Dangers of overclocking?

c-note

hey guys
i have a i7 920 oc'd to 3.17, and have lowered the vcore to 1.13
p95 puts it at around the 70c mark (on stock cooler) according to coretemp

also have hd 5850 which i oc using amd's gpu clock tool to 800/1200
without adjusting volts.

my question is:
when overclocking is heat the only killer, obviously staying within spec voltages.
my concern is pushing the gpu further, provided it dosnt overheat, can overclocking kill it? or will pusing the clocks too far just cause a failure without damage?

lmimmfn

no overvolting causes transister decay, i cant remember the scientific term but its basically the electrons clinging to the circuit. If you stay within spec it will be fine, besides most people upgrade every few years so unless youre overdoing it youre fine.

1.13vcore is good, im on 4Ghz with 1.28vcore on my 920 D0.

Dont use AMD GPU tool, its junk and messes with the fan control, use MSI Afterburner instead, its much much better, i have my 5850 on 1.2volts for my gaming profile all the time, its fine. Youll get MSI Afterburner here - http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm

massy086

get an aftermarket cooler and you will be able to lower your temps http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-029-CM&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395 great value

Solitaire

Basically, the higher the voltage, the lower the life expectancy of the CPU. Its not a very big issue until you start heading toward the Intel official spec (not sure what it is for Nehalem, for Penryn it was 1.3625V). Even then you'll probably get many years out of it - its when you start to exceed their figure that things start to go to fail and back. Sure, you can squeeze a few more points in 3DMark at 1.55V but your 45nm CPU is going to live for less than a year... if you're lucky

And a big +1 to massy there! :cool: If you want to OC any further you'll need a better cooler - Intel stock HSFs are cack even at stock speed for 130W CPUs like yours, I'm amazed your temps aren't higher even with the undervolt! Hyper 212 Plus is great for quads and costs next-to-nothing despite being a heavy hitter, next step up is the pricier Scythe Mugen 2, and after that it's the lunacy booth for ya - forget Xigmatek Thor's Hammers, think more Megahalems and heavy water-cooling! :eek:

lmimmfn

Solitaire wrote: »

And a big +1 to massy there! :cool: If you want to OC any further you'll need a better cooler - Intel stock HSFs are cack even at stock speed for 130W CPUs like yours, I'm amazed your temps aren't higher even with the undervolt! Hyper 212 Plus is great for quads and costs next-to-nothing despite being a heavy hitter, next step up is the pricier Scythe Mugen 2, and after that it's the lunacy booth for ya - forget Xigmatek Thor's Hammers, think more Megahalems and heavy water-cooling! :eek:

70C is more than fine for any Nehalem, he has overclocking room, 80C is the limit to be safe, although ive mine on a toasty 85C with this weather but thats only on prime, never goes about 67C on average in games but i must reseat it sometime. TjMax for the Nehelems is 100C so it wont start throttling until then, but again best to be nowhere near that.

The best Nehelem cooler is the Noctua D14 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-011-NC
Yes they'll be slightly different reviews around the web( varying usually on ambient temps ) with the True or Megahalem beating it by 1 or 2C here and others showing the D14 beating the True/Megahalem by 1-2C, but generally its percieved as the best current cooler for a Nehalem.

lmimmfn

lmimmfn wrote: »

i cant remember the scientific term but its basically the electrons clinging to the circuit.

electron migration...

lmimmfn

david7536 wrote: »

electron migration...

lol,thats the one, i got too lazy to look it up

c-note

hey guys thanks,

So basically once i stay within voltage specs, the only thing that could kill it is heat. good to know.

Dont use AMD GPU tool, its junk and messes with the fan control, use MSI Afterburner instead, its much much better

The amd tool lets me overclock further than msi (unless i want to flash the bios of the card with a different manufacturers bios)
i use afterburner to define my own fan curve, keeps it between 60-65 deg. and just use amd tool to set clocks.

also i think the stock cooler is fine unless you want to go beyond 3.4ghz
i had it at 3.5ghz (1.2 vcore) and it hit 72deg on prime (cooler fan at 100%)
but i would like to get a nice heatsink (mainly because it looks good:D)

lmimmfn

cnote2 wrote: »

The amd tool lets me overclock further than msi (unless i want to flash the bios of the card with a different manufacturers bios)
i use afterburner to define my own fan curve, keeps it between 60-65 deg. and just use amd tool to set clocks.

but you say you overclock that 5850 to 800/1200? max for Afterburner is 1090/1300, but there is also a way to remove the limits its imposes without flashing

c-note

there is also a way to remove the limits its imposes without flashing

Do tell me more....
afterburner only let me bump clocks up to 775/1125 as per ATI overdrice in ccc.
if i could go higher in msi AB i could forget about the amd gpu clock tool

[edit]
Just found config file msiafterburner.cfg
and figured it out... i presumed if it were possible it would have been in the gui!
bye bye amd clock tool!
[/edit]

lmimmfn

cnote2 wrote: »

Do tell me more....
afterburner only let me bump clocks up to 775/1125 as per ATI overdrice in ccc.
if i could go higher in msi AB i could forget about the amd gpu clock tool

[edit]
Just found config file msiafterburner.cfg
and figured it out... i presumed if it were possible it would have been in the gui!
bye bye amd clock tool!
[/edit]

lol, AMD GPU tool = horrible

glad you got it, the cfg file only has the overvolt enabling via "EnableUnofficialOverclocking = 1" but you can also increase beyond the max core/mem clocks if you need, i can dig it out if you can get that high