CaTaLyST

3/8 Topic of the Week - Should you / would you Over-clock your CPU

Why risk voiding your product warranty by pushing your components past the recommended operating settings. What are the Cost / Loss issues for you associated with such an issue?



Has your over-clocked Hardware died?

r'aggrostic

I definitely think overclocking is well worth it. It is part of the fun of owning a pc, and a great way to go for the budget enthusiast. Consider:

My first overclocked chip was a barton 2500+. It spent it's whole life at 3200+ speed or better, all while costing more than $200 less. (At that time, an XP3200+ cost three to four hundred dollars). So I was getting high-end performance for $85, easily worth sacrificing the warranty. And with decent cooling in place, I never had any problems with it anyway.

Then I switched to a mobile 2400+, which has run 600 MHz over since the day I installed it--and at even less voltage than the barton needed... Again, no problems, so voiding the warranty seems like no big deal for an $85 part.

A $600 plus dollar proc might be a different story, but in the meantime my 9800 is way overspec also, and I look forward to hammering on my first 939 chip!!

MrDigital

I don't overclock, nor do I think I ever would. The idea seemed interesting to me back in the days of the 486 and early Pentiums, but recent processors are so much faster than the rest of the components in your PC anyhow, what's the point?

Stability is my main concern. Because of this I tend to buy parts from manufacturers that position themselves in the enterprise market, selling products to large companies where reliability and stability is the major concern. As such, they generally don't even *offer* overclocking options.

I buy the CPU at the speed I want and I leave it at that. Time is money, and if my PC is unstable and wastes my time, I should've just invested the lost money in a faster CPU if that's what I wanted.

-MrD

proxops-pete

If you think you can handle it, sure, why not? Like r'aggrostic said, free "upgrade" is always nice to have. My current 2000+M processor runs @ 1.67 GHz by default, but runs at 2.15 GHz and that's almost a 33% increase!! Sweet... Priceless stuff indeed!

jester22c

With the know-how and proper precautions overclocking one or multiple components on a computer can greatly improve performance while maintaining stability.

Many CPUs within the same family for example, are essentially identical chips shipped with different default settings to achieve different speeds. Altering a "slower" chip to run at the same speeds as its big brother is an easy way to save a few (hundred) dollars.

One benefit to overclocking a CPU by changing the FSB [Front Side Bus] (CPU mHz = multiplier*FSB) is that your system memory (RAM) resultingly runs faster, which can really increase performance.

All in all I think overclocking is a fun way to squeeze a little bit of extra juice out of your hardware. I have overclocked several of the systems that I own and will probably overclock my next one too... even if it is top of the line

UNCLBEN

I do overclock, but not as a rule. I mostly do it for fun, and only at levels where I feel I'm not sacrificing processor life.

I don't bump voltages. I don't buy "uber-RAM" for FSB headroom. I don't spend extra money on hardware with a good reputation for overclocking. Quite the opposite, I tend to choose hardware based mostly on quality/stability and [lack of] noise. For me, overclocking is essentially free performance - in terms of dollars, if not time.

PCJ

I overclock my gaming machine, but I would never touch a Workstation or a server. In fact, my Laptop and my Workstation are both at stock speeds.

For the gaming rig, all I need is brute force for as little cash as possible. 18 months ago, the 2500+ at 100 euros was absolutely the best buy, even without an overclock. With one however, it was the fastest thing around (except maybe a P4 3.0 / 3.2)

My workstation has a 1800+, which should get me at least a 20% overclock. However, I'm not trying it. The reason is that I simply do not want it to crash on me while I'm writing on an important document or something like that.

Also, overclocking for average Joe isn't a good idea. After all, one wrong setting can fry your CPU.

Fnord

I have never overclocked any of my past machines, mainly because of lack of know how, and proper cooling. I have several friends however that have and they all seem to be pretty happy with their machines.

tweakerpc98

you all know my answer