Can games run on an overclock..?

[Haildafire]

Lets say I had the I-7 920, 2.66GHz. I wouldn't be able to run games that required 3.0GHz.
If I overclocked it the I-7 920 to 3.4GHz, would it be able to run that game?

I'm asking because on some game specs it says "CPU: P4 2.8GHz (3.2GHz Vista)/Athlon 64 3000+ (3200+ Vista)" Or something.

 

[obsidian86]

yeah it can run a game but has to be 100% stable

 

[Shadow703793]

LOL! A stock i7 at 2.66Ghz is SIGNIFICANTLY faster than a 3-3.8Ghz P4. You'll be fine for most games even if not OCed, also remember that the i7 can do Turbo.

 

[Haildafire]

How do you tell if It's stable? On the OC guide, it doesn't say how to tell if It's stable.
And what's turbo?

 

[Shadow703793]

^List full specs.
Turbo mode: http://www.intel.com/technology/turboboost/
Basically, when the CPU needs more speed (and less cores) the CPU will automatically overclock itself.

 

[Haildafire]

FULL SPECS:


ALIENWARE ALX


CHASSIS COLOR: Cosmic Black ALX - 875 Watt Power Supply

PROCESSOR: Intel® Core™ i7 920 (2.66GHz, 8MB Cache)edit

OPERATING SYSTEM: Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (64 bit) + Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Coupon - English

VIDEO CARD: Dual 1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 Crossfire™ Enabled

MEMORY: 6GB Triple Channel 1600MHz DDR3

HARD DRIVE: 1TB RAID 0 (2x 500GB SATA-II, 7,200 RPM, 16MB Cache HDDs)

ADDITIONAL HARD DRIVE: 1TB - SATA-II, 3Gb/s, 7,200RPM, 32MB Cache HDD edit

OPTICAL DRIVE: Single Drive: 24X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability

MONITOR: 23-inch S2309W Widescreen Digital Flat Panel Monitor

 

[assasin32]

Uhh, really you don't have to worry about the specs for any game out there right now. Trust me your fine.

 

[Shadow703793]

ALIENWARE ALX


CHASSIS COLOR: Cosmic Black ALX - 875 Watt Power Supply

PROCESSOR: Intel® Core™ i7 920 (2.66GHz, 8MB Cache)edit

OPERATING SYSTEM: Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (64 bit) + Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Coupon - English

VIDEO CARD: Dual 1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 Crossfire™ Enabled

MEMORY: 6GB Triple Channel 1600MHz DDR3

HARD DRIVE: 1TB RAID 0 (2x 500GB SATA-II, 7,200 RPM, 16MB Cache HDDs)

ADDITIONAL HARD DRIVE: 1TB - SATA-II, 3Gb/s, 7,200RPM, 32MB Cache HDD edit

OPTICAL DRIVE: Single Drive: 24X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability

MONITOR: 23-inch S2309W Widescreen Digital Flat Panel Monitor

Specs are fine. Btw, exactly how much did you spend on that???? (Why didn't you go with a DIY custom?)

 

[Haildafire]

$3400. I'm new, and I don't want to mess something up without a warranty.
I might drop it down to $2700, if budget doesn't allow.

 

[chriskrum]

Don't bother with an OC. Your system is great. A P4 is generations older than an i7. The clock speeds don't mean anything.

And Turbo is a trick the i7 does. Basically it self-overclocks when needed.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

While I wouldn't argue against having something built by a custom builder, the last ones I'd recommend would be Dell / Alienware.

http://blog.alienwaresucks.com/

Built same specs here and saved a grand w/ factory guaranteed "extreme" (20%) overclocking ($2,318)

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Mega_Special_IV/detail

 

[deathmustard]

Well i would have to recommend against cyper power. They have great prices but i have heard way to many stories about them sending systems that arrive dead.

 

[obsidian86]

$2,220.88

* CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
* MOBO: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
* RAM: OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1600LV6GK - Retail
* HSF: XIGMATEK Intel Core i7 compatible Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail
* SSD: Intel X25-M SSDSA2MH080G1 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - OEM
* HDD: SAMUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
* PSU: Antec CP-850 850W Continuous Power CPX SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC "compatible with ... - Retail
* GPU: 2x XFX HD-587A-ZNF9 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity - Retail
* DVD: SAMSUNG DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223L LightScribe Support - OEM
* Case: Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
* Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM

from newegg

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Well i would have to recommend against cyper power. They have great prices but i have heard way to many stories about them sending systems that arrive dead.

Not my choice either but the site does give a wide range of options so it was easy to match the OP's build.

Here's some THG fav's

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/181162-31-best-custom-builders

 

[Shadow703793]

$2,220.88

* CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
* MOBO: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
* RAM: OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1600LV6GK - Retail
* HSF: XIGMATEK Intel Core i7 compatible Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail
* SSD: Intel X25-M SSDSA2MH080G1 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - OEM
* HDD: SAMUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
* PSU: Antec CP-850 850W Continuous Power CPX SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC "compatible with ... - Retail
* GPU: 2x XFX HD-587A-ZNF9 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity - Retail
* DVD: SAMSUNG DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223L LightScribe Support - OEM
* Case: Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
* Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM

from newegg

+1 Man!

@OP: Take the time to learn how to build, it's well worth it.

 

[Haildafire]

Blah. You guys are so mean! It's not like I'm going to spend the rest of my life building computers. I don't need to learn to build. I just want a good gaming PC.

With that alienware build I listed, would I need to overclock to run games that require 3.0GHz?

 

[obsidian86]

ok let me put it this way a quad core i7 920 at 2.66 ghz is roughly equal to to a single core 9.0 ghz p4,and people build pc's sometimes if you want to or not changing ram,gpu,hdd,power supplies,trouble shooting on a pc at 2 am is all part of building

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

I can agree with the guys who talk about building, it does take a little more effort and research, but the nice thing is you can save money, and if something goes wrong with it, you don't have to worry as much about asking a company for help, as you can usually figure it out, the other nice thing is that you can keep upgrading your system incrementally and stay up to date instead of dropping that much cash every few years.

 

[Shadow703793]

It's not like I'm going to spend the rest of my life building computers.

Let's see.... you'll be buying a new PC in about 2 years, and again 2 years after that,etc. So why not just learn it and save money now and in the future?

 

[chriskrum]

Blah. You guys are so mean! It's not like I'm going to spend the rest of my life building computers. I don't need to learn to build. I just want a good gaming PC.

With that alienware build I listed, would I need to overclock to run games that require 3.0GHz?

No. You don't need to overclock. Your rig is great and will be for the next several years.

Also, there's nothing wrong with buying a prebuilt system, it just that you're posting your question on a forum full of geek/builders, like myself, who spend their free time trolling Newegg for the best combos and tweaking their systems weekly. The response is to be expected because most everyone here can and does build their own rigs and given 3400 dollars to blow on a new system we'd all build 8 core workstations (and end up spending just a little more).

However, if you're interested in overclocking, the best advice is to scratch build. The knowledge gleaned from making your own systems is quite useful when it comes time to push a system beyond its specification. It helps to really know what parts you have. Prebuilt systems, even high-end ones with unlocked bioses are not ideal overclock machines unless it's a factory overclock (under warranty). Overclocking a prebuilt system often defeats the biggest benefit of having a prebuilt: warranty support.

You've bought about the best system you can. Don't fiddle with it. Enjoy it.

 

[Haildafire]

No. You don't need to overclock. Your rig is great and will be for the next several years.

Also, there's nothing wrong with buying a prebuilt system, it just that you're posting your question on a forum full of geek/builders, like myself, who spend their free time trolling Newegg for the best combos and tweaking their systems weekly. The response is to be expected because most everyone here can and does build their own rigs and given 3400 dollars to blow on a new system we'd all build 8 core workstations (and end up spending just a little more).

However, if you're interested in overclocking, the best advice is to scratch build. The knowledge gleaned from making your own systems is quite useful when it comes time to push a system beyond its specification. It helps to really know what parts you have. Prebuilt systems, even high-end ones with unlocked bioses are not ideal overclock machines unless it's a factory overclock (under warranty). Overclocking a prebuilt system often defeats the biggest benefit of having a prebuilt: warranty support.

You've bought about the best system you can. Don't fiddle with it. Enjoy it.

I've already asked Dell, and if I overclock, it doesn't void warranty, unless it breaks because of the overclock.
And if you think about it, 4 out of 5 people buy their computers pre-built. And of those 5 people, only 1 is a gamer. And lets say, 1/4 of the gamers build their own. That's, what. 5% of people build their own? It's not like I'm weird for being normal and wanting a pre-build. And I would be posting on a Alienware forum, where I wouldn't get insulted every 5 minutes, but they have no good forums that I've found. So if anyone knows of any, please, PLEASE give me a like, so I can get away from this horrible forum. Thanks in advance.

 

[virus015]

I'm not being judgmental here but I bought a PC from alienware, which was a HUGE mistake. It arrived a month after they said it would, after the Seagate barracuda HDD broke it took so much arguing as to how I was going to get a new one from them that I just went to my local store, bought a new one and fitted it myself to avoid the hassle.

A year later I bought new memory, cpu and graphics card and decided to fit them myself. I pretty much had to take apart the entire system to fit a mounting bracket for a custom heatsink on the back of the MOBO, and the satisfaction of doing everything myself was enormous. In short building or upgrading a PC is not hard, saves money and is rewarding. I'm not saying you made a mistake buying one, but in the future if you need to upgrade try doing it yourself, it's worth it

 

[Shadow703793]

@Op: WHY do you want to Overclock?!?! The i7 is MORE than enough for what you have said you need it for.

At any rate, understand this is a enthusiast forum where 80% (it used to be MUCH higher in the past, and people would have flamed you for like 7+ pages for buying an Alienware) of the population here are DIY builders. Also understand, we are not trying to be mean,etc. It's just that you can be better off with a DIY and we here hate it when people overspend.

Also, there is a pretty huge population of gamers who go DIY. 25% of the gaming population is a LOT of people. Ever wonder why XFX,EVGA,etc are not dead?

 

[obsidian86]

55% of all hardware income all over the world comes from induvidual parts did you know that? so i think more ppl are building pc's for them self then you think, even windows oem accounts for 18% of microsoft's income

 

[overshocked]

Dude, these guys arnt trying to insult you, were just saying it will be well worth it to learn to build.

You will save like 20grand over your life if you learn to build. Also believe me, any clod can build a rig in a couple hours. Its just like plugging 100 plugs into matching sockets, its not that hard.


This has already been stated but a 2.66ghz i7 920 is like a 8ghz p4.