much, it fries the motherboard immidiately, correct??

Granted, overclocking does make your computer a little faster, are the risks really worth it???

[win2kuser]

I have never done it, but know the principles.

I think that if you are carefull, and only tweek the settings a small amount each time and then test it fully by running 3dmark etc, then why not?

Obviously, you will need a good cpu fan etc, but the results can be outstading - 1.7GHz to a 2.2 GHz and above.

CPU's can normally run upto 90c, so you will need to monitor the cpu temp. As I said, if you only tweek a small amount each time, you cant go wrong, the computer will start becoming unstable LONG before you will fry anything.

As for the life expectancy, I don't think it makes that much difference, unless you are really 'going for it'.

[OuTpaTienT]

It's not quite as risky as you make it sound. In fact it's hardly risky at all.

If you overclock your CPU a little too much, all that usually happens is the machine becomes a little unstable. It's crashes or lock-up a lot. So you just bring your overclock down a little until it is stable.

As far as reducing the life of a cpu, it might be technically correct, but in the real world it's not even a concern. By the time you burn out a CPU from overclocking it, it will be so ancient and outdated, no one would be using it anyways. I personally know of a few 486 machines that have been overclocked for over 10 years, and they're still going good as ever. But because they're overclocked they may only last 15 years instead of 20….big deal.

So is it worth the risk? Well, since there are really are no risks (as long as you're smart about it and keep an eye on the temperature and only overclock in small increments), then yeah, it's worth it.

[youngqd]

Reason

Waiting for computation, who wants to wait on the CPU? If one's just using notepad this probably isn't an issue. I notice reduced processing times in photo & music editing.

If one builds the machine themselves they gain understanding of it's performance potential and how it might be improved. Particularly cooling the CPU. I felt alot of satisfaction making a cheap CPU perform like it's $$$$$ cousin.

"life expectancy" I've got a closet full of obsolete computers, what would you like to buy?

[GohanSSJ]

Mine processor isn't overclocked, now mine can't be overclocked very well but i still won't do it.
I want my computer 100% stabel, so i simply won't take any risks, besides you will only gain a bit.

[OuTpaTienT]

Originally posted by GohanSSJ
Mine processor isn't overclocked, now mine can't be overclocked very well but i still won't do it.
I want my computer 100% stabel, so i simply won't take any risks, besides you will only gain a bit.

Well, if you know what you're doing and you got a decent processor then stability is not an issue.

And saying you only gain bit is just not true. Sometimes it's only a bit, sometime you can gain a lot. A couple of computers ago I had a K6/166 that I ran at 233 practically from day one. That's over a 20% increase, that's a lot. And it was stable as a rock.

If you choose not to do it, for your own reasons, that's fine. But don't tell others your misinformation on the subject.

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I think the only part of overclcoking that will hurt the life span of your PC is running it at an extreme voltage, but a step of .15 or .2 volts won't hurt it at all. I have CPU's that have been overclocked for over 6 years, They still run great (P166MMX @ 225)

So IMO the only thing that shortens the life of your computer is using it, but even then, my wifes has been running 24/7 for 2.5 years overclocked, Obviously it's not hurting that PC at all.

As for Why, I run a project that uses spare CPU, so the more "spare" there is, the more get's accomplished. I use my PC about 3 hours a day, but it's working 24/7, no ill effects, and my XP2100@2.16Ghz seems to like it, temp never get's above 41c.(full load) so I think it will outlive the P166MMX.

[GohanSSJ]

Originally posted by OuTpaTienT
Well, if you know what you're doing and you got a decent processor then stability is not an issue.

And saying you only gain bit is just not true. Sometimes it's only a bit, sometime you can gain a lot. A couple of computers ago I had a K6/166 that I ran at 233 practically from day one. That's over a 20% increase, that's a lot. And it was stable as a rock.

If you choose not to do it, for your own reasons, that's fine. But don't tell others your misinformation on the subject.

For windows it doesn't mather really, my processor is a athlon 1 gig and only would gain like 100 mhz, and for games it's useless too since my video card is the slowest part.

Sure if you know what your doing and got the right fans then it will do fine, but it is still less stable then on the normal speed and more fans (or bigger) means more noise, and i don't like noise, i like it completely silent.

[Bruneau]

If you oc to the point of instablility you've gone too far. So, you just back it off to where it's stable. And if you don't want noisy don't push the voltage so high that you need a damn jet engine on the thing.

For me it's a monetary issue and one for fun. If I can take a chip that's less than $100 and clock it as fast a chip costing $600... I'm having a lot of fun.

If you don't overclock you don't know what you're missing. Try it. You'll like it. I'll bet ya can't fry just one.

[thekingofpain]

If my 2.4 runs fine at 3.0g+ saving me 300$ by choosing the right board and upping a couple settings---why not?