How long have you been running Overclocked?

CyberGhost

Hi!

Well I have decided to build a new system in a near future, but I have to decide first, am I going to run on the stock speeds or overclock

I heard that overclocking lessens your cpu's life! and as I'll be building this system to use for a long time! I'm little afraid about my cpu/modo/ram dying!

I'm insterested in how long have you had your pcs overclocked and running without troubles?

Thanks!

joePC

I've been running a 2500+ @ 3200+ speeds for about 6 months now, TBH overclocking your system at average speeds the components will never die usless you intend to run it for 10+ years uptime but by that time the PC will be unusable therefore once you have good components with proper cooling there is no reason why you shouldn't overclock your system. To acceptable levels.

Thanks joePC

Col_Loki

Good bunch of overclocked AMD chips all still perfect , main one is the Xp2500+ which has been 2.2ghz+ for a year or so with no problems at all .

When people talk about shortend lifespan your talkin lets say at worst it will only live half as long, thats still 5 years and this is a bad case senario when its heavily overclocked with high Vcore. Once you have decent cooling you should be fine !!

Woden

i've been running overclocked for about 6months now also running at 1.75vcore xp2500+ @ 2.2ghz

CyberGhost

hey that's cool! in 5 years! the todays newest cpus will be like P1 133 now

btw, what makes cpu's life span shorter when overclocked? that it is running hotter than at stock speeds, or because there is more voltage going through it, for example if you cool overclocked cpu with a watercooling and cool it down to the heat it would be generating when running at stock speeds, will the cpu live as it would on stock speeds or would it still live shorter?

Thanks!

Col_Loki

AFAIK its a mix of the two. Ie high Vcore or high temps (leaning more on the higher Vcore).

Even if overclocking put the CPU's life to say 2 years (extreme case) for most of us thats plenty of time and will save us money on the more expensive chips. Ive had my Vcore between 1.8v and 2.05v depending on how silent im trying to run it. Speeds between 2350mhz and 2480mhz. With intels higher Vcore isint recomended as there have been cases of northwoods just giving up and die'n, but these are with Vcores of over 1.75v which is high for intels. AMD's are much happier with high Vcore so give em plenty one your cooling is good

Gerry

Running a p3 600e at speeds between 1000 and 900 mhz for 3 years now, no problems with the cpu. This is partially because only a slight voltage increase was needed ( 0.05v ).
Regarding your questions on the reasons behind a shortened lifespan, both voltage and temp are factors.
If you run extreme voltages, you will definitely shorten the life. At high voltages and temperatures, electrons travelling around the chip are more likely to burrow through the divisions between features on the die and cause a short circuit, this is called electromigration, more detail here.

Cooling the chip well will lessen the effects of this though, and the more you cool, the less voltage you will need to run. I'd say my p3 600 will last at least as long as a chip left stock in an oem machine, as it has a massive alpha heatsink on it, so runs about 5-10 degrees over room temp.
High fsb has shortened the lifespan of a few motherboards on me, and in one case wrecked a bios chip, but that is not such a big issue these days. My current main machine is not overclocked cpu wise, but the pci bus has been running at a 33% overclock for about 4 months now, no stability problems. Also a 10% overclock on graphics core and ram.

SouperComputer

i have an old P1 133MMX @ 233 for 2years now, standard cooling, standard voltage

unkel

Originally posted by SouperComputer
i have an old P1 133MMX @ 233 for 2years now, standard cooling, standard voltage

Whoah some overclock :cool:

was that with multiplier from 4 to 7?

Have been overclocking systems for many years - no cpu has died on me yet. I usually overclock to the max possible within limits of heat / noise etc and my pc typically runs 24/7

Mutant_Fruit

and the more you cool, the less voltage you will need to run.

Erm... the voltage is increased so the chip is stable, and then you need cooling to stop it melting. Good cooling will not lessen the need to increase the voltage, it just lessens the need for you to scrape melted chip bits from your motherboard.

Col_Loki

and the more you cool, the less voltage you will need to run.

Thats bang on. Better cooling means the chip can run on lower voltage at the same speed, AFAIK it has to do with less interference caused by heat so the signal gets through better and doesent cause errors (limited explanation)....

You have FAR more of a chance of getting an Xp2500+ to run @3200+ on stock voltage with decent cooling than say a stock cooler..... it works accross the board.

Gerry

Originally posted by unkel
Whoah some overclock :cool:

was that with multiplier from 4 to 7?

It would be multiplier 2 to multiplier 3.5.. I clocked a 133 to 200 meself, but most p54c cpu's will not accept a 3.5 multiplier, ( its really set as 1.5 multiplier which the 233 interprets as 3.5 ). Normally to clock up to ~233 you'd have to run at 3*75.

SouperComputer

yea, i just arsed about with the jumpers, one of my early exploits. turns out it was a 166chip @ 233, so maybe it not that good after all.

unkel

still a 40% overclock m8