What is overclocking ?

[forest]

I curently dont know a lot about overclocking and am interested in learning more about it. I currently am thinking about building a new pc and am not sure if im going to go AMD athlon 64 or Intell. Some things i have heard say that AMD PCs, the memory cant be overclocked, Is this true. When looking at RAM online i see regular 400MHz ram and then a section of DDR2 and overclocking DDR. What does all this stuff mean. Can regular 400MHZ ram be overclocked and DDR2 ram is it already overclocked and canot be overclocked any more ? Then Overclocking DDR is it just regulary DDR that is overclocked or is it DDR2?
If someone could just explaine the different kinds of ram and how they are used and waht kind can be overclocked and what kind is already overclocked i would really apprciate it. :confused:
If someone could please help me to understand alll of this i would really apprciate it !!! :)

[grazzhoppa]

In all truthfullness, overclocking is overhyped. The amount of extra money you spend to get performance parts and cooling, you could have upgraded a few key parts of the system. If you're a smart shopper, you don't have to overclock to get great performance for the money you put into the computer.

Overclocking as (an expensive) hobby is another story. If you have the money to buy parts that can overclock and money to re-buy parts that broke...go ahead. It's definately one of the more expensive hobbies out there...not to mention half the people that do it get the money from their parents, if you know what I mean.

Now to answer your questions. DDR and DDR2 are different types of ram. Just like how the older EDO or SDRAM is different from DDR. DDR2 is not overclocked DDR ram. DDR ram has limits on how fast it will go, and DDR2 is another type of ram that has higher limits. That's why you'll generally see DDR2 ram rated at higher speeds than DDR. No ram is "already overclocked." You have a lot to learn about the basics of how a computer works, at least it sounds like you do.

[djbbenn]

Nice post there grazzhoppa, I like the how you said most get the money from their parents.

But for overclocking, there is to much to say in one of these threads. A lot dpends on how much you want to overclock. Like people who want at least a 250 fsb will get some ram like PC4000 due to its 250 fsb. You have to match components to what you want them to do. Certain cpu's will overclock better than others. Same with ram. Good ram is a key to a good overclock, aswell with cooling. When you see DDR mem it shows it doubled. So with PC3200, which runs at 400MHz is actully 200MHz (the same as a stock fsb except for the new intels with 1066fsb) So as you oc your cpu the ram fsb goes up to. Thats how deviders come into it. When you get to high of a fsb for the ram you set a devider so the cpu can go higher with the fsb then the ram. Ram is usally your limiting factor to a stable oc. Thats why some ram like PC4000 will do better because it has a 250 fsb stock. As grazzhoppa said theres a lot to learn. You should go to google and look up overclcking and start reading. Thats how I learnt what I know. Never the less if you don't know what your doing when you start to overclock, your going to do damage. Then you hope you have very nice parents or a big pocket of you own. :D

-Dan

[wtf8269]

In all truthfullness, overclocking is overhyped. The amount of extra money you spend to get performance parts and cooling, you could have upgraded a few key parts of the system. If you're a smart shopper, you don't have to overclock to get great performance for the money you put into the computer.

I'm sorry but I must disagree with this, I spent $30 on an aftermarket cpu cooler, and my cpu is nearly as fast as an FX55, which is almost tripple the price of my processor. So I'd say I saved some money. :p However, you're right sometimes it is overpriced. Like situations where people will spend $150 on a water cooling kit and overclock 200mhz or so when they could put that $150 towards a new processor. In addition though, people that have older hardware and want to keep up with newer technology will often overclock. Such as overclocking a 2000+ Athlon XP and spending $50 or so on cooling. Where $50 would be a whole lot cheaper than buying a whole new system.

[DanTheBanjoman]

Watercooling isn't only for the overclocker, it's also for people who prefer a silent system. And you can carry your watercooling kit over to your net system most of the time, perhaps swapping the CPU block. Making it less expensive than it seems.

Though to answer the main topic question: Overclocking is running hardware out of specs. Hardware is rated for certain speeds,overclocking it means you'll run it faster than rated. In fact you can also underclock hardware to make it consume less energy which can be interesting as well.

But like grazzhoppa said, you should first know the basics of a computer, you want to know what you're doing. Do some homework on things like FSB (front side bus), multiplier, latency (CAS), operating temperatures, common artefacts/problems, and ofcourse technologies like DDR.

[wtf8269]

Watercooling isn't only for the overclocker, it's also for people who prefer a silent system. And you can carry your watercooling kit over to your net system most of the time, perhaps swapping the CPU block. Making it less expensive than it seems.
Yeah, good point. I forgot about that.

[djbbenn]

Watercooling for silent operations...thats what I am trying to get across to my mom. She always complains about my computer being to noisy. So I am try to convice her to get me some water for my system. To overclock of course...no wait silent operation ;)

-Dan

[wtf8269]

Watercooling for silent operations...thats what I am trying to get across to my mom. She always complains about my computer being to noisy. So I am try to convice her to get me some water for my system. To overclock of course...no wait silent operation ;)

-Dan
Haha, mines like a frickin shop vac. Five LED Smart Fans and a Venus 12. I'll have to take a new video sometime.

I made this one video last summer with my friend; we hooked a Dremel up to a case fan by putting a nail in the Dremel and hot gluing the head of the nail to the fan. We calculated it was doing about 360cfm thanks to the Dremel's 30,000rpm. :D (30/2,500=.012 .012*30,000=360)

[djbbenn]

Lmoa...thats what you call being boarded. :D

-Dan

[bim27142]

wow?! ive seen a lot of "forest" posts around here?!

[DanTheBanjoman]

K, ïll make it really short:

Overclocking is running hardware above specifications.