QOTD: Did You Ever Fry Your PC by Overclocking?

I've overclocked my P166MMX to 300MHz once
it was spec'ed 66Mhz FSB and I put it running 3x100MHz
Stock fan (those 1"/ 2.5cm)
It ran for a year and the motherboard has gone. I don't know if that cpu would still run but the motherboard was no more and it didn't make any sense to buy a new board for the same old platform)

Yes it ran winxp better than some PIII - when whistler beta came around. Maybe because I had a 128MB of RAM when 32MB was mainstream and 64 high-end

I've been overclocking mildly for 5 years and never fried a component.

Nope. had too much hassle getting my 4870 to OC, so only my CPU is overclocked, albeit by 50%!

I only began ocing with the e6750 and after that I tried to oc my amd 3800+ x2 but that wouldn't go far. Nothing overheated or burned yet
I'm not that extreme of an overclocker, I rather get good value for my money and as the article about the phenomII, I try to find that sweet spot of 1. high oc and 2. still able to use speedstep/ Q&Q.

I don't think it is possible to fry CPU anymore as all new CPUs have some protection mechanisms. I don't know how it is about GPU but I'd think it's same story.

I've been overclocking a lot for 3 years and never fried a component.

P4 Prescott 3.2 to 3.7 on air, Core 2 Duo E4500 2.2 to 3.35 on air, Q9400 2.66 - 3.6 on air... I'd say those are quite heavy overclocks, and they're all still in use at those frequencies, stable.

I've been overclocking for a while now, got a e8200@3.8 and an old athlonx2 4800+@3ghz (took a long timw tho lol), I overclock my graphics cards as well but nothing major, only thing I've ever done was when I was a noob I was overclocking a 8600gts and did a bit too much on the memory, never fried it but was never the same again the screen kinda of flickered a bit

4870X2 doesn't want to overclock nicely yet (combination of being lazy and not having an aftermarket cooler yet), so only my CPU is overclocked, by 33%... goddamn old stepping

Been overclocking since the Pentium 200 days, never had a real issue.
Had to reset a bios here or there but even that's been pretty rare.

Did get an old Athlon 1200 thunderbird up in flames once though, had it spare and wondered how long it would take to die without a heatsink.

About 6 seconds haha.

I've managed a 46% overclock on Q9300, been running at 3.5Ghz stable for about 6 months. That was my first overclock, also done my 4870, core from 750Mhz to 790, and memory from 900Mhz I think up to 1100. That's my first graphics overclock and stable with stock cooler for about 6 months - However I also underclock it to about 225, 300 when just web browsing and office work. Saves a good 50 watts or so, then jack it up to game.

Been overclocking for 5 years now. My best clock is with my current E8400 cpu, got it at 3.8Ghz stable on air, without extra volts. Never bothered with graphics as I dont think its worth it just for the extra 3-5 FPs.

I have been overclocking for around 13-14 years and never fried a cpu or gpu. First overclock was P120 > P133 and overclocked 3dfx voodoo 1. Ahh the days!

Ever since I heard about overclocking from the Pentium and Cyrix days I've been doing it and never destroyed a part, although the latter had practically no clocking potential.

Brief breakdown:

- Cyrix MII-300 @ 333MHz (33MHz!)

- Intel Celeron 266 @ 400
- Intel Celeron 600 @ 750

- AMD K6-2/300 @ 366
- AMD K6-2/450 @ 550
- AMD K6-III+/400 @ 600
- AMD Duron 1800 @ 2300 (unlocked) (that rig used to own Celeron D's xD)
- AMD Athlon2600+ (2068) @ 2200
- AMD Athlon64 'Venice' 3200+ S939 (2000) @ 2500
- AMD Athlon64 x2 4000+ AM2 (2100) @ 2800

All this was done on non-pro motherboards with very little voltage increase, if at all (as was the case with the A64). The only danger with the A64 is the HT link speeds, which can make the NB and SB parts of the chipset very unstable. As a sidenote, I never understood why AMD didn't go ahead and use a proper heatspreader on the Athlon XP (Socket A), since it was known to get warm so you had to make sure your cooling solution was up to the task.

I've met a lot of people who completely steer away from overlocking, and frown upon those that do. My philosophy is that for home use and as long as you know what you are doing and remain within sensible limits based on consensus rather than unreachable goals..go for it. If a part gets too hot it usually just shuts down, and if you aren't going too high it will give you signs before it's about to do that, such as programs locking up. With the thermal overload controls they have today both Intel and AMD platforms are good for clocking

The only thing I would be careful about overclocking is your RAM, since a hike in operating frequency (and sometimes voltage), will often result in a big reduction in stability whist attaining only a small increase in performance.

I've overclocked pretty much every hw that i could to this day, with 0 casualties.
Pentium mmx 233@240mHz, AMD k6-2 333@350, AMD k7 duron 800@1100, k7 athlon xp 1600+ 1400@1600mHz, k7 athlon xp 2400+ 2000@2400mHz, and my current rig - Athlon XP-M Barton 1833@2420mHz daily, watercooled.
The main problem with cpu oc was the noise, back in the days of my first oc cpus, i had some cases that reached 8 fans, or, in the firsts k7, an deafening 7000rpm cpu cooler fan. Since XP2400+, i switched to watercooling, and got my earing back.
Also made minor hw mods to some mobos to allow better oc (potentiometers and resistances).
Oced also every graphic card that i could, except the hd3850agp that i currently use due to bad sw.
Even oced PDAs and mobile phones.

hehe only thing i have overclocked is my AMD x2 5200+ from 2.6ghz to 2.7ghz and even at that it was unstable, but my motherboard is shit and that was with the stock cooler and i didnt really try very hard so.... xD
Well there probably isnt much point overclocking the AM2's since u only get like 300mhz at most unless ur a pro anyway

Don't give up There's a good chance you can get AM2 CPU's that clock at 2.1GHz, and take them anywhere from 2.6 to 2.9GHz or higher. That's using a stock cooler and some thermal paste, on a standard board. Parts like the 4000+ x2 are good candidates, or if you're worried about power consumption you can use the 45watt versions like 4850Be (2.5GHz x2).