Topic Overclocking dangerous???

10cents

I always thought that overclocking is about testing the limit of our PC or laptop through the use of testing software but I came across a post that said a laptop was fried due to overclocking. Does it have dangerous consequences for hardware?

-HAL-

Overclocking laptops is generally a very bad idea...

When it comes to OC (overclocking) the cooling is one of the most important (if not the most important) factor...
Without proper extra cooling of the CPU/Chipset you can fry the CPU/Chips quite quickly, and that's probably the case with the laptop you mention since adding extra cooling to a laptop isn't very easy..
The cooling that comes with most CPUs, prebuilt PCs and laptops are ment to handle default CPU/GPU speeds, so if you plan to overclock you will in most cases (depending on how much you OC) need to add new or extra CPU/GPU/Chipset/Case coolers to cope with the extra heat produced.

I've added this one to my CPU as well as a couple of new case fans since I've overclocked my E6600 CPU from 2,4Ghz to 3Ghz
Zalman CNPS9700 NT CPU Cooler Review

There are a few notebook/laptop coolers out there, including this one from Zalman:
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/...x=224&code=030
But as I said, overclocking laptops and notebooks are generally not a good idea because the space inside them are quite limited and so are the possibilities for heat to escape from the cases...

svarog

The point in overclocking is making the CPU clock tick faster.
This of course means extra electricity going through your CPU.
Extra electricity in turn means extra heat produced, and if you have no extra cooling added, as HAL stated, you might easily fry your CPU.

Anyway, never try overclocking if you don't know what you are doing, and have a thermometer installed on your CPU.

Donkey

You are going to also need more power....For the cooling, for the CPU itself and because well you can never have enough power...hehehe

OCing a laptop just doesnt seem feasible...however would be fun with an old junker to try and rig it up...But I see having to make the amount of modifications to the laptop in order to be able to OC it, it would then no longer be a laptop

mmarsh

-Dont overclock a laptop you'll destroy the laptop and void the warrenty.

The laptop power supply is not as flexible as a desktop PSU and the cooler will not be adaquet will not handle the increased heat the CPU will generate.

Risk is to great, Its not worth it.

-HAL-

Just found this new (interesting) thingy.
It probably wont help much if you try to overclock a laptop, but it looks like it may help to cool down laptops at stock speed to increase it's lifespan (especially in the summer)...

http://www.evercool.com.tw/products/nb_ma1.htm
http://www.evercool.com.tw/products/...s/dm_nbma1.pdf

Riddar

Interesting, but it still looks like a bad idea for overclocking a laptop. Lower battery life, for one, and I'm not sure that a small sideways-movement fan is enough cooling. Add that to the given loss of warranty on a laptop....

joshuk

Being the owner of both a desktop and laptop I know where Overclocking is good and bad.

My desktop PC which has a AMD 3700+ CPU on an ASUS board, it's pretty easy to overclock, not to mention I have good case cooling and CPU cooling. But as for my laptop, I have an XPS and I would never consider touching the clock speeds on it, chances are temperatures would be ridiculous and I'm not up for ruining a £1,500 laptop haha.

Overclocking isn't something you should do without doing a lot of reading as well as checking out reviews on overclocking the components you have.

mmarsh

-HAL-

Your Gizmo looks good for certain laptops that run hot or have poor cooling (Fujitsu-Siemens *cough*), or as was said if you are in a very hot climate, I still wouldn't attempt to overclock a laptop.

joshuk

Yeah, i certainly wouldn't trust one of those fans as "adequate" cooling on my XPS.