Overclocking

[scon]

I am using a HP pavilion 3.0GhZ and I was thinking about overclocking. How far do you think i could go with out having to buy extra cooling stuff. i.e. do you think I could get to 3.2 on a default box

Regards, Scott

[benwynn]

Hi Scon,

If you dont want to be spending extra money, Dont do it at all. If you over clock with not enough Power Supply, you could end up with a power supply giving less than its worth. ie Only 300watt instead of 400watt.

[brownbox]

overclocking is perfectly fine to me, aslong as you know what to do, how to do it, and where to stop.
Most people who overclock (gaming people) would upgrade their computers 2-4 years at the most. An overclocked component can last well beyond that anyway (with correct cooling, etc), so I dont see the problem

[lowellyerex]

I don't have any experience overclocking brand name boxes, but I suspect that they are deliberately not overclock friendly, i.e. the BIOS may not allow the necessary changes, or may greatly restrict them. Overclockers build systems around motherboards that are designed with overclocking in mind, and allow fine adjustments of a number of different parameters.

Anyway, the first thing we need to know is exactly what model processor is in your computer? At 3GHz, I'm guessing it's an Intel Pentium. For Intel processors you can use the Intel Processor Identification Utility from here

Out of interest, I have a second box with a 3GHz P4 540 running easily at 3.44GHz. It has an air cooler, but it is a more efficient cooler than the stock cooler.