OCing Questions from a Newbie

[ElectroGoofy]

Hello all!

I have a few questions (for future reference, I don't know that I will OC for a while, if at all).

What exactly is the point of overclocking? Is it more of a thing for bragging rights, entertainment or does it give a really big performance boost?
How much of a risk is there to overclocking? Is it easy to ruin you hardware?
I have heard that OCing voids your warranty, is this true?

More questions may crop up, but for now thats it!

Thanks in advance!

P.S. I have been around computers all my life, and know a bit, but not a huge amount, so it would be nice if things were explained out. Oh, and also, another question that this reminds me of: how exactly do I learn about all that stuff? Do I just sort of absorb it by doing a lot of reading, or is there another way? Yea probably a stupid question, but thought I would ask....

 

[4Ryan6]

how exactly do I learn about all that stuff? Do I just sort of absorb it by doing a lot of reading, or is there another way? Yea probably a stupid question, but thought I would ask....

Well if you were Neo, like in the Matrix we could just Jack you in and program your mind with all the overclocking knowledge in the entire world, but you aren't Neo and this ain't the Matrix.

So there are OCing guides already posted here at THGF in the OCing section, they're called stickies and they're located at the top of the sections.

The debating of the hows and whys of OCing have been done to death here.

Google is great for tracking down OCing guides and articles, and you may just get someone passing by this thread that wants to educate you, but I strongly suggest educating yourself, it will be a whole lot more gratifying to you in the end.

But for me, my reasoning is,???? because we can, when a OC yields 1G more speed and beyond than the original clock well thats worth it IMO, and its also appeasing an addiction, because OCing is an addiction. IMO of course. Ryan

 

[ElectroGoofy]

Ok, thx

Yea, that would be nice to have the ability transfer data to the brain

The thing is, is that when I look at the OC guides, I sort of space out... I hardly understand ANYTHING about OCing... even things like voltages and stuff like that. Yes, I have been around computers my whole life (my granddad builds comps, not for gaming though, and my dad does all his work on computers) so I have learned quite a bit about it from them, but they don't do overclocking or anything like that, so I have never really been exposed to overclocking... I don't even think I have met somebody (in the real world) that has ever overclocked. One of the reasons for this, is that I had heard that OCing isn't too good for the components, as well as it voids But yea, a couple of the reasons I haven't done any reading into OCing, is that I have been told that it voids your warranty (not sure if true, would want to find out before even considering it, as it would take me a while to earn enough money to replace parts if anything went wrong), as well as it is not too good for the components.

I just need to find a beginner guide that spells everything out, explains the definitions of different terms, etc.

 

[4Ryan6]

I just need to find a beginner guide that spells everything out, explains the definitions of different terms, etc.

Well then Google:

A Beginners Guide to Overclocking



And see if you get any hits?

 

[ElectroGoofy]

Already did some, but not a huge amount. Going to do some more in-depth looking in a bit.

 

[ElectroGoofy]

So does anybody know whether or not overclocking voids the warranty? I have been doing some searches on google and have been coming up with conflicting reports. Some places it says yes, others it says no, and yet others say not if you use the overclocking software that was provided with the product.

Anybody know?

 

[4Ryan6]

Well heres some sure fire ways to loose your warranty:

#1 Lapping your CPU heatspreader

#2 UnLocking and BIOS flashing your video card

#3 Increasing your CPU core voltage to the point its obvious the failure was caused by increasing the voltage past its specs.

The only way you'll actually void your warranty is if you fry the CPU, however you almost today have to be trying to fry it, because it has a shutdown safety feature.

Now you can throw way too much voltage to it and fry it up, but thats where learning what you're doing, what the components can and can not handle, and where the limits are for your CPU, Memory, and GPU.

A true OCer has at sometime in their learning went too far and fryed up something, thats just the way it is, but you learn from your mistakes , and move on.


What is your reason for contemplating OCing in the first place?

Curiosity?

Your computers too slow and doesn't do what you need it to?

What?

 

[ElectroGoofy]

Mostly curiousity. Would probably be a while before I did any overclocking.

Don't know that my current computer could be overclocked.... its really old (see below for system specs). When I get a new computer (hoping to get a really nice gaming computer in the next year or so), and if I have learned enough about OCing, I may mess around with my old computer, speed it up, and have it as a backup computer, or use it for network rendering.

But yea, as I said before, mostly out of curiosity and future reference. Later on in my life when I can afford to replace a cpu I might really get into OCing. Right now I am just trying to learn as much about computers as possible.


And here are my complete system specs:

OS: Windows XP Service Pack 3 Home Edition
Processor: AMD
Athlon 64 Processor 3000+
Motherboard: VIA k8m800, socket 754
Ram: 1gb PC2100 (133mhz)
Video card: Nvidia GeForce 6200
Sound Card: Diamond Xtreme 5.1
Power Supply: A Power Golden Deluxe 580w ATX Power supply
Hard drive 1: 232gb
Hard drive 2: 80gb
Optical drive 1: CD Reader
Optical drive 2: DVD Re-Writable with Lightscribe
Computer Case: Not sure exactly, its a really old Cyberpower case


Have had it for a few years.


P.S. Really random question: what exactly are the points in profiles for?

 

[jsc]

Overclocking is by its very nature quite technical. Practically everything written are guides, not cookbooks. Two seeming identical systems can yield very different results
because of the tiny variances in the microelectronic circuits.

Practically every decision you make about component selection matters.

What you need to do is find the guides for your particular system. Then read and study. Ask questions. Most of the guides you will find are for Intel Core2 systems. There's a lot of overclocking headroom in the Intel chips. A 50% overclock is not unusual.

Unfortunately for you, the AMD chip you have is not a particularly good overclocker. I'd be surprised if you could push it more than 20%. However, you gotta start somewhere.