Do you overclock?

[VirtualLarry]

CPU overclock - definitely. I can't recall the last CPU I left at stock speeds. Maybe my 386-40, which was kind of like factory overclocked.
GPU overclock - not so much. They put out enough heat already, don't need more during the warmer months. During the winter, I might OC the GPU a little.

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

Since the release of our unlocked "K" processor I have been learning how to overclock and take advantage of that feature. I have overclocked this Intel Core i7-2600K for a short period but since I dont do anything other than work I turned back down.

 

[Smartazz]

Overclock and overvolt the CPU and overclock the GPU. Helps a little in gaming and helps significantly in distributed computing.

 

[slpnshot]

I OC'd my 2500k, but I scaled it back to stock. I still have the BIOS setting for the OC saved so I can easily have my juicy 4.5GHz back if I need it.

 

[jacktesterson]

I usually do. Currently, no. Got a normal 2500/H61 setup. Got it cheap

Currently, GPU only. Usually both, but going to skip this Gen of O/C'ing... although I've o/c'd 3-4 2500k systems for friends

 

[AtaliaA1]

Overclocking was fun untill it was done. Sped up Window and hardly noticed in gaming if at all. So I run the XMS Profile in the BIOS and leave it at that. for CPU

I did however bump the Radeon 6950 up a bit because that was more noticable in
gaming than the CPU overclocks.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

I'm running a 3D CFD calculation of 250,000 elements (which is small) on my 2600K and it's maxing out the processor and 16GB of RAM. Normal cases use parallel computing and like 100GB+ of RAM, but again I'm doing a small case. At minimum it takes a day to complete, maybe longer. So yes, I need all the speed I can get here. I don't bother overclocking the GPU much though. I have settings saved for it, but it's stock (unlocked) 95% of the time since I much prefer the lesser noise of stock.

The simulation work I am getting into "requires" overclocking even more so than gaming ever has...

 

[Puppies04]

Both but really didn't need the GPU overclock so I set it back to the factory OC and undervolted it for now.

 

[exdeath]

I don't see the point any more... lately it's gotten to the point that people only overclock to temporarily inflate benchmarks even when it's not how they actually run it 24/7.

It's like someone bragging left and right about their "1000 HP" Honda Civic, that really only drives around town with 250 HP on their 24/7 pump gas low boost tune for the 99.99% of the time they aren't able to purchase unicorn blood at the pump.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

I overclock my CPU. My GPU won't overclock. I voted that I overclock both as I would run my GPU overclocked if it was stable.

 

[lehtv]

Both. In moderation.

 

[djnsmith7]

Prior to the 7970, I didn't OC my GPU's...but these cards beg for it...Been OC'ng my CPU's for about 5 years now.

 

[thelastjuju]

Overclocking the CPU is a no brainer.. GPU, not so much

Though none of you will ever admit this.. overclocking does NOT yield the results today as it did back in the day. PERIOD. Its not even close. Back then, you could overclock to make a game go from unplayable to playable, but now overclocking only helps with bragging rights and artificial benchmarks.

PC graphics are just not accelerating at the steady rate they used to, and that many of us had hoped for say growing up PC gaming in the 90's. If you were to see it on a graph, you'd see the line steadily rising from day one of PC gaming until about 2007, when it pretty much flat-lined, and will stay flat until the next generation of consoles roll out.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I checked for both, but I'll admit I was never really successful at either. Tried OCing a pair of 5770s and gave up on that and then I had an i5 lynnfield that I couldn't even keep stable at 3.6ghz so I gave up on that too. I have a i7 2700k now that I haven't had a need to OC yet, but I would like to see it hit 4.8 when I have some free time to see the difference. My gtx 570 is factory superclocked, so I won't be able to squeeze much more out of that.

 

[Smartazz]

Overclocking the CPU is a no brainer.. GPU, not so much

Though none of you will ever admit this.. overclocking does NOT yield the results today as it did back in the day. PERIOD. Its not even close. Back then, you could overclock to make a game go from unplayable to playable, but now overclocking only helps with bragging rights and artificial benchmarks.

PC graphics are just not accelerating at the steady rate they used to, and that many of us had hoped for say growing up PC gaming in the 90's. If you were to see it on a graph, you'd see the line steadily rising from day one of PC gaming until about 2007, when it pretty much flat-lined, and will stay flat until the next generation of consoles roll out.

I beg to differ. The HD 7 series from AMD begs to be overclocked and yields significant gains. Overclocking my Q6600 from 2.4GHz to 3.2GHz yielded significant gains in everything and made Battlefield 3 playable. Overclocking my current 2500K to 4.5GHz didn't help much in gaming, but it'll definitely come in handy going forward since games typically need fast core speeds. Furthermore, overclocking is so easy that it isn't time consuming anymore. Finding the settings for 4.5GHz barely took any time.

By the way, not all games are simple to run. Crysis, Crysis 2, Battlefield 3, Skyrim with mods, Metro 2033 and Anno 2070 all need a lot of GPU power, but they all look beautiful. There are other games too, but those are the ones I've been playing lately.

 

[Hubb1e]

I never touch any CPU overclocks more complicated than increasing the core clock on unlocked parts, or raising the FSB to a faster but fully supported value (took my Q6600 to 3 Ghz with a simple FSB overclock). I don't want to introduce instability or it drives me crazy.

The GPU overclocks are so easy they beg for an overclock, but I only keep them if they provide some measurable performance upgrade. My 5850 didn't overclock much so I kept it stock, but my 7950 overclocks by 25% on stock voltage so I left that overclock intact.

 

[Bateluer]

Not any more. There's some benefit with OCing a CPU because some of them can hit really high clock speeds, but I never saw any GPU benchmarks that were anything more than token increases.

Living in Phoenix, every summer, I'd have to back off the clock speeds. Got tired of it, and the difference wasn't noticeable . . . the C2D E6600 was the last CPU I overclocked.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

I cannot indulge that kind of information.

 

[Ken g6]

I'm on Linux, so I can't overclock my GPU.

As for my CPU, I used to overclock, but then I had to replace my mobo and got the wrong type (G41). Until then I hadn't realized how much "nicer" chipsets affected overclocking.

In the summer I underclock and undervolt my CPU.

 

[philipma1957]

I over clock my i5 2500k cpu to 4.2ghz and

I under clock my hd6870 gpu from 900 and 4200 to 860 and 4000.

I run the fan at 14%. machine is silent for ht and pc.

I never really gamed but I got 4 free games and when i game i over clock the gpu to 940 and 4400

 

[Chiropteran]

Used to do neither, but bitcoin mining has really opened my eyes to the possibilities with GPU overclocking & undervolting to maximize profit. Best possible performance at least possible power usage. Some cards I run undervolted and underclocked, some can manage an overclock and undervolt at the same time.

Running my 7970 slightly undervolted and overclocked to 1050mhz, for example.

Since bitcoin mining is purely a GPU activity, haven't had a reason to overclock my CPU, although I have experimented with under-clocking and disabling cores to reduce power usage on mining machines.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

CPU - YES with voltage under max recommended.
GPU - YES even with overvoltage.

 

[FAUguy]

I overclock my 2600K at 3.4GHz. I've tried it at 3.6 to 3.8 but voltage and heat is too high when running Prime or IBT.

My NVidia 560ti video card is overclocked by the manufacturer PNY, as they also increase the voltage.

 

[Stayfr0sty]

Burning in CPU, got AMD overvolt tool ready for video too

 

[Magic Carpet]

I don’t overclock anything unless I’m running tests/benchmarks. Overclocking introduces another variable if something goes wrong. That and most of the time you don’t notice a difference outside synthetics anyway.

+1. Agreed. It can be fun sometimes though.