QOTW: do you still overclock your PC?

[Maelstrom]

I overclock, but I'm not all that hardcore. Most "extreme" cooling method I've done is watercooling (obviously not all that extreme). However, I will continue to overclock, as I find it enjoyable to see how far I can push my hardware!

 

[Frick]

An AII 435 is far from overkill, that won't be nearly enough Proc for Skyrim, probably not enough for BF3 or Crysis 2 either. A friend basically had your same comp, except a 5770 and he couldn't run any modern games at high settings, mostly ran things on mediums. Overkill would be pushing some of the highest settings and still having a good amount of head room on FPS.

Aahh, but I'm gaming on 1280x1024. BF3 beta on high, Skyrim now on Ultra, Crysis 2 i don't remember. Overkill for me that is.

Also remember people (and me) spend most of their time on the computers not playing games. I mostly do schoolwork with it, watching movies/TV, some web design and some music stuffs. For that it's totally overkill, and for most people on this planet it's overkill.

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

Heh I learned to oc on my Abit AI7. I remember not understanding at all how it actually worked and putting off doing research for awhile cause I was a little intimidated and nervous about screwing up my hardware somehow. Then I finally jumped in and before long had my first general A-Ha moment: "Ooooh you increase the voltage and that's how it's able to run faster without crashing!"

From there it was the more common-sensical stuff like how more voltage then creates more heat which becomes a major limiting factor in how far you can push it, at lest with processors.

 

[1Kurgan1]

Aahh, but I'm gaming on 1280x1024. BF3 beta on high, Skyrim now on Ultra, Crysis 2 i don't remember. Overkill for me that is.

Also remember people (and me) spend most of their time on the computers not playing games. I mostly do schoolwork with it, watching movies/TV, some web design and some music stuffs. For that it's totally overkill, and for most people on this planet it's overkill.

Thats only because there are so many console gamers out there. The gaming population is larger than ever, most of them are just noobs on console though. I could never go back to 4:3, especially for any sort of designing, I actually want another monitor, maybe 2 so I can have more work on my main screen and my tools on my side screens.

 

[Frick]

Thats only because there are so many console gamers out there. The gaming population is larger than ever, most of them are just noobs on console though.

Even console gamers are not that many compared to casual PC users. The closest thing to games most people get is Solitare on windows.

It would be nice with a larger monitor (or two) but it's not something that's top priority.

 

[1Kurgan1]

Even console gamers are not that many compared to casual PC users. The closest thing to games most people get is Solitare on windows.

It would be nice with a larger monitor (or two) but it's not something that's top priority.

Yeah, but your not a casual gamer, considering every game you listed is almost brand new, that just isn't casual. I would agree that casual PC users out number gamers, of course, but around 20 - 30 age group, I don't think the gamer to casual number wont be that big of a gap, it only is for all age groups because the people above those ages grew up in a time when gaming wasn't as much of a norm.

Either way, I'm just saying, if you move to 16:9 and a decent res, that AII will be challenged, and the 5750 will be playing everything at medium settings, or maybe even low in another year. Especially considering the games you mentioned are some of the best looking games out there, a decent res is just more than an AII is capable of handling. 1280x1024 is the resolution I played at in 2002, it's not a surprise current hardware will run great at that res.

 

[dorsetknob]

My first overclock was with a p 2
Bought a new p2 300 after reading someware that you could just change the multiplyer ie intel were speed binning the chips.
ordered the chip the article said ( P2 300with same stepping as P2 450 )built the new system
Getto modded an extra cooling fan to the chip set the multiplyer as the article said for 450mhz and booted the system . yah wow it worked and run a treat
did.nt change any bios setting apart from the multiplyer (intel did not lock them then)
run that system stable for a long time and even upped it to eventualy run stable at 550Mhz
eventualy upgraded to a P3 so i gave the m/b and cpu to a mate who also run it for several years at 550mhz
Now that was a hell of a first overclock Pity the current intel chips wont overclock like their ancestors

 

[specks]

If I could, I would.

Crap ambient temps(30C and above)+Crap cooler+Crap CPU = failure to overclock

 

[Fallen Angel -X]

Yeah, enjoying my i3 @ 4.5GHz

Will try for 4.6 when my cooler arrives

Also, interms of GPU ocing, i notice quite a big difference in games like bf3 @ 5760 x 1080

33FPS - 42FPS is win

 

[streetfighter 2]

Damnit qubit why isn't there ever a bloody "Yes, without any ****ing qualifiers", and a "No, which means 'no'".

That being said "yes" though I'm no more a "hardcore overclocker" than I am a flying walrus. I'm an unlocker too . I do have a water cooler sitting in the basement which will be my first foray into "hardcore overclocking" when I get the time to do it.

I still wuv you though.

 

[Widjaja]

Did.
At the end I was only doing it to show I overclock in my system specs.

In real world performance, there was no justifiable visible performance gain.

 

[wickerman]

I overclock but only to the extent i can gain something without resorting to hours of tweaking, troubleshooting, and expensive cooling. Never been interested in the competitive overclocking cause most of it comes down to luck of the draw or how much money you (or your sponsor) is willing to spend.

So yea if I can shave some time off my video encoding I'll overclock my cpu, if I can gain some FPS from overclocking my GPU I will. But when either of those becomes too slow to do its job, it gets replaced.

 

[cdawall]

I voted no. But not because I dont OC. You see I see this 2 diffirent ways. the black and white my shits at 4Ghz or its stock. And what I consider the real world way. Actual OCing. I dont OC like alot of the members here do. i registered in 2005 that was 6 years ago. I had a socket A 1.2Ghz duron on a VIA chipset radeon 7500 and 768mb of ram.

I then got a soundblaster live soundcard so I could hear footsteps in morrowind. What does all that mean? I do overclock. But I OC in the bios. IMO the magic is gone. you have all these programs with fancy UI and alot of options. Some even have just as much as the cell/genie menu in the bios. But its a dying art. not overclocking but rather the spirit of it. I think manul adjustment is what is dying. It is far to easy for some 16 yr/o to open up MSI easytune and get 3.6ghz. Their is no fun in it. you hit apply the number changes and you feel nothing. When I overclock I adjust PLL IOH VCC adjust LLC PWM and amplitude modulation.

When I hit 4Ghz I feel happy im pumped. I feel like iv done something I can be proud of. I sit for hours play bios get a result and continue to tweak until I find my chips and general system maximum. I can tell my TPU friends. Post some scores and talk about it. It makes me proud. Go ahead i challenge you go ask the young asus control panel kids what VTT PWM switch frequency is. They dont know. Correction they just googled it. See my point? I voted no because I dont overclock the way the majority of the overclockers clock now. I clock the way the old dogs do. and THAT is a dying breed.

People used to ask why I bought up a bunch of S754 bits a pieces. Thats what I really started overclocking on. It was a challenge and it still is. I to this day hate seeing UEFI crap its just not the same as a blue screen that you need a keyboard for. For now I run everything I got clocked up my HTPC is an X3440@4.2ghz and a GTX470 pulling off GTX570 performance, my netbook is a 1.2ghz chip running 1.4-1.6ghz, my desktop a stack phenom chips on a variety of boards watercooled to who knows what along with a pair of 3870X2's which still compete with the topmost VGA's. Looking at old dogs I don't know how many people other than you that have been on this board longer...All of the TPU greats are of the dieing breed.



As for the options I have dabbled into Dry Ice and still have all of my pots and I don't consider myself a hardcore clocker...

 

[mediasorcerer]

Yes i do, sometimes, im still a novice at it, but i got over 5 ghz on my i5k the other week, im proud of that sorta , i oni got a single radiator antec too, haha.

 

[trickson]

Still Over clocked on the Q9650 to 4.2GHz . No reason NOT to . Under-clocking ? Why would any one want to under clock first off and disabling cores ? WHAT ?!!! What is the point of getting a CPU then ? If it aint smokin you aint over clockin !

 

[BlackOmega]

whats an AMD system if you dont OC? AMD is fun to OC.

Love OCing my AMD's. Even with all the fancy software overclocking tools out, I always just use the BIOS, and usually see much better results anyway.

Yeah, enjoying my i3 @ 4.5GHz

Will try for 4.6 when my cooler arrives

Also, interms of GPU ocing, i notice quite a big difference in games like bf3 @ 5760 x 1080

33FPS - 42FPS is win

That's because BF3 is a highly GPU bound game. CPU speed has very little to do with performance in BF3.



Even though I don't OC as much as I have in the past, I did do some kinda harder core stuff. No DICE or LN2, but I did run a de-lidded 3500+ all the way up to 1.92v ON AIR! IT even booted in to windows. Although, with a 60C idle temp, there was nothing doing with that sucker. OC'd that 3500+ to 3200MHz.

 

[3volvedcombat]

Battlefield 3 is gotta be the best fps ever in my opinion.

I have purchased and played both Modernwarfare 3 and Battlefield 3.

Within the first 5 days of release, I prestige'd in Modernwarfare 3 so I new the ropes and what not.

So far I have played Battlefield 3 with the same amount of hours, and I am barley at level 33.

Battlefield 3 TDM is the same as MW3 TDM period. BF3 has way better in-game sound. BF3 Has 10x fold better In-game Graphics, and game-play is team based and squad based 24/7.

I like to give Modern-warfare 3 a name= Mercenary Warfare 3.

I game @ the moment on ps3 for Bf3, but soon will get PC version.

PS3 gets the expansion on December 6th. FTW!!!!

I really do not know why everybody moved to mw3, and expresses hate toward BF3 after they played it.

O yes, Bf3 has a massive weapon selection, and 10 different unlockable attachments for every weapon, its insane .

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

Well 2 of my 5 systems have been "Overclocked" from day 1 ( Athlon Xpm 2500+'s @ 2.4 ghz on air cooling) The other 3 I have not had any reason to overclock.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

DFI were very much of the old guard and you could manually tweak everything just so, but they pulled out of the enthusiast market for some reason

If it hasnt been mentioned already - DFI pulled out of the market following structural changes within the company, namely their head board designer at the time who was the guy making all the boards aimed at the enthusiast decided to leave the company right at the end of the socket 939 era claiming that Overclocking was too 'mainstream' - a bit of a bum excuse if you ask me as he was the head designer behind all the DFI Overclocking boards.

Its not clear if DFI ever attempted to find a new head board designer however, buy the time people started noticing that DFI wasnt present in the new C2D Era, quite a lot of the staff had already left DFI as well.

I know a handful of tech sites that attempted to find out what happened to DFI - DFI never responded to emails or phonecalls. Bit-tech/CustomPC sent a few of their guys to DFI HQ in Taiwan and no-one from higher up would see them, they spoke to a few staff but none of them really wanted to explain or comment on what was going on with DFI.

I think bit-tech eventually managed to speak to a really low-level manager/supervisor of sorts and he explained what ive just told you, and went on to tell bit-tech that they would be pulling out of the enthusiast market and focussing only on the OEM market instead.


To this day, I dont think theres ever been an actual official announcement from DFI about pulling out of the enthusiast/commercial market. They just faded away without a word

 

[Sasqui]

Need two categories, Hardcore and Casual overclocker. I put myself in the former, but value stability most of all.

 

[purecain]

there is nothing more interesting than being on the cutting edge, getting the latest chipset and oc'ing/tweaking it to see if you have a golden chip.... or at least one that will undervolt nicely yet still oc....

it makes no sense to finish a mission critical task in 10minutes when it can be done in 5...if your smart (and lucky) enough...

also being able to give the knowledge that will unlock extra performance to people who need it...

i love the fact that my pc does more each generation and advancement achieved with new microarchitechture with less voltage....(i realise this is coming to an end as the current processes used are reaching their limits)
i really do feel like my latest build is a supercomputer... in a differant league completely to all my others... overclocked to 4.8Ghz on 1.15v 24/7... and my ram oc'd to 933.5mhz from 800mhz on .5v less....
just loads of fun to set up...

 

[twicksisted]

Ever since i upgraded to the Pc in my specs I havent needed to overclock as it handles everything I throw at it... I occasionally use the Asus AI suite to overclock to 4.6ghz when I do encoding or video editing but cant say that I notrice the difference.

 

[PaulieG]

I still overclock, because overclocking hardware is my hobby. It's fun, takes my mind off of everything else, and I get the bonus of "free" perfomance boosts. I will say however, that I didn't enjoy overclocking as much with Sandy Bridge as prior generations of Intel, or AM3 etc. It was just too easy, and didn't leave much room to tweak the memory. That explains why I currently use my AM3+ as my primary rig, and the Sandy sits in my "set it, and forget it" family rig.

 

[sno.lcn]

I actually took a break from the extreme overclocking scene. Too many years of LN2 cooling has become too expensive and time consuming for me right now, when the reward is so much less these days. Sandy Bridge took all of the skill/fun out of Intel overclocking for me. Pushing a Wolfdale over 6ghz, now THAT was fun and rewarding. The new stuff is just too boring to keep me interested, and there's no room in my life for AMD (no matter how hard you push it, it still under-performs).

In my personal life, I don't have any need for overclocking either. I don't PC game anymore, since that's what consoles are for, and my desktop replacement laptop has enough power for everything else I do. The only thing left is my HTPC, and I want it as cool and quiet as possible, so it's actually at stock!

My vote for the poll here would be "It doesn't benefit me at the moment, but I still encourage everyone else to do it!"

 

[Sasqui]

Too many years of LN2 cooling has become too expensive and time consuming for me right now, when the reward is so much less these days.

I would definitely categorize that as Hardcore/Extreme overclocking (LN2, Compressor or TEC Cooling)