overclocking noob questions

currently, im running my proc at 3.6Hz with 1.456V. are there any negative side affects of "overvolting" the CPU like that? short and long term. plz post! =)

chaosrealm93 said:

currently, im running my proc at 3.6Hz with 1.456V. are there any negative side affects of "overvolting" the CPU like that? short and long term. plz post! =)

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You bet. short term reliability, BSOD's, etc. Long term for every 1% increase un performance you loose 1% of the componenets life span. They are designed to run at a certain voltage not more. As one of the ppl who debugs crash files here about half are related to overclocking, undervolting, etc

Ken J

thx man. one question, whats undervolting?

chaosrealm93 said:

thx man. one question, whats undervolting?

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The opposite of overvolting

"Undervolting" is when you supply less voltage than the manufacturers specs for any chip to run at stock speeds.

The two biggest chip killers are excess voltage and heat (in that order)

Every CPU has a 'maximum safe voltage value' before degradation occurs. Exceding the max 'safe' voltage is a quick way to kill your chip. However if you keep within those values, you can be 'relatively safe' when o/cing.

It depends on how long you plan to keep your current hardware. Most Overclockers tend to replace there h/ware more often than others.

Overclocking is part science, part art and part luck

are you telling us that you overclocked and overvolted your cpu with absolutely no knowlage of overclocking? are you having a laugh????


If you knew anything about overclocking you wouldnt be asking that question , stop it now

how did you do it? third party app? your bios?

Higher voltages = higher temps , too much voltage = fried CPU

what did you use to test the stability of your overclock? what temperatures did your cores get up too?

yea, i OC'ed without much knowledge. i just knew that the higher the multiplier goes, the higher the voltage needs to be.

as for programs, i used CPU-Z, AMD Overdrive (to monitor my temps), and Prime95 (i heard its used to test stability)

as far as stability goes, i had to go back to 3.4GHz on 1.4V.
3.6GHz was apparently too much for the CPU and it crashed in the first few minutes of Prime95 =(

dude i'm jealous.... i want one of those cpu's... haha

nah.... get intel. overclocked AMDs are the equivalent to stock intels. thats how good they are.

chaosrealm93 said:

yea, i OC'ed without much knowledge. i just knew that the higher the multiplier goes, the higher the voltage needs to be.

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who told you that? look at the overclock in my sig , thats at stock voltage

as far as stability goes, i had to go back to 3.4GHz on 1.4V.
3.6GHz was apparently too much for the CPU and it crashed in the first few minutes of Prime95 =(

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how do you know it was too much for the cpu? it could have been your ram , your fsb , your northbridge..............do some more research i demand it!!

really though mate your gonna fry that cpu if your not carefull

at least you got prime 95 , remember 8 hours blended tests maximum stress , then you'll know its stable

you didnt mention yor load temps , and what cooling are you using? your not still on the stock HS and fan are you

archie123 said:

at least you got prime 95 , remember 8 hours blended tests maximum stress , then you'll know its stable

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Well... 8hrs is a good indication - 24hrs is better - even then it's not a 100% guarantee

(I have turned the air blue several times after P95 crashes/workers stopping at 9hrs+ )

Seriously though, do as Archie says and research this more.

smarteyeball said:

archie123 said:

at least you got prime 95 , remember 8 hours blended tests maximum stress , then you'll know its stable

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Well... 8hrs is a good indication - 24hrs is better - even then it's not a 100% guarantee

(I have turned the air blue several times after P95 crashes/workers stopping at 9hrs+ )

Seriously though, do as Archie says and research this more.

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me too especilly when just one thread crashes after 3 hours , but if your as anal as me its back to the drawing board

ive never left it 24 hours , jesus my pc is only ever on for 2 at a time when im using it just usually run it overnight

archie123 said:

me too especilly when just one thread crashes after 3 hours , but if your as anal as me its back to the drawing board

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I'm a bit anal too. At the first sign of instability, back to the BIOS I go. Rinse and repeat

ive never left it 24 hours , jesus my pc is only ever on for 2 at a time when im using it just usually run it overnight

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Normally when I'm adjusting, I'll do an 8hr run overnight and then finish 'testing' with games.

But when it passes 8hrs of P95, 30 passes of IBT but still blue screens, it's off for a mega-run of punishment

chaosrealm93 said:

nah.... get intel. overclocked AMDs are the equivalent to stock intels. thats how good they are.

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ok lets look at something...... that little 940 of yours is faster than all but one of the Q series of quad cores..... and is about as fast as their 8 core i7..... with that little quad don't tell me they arn't fast
oh btw what kinda cooler have you got on it?
and on a side note.... i will never buy another stinkin intel chip

chaosrealm93 said:

yea, i OC'ed without much knowledge. i just knew that the higher the multiplier goes, the higher the voltage needs to be.

as for programs, i used CPU-Z, AMD Overdrive (to monitor my temps), and Prime95 (i heard its used to test stability)

as far as stability goes, i had to go back to 3.4GHz on 1.4V.
3.6GHz was apparently too much for the CPU and it crashed in the first few minutes of Prime95 =(

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you should have been safe with 1.45v--as long as you have an adequate hsf. i have the same proc running at 3.4ghz with 1.4v.

3.4ghz at stock voltage (1.35) caused blue screen for me--as you indicated with 3.6ghz and 1.45. as long as you don't go overboard you should be cool with adequate cooling. also, you bios might be color coded--gray=safe; yellow=caution; red=danger--mine is such a mobo bios. stay in the yellow with voltage and make sure your cooling is adequate.

and as far as your first statement, the voltage only needs to be increased for the sake of stability. meaning, just because you go up in clock speed does not necessarily equate an increase in voltage--only an increase in the event of instability.