Although it's been a while since we've published an issue specifically themed around overclocking, every month when it comes to reviews, we overclock every piece of hardware that we can. Overclocking is so central to what we do at CPC that when our sister magazine, 'PC Pro', recently asked me to write a short piece answering the question 'Why overclock?', I was, for a moment, completely flummoxed and didn't know where to begin.
The idea that someone wouldn't be overclocking, or even considering it, seemed a bit strange, especially as the o-word is so mainstream now. When Nvidia announced the launch of the GeForce 7900 GS at the start of the month, every card we were sent by the partners - BFG, EVGA and XFX - was already overclocked. When Nvidia launched its nForce 590 SLI chipset, overclocking was one of its key features. Overclocking is also the main reason why there's such a huge variety of memory available, as you can see from our Labs test this month (see p72).
Still, as anyone who has seen a copy of 'Heat' knows, there's a world of difference being popular and being worthwhile. For 'PC Pro', I could think of three reasons to overclock: firstly, it's easier than ever before. Even a swish-looking small form factor case such as the Shuttle SD372P2 (see p40) has overclocking options in its BIOS, and both ATi and Nvidia provide integrated, easy-to-access overclocking tools in their driver software.
Secondly, overclocking allows for tangible and worthwhile performance gains. Check out the difference in frame rates between MSI's GeForce 7900 GT (see p48), clocked at reference speeds and the super-overclocked EVGA GeForce 7900GT Signature Series from last month (see Issue 37, p54) - the EVGA is nearly 25 per cent quicker in F.E.A.R. at 1,680 x 1,050. This month, we reviewed both AMD and Intel's cheapest dual-core CPUs, the £100 Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (see p45) and the £130 Core 2 Duo E6300 (see p46). Both CPUs are off-the-shelf products from YoYoTech, so they aren't cherry-picked review samples, and both are tremendous overclockers. With the right motherboard, you can push these CPUs to performance levels that match or exceed CPUs costing four or five times more.
While there's no price better than 'free', and no amount of required effort that's better than 'little', there's another reason for overclocking that I find the most appealing. Getting a good overclock requires time and patience, but it also involves prying open your PC and learning how it works - how the clock speeds are created, how the settings for each component affect each other, and how temperature and voltage limit their capabilities.
There's a lot to be said for this kind of tinkering and overclocking, especially since we're so often encouraged by content protection systems and legal efforts - such as the American DMCA (which makes it illegal, among other things, to circumvent DRM) - to be nothing more than passive consumers of technology, patiently waiting for the next nicely packaged upgrade. Plus, faster frame rates in games are always nice too.
Author: Alex Watson
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