Tom's Hardware > Forum > Overclocking > General Discussion > [Solved] Am I ready to overclock?

[Solved] Am I ready to overclock?

Forum Overclocking : General Discussion [Solved] Am I ready to overclock?

Do I even need to? And should I OC my GPU as well? Do I need to upgrade cooling capacity? Not much in the budget for it and not sure how comfortable I am with water cooling.

I work with Photoshop a lot as well as watch video, We just had our 1st child so I think I'll be doing quite a bit of video editing. I usually don't ever play the latest games, but an example of the games I do play are Fallout: New Vegas, Hearts of Iron 3, Medieval Total War 2, Civilization 5, Sins of A Solar Empire, MLB 2K11.

The only money I have available would probably go to a new monitor as my current one is an old 19" Samsung SyncMaster 191t with max display of 1280 x 1024.

Current OS -
XP SP3 (plan to install Win 7 soon

PSU -
COOLMAX CU-700B 700W ATX 12V v2.2 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Ready / CrossFire Ready Modular and Compatible with Core i3/i5/i7 Power Supply

CPU Cooler -
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus with one fan pushing

Case -
Antec 900

HDD -
OCZ 120GB Agility 3 SSD

Mobo -
EVGA 750i SLI FTW

CPU -
E8400 Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz Wolfdale

RAM -
4 x 2gb Corsair PC-6400 CM2X2048-6400C5 (I know XP doesn't use it, but will upgrade to Win 7 soon)

GPU -
EVGA VIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE 1024MB

Sound Card -
Creative SoundBlaster Live

I ran tests with OCCTPT for 30 minutes
Max Temps according to Core Temp
Core #0 - 44C
Core #1 - 51C
OCCTPT reports pics link.
[url=http://s1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg579/mac2636/750i%20OCCT%20reports/?start=all][/url]

Thanks for any advice.

Regards,

Ronnie

Reply to ronnie76

you don't need water cooling to overclock the 8400 with a 212+. You can most likely achieve around 4.0ghz without worrying about temps, as long as you properly optimize the cpu voltage.

Reply to cygnus x-1

I would say yes but your PSU is a sketchy brand.
I would try to tighten down your cooler
I ran tests with OCCTPT for 30 minutes
Max Temps according to Core Temp
Core #0 - 44C
Core #1 - 51C
This is wrong or is simply bad readings
trying tightening down the cooler if that doesn't work
reapply thermal paste
(clean it first)

Reply to spentshells

his temps are fine... He can stress test safely to 70c on the cores. That gives him lots of head room for clocking the chip.

Reply to cygnus x-1

7 C accross cores that are less than .5 cm away is way to high. But hey I've overclocked the heck outta my C2D's N C2Q and have had really great success so please head this.

Message edited by spentshells on 01-29-2012 at 02:18:39 AM

Reply to spentshells

Thanks for the responses guys.

Spentshells,
PSU seems to ok, hd for almost 2 years now with no problems. Not in the budget to upgrade so should I wait until I can upgrade to OC?

OCCT temp results were lower than Core Temp readings.
Max temp from OCCT was 40.5C who's temp reading to trust?

Double checked and cooler is tight, was extremely careful on last install, could re-install but no thermal paste tonight.

Reply to ronnie76

The cores can very in temps, however it is possible he has uneven tension on the cooler. I'm saying that with a max of 51c, temperatures are not a problem. So technically he doesn't need to re-seat the cooler.

I don't want to get in an argument with you spent, but i don't completely agree with you about the psu comment. CM isn't a top tier psu, but there are a lot worse. I wouldn't personally put it in "sketchy" territory. I would say it's decent or ok, but there is a lot better.

If he is running games with that gtx460 with that 700w psu without problems, I would say some overclocking is plenty safe. Throwing a small amount of extra voltage to that dual core isn't going to draw that much more power. Don't forget with 700w he has more power than he needs. That should make up for some short comings of lower tiered power supplies.

Reply to cygnus x-1

Thanks Cygnus,

The sketchy comment had me worried for a minute. I'm now a little worried about the cooler tension. Wonder if I should take it to a tech shop to have it checked?

Anyway, thanks so much for the info. I will spend the rest of the evening reading how-tos and maybe try the OC tomorrow afternoon. I was thinking the max that I would try would be 3.6GHz. If that is my target what temp should I aim to be under?

Also after I have the CPU OC stable should I consider OCing the video card?

I can't thank you enough for your advice.

Regards,

Ronnie

Reply to ronnie76

Best answer

If you're using CUDA enabled acceleration, or you need more FPS in gaming, then sure an overclock on the vid card will help a little. If your games are running great and no CUDa apps, then there's not much point in it. Unless you're like me and overclock for fun even if you don't need to,lol

I wouldn't take the computer to the shop for a cooler adjustment. It does seem like maybe the tension is off a little, but as long as you didn't crank the springs all the way down there should be no damage to the motherboard. and honestly, if your hottest core stays under 70c while stress testing, it really doesn't matter.

Reply to cygnus x-1

Best answer selected by ronnie76.

Reply to ronnie76

7 C between cores is not acceptable for proper overclocking.

Reply to spentshells

If the hottest core is within safe temperature then why? I admit it's not ideal, but I see no ill effects from it.

Reply to cygnus x-1

The cores should be with a degree or two of each other for stability

Reply to spentshells

Ive never read(and I have read a lot), that differences in core temps make for an unstable cpu. Sure, if the hottest core goes above what people think is safe, or approaches tjunction max, that's a different story. With his temps that wont happen, unless he throws more voltage at the chip than it needs.

Reply to cygnus x-1