Overclocking is one of the best ways to increase performance without spending extra cash. With a little bit of tweaking, you are able to boost your performance.
This allows you to tackle heavy-duty tasks with ease. And the FPS whiles playing AAA title games are higher than ever. But, even with the performance gains and the difference it makes.
Here are the pros and cons of overclocking CPU or GPU.
What Is Overclocking?
Overclocking is making your CPU or GPU clock speeds run faster than its actual clock speed. Clock speed is the rate at which instructions are executed per second.
For example, a typical 8th generation Intel i7 8700k desktop processor has a clock speed of 3.7 GHz.
In addition to that, it’s able to boost its clock speeds up to 4.7 GHz. Overclocking this desktop processor is going to make it run faster than 4.7 GHz.
This allows more instructions to be executed per second leading to increased performance. CPUs and GPUs are not the only things you can overclock.
You can overclock your RAM and display. To be able to achieve overclocking you have to increase the amount of voltage used.
To simply put, you are going to overvolt it. You can’t overclock without increasing the voltage. The faster the engine runs the more fuel it burns. That’s just how things work.
Why Overclock?
To boost your performance!!! If you are the type who tends to use his laptop or desktop for intensive tasks like 3D rendering, AAA title gaming and video rendering.
You will benefit immensely from overclocking. You might also want the performance level to be equal to that of a higher end CPU or GPU.
For example, overclocking an NVIDIA graphics card in a laptop is going to give you an identical performance to a desktop GPU.
It might be that you are tech savvy and just want to enjoy the challenge of overclocking. Or you just want to see what the hardware is capable of.
Pros and Cons of Overclocking Your CPU or GPU
Pros
You might think that overclocking your CPU or GPU gives you several benefits. But, if you look at it objectively you will realise there are only two benefits.
Performance Gains
This is the greatest benefit overclocking your laptop or desktop gives you. This allows you to get inexpensive hardware and overclock to match the speed of high-end hardware.
That is if done right.
You also tend to benefit from the performance boost on intensive tasks. Tasks are completed much faster than when the hardware is not overclocked.
You Might Save Money
Overclocking allows inexpensive hardware to match the clock speeds of higher-end hardware.
What this means for you is that you can get a relatively cheap CPU, overclock and you are good to go. This saves you money.
And closes the gap between higher-end CPUs and lower to mid-end CPUs But, there is a catch and a reason for you might save you money.
Which we will explain in the disadvantages of overclocking.
Cons
Overheating
Increased performance and increased power consumption will always lead to high temperatures.
The more voltage and higher clock speed your GPU and CPU is fed and running at. The higher the temperature.
High temperatures are a big problem. They cause thermal throttling and can cause damage to the hardware.
You need a good cooling system to be able to take care of a large amount of heat being produced.
Or else the system is going to burn itself out or crash. You can check out the optimum temperatures of CPUs and GPUs under gaming.
Reduced Lifespan
Running at high clock speeds for long periods of time is not sustainable.
Because the amount of heat being produced will damage the hardware. Which in turn will reduce the lifespan. This means that if you are always going to overclock you will be buying a lot of inexpensive hardware.
Which is going to add up in cost not only in finances but time also. To avoid this you have to find the sweet spot of your device.
A good balance between temperature and clock speeds. This ensures that your system is not always under stress and the lifespan is not affected that much.
Is Overclocking Safe?
The higher the voltage and temperature the more overclocking becomes risky. Every system has a limit and when this limit is crossed instability occurs.
In the case of overclocking, instabilities come in the form of program or system crashes. Where the said program or system unexpectedly shutdowns.
This is a safety mechanism that has been triggered when voltage and temperature become too high. It can even happen when you have achieved a stable overclock.
There is always going to be the risk of your system crashing. Just like in undervolting and underclocking, you run the risk of your system not booting up if the voltage is low.
Software That Can Be Used For Overclocking
You can overclock your processor through the BIOS. But there is software that makes it easy to overclock your CPU and GPU.
In addition to overclocking, you can use this software to underclock, undervolt, and monitor the temperatures of your CPU and GPU.
They all have several functions that prove useful.
- MSI Afterburner
- Intel Extreme Tuning Utility
- EVGA Precision X
- AMD Overdrive
- CPU-Z and GPU-Z
- CPU Tweaker
- Sapphire Trixx Utility
Is Overclocking Worth It?
It depends on your situation. If you are an everyday user who does normal stuff. Overclocking might not be worth it.
But, if you stand to benefit from the increased performance in your everyday tasks or line of work.
Then, by all means, proceed to overclock. Although you must put the time and effort to overclock your hardware. The best part is that overclocking comes at no extra cost.
You must take a hard look at why you want to overclock and if overclocking will give you that extra edge.
For example, if you live in a place where the roads are bad getting a Toyota Camry doesn’t make sense. An SUV or 4×4 vehicle will be much suited.
That’s how overclocking works.
Whether overclocking is worth it or not depends on your situation. And if you stand to actually benefit from it. Overclocking is for those who always subject their laptops and desktops to intensive tasks.
Is Overclocking Dangerous?
Yes, if you don’t know what you are doing. By forcing your CPU, GPU or RAM to run at speeds higher they were meant to be you might destroy the components.
Aside from that, you need a good cooling system, knowledge in overclocking and if the component can be overclocked in the first place.
Is It Good To Overclock?
The main benefit of overclocking is let your CPU or GPU ran faster. However, they are some tradeoffs to this major benefits which have been explained in the cons.
Unless you won’t benefit from the increased speed of overclocking. There is no reason to do it.
Is Overclocking Safe?
Yes, overclocking is safe only if you follow the right procedures. It’s all about finding a good balance between temperatures and clock speeds.
You don’t want to cross the limit and damage your CPU or GPU. What you can do is that you slowly increase the voltage and clock speeds whilst monitoring the temperature.
Better still, you can consult guides on how to overclock. Several people have successfully overclocked their CPU, GPU and RAM.
The information on how to overclock is readily available and can be found on forums. Reddit is a good place to start.
Final Thoughts
You now know the risks, advantages and disadvantages associated with overclocking. This is will allow you to take a better stance on whether you should overclock or not.
