Stressing & Overclocking

[drizzle]

Quick Question-When overclocking a CPU should you give it a certain amount of time before you run intensive stuff with it, such as Q3 or UT? Or does it even make a difference?

[krusty the klown]

If anything, some people do just the opposite! This is called 'burn in' and the validity of the theory could be argued for weeks, I reckon. Burn in is where someone has increased the core voltage of the CPU to get it stable at that speed. They then run a 100% CPU usage app (e.g. SETI/RC5) for a weekend, or week, whatever. Some people report that after such treatment, they are able to reduce the core voltage and the system remains stable.

As good practise, I think it's wise (if you have just clocked up one 'notch') to just let the system boot and stay there for a while, so you can keep an eye on the core temperature, etc. When it stabilises at idle and if it isn't looking high already, give it something to do, then check the temps again. When you're sure the temp is OK at 100% CPU load for a long time (30 mins should be long enough for it to settle down, then you can be a bit happier about leaving the system for 'burn in' if you want to, or just general stability testing, whereby you might loop a 3D benchmark for a few hours.

Personally, if I'd just bumped up the speed and/or core voltage, I'd want to nurse it for a bit, rather than booting up, setting RC5/SETI going, then leaving home for a week!