pros and cons of overclocking

i have not overclock a comp in my life but im thinking of doing it with my m11x for playing spec demanding games.

as far as i can tell the danger of overclocking is overheating is this the only danger? or there are other more serious issues that can happen when you overclock for long periods of time?

so can someone make some kind of pros and cons about overclocking?

 

Depending on the game, OC'ing your cpu will give a decent improvement in fps which will, as I'm sure you know, make it a lot easier to play. The drawbacks of oc'ing are, with the m11x at least, a shorter lifespan. The M11x has a pretty good cooling system so exploding your laptop shouldn't be on your top list of concerns. Best way to find out is to test temps and fps at different oc settings. See what works for you, because ultimately it is your rig so you get to choose.

 

Overheating really isn't a danger because the fan ramps up when it gets hotter, and it really can't get close to the 105 degrees C that the CPU is rated to. It does indeed get hotter though, so a con is the fan comes on more often in regular use.

 

In general that is true, but as always it is important that you allow the cooling system to do its job - I sit with my laptop in bed quite often, to it is important to make sure the ventilation is unblocked ... especially if you OC.

 

I've also heard that overclock sometimes interacts strangely with turboboost (ie turboboost not going on as much as it should)

 

if you are overclocked it seems like turbo boost should turn on less frequently since you'll be at a higher frequency throughout the duration of usage throughout

 

No. Turboboost only kicks in within a certain thermal or power limit. The reason you get Turboboost less when you overclock is because you are above the thermal limit much more frequently than if you didn't overclock.

 

what are you guys using to check your cpu temperatures?

 

I use Speedfan. Reports temps of both CPU(s) and GPU(s), including breakdown by core.

The important thing is that whatever program you use, you need to stick with it. There are many programs out there that will read temps, and each one reads temps slightly differently. So you can get a few degrees C difference just by switching which program you use to read temps.

 

Ok, its time to set things straight on this subject...

Let me tell you a quick story, I used to be a pretty competent off road driver and had a number of adventures involving that activity over the years but there's one relevant incident that will forever stick in my memory. A bunch of 4x4r "experts" were gathered at the bottom of a really nasty hill arguing whether it was possible to reach the top or not and why. They were arguing about tire size, inflation, type of tread, coefficients of friction, torque application, speed /momentum considerations, suspension travel and shock damping etc....etc... etc.

It was amazing to behold...with the conclusion reached by the consortium based on the math and physics of the moment, that it was impossible to reach the top of that hill. An amazing intellectual effort rendered moot Shortly thereafter, when I and another fellow honked our horns and waived from the top of the hill, providing an unwelcome interruption of their intellectual reverie...

Moral of the story? "Morgan's (that's me) Law #7"-to wit:
"When someone says that something "cannot be done", what they really mean is that THEY can't do it...

This has absolutely NOTHING to do with whether YOU can or can not do it, just that THEY can't. (life lesson here btw, applicable to far more than the discussion at hand in this thread).

Ok, off the box,,,now the application of #7 to the inane "oh NEVER overclock a laptop" discussion carried on ad nauseum on every puter related forum in existence...

If you're a newbie, and don't know anything about overclocking, talk to someone who's actually done it, not all the *experts* claiming it can't or should NEVER be done.
Now i don't have the time or inclination to reiterate what all of those who are proficient in overclocking have repeatedly posted all over the net, I'll just hit the highlights. 1. Processors of a given family are ALL made on the same production line...regardless of speed, cache size, etc...2. In order to maximize profit, Intel et al, charge the hell out of people for the fastest chips, (even tho the incremental improvement over the next cpu in the line is minimal, they will bump the price to the max they think enthusiasts, elitists, etc. will shell out on that top end...
Now they have the question, what about all the other chips? Well, they start crippling the chips by either locking in lower clock multipliers, disabling cache or other modules etc., in essence offering the SAME CHIP, but crippled to various degrees as they cascade down in performance and price till they've managed to sell everything they build.

WELL GUESS WHAT..tho there are some variations in a given chips inherent speed ability...by and large, that variation is relatively small, ESPECIALLY with a mature design on a mature process, therefore a LARGE number of "lesser" chips in a given family have the capacity to substantially overclock, which AMOUNTS TO NOTHING MORE THAN RE-ENABLING THEM TO RUN AT THE SPEED FOR WHICH THEY WERE ORIGINALLY DESIGNED@!!!!!

Intel et al. seek to discourage this, otherwise no one is going to pay multiples for essentially the same chip which they have factory clocked aT the original rates.

soooooo, with that in mind, look at the m11x. Just what is an SU7300? well its a core 2 duo. What speeds are the core 2 duo'family designed to run at? give you a hint, one hell of a lot higher than 1.3mghz........there is a LOT of headroom on the SU7300. Once the tme is bypassed, these chips are going to routinely run in the 2100mghz range and higher, AND in doing so get NOWHERE NEAR the 105C temp the chip is rated for...between bios and pll manipulations, those who bought the R1's are going to have available a substantial increase in speed and power,

The complications introduced in the i5 and i7 chips are only now being seriously investigated as to their overclocking potentials as they are still new and the drivers are still in a state of flux as well as discovery, thus the mediocre increases in overall performance over the R1 SU's.

One last comment on the *heat* issue. Thermal considerations in a given laptop design CAN be a limiting factor on the highest performing chips, i.e. look at the massive cooling manufacturers are implementing on the highest level gaming machines utilizing the 5800 AMD series and the new Nvidia 480's etc. HOWEVER, the su7300's, i5's etc. do not present this kind of challenge.
The M11x was designed from the outset for the bigger i7 chips and thus has plenty of excess thermal capactiy for us to work up the SU's and i5's.

Say what you will about the Alienware guys, everyone is entitled to an opinion after all, HOWEVER, just keep in mind, these guys are NOT newbs at this...and they spent 5 years designing the M11x.. Anyone think they designed this chassis to "top out" with the i5? or even the baby i7?
not likely....and what does that say about the thermal headroom available for the SU's...

meanwhile...

now, about the possibilities with the Nvidia's 335....hmmmm
I'll leave THAT for another post ...

Final shot, the problems being experienced by the i5 and i7 guys are NOT due to cpu temps, but rather bios timing and driver issues.

seer

 

I am not a specialist at all, and I am fine with my SU7300 like it is now, but I am very curious about this subject (love to read about it) and so what means " once the tme is bypassed"? What is tme and how to bypass it?

Moreover, wouldn't be a problem to run a crazily OCed SU7300 + Nvidia using only the original 65W AC adpater?

 

Good questions
First, 'tme' stands for 'trusted mode enabled' which means the clock chip on your system (known as a 'PLL" -for 'phase-locked loop' circuit) is set by the manufacturer to only generate a fixed set of clock signals for the system thus preventing the pll from being reprogrammed to provide alternative clock settings. Normally the pll or timing chip can be manipulated by software to generate different sets of clock signals. It is by increasing these signals and thereby increasing the speed -that is the frequency- on which the cpu operates, that the easiest overclocks can be achieved. (on 'unlocked cpu's it is also possible to change the multiplier to increase cpu speed independently of the clock signals it is receiving from the pll, these cpu's are the 'Extreme' or "Black" series of cpus sold for big time premiums over their locked counterparts

On our m11x 's the pll's have been locked down using the TME setting, accordingly, we have to circumvent that to enable manipulation of the clocks being sent out by the PLL chip. To do this, it is necessary to bring the tme logic pin to value to zero. It 'appears' so far, that to do this will require physically cutting one of the legs of the chip which as of yet no one to my knowledge has been willing to do (at least till the warranty runs out ) LOL.

As for the power issue, the acer guys have gotten 1900 solid out of the su7300. With a few other manipulations, I believe it will run over 2k and a reasonable chance of around 2100.

As for the 65 watt charger, not a problem.

seer

 

very good explanation +1

 

tnx tnx for the info guys.

 

As far as temperature is concerned, I noticed a very minimal increase of 1 degree (Celsius of course) when turning on overclock on my m11xR1, but a rather nice performance increase in some games (Starcraft 2 for example), so I definitely found it to be worth it.

 

I overclocked my R1 a day ago and I've noticed that it has helped the performance of the laptop. I haven't tested Crysis yet but FEAR Perseus Mandate runs like a dream with pretty much everything maxed out.

Just keep an eye on your temperature gauge and I'm sure it'll be fine. I'd also recommend that you use a CPU monitor gadget with CoreTemp.