Benefits of overclocking?

[sanders4617]

Ok. Well.. I have never overclocked anything other than my GPU just a little bit.


I just bought a Phenom II X4 940 processor with Biostar ta790gx 128m motherboard.

I haven't gotten it yet.

Anyway... I am not too sure what is more CPU dependent and whats not. Where would I see benefits of overclocking my CPU? The CPU itself should be pretty fast. Does overclocking shorten the lifespan of the CPU?

 

[ahslan]

well if you have a really powerful gpu, then you will definitely see benefits from overclocking your cpu...the reason is because usually powerful gpus are bottlenecked by the cpu and therefore overclocking the cpu will actually improve performance...cpu overclocking usually does shorten the lifespan of the cpu but then again, the cpu is going to only last you about 5 years, at most...(it'll become obsolete by then...)...with proper cooling, you probably dont risk anything at all really....

 

[NuclearShadow]

Basically any heavy multi-threaded program will see the largest increase in performance over anything else. Still before overclocking became a concern you should have asked yourself if you truly need a quad core or not. From the sounds of it you didn't but at least you got a good CPU.

Back to overclocking... You will see a increase in performance all around however some apps and games are effected differently. If you play UT3 for example a strong CPU can really improve fps while in another game the difference could be minimal.

The CPU lifespan can be shortened if you overclock higher than what is safe. For small overclocks the risk is basically nonexistent. But with higher overclocks that require you to change the voltage above what is safe that is where the CPU is at risk. Still even over volting and not going to the extremes could give you a CPU that will live longer than your use for it.

For example my last CPU was the E4300 (I now have a i7 920 which I overclocked) which was a great overclocker. The stock speed was 1.8 ghz but I OCed it to 3.2 ghz and ran it for years and it still works till this day. Even if It finally died after all that time I wouldn't have regretted a thing because it was worth it.

So yes there is a small risk with overclocking and yes it can shorten the lifespan however if you stay within a safe limit you really have no reason to worry and your simply getting more for your money and the CPU can even be useful to you longer because its faster speeds. I would have replaced my E4300 long ago if I didn't overclock it. If you need any help feel free to ask for it on these forums there are plenty of people who love to help others.

 

[K1ash3r]

well if you have a really powerful gpu, then you will definitely see benefits from overclocking your cpu...the reason is because usually powerful gpus are bottlenecked by the cpu and therefore overclocking the cpu will actually improve performance...cpu overclocking usually does shorten the lifespan of the cpu but then again, the cpu is going to only last you about 5 years, at most...(it'll become obsolete by then...)...with proper cooling, you probably dont risk anything at all really....

I have AMD 940 with 1gb 4870, will I get a significant performance boost in gaming from overlocking my CPU

 

[jsc]

I have never had a CPU failure. They go obsolete - way obsolete - first. Last summer, for example, I finally dumped my 10 year old P233MMX system that I had running at 333 MHz.
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Overclocking since 1978 - Z80 (TRS-80) from 1.77 MHz to 2.01 MHz

 

[ahslan]

well your cpu is actually quite fast so its hard to tell...only way to find out is trying

 

[sanders4617]

Thanks guys. I might try to overclock a little. I won't have but stock cooler for now. If I see a need for a better one, then I will get one.

 

[CooLWoLF]

With proper coolling, no reason an oc'd cpu should not last for a very long time. I also have never had a cpu fail, and everyone of them was oc'd.

 

[magruder13]

So you think that my computer is bottle necked by my 9800gtx because my Phenom II 940 is OC to 3.7GHz