Help is it possible to overclock a laptop?

[skillrang3r]

hi, well i was wondering if it was possible to overclock a laptop. one of the flaws of the laptop is its processor speed. and i dont know if its possible and dont get mad if im wrong i would like to overclock this laptop.

also i was checking to see if Cod 5 worked since cod 4 MW worked on my laptop. and something funny came up in the CPU speed part.

 

[zigzag3143]

Overclocking a laptop really, really, isnt a good idea.. Heat is a very real problem. You can melt your lappy if you are not careful and knowledgeable.

 

[paulpicks21]

Yes, as Zigzag says.

Laptop cpu's run very hot anyway due to the confined space, overclocking them will increase the heat further and may cause big problems.

Most laptops don't have any options in the bios for overclocking and for good reason.

Paul.

 

[pparks1]

Usually it's not even possible. As laptops are made by various mfg's and often all of the BIOS features that you would need are removed from your control by the mfg.

In the event that you did manage to get access to the features needed, now you have a major heat problem...and you cannot easily go in and change cooling options from within the laptop.

It's best to just leave laptops alone. They aren't beasts of computers anyway. Power supplies are just sufficient, fans are just sufficient, hard drives are generally slow anyway.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

All three previous answers are spot on. We see lots of people asking to speed up there laptops but overclocking but for a few super laptop exceptions is ill advised. Please look to save your money and purchase ram (prices are dropping like mad) and max the allowable ram of the system. Then grab a SSD and a 2.5" hard drive enclosure and swap the internal slow spinner for the SSD and gain blazing start up and program load speeds and still have your spinner for data storage and or back up but now via a usb connector. If you are using the original spinner hard drive and have limited ram in either 32 or 64 bit systems then you can try speeding things up with ready boost. It's a inexpensive way to speed things up but not near as good as adding ram. Everyone has extra stick/pen drives or an extra sd card around and if it's fast enough then it will learn over time to boost the system. Work with what you have but don't push what you have to the breaking point. Desktops are much more customizeable with cooling and overclock solutions. Laptops sadly are wickedly poor for heat and bios and power supply reasons. Start planning out a desktop system and go crazy.....as long as like stock market investments you can afford to lose what you overclock?????

 

[Pradege]

It really just depends on the machine you have, but that goes for just about everything. Big issue with laptops is they are not usually designed to deal with the extreme heat that overclocking can bring, but there are rare exceptions. On top of that laptop bios are usually locked down meaning they offer no kind of overclocking functions or options at all, even gaming laptops are very limited compared to desktops. Even with all that though there are ways around it with software that will allow you to manipulate either multipliers or memory clocks to give a rugged overclock. Looking at the machine you have posted in your system specs i would not recommend trying to overclock it. Either invest in a better laptop or just stick with overclocking desktops as they offer much more bang for your buck. To answer your question though yes you can overclock your machine but at a risk to your machine.

On the other side though i own a NP7280 which is a gaming notebook. As far as gaming machines are concerned there are not many desktops that have been able to beat this current machine. But it is a matter of cost these machines are not cheap and unless you travel a lot like me and dropping 5k on a machine doesn't make you bat an eye then i would suggest it. You can see the specs of my machine at the bottom.

 

[Wishmaster]

If you want to keep it, No.

For the same reasons already listed.

 

[skillrang3r]

thanks all for the advice. i wont even try haha.

 

[Lordbob75]

Just to clarify, it is theoretically possible, but not really easy to do or a good idea.

~Lordbob

 

[Cubicsilver]

I overclock my laptops. Not all the time, but when I'm playing games it helps. It really depends on your processor. Most manufacturers offer a wide range of processor speeds on the same laptop with the same cooling. I have 2 laptops of the same make, one has a TK-42 (20W TDP), and the other has a TL-66 (35W TDP). That's a 15 watt difference! It only seems logical that you could push lower end processors to slightly higher speeds and the cooling would handle it.

For example, I have an amd based netbook that has choppy playback on hd youtube videos. After a small 200mhz overclock they play smoothly. The temperature only goes up about 8 degrees under load. You could do an overclock and run super pi to see if it's stable. If the overclock isn't stable, then it isn't meant to be.

I use "setcpu" and or "rmclock". It's super easy to do, all you have to know is your clock chip info. More than likely someone has figured it out, just google your laptop series + overclock.

 

[whs]

Would make a nice water cooker - and then a paperweight.

 

[Cubicsilver]

I have been overclocking every processor I have gotten my hands on for the past 15 years and never once have I made a "paper weight". Heck, I even overclock my phone. I remember all the fear mongering about overclocking back then, and the so-called experts in the computer shops would offer up the same opinions too. Maybe they never realized the joy of getting the same performance as a $1000 processor from a $100 one. Now days overclocking a desktop is so mainstream, as a feature, some processors even overclock themselves. (the i7 2600k is dope!)

You would think in a forum called "Overclocking and Case Mods" there would be some real and constructive information about overclocking laptops other than "Don't it's too scary and your laptop will blows up!!":shock:

I'm not saying there isn't a risk of damage, but if you are in this thread you probably accept the risk. From someone who has actually overclocked laptops: They don't blow up, they are all fine... and faster too.

Try it sometime. Soft clock it higher and test for stability. If it doesn't work, no harm.

 

[Wishmaster]

I wouldnt rely on Super-Pi as a stability test.

Ive had OCs crash and burn under Prime or IBT in a very short time, yet could make it through a SuperPi bench.


I dont think any one is saying it isnt possible ...
Just not the best idea. Much more of a risk than on a desktop with hardware and cooling designed for it.
I mean afterall, whats the most important thing about about OCing (the most dangerous part)? Heat.

 

[Cubicsilver]

Exactly! Prime 95 on all cores.

The truth is most laptop overclocks are not going to generate a significant amount of extra heat.
Infact it's possible to undervolt a laptop processor and overclock it with the same or less heat output than stock!!
Just like desktop processors, some laptop processors are going to be better overclock canidates than others.

This is a forumla for calculating overclock watt output: Po = Ps * (Fo/Fs) * (Uo2/Us2)

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Ps is the power usage of the non-overclocked CPU[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Po is the power usage of the overclocked CPU[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Fs is the clock speed of the non-overclocked CPU[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Fo is the clock speed of the overclocked CPU[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Us is the default voltage of the non-overclocked CPU[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Uo is the voltage at which the overclocked CPU runs[/FONT]
​

*taken from http://http://www.heatsink-guide.com/calcpower.htm

An AMD 64 L110 has a maximum wattage of 13 and a core voltage .9 volts @ 1200mhz
I have seen this processor undervolted as low as .6 volts and the common overclock is between 1400 and 1600
Say this processor was overclocked to 1400mhz and undervolted to .8 then the formula would be:
Po = 13 W * (1.4/1.2) * (0.82/0.92) = 11.98 W

This is simple overclock that anyone with this processor should be able to do. Most go higher with less volts. If your model can take a must faster processor than you currently have in it and you OC, than more than likely you are not even going to make a dent in the designed cooling. For example: I have an acer aspire 5517 that came with an AMD L310 stock (13W .9v core 1200mhz) and I swapped it out with a TL-56 (1.025 core 31W 1800mhz) (which I OC on occasion to 2250).

A common overclock for the L310 is around 1600mhz. (limited by clock generator)
Po = 13 W * (1.6/1.2) * (0.92/0.92) = 17.3 W !! If I can use a TL-56 with a TDP of 31W that means even with overclocking I have only used half of the designed thermal capacity of the laptops cooling!!!

When you do the math, heat really isn't that much of an issue.

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

Exactly! Prime 95 on all cores.

The truth is most laptop overclocks are not going to generate a significant amount of extra heat.
Infact it's possible to undervolt a laptop processor and overclock it with the same or less heat output than stock!!
Just like desktop processors, some laptop processors are going to be better overclock canidates than others.

This is a forumla for calculating overclock watt output: Po = Ps * (Fo/Fs) * (Uo2/Us2)

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Ps is the power usage of the non-overclocked CPU[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Po is the power usage of the overclocked CPU[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Fs is the clock speed of the non-overclocked CPU[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Fo is the clock speed of the overclocked CPU[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Us is the default voltage of the non-overclocked CPU[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Uo is the voltage at which the overclocked CPU runs[/FONT]
​

*taken from http://http://www.heatsink-guide.com/calcpower.htm

An AMD 64 L110 has a maximum wattage of 13 and a core voltage .9 volts @ 1200mhz
I have seen this processor undervolted as low as .6 volts and the common overclock is between 1400 and 1600
Say this processor was overclocked to 1400mhz and undervolted to .8 then the formula would be:
Po = 13 W * (1.4/1.2) * (0.82/0.92) = 11.98 W

This is simple overclock that anyone with this processor should be able to do. Most go higher with less volts. If your model can take a must faster processor than you currently have in it and you OC, than more than likely you are not even going to make a dent in the designed cooling. For example: I have an acer aspire 5517 that came with an AMD L310 stock (13W .9v core 1200mhz) and I swapped it out with a TL-56 (1.025 core 31W 1800mhz) (which I OC on occasion to 2250).

A common overclock for the L310 is around 1600mhz. (limited by clock generator)
Po = 13 W * (1.6/1.2) * (0.92/0.92) = 17.3 W !! If I can use a TL-56 with a TDP of 31W that means even with overclocking I have only used half of the designed thermal capacity of the laptops cooling!!!

When you do the math, heat really isn't that much of an issue.

When you give advice here, the main problem is you don't know who you are talking to....The OP could barely know where the power button is, or they could have designed the logic gates for the i7...There is truly no way of knowing! :shock:

That said, anytime a new member comes on here and says "I want to overclock my laptop", the stock answer will be you can't....and you can type your arguments till your fingers fall off and that won't change....

The reason is real simple, anything you post here lives forever....anybody can read it, and apply or misapply it in many ways. The worst nightmare that I'll say anybody has here is to give advice, then have the OP say, said advice ruined his computer....and despite anything you say, overclocking is a good way to add to the paperweight collection, but the gains can be worth more than the risks....in the case of desktops.....

Laptops are nonstandard...have poor cooling systems at best, and are run on surfaces that make the cooling problems worse. The bios is often locked making under volting/ overclocking all but impossible. Any attempts to overclock will void the warranty.

The OP's system could be pristine or it could be spitting fuzz balls out the fan....if it even runs. No way, shape, form, or fashion will I tell anything about overclocking laptops on the open forum, and if/when you have built up some reputation here you won't either

 

[win764x]

Usually it's not even possible. As laptops are made by various mfg's and often all of the BIOS features that you would need are removed from your control by the mfg.

In the event that you did manage to get access to the features needed, now you have a major heat problem...and you cannot easily go in and change cooling options from within the laptop.

It's best to just leave laptops alone. They aren't beasts of computers anyway. Power supplies are just sufficient, fans are just sufficient, hard drives are generally slow anyway.

My laptop has a 310 GB hard drive and it is quite fast actually but it's sad that you can't overclock laptop CPU's

 

[Layback Bear]

I do agree along the lines that Ivan the SoSo has posted. Any thing can be done to a laptop if one has enough money and knowledge. For most that will read this post it is very simple to understand.
All except for special built laptop that cost thousands of dollars heat is the big problem. Any thing you do such as over volting or over clocking causes more heat that laptop can't remove properly. Over heating kill computers of any kind. If one has a lower end laptop that is what it is period. If one wants more computing power then buying a computer that has the extra power and cooling for your needs and desires would be my suggestion. I don't care if it is a laptop or desktop when you start making a computer do more than it was designed to do you first start with improving the cooling. Their are not many practical ways of improving the cooling of a laptop.
Just for fun Google things like:
DIY water cooling laptop
Super cooling for laptop
You will find some people who have time and money doing things just because. Not very practical but they do enjoy their projects.