Is overclocking a wow effect?

antares said:

I mean, will you notice a big performance improvement? Otherwise I don't see the point in stressing a system and decreasing its lifetime.

There are two ways to look at this Life Cycle for any CPU or tech is not that long anymore based on how fast tech is moving

Overclocking doesn't shorten the lifespan if done correctly most of the chips produced now days are made for that factor to Overclock and these chips have been tested numerous times


As for performance you will see gains in some area's not so much other most of the time it quickens calculations if you are looking for dramatic drop down boot time and Log on time then a SSD will be the factor there

For the most part Overclocking is a Hobby for most and tend to have money to back their hobby I don't recommend overclocking for those who can't afford to replace what they have broken and last but not least people overclock for Benchmarks and competition

antares said:

I mean, will you notice a big performance improvement? Otherwise I don't see the point in stressing a system and decreasing its lifetime.

In a word, no. At least I have not seen any big performance gain except in benchmarks. We go for the bragging rights more I think.
I mean who would run an OC of 7.8GHz if you have to set up a liquid helium cooler each time?

I would agree, that for the most part its simply for the fun and challenges it can bring, or bragging rights.

There are scenarios where it makes a difference and some it doesn't:
Encoding HD video with a CPU based encoder will show nice benefits from a overclock.
Gaming .... not so much. It really depends on the game.
Everyday use, NONE.

Although there are some benefits, in the grand scheme of things you will not really see much, if any, improvement in real world use.

If you want immediate performance increase the best thing you can do is buy a SSD. This will be the one thing you can do that will show a overall system performance improvement right away.

Agreed, if you left your cpu at say 4.8 to 5.0 all the time, just imagine how it would put a hurtin on your cpu during gaming.

AddRAM said:

Agreed, if you left your cpu at say 4.8 to 5.0 all the time, just imagine how it would put a hurtin on your cpu during gaming.

Mine doesn't hurt @ 4.8 it's taking it with ease

Only big issues with Overclocking is heat if you can keep your CPU from hitting the max Temp you can run it all day long at high speeds

Also using extreme voltages are usually the causes of degradation if the chip normally runs at a prefixed voltage that may be higher then the one you actually fixed it too

Also most chips have a voltage wall listed by the maker you don't exceed any of these things the chip could last years decades or even more ,I don't put a time span on anything because a stock chip could burn out too

It just has too many variables on how people use them is all

Over clocking is a WOW thing to a degree. It's kind of like tuning your car to be the most it can be.
You can tune your car to give you the most for 1/4 of a mile at the track and trailer it the rest of the time.
You can also tune it to be the best it can be and drive it every day that way. Two completely different tune ups.
I like my over clocks to the best they can be and use it that way all day long every day.
I really don't think it hurts anything as long as you control the temperature.
When you raise volts you raise temperature and temperature kill and or shortens the life of hardware. You must control the temperature either with less volts or more cooling.

You also have to factor in modes such as Offset and speedstep, I am pretty sure most of us use them, so although my CPU is overclocked to 4.6GHz it is never running at that all the time and the same with the voltage.

antares said:

I mean, will you notice a big performance improvement? Otherwise I don't see the point in stressing a system and decreasing its lifetime.

Well OC'ing is pretty handy after all.

Let's say your improve by 25% to 30% which will be around 4.2GHz to 4,4GHz a stock 3,4GHz "K" or Amd same proc. At those settings it won't hurt your components that much if you found your right settings & voltage for everyday. Having a computer capable OC'ing the Cpu, Gpu, Dram let's you plenty of joyfully days.

The overall computer will have more responsiveness to Applications softwares and some games.

I really want to think my overclock makes my rig faster.......I do, I do, I do ! Mine is but a modest overclock in the big picture and I'm just not into running crazy temps for anything but a quick trial then back down to a more modest. Everyone that overclocks is just playing with fire as it's fun to stare at but we hate it when we get burned. The race engine analogy is a good one, you have a engine tuned for the pole position but it's not durable for the whole race but the race engine isn't powerful enough for the pole position run. In the end it's your choice but never overclock what you can't afford to lose, rebuild or replace.