Windows 7: Overclocking

Thanks for all of your advice. I was never really sure what over clocking was and I read some where and heard from a friend that it can improve your pc. After reading all of your posts I can see it's not really worth it and it sounds like you don't get much more for the risk you're takeing if you don't know what you are doing. It also sounds like you need to want to learn about overclocking instead of just wanting a quick way to improve your pc because it's a hard and lengthy process. Thanks for all of your help and I think I will keep clear of overclocking for now XD
I will be sure to rep you all tomorrow as I am on my iPhone now =)

Just generally, and I'm not being a wise guy. OC'ing is one of those things that falls under the category of, "If you have to ask, you shouldn't". It takes some reading starting with what is overclocking, and progresses through is my hardware capable of overclocking, to theory and method. It's not recommended for anyone not prepared, or the faint of heart.


So many new CPU's especially have so much overclocking headroom built in. It as if the manufacturers are saying, here is a great CPU, and oh yeah, if you want to overclock, there's room for that. My i5 750 is a perfect example. it's rated at 2.66GHz. 4.2GHz, 100% stable is very common. Certainly requiring excellent cooling and MB support. But a small overclock such as mine (basically 25%) with turbo and all power saving enabled, barely uses any more power than stock to run, temps are only slightly higher, and longevity should never be an issue.

But I think a dedicated, full time overclock should have a reason. For instance, a gamer trying to wring the last fps out of their games. They may very well do it with the understanding they are stressing their components excessively, but accept the trade off.

Overall, if you know what you are doing, do it right, and don't go crazy, overclocking is an acceptable method to extract the built in performance capabilities of superior hardware.

A Guy

Thanks for the comments and the rep. Dont forget to read the great post by AGuy as always he is giving valuable information.

@ A Guy

I don't mean to be hijacking this thread or your comment but you are being sarcastic right?

A 25% overclock is in no way a mild overclock speaking in the point of view of beginners. And in the point of view of a self proclaimed overclocker, no amount of overclock is good enough; it's just maybe the person hit a wall, too lazy to try harder or ran out of money and options to get the max overclock potential.

I agree it takes a lot of patience and dedication, not recommended for the faint of heart. But in my humble opinion, it's more like a lost art and a love for the sport.

No sarcasm. A simple BCLK change from 133MHz to 160MHz with turbo on is by no means an aggressive overclock. As I said in my post, I was advising the beginner not to overclock if he didn't know how and was prepared. I was also pointing out that some hardware is easily capable of even major overclocks. I picked the components of this PC with this exact overclock in mind. This thread was about answering the OP's question.

A Guy

with overclocking, you just have to know when to stop. push it too far and you get an unstable (hence not very useful) system, push it further and you can permanently bork your hardware.

i've clocked my 3 ghz e8400 to 4 ghz, and happily left it there. i'm pretty sure it could go much higher, but i've not tried as i'm happy with my pc as it is - stable and quiet.

unfortunately, i was unlucky with my graphics card - it falls over at 5% overclock, so that runs at stock.

It certainly can be.

That's both correct and incorrect.

Correct, in the fact it's not easy to learn what all the settings involved are, and how they impact on other settings etc. Basically, doing it 'safely'.

Incorrect in the fact that it's actually very easy to either download software and bump up a few values, or enter the BIOS and raise a few values (FSB, BCLK etc) with scant regard to other vital settings.

For example, voltage settings are often left on AUTO and the majority of boards tend to overcompensate with excessive and dangerous voltages. (depending on how far the FSB, BCLK is pushed etc).

Using stock cooling and ignoring temperatures is another common error.

^^See incorrect.


Done properly (ie keeping within manufacturers 'max safe' VID and temp ranges) - Overclocking is not the big bad hardware killing boogey man.

Obviously Overclocking has the potential to shorten some components lifespans, depending on how far it's pushed, build quality etc - but reading, researching and double-checking goes a long way in potentially alleviating most 'expensive mistakes'.


As to whether or not you need to is entirely an individual choice.

Right hardware + research/knowledge = is worth the performance gains.

Going in balls deep without researching first = Not worth it. Same applies for simple 'bragging rights'.




OP - Bing-oogle overclocking in general first to get an understanding of what is involved.

Then start to Bing-oogle your components and then decide whether it's worth the 'risk' to you.

@ A Guy

Agreed, hope no harm was done with my opinion.

You didn't have to quote me. But, I guess I could learn a little more as each graceful day passes.

The quote was because the reply was to you and not so much the thread. Sometimes it can get confusing. No harm, no worries. A Guy

Yeah, there comes a trade-off when the amount of time that you spend going for that "max overclock potential"....negates any performance benefit that you are going to receive from the change. I frequently find that overclocking to many becomes an obsession and eventually you spend all of your time testing, tweaking and upgrading components...but then spend no real time actually making your computer productive.