Overclocking

Hello everyone,
I recently bought my notebook and I'm very happy with it.As I was browsing some reviews and stuff like today I saw a word which had always been like a black hole for me.Honest to say I have no information about overclocking and the positive/negative side of it. I remember years ago my friends use to overclock their all powerful PII & PIII and many of them ended up with a burned processor.Now of the little info I have I know that overclocking is always good as long as you stay in the reasonable boundaries.Also I know that not only CPUs can be overclocked but RAM memory and VCards.

The purpose of why I'm asking about this is because I'm thinking that if my system isn't doing very well with it's performance and fps on the comming HL2 that I could overclock one or some of it's components for better performance.

Overall my question is - Is overclocking really worth it and would it improve gaming.
Whew, I said it...
Thanks to all of you overclocking specialists [ ]

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::HP zx5000:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:::: 4 3.0Ghz w/ HT:::1GB DDR 333Mhz:::60GB Hitachi 7200 RPM:::::::
:::::::::::::::::::::Radeon M10 9600 128MB:::15.4 SXGA+::::::::::::::::::
:::::::::::::::MAD H®T CHICKS ARE RARE::::MICE ARE COOL::::::::::::::

 

Hi krusheto,
I've overclocked a few of my desktop systems, so I'm not against the idea. But with notebooks it's a whole different story and if you find a way to do it, you can easily ruin your system as they not made to be overclocked. In fact just the opposite, they are made and have features to underclock them. The problems are many, if not all BIOS in notebooks don't allow you to pick the multiplier or clock. If they did or you find a way, how are you going to cool the CPU??? You can't add a big heatsink or fan now can you. Now you could say; why not just use the fan that comes with the notebook as the next speed CPU up from what is in your notebook uses the same fan and it's only 100-200 Mhz. Well the CPUs are all the same except they are speed sorted, so to get say a 2.8Ghz cpu to run at 3 Ghz and be just as reliable it will need to be kept cooler so a bigger heatsink or fan is needed and if you don't do something to keep it cooler then your reliablity has just taken a big hit. Oh it may run some programs or many, but you will be plagued by system crashes or even 1 bit errors that won't be noticed right away, but over time they will pile up in the registry and at some point very strange things will start happening. I've seem this in my desktop overclocking endevours. It is cool to think you putting it to "the man" and getting more speed than you paid for; but in the end it is just not worth it unless you like intermittant problems. rqndom crashes and reinstalling windows on a regular basis.

Jack

The color of justice in america is green.
http://pbase.com/joneill

 

Hi Jack,
Oh yeah I love random crashes, reinstalling windows and intermittent problems......Ouch, I didn't even think about the heating problem, and that it was a big deal during overclocking.It's so close to the mind though that now that you said it I feel like the first noob (may I am [xx(]).That's why I didn't see a forum folder with overclocking although I looked a few times for it.I was reading some magazines thoughin which they had something like a dock station with really nice cooling.

Now would that help if you decide to dash in this precarious initiative?I would stay away from overclocking as far as it's not for a desktop.I wouldn't want to destroy my precious laptop that I've enjoyed so much.Thanks for the help.

Ivan

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::HP zx5000:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:::: 4 3.0Ghz w/ HT:::1GB DDR 333Mhz:::60GB Hitachi 7200 RPM:::::::
:::::::::::::::::::::Radeon M10 9600 128MB:::15.4 SXGA+::::::::::::::::::
:::::::::::::::MAD H®T CHICKS ARE RARE::::MICE ARE COOL::::::::::::::

 

http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20010917/heatvideo-05.html
There is a movie about the difference between old and new CPU's under the stress of heat. The older ones would go up in smoke, but newer ones have a lot better resistance to heat. I have never overclocked a CPU, as this is disabled. I modified my GPU, however, and enjoyed a healthy %15 increase in benchmark scores. Many radeon 9600's can be overclocked to a core speed of 400 megahertz, far above stock. If you want to overclock, you definitely want to do these things:
1. Modify your heat spreaders (see "cooling modification" thread)
2. Download i8kfangui (if that works for you computer. You need some sort of temperature monitoring software)
3. Download your drivers from www.omegadrivers.net . These drivers come with Radlinker, which lets you overclock very easily, without rebooting. Monitor your temperature closely as you go through 1/2 hour gaming sessions. You should not see it go above 85 degrees.

The GPU could potentially be fried, but that is only if you ramp up the core speed by 20 mhz at a time. Take it slow, 4-5 at a time. If you see any speckling, lines, or your computer locks up, lower the speed by about 5 mhz, and that's where you should leave it.

GPU cooling (100°C->75°C)* Inspiron 8600 * 1.8ghz Pentium M * 128 MB Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo (337/242 -> 400/300) * 2x256 MB DDR2700 SDRAM * Aquamark 3: 24058 * 3DMark'03: 3404 * 3DMark'01 SE: 13120