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stevecotton
44 Posts
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20124
April 28th, 2004 02:00
overclocking
i dont think this is necesarilly a video question , but what exactly is "overclocking" and is it a good or bad thing. ive heard the term and have no idea what it means,
thanks
- Overclocking is pushing hardware beyond what part makers have decided as safe - optimal - operation. For example, most processors have the ability to operate at clock speeds significantly higher than they are sold at. I have seen accounts where people have pushed the 3ghz pentium4 to speeds in excess of 4ghz. Hardware companies will limit the speeds of their components to ensure safe operation and that the parts do not fail. In order to overclock, software and hardware tweaks are implemented to enable the "hidden" power of certain components. The downfall of overclocking is risking meltdown of components, severely damaging systems, and poor performance. When overclocking, it is essential to know what you are doing, and have a great cooling system in your PC. Many people like to overclock their video cards to gain some performance. Many people have taken the Radeon 9800 non-pro and have overclocked it so the cards run at speeds that the 9800 pro operates at. Overclocking is both good and bad. If you know what you are doing, then this can be very beneficial in that it saves a little bit of money since you are gaining a little more performance out of your system. It can be a terrible thing in the same respect because newbies completely wreck their systems by overclocking too much too soon. I hope this answers your question. Before you even consider overclocking any of your components, I highly recommend doing some reading online.
Agree with Steve. There is a time and place (need). One time is when a card has the capability locked into it, but it is locked by the manufacturer. The 9800 Pro 256mb is actually the same card as the 9800 xt. There is a patch available on line that will open the card up to the 9800 xt specs. This is not a trick flash, but an actual change in the internal controls.
Another "time" was before the 9800 pro came out and my fps were too slow with my 9700 pro for my liking in UTK03. Took the clocks up approx 5% at a time until lost stability (ie started artifacting) and then dropped it down to the prior level. The heat generated off the card still caused problems after a couple hours of game play due to the Dell CPU shroud location on the D8100's that traps the heat off the top of the vid card. Once I got rid of the shroud, no problems. Mentioned this as OC'ing produces heat. You can put on memory heat sinks and other improved cooling for the card and increase its OC'ing potential, but you normally just get minimal improvements. Mine topped out at 11% over stock and kept UTK03 flying until the 9800 pro came out!
Message Edited by dogin on 04-27-2004 10:36 PM
stevecotton
44 Posts
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Posted April 29th, 2004 03:00
thanks all of u, helpful information here, Thanks for the time. Its funny my friend overclocks his computer and has to run an oscillating fan to keep it coll. i always wondered what the idiot was doin, i guess now i know. thanks for all the information.Shadowmage
53 Posts
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Posted April 29th, 2004 23:00
lol, he's IDIOT?
lol, he's smarter than all you DELL-users here :D
since when does saving money and getting FREE performance stupid?
Dell users are not stupid. Compared to other computer manufacturers, they have great warranties, provide great products, and all at a great price. If someone has the know-how, and the time, to create their own PC, then good for them. This forum is not for those users who want the technical support they passed up to save a few bucks in building their own systems. I am glad that you built your own system and are happy with it, but that is not the reason why this post was started. If you have a problem with Dell and their products, then stop using our forums for your personal use. If you have anything worthy of contributing to any of these conversations, then state so. Otherwise, do us a favor and keep the Dell-trashing for another forum.
stevecotton
44 Posts
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Posted April 30th, 2004 03:00
ok ok i mistyped idiot, sue me. Either way what kind of person takes the time to go onto a dell forum to trash the company of a computer that he doesnt even own to begin with. In my opinion, and its only my opinion, but he needs to get a life and leave the threads open for those who want to gain knowledge, not those that have nothing better to do with thier time. Invest in a new game would be my suggestion. Otherwise, thanks to all those who have helpful knowledge to spread, it helps.
lukejd87
118 Posts
515
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Posted April 28th, 2004 03:00
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Overclocking is when the user runs the CPU/Memory/FSB/AGP faster than what it is rated to run at, or running the clock over what it is rated at, thus the name. This "overclocking" is usually done in the BIOS. Dell BIOS don't give that option to run then faster than what they are intended to run at. However the video card can be overclocked using software, but its not recommended.
Bad:
Running them faster than intended can potentially melt your equipment; it will lessen the life of your machine, and will burn out faster
Good:
You can run a CPU at a higher speed without having to buy that higher model (saves $$$)
What is the basics of overclocking?
- Each CPU has a multiplier which is directly proportional to the FSB. So lets say that you have a 3.0Ghz 800FSB CPU. The "system clock" is 200Mhz.
200x4 = 800FSB
200x15= 3000Mhz
200x2 = 400Mhz DDR RAM (PC3200)
So you can run them faster by increasing the multiplier number, or raise the entire system by raising that one 200Mhz clock. This is all done in the BIOS, that Dell systems don't offer.
There are many little things, but that is the foundation of overclocking.