Does overclockin your laptop really harm it?

If you overclock it, and the temps are ok, are you stil ldamaging your laptop or is everything ok, do people just try to scare you?

 

Well, in the long term use, Yes. But if you mean just overclock it for a benchmarking or so, just don't get the core clock to high. If you overclock for a long period of time you mmight damage the memory in the grahics card and then whilst playing games you might see different colored cars or buildings. Just be careful with your computer.

 

I thought heat were the only issue.. No?

 

Yes, I agree, as long as you keep it cool it will be fine.

 

I agree- heat is the only issue. My OCed card runs at 71*C while some people have theirs running close to 90*C with stock speeds- and who is at greater risk?
You are fine as long as you have an efficient cooling system.

 

The further you push its limits + the hotter it runs at what you've told it to run at = the better chance it has of dying an early death. Know the limit!

 

Heat is not the only issue, not hardly. It's possible to push a GPU into artifacting, even at 70C.

 

The issue is heat, as previously mentioned. With a laptop the risk of overclocking is higher than in a desktop because the in majority of the laptops if the graphics card is damaged it can´t be replaced, thus you basically need a new laptop.

Now, in a more realistic scenario: it´s really difficult to damage the laptop if you overclock it a few times, but it should be taken into consideration that you are reducing the laptop´s lifetime.

Like many websites say: Do it under your own risk.

 

Of course, but artifacting itself will not cause any major damage.

 

Artifacts are caused by too low voltage or overheating (or both)
I'm talking about reasonable overclocking when you keep your GPU relatively cool and stable all the time and obviously artifacts free.

I do not change the voltage neither do I tolerate artifacts so I can OC only to a level at which the card is rock solid at all times and at the same time does not overheat.

 

I don't think you should face many problems in the long term, as long as your temps are within acceptable ranges up to ~85C, and the card runs stable when playing intensive games over a few hours, without artifacting.

Another point is that the GPU memory doesn't have a temp sensor, so it may run hotter than you think, which could cause damage
So, I would not recommend you overclock your memory by too much, just to be safe

 

The artifacts themselves are the indication of a problem. Keeping the card at that level significantly raises the risk of permanent damage.

We're on the same page, I just want it to be perfectly spelled out for the benefit of the community.

^And this is the perfect answer to the OP's question.

Just mimic the safe overclocks of others, and you'll be fine.

 

Doesn't it reduce the life span? That's what I thought.

 

Only if the OC-ing creates high temperatures (which is not good for the computer).

People who brick their cards long before their times often push their OC-ing beyond what would be considered as 'stable'.
They end up with an unstable gpu that has a tendency of crashing under heavy load (such as gaming) and produces temperatures close, if not at the levels that are dangerous for the card.

I'm running my 9600m GT at stock 9700m GT levels and my temperatures are at 72 degrees C (for the gpu and cpu) under heavy load.

The temps used to be at 80 to 85 degrees under stock.

At the moment, for all intense and purposes, I have a 9700m GT in my laptop that runs cooler in contrast to the stock settings.
I'm not experiencing problems with artefacts or temperatures for that matter.

If yu are doing OC-ing in a sensible capacity, then chances that something will go wrong are greatly reduced (practically non-existent ... but still there).

 

If you plan on doing it just OC when you need to, don't OC for the internet or watching a video and only OC for short intervals.

 

This. Keep the OC as a "turbo mode".

 

Search and read about "electron migration" and why it's bad.

 

most notebook parts will last a long time, way longer than you would keep that hardware.

If you overclock and even overvolt, you make that life a little shorter.
But you will upgrade a long time before it fails.

Unless those parts you overclock have an underlying problem, like the faulty nvidia GPUs.

 

I used to be an overclocker fanatic. I quit after about 2 years because it just created too much psychological stress on me. I had to keep wondering whether or not my PC was stable by running this and that stress test. I had to keep googling to find out how to squeeze just a bit more juice out of my system. I spent a lot of money to buy extra cooling system. Assembling and disassembling my PC over and over again to keep up with my obsession.

All of these were for nothing. The gain from overclocking was nothing compare to the amount of work, the number of hours, the cost and the risk that you have to take to do it. In my opinion, unless you can double or quadruple the frame rate for all games, overclocking is not worth it. From then on I just said: buy the fastest PC you could afford, set it up once and forget about it.

 

just a minor hijack question... I have 400MHz DDR2 ram running at 450... is it allright or should i run on 425? Also my temps are 70-75C so is my overclock allright? really speaking without my mods , it would run at 90C..

 

I think your Video ram is fine.
And your temps are much lower in contrast to what they were, so overall, I'd say you don't have anything to worry about (especially if you tested the settings in question and reached ones that are stable).

 

I used to run my 8600M GT, with 400 MHz DDR2, at 500MHz with no issue. Your overclock is pretty modest, and you could probably go further with no worries.

 

I'm guessing that GPU died?

 

No sir. I sold that Vostro 1500 to my ex, and it's still chugging along. Of course, I set it back to stock clocks first.

I ran it at 510/1250/525 for the longest of times. This was back when I thought those little yellow lines were supposed to be there in the ATiTool artifact test.

 

Haha, beauty, good to see one 8600M GT is still good.

 

The only real problem with electronics is oxidation. (heat damage) Unfortunately oxygen LOVES to bind with stuff. and every 10 degrees(dunno if its Fahrenheit or Celsius) this can happen at double the rate. Its called the Q10 factor in chemistry. Having a good cooling solution is only half of the worry. The other is the construction of the parts themselves. Also keep in mind focal heat can bring damage to the part even if the overall chip temp is within tolerances. In super cooled extreme overclocking the chip's temp may be -100C but still it can fail. In the end its all about your luck on how well the parts are constructed, Including the cooling system.

 

well looks like i'll keep the mem clocks at 450MHz... just hope my laptop lasts another few months ..

 

your minor hijack question has turned into a full thread deviation, FORUM POLICE WHERE THOU B?

Im thinking as long as the heat is ok, there is no problem, I never had any problem anyway. But i never kept a laptop more than 5 years so I cant tell you about the lifespan effect because of an OC.