Well guys, I myself have been around the hardware/software adventure we've all been loving for four decades, and I've learned and forgotten enough to get myself into situations that send me seeking one of my tech savant buddies (which seems to include a high percentage of the two generations directly behind me). I own and operate an Acer Aspire 7560 with a quad-core AMD A6 3400M w/ ATI Radeon HD6520G 512MB graphics, and 2 x 4GB RAM, Windows 7 upgraded to 10. I know it was a cheapo, but it must have been built on a Wednesday, because if it dies tomorrow, I got my money's worth. That's not a challenge to fate, it's a profound thanks to the Power above all! Years ago, maybe five now, I registered with AMD, and while the CPU/GPU was newer, a series of updates to the AMD Catalyst Control graphics GUI occurred (the updates eventually started to decrease functionality, and so I reverted and excluded). This GUI has an overclock interface, whereas BIOS has none. The same for hardware assisted virtualization, which is controlled by Windows and some programs, with some user input allowed in System - Advanced Settings, and no BIOS options. These two features cooperate, apparently. After studying the overclock feature over now and again for a year and more, one night in rash bravery I said what the heck, and, after a couple of challenges from the program, overclocked it. That was at least three years ago, maybe four. I use Speccy to check the temp every so often, and I encounter heat-ups only when running multiple apps at once, four or five (right now I'm running four, plus background at 137*), and, of course, their demand for resources. The pre-overclock test feature in the overclock tab of AMD CCC automatically determines and limits the overclock, specifically to NOT deep-fat-fry anything, if I recall correctly what it told me as I proceeded. It claims the overclock is from 1.4GHz stock to a whopping 1.5GHz. In Speccy, I read almost 2.5GHz sometimes, and a consistent 2.292GHz. I didn't write them down, and don't recall, but I remember higher speeds like say 2.882GHz as example far less frequently, too, because I I thought, "Oh, crap! Please don't do that!" in a memory searing way. But it kept, and keeps running. Like I said, been two or three years. I keep a $30.00 lap-fan under it at all times, and make sure it isn't obstructed, ever, because I wallow around with it a lot. This computer runs a lot, too. Like a desktop, timewise. I can't help feeling this was a sleeper bargain computer, that slipped by tech gurus, maybe because of AMD bias, and the graphics on chip, though we all know there's no shame in owning ATI stuff. I'm not sure what it would do with the newest games, it really is growing older now. But you couldn't call me much of a gamer. I played the code right outta Diablo II, and I've ran quite a bit of high-end graphics software. When I buy a replacement, I think I might seek out some donor parts from the many diverse combinations in this line. Or functional units, as I would like to know if mine is a fluke, and some were definitely packing higher power stock hardware. I read on Tom's a long time ago about a turbo charged model from Acer, but the review wasn't so impressive, not as to the base unit, but the difference between them. Oh yeah. I also run two monitors all the time at home. Couple three or four different ways to do it even, and it'll daisy-chain them. Three is the most I've ran at once, but it did it. I will borrow a newer game from someone and see how it does, and let you know. However, if I get poor results, give me a chance to do the clean install I've been meaning to do. I've got years of garbage piled up. Do you guys buy this? It's God's Honest Truth, and I don't use God's name to lie. Plus, I'm willing to supply proof, if anyone cares. Apparently I used software provided to gain almost 10Ghz in processor speed, unless FrankenDesign is correct? Somehow?
And I really need to start a journal! Sorry, Blog!
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