Overcloking PC for work.

conte

do you overclocking your pc to get better speed in 3d applications guys? Does that increase productivity?
what coolers do you use, and at all, are that dangerous?
hope to see some answers, thanks for time.

sonic

For my desktop I have an Athlon 64 3000+, stock 1.8ghz overclocked to 2.67ghz. This thing is a beast! I also have a 6600 vanilla that is overclocked from 300/500 to 475/800. The CPU cooler is the stock AMD64 one, and the graphics card has extra heatsinks I added onto the RAM chips. I can run FEAR at very high settings at a smooth FPS, but no soft shadows. Not bad for a system that cost around $550 about 2 and a half years ago. It has been overclocked since I bought it and it hasn't dookied out yet! My new Core2duo comp at work barely beats it, and it is newer and costs much more.

Before that I had a 2.8ghz P4 that I overclocked to 3.6ghz with the stock cooler.

EarthQuake

It always seems like the systems i use for work are unstable enough, definately wouldnt want to risk serious damage to something you need to use every day for your main source of income, thats just asking for trouble.

Jesse Moody

Ahh I've overclocked everything from vid cards to processors and have never had any issues.

Get a copy of prime 95 and run that to test it out. I ran most tests overnight and if you find something with too many errors you may be pushing it a bit too far.

Check out toms hardware for more info on this.

CheapAlert

Overclocking was never worth the lifetime risk for me for so little gain. Default clock/lack of ego FTW

Mongrelman

Hmm, wouldn't put it like that. Saved myself over $1000 on this processor by overclocking, and it's running faster than the top end one at the time. Even if I managed to blow this thing to pieces, which would be impressive considering I haven't upped the vcore, I'd still be able to buy a few more of the same one for less than the price of the "best" of the family of processors running at stock speed.

If you know what you are doing (plenty of info about), buy decent parts (plenty of info on that) and don't be an idiot, there isn't really any risk. And you can get a lot of gain, or just save yourself a bumload of money.

from newegg.com

core duo x6800 (stock speed 2.93 GHz) = $980
core duo e6300 (stock speed 1.86 GHz) = $166

Pretty much every e6300 can run at 3 GHz (or over, got mine at 3.22 GHz) without upping the vcore. But you can just bung on a decent cooler for $30. Also keep in mind this is after prices of each have dropped (particularly the x6800). So you could even just run it at the x6800 speed and save yourself a few hundred dollars. Which you could put to ram or graphics card etc.

Jesse Moody

Lupus: EXACTLY.

Toms Hardware and newegg are your best friends in the overclocking scene. I am working on building a new desktop and would rather spend the money on stuff like a bigger lcd, memory and video card and use the liquid cooled case i have laying around that i picked up at best buy for $ 30.00 when I was working there.

But if you don't want to go liquid cooled Zalman makes some of the best vga and cpu coolers on the market. They are super big and keep your pc nice and cool.