super noob question

[tastytaco]

Okay, I have read the overclocking guide, and others, but none of them say one thing... Do you keep the overclock all the time, or just if your going to be doing a gaming session? If you keep it all the time say for a q6600 from 2.4GHZ to 3GHZ, what will the lifetime of the processor be?

 

[faster3200]

Yes, the OC you get you can usually run 24/7. The exception to that is if you are on water, TEC, or phase you can get really high OCs that require a lot of voltage. These are usually just done for fun and then brought down to a stable speed at a lower vcore.

Your CPU won't have a shortened lifespan assuming you don't go above 1.5v or around 70C (you can check the specific thermal spec if you want). Anything within those guidelines is gravy.

 

[tastytaco]

Okay thanks. I just couldn't find those two things.

 

[alvine]

When you overclock the processor you leave it that way. Yes overclocking shortens the processor life but people who overclock upgrade their processors long before the processor would die. I heard processors are build for 7-10years. If you overclock you probably loose 1 year from its lifetime but you get the performance. Also when you overclock you should or even have to use aftermarket heatsink since when you overclock you need to raise voltages and voltages equal more heat and heat equals less processor life/stability. I have q6600@ 3.4ghz with aftermarket heatsink on it. I know I will not use my pc for 10years and I will upgrade it probably in 2 years anyways so I'm running pretty heavy overclock on it. As long as you keep your temperatures under controll your fine.

 

[Nik_I]

i leave my OC all the time. yes overclocking will reduced the lifespan, but anyone who would even consider overclocking isn't the type of person who would be using the same computer for more than a couple of years.

 

[cyber_jockey]

Good question there tastytaco .

 

[YourGodOnEarth]

How within the normal is it to be able to "undervolt" and OC?
For instance, I'm running 3.2-gHz @ 1.144v (with a VID of 1.2375v) and am 100% stable.
Just curious how many others are doing similar things.
A thread from lupiron a while back got me lowering the vCore to find my minimum voltage at stock speed (1.1v for me).
Then I tried it with my everyday OC of 3.2-gHz (at 1.2375v) and started lowering it more and more to find my minimum voltage with 100% stability, and would love to hear if anyone else is doing it.

 

[faster3200]

How within the normal is it to be able to "undervolt" and OC?
For instance, I'm running 3.2-gHz @ 1.144v (with a VID of 1.2375v) and am 100% stable.
Just curious how many others are doing similar things.
A thread from lupiron a while back got me lowering the vCore to find my minimum voltage at stock speed (1.1v for me).
Then I tried it with my everyday OC of 3.2-gHz (at 1.2375v) and started lowering it more and more to find my minimum voltage with 100% stability, and would love to hear if anyone else is doing it.

I did this on my media server to reduce heat load. It works just fine, although I don't know how practical it is other than for very specific uses. I know of a few people who have done it for htpc although they just lowered vcore, they didn't increase the clock speed at all.

 

[bobbknight]

I have a light oc on my q6600 it should last as long as it is supposed to.

 

[cow_moo]

yeah it is all the time most of the time but if you can(I can) leave all speedstep C1E...etc. With mine say I have an OC to 3.4 off of 3.0 my mutiplier might go up and down from 9 to 6 so it will reduce the speed when not needed. I have an EVGA 780i just to let you know