Why Overclock?

[Regalk]

Another way to look at all this is
the OC community contributes to a lot of new hardware/software revisions which help the non OC community (real world) at large - we can cause companies to recall buggy products (admit I have not actually seen this), revise bioses, find incompatibilities, recommend better products, cause companies to step up to the plate and come up with better products, you name it...
Knowledge gained is invaluable since it means we have to know more about the hardware we use or abuse (and embarrass the salesmen at bestbuy, ZZF, Frys etc)
Probably helps us at work because of our techie knowledge
We act as guinea pigs for new products and feel happy about it (strange eh)
We also help Microsoft OS by finding various fixes and work arounds to new HW and just being a real pain to MS ingeneral
and also invariably we hold off upgrading as a result since we now have the latest and not yet released (even though this does not happen in practice)
Chipmakers can see how much head room their processors have and help them in their road maps
Finally because it is an addiction - like drugs we want more and more and more

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Stumps
I overclock because I can.....I pretty much overclocked every PC I've own since my 486 days...usually I couldn't afford the high end models so I just overclocked my slightly lower spec CPU's to match the top of the range model

eg a 486DX33 nearly always became a DX2/66 if your motherboard supported the 2x Multiply and with the addition of a small HSF unit...40mm FTW :thumbsup:

Same goes for a DX2/66 and DX4/75, they nearly always went to DX4/100 and DX4/120....nothing like the days when 33mhz increase took Intel a year and half to release, and they cost hundreds of dollars more than the next model down.

I've alway liked to push my hardware and get the most out of it...and beside nothing like a free increase in perfomance.

Your forgetting my alltime favorate OC which actually showed a HUGH difference.

Celeron 300A -> to celeron 450 just by flicking a nice 100bus jumper on a BX board

Ahhh memories

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: Stumps
I overclock because I can.....I pretty much overclocked every PC I've own since my 486 days...usually I couldn't afford the high end models so I just overclocked my slightly lower spec CPU's to match the top of the range model

eg a 486DX33 nearly always became a DX2/66 if your motherboard supported the 2x Multiply and with the addition of a small HSF unit...40mm FTW :thumbsup:

Same goes for a DX2/66 and DX4/75, they nearly always went to DX4/100 and DX4/120....nothing like the days when 33mhz increase took Intel a year and half to release, and they cost hundreds of dollars more than the next model down.

I've alway liked to push my hardware and get the most out of it...and beside nothing like a free increase in perfomance.

Your forgetting my alltime favorate OC which actually showed a HUGH difference.

Celeron 300A -> to celeron 450 just by flicking a nice 100bus jumper on a BX board

Ahhh memories

yep, been there....the good ole 300A + a 440BX board....definately a killer combo, especially compared to $1000+ P2's that were slower than the $250 celeron.

After the 300A I switched to K6-2's...they were a nice overclocker, I had a few 400's that easily made it to 500mhz with a change of multiplier.

I still have a pair of systems with a k6-2+ 450@550 and a k6-3+ 450@550....they run a few old games quite nicely.

 

[GundamSonicZeroX]

Originally posted by: Zim
If you have to ask... it probably ain't for you.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Thokor
Hrm on a C2D? I was getting 79 FPS at 1280 x 1024 just as you exit the starting dungeon in Oblivion. When I set my clock to 350 x8 and loaded the same game I get 81. Are these gains you are talking about at 1024 x 768? I am not putting it down I just cant seem to justify the CPU fan spinning at 2x the RPM and the case fans having to be turned up to medium ( scares the cat ) I guess If I had headphones and a deaf wife it might be different.

I'll admit I'm comming into this thread quite late, but this one struck me.

I keep my fans on LOW and I still have a 50% overclock.

Becides, I was just thinking. Why ask us? WHy do you feel the need to question our need or want to overclock our systems?

I'll tell you my reason. Because I like having a system faster than the guy who just bought an E6700 because he was afraid to overclock. The catch is, I spend over $300 less.

 

[aka1nas]

Many game-types other than shooters are often cpu-bound at commonly played settings. Strategy games and Sims are often doing a lot more background processing than you would think and a faster CPU can make the game more enjoyable. Oblivion, for example, is a good example of a modern game that is often CPU-bound. While the 8800 series makes it playable at high settings finally, benchmarks have shown it to be repeatably cpu-limited, especially in towns where a lot of AI processing is being done. If you look at the Oblivion test in the more recent Geforce 8800 AT review, it takes something closer to an X6800 C2D to get Oblivion to not be CPU limited with the current crop of high-end cards.

 

[nyker96]

because overclock saved my dog ... honest

 

[Roguestar]

Why buy 1.86ghz and overclock it to 3.01? Because I've just saved over £400 in not buying a more expensive CPU that only runs at 2.66Ghz, that's why.

Free performance.

 

[yiranhu]

Don't forget that some people do technical work. I occasionally have to deal with mathematical simulations where increasing the CPU by 50% means the task gets done in half the time. BTW, some of the simulations requires about 3 or 4 days on a single C2D computer. Now half that, you get 2 days. That makes me happy...

Also you have to understand that lots of these CPUs are capable of being OCed. Many of these CPUs could have been binned to perform at higher speeds if Intel wanted. But if they did that, then they would not have enough low end CPU's for sale, which would hurt their bottom line. You see the same thing in retail. For instances Toyota makes both Toyota and Lexus branded vehicles. There's always a mirror lexus model for a toyota car in terms of the mechanical construction. These models are almost exactly the same (same engines, transmissions and so on). Only the packaging is different, as the lexus one would have lots of luxury features and a better outside design. Toyota charges like 10 to 20 thousand more for the lexus than toyota. This way they can satisfy both the people who have money and are willing to pay for luxury and those who simply want a top performing car.

So in this sense, there's certainly no harm in OCing low end CPU as they are capable products.

 

[Avalon]

Unlike you, I get a large benefit in overclocking in games I play. Check out benchmarks at our own AT. He usually has benchies for many common games running at 16x12 which show noticeable differences in quite a few games.

I get a huge difference in FPS playing any source based game @ 12x9 AND 16x12 when switching between a 600-800Mhz overclock. I've got an X1900, so I'm not being held back by the GPU in most games. Heat increase is negligible at those OC's because you can typically do them at stock voltage, so you don't have to worry about louder fans, either.

 

[flexy]

well...its like an hobby

The "art" is to OC *without* the noise and heat..put a 120mm fan on it instead of a loud 60mm..this can all be done.

A better question would be "why not ?" ... but i do agree it DOES take some knowledge and people need to know what they do. Many actually dont.

It took me WEEKS/MONTHS to get my lanparty dfi nf4 stable, incl. memory timings, cpu timings etc..etc...

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: flexy
well...its like an hobby

The "art" is to OC *without* the noise and heat..put a 120mm fan on it instead of a loud 60mm..this can all be done.

A better question would be "why not ?" ... but i do agree it DOES take some knowledge and people need to know what they do. Many actually dont.

It took me WEEKS/MONTHS to get my lanparty dfi nf4 stable, incl. memory timings, cpu timings etc..etc...

hehe I had my X2 3800+ running on my DFI Lanparty UT SLI-D board in 30min. It wasn't hard at all. 2.6Ghz CPU, 4x HTT multi, 260Mhz FSB, 10x cpu multi, DDR-520 2.7v 3-4-3-8, 1.45vcore, 1.4v NB voltage.

 

[Regalk]

cmdrdedd - if you took 30 mins to get your DFI lanparty SLI up and running that's fine almost everyone can do that - but that would be at sub optimal settings. Unless if you spent months researching at DFI-street nd Xtremesystems and found the best settings from the get go - otherwise I do not think so. I am still tweaking mine after (4-5 weeks). This board (mine is the Lanparty UT Ultra-D which I got real cheap at Tigerdirect) has some really nice features but overkill and considering the amount of time wasted with the RAM settings was not worth it. Comparing to my other Asus A8R32-MVP the DFI loses out big time in all areas and that board took me less than a few hours day to set up (as it should be) - fully tweaked. In fact I just gave away one DFI and will probably do the same with my current one - total waste of time - life is too short for this - a board that pretty much must have tech support forever at DFI-street pretty much says it all. The long clear cmos is a real joke.
Anyway sorry for hijacking this thread.

 

[Diogenes2]

Originally posted by: Regalk
cmdrdedd - if you took 30 mins to get your DFI lanparty SLI up and running that's fine almost everyone can do that - but that would be at sub optimal settings. Unless if you spent months researching at DFI-street nd Xtremesystems and found the best settings from the get go - otherwise I do not think so. I am still tweaking mine after (4-5 weeks). This board (mine is the Lanparty UT Ultra-D which I got real cheap at Tigerdirect) has some really nice features but overkill and considering the amount of time wasted with the RAM settings was not worth it.

If it wasn't worth it, why waste the time ?

Set the RAM to ' auto ' and forget it ...

 

[The-Noid]

DFI Lanparty Expert and Asus Striker FTW!

Computer games are the same as they always have been, the scenery changes a bit and some games are more fun then others. I would rather spend my day tweaking a system for fun, or so someone else can get a computer that is overclocked for the first time, rather then playing a game. It in itself is a game, few more 3dmark's here and a few more cpu cycles there. In the end of the day you have a fast system to crunch some units for cancer, and something to do when you get bored.

 

[Noubourne]

The OP sounds like he's doing more complaining about his own poor cooling solution than any comment on the OC itself.

My OC of 1000Mhz on my dual core chip also turns my $157 chip into a ~$600 chip. I saved $400 by my calculations. (Cooler was about $50). In fact, it's quieter than the cooler it shipped with.

 

[Thokor]

Did you even click on the links? Did you see the FPS difference of Proxy and Firefly in both? Yes heat is part of it and so is noise and FPS gain, it has everything to do with positives vs negatives. I don't understand why people feel the need to attack someone when they open a logical discussion based on their facts, even if those facts are only geared towards high res 3d gaming ( which is clearly stated ) and not what THEY use their computer for.

At stock my computer is completely silent, all fans spin at 1000rpm or less in a Antec Solo quietcase. I had to connect the power LED light because I kept turning it off thinking it wasn't on. If you look at my sig you will see that all my components have 3rd party coolers on them, even my NB has a custom 40mm 1000rpm on it because of the restricted airflow towards the MB from the AC Freezer 7 pro.

When I OC to 401 x 8 ( 3. 2 ) I get minimal FPS gain in 3D games and my CPU load temps increase by 8c+ which then increases my fan speed to 2500. This then has a cascade effect increasing the other fans Rpm's to expel the added heat out of the case.

P.S. An Opty 165 with a 1000mhz OC runs at the same temps as stock? With a 3rd party cooler running at stock speed and noise? Without any ambient temp increase? Nicely done.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Regalk
cmdrdedd - if you took 30 mins to get your DFI lanparty SLI up and running that's fine almost everyone can do that - but that would be at sub optimal settings. Unless if you spent months researching at DFI-street nd Xtremesystems and found the best settings from the get go - otherwise I do not think so. I am still tweaking mine after (4-5 weeks). This board (mine is the Lanparty UT Ultra-D which I got real cheap at Tigerdirect) has some really nice features but overkill and considering the amount of time wasted with the RAM settings was not worth it. Comparing to my other Asus A8R32-MVP the DFI loses out big time in all areas and that board took me less than a few hours day to set up (as it should be) - fully tweaked. In fact I just gave away one DFI and will probably do the same with my current one - total waste of time - life is too short for this - a board that pretty much must have tech support forever at DFI-street pretty much says it all. The long clear cmos is a real joke.
Anyway sorry for hijacking this thread.

haha um...no

seriously...if your CPU is running at 2.6Ghz and your memory at DDR-520 it's going to perform as it should. The question is can you get it stable. I got my system stable in 30minutes. Are you telling me it's slow? How about my C2D? That took me 10min to get stable settings...so it's slow too?

GIVE ME A FRIGGEN BREAK!

Just because you don't fully understand the settings when you get into it and know how your adjustments affect your system isn't our fault. If you need a board that has less options then don't buy DFI. For those of us who want and need it, DFI provides the best BIOS out there IMO.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Thokor
Did you even click on the links? Did you see the FPS difference of Proxy and Firefly in both? Yes heat is part of it and so is noise and FPS gain, it has everything to do with positives vs negatives. I don't understand why people feel the need to attack someone when they open a logical discussion based on their facts, even if those facts are only geared towards high res 3d gaming ( which is clearly stated ) and not what THEY use their computer for.

At stock my computer is completely silent, all fans spin at 1000rpm or less in a Antec Solo quietcase. I had to connect the power LED light because I kept turning it off thinking it wasn't on. If you look at my sig you will see that all my components have 3rd party coolers on them, even my NB has a custom 40mm 1000rpm on it because of the restricted airflow towards the MB from the AC Freezer 7 pro.

When I OC to 401 x 8 ( 3. 2 ) I get minimal FPS gain in 3D games and my CPU load temps increase by 8c+ which then increases my fan speed to 2500. This then has a cascade effect increasing the other fans Rpm's to expel the added heat out of the case.

P.S. An Opty 165 with a 1000mhz OC runs at the same temps as stock? With a 3rd party cooler running at stock speed and noise? Without any ambient temp increase? Nicely done.

Again. I run my fans at the lowest setting... (i.e. you can't hear it) but still have a 50% system overclock. :roll:

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Diogenes2

Originally posted by: Regalk
cmdrdedd - if you took 30 mins to get your DFI lanparty SLI up and running that's fine almost everyone can do that - but that would be at sub optimal settings. Unless if you spent months researching at DFI-street nd Xtremesystems and found the best settings from the get go - otherwise I do not think so. I am still tweaking mine after (4-5 weeks). This board (mine is the Lanparty UT Ultra-D which I got real cheap at Tigerdirect) has some really nice features but overkill and considering the amount of time wasted with the RAM settings was not worth it.

If it wasn't worth it, why waste the time ?

Set the RAM to ' auto ' and forget it ...

I agree...DFI does not cater to people who say "it's not worth it" and I encourage you to not buy DFI products if you're looking for "I'm lazy and I don't understand all these settings..." go buy Asus or another brand.

 

[bob4432]

if all i did was game i would have a a64 3500 or maybe 4000 diego and run a 8800gtx and a 21ws lcd @ 1920x1200 and more than likely be fine. the o/cing is for audio/video encoding and that is it. plus since i f@h it helps there too, but for gaming it really doesn't matter as long as you are over a 3200-3500.

also a lot of times you don't have to increse V to get a decent o/c, so you are not going to create much if any more heat since you are still running stock V

 

[AdamK47]

3DMark is a poor application to show examples of CPU scaling.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: Thokor
Did you even click on the links? Did you see the FPS difference of Proxy and Firefly in both? Yes heat is part of it and so is noise and FPS gain, it has everything to do with positives vs negatives. I don't understand why people feel the need to attack someone when they open a logical discussion based on their facts, even if those facts are only geared towards high res 3d gaming ( which is clearly stated ) and not what THEY use their computer for.

At stock my computer is completely silent, all fans spin at 1000rpm or less in a Antec Solo quietcase. I had to connect the power LED light because I kept turning it off thinking it wasn't on. If you look at my sig you will see that all my components have 3rd party coolers on them, even my NB has a custom 40mm 1000rpm on it because of the restricted airflow towards the MB from the AC Freezer 7 pro.

When I OC to 401 x 8 ( 3. 2 ) I get minimal FPS gain in 3D games and my CPU load temps increase by 8c+ which then increases my fan speed to 2500. This then has a cascade effect increasing the other fans Rpm's to expel the added heat out of the case.

P.S. An Opty 165 with a 1000mhz OC runs at the same temps as stock? With a 3rd party cooler running at stock speed and noise? Without any ambient temp increase? Nicely done.

your rant doesn't make much sense....3Dmark is crap for benching CPU's....try PCmark, Sisoft Sandra or Aquamark and then tell me your overclock doesn't make much difference.

I haven't seen many CPU's show a big difference in performance when using the 3Dmark cpu tests...and AXP/P4's will score similar to a single core A64....It's a really bad benchmark for CPU's.

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: Thokor
Did you even click on the links? Did you see the FPS difference of Proxy and Firefly in both? Yes heat is part of it and so is noise and FPS gain, it has everything to do with positives vs negatives. I don't understand why people feel the need to attack someone when they open a logical discussion based on their facts, even if those facts are only geared towards high res 3d gaming ( which is clearly stated ) and not what THEY use their computer for.

I clicked on your links. You are complaining about a GPU test. It's not going to show a difference with a CPU overclock. Check the CPU only score. You'd be better off benchmarking something that actually benches the CPU.

When I OC to 401 x 8 ( 3. 2 ) I get minimal FPS gain in 3D games and my CPU load temps increase by 8c+ which then increases my fan speed to 2500. This then has a cascade effect increasing the other fans Rpm's to expel the added heat out of the case.

Being vague doesn't help. What games? I've seen you state Oblivion, but in Oblivion I get more than a 1-2FPS increase from moderately/significantly overclocking my CPU. I also play it at 12x9. What do you play it at?

P.S. An Opty 165 with a 1000mhz OC runs at the same temps as stock? With a 3rd party cooler running at stock speed and noise? Without any ambient temp increase? Nicely done.

What does an Opty 165 have to do with this thread? Your topic was regarding Core 2 overclocks. Stick to the subject. But theoretically, if you had your Opty 165 running @ 2.8 on stock volts, your temperatures wouldn't be significantly higher.

 

[Thokor]

your rant doesn't make much sense....3Dmark is crap for benching CPU's....try PCmark, Sisoft Sandra or Aquamark and then tell me your overclock doesn't make much difference.

I haven't seen many CPU's show a big difference in performance when using the 3Dmark cpu tests...and AXP/P4's will score similar to a single core A64....It's a really bad benchmark for CPU's.

OK I officially give up, its obvious that me constantly stating that " Its not CPU scores I care about, but FPS scores in direct relation to OC the CPU " isn't doing any good. I am starting to sound like a parrot constantly repeating myself. I will withdraw all my statements since its obvious I'll either go insane or get banned when I snap.

Thanks for the ones who offered good responses.