Run your PC at 7GHz!!!

The prospect of overclocking a computer system can be intimidating for a computer newcomer, to say the least. The idea is simple enough; make the computer's processor run faster than its stock speed to gain more performance without paying for it. The execution of this idea though, can be anything but simple.

Overclocking is a method for increasing performance of standard computer components to their potential speeds beyond the rated specifications of the manufacturer. The performance gains that can be obtained through overclocking are substantial, but a lot of consideration must be done before taking the steps to overclocking a system. It is important to know the risks involved, the steps that must be done to obtain the results and a clear understanding that results will very greatly. Those who are willing to take the risks can get some great performance from systems and components that can end up being far less expensive than a top of the line system.

Difference between overclocking and optimising?????

Optimising and tweaking involve making changes within the warranty conditions. Over-clocking is generally frowned upon by manufacturers of components for obvious reasons as over-clocking frequently damages product beyond repair. Some manufacturers allow minor over-clocking and, in fact, provide you with the information/tools telling you how you can over-clock their product. These are usually quite tame over-clocking facilities and they will allow you to go only as far as that manufacturer believes is safe for you to over-clock their product i.e. they'd like you to feel that you have achieved some extra speed at no additional cost :-)

Optimising - as the name suggests - involves getting more performance out of your PC. Optmising though does require a higher level of knowledge and expertise if you want to achieve best results. It involves knowing everything about the hardware and software you are working with, from all those obscure BIOS settings, to every line of the Windows registry, to every driver released for every components, every version of DirectX, Intel Application Accelerator and all the various other programs, patches, switches, service packs and updates you can use with a given PC. You need to know how are the parts and software interact with each other, what the "poison" combinations are, which configuration is likely to affect which component adversely... and a lot of other information that can only be gained by a great deal of experimentation, trials, testing, benchmarking and analysing. Optimising does not affect your warranty.

Why overclock????

The main reasons we believe that people overclock are (in order of importance):

The "My PC is faster than yours" brigade: Usually young people fighting for bragging rights. It's common for an individual to spend several days overclocking and running benchmarks on his graphics card in order to gain a fraction of 1% in extra performance so he can boast online to friends and foes about his benchmark score ...or the number of frames per second he's getting in his favourite game.
The "I'm entitled to more performance for my money" mentality
Manufacturers, like Intel, often underclock products. Processors, for example, may be sold with different rated speeds even though they were all made on the same day, the same die, and to the same specs. When they come off the manufacturing line the units that fail quality tests for faster speeds are then tested at lower speeds. When they are found to be stable at a certain speed they are marked down and sold as processors rated to that lower speed. Anybody who believes that this marking down is purely a marketing gimmick to create product differences may pay less for a lower spec 8 GHz (fictional number) processor and attempt to overclock it to the more expensive 10 GHz speed.
Cheats
Companies competing for business have been known to artificially inflate the performance of PCs they've manufactured to gain an unfair advantage over their competitors in reviews. Fortunately, this is not seen often but you'd be surprised at how this cheating is not limited to small town or fly-by-night merchants. Big names like ATI and nVidia have been very publicly accused of cheating in the mainstream IT press.
Idiots
Heard about the gizmo that could convert black and white TVs to coloured TVs? There are plenty of the modern day equivalents around. And there are always people who'll pay Ł10 for a widget that will make their Ł80 processor run (supposedly) as fast as an Ł800 one.
Work related The PC engineer or technician doing research work
The extent to which a product can be stretched sometimes does predict it's long term stability running at rated speed.
The "I'm entitled to more performance for my money" mentality: Manufacturers, like Intel, often underclock products. Processors, for example, may be sold with different rated speeds even though they were all made on the same day, the same die, and to the same specs. When they come off the manufacturing line the units that fail quality tests for faster speeds are then tested at lower speeds. When they are found to be stable at a certain speed they are marked down and sold as processors rated to that lower speed. Anybody who believes that this marking down is purely a marketing gimmick to create product differences may pay less for a lower spec 8 GHz (fictional number) processor and attempt to overclock it to the more expensive 10 GHz speed.
Cheats
Companies competing for business have been known to artificially inflate the performance of PCs they've manufactured to gain an unfair advantage over their competitors in reviews. Fortunately, this is not seen often but you'd be surprised at how this cheating is not limited to small town or fly-by-night merchants. Big names like ATI and nVidia have been very publicly accused of cheating in the mainstream IT press.
Idiots
Heard about the gizmo that could convert black and white TVs to coloured TVs? There are plenty of the modern day equivalents around. And there are always people who'll pay Ł10 for a widget that will make their Ł80 processor run (supposedly) as fast as an Ł800 one.
Work related The PC engineer or technician doing research work
The extent to which a product can be stretched sometimes does predict it's long term stability running at rated speed.
Cheats: Companies competing for business have been known to artificially inflate the performance of PCs they've manufactured to gain an unfair advantage over their competitors in reviews. Fortunately, this is not seen often but you'd be surprised at how this cheating is not limited to small town or fly-by-night merchants. Big names like ATI and nVidia have been very publicly accused of cheating in the mainstream IT press.
Idiots
Heard about the gizmo that could convert black and white TVs to coloured TVs? There are plenty of the modern day equivalents around. And there are always people who'll pay Ł10 for a widget that will make their Ł80 processor run (supposedly) as fast as an Ł800 one.
Work related The PC engineer or technician doing research work
The extent to which a product can be stretched sometimes does predict it's long term stability running at rated speed.
Idiots: Heard about the gizmo that could convert black and white TVs to coloured TVs? There are plenty of the modern day equivalents around. And there are always people who'll pay Ł10 for a widget that will make their Ł80 processor run (supposedly) as fast as an Ł800 one.
Work related The PC engineer or technician doing research work
The extent to which a product can be stretched sometimes does predict it's long term stability running at rated speed.
Work related The PC engineer or technician doing research work: The extent to which a product can be stretched sometimes does predict it's long term stability running at rated speed.

Created by Shivani(2nd yr CSE)