Do We Really Need To Overclock Our Componants, Honestly???

[Wiredchild]

Hey, i've been 'in to' computer for a couple of years now, but...It's only now that i feel reasonably confident in a foundation knoledge of computing, hardware especially.

Therefore, lately, in an aim to suppliment what i've learnt and to pass the point that i know 'what hardware is good and bad', to find a point that i know how it works and how to use it to it's optimum. Therefore; i've recently considered overclocking.

So, in pure fear my computer would be in flames within minutes i used the method on the sticky thread to automatically overclock my 6600GT to it's 'optimum settings'...I was really proud of myself and used it for a couple of days like this, then turned it back and was in pure shock to see, well...no difference at all.

Now, before people get all arsey i know what i did was minimal and i probably shouldn't have expected any difference, however...Overclocking does shorten the life of componants, even if done safely, not to forget voids the warrantee.

So...This has led me to think, simply...Is there really any need to overclock our componants??? I don't honestly know what % power is gained from a fully, successfully overclocked PC (obviously it depends on the componants)...But, my point is do we really notice? How can some of you overclock your 7800GTX's???...you're truly fearless, like a Jedi. If i had one of those i'd consider not even put it in my PC for fear it'd be broken!

SIMPLY; Is it actually worth overclocking all our PC's to their max or do we just do it because it's cool?

 

[Gamingfreak]

yes it is worth it and yes u do see a difference, i dont know why u would be so worried about ur comp bursting into flames because if u know what ur doing then u know to just keep and eye on the temperatures and most of the time the comp will just shut down if it overheats before it bursts into flames so really u have nothing to worry about, with the right cooling u can easily get another 15fps out of that graphics card which in games makes all the difference and even if u have the most powerfull comp in the world wouldnt u want just a little more power

 

[^Mike^]

yes it is worth it and yes u do see a difference, i dont know why u would be so worried about ur comp bursting into flames because if u know what ur doing then u know to just keep and eye on the temperatures and most of the time the comp will just shut down if it overheats before it bursts into flames so really u have nothing to worry about, with the right cooling u can easily get another 15fps out of that graphics card which in games makes all the difference and even if u have the most powerfull comp in the world wouldnt u want just a little more power

Yea, I guess if you know what ur doing overclocking is just another day in a year.

 

[mighty_chick]

i get a shit load more performance when i overclock my 6600gt's and overclocking my cpu makes some games run perfectly fine when before they didnt

 

[TRDCorolla1]

OC will show gains in performance. Performance you can see too. It's good stuff if you know how to do it properly. I don't OC my stuff to the "extreme", but moderate clock rates to ensure stability.

 

[Mikey1]

what do you mean when u say the right cooling.I have been considering overclocking but if there is more cooling does it help it from over heating faster. Would EasyTune 4 be an apporpreite method for overclocking?

 

[TRDCorolla1]

The best way to OC is in the BIOS. I have EasyTune 5 and it sucks at OCing. It wouldn't save the changes I made. Did it in BIOS and it keeps the OC rates. Shows up in EasyTune all that I did.

The higher you OC, the more heat it puts out. Isn't overclocking really increasing voltage rate? Not necessarily more voltage, but the speed at which it goes (clock rate or frequency rate)? I think that's how it is. Which is another reason why I don't overclock too high.

 

[GreatHype]

Well hearing from one of my CF peers I have learned that a video card will clock itself to suitable gaming. I dont know who I heard this from, but I know I did hear it.

 

[HRHunteRHR]

Hey, i've been 'in to' computer for a couple of years now, but...It's only now that i feel reasonably confident in a foundation knoledge of computing, hardware especially.

Therefore, lately, in an aim to suppliment what i've learnt and to pass the point that i know 'what hardware is good and bad', to find a point that i know how it works and how to use it to it's optimum. Therefore; i've recently considered overclocking.

So, in pure fear my computer would be in flames within minutes i used the method on the sticky thread to automatically overclock my 6600GT to it's 'optimum settings'...I was really proud of myself and used it for a couple of days like this, then turned it back and was in pure shock to see, well...no difference at all.

Now, before people get all arsey i know what i did was minimal and i probably shouldn't have expected any difference, however...Overclocking does shorten the life of componants, even if done safely, not to forget voids the warrantee.

So...This has led me to think, simply...Is there really any need to overclock our componants??? I don't honestly know what % power is gained from a fully, successfully overclocked PC (obviously it depends on the componants)...But, my point is do we really notice? How can some of you overclock your 7800GTX's???...you're truly fearless, like a Jedi. If i had one of those i'd consider not even put it in my PC for fear it'd be broken!

SIMPLY; Is it actually worth overclocking all our PC's to their max or do we just do it because it's cool?

Well all that and you don't tell us your system specs or your system specs AFTER overclocking. It actuallt IS a necessity for alot of people who's computers can't keep up with the current games and software, and it gives you a performance gain ALWAYS. In ANY software. You just probobly can't see it. You need to tell us the benchmarks you used too.

 

[Wiredchild]

Hey, i'm not having a dig you know...I am really asking if i DOES make any difference cos i honestly didn't know. It clearly does from what all you chaps say.

Does the performance gain outweigh the damage made to componants though? Someone said that it greatly shortens the life of componants on some other thread.

...What are the right temperatures for overclocking???...I'm suprised no-one's made a sticky of an in-depth guide on exactly how to overclock using the BIOS or whatever. I don't have a clue.

And in reference to specs i overclocked my 6600GT to 570Mhz/1.14Ghz and used 3Dmark05 and got no almost no performance increase (no frame increase). I have a AMD64 3500+ Venice, ASUS A8N-E Mobo, 512 DDR333 RAM (I know i need more GOOD ram, i've heard it a million times but i'm broke).

Ok, the BIG question; How much perentage performance increase could i get out of that system if overclocked well and safely???

With that system