Processor overclocking: does it damage your processor? It is advisable?

How many times have you heard that overclocking is bad for your processor? Personally, many times. It is true that the beginnings of this world were somewhat catastrophic because the processors that existed at that time were guinea pigs, as the users were inexperienced. Currently, we have many unlocked processors and many guides to get the most out of our beloved CPU.

Index of contents

Explanatory notes on processor overclocking

Before we start getting into the mud of "overclocking is very bad" or "overclocking is very good", it is necessary to clarify that we are referring to processor overclocking. We will center all the entry here, forgetting about RAM and GPUs.

In short, overclocking is a practice whose objective is to get more performance out of the processor. How? Raising its base frequency (official speed or technical data sheet).

Some of you may say “ Why are you doing that? "" You're going to take it! ”“ You will reduce its useful life! " Peace of mind, we will see later that everything we do with our heads is not going to mean breakdowns or unnecessary life reductions.

The overclock is not summarized to the processor and its frequency, but we must take into account the motherboard that we have, the quality of VRM that it has and the voltages. Normally, every time we turn up the CPU frequency, we will have to raise the voltage slightly. However, it does not have to be this way, being able to increase the frequency and maintain the voltage.

It is mandatory to tell you that overclocking, in most cases, usually means losing the manufacturer's warranty. So, if your processor is new… I recommend that you do not do it until the warranty extension ends.

To overclock we only need a motherboard with a chipset that allows OC and an unlocked processor.

Finally, you have to read a lot about this subject to get down to work because it requires certain technical knowledge. It is clear that no one is born learned, but we anticipate that it requires a little experience in the PC world to not "screw it up".

Overclock ≠ damage the processor

Is there a possibility of damaging the processor when we overclock it? Yes, that possibility exists . Overclocking is synonymous with damaging the processor? No, far from it.

I believe in mayeutics , a method applied by Socrates that consisted of discovering the truth through questions. If we ask the right questions, we will find the answers we are looking for. With this offtopic I want to tell you that there is always the possibility of damaging our processor when we do OC, but if we do it carefully, nothing has to happen.

The legend that says the OC damages the processor comes from experiences marked by bad configurations: too high voltages, unaffordable frequencies or very poor dissipation / ventilation. I always say that to do a good overclock you have to have the following:

Good voltages. Good dissipation and ventilation in the box. Good weather. It will always be more difficult to cool a processor when it is 30 degrees outside the box.

Each processor is a world. So there is the silicon lottery.

Each person is a world and, within the overclocking world, you can find everything. In my case, I am not the most experienced person in this world, but after 4 years with my overclocked equipment I have not had any performance, stability or temperature problem. Why? Because I do a safe OC, since I know the limitations of my Ryzen.

You may wonder, are there safe OCs? The answer is yes. When we are going to overclock we have 3 options:

Light option. Frequency is raised slightly, performance improves slightly, and voltages may not be required. Intermediate option (the one I use). We raise the frequency to a figure that does not mean losing the temperature balance. In this case, we will raise voltages and the performance improves considerably. Extreme option. We raise the frequency to the limit, the performance increases a lot, but we will have to raise the voltages a lot and we may have instability problems.

Limitations that all overclock has

In the practice of this famous configuration, adjustments are usually made based on limits that experience and processor manufacturers have jointly established. In general terms, the limits are usually the following:

Voltage Theory says that the maximum recommended voltage is 1.45V for liquid cooling and 1.40V for air cooling. I recommend two things:
- - 1. Observe what manufacturers say. Find experiences in the community with your same processor and your same board.

That said, I never recommend going over 1.40V, unless you know what you are doing.

Frequency Every processor has its limitations, so here we cannot give you an exact limit. Look at the turbo frequency announced by the manufacturer in the data sheet to get an idea of the maximum recommended frequency. However, we can easily overcome it. Here I suggest you go to the community to see what frequencies users are using with the same team as you. Processor temperature. At maximum performance, the processor should not be above 65º or, at most, 70º. At most I recommend 65º to avoid thermal throttling but that depends on each processor. Here we can reduce the life of our processor, if we are not careful. Once the OC is done, test it in some benchmark that stresses the CPU to see what temperatures it gets. VRM. VRMs are voltage regulator modules located around the socket (where the processor is installed). When we raise the voltage, their temperature increases. Depending on the quality of our VRM, we can more or less overclock. Its maximum temperature is 120 degrees. Theory says that the more modules the better. Be careful when choosing the motherboard. Processor dissipation. It is essential to be able to do a good overclock. With the standard heatsink we can do little, so I recommend buying a good heatsink to keep your processor as cool as possible. Box ventilation. Creating an air circuit is essential to get the hot air out of the box. If we do not have a box that has good ventilation, we will see our temperatures jeopardized. Do not do it only for the processor, but also for the graphics card. In this sense, the ideal is that the box has, as a minimum, the following:
- - - 3 front 120mm fans. 1 rear 120mm fan. Upper grill to install 2 120 mm fans.
Outside temperature. As I always say: "In winter we put on our movies, but in summer hell comes." I say this because now my room is around 20 degrees, but in summer it usually reaches 35 degrees. Needless to say, the outside temperature determines the temperature of our components.

It is advisable?

It depends on your use or objective. If you want to play video games or work with video / photo editors at maximum performance, yes. If you are not demanding with either of the two, no.

It is definitely not the same that our processor works, for example, at 3.5 GHz, than at 4.3 GHz. In the case of video games, we can earn several FPS of difference that can mean a world. In fact, on YouTube we find several benchmarks with overclocked processors that show spectacular video game performance.

Regarding renderings, decompressions, etc., an overclocked processor is quite noticeable compared to a stock processor. We see this at higher speeds, shorter response times, etc.

Tips for overclocking

Obviously, the advice will vary depending on who gives it. On this occasion, I will give my advice based on my own experience doing OC. I can summarize my advice in the following:

Overclock from the BIOS. Personally, I have not had a very good result with programs like Ryzen Master, for example. They work very well, but I prefer to do everything from the BIOS because it is what has worked best for me when doing trial-error. Lowest possible voltage. In this sense, I always try to find the highest possible frequency at the lowest possible voltage. As an example, my Ryzen 1600 operates at 3.8 GHz and a voltage of 1, 328V. Id increase the voltage from 0.01 to 0.01 until you see that it works. The reason lies in the temperatures: the higher the voltage, the higher the temperature. Trial and error. Overclocking is a continuous trial and error test. So, fail until you find the correct voltage and frequency. Of course, do it with your head, do not raise the voltage to 1.45v at once. Seek stability. Modifying voltages, multipliers or frequencies is not enough. After the configuration, the processor must be stressed or benchmarked to monitor temperatures and results. Analyze temperatures, if they jump continuously… the processor will not be very stable. There may not be much difference. Occasionally, overclocking may make a difference of 2% performance, which is not in our interest. The normal thing would be to increase 15% of performance, in most cases. If you are OC and there is not much performance difference, please return the processor to stock because it is not worth it. Schedule the fans. You can do it with third-party programs or with the program on your motherboard. Basically, it consists of mapping the performance of the fans. We program the fans so that, at a certain temperature, they run faster.

Conclusions about processor overclocking

With all that said: overclocking does not have to damage your processor, nor does it reduce its useful life. The only OC that causes these effects is the one that is poorly programmed. This conclusion can be extrapolated in many aspects of our life, so the summary is: inform yourself, learn and execute. If you don't do those three things, chances are good that the OC will go wrong.

And most importantly: overclock when necessary, not because. You would be surprised by the number of people who have their teams “OCeados” and they don't need it. We only recommend putting this technique into practice, if needed.

We recommend the best processors on the market

We hope you liked or helped this post. If you have any questions, express your doubts below and we will answer you. Have you overclocked your processor? What experiences have you had? Do you agree with the OC?