Overclocking and Future Proofing

Overclocking is a game I stay out of personally.

As to its merits I considered it when I ordered from DSO because they still have their warranty. I read up alot on it, including in the forums here and decided based on many people's experiences I was unwilling to try.

I heard a lot of complaints both here and the web in general about running on the hot side, and graphic tearing and other glitches, spontaneous reboots and other issues. To me solid stability is more important than getting 2 or 3 more FPS. I ordered good hardware with solid performance and left it at hardware spec. for 3 grand I have a system that whoops Age of Conan with ease, I score 70 FPS with details at high, I am very happy with that, it is smooth as silk and plays like a dream.

I also use my PC for editing home movies, photo correcting digital snapshots, putting together slide shows with music for my family, all kinds of tasks where a crash mid work would possibly result in a tragedy from my standpoint if I lost extensive work I could not easily replace.

If you want to just scream in the latest games and don't mind some crashes or other oddness overclocking might be more suited for you, I hate uncertainty of that kind so I could not bring myself to over clock.

I think the performance gains while they can be quite noticeable, for my personal desires and needs were not that important.

As far as the 9450 vs 9550, 9450 seems to be the choice of champions especially if you plan to overclock as the extra cost for the 9550 chip is not worth it.

The extreme versions are far more expensive and have the benefit of an unlocked clock multiplier giving you better overclocking flexibility, in my mind, since I was not overclocking, it was not top of my list, plus they were way outside of my price range.

All opinion, I know, but it is all I have on this subject, but it is the thought process I went through making my decision on the same subject.

Dave




Edited by Kliebor2 - 03 Jul 2008 at 10:32am

It is possible to increase the clock speed on most CPU now without exceeding either voltage or temperatue levels specified by the manufacturer. The manufacturer in essense "overclocks" the higher end chips that it sells, right at the factory. If it is done responsibly, there is negligible risk from overclocking. My chip started life at 2.4GHz. I am running it at 3.15GHz, and my temperatures and voltages are all within what Intel specifies for safe operation. Given the fact that I would have to have spent in excess of $1000 for the CPU alone to have achieved similar performance without overclocking, I think it's very much worth whatever very small risks to the CPU you might be causing. This CPU probably would have gone for longer than 10 years if I left it stock. If the changes I have made kill it in 8 instead, that's several years longer than I had planned on staying with this system anyway.

My primary reasons were not hardware longevity.

Mine were several users here having to turn off DSO rigged over clocking to get a stable boot in games, problems where people had issues with random restarts that ended up being solved by shutting off overclocking and either sending it back, or setting a less aggressive overclock on their own.

I just saw no need for that headache. and as I said, I spent what I consider a reasonable amount for a gaming rig, which at production clockings screams.

I will not argue that in the right hands and with a level of knowledge of internals and how overclocking works that I just do not have, overclocking could quite possibly be wonderful.

I will also say if one of you over clocker extraordinaire cares to take me on a whirlwind tour of what overclocking is and how it works, I would not mind learning, just at the time and currently, I do not feel comfortable with it at all


Dave




Edited by Kliebor2 - 03 Jul 2008 at 1:40pm

Any recommendations for (DSO) processors that lend well to OCing. I'm on a 3000-3500 budget.

The Q9450.

I stand by what Tyler says. Still, OC'ing is much like tuning a car for performance. That's why some cpus oc much better than others. Also, as with car engines, some cpus can be tuned with higher performance than others of the same model. If you wanna oc, and are not sure of whether or not it's for you, let DSO do it for you. Bear in mind, if you do that, you should invest in a good cooling system to make it worth the effort.

P.S. Regarding your gaming headphones... do you require standard headphones or do you need a mic too? If you don't need a mic, I can offer various recommendations from a music reproduction standpoint as I have reviewed around 30 different headphones in magazines.

if youre looking for a gaming headset, icemat is all youll ever need.