Safety in Overclocking

[SickPuppy]

So I have never overclocked a system, but I have read a few articles and I think I understand the process. I know that nothing is guaranteed and you could fry your components in a second, but if your careful and don't push the system to the extreme, how safe is overclocking? Has anyone fried their systems or noticed a shortened life of their components.

I just built a new system with an AMD 64 3200+ (venice), 1 gb Kingston ram DDR400 and MSI K8N-Neo4 mb. Everything works well, but I am thinking about pushing it a little, hopefully to about 2.4ghz. I have read articles where people are able to get it to 2.7 or 2.8, but I don't want to strain the system that much and I want to avoid component failure. I am also guessing I will need to replace the stock cooler to get to the 2.4 and be stable.

Thanks 8O

 

[ChipDeath]

Has anyone fried their systems or noticed a shortened life of their components.

Well, Plenty of us have killed parts, but generally speaking we all buy new parts often enough that we really don't get the chance to notice reduced lifespan. I have a XP1700+ that's been permanently overclocked since I bought it (5 years ago? maybe) and is still fine (stock speed is 1.46Ghz, It was at 2.25 for most of the time, 2.3 for a while, and now is 2.0Ghz...) It's the voltage that kills. As you increase clockspeed you'll hit a point where it's unstable, which can be overcome with more voltage. Too much voltage and it'll just die, but 'too much' is really quite a lot. (You're totally safe below 1.55V or so... although that might be a little warm with the stock cooler.

Those Venice 3200+ cores are great for overclocking. You should get your 2.4Ghz easily with little or no Voltage increase needed... In fact, you should get higher without much effort.

I am also guessing I will need to replace the stock cooler to get to the 2.4 and be stable.

You're guessing wrong. I had my Winchester 3200+ at 2.6Ghz with the stock cooler, and I'm 95% sure that your chip won't need as much voltage for that as mine did (since the Venices are all so good). I would recommend getting a nice big cooler though, because lower temps are always better, and a bigger fan would make less noise (The stock cooler isn't too loud, but it's not that quiet)

If you go slow and careful, the danger to your components is practically zero.

 

[parlee]

is that 1.55 true for all amd64's? i have an amd64 3700 clawhammer (socket 754) which runs at 1.5 volts, currently its getting 1.53 volts (says speedfan/cpu-z) i know its only .03 extra but my temp idle is 50C :/ if u undervolt a cpu can it cause harm? if not, do u think i should undervolt to 1.4?

 

[survivor]

ı have a 3200 venice too. I overlocked it to 240*10 hyper transport:4x ram 240 mhz (ı have kingston value ram) it runs very well now ı have no problem. I tried to push it harder but ı couldn't succeed becasue my rams suck ı think meanwhile ı have zalman cnp9500 and vantec ramsticks my cpu temp idle :36 load:42

 

[nstf]

Overclocking is fairly safe, I still have a p2 233mhz OC’d from way back in the day, and my current rig (p43.0e) has held at 3.75ghz since I bought it.

It all comes down to the parts you buy.

 

[gomerpile]

Yep I agree with all these post it is quite safe to OC slowly and prime or what ever you choose will find the best spot to start. Make sure you use good paste on a heat sink get ride of the crap cement they put on when you buy a heatsink. Like wusy said he oced his chicken and now he gets eggs by the millions. :lol:

 

[krazyIvan]

My 3000+ (939) Venice is running at 2.4 on a 1.5 VCore with after-market air cooler (Hyper48). My biggest limit is deciding if its worth dropping the HTT mult./ Ram divider any further for a small return in more CPU speed (above 2.4).
The age old question; CPU vs. System.
As far as damage... keep your CPU temps below 60c (under max load) and Vcore below 1.6v and you should be fine.

 

[gomerpile]

not sure but I think intell makes barbie dolls and ken dolls. I like their toys but now most of them don't work anymore.