Shoutbox

quote:

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Originally posted by James Potter
Overclocking can be useful at times. However, it can be extremely dangerous at many others. Overclocking your CPU could get it heated up faster than before, let alone the obsticles you will undergo trying to figure out what would be the overclocking option that works best for your Processor. Good luck with that.

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This is correct, if you don't know what you're doing. In general you should be perfectly safe for 5-10%, I'm actually running my 1.8 GHz E2160 at 3.0GHz, so that's a 67% increase. You can use tools such as OCCT to test that your overclock is stable.

Generally you overclock by changing the FSB setting for the processor in the BIOS. Some manufacturers (ie. Dell, Acer, HP to name but a few) lock you out of their BIOS. This is especially common on laptops. If you have an OEM motherboard though, you should be fine.

Also, some general things to note:
- You will not notice a difference in things like start up time, etc. This is almost always limited by your hard drive. Things that are affected are CPU intensive tasks, such as games and hash checking.
- Generally an overclock will cause more heat to be generated. This isn't necessarily a show-stopper, you may be able to squeeze a few more degrees out it safely.
- If you do overclock too far, you're unlikely to damage your processor unless it is old. Most CPUs have things like Overheat Protection, which causes the PC to switch off/reboot when they get too hot.
- The higher temperatures can reduce the lifespan of your processor.
- Stock coolers usually dissipate a lot less heat than top end 3rd party ones (i.e. Zalman).
- If you overclock too far and the motherboard doesn't POST, switch off the power to the PC, and pull out the CMOS battery for ~5 seconds. (If you're using an enthusiast motherboard you may actually have a CMOS reset switch).