Overclocking - Thoughts?

[RML Futuristics]

Hi, 

This is something that i have been thinking about for a while. I am going to be upgrading to Haswell shortly and im looking to get a high end i7. The thing is i know i should overclock things as i can get more performance, but im kind of frightened to, as i don't want to do something wrong and deep fry my components and have to shell out for more. Is overclocking worth it?

 

Many Thanks In advance

[joelthezombie15]

IDK I would try a very small overclock. if you are concervitive and do it to a guide and have good cooling it should be fine.

[Joshua]

Completely depends on what you plan to be doing with your CPU. Any form of rendering AT ALL, then yes, as the overclock will increase the speed that things can render. If it is for gaming, although lots of gamers do overclock, there aren't a whole load of games that actually use enough of the CPU to be able to benefit from an overclock. Overclocking to a certain extent is very safe, and if you follow guides on the internet, the worst thing that can happen is your computer makes itself shut down due to overheating.

 

Make sure that you Run Prime95 for at least 8 hours if you will be doing CPU-heavy work that will be a great loss if lost. 

[Wats]

Yes overclocking is worth it.

 

You can always just try it out..

 

Overclocking is fun, a lot of us do it just for the enjoyment.

[Guest]

I'll moved this down to CPU's.

If you're concerned with damaging your CPU then I highly suggest checking out the Intel Tuning program. Its an advanced warranty system whereby you sign up here and if your CPU fails while you're 'tuning' it, then you receive a replacement. It's limited normally to one per customer however there are bigger plans available. For the 3570 and 3770, it was about $20 so it'll probably be the same for Haswell for the stock plan.

If you have any questions about it feel free to ask myself or check out the FAQ.

[joelthezombie15]

I'll moved this down to CPU's.

If you're concerned with damaging your CPU then I highly suggest checking out the Intel Tuning program. Its an advanced warranty system whereby you sign up here and if your CPU fails while you're 'tuning' it, then you receive a replacement. It's limited normally to one per customer however there are bigger plans available. For the 3570 and 3770, it was about $20 so it'll probably be the same for Haswell for the stock plan.

If you have any questions about it feel free to ask myself or check out the FAQ.

i didnt know this thanks.

[Leonard]

There is to much information about doing overclocking the right way to be afraid of doing it to an overclockable CPU. This community will surely help you get over that fear. Keep reading posts here and asking questions as they come to mind, that fear should subside.

[RML Futuristics]

Thanks All of you, this makes me want to give it a try, im currently running an older i5 (i5 650@3.2) that i think i should be able to go closer to 3.7 on, so i might set some time aside this weekend and give it a go see if i can play with things a little, thanks for all the help so far. will be uploading my build log to here as well when haswell comes out as i will be getting a new nvidia GPu when they are released :)

[mgsstar]

Thanks All of you, this makes me want to give it a try, im currently running an older i5 (i5 650@3.2) that i think i should be able to go closer to 3.7 on, so i might set some time aside this weekend and give it a go see if i can play with things a little, thanks for all the help so far. will be uploading my build log to here as well when haswell comes out as i will be getting a new nvidia GPu when they are released :)

Here is a BSOD error code list to help you on your overclock, Good luck on overclocking your cpu. :) Be sure to check your cpu temps to make sure it doesn't overheat when running P95. I would recommend HWMonitor.

BSOD codes for overclocking

BSOD Codes for i7 x58 chipset

0x101 = increase vcore

0x124 = increase/decrease QPI/VTT first, if not increase/decrease vcore...have to test to see which one it is

0x0A = unstable RAM/IMC, increase QPI first, if that doesn't work increase vcore

0x1A = Memory management error. It usually means a bad stick of Ram. Test with Memtest or whatever you prefer. Try raising your Ram voltage

0x1E = increase vcore

0x3B = increase vcore

0x3D = increase vcore

0xD1 = QPI/VTT, increase/decrease as necessary, can also be unstable Ram, raise Ram voltage

0x9C = QPI/VTT most likely, but increasing vcore has helped in some instances

0x50 = RAM timings/Frequency or uncore multi unstable, increase RAM voltage or adjust QPI/VTT, or lower uncore if you're higher than 2x

0x109 = Not enough or too Much memory voltage

0x116 = Low IOH (NB) voltage, GPU issue (most common when running multi-GPU/overclocking GPU)

0x7E = Corrupted OS file, possibly from overclocking. Run sfc /scannow and chkdsk /r

BSOD Codes for SandyBridge

0x124 = add/remove vcore or QPI/VTT voltage (usually Vcore, once it was QPI/VTT)

0x101 = add more vcore

0x50 = RAM timings/Frequency add DDR3 voltage or add QPI/VTT

0x1E = add more vcore

0x3B = add more vcore

0xD1 = add QPI/VTT voltage

“0x9C = QPI/VTT most likely, but increasing vcore has helped in some instances”

0X109 = add DDR3 voltage

0x0A = add QPI/VTT voltage