When is an overclock stable ?

[FaTs]

I'm in a bit of a moral bind here. I've never claimed an overclock that wasn't stable before. (Expect for when i first said my tbird 1.4 could do 1733, but i fixed that with a new PSU). But my duron 1g which i use as a work system, i've been running it @ 185 x 7.5 (1400) for a few days now without a hich looping 3Dmark ect.

One of our P4 systems failed this morning and i gave up my pc as a temp replacment. Now enough BS, the accounting software truned my previously "stable" overclock to something that ran more like a first gen KT133 chipset, which is alitte embarrising when it used to run without a giltch on a celeron 366.

The ponit of this is, when do you consider your overclock stable ?

[Indus]

When there's no crashes, fuzzy lines on the screens or drop in performance. Yes if you overclock too much.. then performance sometimes drops.

But basically if you can keep your rig stable under 100% load constantly by running SETI, Toast, 4 mpegs, 3dmark2001, sisoft sandra simultaneously and still keep temps under 55 degrees.. I'd say that's a very stable overclock. And there should be no reboots or program crashes.

[AMD_Man]

Originally posted by Indus
When there's no crashes, fuzzy lines on the screens or drop in performance. Yes if you overclock too much.. then performance sometimes drops.

But basically if you can keep your rig stable under 100% load constantly by running SETI, Toast, 4 mpegs, 3dmark2001, sisoft sandra simultaneously and still keep temps under 55 degrees.. I'd say that's a very stable overclock. And there should be no reboots or program crashes.

Don't forget to test using Prime95 and MemTest86.

[Bootleg]

when i loop 3dmark and then leave my comp on all day running it and when i come back...its still running...that is a stable o/c...at least thats wut i do...i take it slow and easy...but i get the results i wanna get...

[marv]

Originally posted by FaTs

The ponit of this is, when do you consider your overclock stable ?

Run a couple/few loops of 3Dmarks and Sandra to see the results of the overclock. Then use the system as I normally do, and if I can forget it's even overclocked, it's stable. Not a 24 Hour test, but more a test of time.

[KJY9]

This is my catch all OC tester if it runs all other proggies ok.
HotCpu. It simultaneously runs Prime Test, Calculating Pi, Complex Math Matrixes, MMX and memory for the lite, free version. If you buy it, it runs alot more.
I've had OCs run 3DMark all day long...I startup HotCpu only to find out my CPU is writing bad math matrixes in HOTCPU.
Here's the link:

http://www.opusware.net/downloads.htm

[chev1]

That is a great program. I have used it and found some unstable oc's too. I think that between that and 3dmark you are pretty good. For me at least, if it can handle about 5 runs of 3dmark and an hour or two of hotcpu, the thing ain't goin down while doing anything else.

[Newbie-Overclocker]

Originally posted by FaTs
I'm in a bit of a moral bind here. I've never claimed an overclock that wasn't stable before. (Expect for when i first said my tbird 1.4 could do 1733, but i fixed that with a new PSU). But my duron 1g which i use as a work system, i've been running it @ 185 x 7.5 (1400) for a few days now without a hich looping 3Dmark ect.

One of our P4 systems failed this morning and i gave up my pc as a temp replacment. Now enough BS, the accounting software truned my previously "stable" overclock to something that ran more like a first gen KT133 chipset, which is alitte embarrising when it used to run without a giltch on a celeron 366.

The ponit of this is, when do you consider your overclock stable ?

I consider an overclock stable when its just as reliable overclocked vs non overclocked, I keep my systems up for months at a time so any hang/lockup just won't do.

[Un4given]

When I don't have the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on my back.

[tu2thepoo]

when i don't notice any strange hiccups in hard drive accesses, when win2k doesn't choke on bootup, when morrowind doesn't crash mid-game, when my cd-burner doesn't suddenly start registering as TD@$@$ND-@@FF on bootup. basically, if my computer stops pissing me off, it's good to go

Most other tests I've seen people do (like BurnCPU, Toast, Sandra "benchmarks", etc) are essentially tests of the cooling system and little else. I prefer something that gives me some tangible/comparable results, like that HotCPU proggie Kevin's talking about.

[Papercup]

just use your machine for everything you always do and if it doesn't screw around its fine.......

we are talking weeks at least really, to be sure.

I got my 1.8A and ran it standard for a few weeks to get a feel for it, how it zips about, if there are any quirks.

I have been at 2.25 (125bus, 166mem (mem 3:4)) for 2 months now, no crashes nothing. Vcore is 1.6.

Only tonight have i started going higher. I am now at 2.4 (133 mem and bus) but my VCORE is, i think, high at 1.750. Mem is now slower of course.

Any 1.8A peeps out there? What mem/bus/vcore and MHz are you getting?

Papercup

[Ganja]

Just leave seti overnight and if its still running the next day thats stable to me.

[BMGundam]

Originally posted by Ganja
Just leave seti overnight and if its still running the next day thats stable to me.

Seti isn't as processor intensive as HotCPU. At least running HotCPU gets my max proc temp within a degree of the max temp when running toast.

Seti 37C (months)
Toast 45C (1 hr)
HotCPU 44C (3hrs)

At least those are the temps if I remember correctly. It's been a while since I last ran them.