Stability?

[masscrazy]

Whats the most an unstable machine can do? Considering voltages and overclock are not extreme (2.4ghz to 3.0ghz)

[staffsMike]

..why don't you make it stable?

It will do anything a stable one will but will have unpredictable blue screens etc..

[masscrazy]

..why don't you make it stable?

It will do anything a stable one will but will have unpredictable blue screens etc..

OK Let me be more specific. I have very safe voltages for my 3.0ghz Q6600 overclock. My RAM is at recommended voltage and timings.

I've stress tested my system twice for 6 hours with Prime95 version 25.4 and memtest for 7 hours. No errors. I've been told to go longer.

Considering my voltages are OK, what will happen if my system is not stable?

Hardware damage possible, with safe voltages?

[Mithrandir]

It's possible if you have poor airflow/cooling. You could be running all parts within the correct voltages but if anything overheats from dust/bad cooling then it could be damages. This includes the CPU, GPU and memory.

Also I've read in the past a stable Pc will pass priming/memtesting over a 24 hour period.
Personally if you can run your machine for the length of time you'd normally spend on it then it should be fine.
Just check the temps.

[masscrazy]

It's possible if you have poor airflow/cooling. You could be running all parts within the correct voltages but if anything overheats from dust/bad cooling then it could be damages. This includes the CPU, GPU and memory.

OK but that could happen to a PC on stock everything. (I got A900 very good cooling, 1 Ram stick is completely cold, receiving air from one of the fans at the front )

Also I've read in the past a stable Pc will pass priming/memtesting over a 24 hour period.
Personally if you can run your machine for the length of time you'd normally spend on it then it should be fine.
Just check the temps.

In that case who runs their pc for 6 hours on 100% usage on a quad? (apart from video editors/graphic animators etc.) No plans to do any of that just yet.

[Clunk]

Shove a beermat under one corner

[Purple]

Can i ask why you feel the need to overclock your extremely capable machine? Doing something because you can and it sounds cool is probably not the best option.

Your machine is perfectly fine at stock. In two years when you stop being able to play games at full everything overclock it then. If it aint broke dont fix it. Although from your clearly expanding hard drive collection it appears you either collect and decode or encode your own media.

An overclock would speed up encoding a touch but you will need to stress test that. On the decoding front - with that machine you could decode four 1080p films at the same time (you just need four monitors and four heads).

If your machine is for games and HD movie watching then leave the poor thing alone, it will like you better.

edit: @Clunk, lol, i just got that

[staffsMike]

I bought my pc with the intention of overclocking it because i'd never done it before.. and to be perfectly honest the core 2 duo's and the new G0 stepping quads..well..they deserve to be overclocked lol

If you can overclock these things the way we do and they stay below 50 degrees when stressed then why not do it? there's no need to do it of course..we hardly ever notice the difference between cpu speeds really but it's something to do when you're bored isn't it

If you do in fact do a lot of encoding then do the 24 hour stress test as encoding does actually run your cpu at its full capacity and if you blue screen during that you will have wasted hours.

[Purple]

If you can overclock these things the way we do and they stay below 50 degrees when stressed then why not do it? there's no need to do it of course..we hardly ever notice the difference between cpu speeds really but it's something to do when you're bored isn't it

Agreed, i used to do it about 10 years ago, then i started picking up 'artifacts' on my GPU, which made me think 'i know i am carful and step things up slowly but if i blow this then i have to pay for a new one'.

If you have lots of cash or like a bit of risk in your hobby then overclock to your hearts desire, it is fun, but imo not worth it.

- Can you imagine blowing your GPU on a Friday and having to spend a whole weekend with actual people while you wait for Scan to send you a new bit!

[staffsMike]

I havn't and don't really intend on overclocking the graphics card.. the thing already warms my cpu up by about 5 degrees..it doesn't need to be any hotter lol ...plus its more than i need 99% of the time when it's stock..

..as is the cpu at stock settings.. i know i know

[Purple]

i used to overclock anything they let me, saying that i had a AMD K6-2 400mhz running at 500mhz for many years, good little chip that. For you new boys thats the same overclock as 2.4ghz to 3.0ghz. (running at 125&#37

Whats the average overclock on a CPU these days (in terms of percentage)?

[staffsMike]

I run my 2.4 at 3.4 so 130% odd but it would go higher with a better cooler.

But the pentium dual cores..namely the 1.6 ..will run double that with a decent cooler which is quite impressive.

[moogle]

In that case who runs their pc for 6 hours on 100% usage on a quad? (apart from video editors/graphic animators etc.) No plans to do any of that just yet.

alot of people leave their pcs on or go on pcs for 6+ hours, over here our pc's always on, taking it in turns for using the pc.

as for what would happen. nothing would happen except for the blue screens or math errors. best to get it stable unless you dont really mind if your programs give you wrong values or something of the sort.

[masscrazy]

alot of people leave their pcs on or go on pcs for 6+ hours, over here our pc's always on, taking it in turns for using the pc.

as for what would happen. nothing would happen except for the blue screens or math errors. best to get it stable unless you dont really mind if your programs give you wrong values or something of the sort.

Yeh mines on 24/7 just never at 100% cpu usage.


I think 6 hours of stress test is enough for me.

[moogle]

Yeh mines on 24/7 just never at 100% cpu usage.


I think 6 hours of stress test is enough for me.

exactly never at 100% all the time.

30 minutes of stressing was enough for me. pc never crashed after that or had problems.

[NightshadowUK]

I ran mine for 24 hours just for peace of mind. Where in the past Windows might have pulled a funny on me and I'd be thinking 'Ah God I hope it's not the overclock', this way I don't even have to consider it.