If you overclock, do you overvolt?

[DigeratiPrime]

I tend to overclock cautiously, and have never adjusted voltages to increase my overclocking potential. I think as long as you dont increase the voltage, your overclocks are safe. Once you start increasing the voltages, you are pushing the hardware's design and specifications and could potentially damage it. What are your thoughts? am I right/wrong/other?

[alucke]

I never overclock my CPU. Overclocking puts more stress, and heat on the CPU. Isnt overclocking the CPU bad?

Edited February 7, 2007 by alucke

[Jeremy]

You can overclock without increasing the voltage at all and even reducing the voltage from what I hear. Ask Zxian.

[ripken204]

well yes you can leave the voltage the same or even undervolt, but to truly get the processors full potential, you will need to overvolt. if you dont overvolt then you can be very limited on your overclock. as long as you have good cooling i dont see the problem.

[anza]

well yes you can leave the voltage the same or even undervolt, but to truly get the processors full potential, you will need to overvolt. if you dont overvolt then you can be very limited on your overclock. as long as you have good cooling i dont see the problem.

You don't need to overvolt to get the processors full potential. At least my E6400 runs fine overclocked and undervolted. Don't you think 3.28GHz @ 1.28V is good when compared to the stock 2.13GHz @ 1.35V (not sure if I remember the stock voltage correctly)?

Edited February 8, 2007 by anza

[ripken204]

well these c2d's are exceptions i guess. but most if not all previous cpu's needed to be overvolted to get a good overclock. i know for the amd opterons, such as mine, they dont need to be overvolted much and you will hit that spot where overvolting anymore wont help in ur overclock.

[DigeratiPrime]

I understand how overclocking works, I've have overclocked my last two pc's cpu and memory by about 20% without touching the voltages. I am just questioning whether its possible to damage the hardware if you leave the voltages alone, or perhaps undervolt.

[Zxian]

As long as temperatures stay within limits, increasing frequencies can't hurt your system.

well yes you can leave the voltage the same or even undervolt, but to truly get the processors full potential, you will need to overvolt. if you dont overvolt then you can be very limited on your overclock. as long as you have good cooling i dont see the problem.

"to get the processors full potential" - by this you mean the absolute maximum where you're stressing the device beyond it's designed limits. Good luck getting a useful lifetime out of that piece of hardware. I know corporations that still run their businesses on dual PIII systems, just because they've lasted and they don't need to upgrade. If they had reached the processors' "full potential" they would have needed to replace the components before long.

Processors can easily go bad at high voltages without temperatures being too high. Why do you think that those who use phase change still end up breaking CPUs?

In other words, for each of the three, can increasing just the one affect the lifetime of the device?

Temperature: Yes

Voltage: Yes

Frequency: No

[vertol]

Voltage can be applied to max or just under for much longer periods than most people think.

If you are going to O/C then you must take advantage of this ! Period .

You need to find the spec. on your chip for voltage max ,and use that .

Also the concept of (I will not stress the chip cause I don't want to break it ) Is like buying a Mustang

and never smoking the tire's .lol

9x out of 10 you will upgrade your system or your chip before you ever do any damage ,they can take a

little more abuse than you think . Below is a 2nd system that I put together in early 2004 ! . And as you see it runs at 1.65v @ 2803 ,is pretty good ha for a 3400+mobile ! . The cool thing is ! It's been at those voltages for 3 yrs. straight ! I run mobo chipset at 1.70v ,ram @ 3.0v and AGP @ 1.60v (I have 5 120mm fans that all run silently) and a low speed 80mm fan on my G Skill ram . Most people have already upgraded one year to almost two,on a new system .!

Thats what the fun about O/C is all about .

754 -3400+ CG Mobile @ x11_2803Mhz = 255, 1.65v .

QS rating 4525+ Rev. SH7-CG = AMN3400BIX5AR

March 2004- stepping 10

DFI NF3-UT 250Gb

G.Skill ZX -2Gb = 166 Divider

Big Typhoon (Torqued Down ) 34c to 38c XP-PRO

39c to 45c Vista

BFG 7800 GS = 515/1460 flashed to a EVGA 7800 KO OC

Thermaltake 680 psu PurePower

Lite On LH-18A1P flashed to a BenQ DW 1800

Toshiba SD-R5272 flashed to a Samsung SH-W08A

3) Maxtor 6L 300R0 300Gb

Thermaltake Tsunami

[ripken204]

well zxian, lets not get into the debate about the lifetime of the cpu, b/c it is impossible for anyone to know how long it will last. all that i care is that it will last at least 5 years, and all that my dad cares is that is will last 10 years. there is no doubt that every five years at the max i will be building a new comp, so as long as the cpu lasts that long, im happy.

[nmX.Memnoch]

Here's a Google search for you: Sudden Northwood Death Syndrome. I've experienced this twice myself without overclocking/overvolting by all that much.

On other words, there can be bad side effects to applying too much voltage.

[puntoMX]

I tend to overclock cautiously, and have never adjusted voltages to increase my overclocking potential. I think as long as you dont increase the voltage, your overclocks are safe. Once you start increasing the voltages, you are pushing the hardware's design and specifications and could potentially damage it. What are your thoughts? am I right/wrong/other?

Well, even when increasing switching speeds of a CPU you are pushing the hardware's design and specifications, but indeed: voltage can do more damage.

I OCed from AMD DX4s to the Core2Duos and never I blew up any thing or damaged the CPU that I know of. All CPUs are still working taht I Oced the last 5 years b/c I know the people where I did it for. Motherboards have been replaced or got damaged way faster b/c of bad capasitors (I would worry more about your mobo actualy when you OC ) in those OCed systems while the CPUs are still doing fine. I used to overvoltage from 1.6 to 2.1 on PIIIs for example and got Celeron 2 600MHz up to 1130MHz on CUBX boards from ASUS with a Thermaltake super Orb with 1 fan working (yes, the f*cked up design from Thermaltake that killed more then one CPU (AMD S462)) while it normaly had too; just took the fan on top of . an OC of 87.5% doens´t sound bad I think.

Any way, I have Sempron 64 1600@2500MHz (2800+) now with stock cooling or cheap coolers from Coolermaster and the voltages on 1.40 to 1.44 (no over/under-volting, just stock) and the oldest one is running for 1 year and 3 months now. I also use the stock thermal pats that come with the coolers, the Coolermaster "pads" are not solid any more and show a temperature diference of 2oC (WOW!).

Any way, I would OC ANY home PC .

[ripken204]

lol, looks like punto finally agrees with me on something

and punto, of course voltage can do more damage, but as long as you are smart about it, you will be fine. and you're proof of how you can overclock for long periods of time without any downsides. luckily the new mobos are coming with solid capacitors, so we shouldnt have to worry about leaking capacitors much longer.

[puntoMX]

lol, looks like punto finally agrees with me on something

LOL, yeah hardheaded Dutch it´s called .

[Zxian]

well zxian, lets not get into the debate about the lifetime of the cpu, b/c it is impossible for anyone to know how long it will last. all that i care is that it will last at least 5 years, and all that my dad cares is that is will last 10 years. there is no doubt that every five years at the max i will be building a new comp, so as long as the cpu lasts that long, im happy.

You might not care about tossing out an old CPU after 5 years, but considering that the only computer less than a year old that I have is a laptop, it's saying something about my computing habits. Two out of the four that I own were built in 2000, and one has been upgraded along the way, starting out in 2001. As long as they run, why should I toss them out? They're good for something - maybe not gaming, but for other purposes definitely. My parents as well - they just bought a new computer, since their old one was from 1999. My mother's computer is from 2001 - see the pattern here? They don't game. For surfing the web and writing letters/office documents, a PIII will suit most just fine.

I've never actually come across a system where the non-overclocked CPU just up and died. mmX.Memnoch linked to articles describing how finicky Northwood P4s are, but thats still regarding overclocking. Usually the non-OC CPU dying is the fault of the motherboard supplying uneven voltage, but not of the CPU simply kicking the bucket. Semiconductors don't wear the same way a hard drive does.