Overclocking?
<div class="IPBDescription">How do I do it? What is it? Questions!</div>I never truly understood what overclocking was, so my question is actually multipule questions:
<i>1) What does overclocking do?</i>
As far as I know, it simply makes my video card... 'work harder,' but I'm curious as to the actual workings.
<i>2) How do I do it, and what are safe ranges to do it?</i>
And, as far as I know (again), it could possibly be dangerous to my video card or other computer equipment.
<i>3) What damage could it cause?</i>
Completely unaware of anything on this subject.
The reason I'm not seeking out my own answers on google is because one, I'm lazy (of course), but two, I really do 'learn better' from actual discussion. Being able to come back here and ask questions while others explain it to me in terms I can understand, while taking a bit longer, will give me a better understanding of what I'm actually doing.
Thanks for any input! ^_^
<i>1) What does overclocking do?</i>
As far as I know, it simply makes my video card... 'work harder,' but I'm curious as to the actual workings.
<i>2) How do I do it, and what are safe ranges to do it?</i>
And, as far as I know (again), it could possibly be dangerous to my video card or other computer equipment.
<i>3) What damage could it cause?</i>
Completely unaware of anything on this subject.
The reason I'm not seeking out my own answers on google is because one, I'm lazy (of course), but two, I really do 'learn better' from actual discussion. Being able to come back here and ask questions while others explain it to me in terms I can understand, while taking a bit longer, will give me a better understanding of what I'm actually doing.
Thanks for any input! ^_^
Comments
This one is simple. You change the clock speeds to make the cpu/ram/or video card faster. But making the speed faster generates more heat.
2) How do I do it, and what are safe ranges to do it?
You can do it either in either specialized programs for video cards.(coolbits for example of nvidia cards). Safe ranges depends on your cooling and the actual hardware. You want it to be stable (Ie no artifacts or crashing)
3) What damage could it cause?
Shortterm it could literally melt your chip if you don't have adequate cooling. Longterm it lowers the lifespan of the hardware that you overclocked since it's running harder than it normally would for it's intended lifespan. But if you're overclocking you probably upgrade every year or 2 so that probably doesn't matter as much.
You can just google for overclocking to find many sites and forums that are way more specific. It's probably obvious but it voids any warranty you have on your hardware.
2: For a video card, you will need a program. If you have an ATI card, RadClocker is a good one (it's what I use). The program will allow you to increase or decrease the speed of the GPU and the RAM on the card. A safe range to increase your speed would probably be around 10%-20% of it's original speed (so if it's 1000mhz, then you could add like 100-200mhz). Since the RAM will be at a lower clock speed then the GPU, your range of adjustment will be smaller.
3: From simply adjusting the clock-rate you will not cause any permanent damage to the card (most of the time atleast). Issues you will see will usually consist of "snow" while running games (these are thousands of white dots all over the screen, caused by having the GPU overclocked to much) and "abstracting" (random geometrical shapes appearing around stuff which is caused by RAM being overclocked to much). These won't cause any permanent damage and can be fixed by simply turning the clock-rate back down. You might also experience crashes and bluescreens possibly, but once again they can be fixed by turning your clock-rate back to normal.
However, if you really want to reach higher speeds, you will need to increase the voltage across the GPU/RAM. This is what can kill your card though, since the higher the voltage, the more the card heats up. Creating the possibility to burn out your GPU or RAM. Increased voltage is used to stabilize the computer while running the card at higher then normal frequency. The usual overclocking method is: Turn clock-rate up until the computer becomes unstable (crashing and such). Then turn up the voltage until it becomes stable again. Continue to increase clock-speed until it starts crashing, increase voltage again. Repeat until you can't cool the card enough (then you break out the liquid nitrogen! yeeeah booooy).
If you are looking into overclocking your card, go download one of the programs and fiddle around with the clock rates. Try running a game so you can see the effects of clocking it up to high (snow, abstracting, etc). Then just try and find the sweet spot between having the clock high enough, and still having the computer stable. I wouldn't reccomend fooling around with voltages though, because you can cause real damage that way.
The best config would be running as fast as possible at the lowest voltage possible to run stable. Just increasing the voltage everytime you are starting to get an unstable system will not be fixed by simply increasing the voltage. Actually running at a too high voltage will in turn be the cause for any instability and potentially damage the chips.
It's like Zig said. balancing voltage and clockratios is simply what it is. Also just doing softclocking (cockspeeds) will not in any way damage your chips. It will run or it wont simple as that <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" /> As soon as you start fiddling arround with voltages (which you want as low as possible) you are in the potential damage zone of overclocking <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
I was into overclocking a while back and had one of the best barton 2500+ chips there were. The chips could run stable with watercooling at around 2900-3100MHz and aircooling at arround 2400-2500, while other normal Barton 2500+ chips could only manage around ~2100MHz
2500+ normal speeds are 1833MHz, so this was a mighty increase, but only possible with high quality chips.
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Sometimes you have to reset your bios settings in order to start the PC, simply because it refused to start with the setting you used <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
your compy ain't dead, it just can't startup and test the cpu. There is a jumper called something like cmos reset, which has a discription in your motherboard manual. It is used to reset the Bios to factory setting so you can go on with you overclocking adventures, just be sure to write down the settings which don't work...
Just keep in mind, take small steps when overclocking and nothing can go wrong...
You can't actually overclock SLi, and get any massive success with it. If you want a performance boost, then you're actually better off either buying 2 new cards, or removing one, and just overclocking the single card. Which is then a downgrade...
So... where would you go to overclock an SLI configuration of the Geforce 6600 GT? (probably didn't put any of those words or numbers in the correct order, but you get the gist ^_^) I can't find the .. slider? on my graphics card settings.
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Not to discourage you from destroying your compy, but I gots a 6600gt as well, and an overclock of 1hz develops artifacts already. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />
Wouldn't know if it's me specifically though.
1. Too much heat ergo bad cooling system (stock cooling?)
2. Bad memory chips not able to handle these speeds.
Some cards are able to handle 600core/1250mem (custom cooling of course), while others already choke or show artifacts at 500/1100. Even with custom cooling systems. It all depends on the chips on the card...
Also if you go way over the top with the clock settings without custom cooling you are very much able to fry you card. 3d cards tend to run hotter then cpu's if you increase the clock speeds...
Stock 3dcard coolers are NOT intended for "serious" overclocking, to put it in other words --> they area CRAP <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
Is there a (...free) program for overclocking a CPU?
Particularily, I've got an AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (...with the whole 2000Mhz thing going on), but my BIOS specifically doesn't have any clockspeed options (and in fact, my BIOS is pretty limited). See, I've got the <i>uber</i> HP supplied motherboard, that has the 'Phoenix Award BIOS' (which apparently must have been named after an award for being non-customizable and not user friendly). Essentially the Motherboard is the only thing in my computer that's still the original (and instead of RAM or my graphics card (like before), my CPU appears to be my new bottleneck). Heck, I just want another 100-200MHz....bah (if it is possible, I highly doubt cooling will be any sort of problem, considering it's got a different PSU, along with more cooling fans than HP planned on giving me, along with the fact it's sitting in a basement with a room temperature of just over 50 degrees).
...you know, just a question.
Well, since this thread is around, I'll break out a question:
Is there a (...free) program for overclocking a CPU?
Particularily, I've got an AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (...with the whole 2000Mhz thing going on), but my BIOS specifically doesn't have any clockspeed options (and in fact, my BIOS is pretty limited). See, I've got the <i>uber</i> HP supplied motherboard, that has the 'Phoenix Award BIOS' (which apparently must have been named after an award for being non-customizable and not user friendly). Essentially the Motherboard is the only thing in my computer that's still the original (and instead of RAM or my graphics card (like before), my CPU appears to be my new bottleneck). Heck, I just want another 100-200MHz....bah (if it is possible, I highly doubt cooling will be any sort of problem, considering it's got a different PSU, along with more cooling fans than HP planned on giving me, along with the fact it's sitting in a basement with a room temperature of just over 50 degrees).
...you know, just a question.
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It's all bios controlled I believe, you are going to have to either upgrade your CPU or get a new motherboard that supports overclocking.
...overclock of 1hz develops artifacts already. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />
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Artifacts are graphical distortions right? Are there pictures of them? Sounds semi-cool.
Artifacts are graphical distortions right? Are there pictures of them? Sounds semi-cool.
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Artifacts are usually black triangles that flicker onto the screen occasionally(or continually, depending how bad it is). One corner of the triangle is usually on the center of the screen, while the other 2 are usually connected onto two random 3d objects on the screen. They are.. really annoying. Im not even sure if you can take screenshots of them...
You can also get "snow", which is just hundreds of little white dots that skitter around the screen.
There is also a way of seeing a kind of simulation of them in NS <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
Go create a shortcut from NS from steam and add -dev to it in the program line. Now go ingame and start a map in the console (map mapname), next thing you do is type dev_overview 1 to turn on the 3d overview of the map, and then turn it off again using dev_overview 1. Now when you walk arround ingame, some edges of the map walls will have these green dots, now these aren't really artifacts, but simply a weird bug in the hl1 engine after you've used dev_overview. But it does look quite similar <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
note:
Due to bug you might need to press A everytime you open the console, or at least I do in hl1. If I don't and start typing in the console I simply pop back into the game...
Just putting as much info here as possible if people who don't know about dev mode and the console want to try it.
You can take a screenshot of artifacts. They are just pixels that got rendered wrong. They are very bad and no matter how cool they look you should never have them.
I use to have a 50MHZ overclock on my core and 75MHZ on my memory. The performance increase wasnt worth it using a ati 1900xtx. 10 fps when I already had 160 for a 15c temp increase wasnt worth it. Raising cpu speed should show a huge increase depending on your cpu. My C2D at 3ghz from stock 2.4ghz showed a 30+ FPS(FEAR, CS:S) increase with a slight increase in temp. So I recommand overclocking CPU before GPU. Just my opinion.
I find artifacts, the seemingly randomness of snow, and hall of mirrors error effects quite interesting actually. They aren't truely random, there is a logical physics based explaination for every exact error you see with computers. For machines based on being accurate and precise to an insane degree, they are really quite paradoxial.
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I think that in many cases they are caused by the individual transistors inside the processor not having enough electricity to completely change state, causing various issues. Or in the case of ram, the data not being completely or properly magnetized into the chip, causing data loss and such. I doubt most of them have to do with some coding algorithm going haywire, but more caused by just the choatic break-down of the silicon or whatever inside the chips themselves.
By the way you guys do know about new IBM superconductor CPU project yes?
Well, since this thread is around, I'll break out a question:
Is there a (...free) program for overclocking a CPU?
Particularily, I've got an AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (...with the whole 2000Mhz thing going on), but my BIOS specifically doesn't have any clockspeed options (and in fact, my BIOS is pretty limited). See, I've got the <i>uber</i> HP supplied motherboard, that has the 'Phoenix Award BIOS' (which apparently must have been named after an award for being non-customizable and not user friendly). Essentially the Motherboard is the only thing in my computer that's still the original (and instead of RAM or my graphics card (like before), my CPU appears to be my new bottleneck). Heck, I just want another 100-200MHz....bah (if it is possible, I highly doubt cooling will be any sort of problem, considering it's got a different PSU, along with more cooling fans than HP planned on giving me, along with the fact it's sitting in a basement with a room temperature of just over 50 degrees).
...you know, just a question.
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Try Clockgen? <a href="http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php" target="_blank">http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php</a> Not sure it will work. The real solution would to never buy a name brand ever again though.
Try Clockgen? <a href="http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php" target="_blank">http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php</a> Not sure it will work. The real solution would to never buy a name brand ever again though.
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I actually would go out on a limb and defend namebrands here. While they're not ZOMGTEHBEST for the "Gamers" out there, I myself (a college student on a tight budget) picked up a rather nice PC.
Compaq Presario, no less...
nvidia nForce 410 w/ Integrated GeForce 6150 LE GPU (decent integrated graphics, to put a perspective on it, it gave me 15-18 FPS in Vanguard : Saga of Heroes.) I replaced it with a 45$ GeForce 7300 PCI-e.
1 gig of DDR2-SDRAM PC2-4300 (266 MHz)
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Socket AM2
Western Digital 200gb SATA
19" CRT (Yea, I know, LCD's the way to go, but college budget makes inexpensive CRT's the win)
LightScribe DVD-RW drive, and lord knows LightScribe rocks.
Ports on the front for accepting SmartMedia/MD, CompactFlash I/II, MemoryStick/Pro, and MMC/SD data/storage cards, which is handy.
Speakers, a nice printer, warranty, tech support, parts and service, Windows XP Media Center, and a free upgrade to Windows Vista Premium.
.. 400 dollars from Office Depot in November after mail-in rebates. Compaq Presario SR2030NX if you care to look it up. ( <a href="http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-Hewlett-Packard-CPQ-SR2030NX-PRESARIO-MEDIA-CENTER-DESKTOP-COMPUTER~r-1~CLT-INTR~RFR-www.google.com" target="_blank">OR I could save you the effort</a> )
So yea, there's no reason to tell someone to stay away from pre-builts and brand names. Granted, I also have that lame-###### AWARD Bios, but there are ways around it, and motherboards are cheap.
I actually would go out on a limb and defend namebrands here. While they're not ZOMGTEHBEST for the "Gamers" out there, I myself (a college student on a tight budget) picked up a rather nice PC.
Compaq Presario, no less...
nvidia nForce 410 w/ Integrated GeForce 6150 LE GPU (decent integrated graphics, to put a perspective on it, it gave me 15-18 FPS in Vanguard : Saga of Heroes.) I replaced it with a 45$ GeForce 7300 PCI-e.
1 gig of DDR2-SDRAM PC2-4300 (266 MHz)
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Socket AM2
Western Digital 200gb SATA
19" CRT (Yea, I know, LCD's the way to go, but college budget makes inexpensive CRT's the win)
LightScribe DVD-RW drive, and lord knows LightScribe rocks.
Ports on the front for accepting SmartMedia/MD, CompactFlash I/II, MemoryStick/Pro, and MMC/SD data/storage cards, which is handy.
Speakers, a nice printer, warranty, tech support, parts and service, Windows XP Media Center, and a free upgrade to Windows Vista Premium.
.. 400 dollars from Office Depot in November after mail-in rebates. Compaq Presario SR2030NX if you care to look it up. ( <a href="http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-Hewlett-Packard-CPQ-SR2030NX-PRESARIO-MEDIA-CENTER-DESKTOP-COMPUTER~r-1~CLT-INTR~RFR-www.google.com" target="_blank">OR I could save you the effort</a> )
So yea, there's no reason to tell someone to stay away from pre-builts and brand names. Granted, I also have that lame-###### AWARD Bios, but there are ways around it, and motherboards are cheap.
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Thats a great deal. But I like to play games with eye candy on and still maintain high fps. 100+ in twitch shooters is a requirement for me. If you want to overclock then name brand is not the way to go. My first pc was a compaq <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" /> Was surprisingly good for back in 1998.