What settings for a safe/moderate overclock?

I have an E1505

X1400
1 gig ram
Core Duo 2400

What suggestions do you all have? Is it worth the risk? What settings should I use? I already have Omega drivers. Is it possible with moderate settings to destroy my computer?

BIG QUESTION - Does it void warranty?

I am a n33v, so how DO I OC with the Omega drivers?

Thanks for help XD

 

Yes, it voids the warranty, but usually they cant tell you overclocked it.

I wouldnt OC unless you actually needed to.

 

Couple of things.
- Overclocking won't damage your computer (Except in really extreme cases)
- Overclocking voids the warranty (but they have no easy way to tell if it was overclocked)
- There is no "safe" setting for overclocking. Safe is at stock speed. Anything above that might or might not be stable.
- Overclocking isn't worth it unless you actually *need* the extra speed.

 

Well, I get CSS on med-high settings, but I would like to be able to get more FPS, but what you are saying is that it isn't worth it =\

 

Jalf is right on the second one, but Overclocking damages your components regardless of how much you overclock. That is the whole principle - you can't get something for nothing, so the excess speed/performance is at the expense of reduced component life (if you overclocked the CPU, then the proc, if the graphics card, then the GPU)

 

Not true. There's nothing inherently harmful about overclocking. In a sense, the hardware you buy is already "overclocked" at stock speeds.
Overclocking is just the process of making it run faster than it would otherwise. But it isn't "designed" to run at stock speed.

Which CPU does your computer use, gautam3? Core Solo/Duo? Pentium M? Something else? Whichever it is, it's made in the same production line as the slower/faster models, from the same wafers, using the same processes and from the same design.

There is no inherent difference between a 1.6GHz and 2.0GHz Core Duo, for example. The *only* difference is that Intel found that one processor overclocked better than the other, so they gave it a stock speed of 2ghz, while the other was configured to run at 1.6 only.

Overclocking on the user's side is no different really. It's still the same CPU. It gets hotter when you overclock, just like it gets hotter under load. Are you saying that putting your CPU under load also damages it? Of course it doesn't.
Similarly, overclocking your CPU makes it get hotter still, but *usually* nowhere near the temperature at which it takes physical damage.

True, that extra heat/power *might* in turn damage a component, but then we're out in the extreme cases, like I said.

What usually limits overclocking is not the risk of damaging components. It is simply that above certain speeds, the internal signals do not have time to stabilize. That means system instability, and so, no one sensible overclocks above that threshold. But even here, we're still nowhere near the point at which the CPU takes physical damage.

It's not like a car engine, where tuning it makes things wear down faster. A CPU has no moving parts, there's nothing that takes gradual damage. It either works, or it doesn't. It doesn't have bits that get worn down, or need replacing soon.

Now, you *can* be really unlucky, and your moderate overclock will make something go bzzt and kill the CPU. But then it's more likely that the motherboard or PSU couldn't handle it properly. Or maybe the CPU heatsink wasn't attached properly.

For the CPU itself to "commit suicide" without assistance from other components, you need some pretty extreme overclocking. And the damage will happen all at once, not gradually over time.

 

Transistors actually do wear very much like engines but heat and therefore voltage have a MUCH larger impact.

 

I've never had any problems OC'ing anything I've had, from my PIII 500 to my Inspiron 6400.

To the OP: Overclocked my 6400/e1505, and found that when using the latest Omega drivers, the maximum stable clocks were 553/441. Looking on notebookforums.com, you'll find the card usually tops out around 560/440. You have to use PowerStrip 3.63 build 540 to overclock the X1400, as newer version of it (along with ATT and ATi Tool) do not support overclocking it.

 

One thing to consider as well is that Dell typically underclocks their GPUs. While I don't know for sure if this is the case with the x1400, it is possible. Therefore, overclocking could actually mean just returning it to stock ATi settings depending on how far you go. The x1600 in the MacBook Pro is severely underclocked, and thus runs much slower than an x1600 in other notebooks, which is why people overclock it. But you also have to keep in mind that there is usually a reason that the manufacturer chooses the speeds it does. In the MBP, it's because the thing is 1" thick and is made of aluminum and has been known to burn people already, just at the speeds they're at. Imagine if the x1600 was at stock speeds; the MBP would probably get too hot to use and could cause damage to the computer. With Dell's case, it's probably that the heatsink and the fans aren't good enough to keep the internals of the notebook cool at higher clock speeds. I just read a post yesterday that the heatsink in the XPS M1210 isn't very good, so it's not too farfetched that the E1505 has 'cheaper' components. While I didn't have any problems overclocking the MR7500 in my old Latitude C640, and I took it WAY beyond stock clocks, you have to keep in mind that cooling is key. If you're going to overclock, I would make sure to use i8kfangui to keep the fans going and monitor temps. And if you go high enough, you should probably also get a laptop cooling pad just to stay safe.