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wut is overclocked?

Posted: 07 Dec 2005, 20:19
by all4spl
please tell me specificly..

Posted: 07 Dec 2005, 21:10
by vellu
Running a device at higher clock rates then it is designed for. Typically CPU or a graphics card.

CPU's are overclocked from motherboard BIOS (increasing the BUS clock most commonly). Graphic cards are overclocked via software/drivers.

For example a 2.0 GHz CPU could be running default at 200MHz (the BUS clock) times ten. To overclock one would increase the bus clock to for example 210MHz, which would give a CPU clock of 210x10=2.1 GHz. A 5% increase.

Overclocking tends to increase heat production so upgrading the CPU or grapchis card cooling is almost always necessary for successful overclock, atleast when overclocking relatively high.

Posted: 07 Dec 2005, 21:34
by Andre_online
But what does it do actually? Any advantages using it?

Posted: 07 Dec 2005, 21:37
by vellu
Andre_online wrote:But what does it do actually? Any advantages using it?
You're kidding, right? Performance increase, of course.

Posted: 07 Dec 2005, 21:41
by Andre_online
No, I ain't kidding. I know nothing about this... OK, so there're pros and cons using the overclocking thingy, right?

Posted: 07 Dec 2005, 21:57
by ^Sparco^
OMG quote of the century!!! :lol:

Posted: 07 Dec 2005, 22:01
by all4spl
can u overclock ram?

Posted: 07 Dec 2005, 22:09
by PSZeTa
Yes.
Andre_online wrote:No, I ain't kidding. I know nothing about this... OK, so there're pros and cons using the overclocking thingy, right?
Pros:

Faster.

Cons:

More heat and instable if clocked too far.

Posted: 07 Dec 2005, 22:11
by EuroRacer
can u overclock ram?
The bus speed Vellu was talking about is the speed at which the processor and memory communicate, so in order to overclock the processor(CPU), you'll HAVE TO overclock the memory cause else it will bottleneck the CPU and you will have nothing after all. So yes you can overclock RAM. But be careful, the memory can get damaged very quickly, believe me, I experienced it :lol:

Posted: 07 Dec 2005, 22:45
by all4spl
ok im not gonna test it..

Posted: 07 Dec 2005, 23:18
by 2furio
all4spl wrote:ok im not gonna test it..
Chicken. :P It's not as bad as all these people say. If you overclock your videocard and it's too much, it won't blow up or fry. It will either cause the computer to freeze or you will see "artifacts" or strange shapes flashing during a game. Then you know it's been clocked too high. If you do leave it that high even though it's obvious that the video card can't handle it, it will fry the video card but there are signs way ahead of time that let you see if the video card can handle it.

I've over-clocked the GPU many times, sometimes to the max and I've never experienced any problems.

Posted: 07 Dec 2005, 23:22
by EuroRacer
Why do you call him a chicken??? It's his decision, and I don't want to be made responsible for broken hardware! You don't seem very experienced with overclocking cuz it's very easy to fry a graphics card... :roll:

Posted: 07 Dec 2005, 23:42
by Jmac-
It's not hard to damage a graphics card. You may not see the results instantly, but if you leave it overclocked substantially without any cooling upgrades, you will most likely see the effects in a few years when the capacitors start to bulge and leak.

The hotter electronics run, the lower their lifespan is ... Overclocking increases heat ... Simple logic suggests that overclocking reduces the lifespan ...

Anyways, overclocking a little is usually pretty safe (depending on your hardware), just make sure you're careful and don't go overboard ... Even with a 5% increase in clock speed, it's still a noticable difference in performance ...

Posted: 08 Dec 2005, 00:13
by all4spl
well how do u overclock? i might buy some cooling stuff

Posted: 08 Dec 2005, 00:27
by vellu
For CPU, go to BIOS (during boot up usually press F2) and find the section that handles CPU voltages and frequencies. Increase a little, run some tests (try to find something very intense to do, point is to find out what is the maximum stress it can handle) and see if the system is stable. Increase some more until your system starts to crash and decrease back a notch. You should now have a cpu tweaked to maximum it can handle.

For graphics card, depends on the model. A program called Powerstrip is a good place to start. It can handle most cards, though some programs made specifically for some particular model might be more efficient on the long run. Same thing goes: increase untill you start to see corruption in the graphics or otherwise unstable behaviour.

Get it here: http://www.entechtaiwan.net/util/ps.shtm

Posted: 08 Dec 2005, 00:38
by Jmac-
Most computers I've worked on use the DEL key to enter CMOS at startup, so if F2 doesn't work, try DEL ...

I use Rivatuner to overclock graphics cards, which is more user-friendly, IMO, than Powerstrip ... May be a better option for novices ...

Posted: 08 Dec 2005, 01:01
by all4spl
well im a biggening and i want to make my computer run faster. i dont care about graphics cards, so how do i make it faster?

Posted: 08 Dec 2005, 01:09
by Jmac-
Maintainance, basic tweaks, and overclocking is a good start to make your computer run faster ...

Posted: 08 Dec 2005, 02:06
by all4spl
im using windows 2000 pro

Posted: 08 Dec 2005, 02:33
by GINIX_2007
I over clocked my Duron 1.59GHz to 1.98GHz and it ran fine for a few weeks. One day i turn on my system and it would not boot it went as far as the windows XP start screen then it blacked out now any time i try to over clock it it does the same thing

Posted: 08 Dec 2005, 02:36
by all4spl
o then im not testing it at all

Posted: 08 Dec 2005, 16:29
by PSZeTa
Overclocking isn't that crazy dangerous that your system will instantly fail.

Look up some guides with Google.

Posted: 10 Dec 2005, 05:59
by RenoVado
for my video card the deafult is
Clock(MHz) 300/350


i currently have
Clock(MHz) 430/455

Posted: 10 Dec 2005, 06:04
by Stereo
clocked my 1GHz AMD 1600 to 1.6GHz, to make it like a 2600. (XP)

Posted: 10 Dec 2005, 06:10
by RenoVado
well my pos cpu is hard locked... 2.0 ghz to 2.3