StarDestroyer.Net BBS

We all know the sinful pleasures of overclocking a CPU in order to get it to go ridiculously fast. Well, it's not really all that sinful anymore, insofar as modern motherboard manufacturers and cooler manufacturers have teamed up to make it relatively easy to do.

So, my questions are as follows:

A) Do you overclock your computer?

B) If so, what setup are you using?

I'll start it off. Yes, I overclock my computers. Mind you, I am but a babe in the woods when it comes to this stuff. My current CPU (an AMD Athlon XP 2400+) is currently clocked at 2060 MHz (A paltry 3% faster than specs.)

I'm using a 15x multiplier on a 137 MHz base clock. (274 MHz FSB) At the moment, I am using an ordinary Volcano 9 CPU cooler, which makes it sound like there's a airport tarmac under my desk.

Athlon XP 1700+ oc to 2.1ghz (default 1.4)
Aopen AK79G mobo
fsb 168 (default 133) x 12.5, voltage 1.8 (def 1.6)
AMD standard heatsink with weak fan taken from an old p166's case
Speed can go up to 2.4 w/o obvious errors but sufficient testing incomplete

Athlon XP 1500+ overclocked to 1.5Ghz (~= Athlon XP 1700+) if I remember correctly.

My old processor/mobo didn't like being overclocked one bit, so I left it as a 1g. Right now, I have an Athlon 2700 crammed into a motherboard that doesn't recognize it, so I'm actually underclocked right now. Still faster than the old set up, though - if a little unstable.

I don't overclock; I suspect that any gains I'd get would be minimal, and not worth the increase in heat output. Given that my case probably has bad airflow as is with nearly all expansion slots in use, four IDE ribbons (six IDE devices), and a whole bunch of power cables as well (and I'm too lazy to go through and twisty-tie the cables ) my temperature already tends to hover around 44 C with my 1900+ at stock speeds.

The 1900+ is more than adequate for all my non-gaming needs, and I suspect I'd get much more benefit out of a new vid card than I would OCing the CPU. (although someday I may look into OCing the vid card.)

Got my Athlon XP 1900+ running at about 1.7 GHz (standard is 1.6, so it's not very impressive)

My computer does not like being overclocked. I can't change the bus ratio, for one, and I don't like driving my AGP, PCI and RAM at higher frequencies.

My dad's comp is a AMD 550 (I think), overclocked to 733.

I wouldn't even know how to overclock....

AMD Duron 700 running at 850MHz rock solid stable.

I'm going to re-install my watercooling rig tomorrow so I'll see how high I can push it.

Bah, a mere 150MHz is TEH PUNY.

/looks at all those P4C 2.4GHz people pushing their machines to 3GHz on stock air-cooling alone.

phongn wrote:Bah, a mere 150MHz is TEH PUNY.

/looks at all those P4C 2.4GHz people pushing their machines to 3GHz on stock air-cooling alone.

Pshhh, a P4 can survive a bit of abuse if its cooling is overwhelmed. Not like an AMD part, which will mostly turn into a barbecue on a chip if something goes wrong.

GrandMasterTerwynn wrote:

phongn wrote:Bah, a mere 150MHz is TEH PUNY.

/looks at all those P4C 2.4GHz people pushing their machines to 3GHz on stock air-cooling alone.

Pshhh, a P4 can survive a bit of abuse if its cooling is overwhelmed. Not like an AMD part, which will mostly turn into a barbecue on a chip if something goes wrong.

Er, I thought modern AMD chips had thermal sensors as well?

Besides, my motherboard will auto-shutdown the computer if the CPU temp. goes above a specified point. (I have it set to warn me at 60 degrees and shutdown at 70)

phongn wrote:Bah, a mere 150MHz is TEH PUNY.

/looks at all those P4C 2.4GHz people pushing their machines to 3GHz on stock air-cooling alone.

Yes well, I live in a warmer climate and the computer is in the hottest room of the house (my bedroom).

I live in Florida (though I don't have a P4C/2.4)

phongn wrote:My computer does not like being overclocked. I can't change the bus ratio, for one, and I don't like driving my AGP, PCI and RAM at higher frequencies.

Newer mobos have the ability to lock the frequency on the AGP/PCI bus so you only overclock the memory and the RAM. I just got myself a 533 MHz bus P4 and PC3200 memory and overclocked it to the 800 MHz bus so I'm only stressing the CPU which seems to take it just fine at default voltage.

The Kernel wrote:Newer mobos have the ability to lock the frequency on the AGP/PCI bus so you only overclock the memory and the RAM. I just got myself a 533 MHz bus P4 and PC3200 memory and overclocked it to the 800 MHz bus so I'm only stressing the CPU which seems to take it just fine at default voltage.

I have a VIA KT266A-based motherboard.