Over clocking

SpikeK6

SpikeK6

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Can someone please explain in laymans turms what this means and do you really need it.


Looking to buy a new pc and this turm keeps popping up

cheers

spike
 
In laymens terms it means making a component (e.g. The processor) run faster than than the speed it's supposed to.

Done carefully and with selected components, it carries very little if any risk and whilst there may not be any immediate benefit from overclocking any up to date hardware (which is always very capable at default speeds at the time of release), it will pay dividends in the long term, meaning your build will keep its head above water for longer.
 
Ah right ok thanks for that. understand it now.

Cheers

spike

P.S just looked at the price of these and well looks like I will be sticking with a normal pc lol.
 
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neil_g said:
all you need is an unlocked processor and motherboard with the required settings, easy to DIY in about 10 mins.
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^this^

A couple of minutes fiddling with the BIOS turned my 2.4Ghz CPU into a 3.2Ghz CPU :thumbs:
 
ah right ok thanks will bare that in mind when ordering the new one. also what about the mother board any special requirements on that

spike
 
neil_g said:
all you need is an unlocked processor and motherboard with the required settings, easy to DIY in about 10 mins.
Click to expand...

SpikeK6 said:
ah right ok thanks will bare that in mind when ordering the new one. also what about the mother board any special requirements on that

spike
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don't forget the cooling, a larger Heatsink and fan may be required for major OCing :)
 
Built and clocked my PC a few years ago and have had a 2.66ghz processor running at 3.6ghz ever since.

All I would say is if your going to overclock research all the components with that in mind. For example the ram may require clocking, various voltage changes so good overclockable motherboard, decent PSU, case that allows good cooling, as already mentioned a decent processor heatsink and fan. At the time I used http://hardforum.com to get my info on how to overclock, but that was a while and we all know how this stuff changes pretty fast. Happy building :thumbs:
 
Those of us who overclock our computers do it simply because we can, personally I couldn't have a pc that I hadn't wound up to its maximum and I've been doing it ever since the days of the Celeron 300 chip
I've used all manner of crazy cooling solutions as well, madness but great fun.

However, in real world terms using today's high end Intel chips I doubt whether any of our processes run discernibly faster because of overclocking.
The big gains that make a visible difference are by installing enough quality RAM and by using modern hardware like solid state drives and configuring our applications and operating systems to run more efficiently.
This of course is my humble opinion, serious overclocking fanboys will tell you differently.
 
footman said:
Those of us who overclock our computers do it simply because we can, personally I couldn't have a pc that I hadn't wound up to its maximum and I've been doing it ever since the days of the Celeron 300 chip
I've used all manner of crazy cooling solutions as well, madness but great fun.

However, in real world terms using today's high end Intel chips I doubt whether any of our processes run discernibly faster because of overclocking.
The big gains that make a visible difference are by installing enough quality RAM and by using modern hardware like solid state drives and configuring our applications and operating systems to run more efficiently.
This of course is my humble opinion, serious overclocking fanboys will tell you differently.
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i dunno, you can get 25% overclocks out of some intels, and thats just a multiplier tweek with no voltage or huge cooling.
 
neil_g said:
i dunno, you can get 25% overclocks out of some intels, and thats just a multiplier tweek with no voltage or huge cooling.
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You're quite right, I've done exactly that with my i5 2500K build. Took about 2 minutes and compared with what we had to do years ago it was like doing it asleep!
But did I notice any difference in the way my applications opened and ran, I really doubt it.
 
footman said:
You're quite right, I've done exactly that with my i5 2500K build. Took about 2 minutes and compared with what we had to do years ago it was like doing it asleep!
But did I notice any difference in the way my applications opened and ran, I really doubt it.
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well no, if youre not running processor intensive tasks there isnt much point.
 
To be fair I think the new pc I buy will be better ,quicker, double the ram so I should notice a big difference anyways.

spike
 
footman said:
But did I notice any difference in the way my applications opened and ran, I really doubt it.
Click to expand...
It depends if you use apps that use 100% CPU for hours on end. Video encoding is one app that benefits....
 
arad85 said:
It depends if you use apps that use 100% CPU for hours on end. Video encoding is one app that benefits....
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I got intrigued by CPU intensive applications after reading the replies so I dd a little reading.
It does seem that video encoding can be highly CPU intensive so it's particularly applicable to ths forum.
Also gamers claim higher frame rate for their games with overclocked cpu's.
 
footman said:
I got intrigued by CPU intensive applications after reading the replies so I dd a little reading.
It does seem that video encoding can be highly CPU intensive so it's particularly applicable to ths forum.
Also gamers claim higher frame rate for their games with overclocked cpu's.
Click to expand...

It does make a marginal difference in games,

when I overclocked a Core 2 Duo E8400 from 3GHz stock speed to 4.28GHz, I gained an extra 1000 points in 3Dmark 06, but that was benchmark tests, in reality I doubt you will notice much.

:)
 
SpikeK6 said:
Can someone please explain in laymans turms what this means and do you really need it.


Looking to buy a new pc and this turm keeps popping up

cheers

spike
Click to expand...

I know you've had a lot of replies, but the way I describe overclocking is akin to tuning a car engine. With the right tools and know-how you can add horsepower and torque to an engine by re-mapping the fuel injection and timing, making the airflow and exhaust better, adding forced induction, stuff like that. The engine is still the same as it was before only it now generates more power. Overclocking a processor is a similar concept, it's being made to work harder, in essentially being uprated from factory settings.
 
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