KingOfHearts
Geek Trainee
I have a Gigabyte Mobo and a AMD 64 3000 cpu, the mobo comes with a cool bios overclock feature. Could I bump up my CPU and Videocard using that utility and feel safe or should I not mess with it?
New Computer -- Safe to overclock?
- Thread starter KingOfHearts
- Start date
ProcalX
all grown up
actually king, u'd be suprised how good the retail coolers are, i managed to overclock my AMD64 3200+ 90nm Winchester from 2.0Ghz to 2.2Ghz stable (10x220Mhz / LDT:x5) without upping the vcore or vdimm running max load at 45C.. with an average of 24.0C ambient case temperature.
Try it out, but watch for temps..
a good 5 hours of F@H or prime95 will show u real temperatures..
Try it out, but watch for temps..
a good 5 hours of F@H or prime95 will show u real temperatures..
KingOfHearts
Geek Trainee
ProcalX said:
Procal, what does F@H or prime95 mean?
Also, when I go into my overclock BIOS utility. The current cpu speed is 200, then you can increase it by 1. So I can go to 201, 202, etc,....! So I am guessing you bumped yours from 200 to 220 right?
When overclocking, don't take big steps like 20mhz, instead try upping my 3, 4 or 5 mhz at most and check your temps.
F@H (folding at home) is a program which simulates protein folding on your PC. Prime95 is a program which does mathematical operations to find some weird prime number. Both of which will stress your CPU to an extent which will show load temperatures. Run one for a few hours or a day if you want and see if your temps are too high. (and that your CPU is stable)
F@H (folding at home) is a program which simulates protein folding on your PC. Prime95 is a program which does mathematical operations to find some weird prime number. Both of which will stress your CPU to an extent which will show load temperatures. Run one for a few hours or a day if you want and see if your temps are too high. (and that your CPU is stable)
KingOfHearts
Geek Trainee
Ok cool, thanks for the info. I will try that.
ProcalX
all grown up
KingOfHearts said:
I increased it in 5Mhz increments, not from 200-220Mhz :good:
The best software to get the highest temperature for your cpu is to run Prime95 for 24 hours, if its stable at the end, then ur overclock is good :) and ok to use..
it will also create the highest or one of the highest cpu temperatures.. so watch those temps!
you don't want ur CPU going over 60 Celcius
As for REAL stability testing.. you can download SuperPI which is a program that will work out PIE as far as it can in the amount of data you have specified.. ie: 128KB - 128MB of data..
This will test if your CPU is completely mathematically stable using the overclock.. if you can safely do 32MB with no errors, then u can not worry.
extreme4377
Big Geek
Big B said:
In my few years of overclocking, I have not used Prime95 for even 2 hours. I think its BS. If you can play your favorite game that taxes your system pretty harshly for a couple hours with no hiccups or stalls, youre stable. Thats assuming you all ready ran 3dmark01, 03, and 05. Good luck, be careful, and go slow!
ProcalX
all grown up
extreme4377 said:
A small minority of people have the impression that Prime95 is not good at giving an accurate measurement of stability in an overclock .. however..
The point is that if you run Prime95, it WILL identify stability problems with your overclock if there are any.. 24 Hours of intensive CPU calculations will find stability problems if there are any. You may find that all your applications run absolutely flawlesley including the latest games and benchmarks, which is great, but IF Prime95 has errors .. any errors after 24 hours of running, then your CPU isn't stable, which means that although again.. it may run your programs, you are running an INSTABLE CPU based on stability tests that are not pushing your CPU to it's max..
Therefore you are more likely to eventually damage the CPU or severely shorten its life expectancy..
Just because you've turned your push bike into a fully working Ferrari, doesn't mean your going to think its "all working perfectly" just because your driving the same A to B at 15Kilometers per hour..
Making sure your CPU runs 100% stable is essential, otherwise you run the risk of seriously damaging or killing your CPU.
So no, extreme Prime95 is not "BS", please don't misrepresent the real facts, there are alot of people less experienced than yourself here. A CPU is not being fully utilised if you are running a game or a benchmark and it's running 100% Processor usage.. as the calculations its doing will not be anywhere near the quickest and hardest calculations to do..
As for another test, run SuperPI, read my last post to describe what it does..
If you can run the 32MB Test with out any errors after your overclock, you can be pretty sure that its completely stable - 32MB test takes about 10Minutes - 5 Hours, and will do the same as Prime95 except it calculates PIE over and over again, getting more exact decimals at each calculation.
Hope this helps :)
extreme4377
Big Geek
sorry to input my opinion Ill try not to next time. I never said it wasnt worth it. If you want to go that slow then go for it. I just have never had a need to run it. As for the life expectency of a CPU...how many of us actually keep a processor for even a margin of its life time? Theyre expected to last 10+ years when run normally. When overclocked, say it cuts its life in half. Thats still a good 5 years. But, do what you want. Its your system not mine. Most PC users upgrade once or twice a year, average users every 3 or so years and minimal users maybe 5 at the max.
ProcalX
all grown up
don't get me wrong you can voice your opinion, just make it clear its your 2 cents, not the facts :good:
As for life expectancy.. i said "severely" i mean.. if u ran ur CPU at an un-noticeable instable overclock for say 2 months or more, your computer would eventually within the year start to have major problems.. quite easily.
Obviously it varies depending on the severity of the instability.. the more instable the CPU is the more damage it is doing to itself all the time its running.. even doing minimul things.
And your right, most people will do a medium upgrade within a year, enthusiasts will upgrade every month / few months, and the average home user will upgrade every 1 - 3 years - not out of choice in most choices.. or buy a new pc.
However, personally as you know.. im not AS much as an "enthusiast" as yourself, however for the last two years i've had a new PC every 6 months, i now have a collection of computers that are very useful, or i have sold, and are still working fine with overclocks, its just worth finding where its most stable.
It's like for example:
I can run my AMD64 3200+ @ 2.6Ghz, i can run all games such as:
farcry, doom3, cs:s, hl2, prince of persia:sands of time, splinter cell: pandora tomorrow, BF:V, BF:1942, MOH:AS, MOH, COD e.t.c all perfectly, I can even run F@H fine..
HOWEVER.. if i run Prime95 for 24 hours i have several errors that pop up..
showing instability..
Then if i run 32MB Super Pi it won't complete.. because it cant do the calculations, not only that but if i run a 1MB Super Pi (40 Seconds at stock 2ghz), it competes in 37-38 Seconds, where as if i run a 2.5Ghz overclock i can complete the 1MB in 35-36 Seconds - a substantial difference in performance, at 2.5Ghz i can run 32MB with no errors.. and Prime95 receives no errors after 24hours..
Hundreds of other users i know on other forums have reported the same, so you get my point.. (and thats with LDT x5 on both OC's).
Whether this is my CPU or Memory holding me back.. it doesnt matter.. either way it's an instability and a drop in performance, although not at all noticeable in games.. no FPS drop or quality drop.. there is a difference in that it is damaging the CPU...
and if you personally know you will replace the CPU.. in a month or so, intime that it wont make a difference, wouldnt it be nice to be able to keep that CPU at the overclock (stable) you've found, and keep it for alot longer..
As for life expectancy.. i said "severely" i mean.. if u ran ur CPU at an un-noticeable instable overclock for say 2 months or more, your computer would eventually within the year start to have major problems.. quite easily.
Obviously it varies depending on the severity of the instability.. the more instable the CPU is the more damage it is doing to itself all the time its running.. even doing minimul things.
And your right, most people will do a medium upgrade within a year, enthusiasts will upgrade every month / few months, and the average home user will upgrade every 1 - 3 years - not out of choice in most choices.. or buy a new pc.
However, personally as you know.. im not AS much as an "enthusiast" as yourself, however for the last two years i've had a new PC every 6 months, i now have a collection of computers that are very useful, or i have sold, and are still working fine with overclocks, its just worth finding where its most stable.
It's like for example:
I can run my AMD64 3200+ @ 2.6Ghz, i can run all games such as:
farcry, doom3, cs:s, hl2, prince of persia:sands of time, splinter cell: pandora tomorrow, BF:V, BF:1942, MOH:AS, MOH, COD e.t.c all perfectly, I can even run F@H fine..
HOWEVER.. if i run Prime95 for 24 hours i have several errors that pop up..
showing instability..
Then if i run 32MB Super Pi it won't complete.. because it cant do the calculations, not only that but if i run a 1MB Super Pi (40 Seconds at stock 2ghz), it competes in 37-38 Seconds, where as if i run a 2.5Ghz overclock i can complete the 1MB in 35-36 Seconds - a substantial difference in performance, at 2.5Ghz i can run 32MB with no errors.. and Prime95 receives no errors after 24hours..
Hundreds of other users i know on other forums have reported the same, so you get my point.. (and thats with LDT x5 on both OC's).
Whether this is my CPU or Memory holding me back.. it doesnt matter.. either way it's an instability and a drop in performance, although not at all noticeable in games.. no FPS drop or quality drop.. there is a difference in that it is damaging the CPU...
and if you personally know you will replace the CPU.. in a month or so, intime that it wont make a difference, wouldnt it be nice to be able to keep that CPU at the overclock (stable) you've found, and keep it for alot longer..