Overclocking - it's definately worth it

[ArjenVdv 190]

After playing FSX for a few minutes and then immediately opening FSX showed that my CPU temp is about 57-60C.What I'm worried about is that the heat is gonna destroy my pc within a year or so.And when playing FSX, the CPU is not under 100% load. Under 100% load (I ran a test) the temps are about 80-85C, that's something to worry about... But luckily FSX doesn't use 100% of the CPU (I think).

[Wynthorpe 51]

60 degrees is no problem at all! Do not worry, start to worry at 80 plus ;) Whats your vCore etc?

[wanabflyer 53]

After playing FSX for a few minutes and then immediately opening FSX showed that my CPU temp is about 57-60C.What I'm worried about is that the heat is gonna destroy my pc within a year or so.And when playing FSX, the CPU is not under 100% load. Under 100% load (I ran a test) the temps are about 80-85C, that's something to worry about...But luckily FSX doesn't use 100% of the CPU (I think).

You sound a lot like me. I get very nervous about temps too. When you read some of the threads in the various forums here, your temps look cool. I have to say though that still if you are below that 70c you are probably ok, but like i said, i am not 100% familier with your cpu.Some people would say to me, why are you only at 4.4Ghz on a 2600k? Because thats 'my' comfort zone.

[martin-w 3,234]

After playing FSX for a few minutes and then immediately opening FSX showed that my CPU temp is about 57-60C.What I'm worried about is that the heat is gonna destroy my pc within a year or so.And when playing FSX, the CPU is not under 100% load. Under 100% load (I ran a test) the temps are about 80-85C, that's something to worry about...But luckily FSX doesn't use 100% of the CPU (I think).

57-60 is fine. Shouldn't be any major degradation at all. You can knock ten degrees off that temperature if you disable hyper threading. If you test with the Intel Burn Test [Linpack] it's great for stress testing, to check for stability, but not necessarily for temperature. It doesn't generate a realistic temperature you would be likely to see in everyday use. Prime is better for that. I presume you are monitoring temps with Real temp? 80-85 is the upper limit, so as long as you aren't seeing that temperature in everyday use, you are within the safe limits. Beyond that temp, continually and degradation becomes an consideration, and above, you star to enter the throttling zone. I'd definitely disable HT though, and save that 10 degrees. Martin Wilby

[ESzczesniak 128]

Just adding more experience to the fire for overclocking. I have an i7-920 which is a little out dated now, but not bad. I had originally clocked to 3.50 GHz, but hadn't gone further. I was babying the CPU a little since I didn't want to burn it out. With the new i7's out, I still don't want to burn out my CPU, but there are good upgrade options if I do now. So I went ahead and raised the clock from 3.50 to 3.78 GHz. A reasonable change, but not necessarily huge. I then loaded up the NGX at FSDT's PHNL (+UT2 at 90%, REX, GEX, etc). This was my previous hard hitter for some reason and previously I would get 11-13 fps at the gate (it was an oddity, most places I got 18-19 fps with heavy ground add ons). Now I get 23-24 fps at PHNL and will be testing other situations to see what happened there. Eric Szczesniak

[DylanC 181]

Hello, A few days ago I got my new motherboard (MSI P55-GD85), because I couldn't overclock my old one. My CPU is an i7 860 @ 2.8 GHz.This MSI motherboard is very useful, because you only have to change the CPU base clock in the BIOS, and it automaticly adjusts the CPU VCore for you to the optimum setting.In this way, I already overclocked to 4 GHz, with a Scythe Mugen 2 Rev B CPU Cooler. With FSX running, it's about 50C. That's pretty good in my opinion. And now the performance: WIth the CPU at stock speed, I could run Aerosoft Schiphol and the NGX at about 12-15 fps with almost maxed out scenery, 50% traffic.Now with the CPU on 4GHz, I can run this at 20-23 fps on even higher settings! And that all cost me about 220 euros. So if you're thinking about overclocking and/or buying a new motherboard, I can tell you, it's definately worth it!I highly recommend the MSI motherboards, because they are very good to overclock. Don't do it with the stock cooler though! Happy flying,

Don't forget to set AffinityMask to 14 in FSX.cfg. You'll see a marked perfomance increase when you do.

[THRUSTER57 0]

Hello if overclocking is so good why dont the makers do it for us...? mine is smooth 30-33 fps in the vc at a orbx airport, what would i gain?thanksjames

[THRUSTER57 0]

[martin-w 3,234]

Hello if overclocking is so good why don't the makers do it for us...?

Because the manufacturer, has to take into consideration that all systems are different. The manufacturer of the chip, hasn't a clue if you are using the rubbish stock cooler, or a fancy water cooling loop. The manufacturer of the chip, also hasn't a clue if you have a high airflow case, or have everything jammed into a HTPC case. The manufacturer isn't going to sell you a super overclocked chip that generates tons of heat, becuse the majority of cooling systems out there aren't built for it. There's also the issue of chip variability. CPU's are speed binned. basically the slower chips are placed in one bin, and the faster and thermally efficient chips in another. Thats how the manufacturer determines whether the chip should be a faster or slower variant of the architecture. Therefore, the manufcaturer, in a way, is selling you an overclocked CPU when he sells you a more expensive variant of the architecture. But of course, it won't have the frequncy set as high as an overcloker would set, and the chip itself would be good for higher frequnces with minmal volatge increse. Martin Wilby

[Lusche 3]

my goal is to keep the temp below 75°C with 30°C ambient tempbut I would never go above 80°C for CPU temp ... if you keep it below your cpu will live a long life ...keeping the temp at or below 50°C with 100% load is just a waste of performance

[wanabflyer 53]

my goal is to keep the temp below 75°C with 30°C ambient tempbut I would never go above 80°C for CPU temp ... if you keep it below your cpu will live a long life ...keeping the temp at or below 50°C with 100% load is just a waste of performance

Yes but i think, as far as average temps when running FSX are concerned, 50-60c is a sensible target. you have to have a safety factor IMHO and don't forget that just because you can get your cpu up to 5Ghz (or whatever) and still have below threashold temps, doesn't mean you have a stable overclock. Especially when it comes to FSX and probably NGX.

[Lusche 3]

60°C is ok ... but with 50°C its 30°C safety buffer and 50°C buffer to death :) edit:ah you are talking about fsx temps ... yes the temps with fsx is lower than with prime95 ...I'm talking about max stress test temp @ 75°C with prime95 (usually you wont reach this temp even with heavy gaming) ... ~60°C for fsx sounds right for me that way :)but I thought I read something about 50°C and max load which is way in the green zone ... with stock cooler you will get higher temps without OC on idle

[wanabflyer 53]

60°C is ok ... but with 50°C its 30°C safety buffer and 50°C buffer to death :) edit:ah you are talking about fsx temps ... yes the temps with fsx is lower than with prime95 ...I'm talking about max stress test temp @ 75°C with prime95 (usually you wont reach this temp even with heavy gaming) ... ~60°C for fsx sounds right for me that way :)but I thought I read something about 50°C and max load which is way in the green zone ... with stock cooler you will get higher temps without OC on idle

Under load, I agree with you. My max temp on Prime95 when i overclocked was 70c.

[THRUSTER57 0]

How can you tell what temp you machine is running at (IS THERE AN APP),as i said when having ngx and orbx running my fan comes on big time does that mean my computer will not last long?IT IS AN OFF THE SHELF SYSTEM.thanksjames,

[Lusche 3]

I use 'CPUID Hardware Monitor' for temps ... there are way more progs, but I find this pretty good and its free ...And usually if you don't deactivate it in the BIOS intel cpus wont die from overheating since Pentium 4 ... they have a build in thermal protection to prevent death (it will just clock down to prevent damage)At least I havn't killed one since P4 ...