overclocking specifics

[Link68759]

I recently read up on overclocking, and with several articles from here, majorgeeks and wikipedia I know everything I need to know. Congrats on making it so easy to learn.

But my recent experiences and what I've read conflict. Overclocking is sending more voltage to a certain part, and what I've read says that you can go as high as you want if you've got the proper cooling. But whenever I go too high, my computer just restarts. My guess is my Nvidia chipset motherboard has security to it? If it's any help, I cheated by using the Ntune program lol.

 

[Ste]

There always is a limit. No matter what. The best you can do is have really good cooling and all the best combinations of components. But there is a limit.

 

[lancec2c30]

you dont up voltage until the higher MHZ become an unstable ratio. You arent really testing your system for stability are you. go up about 10hmz from stock settings on the cpu core and then run p95 just google it and download it. If it is stable for more than like 8 hours and hasnt failed the testing make sure temps are ok and go up a little more.

 

[veg1992]

Theres a limit to how much youu overclock a video card, but if you have a fan for your video card overclocking is an awesome idea to speed up your PC. Even though it shortens your video card life expectancy its worth it for the extra boost, I believe I overheard that overclocking increases the value because of the extra GPU speed (don't know if it fact or myth).

 

[Link68759]

I do run stability tests, but not for 8 hours...

 

[bzflag]

an easy way ive found to do it is to google "overclock xxxx" with xxxx being the model you want to overclock. do that for your cpu, video card, and memory and you can usually find someone who has OCed your component and found a relatively stable OC. it cuts so much time out of it. For me thats a good starting place. do that and then run stability tests overnight or something. after that you should have a nicely OCed system that you can then tinker with to get the last bit out of it.

 

[CrazeD]

an easy way ive found to do it is to google "overclock xxxx" with xxxx being the model you want to overclock. do that for your cpu, video card, and memory and you can usually find someone who has OCed your component and found a relatively stable OC. it cuts so much time out of it. For me thats a good starting place. do that and then run stability tests overnight or something. after that you should have a nicely OCed system that you can then tinker with to get the last bit out of it.

...But seeings every OC is different, you could just go up incrementally and test for stability, so you know you got a GOOD OC, not just a guess.

If you're going to be lazy about OC'ing, then don't even bother with it.

 

[cwiz]

it is typically your ram that keeps you from overclocking higher. i dont think anyone's taken the x2 3800+ past 2.61GHz... i have liquid cooling on mine and it never gets over 30*C so i have plenty of cooling, but my ram quits on me if i go any higher... i could probably squeaze another .05GHz or so out of it w/ ddr500 ram, but its not worth another 250 bucks

 

[Nagasama]

an easy way ive found to do it is to google "overclock xxxx" with xxxx being the model you want to overclock. do that for your cpu, video card, and memory and you can usually find someone who has OCed your component and found a relatively stable OC. it cuts so much time out of it. For me thats a good starting place. do that and then run stability tests overnight or something. after that you should have a nicely OCed system that you can then tinker with to get the last bit out of it.

and also it is probably pretty hard to find an exact (cpu, mobo, ram, psu, etc) setup as your own.
i know that certain people have achieved higher overclocks with my same cpu using a different mobo, some less with othe ram, etc etc etc.

cwiz i got a reply to one of my other posts by a guy who said he got stable 2.84 out of his 3800 with an asus m2n-e.
but i didn't ask for evidence! lol
i think my mobo is what is stopping me...my ram rips and is stable at over 500mhz with enough juice. i think my pinche board is not going to let me get past 2.8 and be stable...

 

[Link68759]

my theory of OC limits is what I read was regarding older technology, where you force an OC, as opposed to OC compatible hardware. The companies have fail-safe limits built in so you dont break it, call them and sue them.