I'm probably asking for a beatdown....

But...Something that my friends and I have been arguing about is the purpose of water-cooling and over-clocking ones computer. I have been into building my own computers for a decade now, and I just don't understand over-clocking. In my mind I see it like using a u-haul for grocery shopping, like using a hummer to drive kids to school. Its cool, but I don't understand its purpose.
Someone asked me if I water-cooled my system. First off I can't, but if I could I wouldn't. I don't over-clock, and my computer never overheats. They are extremes I don't understand. I.E. my friend insists on using a CRT monitor, he insists that the picture tube is more responsive. He also refuses to use a wireless mouse.
I don't want to confuse water-cooling and over-clocking. You can defiantly have one without the other, but it seems that they often coincide. Ergo, to all the gamers that are probably screaming by now and reading furiously to finish so they can pounce upon me. Is over-clocking and water-cooling coming out of desperate necessity, or from a male egoist response to wanting the best.
I understand wanting the best, I browse the internet, and use aim on a really nice computer, so I was wondering what I could be missing. Why do you guys use it, and what for? Or it is a merely an excess?
Does the performance of the computer greatly change, what kind of damage does it do long term. What are the risks? Please clarify this for me, I would greatly appreciate it. I am simply asking this quite aesthetically, so please respond as epistemologically as possible without biting my head off.
~Thanks

[Jason425]

*tries not to bite head off...* *bites it off anyway*


we don't spend all that $ and effort to OC for nothing...

sure it's fun and often more than we need, but more performance is more performance. For gamers, the extra lag that there is on a wireless mouse may be more of pain than the wire of a regular mouse. Water cooling offers 2 benefits to air, it's quieter, and cools better. therefore, people that want better cooling (usually overclockers) or people that want quite (everybody) would like to or do have water cooling. I would get it, but it's too expensive and too much work/risk for me to buy at this point, although recent heat has made my computer hot and loud, equating to me getting quite annoyed.

your friend is a little ignorant about the monitor, or just too picky..

I overclock all day long, but I run on an LCD... as long as you get a good one, they're plenty responsive.... i'm more concerned about eye strain from crt's.. + power consumption.. so, in the end.. if you have the $ for a leet comp and no want or need to OC then don't!

Yeah, what J25 said. I have mine for the overclocking, granted, I can't push the cpu as far as I want to because my video card is also on the line, but I do get a nice balance between the two. My video card is running comfortably at 450/366 while my processor is running comfortably at 2.31. I can play Doom 3 on high settings at 1152x864 and always stay above 30fps, and my video card is only 128MB!

[Dragon]

yeah, id say quiet is a big one. for those of us who want the biggest and the best, to support or ego, well.. i would use phase change if i were to brag. about the CRT... i dunno aboput all that, but i love my Multisync to death. i was gonna buy an LCD like 425's tho, cuz my CRT heats my room, lol.

haHA! no HBD here...

Wow, thanks for digging up an old post....This was last replied on the 18th of August...

[Jason425]

he and canon do that alot.. oh and for him: your welcome..

and when I have the laptop right next to a crt monitor, and I use the laptop for a few min.. i look at the crt and it's all blurry lol..

[Napster]

Dear ManoftheMusic...

Have you ever thought people use their computers for more than just word processing?


My only question to you is..... Have you ever tried to OC before or will your Dell not let you....

[Jason425]

hey now.. the unenlightened in the world think they're cool and better than us because they don't "need" to OC... and michael dell reaps the rewards... but that's their business.. we want to convert people, not alienate them.. The OC world needs followers!

[vee_ess]

Well, about Dell not letting people overclock, they have motherboards in their systems built by Asus, and not the ones with cheap chipsets either. I've personally seen the room for OC'ing.

Originally Posted by Jason425

I use the laptop for a few min.. i look at the crt and it's all blurry lol..

Sorry man, but you have got to be looking at some bad CRT's. The most accurate picture is still found on a CRT.

For the most part, I'm in the same boat as you, manofthemusic. I don't need a very fast system, I'm perfectly satisfied with my (fast-for-its-day) Athlon 1.0GHz (my other system uses *gulp* integrated video), because I don't use anything that demands that edge. However, in gaming situations, that millisecond of lag can be the millisecond that you get shot in. All those milliseconds add up from various parts causing enough lag to interfere with a gamer's performance. With overclocking, the electrons move faster causing more damage to electronic components, ripping away at the life of the components. Heat has even more drastic effects on the life, with every 10*C increase of the average temperature of a component, the life of it is cut in half. Water cooling, with a specific heat of about 10 times that of air (meaning the same amount of water as air absorbs 10 times the amount of energy [translates to heat]), can help everyone.

[Aemon_]

i wouldnt mind watercooling just cause its stinkin cool! j/k. quiet is a great reason for watercooling. the last time i tried overclocking was on my K6-2 400, i got it running at like 420, but anything higher was unstable. it kinda freaked me out, so i set it back to defaults. i run a PIII 750 now, it is fine for me. i do webdesign (fireworks, dreamweaver), surf the net, and the occasional lan party with friends (coutner-strike, UT GOTY, it can even run UT2K4 Demo).

but if i ever get the money, and convince my wife its necessary, i would try some watercooling, then give OCing another shot.

later