Overclocking

[DumbStick 13]

I'm having a fun time learning about modern PC systems.

 

One thing I had never heard of before is "overclocking". Seems Dell offer it on some of their configs, seems strange as it apparently voids warrenties, or so the below article said.

 

Anyone here "overclocking"? All very interesting.

 

Quote:

The primary benefit of overclocking is additional computer performance without the increased cost. Most individuals who overclock their system either want to try and produce the fastest desktop system possible or to extend their computer power on a limited budget. In some cases, individuals are able to boost their system performance 25% or more! For example, a person may buy something like an AMD 2500+ and through careful overclocking end up with a processor that runs at the equivalent processing power as a AMD 3000+, but at a greatly reduced cost.

 

There are drawbacks to overclocking a computer system. The biggest drawback to overclocking a computer part is that you are voiding any warranty provided by the manufacturer because it is not running within its rated specification. Overclocked parts that are pushed to their limits also tend to have a reduced functional lifespan or even worse, if improperly done, can be destroyed completely. For that reason, all overclocking guides on the net will have a disclaimer warning individuals of these facts before telling you the steps to overclocking.

[bobby12 0]

Thats been going on since late 90s.

 

Used to be that the certain bands of Pentiums were all basically the same but just clocked to diff speeds 300Mhz, 400Mhz, 500Mhz etc and priced differently.

 

This is known as 'positioning' in business - very often items are priced based on the positioning (high end, low end etc) not on production costs, so the cheaper positioned items offer far greater value. For an extra 0.2x of functions/quality you often end up paying 3x the price.

[DumbStick 13]

All very interesting.

 

The other thing that I'm ????? is a sound card.

 

With "intel hi definition audio", is a sound card really necessary? I can't seem to find any justification on the info they have online anyway. Still seems to be ok to hook up to some surround 5.1 speakers etc.

[RobBright 35]

Does it come with dolby digital?

[Jynxx 4]

I played around with overclocking and the trick for me was upgrading the cooling fan to (increasing #s and size) eventually using solid state cooling (Peltier chip)

Some chips offered more potential for overclocking, others didn't. There were infos to what nots on the web at the time. But really it's a thing in the past when CPU were expensive for a fraction of increase in terms of GHz (it was MHz) so the $ was spent on overclocking, and defragging the drive, re-loading Win often as possible. Just to get a bit more juice.

Shouda went outside and played ...

[NoFakie 45]

I did it years ago with the infamous Celeron 300MHz. All you had to do was change the jumper on the motherboard and it would work at 450MHz almost without fail. That was by speeding up the bus speed, so memory etc. performance improved as well.

 

Jynxx is right in that often the problem is heat.

 

Personally, I think Intel and AMD started tightening up their tolerances a while back and in effect started supplying overclocked chips themselves. The beefy heat sinks and noisy fans you get now are basically the products used by overclockers in days gone past.

 

IIRC, the original IMac that came in the fruity colours didn't include a single fan.

[shadowtec 0]

I never realy bothered. there was never much to gain out of the investment you had to put in and the risk of blowing up gear I just paid for.

 

As for Audio cards I live by this saying (yes I work in broadasting)

 

Audio %10 of the product. %90 of the problem.

[kokodoko 67]

Yeah, what they said. I never did any overclocking but from my understanding was that there may be a safety margin on the chip and by setting it towards the top range you will get better performance.

Its sorta like a Safe Working Load SWL, and you go over the SWL.

 

As most said, the problem is heat and a lot of people would shave the top of the heatsink or grind it or whatever it is called so that the max contact is made with the heatsink with the fan/cooler.

 

That is my very basic understanding from what little I have read.