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Blogs What is a 100 percent stable overclock?

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Sifter3000, 19 Feb 2009.

  1. Sifter3000

    Sifter3000 I used to be somebody

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  2. -Acid-

    -Acid- What's a Dremel?

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    100% stable overclock ....... on what part ?

    Should that not read a overclocked computer system that is 100% stable over a the users choice of tasks.

    Most folding/crunching overclocked rigs are 4/12 stable (down time is loss of Wu's) they tend to Oc lower due to wanting no down time.

    Gaming computers tend to be stable for a fixed amount of time ( few hours worth of gaming).

    Most people have different classes of what they call stable too.
    Linpack over all cores and fur mark covers most bases and are two of the most stressful test going atm.

    One thing that you havent mentioned is that many programs are not stable !!!!!! and we are not even getting into drivers.

    The Customs Pc media benchmark erm.... that's hardly a stress test its a benchmark test ( the name gives it away). It can run will failing cores and errors in memory fine (just not as well).

    This is almost as funny as the how to apply Tim post few days ago, good topic but not thought through.
     
  3. Tim S

    Tim S OG

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    Real applications are arguably the best stability tests out there. There's a lot of data being passed across the system buses with the media benchmarks and a 24 hour loop of it can pick up problems almost right across the system. The only part that doesn't get stressed by the media benchmark suite is the graphics subsystem.

    The important thing when determining stability is to combine a selection of applications and that is essentially the point Clive has made here.
     
  4. Psytek

    Psytek What's a Dremel?

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    "100% stable overclock ....... on what part ?

    Should that not read a overclocked computer system that is 100% stable over a the users choice of tasks.

    Most folding/crunching overclocked rigs are 4/12 stable (down time is loss of Wu's) they tend to Oc lower due to wanting no down time.

    Gaming computers tend to be stable for a fixed amount of time ( few hours worth of gaming). "

    The article would suggest that all parts should be 100% stable.
     
  5. Claave

    Claave You Rebel scum

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    "The Customs Pc media benchmark erm.... that's hardly a stress test"

    Actually, the Gimp and multitasking tests are system-wide tests and so really stress the Southbridge and I/O busses - many's the time an overclock has passed CPU-only soak tests only to fail in these as the Southbridge hasn't enough voltage or the FSB flakes out.
     
  6. specofdust

    specofdust Banned

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    There's no such thing as a 100% stable overclock. Even stable unclocked machines can crash given the right conditions. Everything is a matter of degree, how comfortable are you with your systems stability. The focus shouldn't be on zealous application of every benchmark and stress-test known to man, but rather on ensuring your system is stable enough for your needs and desires. I had my E6300 running at 3.3Ghz for a fair old while. Sure, I could run it at 3.0Ghz and probably not crash in years, and running it at 3.3 meant I suffered a crash every month or two - but so what? I got a slightly faster system which made me happy, and since I only ever gamed on it I never lost anything important in crashes. It was fine for me, and that's what counts.
     
  7. Nicb

    Nicb Let's discuss among ourselves

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    I like to keep my newly built computer at its manufactured settings when I first build it. Install everything I will use and let it run for a few months to see if there are any issues to begin with. Then later I begin overclocking, and tweak over time If need be. I might take 6 months to finish a "truly" stable overclock. If any overclock can be called that.
     
  8. crazybob

    crazybob Voice of Reason

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    I don't overclock, but I do undervolt, which has much the same effect on stability. My definition of a stable computer is exactly as strict as the article describes - if it crashes even a single time throughout its entire life, it's broken and needs fixed. It should not make any difference whether I'm running a distributed computing task, playing games, browsing the internet, or just letting the computer sit idle; if it crashes I will find the problem and fix it.

    I've never understood almost-stable overclocks, because dropping speeds by a few percent won't make a substantial impact on performance, but can make a huge difference to the appeal of using the computer. My current computer has crashed only a single time in the year and a half since I built it, and this was because of a video driver issue which I quickly resolved. That's the standard I hold my computers to, and even a monthly or bi-monthly crash seems like too much.
     
  9. brummie

    brummie brummie

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    never been able to pass that test at stock ever

    never been able to pass that test at stock ever, something is going wrong captain.

    brummie
     
  10. leexgx

    leexgx CPC hang out zone (i Fix pcs i do )

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    1-2 weeks stable seems best test for an overclock i am@ 3.83 and its stable (i think it is at 4ghz as well but its at 3.83 due to me trying to work out why only 1 program (game) was not stable (but it was not due to the OC) just never bothered to put it back to 4ghz as i only have 1 video card so 3.8ghz is overkill any way

    was trying to work out why Supreme Commander 2 stutters and takes my PC out (bit random some times video card would stop get blank screen still sound some times as TS still works for about 30secs when i guess system BSOD as the system reboots) this has done it on 2 New systems annoying me really as its Quite random but if i get 3 stutters 4th one is an crash, would love to know how to fix this as the system is fully stable apart from that one game (even when system is all stock settings)
     
  11. thehippoz

    thehippoz What's a Dremel?

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    yeah stability is a key thing in ocing.. you can go balls to the wall but it will usually suffer

    transfering a few hundred gigs over e-sata is a good stability test too.. I usually prime blend for a few hours- if it passes that then it's pretty stable

    [​IMG]

    got this rig running right now at 4.24ghz and so far looks good.. thing with prime is.. if you can pass blend on all cores it will be good enough to encode.. you want a rig you can leave on 24/7
     
    Last edited: 26 Sep 2010
  12. dvijaydev46

    dvijaydev46 What's a Dremel?

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    No stability test program is 100% accurate. You may be able to pass 10 hours of Kombustor test for <a href="http://mytechencounters.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/how-to-stress-test-your-gpu/">GPU stress testing</a> but crash immediately when loading a game. You have to use all apps at your disposal to ensure stability.
     
  13. vdbswong

    vdbswong It's a Hedgehod

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    Necro Much?
     

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