Overclocking over rated?

B

Brusher

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 5, 2005
Messages
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I've been getting really pumped about learning the art of OC'ing after reading a lot on this site.

However, I know a guy at a local computer shop (he's the techi there). He says that OC'ing is way over rated and that you really won't notice any difference in the way your computer runs, even games. That kinda busted my bubble. I just got through buying a AMD 64 3500 and a couple of nice sticks of Crucial ram, and a mobo that shows that it will OC well.

Is this guy right? I mean if it's all about who can get the best times on a bencmark I could care less. But if I can notice a difference in gaming then yea. I'm going for it.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.
 
Well my 3500+ Clawhammer is 2.2GHz. default speed, It's running at 2.76GHz. everyday gamming stable. I'm happy to report to you I detected a noticable difference between 2.2GHz. and 2.76GHz. ;) It's damm near running at FX57 speeds. Most of the techs that I know at the more custom/ specaialty computer shops are all OC'ing fanatic's.
 
yeah the guy doesnt know how to OC therefore he thinks its bad or useless. That and he would rather see you buy a more expensive part.
 
ask him to come here and post that...along with reasons and facts/benchmarks to prove his point. We'll set him straight. ....or...uhhh...does he have internet access?? :p

anyone that says they don't notice a difference between an A64 running at 2.2ghz and anything over 2.6ghz is dead from the neck up to begin with.
 
2.0 to 2.5ghz is a 25% overclock... one notices a 25% change.
 
Tunabow said:
yeah the guy doesnt know how to OC therefore he thinks its bad or useless. That and he would rather see you buy a more expensive part.
Click to expand...

He probably just wants you to buy the 4200+ or faster for more $$ in his pockets.

Brusher said:
He says that OC'ing is way over rated and that you really won't notice any difference in the way your computer runs, even games.
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No, I don't notice anything OC'ing my chip from 1.8ghz to 2.81ghz......except maybe $1000 in my pocket and 20+fps!!!! :D
What an ignorant tard, that guy outta be fired.
 
Be careful with these "Computer shops"

Some guys really know what they are doing, but others just think hardware = profit.

I went into one such store and asked if they had any Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound.
The guy asked me "Why in the world would you need thermal compound?" When I told him i was installing an aftermarket Heatsink, he told me there was no such thing, all processors come with a heatsink and a "sticky pad to hold them together". I couldn't help laughing at the fact that the guy new less about his products then I did, and I still hadn't built my first rig.

Red
 
I've noticed that usually if you go into best buy or compusa and even mention overclocking thier head begins to spin, but they talk like they know what you are talking about...then try to sell you something.

Ask them to explain multipliers or the difference between FSB and HTT to see if they are really on the level. 9/10 times they have no idea what you just said.

People who dont understand OCing dont like it.
 
Redemptionca said:
Be careful with these "Computer shops"

Some guys really know what they are doing, but others just think hardware = profit.

I went into one such store and asked if they had any Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound.
The guy asked me "Why in the world would you need thermal compound?" When I told him i was installing an aftermarket Heatsink, he told me there was no such thing, all processors come with a heatsink and a "sticky pad to hold them together". I couldn't help laughing at the fact that the guy new less about his products then I did, and I still hadn't built my first rig.

Red
Click to expand...
Heh once I asked for some AS5 in some comp store and the guy tried to tell me that AS5 has no better performance than any other thermal paste...ok buddy.
 
i have a 1ghz overclock on my 3000+ venice, thats over 50% change, its definately noticeable.
 
I'd say moving from 1.8GHz on my 3000+ to 2.7GHz stable, which I've ran up to 2.86GHz (that's over a 1GHz overclock on an AMD).

He's no techie, he's just some noob who learned how to install Win-modems for a living.
 
tsuehpsyde said:
He's no techie, he's just some noob who learned how to install Win-modems for a living.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't even give him that much credit. He's the resident expert mouse installer.
 
Geez, this is some good info. Thanks for all the input. I don't think I'll be consulting with that particular tech anymore. Or this one; I asked another tech at a different shop what heat sink he would recommend for overclocking. He acted like I said something bad. It was almost like I'd said a cuss word. He talked about overheating and taking chances on blowing out parts, and that he never really wanted to take the chance. I was checking out his heat sinks as we were talking. (they had some nice ones) Needless to say, he lost a sale. Go figure. :rolleyes:

My 3500 is running at2244 MHz, but I know some have their 3000's running at 2500+. Well that just ticks me off! I paid some extra bucks for my 3500 over the 3000. Not to count the Crucial RAM an mobo. :mad: ;) :p

I'm going back to reading Eclipes's tutorial. Wish me luck.

Thanks again.
 
dont even get me started about the guy's at fry's. if you even mention the word pc or computer their eyes have this blank glossed over look to them. Anything you say after that is mute, they will just start talking a about whatever product is in front of them, and even then i usually end up knowing more than they do. For instance i was looking for a KVM switcher with it's own AC adapter because my keyboard was getting enough juice from the USB connectors, and i spent 10 minutes trying to explain the concept of it having its own AC cord, like it was a completely new concept of logic for them. Then they made it look like they searched the shelves for one and told me they didn't have one. I found one about 2 minutes later -_-. Most times these guys aren't even aware of what's in the store to begin with, i joined this forum for that reason in the first place, to get some real answers and opinions from people who knew the products and had some first hand experience with them.
 
Hmm... overclocking over rated eh?

try 1.8ghz [email protected]... that's a HUGE difference in performance adding 3k to my 3dmark01, booting faster, getting more fps, and getting lower encoding times with mp3s.

Yea, overclocking is over rated
rolleyes.gif
 
Brusher said:
I've been getting really pumped about learning the art of OC'ing after reading a lot on this site.

However, I know a guy at a local computer shop (he's the techi there). He says that OC'ing is way over rated and that you really won't notice any difference in the way your computer runs, even games. That kinda busted my bubble. I just got through buying a AMD 64 3500 and a couple of nice sticks of Crucial ram, and a mobo that shows that it will OC well.

Is this guy right? I mean if it's all about who can get the best times on a bencmark I could care less. But if I can notice a difference in gaming then yea. I'm going for it.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.
Click to expand...


I have pages of benchmark results from MadOnion (now Futuremark) but I basically agree with what you were told.

Oc'ing can inflate your E- penis by trying to achieve the ultimate benchmarking score & in that sense its worthwhile to enthusiasts who compare systems & try to improve their rigs.

However, in real world gaming & in running applications the performance differential is minimal at best. Very slight improvements in gaming, a few FPS.
 
The only downside to overclocking is that i nullifies your warranty and may possibly shorten the life of your components,if u can live with that the results u can get can be very impressive as shown by the other forum members i show my results but i dont think anyone would be impressed by an overclocked coppermine.hell got me another 150mhz ;)
every little bit helps.
 
depends on the cpu you're overclocking also. I think that AMD's tend to gain more per Mhz overclocked than P4's. So a 300Mhz o/c on an AMD will net you more performance gain than the same 300Mhz on a P4.
 
I see 2 possible explanations to his claim that overclocking is overrated...

A) He is smart and he purposely told you that overclocking is overrated knowing he is wrong hoping that you would buy a faster more expensive processor which he would gain the commission from.

B) He is a moron and doesnt know what he is talking about.

I choose B. I notice a huge gain on my system from running my processor at the stock 2.4ghz and my 9800pro and stock speeds. At my systems maximum overclocked settings, it can match a P4 ~3.6, and a 6600GT.
 
Personally, I feel that ALL AMD's come underclocked from the factory, and it's my god given right to determine what it should be clocked at. In most games however you may not notice the speed that much, unless you are overclocking your video card also. Saving money is really what its all about, get a cheaper part and run it at a more expensive parts frequency. Do you really think the CPU Cores are any different? They dont run off 3200's one day and then 3500's the next. Next time you go and talk to that tech, ask him if you should run your divider at 1:1 and overclock the ram or run it at 166/200 and overclock just the HTT instead of the HTT and the FSB of the ram. I always ask a test question when I get to a store, depending on how stupid the answer, I'll either ask the guy another for a laugh, or move on.
 
yeah, definately more to gain from ocing. i notice a difference in my fps playing cs bigtime.

Heh once I asked for some AS5 in some comp store and the guy tried to tell me that AS5 has no better performance than any other thermal paste...ok buddy.
Click to expand...

about the thermal pastes not being any different he may be right. i remember an article on dan's data a few years ago that showed the artic silver 3 (i think) was no better than the cheap white paste that you can buy or toothpaste for that matter

see: dan's data

of course the cheap stuff dries out after a good while etc... but still the point is there's not a huge difference between them.
 
Double Jesus said:
about the thermal pastes not being any different he may be right. i remember an article on dan's data a few years ago that showed the artic silver 3 (i think) was no better than the cheap white paste that you can buy or toothpaste for that matter

see: dan's data

of course the cheap stuff dries out after a good while etc... but still the point is there's not a huge difference between them.
Click to expand...


When properly applied, the white stuff is definitely "good enough" vs. AS5....I installed my Zalman 700 on the vid card with the white stuff (I was out of AS5) and ran it that way for a few days. I re-installed it with the AS5 when it came in....difference? About 1c at full load....


Usually when a large difference occurs between thermal compounds, it is because one was not applied as good as the other...but I do like the fact that the AS5 does not dry out, at least, not in the time frame I have ever had a component...
 
that guys a complete idiot
i have a very noticable difference running programs in windows with my a64 3500+ venice
fromt he stock 2.2 to only like 2.37 i notice a pretty big difference just in how fast everything loads in windows
 
.xXLucidXx. said:
that guys a complete idiot
i have a very noticable difference running programs in windows with my a64 3500+ venice
fromt he stock 2.2 to only like 2.37 i notice a pretty big difference just in how fast everything loads in windows
Click to expand...

I've been clocking before most here at this site even HEARD of it.

You calling me an idiot?

Morley knows me since 1999 the year I set the world record in 3dmark2000.

Gibbo from overclockers uk knows of me & sent me a congratulatory email at the time.

You are talking out of ur ass.
 
50+% Overclocks, you will notice a difference...

Celeron 433 @ 590...Smoked a P3 550(Katmai) back in the day.
Celeron 600 @ 1035...Could hang with a P3 933 and 1000.
Pentium 4C 2.4 @ 3.4...Can easily beat a P4 3.4C and 3.2EE.
Celeron D 2.4 @ 3.6...Encodes faster than my [email protected].
 
No doubt a 40% oc + on the cpu will make a NOTICEABLE diff running apps & proggies. Not so much in gaming unless youoc the vid card substantially as well.

I oc everything since 1999 out of habit but I've yet to achieve a 40% + oc on AMD64 platform or AthlonXP.

On my P3 yea I hit a 40% + oc.

(never owned a P4 as I don't like the architecture)
 
ZigZagZeppelin said:
...
On my P3 yea I hit a 40% + oc.
...
Click to expand...

My record is 72% ;)

R.I.P. Celeron 600, I toasted that when I test a board I had with a bad voltage regulator. That was a sad day. :(
 
The day I set the 3dmark2000 world record I rigged up a Carrier 5500 btu air conditioner to the side of my case & I had to keep blotting the mobo & vid card with a paper towel while the bench ran.

I got a 1.33 Thunderbird up to 1800+Mhz, about the best oc I ever got.

oc'ing isn't a big deal to me these days but I still do it & show my friends how to.
 
wasn't there someone who used liquid nitrogen or something along those lines and got up to 7ghz? i cant remember the exact details but i remember seeing something on the forums about it before. well that kind of thing wasn't practical, because the system lasted a few moments under the pressure and was impossible to sustain (if it actuall happened).

But most OC'ing if you do it correctly you should get a noticable difference in processing power, i OC'd my P4 3.4 to a 3.7 for a couple of days and windows loaded much faster and most programs on startrup popped up quicker. Didn't benchmark it though, wish i did now but i brought it back to basic because i wasn't sure about the voltage and didn't want to strain my hardware since i might not be able to replace anything for a while on my budget.
 
Actually just about every Venice OCs 40% or more. Tech changes, don't base your OCing stand on old technology.
 
Well for games my experience in OC'ing has been good.

Spec

Venice 3200
2x1gb Crucial Value
eVGA 7800GTX


I made a timedemo, for Zatar Wetlands flying around the map in a jet and choppers. With my CPU at stock 2.0ghz fps goes from 65-100fps with an average of 85ish with all the settings maxed and TRAA on. On the same settings When I overclock my CPU to 2.6ghz 290HTTx9 fps goes from 80-100 with an average of 97ish. So to me thats a pretty huge difference.

For benchmarks my stock 3dmark05 is about 7800 with the OC its 8964
 
If you do it right, and a substansial amount, you will notice a difference. But obviously its going to scale...light overclocks on stock voltage is a waste of time (IMO), but the farther you can push clocks/bandwidth away from stock settings, the more noticeable the difference is.....

And this is assuming you don't mind having your computer crash everyonce and a while...cause it WILL happen, (especially while learning/testing) if you push the speed far enough to make a big enough difference for it to be worthwhile.
 
I've got the original 3400+ Claw & its memory controller isn't as good as the new Venice core/San Diego.

Wish I could get a 40% clock on it.....best she'll do is a 300 Mhz oc....

Been waiting for a decent offer on my cpu/ mobo b4 upgrading.....
 
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