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Hi all! Though this thread seems more suited to some obscure OC's net club, I was just curious to see if any of you would OC your machines on a regular basis, i.e., if you regularly use your cpu and mobo and etc. over its "natural" speed.
Myself, well I'm a bit scared of it, not beeing an expert in such matters. In the old P4 days, I would use my rec studio's PC overclocked. Now it's a QuadCore 9300, in an Asus P5Psomething, and I've been told it's not the smartest CPU to go overclocking. Though I wouldn't mind squeezing some extra juice out of it, really...

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RemyRAD Mon, 04/04/2011 - 21:01

Audio and all the plug-in processing puts a fair demand on the CPU. You want to heat that CPU up more? Not wise. Speed kills. That's for bozos really who are more gamers than anything else. There is actually a lot of us folks that don't believe in Hot Rodding devices or, modifying them just for the sake of it. I generally purchase devices exactly as I want them. If that's not what you want, why did you buy it? I know, I know, it was on sale. None of us can pass that up but you don't want to have to be looking for a new one anytime soon do you?

Jack Spratt could eat no fat. But the short and the thick do the trick.
Mx. Remy Ann David

MikeT99 Tue, 04/05/2011 - 02:43

No, I don't have my CPU maxed out (well, the one in my head is a different story... ;) ), but I was just checking if it is common practice or not. Though I must point out that Jack and Remy have opposite considerations - dense audio projects do tax the CPU intensively or not? I'm inclined to say they do, but of course my current Quadcore can handle much, much larger and heavier pojects than my ancient OC'd P4. One thing I notice is that, under stress, the quadcore is much cooler than the P4.

Big K Tue, 04/05/2011 - 03:17

No OC-ing here. With the other bottleneck being the harddrive and the existing CPU power there was never the need for me to OC.
I am also no fan of extra spoilers on a car, either. I usually buy it with all the bells and whistles I want, i.t.f.p.
I'd rather connect a second PC to share the load of VSTi and FXs than to manipulate the clock.
Not saying that this is a definate NONO. But I would not do it to my boxes.
i7 CPUs are quite a bit cooler then their predecessors and with some MoBos, they get a kind of OC-ing anyway.
Always when there is more demand of power as the commonly clocked core 1 can deliver it gets slightly OC-ed till the
threshold is reached and the system fires up core 2, asf.

TheJackAttack Tue, 04/05/2011 - 06:42

My position on cpu load is based on the current generation and the one just prior. Even a Core 2 Duo rarely was pushed to it's capacity when the memory controller could actually handle the information flow. Usually the ICH chip backed everything up whic made it appear as if resources were used up when in fact it was more like drivers rubber necking on the highway.

JohnTodd Tue, 04/05/2011 - 07:53

I OC my computers all the time. It does generate more heat, so an upgraded heatsink/fan combo is required.

It does make a difference when using CPU-heavy plugins. OC'ing will give you more CPU power to handle the load. I recommend you do the research and try to OC if your motherboard will support it.

Start in small increments, leave it a day, then bump it up again. Eventually, you'll reach a point where the system will become unstable and crash a lot. At that point, back it off a little and test it a few days. If it is stable, leave it, if not, back it off again and test some more.

Don't worry about CPU longevity. Modern CPUs are designed for a 15 years operational life. OC'ing will cut 5 years off that leaving you with a CPU that only lives 10 years. Think about that - in ten years that CPU will be hopelessly obsolete, so you'll be buying a new one before then anyway.

Simply bumping up the clock is harmless - it either works or crashes. BE CAREFUL with tweaking the voltages - that can fry things and make you cry.

Get the right motherboard and you can OC the memory, south/northbridges, etc. Up to a point. There is always a maximum in there somewhere.

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