Newbie overclocker with a few questions!

awong918 · Jul 24, 2018

Hi, I recently got interested in overclocking and have a few questions about it (I didn't want to watch/read guides since it often leaves me more questions than answers)

Is the process of overclocking basically just tweaking the frequency of components and the voltage to get the desired settings? My system crashed a lot when I was doing this. Could it hurt the hardware?

What's the "safest" voltage to overclock the CPU and RAM at without shortening the lifespan? What are the voltages that I should be looking at? Just "Vcore voltage" for CPU and "DRAM voltage" for RAM?

And lastly, approximately how much % more power would the system draw if I overclocked a Ryzen 7 1700 to 3.9ghz @ 1.3V and DDR4-2400 RAM to 3000 MHZ @ 1.3V (and nothing else)?

My build: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/XzZNvn#incompatibilities

Any help would be greatly appreciated !

zebarjadi.raouf · Jul 24, 2018

Is the process of overclocking basically just tweaking the frequency of components and the voltage to get the desired settings?

Over'clocking' is the process of increasing the frequency of components. Increasing voltage is a side effect to make it able (or stable) to work at higher performance.

My system crashed a lot when I was doing this. Could it hurt the hardware?

If you haven't done anything stupid like unlocking overvoltage or ..., then no.

What's the "safest" voltage to overclock the CPU and RAM at without shortening the lifespan?

Anything below 1.4v is usually considered safe. Also, TEMPERATURE usually has more effect on lifespan than the voltage unless you're going really high. Keep your temps below 80c for long use (below 70c is even better).

Just "Vcore voltage" for CPU and "DRAM voltage" for RAM?

If you're not looking to break records, then yes.

And lastly, approximately how much % more power would the system draw if I overclocked a Ryzen 7 1700 to 3.9ghz @ 1.3V and DDR4-2400 RAM to 3000 MHZ @ 1.3V (and nothing else)?

It's quite hard to tell power usage without monitoring hardware. CPU at extreme OC can use double the power (65x2=130W). In your case, I would say around 100w under heavy load with all your cores maxed.
DDR4 rams use around 5W, not sure why you would care.
-------------------------------------------------------
While you're at it, OC your GPU too. Follow this guide if you need a reference.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3735667/gtx-970-safe-overclock.html#21133296

All in all, I would say your system with everything overclocked to the max under heavy load would use 350W or less at most unless I'm wrong or forgetting something.

drea.drechsler · Jul 24, 2018

First: if reading or watching a guide brings up more questions then...read or watch some more guides! They may cover the things you have questions on.

It's not just tweaking the clock speed and voltages, it's also about learning the limits of your hardware so that you know how far to tweak the clocks and voltages. You learn that by...reading /watching guides. Oh, and measuring values using utilities while running tests on the system using other utilities.

The 'safest' voltage depends a lot on specifics like: which CPU and how your motherboard works and temperatures your processor is operating at. The maximum voltage is often that which you're most comfortable with.

Crashes themselves won't harm your system, although it may harm the OS installation. You can always re-install the OS but the crash is an indicator that you're pushing something too hard and pushing it too hard has the potential of harming it crash or no crash. But I think modern hardware is remarkably tolerant of being pushed: it will crash and harm your OS well before the hardware itself gets harmed.

The percent power draw increase probably depends a lot on the specifics of your CPU, motherboard and software you run. At idle, for instance, it will be very small whether or not overclocked and only becomes significant when heavily loaded. If your concerned, then get a Kill-a Watt and measure system power. I was surprised to find my system draws 200-250W total when playing a game but only 140-150 when encoding a video. Obviously, the GPU is a much greater contributor to power draw.

Lastly: ask specific questions so people can answer specifically, forums work better that way. They also like you to read how-to guides to gain a basic knowledge in order understand the answers.

william p · Jul 26, 2018

Cooling is the key to successful overclocking. if you raise the speed 10% then you get 10% more heat. If you raise the Voltage 20% and the speed 20% then you get 1.2X1.2=1.44 or 44% more heat. Higher Voltage will shorten the life of components over time. Intel publishes max. safe Voltage for each CPU. It can vary quite a bit. Heat will damage parts right away. Basically Cooling, Voltage, and Speed are the 3 variables.

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