Overclocking Poll

[The_Wolf_Who_Cried_Boy]

B3D has a decent cross section of users, I'm curious as to what percentage of you run your home system/systems overclocked.

For the record, I have a 5 year old Athlon running at stock, I've tried relatively minor overclocking but it quickly results in instability.

 

[Npl]

wheres the option for "underclocked"?
I actually run my Barton at faster FSB Speed, but low multiplicator. Think im missing something like 133MHz to original frequency.

 

[Skrying]

You're options are kind of misleading. Suggesting that because I have a 1GHz plus OC on my CPU or that my graphics card has a 100Mhz core clock doesnt mean its pushed to the edge of its life. I cool my components very well and I've never had ANY stability issues with my rig.

So yes, but I know what I'm doing and how to do it without damaging my components.

 

[The_Wolf_Who_Cried_Boy]

wheres the option for "underclocked"?

Quite an unexpected response. The motivation of the pole is how competatve AMD is going to remain in stock CPU performance, hence how many people run their systems at stock. The real world difference between a C2D E6600 and an FX62 is essentailly nil and I'm wondering how the price/performance landscape will shape up after the 4X4 (and associated new speed bins) launch.

As a sidenote, this is the first poll I've posted and can't find an edit fuction, is there one?

You're options are kind of misleading. Suggesting that because I have a 1GHz plus OC on my CPU or that my graphics card has a 100Mhz core clock doesnt mean its pushed to the edge of its life. I cool my components very well and I've never had ANY stability issues with my rig.

So yes, but I know what I'm doing and how to do it without damaging my components.

I wouldn't read any intent into my flippant phrasing, as per above, I'm more interested in the yes/no response and wether that yes would be a little or a lot.

 

[Ateo]

Only thing I O.C. is my videocard.
O.C. is covered by the warranty on the Gainward Bliss series
The rest is stock though.
So I am missing that option and hence cannot give my vote.

 

[nutball]

wheres the option for "underclocked"?

What he ^^^ said.

My main system is clocked at stock (and undervolted), but that various other machines spread around my house are all deeply underclocked and undervolted.

I was in to overclocking ... about six-seven-eight years ago when it first hit the scene, but all in all its too much hassle and noise for very little meaningful gain. The whole overclocking scene irritates me these days, too many l33t kids (plus I'm getting grumpy in my old age ).

 

[Skrying]

Pssh, my computer is dead silent! It just takes a few huge fans spinning at very low speeds. For example, I have a 250mm case fan that spins only at 500RPM, basically makes no noise and even the noise it does make is a very low hum, which is almost pleasent. In fact, the smallest fan in my computer is on the video card (an 80mm) that spins at 1500RPM, thanks to some sound dampening foam though its covered up. I've taken some long strides to make my computer silent, long ago I realized I can not stand a whine from my system.

 

[nutball]

Oh it's quite possible to make a quiet overclocked system (by the way silent != quiet; silent = 0dBA, if you have more than zero fans and/or a hard-drive, you don't have a silent system). But it's more hassle than making a quiet stock-clocked system, which is in turn more hassle than making a quiet under-clocked system.

So it's a personal thing where to draw the line between hassle and reward. Overclocking produces more heat, and unless you're willing to spend a lot of time working out how to overclock properly, you risk constant annoyances with your system. Speaking from a personal perspective I'd rather be outdoors with my camera than trying to wring the last 1% from my system (which is already fast enough for what I want). Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.

 

[digitalwanderer]

What option do I pick if "only 'til it glows a bit" is my answer?

 

[Entropy]

Speaking from a personal perspective I'd rather be outdoors with my camera than trying to wring the last 1% from my system (which is already fast enough for what I want).

Halleluja Brother Nutball!

That said, I do overclock my E6600. Intel has very healthy engineering margins for these chips and when I just tried dialling up the frequency of the chip at stock voltages, my memory started complaining at 3.4some GHz. I couldn't leave all of that potential untapped.

Likewise with my 7900GTO, which is a clearance version of the 7900GTX with its memory "artificially" dialled down to 660MHz. It comfortably ran at 890, so I put the memory clock at 825 and left it there.

Note though that my PC is essentially a toy which doesn't contain anything I can't comfortably live without - everything of importance resides on the (unoverclocked) macs and on external disks. Tinkering with photography is a lot more rewarding.

 

[Geo]

So 75% OC to one degree or another? I love you guys! <sniffle>

 

[thehulk]

Used to be

Yes, it's pushed to within an inch of it's life.

but nowadays it's

Yes, over stock but no by too much.

 

[Thowllly]

Voted 'Yes, it's pushed to within an inch of it's life.' but I don't think it's anywhere near it's limit. I have a Sempron 3000 that I overclocked by 46%, simply by increasing the HTT from 200 to 293Mhz, with stock voltage, stock HSF and very low temperatures... Only reason I didn't go any further was my MB doesn't support higher HTT speeds. I posted a thread about it hoping someone could help me remove that limitation, but I never saw a reply...

 

[poopypoo]

yeah, i voted "only a little" out of respect for the true overclockers out there -- but my systems are usually between 25-50% overclocked, have been for years now. my old AXP 1700 (~40% o/c) is still chugging along; in fact it's my most stable system... My computers are quietish due to some wise purchasing decisions, but I'm too cheap to plunk down for zalman silent PSUs or underclock my processors. I'm also all-micro-ATX, so none of my cases have much room for giant fans, sadly. I can handle a slight whine, it makes me feel confident the fans are running ^^;;

 

[Skrying]

The idea that it takes a lot of effort to make a quiet, but overclocked system is fairly crazy. A good heatsink with a slow spinning fan, the use of large fans, and just smart settings and you can be done within an hour and a half. With todays current Intel Core 2 Duos grabbing a 1Ghz overclock is extremely easy, you push the FSB up and you're done. You watch in amazement as your temperatures stay the same and you go enjoy your games.

Its easy!

 

[Albuquerque]

I opted for the "within an inch of it's life" checkmark.

3Ghz PrescHOTT at 4ghz / 1.4625 volts
Gainward 7900GT-on-AGP at 605 / 755
ADATA PC4200 1:1 @ 534mhz 3-4-4-7

The only thing not really pushed is the Adata; I've had it up to 588mhz at 3-4-4-8 timings on an older 2.4C that overclocked like crazy; the pressy isn't gonna get close to that.

 

[swaaye]

My laptop is running a pin-modded Pentium M 1.6 @ 2.13 GHz. Courtesy of a guy who figured out that i915 supported both FSBs, set by a CPU pin. Running since May 05.

My home machine is a Opteron 165 running C&Q but massively overclocked. When I'm not playing games/using 100% CPU, C&Q keeps it at ~1.4 GHz 1.18v. When I run something on it, it clocks to 2.6 GHz 1.45v from its stock 1.8 GHz/1.35v. Totally stable for almost a year now. This machine also has a X800GTO2 that I clock to 520/630, making it faster than a X850XT for the most part. Again, almost a year old.

I've been overclocking since I changed a mobo clock crystal on a 486DX2/66 to make it an 80 MHz. That was around 1994 I believe. Overclocking is a gear-head fascination for me. I love learning about computer hardware and how to tweak it. It's more fun to do this than actually use the hardware, for me. I'm bored once I get the things working perfectly.

I regularly build old PCs just for fun. I whipped up a Pentium Pro the other month, and I have a Pentium III at home right now for crusty games. Lots of spare parts and a few cases. I think I have 30 or so video cards, for example, reaching back to some VLB boards. I even have a AMD 5x86 in the closet from about 4 months ago. Wanted to see if I could still do it.

And no, overclocking doesn't reduce lifetime appreciably. I have hardware that I've overclocked for 5 years or so and it still works fine. Of course, this assumes you don't do something stupid like bake your CPU with massive voltage or horrible cooling. Heh.

So, yeah, I overclock. LOL.

 

[Cartoon Corpse]

i don't. but i will when it begins to lag and i begin to look towards my next rig. i built it for that purpose (water cooled fx60)...im hoping to HAPPILY run many multithread games before then though. may even get SLI nvidia dx10 card evolution out of it (currently running single x1900xtx in SLI deluxe mboard).

or maybe it'll be my competent little dx9 box. (im unsure whether or how long dx9/dx10 games can exist on the same rig).

i didn't vote in the poll cause there's no choice for me. stock, for now. (it's new AND uber as is)

 

[ZoinKs!]

None of these options fit my system. My Barton Mobile overclocked from stock, but it's not anywhere close to "an inch of its life".

Every poll thread needs a bunch of complaints about the polling options.

Actually, I'll vote the first option.

 

[Frank]

I've got three laptops (from P-M 1.6, 512 MB, Intel Graphics, to P-M 1.8, 2 GB, nVidia 6600) which are all running default speeds, and a PC (Sempron 2800, 1 GB, ATi x800) that I mostly use as server. The PC was first meant as a gaming system (until I got my fast laptop), and it overclocks very well. The Sempron can go from 1600 MHz up to ~2250 MHz without problems, and I can overclock the x800 by 18-26% (mem-core). But, as I only use it as server nowadays (and for downloading, VPN and stuff), I've downclocked it a bit to make it very cool and silent. I should take out the x800 as well, as it saves even more.