Overclocking a Core 2 Duo


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Aaron Finney
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Message 3266 - Posted 9 May 2007 11:08:15 UTC

I have a Core 2 Duo 6700, it is also Watercooled.

At a full load, the CPU never goes above 80°F.

Do you think it would be OK to overclock the CPU, or should I leave it at stock speed just to make sure that I don't get errors with the application on this project?
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j2satx
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Message 3267 - Posted 9 May 2007 13:22:59 UTC - in response to Message ID 3266 .

I have a Core 2 Duo 6700, it is also Watercooled.

At a full load, the CPU never goes above 80°F.

Do you think it would be OK to overclock the CPU, or should I leave it at stock speed just to make sure that I don't get errors with the application on this project?


I don't speak for the project, but I mildly over-clock several of my computers five percent. Doesn't seem to have any adverse effect.
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Rene
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Message 3268 - Posted 9 May 2007 14:46:24 UTC - in response to Message ID 3266 .

I have a Core 2 Duo 6700, it is also Watercooled.

At a full load, the CPU never goes above 80°F.

Do you think it would be OK to overclock the CPU, or should I leave it at stock speed just to make sure that I don't get errors with the application on this project?


Something to keep in mind while overclocking a CPU... ;-)

Stability and functional correctness

An overclocked component operates outside of the manufacturer's recommended operating conditions, and as such may operate incorrectly, leading to system instability. An unstable overclocked system, while it may work fast, can be frustrating to use. Another risk is silent data corruption—errors that are initially undetected. In general, overclockers claim that testing can ensure that an overclocked system is stable and functioning correctly. Although software tools are available for testing hardware stability, it is generally impossible for anyone but the processor manufacturer to thoroughly test the functionality of a processor. A particular "stress test" can verify only the functionality of the specific instruction sequence used in combination with the data and may not detect faults in those operations. For example, an arithmetic operation may produce the correct result but incorrect flags; if the flags are not checked, the error will go undetected. Achieving good fault coverage requires immense engineering effort, and despite all the resources dedicated to validation by manufacturers, mistakes can still be made. To further complicate matters, in process technologies such as silicon on insulator, devices display hysteresis—a circuit's performance is affected by the events of the past, so without carefully targeted tests it is possible for a particular sequence of state changes to work at overclocked speeds in one situation but not another even if the voltage and temperature are the same. Often, an overclocked system which passes stress tests experiences "inexplicable" instabilities in other programs.

Many overclockers, however, are satisfied with perceived stability; while their system may operate incorrectly, the errors may not be overtly apparent to the user. In overclocking circles, "stress tests" or "torture tests" are used to check for correct operation of a component. These workloads are selected as they put a very high load on the component of interest (e.g. a graphically-intensive application for testing video cards, or a processor-intensive application for testing processors). Popular stress tests include Prime95, Super PI, SiSoftware Sandra, BOINC and Memtest86. The hope is that any functional-correctness issues with the overclocked component will show up during these tests, and if no errors are detected during the test, the component is then deemed "stable". Since fault coverage is important in stability testing, the tests are often run for long periods of time, hours or even days.


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Profile Andre Kerstens
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Message 3278 - Posted 12 May 2007 21:21:24 UTC - in response to Message ID 3267 .

Give it a try, but if you get an exorbitant number of invalid results, blame it on the overclocking first ;-)

Thanks
Andre

I have a Core 2 Duo 6700, it is also Watercooled.

At a full load, the CPU never goes above 80°F.

Do you think it would be OK to overclock the CPU, or should I leave it at stock speed just to make sure that I don't get errors with the application on this project?


I don't speak for the project, but I mildly over-clock several of my computers five percent. Doesn't seem to have any adverse effect.


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Memo
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Message 3289 - Posted 13 May 2007 7:11:47 UTC - in response to Message ID 3266 .

I have a Core 2 Duo 6700, it is also Watercooled.

At a full load, the CPU never goes above 80°F.

Do you think it would be OK to overclock the CPU, or should I leave it at stock speed just to make sure that I don't get errors with the application on this project?


well go ahead, that is one of the reason we validate the results sent to us, that way you can benefit from that too :)
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Message boards : Number crunching : Overclocking a Core 2 Duo

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