is unstable overclock dangerous?

[chromic]

I have overclocked my fx-6100 to 4.4 ghz but its not fully stable.

If i leave it like this could it harm my cpu/hardware?

 

[groundrat]

Short answer: yes. Dial it back.

 

[ur6beersaway]

You answered your own question. How can you use/leave at that it if is NOT stable. Stable OC is the goal.

 

[dalethepcman]

Overclocking always causes "harm" to your cpu and hardware. They are made to run at a certain frequency and voltage and last longer than the warranty. If you adjust the voltage or frequency too much then you will start decreasing the suitable life of the silicone.

How high you leave your overclock needs to be weighed out by you, but as a rule of thumb unstable is bad.

Generally speaking I only overclock more than 10-15% when I am to the point of thinking about replacing hardware. If you are to this point, then it probably doesn't matter if the life of your hardware will be decreased.

If you would like help getting your OC tuned in and making it stable at 4.4, post around here, there are many people experienced with O\Cing that can help.

 

[chromic]

Overclocking always causes "harm" to your cpu and hardware. They are made to run at a certain frequency and voltage and last longer than the warranty. If you adjust the voltage or frequency too much then you will start decreasing the suitable life of the silicone.

How high you leave your overclock needs to be weighed out by you, but as a rule of thumb unstable is bad.

Generally speaking I only overclock more than 10-15% when I am to the point of thinking about replacing hardware. If you are to this point, then it probably doesn't matter if the life of your hardware will be decreased.

If you would like help getting your OC tuned in and making it stable at 4.4, post around here, there are many people experienced with O\Cing that can help.

I partially know why this isnt stable, ive set my vcore on bios to 1.505 ( yes i know its high )
on idle it sits @ 1.45-1.5

under prime/intelburn full load it starts @ 1.45-1.47 ---> 1.43--> 1.404

after 10 run intelburn test @ maximum

max socket temp 66C
max core temp 54-56c cant remember correctly

 

[chromic]

It's not really that unstable, i can run benchmarks, play games etc, i just cant run prime95 very well

 

[raytseng]

Even a stable overclock also "harms" your hardware.
In actuality even stock hardware wears out eventually. Higher voltage and heat decrease the lifespan of your computer.

However, in practice, the lifespan of a stock consumer desktop computer hardware is designed to be in the ballpark of 20years.

So even if you are harming your hardware and decreasing it's life by 50% you'll be upgrading well before the hardware fails

 

[chromic]

Well im upgrading my CPU probably somewhere in the fall, i think my cpu can handle couple of months more.

Thanks for the help.

 

[dalethepcman]

Holy vcore man... Do you have a northbridge / VRM cooler?

While 1.5 vcore isn't actually that high (20%), if you aren't using solid state capacitors you could easily boil out the electrolytes from your VRM. If you have a downward blowing CPU cooler (blows air at the cpu/motherboard) you should be fine for a few months. If you have a side blowing cpu cooler, you may need to find a fan to point at your VRM.

Capacitor pictures I found.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff102/jackthenewbie/caps.png

 

[chromic]

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A97_R20/#gallery

thats the picture of my MoBo