Doing an OC

[DasFox]

Well I've been considering to OC my GameRig that is listed in my sig, I have a good basic understand of how to go about this, but what I don't understand and what holds me back is how much stress does doing a OC place on the system, how short does it cut the life of the system?

If you have good parts as I believe I do then can a OC not really have much of a negative effect on parts and a box could run just as long then as stock?

Not knowing how much stress and at what level has always been the factor that has held me back, also never really knowing if the gain is worth the risk.

ALOHA

 

[5uperGlu3]

it goes like this....
overclocking will, i repeat, WILL shorten the lifespan of your cpu if you are careless. generally, cpus will run for over 5 years before crapping out. depending on the severity of the overclock and the type of cooling you are using, you may very well still get 5+ years out of your cpu, then again, you may not, if your careless. as long as you are not pumping over 1.6 volts thru your cpu on air and using earwax as your thermal paste, you will not shorten its life very much. beware, the mobo you are using doesn't like to be pushed that far as i have had 2 abits in my day, including the same mobo you have currently. personally was never able to get either of the abits over 235-240FSB. i might have just gotten a crap board, who knows. i am currently running my opteron 165 at 2.7Ghz on an MSI diamond plus @300FSB for an extreemly sucessful OC i would say and i really think that i would have never OCed this high on any abit mobo. don't get me wrong, abit make a very stable mobo, they just don't like to be pushed that far. at least, not far enough to get an OC that is really worth the touble. also, the cpu you have is a server grade processor and they are typically a much better piece of silicon than athlons therefore a little easier to OC.

how much of an OC do you wish to get? how often do you upgrade your system?

 

[myocardia]

Processors are built to have a lifespan of at least 10 years of daily use for ~8 hours. Assuming you don't give your processor too much voltage (more than 10% above stock vcore), and don't go for an ultra-high overclock, it's generally accepted that the overclocking will drop that by half, maybe slightly more or less. Of course, it will last considerably longer, if it's kept cool, and considerably less time, if it's run at high temps.

But, overclocking is very hard on the power supply, and motherboard, and also the RAM, if you're running it very far above it's rated spec. People around here usually build new rigs often enough that we don't care if a power supply only lasts 2-3 years, or the motherboard only four years. Of course, the more you spend on a power supply in the first place, the longer it's going to last, overclocked or not.

 

[DasFox]

Well look at my ---> "GameRig" specs.

I would like to push the Opteron 150 up to 2.9ghz if this is possible or even 3.0ghz

I'm running air with a TT HSF Slient 939
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/product/cooler/retail/cl-p0200/cl-p0200.asp

With Artic Silver Ceramique

Corsair 520 PSU

As far as cpu volts I want to keep it around 1.46 maybe 1.5 unless that's pushing it to much.

Well given this is a pretty hardcore SLI rig I plan to only keep it 1-2 years more, then upgrade all of it or some of it depending whats out there.

ALOHA

 

[DasFox]

I'm starting to think since this just for gaming, that the GPU side of things is what's going to really matter, and pushing the CPU an extra 400MHz isn't going to really do anything for gaming.

ALOHA

 

[myocardia]

Since you've already got SLI'd 7900GT's, your processor is your bottleneck. Since you've got a single-core Opty, you should probably be able to hit 2.7 Ghz or more, with that heatsink. Just put your RAM on the 166 divider (I think it's called 333 Mhz, with Asus boards), and your HTT multi @4x, and see what you can do with it. Also, run benchmarks @ stock speed, and run them once overclocked, so you can see how much performance is gained.

Your RAM will also do a minimum of 230 Mhz, with 2.70v vdimm, if you want to keep it 1:1. My PQI Turbo 1GB sticks will do 230 @2.5-3-3-5 or -6 1T with 2.70v, which is above 2.7 Ghz with your processor.

edit: Oh, you've got an Abit motherboard. Well, anyway, the RAM divider will either be 166 or 333.

 

[buzzsaw13]

The way I see it is, the lifespan lost by overclocking doesn't matter, since you'll probably buy a new chip before it ever craps out (unless of course you're feeding stupid amounts of volts into it)

 

[DasFox]

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13
The way I see it is, the lifespan lost by overclocking doesn't matter, since you'll probably buy a new chip before it ever craps out (unless of course you're feeding stupid amounts of volts into it)

Yeah the cpu maybe, but what about how much the mobo and PSU can take?


Ok guys, thanks, but the amount of OC I'm going to get out of this Opty 150 from 2.4, is there really going to be any difference, or is it really not worth it?

ALOHA

 

[silverdj]

Is there any certain websites out there that explain everything about processors and OC'ing them? What to set all the settings of a cpu and stuff like that? I am a noob as you can tell from this ?, but I really want to learn, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[5uperGlu3]

there is a really nice guide at the top of the OCing forum HERE
this is unique, here i am, in this forum, linking to just outside this forum... hehe ...anyone else find this a bid funny?

just keep in mind that OCing is a bit of, well, an artform. every piece of art can differ in a few ways or many ways and is unique to the creator

 

[DasFox]

Well just to let you guys know, my box has been through 10 months of death and farting around.

Replaced the mobo, problems when I bought it, replaced the CPU as well, video cards replaced, the 7900GT when they came out had issues, so those have been replaced, then I replaced the PSU from a Antec Neo He 550 to my Corsair 520, then sold my original X2 3800 for the Opty I have now.

Then to top it off my NEC Lcd I just bought had pixel problems and I'm sending it back to NEC this week or next for a new one.

I think I've been through enough, and I'm just finally FLIPPIN happy to have the damm thing running. Now that I think about it all that I've been through I'd be mad to mess with it anymore, I just want to turn it on and PLAY, hehe. I'll just be BLOODY happy to have it all stock and running, LOL

And here it is all running once again, LOL

----> http://img221.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picturerk7.jpg

ALOHA