Overclocking

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mux

mux

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I bought my gaming PC for a grand but it's about 4/5 years old now. I don't want to have to fork out for an expensive new system so was thinking of going down the overclocking route but I am a total amateur, can anyone give me any advice on where to start?

@HebburnMackem you seem to know your beans!
 


mux said:
I bought my gaming PC for a grand but it's about 4/5 years old now. I don't want to have to fork out for an expensive new system so was thinking of going down the overclocking route but I am a total amateur, can anyone give me any advice on where to start?

@HebburnMackem you seem to know your beans!
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Overclocking with stock coolers will give a few percent speed increase at most and slightly more with a better cooling solution.
You might be able to get a replacement graphics card for cheap which will give a MUCH bigger increase in speed.
Whats your system specs?
 
HebburnMackem said:
Overclocking with stock coolers will give a few percent speed increase at most and slightly more with a better cooling solution.
You might be able to get a replacement graphics card for cheap which will give a MUCH bigger increase in speed.
Whats your system specs?
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I'm at work at the moment, I'll post the specs when I get a chance. Is replacing the GPU a relatively simple task?
 
If you bought your PC from a PC World or similar, expect to have no overclocking options.

Anyway games are going away from CPU dependency in my experience, a new graphics card would be what you need. the only problem you might have is compatibility between your older system and a shiney new graphics card (depending on how old your rig is).
 
hypersonic said:
If you bought your PC from a PC World or similar, expect to have no overclocking options.

Anyway games are going away from CPU dependency in my experience, a new graphics card would be what you need. the only problem you might have is compatibility between your older system and a shiney new graphics card (depending on how old your rig is).
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I'll guess he's still PCIe 2.0 and an ATI HD 7850 would work well. Because cards can use older busses, don't fully use the new ones and have loads of onboard RAM you can sometimes get away with using a newer card on an older bus. It's what my nephew has done and what I'll do with my old system

@mux needs to link his full specs.
 
Not just full specs, need to know the exact make and model of the motherboard - that's vital.

And whether he's OC'ing for gaming or general performance (i.e. CPU or GPU).

For CPU, the motherboard and cooler are all-important. My 3.5Ghz 8 core is running totally stable at 4.4Ghz. Never got round to setting a permanent OC on my HD7870 though, even though its bound to have a good 10% headroom.
 
PTR said:
Not just full specs, need to know the exact make and model of the motherboard - that's vital.

And whether he's OC'ing for gaming or general performance (i.e. CPU or GPU).

For CPU, the motherboard and cooler are all-important. My 3.5Ghz 8 core is running totally stable at 4.4Ghz. Never got round to setting a permanent OC on my HD7870 though, even though its bound to have a good 10% headroom.
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Full specs include all of that information.

Easy tool here for the OP: http://www.techsupportforum.com/3240-how-to-find-your-full-system-specs-using-speccy-or-cpu-z/

Were recommending the OP upgrade his graphics card not overclocking.
 
Of course. But most people skip the motherboard even talking about specs.

And upgrading and overclocking are doesn't questions. Of course.
 
Overclocking can be a bit of a ballache to do properly (If you're trying to squeeze out maximum possible gains without causing instability). Replacing GPU is probably a safer bet and will lead to better performance gains overall.
 
supersesh said:
I really want to go into detail and tell you how to do it, but instead I'm gonna say upgrade your graphics card as it's a massive nightmare.
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I'm always looking for gainz mate... if that means a new graphics card then that'll do me ;)

HebburnMackem said:
I'll guess he's still PCIe 2.0 and an ATI HD 7850 would work well. Because cards can use older busses, don't fully use the new ones and have loads of onboard RAM you can sometimes get away with using a newer card on an older bus. It's what my nephew has done and what I'll do with my old system

@mux needs to link his full specs.
Click to expand...

First day off work tomorrow... I'll post them in the afternoon :)

Okay so hopefully this will give you a good idea...

Packard Bell iPower G5800
Intel Core i7 860 @2.80Ghz
8gb RAM
Windows 7 64bit
AMD Radeon HD 5570

@HebburnMackem @supersesh @Snappy @hypersonic @Walmo @PTR @FTMDan

mux said:
I'm always looking for gainz mate... if that means a new graphics card then that'll do me ;)



First day off work tomorrow... I'll post them in the afternoon :)

Okay so hopefully this will give you a good idea...

Packard Bell iPower G5800
Intel Core i7 860 @2.80Ghz
8gb RAM
Windows 7 64bit
AMD Radeon HD 5570

@HebburnMackem @supersesh @Snappy @hypersonic @Walmo @PTR @FTMDan
Click to expand...


And what do you think of this? Good for the price? My budget is around £100.

 
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Your CPU compared to others
You GFX card compared to others

All in all mate you got your pants pulled down a little when buying the pc.. but never mind.

Your cpu and ram is okay to get away with it, you need to upgrade graphics card for sure, and probably need to upgrade the PSU also (to power the more powerful graphics card)

I can't actually find out what the motherboard specs are... so not sure what g card is compatible with it. I'm guessing 2.0


£200 investment and you're back in the game.

supersesh said:
Your CPU compared to others
You GFX card compared to others

All in all mate you got your pants pulled down a little when buying the pc.. but never mind.

Your cpu and ram is okay to get away with it, you need to upgrade graphics card for sure, and probably need to upgrade the PSU also (to power the more powerful graphics card)

I can't actually find out what the motherboard specs are... so not sure what g card is compatible with it. I'm guessing 2.0


£200 investment and you're back in the game.
Click to expand...

First computer related topic I've covered in 9 months, quite enjoyed it :D
 
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supersesh said:
Your CPU compared to others
You GFX card compared to others

All in all mate you got your pants pulled down a little when buying the pc.. but never mind.

Your cpu and ram is okay to get away with it, you need to upgrade graphics card for sure, and probably need to upgrade the PSU also (to power the more powerful graphics card)

I can't actually find out what the motherboard specs are... so not sure what g card is compatible with it. I'm guessing 2.0


£200 investment and you're back in the game.



First computer related topic I've covered in 9 months, quite enjoyed it :D
Click to expand...

Cheers mate... how would I find this out? I can work out the PSU thing, I fitted a new one on my old machine a few years ago, but don't want to splash out on another GPU if it aint compatible :(
 
mux said:
Cheers mate... how would I find this out? I can work out the PSU thing, I fitted a new one on my old machine a few years ago, but don't want to splash out on another GPU if it aint compatible :(
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Ring a pc shop, quote your motherboard, ask if they have any graphcis cards in stock and will they fit, and you're interested in buying. They will do home work, give you answer, then buy cheap online ;)
 
Your CPU isn't that bad to be honest, but your GPU is very poor. You'll need not only a higher capacity PSU, but one that is better quality to be able to support a better graphics card.

You're faced with the issue where you'll be spending more on the system upgrade than that system is actually worth.
It would make more sense to save for a new system.

I'm having a hard time finding out which PCIe version it uses, so install GPU-Z here: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/
And let us know what number appears here:
Logon or register to see this image


We can take it from there.
 
HebburnMackem said:
Your CPU isn't that bad to be honest, but your GPU is very poor. You'll need not only a higher capacity PSU, but one that is better quality to be able to support a better graphics card.

You're faced with the issue where you'll be spending more on the system upgrade than that system is actually worth.
It would make more sense to save for a new system.

I'm having a hard time finding out which PCIe version it uses, so install GPU-Z here: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/
And let us know what number appears here:
Logon or register to see this image


We can take it from there.
Click to expand...

Sound advice from the boards best pc player.
 
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