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Do/Don't you overclock?
- Thread starter munkle
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i had to overclock my core i7 870 to give it power to handle my sli gtx 470's or the cpu would be a bottleneck. your parts will last and you can overclock to. you just need to keep your voltage and temps in check. i have always done that and my parts last.
BinarySynapse
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I've been overclocking my Q9550 to 3.4GHz in an Asus P5Q Pro since I bought them in September 2008. It's been just as stable as any other "100% stable" stock clocked cpu. It's already lasted almost three years with it being on nearly 24/7. So I think longevity is a non-issue as well.
Did you mean
And yes, I got with the program when I got my first i7. Better late than
I keep my pc's in use for quite a long time, my media center is still a 939 4200+, it's got like 6 years on it, and I will still use it for it quite some. I prefer to stay with stock instead of finding out how long something can go overclocked.
drescherjm
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I do not believe that overclocking without messing with any voltages has any effect on lifespan so I usually push my CPUs a little. An example of this is both my home linux desktops the core2quad q9550 and the i7 920 are both running at 3.2GHz.
Even if you planned on keeping that system for 20 or 30 years, overclocking should not kill the processor as long as you keep the temps in check.
I keep temps on my overclocked systems lower than stock temps would be if were using the stock cooler.
BinarySynapse
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Why do you think increasing the clock speed is going to have a noticeably detrimental effect on the life of a processor? I agree that if you just don't need the performance, then there is no real reason to overclock, but to avoid overclocking because you're afraid it might only last 23 years instead of 25 is ridiculous.
BigYoSpeck
Limp Gawd
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I've not overclocked since my Coppermine Celeron 600.
I ended up getting a bargain deal on a 3400+ Newcastle core Athlon 64 which only had about 100mhz headroom so wasn't worth bothering with, went from that to an X2 4800+ which I just never found time to see if it had much headroom and finally on to my current Phenom II 965 BE which I got from ebay dirt cheap and rather than take the 15% or so extra performance I've gone with undervolting it to 1.2v at stock to help keep the system near silent.
About 5 years ago silence became my goal with computers and I invariably end up sourcing them from ebay where you never quite have a focussed vision of what you will end up buying so overclocking potential takes a back seat to kepping the thing cool and quiet.
I ended up getting a bargain deal on a 3400+ Newcastle core Athlon 64 which only had about 100mhz headroom so wasn't worth bothering with, went from that to an X2 4800+ which I just never found time to see if it had much headroom and finally on to my current Phenom II 965 BE which I got from ebay dirt cheap and rather than take the 15% or so extra performance I've gone with undervolting it to 1.2v at stock to help keep the system near silent.
About 5 years ago silence became my goal with computers and I invariably end up sourcing them from ebay where you never quite have a focussed vision of what you will end up buying so overclocking potential takes a back seat to kepping the thing cool and quiet.
If you want some studies or something I don't have any of that for you. I don't think taking something out of it's design limits is a good idea personally. Which is why I don't do it. You may have had success with overclocking. I stated the reasons why, I prefer 100% stability and longevity. Are there 100% stable overclocks? Yes and no. Does overclocking kill stuff? yes and no. I have more to lose by overclocking than to gain, loss of warranty, potential dead parts, and reliability/stability are not worth it to be sacrificed by an overclock to me personally. Even if you take the last two off with 100% stable overclock that wont hurt anything loss of warranty isn't worth it to me over potential gains. In essence you could say its peace of mind over performance.
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Tsumi
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I overclock, but not outside of the default voltage.
BinarySynapse
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All of those issues are just as much of a problem when you don't overclock. The only thing left is warranty, which is already expired for the system you stated. However, even it wasn't, it would be voided if you used an aftermarket heatsink.
"http://support.amd.com/us/warranty/Pages/Processorinabox3YearLimited.aspx"
Again, not wanting to bother with it is one thing. It can be a hassle to find a stable overclock. I don't overclock my kids' computers for because I just don't want to mess with it. But you're essentially saying that you're avoiding it because it's too dangerous, when it's generally not as long as you're don't take it to extremes.
Monkey God
Mangina Full of Sand
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Since I turned a Pentium 133 into a 166/180, always overclock.
For that one system yes it is expired. But for my other systems no, I personally will take warranty over overclocking since I said in my post before even if you eliminate the the last two you are still left with a warranty. You could phrase it that way "being to dangerous". My a8n-e (939) had sleep problems that developed about a year and a half after I had it, but I got it replaced free because of warranty. Now some people would submit a board that has been overclocked anyways for warranty work but I personally wouldn't do that unless the warranty allowed for that.
I'm not trying to say stock doesn't get problems, it most certainly does, just fewer.
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Silent Knight
[H]ard|Gawd
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I do overclock,otherwise i would be lurking somewhere else instead of HardOCP.
DogsofJune
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I always test the waters for more potential, so yes of course ova clock. However, I do have a few things that just don't warrant squeezing a little extra from.
When I OC my CPU, I don't overvolt. And I will typically buy SOC'd GPUs for the simple convienence of not having to test them. I'm certainly not 'extreme' by any sense of the definition, but why not squeeze a few extra hundred MHz out if it, and let the [H]orde benefit more from folding.
I did up until I got my first P4. At that point in time money stopped being such an issue. Now I just buy the CPU at the speed I want, I don't need to buy a cheap CPU and ramp it up because that was all I could afford.
Also, outside of benchmarks does it really matter for most anymore? Overclocking was so much more important when it made everything faster. I remember overclocking my p75 to 120mhz so that I could use my CD burner and use the Internet at the same time. I also overclocked my PII 400 so it could play DVDs smoothly without a hardware decoder. It also only took a slightly larger heatsink with maybe an extra fan. In the past overclocking made everything faster, opening programs, using the internet, watching video, etc. It was all visibly improved with an overclock. It just isn't as nearly rewarding as it used to be. Now I feel old....
Also, outside of benchmarks does it really matter for most anymore? Overclocking was so much more important when it made everything faster. I remember overclocking my p75 to 120mhz so that I could use my CD burner and use the Internet at the same time. I also overclocked my PII 400 so it could play DVDs smoothly without a hardware decoder. It also only took a slightly larger heatsink with maybe an extra fan. In the past overclocking made everything faster, opening programs, using the internet, watching video, etc. It was all visibly improved with an overclock. It just isn't as nearly rewarding as it used to be. Now I feel old....
Evolutionary
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You bet your ass I do. Without at least a 1GHz CPU OC and a ~25% GPU OC I feel like my money didn't go as far as it could have. Nothing upsets me more than a bad OC'ing component.
I guess you could call me an OC addict. I also assume 75% of this site is just like me as well.
I guess you could call me an OC addict. I also assume 75% of this site is just like me as well.
Flyinfinni
[H]ard|Gawd
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Of course I Overclock! I'm an enthusiast. I enjoy tinkering with my hardware almost as much as I enjoy playing games. I generally OC my GPUs to run some benchmarks and stuff, but then game with them at stock unless I NEED more power jsut so I can keep the heat and noise down- my bedroom already gets to 85F during the spring and summer. If I didn't have to worry about a boiling hot room, I'd be cranking my OCs a lot higher.
I guess you could call me an OC addict. I also assume 75% of this site is just like me as well.
So far it's 88% according to poll.
butterfliesrpretty
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the thing is though you're just wrong, I have never seen a cpu go bad except in situations of people doing EXTREME overclocking, and usually when people do that they still very rarely go bad. Lifespan of a cpu is not a reason to avoid overclocking, it just means you don't know a whole lot about computers in general I hate to say.
I overclock my parts, but leave the my wife & kid's computers stock. Mainly due to laziness, as I'm only going to tinker with my own. If it's a part that was OC'd in my computer, it will generally get dropped slightly when one of them get it as they don't have the cooling capacity I have and generally don't care about getting the most out of the hardware (but you can bet who hears it if anything hiccups).
Lol? I stated parts die of overclocking which is true and you state that yourself, I also stated that stock is not trouble free. I also stated that parts don't die from overclocking also, meaning that you can overclock with little consequence in some cases. I never limited it to cpu's, so maybe you didn't take time to read the thread? There are other components that die much faster than cpu's do both at stock and overclocked speeds (video cards come to mind). You have pretty much stated (in a basic sense) what I have already said but with a pro-overclocking tone/side.
You see this is a thread on do you overclock or not. Not a thread on who is right and who is wrong. I stated the reason why I don't overclock, you can't say I am wrong because those are the reasons I don't overclock, maybe you should be more specific and say my reasons are wrong if that's what you think but saying I'm wrong is saying that those aren't the reasons I don't overclock. But either way that is not the intent of this thread.
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Little_4nic8er
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As a gamer, hell ya! I gained 15+ FPS in Fallout NV going from 3.6GHz to 4.2GHz.
I have yet to have an OC'd CPU or GPU go south. Seeing I build a new system every couple-few years, it really doesn't concern me. I want more (Free) power! (And I get it.)
OCing is a tedious task for sure, but oh so much fun when you nail down a nice OC.
I have yet to have an OC'd CPU or GPU go south. Seeing I build a new system every couple-few years, it really doesn't concern me. I want more (Free) power! (And I get it.)
OCing is a tedious task for sure, but oh so much fun when you nail down a nice OC.
Is there a better place to put it? At the very least 50% of it goes here, only other place would be general but even then this seems like a better place since it specifically deals with overclocking.
I put the poll because i was interested in the ratio of people that do/don't overclock. If anything I am surprised at the number that don't.
(well it has gone down now, it was at 10%)brucedeluxe169
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I dont overclock....
ever since consoles became the baseline for gaming requirements, I've never had a need to, anything I throw at my build is chewed up and spit out despite it not being top of the line, and run complete at stock throughout the system....
as I get older I also find that I like to tinker much less than I used to.... its sad really....
*sigh*
edit: i've even stopped tinkering with my OSes, going from Slackware as my Linux of choice to Ubuntu.... I guess as i get older, the ability to "just work" has become the #1 priority for me...
ever since consoles became the baseline for gaming requirements, I've never had a need to, anything I throw at my build is chewed up and spit out despite it not being top of the line, and run complete at stock throughout the system....
as I get older I also find that I like to tinker much less than I used to.... its sad really....
*sigh*
edit: i've even stopped tinkering with my OSes, going from Slackware as my Linux of choice to Ubuntu.... I guess as i get older, the ability to "just work" has become the #1 priority for me...
Boards that are advertised as being "overclocking" boards were designed and meant to be overclocked and thus it will NOT void the warranty on the motherboard if you overclock.
As for CPUs, I have overclocked everything since my 486DX-33. I have not had one processor die or lose it's overclocking ability except for when I was messing with direct die cooling on K6-2 processors back in the day. They were like $50 a pop so I had no reason to not do crazy experiments on them.
That's not always true. Some are designed to be overclocked but not all of them are covered under warranty for overclocking. Most of the warranties are pretty vague and don't specify whether they allow or disallow overclocking but many do state they don't cover misuse or operator error. Depending on how you look at overclocking could fall under one of those if you kill your stuff. Amd doesn't warranty overclocking on their black edition processors yet they are meant for overclockers, Intel probably doesn't either.
Most of them are worded like this
Pretty much all the warranties I looked it were like that, I'm sure there are warranties that cover overclocking but all the ones I looked at are worded in a way that they don't allow it. Some companies will still let you send stuff in for an rma some won't. Just depends on the company.
There were also some comical exclusions I found also.
Either way that is not the intent of this thread, it's to find out whether or not you overclock.
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My OC experience goes back to TRS-80s. I just got an i7-990X & if does not oc well I will be all over picketing Intel! I don't need chips to last 10 years; I have a couple of Athlon MP cpus that are almost 10 years old & they were OC-ed the entire time ... the HDD finally failed & decided it was time to upgrade that box anyway.
I don't need chips to last 10 years; I have a couple of Athlon MP cpus that are almost 10 years old & they were OC-ed the entire time ... the HDD finally failed & decided it was time to upgrade that box anyway.