Overclocking questions

Bajaratt

Bajaratt

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I am considering building a new computer, and I'm cuious about overclocking it. Basically, how do you do it, what precautions do I need to take and is there a CPU brand/type that I should avoid or get for overclocking? I know the principle behind it, just not specifics. Is overclocking even worth it, or should I just buy a faster CPU and not worry about overclocking?

Also, for those who follow hardware more than me, is intel still the best or did they switch again? What is that intel atom processor about, I've heard the name but don't know what makes it so special.

My new computer is going I be a quad core, since I want it to last a few years with only minor/GPU upgrades. Also, on that note, what does the nvidia gt280 do that the 9800 series does not? I'm rambling a bit, but I'm at work so I don't have time to organize my thoughts well.

Lastly, is there anything cool/useful I should try to get for this PC? I'm not going to waste several thousand on this, I'm figuring it'll probably be around 1200-1500 for most of what I want. I'm just pointing that out so that I don't get recommended to buy a 500gb solid state drive or something outrageous like that.
 
depending on your BIOS, you can overclock a variety of things. CPU, GPU, RAM, ect. Just make sure you have the adequet power supply for it (i.e. tally power consumption on sata/ide drives, front side bus, use ports however many you decide to use)

Other then that its all about cooling, the cooler the better obviously. overclocking can kill a parts lifetime or even destroy it if your Motherboard dosent have some sort of auto-shut off, most do. i overclock my ram by .6 with only some shitty 7 dollar snap-on copper sheilding. twist-tie your power cords or tape them to the side of the inside of the case if your case has in and out fans.

Some motherboards come with software where you can audjust your fan speeds and overclocking right from windows.
 
ds083roadkill said:
depending on your BIOS, you can overclock a variety of things. CPU, GPU, RAM, ect. Just make sure you have the adequet power supply for it (i.e. tally power consumption on sata/ide drives, front side bus, use ports however many you decide to use)

Other then that its all about cooling, the cooler the better obviously. overclocking can kill a parts lifetime or even destroy it if your Motherboard dosent have some sort of auto-shut off, most do. i overclock my ram by .6 with only some shitty 7 dollar snap-on copper sheilding. twist-tie your power cords or tape them to the side of the inside of the case if your case has in and out fans.

Some motherboards come with software where you can audjust your fan speeds and overclocking right from windows.
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I've got a 630W modular power supply, so that should be enough; I'm only planning on having 1 graphics card, 1-2 hard drives and a DVD-burner. I had only intended to overclock the CPU, would an overclocked graphics card give me a better picture?
 
Overclocking your GPU won't give you better picture, it just increases the speed at which the card runs it's executions giving you more FPS.
If you have never overclocked before, i suggest you do A LOT of research on what others have had success with and which boards they find to have the best overclocking capabilities. Just keep in mind that even though someone with the same CPU may have gotten a 12% increase on their CPU doesn't mean that you will, even if you use the same CPU.

As far as the Intel vs. AMD thing, it's always been the consensus that you can overclock your Intel and have it stay much more stable than an AMD (AMD has even said it themselves).

But if you're building a new pc, my question is this...... Do you REALLY need to overclock it? I mean, my wife runs a dualcore system and my quadcore with lower speed absolutely kills hers in almost every way.

Not trying to sway you form overclocking, but i killed 2 systems before i learned how to do it right.

PS. Never, ever use a windows program to overclock.
 
I wasn't even sure if I should overclock the computer, I've never done it before and neither has anyone that I know of, so I wasn't sure how beneficial it was.
 
Anymore, overclocking has become the PC equiv of tricking out a car. It's not really needed and is more for show. If you do do it, as mentioned, cooling is everything. Artic silver for the processor, a highly rated proc fan, a great case with great airflow and additional case fans, heat sinks on the memory, etc. Essentially you'll spend more on the cooling then upgrading the proc in all likelyhood.

To answer your other question, the "Atom" is Intel's new mobile line of proc that are primarily used in the ultra small netbooks.
 
Most Motherboards now have a built in protection in case you do too much, should just shutdown.

The trick is power without overheating. I have 5 fans in mine, one 200mm fan which keeps my system cool, so having 7+ fans and liquid cooling is really overrated. I went cheaper CPU and GPU and have my OC constantly for games.

The trick is to lower your voltage without your computer shutting down to save on power, therefore causing less heat. My stock CPU is a 2.66. I keep it at 3.2 always. When I want to game..lets say Crysis, or Witcher with 16x Anisotropic Filtering, i usually knock it up to 3.4 to 3.6 (crysis). I'll OC my GPU normal from 660 to 760. I've changed the timing of my memory to make it faster.

If you use a Windows over clocking system, it's not permanent, or as stable as using the Bios. It's quite simple these days. Most Bio's are so easy to understand now.
 
Overclocking is cool. One thing I notice though if you do want a computer to last a long time, overclocking is a big nono. Even with proper cooling.

I guess the heat and generally overworking the hardware simply wears it out much faster, and makes it prone to breakage especially when you have blackouts, brownouts.

Thats not to say it can't last a long time, I just notice there is a greater chance of it breaking sooner.

Just my 2 cents.

P.S. Don't bother with AMD right now, maybe later on. You could get a I7 920 for a pretty good price, almost the same as a q9550, but I wouldn't overclock. My I7 runs pretty damn hot and it's not overclocked.
 
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If you're looking for max gaming performance (which i assume is why you are building a new PC) i would suggest purchasing a mainboard that supports crossfire or SLI, 2 of the same videocard, 3 GB or more of RAM and a quad core CPU. Just be warned that ATI is crossfire and Nvidia is SLI, and not all boards support both.

Also if you are still running XP on your current rig, you may consider installing it on your new PC. pcworld.com shows vista's performance can be slower in games by as much as 30%. Not a big deal if you are playing Fate or a similar game but if you plan on playing Crysis you will be under 30 FPS, which makes it unbearable to play imo. (I do like my graphics settings maxxed out though)

It's all about preference though, in the end. I don't personally like Intel myself, i've never had much luck with their CPUs, and have been an ATI guy for as long as I can remember.

Any idea as to which games you'd be playing? might be able to offer an opinion based on that.
 
60$ can buy you very acceptable cooling devices.

RAM sheilding, 7-13$
decent CPU fan (copper tubing is a must, adjustable speed 4pin connection is a plus), 30-35$
120mm case fans, 5-10$
plastic IDE/power supply wire sleeves, 5$


all basic cooling needs, there are HD cooling attachments which i think are a waste, so avoid them. the RAM shielding takes some muscle to get on sometimes, so dont be afraid your gunna break it. (edit: make sure when putting them RAM back on your board, if you have 4 slots. install the ram in slots 1 and 3. improves preformance and cuts down on heat scine thier not right next to each other.)

Make sure when you buy a new cpu fan, it's the correct pin size for your processor. ive made this mistake once and it did not fit on my MO lol.

standard case fans are cheap. some come with LED lighting which makes a cool effect if you got a fiberglass case, but for usefulness/life, get fans that run at 7,200 rpm.

wrapping your cords up inside increases air flow threw your PC once you set the exit fans in reverse to make a wind tunnel. sleeves look nice, but you could always use tape.
 
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johnno25 said:
If you're looking for max gaming performance (which i assume is why you are building a new PC) i would suggest purchasing a mainboard that supports crossfire or SLI, 2 of the same videocard, 3 GB or more of RAM and a quad core CPU. Just be warned that ATI is crossfire and Nvidia is SLI, and not all boards support both.
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I'm going for an Intel i7 quad core, I've already got 6GB of RAM ready to go and the motherboard is going to support both CrossfireX and SLI. I've had no problems with 2-3 gigs of RAM, I just got the 6 gigs for a great price.

I'm not going to bother with dual carding right now, I'm running almost everything on max or near-max settings with my single 9800GT. I'm planning to get either a GTX 285/295 or maybe a 9800 GX2.


Also if you are still running XP on your current rig, you may consider installing it on your new PC. pcworld.com shows vista's performance can be slower in games by as much as 30%. Not a big deal if you are playing Fate or a similar game but if you plan on playing Crysis you will be under 30 FPS, which makes it unbearable to play imo. (I do like my graphics settings maxxed out though)
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I'm not buying that at all. My current ~$650 system running Vista is handling anything I can throw at it at max/near max settings and no problems. There's definitely not a 30% loss of performance, or if there is my cheap setup is more than powerful enough to have plenty of horsepower to spare. I haven't tried crysis, but I was never interested in playing it in the first place.

Any idea as to which games you'd be playing? might be able to offer an opinion based on that.
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Aside from FFXI, usually FPS(call of duty, half-life, fallout 3, bioshock), RTS(C&C), point and click RPG(like Diablo). I've got Last Remnant installed, but haven't played it yet.

Roadkill, would I need all of this additional cooling if I'm not going to overclock? I'm pretty much sold on not bothering to overclock my stuff at this point; and I've never had to install a bunch of extra cooling stuff in my comptures before.
 
if you dont plan on overclocking, then no. but i do highly suggest getting a better processor fan. The standard fan that came on my old P4 back in the day, i changed out for a 22$ fan from gigabyte, dropped my temp running ffxi from 98-103 to 72-76 degrees.

gives you the option to overclock, plus it's just safer for the life of your part, and cheap.
 
I finally finished building my computer, been spending the last several days installing things and getting everything working. I'm running the 64-bit version of the windows 7 beta; only problem so far was I had to install some fixes to get FFXI to work, but now it seems to be working fine.

Here's the specs:

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P
Intel i7 920 Processor
6GB 1333MHz DDR3 RAM
Nvidia GTX 285OC
630W Modular PSW
Zalman GS1000 Case
Two 1TB SATA HDD

I need to work a bit on wire management, but most of it was provided by the case.
CIMG0097.jpg


I have some 120mm fans that I'm considering installing, since the case has room for 3 more than what is originally installed. I'm not sure if I need them though, with all of the stock cooling gear, the highest I've ever seen my CPU temperature is 58C. I'm not sure if that's high or not, since I've never had to worry about the temperature of my computer parts before.
 
Sounds about right for a stock fan; although CPU models vary and I'm not sure where yours runs. My Q6600 sticks around 49-52 under load with this.

Just remember case, hard drive, and gpu temperatures can be very different from your cpu temperature due to airflow. Extra fans never hurt as long as you have about equal intake/outtake.
 
Bajaratt said:
I have some 120mm fans that I'm considering installing, since the case has room for 3 more than what is originally installed. I'm not sure if I need them though, with all of the stock cooling gear, the highest I've ever seen my CPU temperature is 58C. I'm not sure if that's high or not, since I've never had to worry about the temperature of my computer parts before.
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58C is roughly 138F, which is pretty bad. I can tell thats the standard intel cpu fan, i got 2-3. they suck. under full load mine only hits about 117, and i only use a cheap fan similar to this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118003


edit: thats a neat power supply, never seen them on the bottom.
 
Not really that bad... if you're running a server with 24/7 longevity in mind maybe but not for a desktop pc playing games, under full load.

It'll last you a good two years like that anyway. By which time Intel hopes you'll have upgraded. ~.^
 
ds083roadkill said:
58C is roughly 138F, which is pretty bad. I can tell thats the standard intel cpu fan, i got 2-3. they suck. under full load mine only hits about 117, and i only use a cheap fan similar to this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118003


edit: thats a neat power supply, never seen them on the bottom.
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Well, my normal running temperature is 109-118F, 138F was just the highest I'd ever seen it. I'm also going by the temperature's of the individual cores; the CPU temperature was usually around 40C, but the individual cores had higher temperatures.

I installed the other two fans I had, but according to that Everest software, the temperature of my CPU didn't really change; or would those fans be more for everything but the CPU?

I also re-wire managed to get better airflow since the fan on the bottom is an intake fan:
CIMG0099.jpg


The bottom-mounted power supply was why I went for this case, so far the rest of the case has been really cool too. Everything is tool-less, except for a few parts of the case to remove to install the extra fans. The slots in the side are hugely helpful for managing wires.

EDIT: Just got back from Fry's, I bought a new CPU fan and rear case fan and installed them. I also flipped the red-LED fan on the top of my case to be an intake fan instead of an exhaust fan for some better airflow across the CPU.

CIMG0100.jpg


Now, according to the everest software, my CPU temp is 34C(93.2F), and my individual cores are down to 39/41C(102.2/104F); so that definitely helped lower the temperature of the CPU. Not sure what else I'm going to be able to do, I bought one of the best fans they had; the only problem is it's a little loud.
 
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yeah, they can be a little loud. should be a auto-setting on the thing to let the fan use the speed appropriate for the temp. on my non-gaming pc. i use the same fan i use on my gaming one, and half the time the fan dosent even turn on (which worried me at first) but the copper tubes dissapates the heat well enough.

thats a good temp, your all set. thats a weird case, cant even tell how where the intake-exit are... bottom and top O_o? or you got the pc on it's side lol
 
The fan had a little cheapo dial that went from low to high, but it looked removable. I did have the BIOS set to automatically adjust the speed of the fans, but I didn't see any control on the fan itself for that.

The case has 2 fan spots on the bottom(one below the PSW), two on the top and one on the rear, beside the CPU. I have intake fans on the bottom(nothing below the CPU, yet) and the red fan on the top; the Black fans are both exhaust fans to let more air flow across the CPU. The pictures have all been with the case standing up; and aside from the two pre-installed fans, none of the other fans positions seemed to have a set purpose, so I just made the two additional fans I've installed be intake fans to improve the airflow.

Here's a drawing of the airflow in the case:
Airflow.jpg


Here's an article about the case, which shows kind of what I've done in terms of wire management: http://techgage.com/article/zalman_gs1000_full-tower/2. My case has the Titanium finish, but it's the same design. I'm especially liking the red LED fan at the top, the red light coming out of the upper vent looks cool.
 
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i'll see if i cant take a pic of mine later tonight. used an all fiberglass case :)

good setup, whats the final bill?
 
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