Is it good idea overcloking a HTPC?

[videopho]

Now I just finished building my new 3d gaming HTPC. (see my sig)
Generally speaking I'm pretty happy with its performance in 3d gaming and all.
The rig is residing on an opened shelf next to my big screen so it's getting enough air flow through out.
Noise and heat always a high consideration in this environment.
How much overclocking can I do away with both cou & gpu in this environments?
Or Should I leave alone at their stock speed?

 

[mfenn]

Leave it alone.

 

[tweakboy]

You will get no increase in speed. Leave it alone like mfenn said. Thanks gg and gb

 

[Jhatfie]

I messed around with some moderate overclocking with my gaming HTPC, was not really worth it for the not really noticeable performance gains and increases in heat. I instead decided to decrease my voltage while keeping the stock clocks. But like it has been said, might as well as leave it alone as long as you are happy with the performance.

 

[Davidh373]

Leave the OCing to the gamers that spend an extra $500 to see that 300th frame per second render in Crysis.

 

[fffblackmage]

If it's fast enough as it is, there just isn't much point in OCing.

 

[heyheybooboo]

OC the snot out of it with all your power management savings maxed.

Your HTPC stuff should easily function in the low-power state, and when you wish to game you'll have a nice boost.

What little efficiency you lose on the low-end can be offset by the sleep state, which should be less than 5w, anyway.




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[biostud]

I could easily oc my i5-750 without raising voltages much, so I can't see why you shouldn't do it, but on the other hand if you're satisfied there's no need. Mine idles at 42C and load is 61C.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I built a HTPC based on an AM2 BE-2400 45w CPU from AMD, and a Foxconn AM2+ A7GM-S 780G motherboard.

At the stock speed of 2.1Ghz, things like full-screen Hulu skip frames just slightly. (I know, they really shouldn't). This is with Cat 10.4, and Flash 10.1.

When I overclocked the CPU to 2.875Ghz, and the IGP from 500Mhz to 750Mhz, things ran quite a bit smoother.

Unfortunately, I seem to be having trouble with the RAM, I put in two Crucial Ballistix Tracer 1GB DDR2 modules, and now I'm having RAM errors, even with lowering the RAM divider so it runs slower. Not sure if they failed already, or if I'm having heat or PSU issues. The PSU is a 300W, but it heats up really badly in the cramped MATX case.

 

[secretanchitman]

i5-760? i would do a mild overclock if it required none to very little voltage increase, otherwise i wouldnt bother.

 

[videopho]

I'm leaving it as is (stock clock) for now.
The rig is still burning in *5 days old now.

I use an AC F7 fan that keeps the i5 reasonably cool: 36c idle & 60c load.
The Gigabyte 460 also runs cool at 34c idle and high 50c load.
I do mostly gaming in 3d now.
I'm personally afraid that the o'clocking may put the system out of sync since 3d contents rely so much on both cpu and gpu raw power.

 

[lxskllr]

Unfortunately, I seem to be having trouble with the RAM, I put in two Crucial Ballistix Tracer 1GB DDR2 modules, and now I'm having RAM errors, even with lowering the RAM divider so it runs slower. Not sure if they failed already, or if I'm having heat or PSU issues. The PSU is a 300W, but it heats up really badly in the cramped MATX case.

Crucial makes garbage ram. You can RMA the sticks, and have the same problem in a year or so, or just buy some Patriot, or Corsair. It depends on what your sanity's worth :^D

 

[VirtualLarry]

Crucial makes garbage ram. You can RMA the sticks, and have the same problem in a year or so, or just buy some Patriot, or Corsair. It depends on what your sanity's worth :^D

Yeah, I knew that. I threw them in my HTPC because I wasn't going to use them in anything else. I have some Gskill to try out instead, once I get back home.