Will "Cool and Quiet" Kill an Overclock?

[rfxcasey]

I've read in a few forums that while overclocking and AMD processor you should disable Cool and Quiet support because it will "kill the overclock". I don't understand why it would as isn't cool and quiet only supposed to have an effect when the processor is idle?

 

[saint19]

Hi rfxcasey and welcome to Tom's hardware forum.

Cool'n'quite affect the CPU when is idle but when u try to go to load again cool'n'quite can fail to reach the OC settings.

Also u need disable C1E for better OC.

 

[TheOKAY]

This is interesting. My overclock is fine even with CoolnQuiet on but I will turn it off.
What is C1E?

 

[saint19]

Check this

Cool'n'Quite and C1E can limit ur OC headroom

 

[pete3867]

my x2 7750 overclocks fine with c n q turned on , it just 'throttles is down' at other times , so it saves power etc

 

[rfxcasey]

Thanks that's just the kind of answer I was looking for. Mine seems to overclock fine with CnC on which is why I was asking. Whenever I check the control panel/system it shows the proper 3Ghz I am running the system at. I've turned it off but how can you be sure this is necessary for a particular machine?

 

[Hawkeye22]

I always disable C&Q when I'm OC'ing and testing for stability. Once I've got my computer stable I enable C&Q. You can make sure it's working by monitoring the CPU with cpu-z or some other utility. Let your computer idle and see what the frequency is, then run multiple copies of prime95 (one copy per core) and the frequency should jump up to whatever you OC'ed it to.

Anyhow, I never had a problem with C&Q enabled with an OC.

 

[videl]

cool'n'quiet usually screws up and doesn't work right after an overclock (it goes back to normall on stock speeds) or it screws up the overclock, that's why you should turn it off when overclocking...

 

[simon12]

I thought I had disabled cool & quiet (but hadn't), I found Starcraft 2 would crash if I wasn't doing anything for a few minutes and disabling cool & quiet fixed it

 

[videl]

I would say "issue resolved"

 

[TheOKAY]

I still don't see anywhere on that wikipedia article that it says cool n quiet or C1E will harm an overclock, maybe I missed it though.
I don't think the issue is resolved, I'm not convinced cool n quiet harms over clocks.

 

[TheOKAY]

Also, @videl, why does your cpu-z OC signature say that it is not validated? What happened?

 

[apache_lives]

heh iv been running my overclocked Q6600 @ 3.5ghz for years now with speedstep/power saving still enabled (at first by accident) - make no difference for my overclock, apart from the fact that it runs at/around stock speed 99% of the time (when its idle) - i now rather like and prefer it enabled and see no reason to disable (keeps my power bills down and my room temps lower )

Iv seen no evidence of it limiting overclocks.

 

[4Ryan6]

I've read in a few forums that while overclocking and AMD processor you should disable Cool and Quiet support because it will "kill the overclock". I don't understand why it would as isn't cool and quiet only supposed to have an effect when the processor is idle?

I think the better wording would be "limit the overclock" it is doable to do your OCing with C&Q enabled, however you're basically enabling a feature that will put the automatic features of the motherboard control back into play, from my experience, factors affecting C&Q are simply allowing the automatic adjusting of the raising and lowering that C&Q has to do, to work properly.

From my results OCs are more successful using C&Q, when the OC was accomplished raising the FSB, a raised multiplier OC is not as successful when the multiplier is raised gaining 400+ mhz and above that increase.

First of all C&Q wasn't actually designed for OCing, it was designed to use the automatic features your motherboard is capable of, using the SPD information to keep your CPU within its operating parameters and adjusting all the other system hardware to accomplish the raising and lowering of the clock, voltages, and multiplier.

Personally C&Q to me, I totally have no use for, and it almost seems like an contradiction of facts, on one hand Overclocking on the other hand Cool and Quiet, if using C&Q is definitely what you want to do, you may be better off using the automatic overclocking features your motherboard may have.

Simply because you won't be taking your CPUs voltage past specs., and under those situations C&Q shouldn't be a problem, but if you intend to manually overclock, and manually set your voltages, multiplier, speeds, clocks, timings etc., then simply put, you are taking C&Q past its capabilities.

Plus the shock factor of voltage being instantly ramped up to enter a gaming situation vs a solid supplied voltage from boot, from just an overclocking point of view, people that find a good stable OC level and keep their machines there to basically burn in at that clock level, tend to fair better than overclockers that are always overclocking and never satisfied.

Constantly changing voltages and speeds can end up with negative hardware results, to an out of control overclocker, so can it additionally have an affect on hardware with those settings changed automatically by a program like C&Q, I don't really know the long term answer to C&Qs effects.

I'm not going to argue the Green point of view, because if I was concerned with that, I wouldn't be overclocking in the first place, I overclock to get the most stable extra performance from the hardware I paid for, and if anyone thinks there is no difference from experiencing your desktop at 1ghz vs 4ghz, I would say, "Not the Mama!". :lol:

Additionally; C&Q really sucked when it first came on the scene, it has definitely been improved since those days, and a lot can't get past, If it Quacks it must be a Duck, Once a Duck, Always a Duck! :lol:

I Quack myself up! :lol:

Sorry, rfxcasey, I couldn't help myself. Ryan

 

[videl]

OK this is why I said it's better to turn cool'n'quiet off...
I've seen cases where it does screw the overclock up...
it happens on some motherboards...
But with me it's better to turn it off because it's useless
I have a black edition cpu and I overclock using the multiplier
when I overclock with the multiplier cool'n'quiet doesn't work...
it's turned on but when watching cpuz it does't lower the multi
or the voltages...it just stops working...so I turn it off...

Oh and btw...yeah my signature is sorta wierd...lol...I was overclocking my
unlocked B50 to see the highest overclock that would boot into windows...and
that was 4.2 but as soon as I saved the verification file it crashed...so I'm guessing
that it was partially corupted or something...that's why cpuz took it but says it's
not validated...kinda wierd huh? lol...I'm gonna redo that oc and revalidate it sometime...

 

[rfxcasey]

Ah, I too have a Black Edition processor and overclock using the cpu multiplier so if what you say is true and CnQ can't or doesn't override this then that may be why I have never had a problem using the feature as it would be effectively disabled. I haven't bumped my vcore up either so that could also be a factor. I'm leaving Cool and Quiet off for now and it will probably stay that way. Thanks.