What's the big deal

[Upendra09]

Hi guys,

I have a question about OCing. I tried to OC my celeron processor only to find out it was multiplier locked and i have read other forums about how people get to 8.5 GHZ and so on but I never really understood the point of it. I know it's about getting better speeds at a lower price but what's the point? Don't get me wrong, i wanted to OC the Celeron because it is just slow(1.2Ghz). But when your buying a new computer or building one, what's the point of overclocking. Just buy a processor that's at the speed u want.

And really, why don't computer manufacturers just set processors at a high speed and sell it at a certain price? Then people wouldn't have to Oc.

Plus, ( I have seen this many times as i looked for a new computer, which I have'n got yet) why would companies sell "Gaming Laptops" at a mere 2.2-2.4 Ghz? If ur gaming, wouldn't u want higher speeds?

Or do they do that so that people can OC and they themselves don't have to spend extra buying faster Processors from Intel, AMD?

Besides how much can u see when u OC? how obvious is it?

 

[MaDMagik]

But when your buying a new computer or building one, what's the point of overclocking. Just buy a processor that's at the speed u want.

Thats exactly the point of OC for me: I bought a cheap cpu and OCd it to a level where it offers performance of a cpu 3x more expensive. So basically i got what i wanted for 3x less. Saved money can be spent somewhere else(pub for example)

 

[cjl]

I have an i7 at 4GHz. You say to just buy one at the speed you want, but I don't see anywhere that I could buy this CPU at this speed...

Basically, you can get speeds equal to those of far more expensive processors, or even speeds faster than any available for any price. Depending on what you do, it can be quite helpful. I use mine for a combination of pretty demanding engineering workstation tasks and gaming, and the 4GHz i7 helps with that.

 

[jsc]

You can usually overclock a CPU one speed bin higher with no trouble. Since Intel introduced the Core 2 CPU's, they have been very conservatively rated.

I achieved a 50% overclock with both my E6600 and my Q6600 (2.4 GHz to 3.6 GHz). Admittedly, that performance is not quite "free". You need a good motherboard, good RAM, a good power supply, a really good heatsink, and a case with good airflow. And a bit of luck. You simply can't push some CPU's as far as others.

The results can save a lot of money and make the difference in playable and unplayable frame rates in a lot of games.

----------
Overclocking since 1978 - Z80 (TRS-80) from 1.77 MHz to 2.01 MHz

 

[Upendra09]

Thanks guys,

But why doesn't Intel make processors that run at 4 Ghz? Or why don't they make computers or barebone kits( these would be even cheaper) that run at 4Ghz and have people buy those? And besides if a processor can run at such speeds, then why not sell them at such speeds and make mobos, RAM, PSus, etc. make their tech better. After all I have heard that we are behind on the Moore's law graph on processor speeds. and so far i have noticed that in the last few years, the computer market has slowed down, they haven't been rolling out as many new products as they did prior to 2007. Right now Intel hasn't gotten past Core2 and quad. the new one they have is i7 but it is way more overpriced than Core 2 was when it first came out.

 

[Fruity]

Not so sure the industry is that far behind on Moore's law; it simply states that the number of transistors on a CPU should double every 2 years. So far as I'm aware that's pretty well still on track. Keep in mind that the Core i7's have a design spec to take them to up to 8 processor cores and Moore's law will be met.

As for no new processors, the Atom is a recent release as well as the Core i7. I'm fairy sure that Intel are now making more different processors for the PC market than they ever have done in the past!!

 

[jsc]

Since AMD is playing catch, there's no reason why Intel needs to do a lot.

 

[Upendra09]

Thanks, u guys have cleared up my doubts on OCing