Overclockers, test your CPU for stability before any action
Warning: There are no safe values when overclocking the processor, so besides the recommended values after these tests – you do overclock at your own risk.
Many overclockers make the same mistake over and over – they don’t know what is the highest CPU limit and increase CPU values until is not stable anymore – also not good for any work.
Intel: To help you to find out how much stable your computer is, here is extremely useful tool for Intel CPU – IntelBurn Test that will let you to test Intel Core 2-based (or others) for system stability in a relatively short time. The program utilizes Intel’s very own CPU stress testing binaries for the most stressful, and speedy testing. IntelBurnTest will stress the CPU, North Bridge, Memory and other computer components to their highest extent so make sure your system is properly ventilated and cooled. It will work on even Intel Pentium III processors, but unfortunately, Intel designed the binaries in a way that makes it not run at all on any AMD CPUs.
AMD: For AMD based Processor you can use AMD OverDrive that is testing utility designed for users of motherboards with AMD 700-series chipsets.
It will help you to find out safe values of processor to keep it stable in overclocked mode. The app is a powerful all-in-one overclocking, monitoring, and testing utility. As we noticed, many overclockers prefer to change overclocking values from within the BIOS. But be aware: When you give some time to the OverDrive utility to test your system, you will become clear just how valuable tool you are using because it will enable less risky overclocking on your machine.
Definitely using software like IntelBurn Test can save you quite some headaches. Several months ago, I decided to try overclock my old AMD CPU. Back then I wasn’t familiar with the subject and didn’t bother using stability testing software. Well, it was a mistake – I fried the poor CPU just hours after clocking it!
I have never liked the idea of overclocking, if I want to go down that road I will usually purchase a component that has been overclocked and comes with a warranty