Is overclocking a worthy choice?

[captaink22]

Hi all,

I am new here and have been reading this forum with great interest for a couple days now. Thanks to great reviews at [H]OCP and from Sunwolf Enemy and Scoobysti87, I have decided to order an F-131 system with an Intel Core 2 Duo but I have a couple of question.

1. Is it worth overclocking the CPU and GPU?
2. What is the general opinion with regard to the TV tuners?

Thanks for your thoughts.

[TallWhiteDude]

I want to start off by being the first to :welcome: you to the boards.

Now to your questions. I believe it is so worth it to find a company that can overclock your pc. I personally haven't bought a computer since my maingear purchase in 2003 but I had mine overclocked. What I liked about it was this, I was able to purchase a cpu chip for a cheaper price then the highest end products, but with the overclocking was able to perform just as well. Im not as computer savvy as I would like to be, but i definitely know when I am getting a good deal.

And sorry I know nothing about TV tuners so I cant help you there. haha

[captaink22]

TallWhiteDude,

Thanks for your reply and I apologize for neglecting to acknowledge your strong endorsement of Maingear. I figured overclocking was worthwhile as well. I just wasn't sure what Maingears track record was like. I generally do the oc'ing myself but, why not let the pros do it? Thanks again.

[Sunwolf Enemy]

I chose to avoid overclocking for a few reasons:

1) While I have all faith in Maingear's tech support, the best system is one that doesn't need it. To date, mine has performed without a hitch. My #1 priority was a computer that performed flawlessly; benchmarks were not as important.

2) I like heat. Due to building dynamics and personal preferences, my home is usually pretty warm.

3) I game....lots. My computer gets more use than most; see #1 above.

That being said, were I ever to consider overclocking, I'd certainly feel confident that Maingear would get the job done right.

[RottynDawg]

I was going to post this same question so after seeing your post, I decided to spend a few hours reading up on the topic. I'll try to keep this fairly short but I did a lot of reading and may end up rambling :)

I have never overclocked in my life for the same reasons that Sunwolf Enemy lists. Overclocking is much more mainstream than it was even five years ago and some vendors sell complete systems that are overclocked and still have full warranties; as you know from purchasing an F-131. That leads me to believe that if done right, it isn't necessarily any harder on the hardware which is the biggest reason I've always avoided it. Based on the reading I did tonight, the Core 2 Duo chips are just insane when it comes to overclocking. Even the cheapest one overclocks easily by 50%. I saw that number and thought, fine...but what does that mean to me in the real world when I'm logging into EQ2 and nerding out for the evening? I can't do justice to the myriad of reviews out there so I suggest a quick Google but suffice it to say that it makes a significant difference. That being said, even the low end E6300 duo beats all previous Intel chips and most AMD chips in bench marks...at stock speeds. I didn't read up on GPU overclocking so I will leave that for others because I got too caught up in reading about CPU overclocking :) I've never used a TV tuner either so I'm useless there as well.

Enjoy the new system...those F-131s look amazing!

[Mikebot]

I'm a huge fan of overclocking, personally. I've overclocked my AMD 4000+ by over 500mhz, and both my graphics cards are overclocked by 90mhz. Heat is not an issue as long as the system is stable, though obviously it helps to use good cooling. It's just a value thing. Why spend $1000 on an E6800 at 2.9ghz when you can get an E6600 that can be overclocked well past 3.0ghz?

Maingear doesn't list their overclocks, but I imagine they'd tell you if you inquired. When you've got a warranty behind the system, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't take advantage of the overclocking to get more performance out of your rig, especially since Maingear does it at no extra charge.

[HCA]

When you've got a warranty behind the system, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't take advantage of the overclocking to get more performance out of your rig, especially since Maingear does it at no extra charge.

I couln't agree more. I don't know why a person wouldn't want to squeeze more power from the hardware. 8)

[M@xiMuS]

These guys definitely know what they are doing...They won't overclock your pc just to say that they overclock pcs...They will advise you personally during your configuration if it is worth while or not, depending on your purchase. They'll tell you exactly what you'll need to have done to attain a stable overclocked system that is fully backed up by their warranty. They have the knowledge if you pick their brains a bit.

[captaink22]

Thanks for all the input. Ordered the system with an E6600 Core 2 Duo with the overclocking option. Also chose to overclock the GPU. Will update with the overclocked results. :P