The Real World Benefits of Overclocking

[rhino56]

The Real World Benefits of Overclocking



Overclocking a computer has been a hobby for computer enthusiasts (otherwise referred to as geeks or nerds in the past). Now, with the software advancements in today’s computers, it has become much easier to run your computer past its stock speeds. What was once a task of soldering resistors on motherboards, wiring together electrical pins on CPU’s, and finding creative ways to cool down smoking hot components; today has become a simple installation of an aftermarket heatsink and the click of a mouse.

The everyday Dell or Gateway user may never experience the pleasure of overclocking, but the hobby has opened up to millions of new users and that has been a great thing for the hobby itself. Many Elite overclockers won’t share their secrets, which has really kept the hobby to a small group of enthusiasts in the past. Thanks to the multitudes of software overclocking utilities now available, the slightly above average user is now overclocking; while they may not be getting results like the extreme phase change or water cooling gurus, they are getting pretty good results.

I recently upgraded to the new Intel core 2 duo system myself and found, just as everyone had raved about, it was much faster than anything I’d ever been on. I didn’t even overclock my computer for some time; it seemed more than fast enough, until I started transcoding a DVD and rendering some of my own movies did I realize that I wanted it to go faster.
So, I decided to run a few tests of transcoding and rendering to really see how much faster my computer is when I overclock it.

My system is as follows.
CPU- Intel Core 2 Duo E6700
Motherboard- Asus P5W DH Deluxe
Memory- OCZ DDR2 PC-6400 Reapers
GPU- ATI X1900XT
Hard drives- 2x 150 GB Western Digital Raptors
PSU- Antec 550 True Control 2

STOCK SPEEDS of 2.6 GHz
Transcoding a movie and burning it to DVD
[05:27:02] ExpressUI Burn process started by user.
[06:21:25] NeroVision Burn process completed successfully

Total time= 54:23

I ran the exact same movie after overclocking.

OVERCLOCKED SPEEDS of 3.5 GHz
[04:01:06] ExpressUI Burn process started by user.
[04:43:16] NeroVision Burn process completed successfully

Total time= 42:10

So, I was able to shave 12 minutes and 13 seconds off of the time. That may not seem like a big deal but thats about a 25% gain in speeds.

I did just a small rendering project of making a movie with music and pictures to test the differences also.

STOCK SPEEDS of 2.6 GHz


Total time= 7:01


OVERCLOCKED SPEEDS of 3.5 GHz


Total time= 5:15
Almost two minutes faster on such a small project is pretty impressive. With any programs that runs a computer to its maximum limits without a set rate, you are sure to see improvement in the time it takes to accomplish any task when you overclock.

If you would like to learn how to overclock your computer, or just aren't sure what programs to use, you can join the forum and the experienced staff and members here will be happy to help you.

[Fishboy]

Nice article, rhino. Short and to the point.

It's nice to see some real-world comparisons. A 25% increase in speed is pretty dang good.

[Kruten]

Kewl. Something that I can't do with this comp because the processor runs around 50C with an XP-90, and Panaflo fan, and thermal paste applied delicately.

[Fishboy]

Originally Posted by Kruten

Kewl. Something that I can't do with this comp because the processor runs around 50C with an XP-90, and Panaflo fan, and thermal paste applied delicately.

Hehe, that's EXACTLY what I have. Bought it all from Jab-tech...

I wonder why it's running so hot though? That's kinda strange--maybe your sensors are off.

[Kruten]

Bios says it's around 51C and PCWizard reports the same thing. Speedfan tells me like like 35C. And if I try overclocking it crashes pretty quick.