What is overclocking??

[Chace]

Hi guys, not sure if this is the right place to ask this. I am building my first ever PC and have had to learn a lot but something people ask me when they try to help me is "will you be overclocking?". Now I have googled it but haven't found a simple and general explanation.  So if someone could give me that (remember i'm new to this) and tell me when I would use it and what its used for, that would be awesome. As I would like to know what it is so I can decide if I want to overclock my PC. Thanks in advance!

[elpiop]

Overclocking is increasing the clock rate of whatever component (gpu, cpu, ram). You'd do this to achieve better performance since the components will be running faster, at higher than stock speeds. 

[Kadleli]

Look,(some)parts work in cycles.

Lets say you have an CPU that works with 3,5GHZ(3500MHZ).If you simply raise that number,your CPU can do more cycles,so it works more.Drawbacks are power consumption and heat.Theres a LOT more to this topic, but i leave that to the other people on this forum.

[TheRandomness]

Making your components (mainly CPU and GPU) run at higher clocks than what the manufacturers advertise. Sometimes, the manufacturers will pre-overclock the GPU and sell it like that. (EVGA SC, Sapphire Nitro...etc). For your CPU, if from Intel, you'd need a K series CPU and a Z series motherboard to overclock and for AMD most of their CPUs are overclockable but the motherboard needs to be able to handle that CPU.

[TheHappyJarhead]

overclocking is a means of getting more performance out of your, graphics card, processor or ram, you can overclock all 3 of these.

 

overclocking can give you boosts in things such as games (more fps), rendering, editing and all these kind of good stuff.

 

overclocking is different with every cpu, even of the same batch, some overclock at lower voltages, some dont.

[vanished]

Did you ever get to play with electronics in elementary school?  You know those little 3 volt motors?  You know that one kid that always tried to see just how fast it could go if he added more batteries?   It's kind of like that.  You're pushing the hardware harder to get more performance out of it.

[EunSoo]

overclocking is raising the clock speed (how fast you CPU or GPU runs). If you make it faster, then it will most likely increase performance. However some CPUs don't allow overclocking. Overclocking can also make your CPU or GPU wear out faster and can even make it stop working. The faster the clock speed, the more power you have to give the CPU which results in higher temperatures, which can reduce performance. That means you have to be careful in how you overclock

[Chace]

Can overclocking damage your parts? 

 

[samcool55]

I'm suprised nobody posted this already

 

[Chace]

Ok so only use overclocking when you have to, like to play a certain game thats high demanding, to render a video etc

[Guest]

its what I do.

/s

Altering the manufacturers rated clockspeed

[vanished]

2 minutes ago, Chace said:

Can overclocking damage your parts? 

 

If you do it wrong and push them way too far, absolutely yes.

[vanished]

2 minutes ago, Chace said:

Ok so only use overclocking when you have to, like to play a certain game thats high demanding, to render a video etc

Well it's generally not something turn on and off frequently.  You're just letting the part run faster, but due to speedstep/turbo boost and other tech like that, the component isn't going to run at that full speed all the time.  It will automatically increase from idle speeds when needed (and only when needed), and overclocking just lets it increase to a higher level.

[NeoZeon]

From what I've gathered, there is no real reason to overclock: high end computer parts run fast enough now. It is just a gimmick 

[Chace]

So in a way it's kinda like jailbreaking your iPhone, you do things its not designed for (push its manufactured limits) but if done wrong can damage them. If you damage them or mess up its basically on you, warranties won't cover overclocking.

 

Is this correct? 

[Chace]

Thank you all so much, i'm very impressed with this forum so far. Really great community.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Chace said:

So in a way it's kinda like jailbreaking your iPhone, you do things its not designed for (push its manufactured limits) but if done wrong can damage them. If you damage them or mess up its basically on you, warranties won't cover overclocking.

 

Is this correct? 

Yes

However, Intel sells a thing called the "Intel Performance Tuning Plan" for about $20 and if you kill your CPU from overclocking, you can get a new one. and only one.

EVGA is one of the exceptions, If you kill it from overclocking (Nearly Impossible) All of their Graphics Cards are made to overclock. So they'll cover it.

-----

People also overclock for fun (me) and to get extra performance, People do it for sport, and a bunch of other things 

[TheRandomness]

13 minutes ago, Chace said:

Can overclocking damage your parts? 

Yes. If you put too many volts through a CPU it will fry. Same for a GPU.