General Overclocking Question

[exdetonator]

Sorry for the vague title guys, but I have a question about general overclocking. Okay, so lets say i use amd overdrive to overclock my 6950 to 900mhz core clock and 1350 memory clock, the highest mine will go. If my highest temp in game is lets say 75 , is that a good overclock? Am I hurting my gpu? Is any overclock good as long as its stable and not too hot? Another example, lets say I overclock my i5 3570k to 4.5 ghz, more that 1ghz overclock. Sounds dangerous but as long my load temps in actually game play stay under lets say 70, is it a good overclock? What I am tryng to ask is that, as long as temps are good, are you really doing anything unwise or dangerous by overclocking?

 

[amuffin]

Yes.
Yes.

Make sure your voltages are good though.


Remember, overclocking is ALWAYS a risk, no matter what kind of cooling you have!

 

[Z1NONLY]

Is any overclock good as long as its stable and not too hot?

And not over-volted, yes.

Another example, lets say I overclock my i5 3570k to 4.5 ghz, more that 1ghz overclock. Sounds dangerous but as long my load temps in actually game play stay under lets say 70, is it a good overclock? What I am tryng to ask is that, as long as temps are good, are you really doing anything unwise or dangerous by overclocking?

Temps and voltage are what damage chips. Keep those within spec, and you are good to go.

There is, however some debate over how much heat, and how much voltage, damage what chips, how much, and how fast.

Most of the time, you can find the "absolutely too high" numbers for voltage and temps on given components. The debate happens below those self-destruct numbers and generally boil down to personal risk tolerance.