Would there be any issues with overclocking only when needed?

[ManBearPig]

Let's say I want to OC, but only at certain times like when playing a game. Is this okay or would it be bad going back and forth? Same with the GPU.

Thanks guys.

 

[Arachnotronic]

I don't see why it'd be a problem. CPUs come built in with that functionality already! (c.f. "Turbo Boost")

 

[Puppies04]

It wouldn't do any harm at all.

 

[ManBearPig]

Mostly I guess I'm worried about noise if it's OCed all the time. Let's say I leave it OCed always and just turn on the balanced power management scenario...would that lower the clock and raise the clock as needed, thus keeping noise down? Or is that screwy and I shouldn't use it (wouldn't be surprised lol)?

 

[Idontcare]

Let's say I want to OC, but only at certain times like when playing a game. Is this okay or would it be bad going back and forth? Same with the GPU.

Thanks guys.

No more harmful than the harm caused by the overclock itself.

I love the utility of MSI Afterburner to invoke certain overclock profiles by mere key combo (like ctrl+F1) or automatically when it detects a mode shift from 2D->3D and vice versa.

My GTX46 OC'ed to 900MHz when Afterburner detects 3D is being used, then reverts to stock clocks when 2D mode is detected.

For my CPU, I only set it to max-OC (5GHz) within windows when I want stuff to get done quicker like a 3hr transcode job. Otherwise I leave the OC at a milder setting like 4.2 GHz because that's plenty zippy enough for the rest of the time. The fact I can do it without rebooting, I OC with ASUS smartsuite (or whatever its called) from within windows so its as easy as 1-2-3.

But there is no additional harm done because of this dynamic management of the OC itself.

 

[ManBearPig]

Man that would absolutely be perfect if I could use key combos or even a program w/o restarting to OC at will.

Anyone have a problem with the motherboard's auto-OC utility (ASRock in this case)?

Thanks for the response! Time to search for good OCing programs for a sapphire 6950!