A few members have asked about overclocking and their rigs so I wanted to make this post and hope others will add to it.
RULE 1: Before overclocking any chip, please do research on your chip and the success others have had overclocking.
Research sites I use:
Overclock Forums - Good forums for serious overclockers
Overclockers Website - Nice site with database of CPU's and overclocks
RULE 2: Before overclocking your chip, make sure that the settings you are about to use will match up with your rig.
Too many times, I've seen people fry their chip because they OC'd to someone elses specifications. That other person ended up having some sort of watercooling system with freon in it. Just because someone else OC'd the same chip, does not mean you can. Is your box too small? Does it have limited airflow? Are the components cramped in the case?
RULE 3: Before overclocking make sure you have a temperature monitoring program.
Do not rely on the BIOS to save you. Have a program that pulls the CPU's temps. Measure them idle for over an hour and then measure them under load for over 4 hours. Take reading ever 15-20 minutes. If you see constant figures without spikes, you have a good stable overclock.
RULE 4: Before overclocking, resign yourself to the fact that you may fry your chip.
Not meant to scare you, but you are going outside the manufacturers settings for your chip. Doing so is at a risk and you need to understand that risk. If you are going to replace your chip anyway, no biggie. If it's a brand new $1000 chip, you might want to take extra precautions.
RULE 5: After overclocking, maintain your system.
Make sure all fans, cooling fins, and interior of the box is free of dust, debris, and functioning properly. Don't forget to take temperature readings every so often and compare them to the readings you previously took. If they start to go up in temps, it is signifying something needs addressing.
I know there are other techies on these forums and probably one or two expert overclockers. If you have any aditional information to add, correct, or clarify, please feel free to do so.
-----------------EDITS---------------------
Ultimate OC FAQ's
Get yourself a good load testing program like Prime95 (Thanks Evilash - I forgot that one). This program is free (if you abid by the agreement) to download and just pulls prime numbers in excess of 10,000,000 digits... So it will peg your processor! Trust Me! Prime95 Wiki
Test your CPU before and after the overclocking to see your performance gain using something like:
Use SuperPi to determine if your overclock did much. It's small, light, and very easy to use (Thanks for the tip Geoff).
RULE 1: Before overclocking any chip, please do research on your chip and the success others have had overclocking.
Research sites I use:
Overclock Forums - Good forums for serious overclockers
Overclockers Website - Nice site with database of CPU's and overclocks
RULE 2: Before overclocking your chip, make sure that the settings you are about to use will match up with your rig.
Too many times, I've seen people fry their chip because they OC'd to someone elses specifications. That other person ended up having some sort of watercooling system with freon in it. Just because someone else OC'd the same chip, does not mean you can. Is your box too small? Does it have limited airflow? Are the components cramped in the case?
RULE 3: Before overclocking make sure you have a temperature monitoring program.
Do not rely on the BIOS to save you. Have a program that pulls the CPU's temps. Measure them idle for over an hour and then measure them under load for over 4 hours. Take reading ever 15-20 minutes. If you see constant figures without spikes, you have a good stable overclock.
RULE 4: Before overclocking, resign yourself to the fact that you may fry your chip.
Not meant to scare you, but you are going outside the manufacturers settings for your chip. Doing so is at a risk and you need to understand that risk. If you are going to replace your chip anyway, no biggie. If it's a brand new $1000 chip, you might want to take extra precautions.
RULE 5: After overclocking, maintain your system.
Make sure all fans, cooling fins, and interior of the box is free of dust, debris, and functioning properly. Don't forget to take temperature readings every so often and compare them to the readings you previously took. If they start to go up in temps, it is signifying something needs addressing.
I know there are other techies on these forums and probably one or two expert overclockers. If you have any aditional information to add, correct, or clarify, please feel free to do so.
-----------------EDITS---------------------
Ultimate OC FAQ's
Get yourself a good load testing program like Prime95 (Thanks Evilash - I forgot that one). This program is free (if you abid by the agreement) to download and just pulls prime numbers in excess of 10,000,000 digits... So it will peg your processor! Trust Me! Prime95 Wiki
Test your CPU before and after the overclocking to see your performance gain using something like:
Use SuperPi to determine if your overclock did much. It's small, light, and very easy to use (Thanks for the tip Geoff).
Last edited by Bullarky on Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:15 pm; edited 2 times in total