Selective overclocking safe?

[chelsea_soccer]

I run an intel E1500 dual celeron 2.2 GHz and it would be nice to overclock it when I game occasionally. My question is whether it's safer to overclock it 10% when I game and then set it back to normal after or if I should just always leave it overclocked?

My bios makes it very easy to overclock and set it back so it's tempting just to do it when I game since I usually only game on holidays or weekends. What do you guys think? Also, does anybody know what percentage over is usually safe to overclock? Any help is appreciated.

 

[slickncghia]

unless temps are an issue or you need a tonnnnne of volts then its perfectly safe.

just did a quick google and you should be able to get it to 3ghz without too much trouble.

 

[geofelt]

I would just leave it overclocked. As a rule 10% is very safe. Speedstep will reduce the multiplier and load when it is not needed.

That said, how much performance in gaming do you think you will get?
I suggest that you do a test both ways, and see if you see a noticeable improvement.

Any incremntal dollars for gaming should be spent first on the vga card in most cases.

 

[chelsea_soccer]

Thanks for the responses. I'm not sure how much difference I expect it to make in gaming, hopefully enough to notice something. I'll try your suggestions, geofelt, and see how it goes.

Also, does anybody know what the temp range should be for this processor? Currently (10% overclocked) I run about 30 at idle and about 60 during prime95 load. I looked at the sticky for I7 & Core2 Temps, but I'm not sure if the dual celeron temps are different are not. Thanks!