Benefits of overlocking

[intzor]

I know the benefits of overclocking for hardcore gaming and graphics applications, but I'm curious what the benefits are for someone who isn't doing those things.

If I OC my Q6600 up to 3ghz will there be noticeable performance improvements in some areas relating to everyday computer use? and if I OC it to 3.6ghz?

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[r_manic]

I'm not really into the overclocking scene, but from what I see, people do it because they want to:
-Maximize what they have (overclock instead of upgrading)
-Push the limits of their hardware (to boldly go where no CPU has gone before lol)

I'm also assuming that since overclocking makes everything run faster and more efficiently, there should be performance improvements even in everyday use. Perhaps especially when crunching numbers in Excel, or something like that.

But seriously, I also think overclocking requires a lot of time and a bit of mindfulness to make sure you won't destroy anything. You sure you wanna do that just for your average computer stuff?

 

[kyeana]

Most likely not. You may bet some small gains, load vista faster, etc, but nothing huge.

 

[Fruity]

I do a lot of programming for data processing. I OC'd my Q6600 to 3.4GHz and have had noticeable improvements in programme run speeds. Things like giant-size Excel spreadsheets are also far improved with recalcs taking a fraction of the time they were.

IMO OCing is worth doing if you want or need more system performance, but don't want to fork out for hardware upgrades.

Anyway, that's my two cents worth 😉

 

[jludvig]

What do you mean by "everyday computer use"? Browsing the web, editing video, word processing, music production, Programming?
Tasks that require a lot of CPU power or memory bandwidth (calculations and large datasets) will benefit from overclocking, but other tasks, like booting the operating system and starting applications are heavily bottlenecked by disk access, unless you are using a raid array of SSD's that is.
But since you are using a quad core CPU you must be doing some CPU intensive tasks now and then, and those will naturally benefit from an overclock. If you overclock a little bit, without raising the voltage, the negative side effects (temperature and power consumption increases) are minimal, so why not? You don't need fancy cooling or lots of expertise to overclock a Q6600 to 3GHz just increase the FSB speed and watch the memory divider so you don't try running your memory at way above the rated speed.

 

[intzor]

Could you tell me more about the "memory divider" and what I need to look out for there? If I have the memory stuff set to auto in the Bios, should that take care of things properly?

What about expanding and compressing archives? Is that something an overclocked processor will speed up, or is that also bottle-necked by disk access?

I do do tasks I know are CPU intensive, like audio and video encoding, just not too often.
I also do gaming--but typically strategy, no hardcore 3D games.

Mainly I am a heavy multi-tasker, running a lot of apps at once, and usually having quite a few web browser windows open at once.

I have 4 gigs of memory. Originally I was going to get 8, but was told 4 would handle anything I could throw at it.
I do notice my computer has slowed down though. It's not nearly as quick and responsive as it was when I originally set it up. At first I remember it being amazingly snappy.

But maybe that's just an inevitable effect of using Vista (or any windows OS) over time?

 

[pajama]

Could you tell me more about the "memory divider" and what I need to look out for there? If I have the memory stuff set to auto in the Bios, should that take care of things properly?

What about expanding and compressing archives? Is that something an overclocked processor will speed up, or is that also bottle-necked by disk access?

I do do tasks I know are CPU intensive, like audio and video encoding, just not too often.
I also do gaming--but typically strategy, no hardcore 3D games.

Mainly I am a heavy multi-tasker, running a lot of apps at once, and usually having quite a few web browser windows open at once.

I have 4 gigs of memory. Originally I was going to get 8, but was told 4 would handle anything I could throw at it.
I do notice my computer has slowed down though. It's not nearly as quick and responsive as it was when I originally set it up. At first I remember it being amazingly snappy.

But maybe that's just an inevitable effect of using Vista (or any windows OS) over time?

Read the article on memory and you will se that 4GB will take care of about everything you can throw at it.