Ableton Forum

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.

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).

thanks for your comments, appreciated.

g.

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

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