# Overclock or not?



## mscp (Jan 9, 2020)

Does overclock bring headaches or is it something I must be doing in my sample machines? Curious...


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## rgames (Jan 9, 2020)

Absolutely overclock! Intel doesn't have time to figure out what the max achievable frequency is on every chip they make so they guarantee a minimum and let you figure out the max. There are a billion (or so...) YT videos on how to do it but basically you keep adjusting the "multiplier" and Vcore (core voltage) in the BIOS while keeping an eye on tempartures through something like HWMonitor or some other free app. What is a good temp and/or voltage will depend on the processor but there are another billion or so references that can give you guidance specific to your chip.

It takes an hour or so but can greatly increase your processing power and real-time performance, so definitely do it.

Detractors say that it decreases the life of a chip, and that's true, but unless you're running 80%+ CPU usage 24 hours a day then you'll never notice. I've been overclocking for decades and have never had a chip die. If you're a composer/producer running a few machines they get replaced long before they die. If you're running 500 machines in some kind of server setup then yeah, longevity is an issue.

And unless you're doing something crazy like liquid nitrogen cooling then you really can't damage the chip. It'll protect itself by crashing. Then you reboot, drop the multiplier, and try again.

rgames


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## Damarus (Jan 9, 2020)

Just to add to @rgames' great points - Definitely overclock. Not every chip is exactly the same. So you might find a video or a resource that shows your chip overclocked to X.X Ghz, but yours can't - or maybe it does even better.

More Vcore voltage = more heat. Strive to find a good balance of clock speed and heat.

For example, my 7700k is stable at 4.8ghz at nearly stock vCore voltage. But in order to get it to 5.0ghz I have to increase the vCore significantly. To me, the extra heat is not worth the 200mhz in performance.

Lots of people still using 10 year old processors overclocked like they are brand new.


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## easyrider (Jan 11, 2020)

Phil81 said:


> Does overclock bring headaches or is it something I must be doing in my sample machines? Curious...



Depends on the platform, the chipset, and the chip.

What is you spec?


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## mscp (Jan 11, 2020)

easyrider said:


> Depends on the platform, the chipset, and the chip.
> 
> What is you spec?



MASTER: i9 9900K
SLAVE: i7 7700K


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## easyrider (Jan 11, 2020)

Phil81 said:


> MASTER: i9 9900K
> SLAVE: i7 7700K



I had a 9900k before I moved to Ryzen 3900x

I managed 5ghz all cores on a Corsair 280mm AIO.


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## Ronny D. Ana (Jan 31, 2020)

Does overclocking lower the ASIO latency significantly?


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## mscp (Jan 31, 2020)

Ronny D. Ana said:


> Does overclocking lower the ASIO latency significantly?



Not on my i9 9900k - it didn't.


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## rgames (Jan 31, 2020)

Ronny D. Ana said:


> Does overclocking lower the ASIO latency significantly?


For modern processors generally not. They're already fast enough for DAW use. But if you do any kind strenuous processing where CPU usage hits 100% then it helps. I do it to speed up video rendering.

It sometimes made a difference back when clock speeds were around the 4 GHz mark. Over 4 GHz seems to be the point where the returns diminish quickly.

3 GHz to 4 GHz makes a big difference for DAW use. 4 GHz to 5 GHz doesn't seem to make much difference. Not that I've seen, anyway.

The truth is that any recent-vintage CPU is good enough for DAW use straight out of the box with everything stock.

rgames


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## composerguy78 (Jul 18, 2020)

rgames said:


> Absolutely overclock! Intel doesn't have time to figure out what the max achievable frequency is on every chip they make so they guarantee a minimum and let you figure out the max. There are a billion (or so...) YT videos on how to do it but basically you keep adjusting the "multiplier" and Vcore (core voltage) in the BIOS while keeping an eye on tempartures through something like HWMonitor or some other free app. What is a good temp and/or voltage will depend on the processor but there are another billion or so references that can give you guidance specific to your chip.
> 
> It takes an hour or so but can greatly increase your processing power and real-time performance, so definitely do it.
> 
> ...


Hi RGames,
Is Overclocking as simple as making this setting in my BIOS (see pic linked here) and leaving it? Or do I need to overclock the RAM as well? Do I need to make other adjustments?


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## Pictus (Jul 18, 2020)

"Overclock" is not the right word anymore because the CPU overclock it self automatically.
But automatically may not be optimum, by doing manually you may get less heat and/or more speed.
What we must take in consideration is to respect the limits and not go to the edge.
Each CPU is different...
Here seems like I got luck with my Ryzen 5 3600, it is working with all cores locked
at 4.2GHz but with lower MAX voltage of +- MAX 1.75








Gearspace.com - View Single Post - AMD Ryzen 3000 series


Post 14858193 -Forum for professional and amateur recording engineers to share techniques and advice.



www.gearslutz.com


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## JohnG (Jul 18, 2020)

rgames said:


> 3 GHz to 4 GHz makes a big difference for DAW use. 4 GHz to 5 GHz doesn't seem to make much difference.



I think some of the libraries I'm using @rgames do seem to benefit from > 4.x GHz. Mostly the heavy patches in orchestral strings libraries.

*Big Buffer*

I'm still finding I have to use a 512 buffer on my PCs. I am not quite sure why and am rather envious of people posting 64 or 128. 

I could speculate about why; I do write a lot of divisi, with a lot of libraries going at once, often with more than one mic position. Plus I suspect there is a lot of scripting on some of the libraries.

But not complaining. It's great to write with these amazing libraries.


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## composerguy78 (Jul 18, 2020)

Pictus said:


> "Overclock" is not the right word anymore because the CPU overclock it self automatically.
> But automatically may not be optimum, by doing manually you may get less heat and/or more speed.
> What we must take in consideration is to respect the limits and not go to the edge.
> Each CPU is different...
> ...


Thank you Pictus but I don’t really understand your answer. Does this mean I don’t need to change the setting in the screenshot? My main concern is that I might do some damage by applying that 4.4 Ghz setting. Is there any risk to applying that setting?


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## Pictus (Jul 19, 2020)

composerguy78 said:


> Thank you Pictus but I don’t really understand your answer. Does this mean I don’t need to change the setting in the screenshot? My main concern is that I might do some damage by applying that 4.4 Ghz setting. Is there any risk to applying that setting?



You are welcome.
4.4GHz means nothing...
You mainly have to respect the max temperature/voltages.
HWiNFO64 is your friend https://www.hwinfo.com/download/

Different parties mention different limits for AMD Ryzen...
Nowadays I decided to follow TSMC that alleged mentioned that for 24/7 100% CPU workload
for all cores, the temperature is 75º and voltages are 1.285-1.3V for 7mm Ryzen 3000 series.
If it is less workload, if it is not all cores, if it is not 75º the limits will be different, less restricted.
AMD configured all that into the AGESA/BIOS and if the motherboard manufacturer did not mess
with the values, or the user....


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