Overclocking, should I?

[MajorPayne]

Recently my peformance in certaing games (supreme commander) has had me thinking about overclocking. I've never done it. Right now I'm running a 3GHZ single core CPU, I was hoping I could maybe push it to 3.2GHZ or even 3.4Ghz. Maybe this would help me squeez a few more FPS out of oblivion and supcom. I recently updated my BIOS for the first time, and I think I'm ready to give overclocking a try.

I don't think I have to worry about heat to much, I have a full tower alienware, and this thing has got more room to breath than it needs really, plus there are about 6 fans inside keeping my CPU at about 32C all the time.

I guess I'm wondering if overclocking is worth it, and how I should go about doing it.

[Gruthar]

This thread probably belongs in the Tech Talk section, but anyway...

Pushing a CPU 10% is usually pretty safe. The way to do it is to increase the overclock in small increments, then stress out the CPU to test its max temperature in addition to any errors that might start happening. Personally, I stop OCing when my max CPU temp hits 45*C, though you could certainly go a bit higher than that.

At some point, if your cooling equipment is good enough, you'll reach a point where the CPU will need more voltage to run stably and OC any further. I would not recommend tampering with voltage if this is the first time you've OCed, as you can easily fry the CPU if you use too much.

I should add that modern games are much more dependent on your graphics hardware than your CPU, so you may only end up squeezing out a few more frames/sec.

[MajorPayne]

SupCom is extremely CPU intensive, so thats why I'm interested in overclocking. I just downloaded a program called powerstrip that allows me to overclock my Video card, so I'm going to try that as well.

[Gruthar]

Video Cards are a little different. They can and do run hotter to begin with, and you won't be able to overclock them as far percentage-wise. With mine I just push them until I start seeing artifacts, then I roll them back a little bit.

[MajorPayne]

Well my motherboard BIOS are weird, they only let my overclock in percents, I set it to +2.0% and now my motherboard is showing 3.06Ghz. My temperature has only increased about 2 degrees so I think I'm safe to overclock some more.

I'm downloading PCmark right now so that I can benchmark and see if I got any performance boost.

[hank123]

what kind of mobo do you have? did u read the reviews on newegg to see if other people are doing it to the same board and chip?


let us know how it works out for ya.

[MajorPayne]

My mobo is a D875DBZ from Intel. It doesn't really support much overclocking, the most you can get out of BIOS is about 3.1Ghz. Maybe there is a third party utility that I can use?

[kippendrecht]

isn't there a place in the bios where you can adjust the FSB?

[Smurf]

Did you build this or not? (not sure how this will help, but curious) What processor do you have? You may want to download a program called CPU-Z, the reason I ask is that if it is a Prescott core and a 500 series, don't push it very far. What is the CPU's temperature?

[MajorPayne]

I have a pentium 4 3Ghz with a D875PBZ motherboard with 800FSB. I was hoping to push it to atleast a 3.2Ghz, but the most my BIOS will let me increase is to 3.1Ghz. My CPU seems to be completely stable at an average of 38*C.

[z3speed4me]

10 percent bahhh...push it as far as you can!!! im doin a 55% oc on my duo2, but then again these chips are completely different

[Smurf]

Yea, would not bother pushing it farther than 3.1 Ghz. (like going to get a new mobo or what not) Still interested in what core it is, (Northwood or Prescott) as you can probably push a Northwood a little north of 3.2Ghz if you find a way around the BIOS. (is that possible?) If it is Prescott, let that little heat producer at 3.1Ghz. :D

LOL, Z3speed, that is so irrelevant....

[z3speed4me]

so is practically everything else i say...