Geek Question - Overclocking

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gavgrant
Posts: 88
Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2008 1:02 pm

Geek Question - Overclocking

Post by gavgrant » Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:33 am

Hi chaps,

Running a Q6600 Quad, fairly old processor i know but never a problem to date, with CPU usage being minimal running multiple tracks, effects etc.

I have it overlcocked by 20% at the moment, windows load up, general usage being slightly faster.

My question is, would Ableton (or i suppose DAW's in general) benefit from (if any?) form overclocking? Track load up times etc???

Not too clued up on overclocking tbh :-)

Any comments appreciated,

cheers
G.
MacBook Pro 8GB RAM (2011), Presonus Firebox, Remote 49 SL Compact, APC40
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naph
Posts: 257
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2007 4:38 pm

Re: Geek Question - Overclocking

Post by naph » Wed Oct 27, 2010 2:34 pm

theorically, it will benefit
practically, it's a matter of finding out if the benefit is really noticeable.

20% overclock could at the very best mean a 15-20% track count on full load, so if your current setup allows you to play 30-40vst tracks, you could possibily get 5-10 tracks more before having dropout, or if e.g rendering a project takes around 2 minutes, the rendering project could drop by some 10 - 20 seconds.

I'm really really sceptical about the fact you can notice something like a faster load up time, or a snappier interface or whatever. Many of these aspects are more associated with ram / disk, rather than with raw cpu power.

also, you really want to keep an eye on your cpu temperature, i wouldn't let it to get too high, and keep it mind that this practice could in the long temr shorten the life of your cpu / mobo / ram, expecially if you overvolt to keep the cpu / ram stable at a higher clock. so get a proper cooling.

Actually, i was a lot into overcloking years ago, but i still think it's more of a benchmark thing, with little impact on daily use, and leaving you afraid of having your machine up 24/7 (which for for me is way more relevant).

gavgrant
Posts: 88
Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2008 1:02 pm

Re: Geek Question - Overclocking

Post by gavgrant » Thu Oct 28, 2010 8:29 am

thanks for your comments, appreciated.

g.
MacBook Pro 8GB RAM (2011), Presonus Firebox, Remote 49 SL Compact, APC40
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Parametex
Posts: 438
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:34 pm

Re: Geek Question - Overclocking

Post by Parametex » Thu Oct 28, 2010 11:39 am

I OC'd my six 980x 2.4GHz cores to over 4GHz per core ... Yes it is very noticeable. Very.

gavgrant
Posts: 88
Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2008 1:02 pm

Re: Geek Question - Overclocking

Post by gavgrant » Thu Oct 28, 2010 11:55 am

I have been reading up on it and can see, based on my DDR2-800 (PC6400) memory, I can overclock to a maximum of 3.6ghz. i.e. 9 x 400mhz.

But I think i'm going to stick to a safe 3.2ghz. definitely an improvement from 2.4 :-)
MacBook Pro 8GB RAM (2011), Presonus Firebox, Remote 49 SL Compact, APC40
LIVE Suite 8.3

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