Why overclock?

[piasabird]

I think overclocking is some kind of male hormones. I think the benefits are negligible at best. This is just my opinion. I just choose not to play this game. I cant see spending over $200 for a processor and then gambling with it.

 

[Diogenes2]

If the benefits are negligible, why do people spend more ( sometimes lots ) for a 100mhz speed bump ?
All Intel is doing when they bin their chips, is overclocking them and charging you for it..

Intel counts on this for millions in sales..

An overclocker can get a 1,000 mhz bump ( hardly negligible ) for free, and no risk of damaging the CPU ..

By the way, what CPU do you have ?

 

[Kenmitch]

I do it more for fun than the need for speed. Kinda like the idea of knowing what my rig is capable of if and when I find a need for the speed.

Keeping all the energy saving features enabled while overclocking gives you the benefit of the speed when needed and the ability to sip voltages at idle.

The way I look at it the benefit of the xtra speed outways the risk as along as you aren't going for some crazy overclock. If a person has the need for the power then the crazy overclock might be of benefit to them.

Currently I'm testing my 2700k @ 4.2ghz(1.200v's under full load) but idles at 0.904v's most of the time. Free speed for less voltage than my chip runs at stock speeds once I took control of the voltages.

 

[nyker96]

I think it's great that you can much a $200 running like a $500 chip with overclocking. Besides OC teaches a lot about your machines and its limits. You learn what it's capable of, and what it's not. Before OC, I didn't know or care about PSUs, coolings etc. I think the whole activity is fun and a great learning experience for anyone who is already building a computer yourself.

 

[Charlie98]

I think it's great that you can much a $200 running like a $500 chip with overclocking. Besides OC teaches a lot about your machines and its limits. You learn what it's capable of, and what it's not. Before OC, I didn't know or care about PSUs, coolings etc. I think the whole activity is fun and a great learning experience for anyone who is already building a computer yourself.

I would agree with that... I've learned more about my computer in the past 2 months... more about how it really works... than the past 10 years.

 

[LoneNinja]

Overclocking can improve efficiency and performance/watt if you don't adjust the voltage, plus you get some free performance. I see no reason to leave my processors at default voltage/clock speed, they're horribly inefficient that way compared to manually tweaking them to find their lowest stable voltage at various clock speeds.

 

[MustangSVT]

Same board with q8200. its barely hanging on. slowly dying though.
the left sound output doesn't work and NIC needs manual mac address set. There are times the sata port fails to boot ..

Someday ill upgrade to 2600k or 2500k as well

Running an E2200 (2.2ghz factory) @ 3.2ghz for 4.5 years solid with zero BSODs. I think I have the last of the functional ABIT IP35e's out there . That's fun. And I paid about $75 for the chip back in what seems like 1948. But...the damned thing is still pretty quick with a vertex 2 SSD, so I haven't upgraded yet. Next in line will likely be a 2600k/Asus combo. I used to upgrade every years, but haven't felt the itch.