The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

thanks russ and lol bigwill I would love to upgrade being the computer hardware fanatic that I am however I cant dip into mommy and daddy's pocket for upgrades. Performance parts are not cheap. Also computer parts seem to go out of date very fast these days. One second its DDR the next second its DDR5. One second its Dual Core the next second its Six Cores at that rate of change in such a short period of time comp parts are not a very wise investment. If money was easy to come by for me hell I would build one of the greatest gaming systems on the planet. It would make the PS3 look like a Pentium II. But I do not have a money tree in the back yard. (although I wish I did) I am working with what I got *sighs and shrugs shoulders*

 

Actually no, GDDR5 (the G is important) is only used for graphics cards, and GDDR3 for graphics cards (which nvidia still used until this year) has been around for 6 years plus.
Additionally, Dual cores came about 5 years ago, and six core CPUs have only just appeared, and aren't very practical at the moment. PC technology does advance quickly, but not as quickly as you make out

 

Maybe your right Sam. However lets say I were building a new system part by part. Every 2 to 3 weeks I would buy a part until I could assemble the entire system because I am unable to buy all the parts at once. By the time I have bought all of the parts and assemble the system it is already out of date. lol. I am not the only person to say that either I have had countless conversations with tech friends that feel the same way. Also have you noticed that things are always super expensive when they come out but a short time after they drop by 40 to 50% in price. Then a little while after that they are worth almost nothing. perfect example PS1 when they came out they were 599.99 then 499.99 and shortly after that 199.99 and now you can pick up a WORKING PS1 for 5 bucks.

 

LOL! Sounds about right. Ahhh, the PC revolution! Yah, if you have to space out your purchases of a complete build, and say it takes you 6 weeks, I guarantee at least one of those components has been successed, or at least talked about an upcoming succession It's truly a shame the medical field doesn't advance as quickly

 

M1986: Well, that is part of the problem when building a PC piecemeal. However, common sense would dictate that if you will need some time to build up the funds for a PC, rather than waste time/money with separate orders and having components unused gathering dust until you can afford the rest, just save up until you can afford to buy the whole lot at once and then you will have a better system for it.
It is not always true that components drop in price, it depends what happens to the market. A component drops in price if it becomes superceded by something. If that happens, don't consider that 'it's suddenly become much cheaper', think of it as 'it's outdated so it's reduced to clear, I can get a new, better product for the same price'.
The HD5870 graphics card released in the UK for £320, thereabouts. They're still £310 or so, and they came out last September, almost a year ago. The same is true for several other components. Prices only lower once something new has come out. The only exception to this is flagship products, i.e. the absolute best money can buy - since these are overpriced initially due to the expense of developing them and producing them, which will fall as the technology matures. However, if you can afford to buy latest and greatest parts, then price drops really aren't going to worry you too much are they?

Take the PS1 for example. The PS1 was released in 1995. They became cheaper in the subsequent years as the technology matured (the PS1 remember was the first CD-based mainstream games console). Then the price remained about the same until the portable PSOne was developed. That remained at a similar price until the PS2 superceded the PS1 in 2002. Etc. Etc. There's a reason PS1s are 5 dollars, they're 15 years old!

 

M1986,

Use compressed air to clean the psu, much better and safer.

btw, most new hard ware drops in at the price point of what it's replacing, some times a little more. I would be surprised if you would need to spend more than 200US for a decent MB anytime soon (i7 boards are an exception that will hopefully go away lol).

edit: how did my post end up here? (it's a duplicate of the one on the next page)

 

I'c nobody payed attention Robo to your post... I ran a Sandra mips Fired up The UD3P with The Q9550 and after along needed some Win7 updating done it was calling for it.Lol You must have Pulled some extra stuff off the disc Removed or unchecked yours to get 26 min. I ran a full Disc only a 6.57GB disc and got a 32 min with 2 passes






[01:45:18] Phase III, REBUILD completed in 6 minutes.

Done.
[01:45:18] PREPARE/ENCODE/REBUILD completed in 32 min.

I guess.I gotta do some tweaking somewhere to get some speed...Lol

 

Actually, air compressors have a tendency to accumulate moisture. I use cans of air I buy from walmart, or any kind of supply store

Commodore 64 for the win! LOL! Eh, I used to have one growing up, not sure what happened to it though. Gonna have to ask my folks.

I've had to open up PSU's several times. Never been shocked. That's certainly true of the older style Television sets, not sure about general appliances though. I had a fan go out in a stock 200W PSU that came with an HP pavilion 7905. I replaced the fan, and it lasted me another year. As long as you handle it properly, it won't zap you

@bigwill, Down with star wars

Afterdawn programmers, it should be noted that I posted the original post at 11:33Pm (23:33 PST), why it shows 19:33 is beyond me. Incorrect though...

OMG, your time stamps are wayyyy off... In fact they're erratic...

 

at omega - thank you and lol. I agree its to bad the medical field cannot make leaps like that every 2 months lol. We would have a cure for everything by now.

at Sam - I agree and disagree with some of the things you typed. First off lets say I did save my money to buy all the parts down the road in one shot. By that time the new stuff has hit the market however the new stuff hits the market at outrageous prices. A decent motherboard alone might run you 300 to 500 dollars just for the mobo (Gigabyte or MSI not that biostar or pc chips garbage.) Not to mention all the other high end gaming components. Now lets say my gaming rig budget is 800 dollars. Right there I have blown most of my cash on the mobo alone. So in any case I will still have to save up again to get the rest of the components. You have to take into consideration that I cannot save up 4000 dallars for a comp in a few months it takes me a while to save up 800 to 1000 dollars as I have rent and bills to pay also. From my experience and also from what I have heard computer hardware drops in price extremely fast. 1 week the newest thing on the market is 599.99 the next month it is 449.99 then couple months after its 399.99 then 1 year later its 199.99 tech decreases in price a lot faster than you think sam.

As for the PS1, first off it was NOT the first mainstream CD-based gaming console. The Sega CD and Sega Saturn systems hold that title. Also the price did not stay the same until the slim ps1 came out it actually dropped in price on Christmas of the same year it was introduced. I believe it was 70 dollars cheaper at Christmas. You say the reason that the PS1 costs 5 dollars today is because it is 15 years old I will give you that one however Xbox 360 is not that old and when it came out it retailed at around 700 dollars!!! today you can pick one up for 80 to 100 dollars. If you ask me that is a MAJOR decrease in price for such a short period of time. Imagine how the people who bought it for 700 dollars then feel now...

 

Sorry to correct people on the first cd based console but that crown goes to the commodore cdtv in march 1991 the sega mega cd didnt get released til dec 1991

the commodore cd 32 and panasonic 3do were also before the ps1, I admit the ps1 is the cd based console that made it mainstream, but without the predecessors we may well be still cartridge based, but hey with the dropping prices of silicon manufacture and the growing storage capacity on silicon we may well end back where we started I can see the benefits of disc based gaming dropping away as silicon's speed and capacity leaves optical storage behind!!!


M1986

Save as much as you can up, purchase as late as possible to get the best deals, you will probably save the most on your memory / motherboard this way and get the best cpu deal this way too, stuff like cases, cpu coolers etc can be bought beforehand as there wont be much change in performance / price on these aspects of the build. Don't get caught in the latest tech thing, get what you personally can afford and make the best of it!!!

 

Hey ck, I stand corrected I completely forgot about Commodore. Wow that takes me back to my childhood =) Also thanks for the advice I am not sure what I am going to do just yet but it looks like I will be upgrading my mobo for the time being.

 

On another note... My 12cm stock cooling fan on my Cooler Master 500 watt PSU finally died (stopped working) I replaced the PSU with a 350 watt Enermax for the time being. I opened the Cooler Master PSU and unscrewed the fan. The PSU still works perfectly as I detected the problem before any over heating damage occurred. I plan on buying a new 12cm fan for the PSU and running it again down the road. The problem is when I opened the PSU it had a lot of dust inside and I really do not like to see all that dust inside my PSU. I would like to clean the inside components with a vacuum however I noticed the 1.6 Volt Capacitors and I must admit I am a little scared to take a vacuum to the inside now as I do not want to be electrocuted. My question is... Is it safe to take a vacuum cleaner to the inside of this PSU? it has been unplugged for 2 days now but I know that capacitors hold a charge that can kill. If it is NOT SAFE what would you recommend to be the best way to clean the dust out of the PSU? There is a lot of dust and it is sticking to the components inside like peanut butter on bread.

 

M1986,

Use compressed air to clean the psu, much better and safer.

btw, most new hard ware drops in at the price point of what it's replacing, some times a little more. I would be surprised if you would need to spend more than 200US for a decent MB anytime soon (i7 boards are an exception that will hopefully go away lol).

 

Thanks Red will do =)

 

M1986: Decent motherboards do not cost $300-$500. The most you should really pay for a motherboard unless you're buying a ridiculous top-end offering is $200. A $140 board is ample for most people, and that has always been the case.
In addition, Biostar boards are far from garbage now. They may be relatively unknown, but they're much better quality than the old low-end offerings they used to be famous for.
By the sounds of it your problems with finances are being completely unaware of which components you should be buying, which is a fair enough issue, but I can't really fathom how you failed to spot all motherboards except for the limited edition extreme boards, as only those cost that much.
You cite price drops as fact, I've given you multiple examples in my previous post that proves that's false. It just doesn't happen that quick most of the time, again, unless you look at the absolute top end - surely you realise that without unlimited funds you shouldn't be looking at the most expensive parts money can buy? It's hardly as if anything except the most expensive parts are junk.

If we're arguing specifics, the Sega Saturn and Playstation were released within a couple of weeks of each other, so that's splitting hairs. I do not consider the Sega CD mainstream due to its lack of popularity.
The Xbox 360 again did not come out at $700, I've got no idea where you're digging your figures out from. Also, you can't buy them new for 80-100 dollars, it's closer to 200. Of course if you buy something second hand it'll be cheaper, that makes no sense at all to this argument. Buy a new car, and before you've even driven it off the forecourt its second hand value is thousands of dollars less than what you paid for it. I don't hear that mentioned

With regard to cleaning the PSU, wear gloves, and be careful. SUpposedly 48 hours is enough for it to be safe to go inside a PSU. I would normally leave it at least a week, and then still protect myself.
I never use compressed air on PC components because unless held at exactly the right angle, they can spray moisture everywhere, which will be dangerous to PC parts.

 

Sam,
That's why I put a desiccant dryer canister on the output air to my Dental Syringe! Cans of compressed air cost upwards of $8 a can here, and I'm cheap! The syringe was originally made for air and water, but I have air connected to both. It gives me a lot of control over the airflow. I can blast any build up of dust right off the fan blades or video card heatsinks, yet gently do the same, with more fragile components. Works like a charm!



Best Regards,
Russ

 

Don't use a vacuum on any hardware (this creates static), the way to go is use a long bristled camel hair brush to remove the worst and then get a can of air to blow the remainder out you may not need the brush beforehand, it just depends on the dust, if your a smoker the dust build up tends to be greasy and take a little more removing than a can of air can always provide

 

Lol C64 =)

I still have, my first zx81 with its 16k ram pack, Comodore C64, Amiga 500, 500+, A600, A1200 with a ppc accelerator and 16meg additional ram

Only the 1200 is currently still set up, as I love running vocals through it (gives an old tape style feel to the sound)

You can use a 100 watt lightbulb to discharge capacitors in a psu, it needs to be in a socket but its the best way to be sure its discharged! but it is safest to leave the PSU for atleast 3 days if your not 100% sure what your doing

 

At Sam - You make a valid point regarding mobo's and I agree with you. I guess I don't need a top end quad SLI board or something fancy like that. However I am not sure about Biostar today but from what I remember 5 to 10 years ago they produced absolute garbage when it came to mobo's. Their mobo's back then made PCchips, Asrock, and ECS look good lol

As for the Sega CD, ya it was not that popular mainly because of its price when it came out. The Xbox 360 was priced at $699.99 CAD at Future Shop when it came out. I remember because they showed all the people waiting outside of the store just to buy it and that was the price tag at the time.

I cannot acquire a New 360 for 80 to 100 bucks however even slightly used with a 1 year guarantee at 80 to 100 bucks thats an amazing deal! and still a Major decrease in value to me.

Thanks to all for the advice on cleaning the 500 watt PSU. I will probably clean it after I get off work today. Hopefully it wont Jolt me.

 

PC Chips? possibly, ASRock? Possibly. ECS? Nah. Nobody could come close to beating ECS' quality track record
But yeah back then if you remember Biostar never produced anything but low-end boards. With the P45 chipset from Intel, and latterly the Core i5 and i7 they've started making higher end boards which have got reasonable reviews. I'm not sure I'd buy one over Gigabyte or MSI, but they're still miles better than the stuff Biostar used to make.

The Xbox 360 was not priced at $699 on its release. It may have been priced like that at that shop in your area for 'first batch' guarantees, as the 360 sold out and was unavailable for a short period - certain shops probably fleeced customers due to the lack of availability. I'm pretty certain the launch price of the console was either $450 or $500. I can't say for certain as I don't live in the US, but here it was £300. A new Xbox 360 still costs £130, 5 years after its release, albeit with a more up-to-date version that's more reliable. Whether or not you can get a year old console for $100 (You almost certainly can, I bought a pre-owned 360 for £105 that was only a month old courtesy of a friend's staff discount) is irrelevant to the discussion, since second hand markets don't affect the price of new products.