Is it okay to start overclocking a new CPU right off the bat?

[Pez D Spencer]

Later this week I will finally have my new system completed. I will be running an Asus A8N32-SLI mobo, Opteron 170, and 2GB Corsair XMS PC3500. I haven't really gotten into overclocking in the past but I plan on doing some with this new setup.

Is it ok to start overclocking a new CPU right off the bat or should you run the new CPU at stock for a certian amount of time to "break it in"? Also, what exactly does it mean to "burn-in" a processor?

Thanks for any help with this.

 

[Leper Messiah]

some people like to burn them in for 48 hrs, but I normally see if it boots up fine at stock, then start OCing it.

 

[biostud]

First make sure that everything runs stable at normal speeds.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Run it for a day or so just to make sure its stable and then do what you will

 

[A554SS1N]

Yep, same as the otehr guys say - run it for a few days to make sure it's stable at stock speeds, longer if possible. That way it helps rule out that factor if something fails when you overclock.

 

[Avalon]

I make sure it runs fine at stock for a couple hours with prime before I commence doing anything else.

 

[stevty2889]

I usualy get impatient and start overclocking right away. I basicly install windows at stock. If it installs fine, I get to overclocking.

 

[JustStarting]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
I usualy get impatient and start overclocking right away. I basicly install windows at stock. If it installs fine, I get to overclocking.

:thumbsup:

why waste time?? just get to it after Windows is installed.

 

[classy]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
I usualy get impatient and start overclocking right away. I basicly install windows at stock. If it installs fine, I get to overclocking.

same here

 

[Skott]

Depends on how gutsy one is and how confident you feel. Giving it a day or two to make sure all the components are working as intended certainly wouldnt hurt.

 

[TSS]

i'd normally just install windows, codecs programs and so on, so that i have a PC ready for usage, make a image of that (so i dont have to install it all AGAIN when the OC goes bad) install a benchie program or 2 (like prime/superpi), just use it for a day see how it handles normal usage then start OCing it.

im more into "feeling" how extra MHZs make a difference in every day usage but the image part is the important one, i do not wanna spend 3 hours per OC gone bad to reinstall every friggin driver and such again.

 

[loafbred]

TSS said it all. I was too lazy to bother making an image of XP before overclocking, and forgot to drop the HTT from "X5", with 233 MHz and 1T command rate (late at night after a hard day of work and installing XP and drivers, updates etc.). I was able to get it running again by using restore, but something was still corrupted. I formatted and did it all over again.

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
I usualy get impatient and start overclocking right away. I basicly install windows at stock. If it installs fine, I get to overclocking.

lol i am exactly the same . With my 165/175 and a previous 3500+ winnie i booted straight to the BIOS and started tweaking. I found from the preliminary result to the OC results a couple of months later, nothing had changed on either the 165 nor the winnie (i sold the 175 straight away because it was shite), So burning in the chip did nothing with regards to further the OCing capabilities for me.

i've had instances when windows gets corrupt and i have had to restore from a backedup drive image. I then just carry on with my testing after the restore My worst crash was during BF2 when my 165 was unstable, i had to hard reboot during an in game crash, and upon rebooting the BIOS couldn?t load Windows (I was pushing the mem frequency to hard on CAS 2.5).

 

[lopri]

I start a new CPU at overclocked setting off the box. It has worked like a charm so far. Indeed, for some mysterious reason the first setting that I tried has been very close to my final stable OC speeds. Very strange.

 

[phr0m]

only a motherboard should need to be burned in or slowly brought up to speed, the cpu should be fine to overclock right out of the box