Is overclocking worth it?

[TheGoatMan]

Someone pointed out to me that if you overclock your cpu and video card you lose quality of picture. Overclocking got me higher benchmarks but I did'nt see a difference in quality. Now I normally run at default for cooling reasons and overclock for testing. Now I was also told the KT600 couldn't run a fsb higher than 200 mhz. I was able to run 240 x 10 and it held pretty stable. So is it really worth the extra 400 mhz? Or am I causing more harm than good.

 

[ImpetusEra]

Personally I don't think it's worth it. At the cost of stability and additional cooling devices and the chance that it will burn up to a paper weight. If you need an improvement in how things run then upgrade the hardware.

 

[SYAR2003]

It's fun , thats why overclockers love fiddling with this .
Example ,on the correct mb a xp2500 barton can be run as xp3200.( if you have a good stepping of the cpu)
No one of theese guys plan to have their cpu more than a year of two anyway .

 

[euston]

I use my PC to do work. Number one priority is that I can rely on it to work without errors and without halts. If I overclock, I lose that and the PC becomes untrustworthy as a tool.

I do build my own machines. I think it's more interesting to make them go like shit off a hit shovel within spec.

 

[xomcat]

Using syar2003's example: a 2500xp+ is $90.00;a 3200xp+ is $323.00.Is it worth it? (Prices are from today @ Newegg)

 

[Chavito21]

Hey guys,

I have a Athlon 2800+ XP so in Bios I had it set to 166Mhz. Just for curiousity I changed to 200MHZ and know I am having problems My Monitor doesn't work as well as the mouse, KB, I try to reset Bios but nothing. I think I just fry my motherboard..
what you all think?

 

[xomcat]

Chavito,What mobo? If you're going to OC you MUST do it incrementally. Be patient. As for your current situation,give us specs. & symptoms and you will get lots of good advice. When you want to OC, there are a lot of forums dedicated to that subject. Don't give up.

 

[ImpetusEra]

Though a 2500 may be exactly the same chip as a 3200 the difference is their ability to displace heat. If you only put thermal grease on half a processor it's going to run hotter than one with a full covering. Chips that internally displace heat well are made as 3200's. The ones that don't measure up to spec are downclocked. You can buy a 2500 and try and overclock it to a 3200 but factor in the cost of additional cooling equipment and the possibility that you'll push it too far and fry it.

 

[craigey]

in most cases if you've overclocked too far a simple bios reset will clear the problem, and allow you to boot up and go back to the correct settings.

To be perfectly honest if you don't know what you are doing or can't be bothered to be patient when trying to overclock, then just don't do it. You can get a perfectly stable overclocked system if you are patient.

ImpetusEra:
I see what your trying to say in your post, but where you mention only putting thermal paste on half the processor It may give some people the idea that it is ok to do it. As in reality you would be creating an air gap between the die and the heatsink, which would probably kill the cpu.
(sorry, not having a go, but thought I better mention it).

TheGoatMan :
Which twit told you that you will "lose quality of picture" by overclocking the graphics card? If you overclock the processor, you are allowing it to process more calculations per second, which is great for games. Hence the improvement in the benchmark score. The reason you can't see an improvement is that your desktop is using a very small amount of the graphics card processor power and would look the same if you put a graphics card that runs at only half the speed of your current card.
(Hope that makes sense)

The basic principle of overclocking is getting something for nothing. Think buying a new car, and getting £500 off the price, alloy wheels and a full set of mats.

 

[SYAR2003]

I would say overclocking is worth it .
And agree with craigey that it requires patience as wll as
skills .
I have a overclocked rig myself .
Thanks to that i have pusponed upgrading of my cpu to
xp-2500 or higher barton processor for along time .
I made a decition to replace my VIA 266 motherboard with
Abit nf7-s v.2 as well as getting deacent 2x512MB pc3200
modules running as dual ddr.
This has made me run my xp2200 T-bredB 1,8Ghz 266FSB
at 2Ghz with a multiplier and FSB at 10 x 200 with air cooling .

 

[dazzaboy]

GoatMan,

It depends what you want the extra horsepower for. Overclocking will probably only show a marked difference if you are a 3D gamer (as Craigey has mentioned). With OC'ing you are either into it or you aren't.

If you want to OC your GFX card make sure it has adequate cooling before you start tweaking the GPU clock.

If you are really bothered about extra ooommppff in the gaming department and don't wanna overclock, just get a decent GFX card.

If you do overclock then take heed of what has been said before in this thread. Tweak it S-L-O-W-L-Y and run the system for a while to check stability.

Cheers,

DaZ

http://www.organizedkhaos.co.uk

 

[ImpetusEra]

My point with the half thermal grease covered processor was to point out it would run hotter, whether it creates an air gap or not doesn't matter. If it gets too hot it's gonna die either way. Of course it wouldn't be wise to run a processor like that as there is a chance it would burn up but the manufacturers say the same about processors when it comes to overclocking. If I had an older PC that I wanted to get a little more life out of I might overclock assuming I have a new system or one on the way. Would I buy a brand new system and overclock it the first day? Deffinitely not, if it sizzles up and I have to buy another one then with the money I've spent I could of bought one twice as fast to begin with. I don't know about getting something for nothing cause you get what you pay for in the end. Just my 2 cents on the matter.

 

[34534534534555]

As SYAR said at the beginning. It is fun and that is why people overclock.

We could discuss for a long time about cost vs. risk vs. gain.

At the end of the day, do you want to play with your computer and make it go that little bit faster, but with the added possibility of melting something?
-Have you got time to read the guides and fully understand them.
-Do you have the patience to overclock incrementally.
-Are you doing it for fun or because you need the extra power.

It is a little like buying a car and chipping it yourself -you really ought to know what you are doing or it is likely you will damage it.

 

[xomcat]

An endless debate where everyone is right.A variable, which hasn't been discussed,is "luck".Two users, with exactly the same components, will seldom get the same results. Yes,the mfgs. will understate their potentials & tolerences to minimize RMA's. My rule of thumb - a 10% OC is always, with patience, achievable. Over 10%, enjoy your accomplishment - accept your failure as a learning experience. If you OC seriously, you'll surely experience both. It's like playing the stock market. If you're not willing to accept a setback,don't invest. In either case, both a financial + and - are possible (and patience & knowledge is required).

 

[TheGoatMan]

Yeah that twit also told me a bunch of other stuff that didn't make sense either. I just messed around with over clocking to see what my computer could do. I was able to run my 2600+ at 2.5 ghz. But the v.core was up so high it ran really hot. I think the stock 2.09 ghz. is fast enough. Also my video card flies when I overclock it. It can go to 520 mhz core clock and 925 mhz memory clock. Its a fx5900.

 

[dazzaboy]

With a bog standard XP2600+ coupled with an GeForce FX5900 you SHOULD have more than enough horsepower to run any new 3D game at a good FPS rate anyway.?

If the GPU is overclocked with good results (as youve mentioned) you should'nt need to tweak the CPU speed. )

Happy gaming!

DaZ

 

[khanza]

overclocking is like the stock market.... you overclock.... you buy a stock that doesn't have a good history but it REALLY low right now. It either goes up or it dies.... which would you do?
Just like cyber warrior said "We could discuss for a long time about cost vs. risk vs. gain."

-=Alex=-