Is it possible to overclock on-the-fly with an external switch?

[Federal-Foe]

Hello all.

I am gathering information about some ideas I have for a desktop build. (no parts have been purchased yet, it's more of a design issue)

On of the ideas is having a row of military flip switches at the front to control the hardware in the sense of power, fans and cooling.

The desktop is going to be my own workhorse and it's main purpose will be rendering images and video and other media. I assumed that overclocking would benefit me in times of heavy rendering? The problem is that I'd like to be able to overclock it only when I need it.

Therefor, I was wondering whether it would be possible to make one of these switches initiate an overclocking mode, but I don't know what my possibilities are with this kind of setup?

Is it possible to increase the voltage whilst the system is running? Can I implement this kind of switch, or do certain motherboards already support it? Would an Arduino chip in between work to control the voltages?

I need some guidance here, hope you can help

Fed

 

[06yfz450ridr]

never heard of anything like that but basically if you just use the built in turbo and use that for the overclock its will raise or lower itself accordingly to load which is basically the same concept

 

[Estix]

So, you want a Turbo Button?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_button

 

[getochkn]

Most modern systems run some sort of speedstep/cool and quiet, etc, anyways, so even if you OC to 5ghz, when idle, it will run at like 1ghz anyways and only ramp up the speed as needed, so there is no need to "turn on" ocing, just OC the chip so it has the potential to run at the highest speed when under full load and the rest of the time, it will run in a lowered state. My AMD 6 core is only running at 0.81ghz right as I type this as it's all that's needed. It can go up to 3ghz when I start gaming, something like 3.2ghz when boost is enabled and more if I OC'd, but it would still run at 0.81ghz 90% of the time for browsing, etc.

 

[Federal-Foe]

Most modern systems run some sort of speedstep/cool and quiet, etc, anyways, so even if you OC to 5ghz, when idle, it will run at like 1ghz anyways and only ramp up the speed as needed, so there is no need to "turn on" ocing, just OC the chip so it has the potential to run at the highest speed when under full load and the rest of the time, it will run in a lowered state. My AMD 6 core is only running at 0.81ghz right as I type this as it's all that's needed. It can go up to 3ghz when I start gaming, something like 3.2ghz when boost is enabled and more if I OC'd, but it would still run at 0.81ghz 90% of the time for browsing, etc.

Won't OC'ing the chip decrease the lifespan anyways, even though it won't use the extra power? I'd like to be able to dedicate these "lifespan strains" to rendering itself other than "when the pc needs it".

 

[06yfz450ridr]

Most modern systems run some sort of speedstep/cool and quiet, etc, anyways, so even if you OC to 5ghz, when idle, it will run at like 1ghz anyways and only ramp up the speed as needed, so there is no need to "turn on" ocing, just OC the chip so it has the potential to run at the highest speed when under full load and the rest of the time, it will run in a lowered state. My AMD 6 core is only running at 0.81ghz right as I type this as it's all that's needed. It can go up to 3ghz when I start gaming, something like 3.2ghz when boost is enabled and more if I OC'd, but it would still run at 0.81ghz 90% of the time for browsing, etc.

Won't OC'ing the chip decrease the lifespan anyways, even though it won't use the extra power? I'd like to be able to dedicate these "lifespan strains" to rendering itself other than "when the pc needs it".

overclocking will cause lifespan decrease if it isnt kept cool enough or to much voltage or even a bad psu. But when you overclock you have to raise the voltage which means more power

 

[Buzz247]

This is a very misunderstood concept. CPUs are designed with a 10yr lifespan at norm operation. Under norm OC methods you might lose 4-6yrs. So 4-6yr life span expected. If you poorly cool, incorrectly overvolt, or have cores running 100% oc load all the time, this will shorten further. But with mobo green tech now, like EPS, cores n volts are turned down when not needed. So not really a big deal in the end

 

[Federal-Foe]

This is a very misunderstood concept. CPUs are designed with a 10yr lifespan at norm operation. Under norm OC methods you might lose 4-6yrs. So 4-6yr life span expected. If you poorly cool, incorrectly overvolt, or have cores running 100% oc load all the time, this will shorten further. But with mobo green tech now, like EPS, cores n volts are turned down when not needed. So not really a big deal in the end

Ok, with that in mind, can I somehow temporarily extend the upper bound closer to the component's maximum by flipping a switch?

 

[Buzz247]

The software control for this is built into most modern boards. Anything labeled Turbo is an OC switch and anything labeled EPS is green step tech. Only way I can think of is by wiring a switch directly to the Turbo chip on the mobo. Asus P8Z77-v boards have this built in with a toggle on the board to govern turbo and eps engage. But... can only be flipped when powered down, not on the fly. If you want on the fly, you will ahve to stick with software UEFI control. Flipping core voltage on the fly could be disastrous from a pure electrical engineering standpoint. In short - unless you truly understand pcb design and circuit regulation, let this one go. Cant be done under basic means and circumstance.

 

[Buzz247]

Temporarily extending the upper boundaries is already built into your board most likely (dunno what you have). So what you are looking to do already happens as part of bios function. Just without a pretty switch to flip to satisfy a need for power control on a psychological level lol. Install a switch not actually connected, turn to naive friend, say "watch this shit", flip said switch, run a heavy cpu program, show monitor results, and enjoy the feeling of power without having to do a thing, shutdown program, show monitor results, and enjoy feeling of saving the earth and long life cpu (and prosper)