Is CPU overclocking safe, and if so, to what point?

Hello, I recently upgraded my desktop PC that I've been using for 4 years now. I put about $200 into it, and it is now capable of any task I throw at it. However, I did not change the CPU- it remains an Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.00 GHz. It seems to be bogging the whole system down from it's full potential, and upgrading it is way beyond my budget. So, I was wondering, is it ever safe to overclock a CPU, and if so, to what point?

desktop overclock cpu

asked Jan 24 at 18:14

MrNekopan
16●1●1●4

edited Jan 24 at 18:20

3 Answers:

oldest newest most voted

overclocking is generally not recommended by the manufacture and therefor it is not "safe."

but in practice many people don't have an issue with it these days.

you may be able to get a couple 100 extra MHz out of it, but your ram and hard drive will see to it that you don't notice a difference.

All overclocking does is makes the CPU be able to add x+y a little bit faster. but if x and y are in memory its like getting it mailed to you via snail mail, who cares if you speed up the adding by 100 ns when it takes 100ms to get the data from memory?

To be honest you don't see that much of a performance increase by overclocking anymore, reformat and install the OS from scratch, you should notice a performance boost.

answered Jan 24 at 20:02

trueb
14.9k●49●99●256

edited Jan 24 at 20:03

Ah, I see. I guess I'm completely out of luck- I upgraded from Windows Vista to 8 when I installed the new RAM/GPU.

(Jan 24 at 20:14) MrNekopan

0	You must count with a good cooling system otherwise you'll end up with a baked CPU, the over locking has limits to your CPU and it is not safe if you don't control the heat answered Jan 24 at 19:55 Juancastim135 400●29●37●43

Overclocking can indeed be very dangerous. However, if you do your homework and take the proper precautions the risk can be at least partially mitigated.

First things first, if your system is something like a Dell or an HP, or really any store bought PC, you will not be able to overclock, period. If you're still with me, now you should look at cooling. Overclocking with the stock heatsink and fan is a really bad idea. I would recommend at minimum a Cooler Master Hyper 212, either the Plus or Evo variants. One of those will only run you about $30US and they do a great job for the price. After that Google is your friend, search "core 2 duo overclocking" and start reading. The first 2 results are a good place to start. Once you've read and reread at least 2 separate guides you might be ready to start overclocking.

I hope this helps, just remember to take it slow, especially if you cannot afford to replace what you may break.

answered Jan 24 at 20:38

Vadrotan
116●3

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