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[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Which tools would you recommend using to overclock a CPU of a laptop?  It's a few years old, but I find that I can get a few more games running on it if I can get more power out of it.

[DJ]

I would not recommend overclocking a laptop much, because you'll get overheating issues.

[acetech09]

I would not recommend overclocking a laptop much, because you'll get overheating issues.

This. OEM cooling requirements are generally tuned to have the CPU hit maximum op-temp under 100% load. On desktops, if you want to overclock you generally get a better CPU cooling system. Same theoretically can be done on a laptop, but you can't just buy an aftermarket fan.

Download OpenHardwareMonitor and some CPU stress test tool. Run the tool at 100% load for a few minutes and see where your temp stays. If it's lower than CPU max temp, you can afford to OC it a bit.

[nenjin]

Echoing the crowd. Overclocking a laptop is an extremely unwise move unless you know what you're doing (which you don't sound like you do.) There is zero space for the extra heat that will generate to be distributed. Laptops are not designed for tweaking. That's what desktops are for. If you have any sort of warranty on that thing, you will void it by doing stuff like that.

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Download OpenHardwareMonitor and some CPU stress test tool. Run the tool at 100% load for a few minutes and see where your temp stays. If it's lower than CPU max temp, you can afford to OC it a bit.

Test shows it running at a max of 64.4 Celsius (after a 20 minute session), with an average around 62 Celsius 61 Celsius (average dropped a degree after the fan went to full power shortly after the fifteen minute mark) 60.5 (dropped another .5 after five more minutes).  Research for the max temperature of the CPU has it at 100 Celsius.  Looks like I have a bit of room.

If you have any sort of warranty on that thing, you will void it by doing stuff like that.

The site I bought it from (Tiger Direct, if that means anything) had it advertised at 2.1 GHz.  Considering how the current GHz is 1.8, it may have been built to allow a .3 GHz overclock.

[nenjin]

Test shows it running at a max of 64.4 Celsius (after a 20 minute session), with an average around 62 Celsius 61 Celsius (average dropped a degree after the fan went to full power shortly after the fifteen minute mark) 60.5 (dropped another .5 after five more minutes).  Research for the max temperature of the CPU has it at 100 Celsius.

That's still pretty hot. While the CPU may be rated up to 100 Celsius, that doesn't mean your system won't start fucking up a much lower temperature.

The site I bought it from (Tiger Direct, if that means anything) had it advertised at 2.1 GHz.  Considering how the current GHz is 1.8, it may have been built to allow a .3 GHz overclock.

Doesn't really matter what the clock speed was advertised as, when it comes to the terms of your warranty. Forcing the system to run outside the operating parameters that it was shipped with is almost always going to void a warranty if they learn what you did. For reference, cracking open the laptop case to replace a battery or something is also grounds for voiding a warranty. Just figured you should be aware. While I doubt Tiger offers a warranty on it, you might still have a manufacturer warranty. As for the advertised vs. actual clock speed, they're generally advertising what the processor is designed to run at....but not necessarily where they set the FSB speed, which is what actually determines your final output. A stock intel processor is usually advertised as running at X ghz, based on an assumption of a default FSB speed. The manufacturer however may have lowered the FSB speed for performance reasons.

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

That's still pretty hot. While the CPU may be rated up to 100 Celsius, that doesn't mean your system won't start fucking up a much lower temperature.

How much of a difference will .2 GHz make?

Also, fan kicked off some time after it got an average below 60.5.  Rekicked on when it was about 62.5-63 average.

While I doubt Tiger offers a warranty on it, you might still have a manufacturer warranty.

I'm pretty sure I bought it refurbished, not new.  I don't think I have a manufacturer warranty.

[nenjin]

That's still pretty hot. While the CPU may be rated up to 100 Celsius, that doesn't mean your system won't start fucking up a much lower temperature.

How much of a difference will .2 GHz make?

Probably not all that much. You'd probably have to run 3dMark tests to actually see the difference in gaming, as measured by slight FPS differences, because it would probably be too subtle to notice otherwise. You'll notice that difference in simpler, older games way more than you will with stuff made in the last 10 years.

And yeah, if it's refurbished you probably don't have a warranty from either Tiger or the manufacturer.

FWIW you can try, even if your system becomes unstable it probably won't be enough to damage the processor and you can just switch it back.

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

1) Probably not all that much. You'd probably have to run 3dMark tests to actually see the difference in gaming, as measured by slight FPS differences, because it would probably be too subtle to notice otherwise. You'll notice that difference in simpler, older games way more than you will with stuff made in the last 10 years.

2) And yeah, if it's refurbished you probably don't have a warranty from either Tiger or the manufacturer.

3) FWIW you can try, even if your system becomes unstable it probably won't be enough to damage the processor and you can just switch it back.

1) So if my laptop meets all the other minimum requirements, but is off by just a couple tenths of a GHz, it'll run the same as if it met the minimum requirements?

2) Figured.

3) This leads me back to the question I had wanted answered, which tool would be recommended for me to use?

[nenjin]

1. I assume you're concerned about a min spec for gaming. It's not a rule set in stone. If you're a fraction of a ghz under min spec, it'll probably be fine, it's just you may have a touch more stutter, or slightly lower FPS, in some parts. What's the game out of curiousity?

3. I wouldn't recommend a tool. I'd recommend reading and learning how to do it without a tool. Google has plenty of how-tos. It depends on whether you BIOS allows you access to those settings. If it doesn't, you will probably have to use a tool. I see CPU-Z being recommended. I've never heard of it nor used it.

But basically, you're going to have to do research and reading anyways. You should not go into this blind. You're going to need to research your mobo specs, and you're going to need to research your CPU specs. Not doing that is a recipe for fucking everything up. So since you've already got that intellectual burden, you might as well go the full 9 and read about doing your overclock through the BIOS, so you understand the underlying math.

If you're doing it manually, usually you go into your BIOS and adjust the Front Side Bus Speed the motherboard is running at. This is effectively how "hot" the mobo is running the CPU. There is a calculation you do using the FSB speed that is essentially FSB x something (I forget what, it's been a long time since I've oc'd) which lets you arrive at your final operating ghz.

The reason overclocking is dangerous is, if you do the math wrong and set your FSB to something high that blows out your processor's capacity, you might damage it. But more likely, your computer will just fail to boot at all. It will probably POST then shit itself. And then you're locked out and have to do shenanigans to reset your BIOS to a factory state where it will boot again. (Which is about 5x more difficult in a laptop then a desktop. And then you mail to the manufacturer, they see what you did and charge you several hundred dollars to get your laptop back to where it should be.)

So that's why I _highly_ encourage you to actually read some guides on overclocking before you go fooling with a tool, because a tool makes it very easy to shoot yourself in the foot, and in doing your research you'll get a lot of "don't do this, this or that" advice.

[Tellemurius]

1. Laptops are extremely harder to overclocked due to their barren locked BIOS. all OC will have to be done via a: hardware voltage tweak which is extremely dangerous, or b: specialized software which has limited support for a number of laptops and doesn't overclock until the start of your OS.

2. Laptop CPUs are designed to throttle speeds once they hit a certain temperature. if you start hitting say 75c your CPU will drop the speed until it cools off.

3. Heat exponentially rises as you increase voltage and clock speed. a .3Ghz increase can be enough to slap on additional 10c

4. You aren't going to get an extra Ghz. Back to number 3, too much of a OC will cook your chip and a laptop cooler will never be able to handle it since its already designed to handle a specific TDP.

Best i can recommend to push more performance out of a laptop is more RAM and a SSD.

[nenjin]

b: specialized software which has limited support for a number of laptops and doesn't overclock until the start of your OS.

I guess this is kind of an advantage for him, because it means he wouldn't be able to cripple his computer through the BIOS.

Still plenty capable of fragging the CPU though.

[ZetaX]

3. Heat exponentially rises as you increase voltage and clock speed. a .3Ghz increase can be enough to slap on additional 10c

This sounds wrong in regard to my understanding of physics, and is also not what I remember from graphs on overclocking. I think it should be quite linear assymptotically (theoretically even a bit lower due to black body radiation, but that's insignificant here), with some nonlinear effects locally.

[Tellemurius]

3. Heat exponentially rises as you increase voltage and clock speed. a .3Ghz increase can be enough to slap on additional 10c

This sounds wrong in regard to my understanding of physics, and is also not what I remember from graphs on overclocking. I think it should be quite linear assymptotically (theoretically even a bit lower due to black body radiation, but that's insignificant here), with some nonlinear effects locally.

It really just depends on the chip, i seen some 2500ks went from doing 55c on 1.25v to nearly 78c on 1.35v (this is after adjusting the multipler). Voltage is probably the scariest thing to mess with for a noob, i'm fine with FSB speed changes but refuse to touch voltage ever.

[LordSlowpoke]

if you must overclock a laptop, replace the fan with a small pump, start throwing mineral oil around

you might have to place a radiator on the outer side of the case though

good luck with that i guess