Tips to Upgrade your old PC for Overclocking

I am having an PC which is around seven years old. It is still giving a decent performance but is no match for the hardware that is available at present. It is good for some old games that didn’t need many resources. I don’t use it for gaming actually, but once in a while I like to play some. Now I am thinking that I should overclock this PC as it has grown old and the performance seems to be having gone down a bit. I thought that since it is old, overclocking won’t be much of a big deal. If successful, the PC will work again as it should or if fails, I’ll buy a new PC anyways. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want overclocking to succeed, yes, I want to overclock and I will make it a success. I needed some help from expert overclockers about what should I do and what shouldn’t do while I overclock my PC. Since the PC is seven years old, there must be some difference in overclocking process between new hardware and old. Can someone help me?

The first thing that you should know that since you are overclocking an PC which has old hardware, you should also use older versions of the softwares that are to be used in the overclocking. The new softwares are developed for new hardware and to match the new systems. So if you use them, it might overclock you PC to a level which the hardware cannot handle.

Also seven year old PC means you must be using Windows XP. So you must download the overclocking software that is dedicatedly built for Windows XP and not for advanced operating systems like Windows 7. Also you must know the content and the locations of the options in your PC’s BIOS menu very well. It will be needed many times.

Before overclocking your PC, open the CPU cabinet and clean the dust inside it. While overclocking your system, it will generate a lot of heat. If you don’t clean the dust properly, the heat won’t escape leading to complications n your system. So it is better t have clean internal parts before beginning the process. Also while overclocking, the PC needs a good amount of power, so see to it that ample amount of voltage is being supplied in your PC. Lack of power can cause the peripherals to exert themselves more leading to damage. With good amount of voltage, the peripherals won’t have to control or limit its usage and work freely without restrictions.

Heat is a big issue that has to be taken care of while overclocking. Many times people fail to realize it and cause damages to their systems. The best thing to do is to keep the side panel open for your CPU as it will let proper airflow for your system when overclocking. Also you might need to add some extra cooling fans or other cooling devices like heatsinks or vents in your system. These all will help you to maintain the temperature of your CPU properly. If possible try using liquid cooling system as they provide best cooling effect. Also your computer is seven years old, so it have happened that the existing cooling fans must have gone slow, so first speed them up by using their controls so that they provide good cooling. Also apply thermal paste on the peripherals they generate large amount of heat.

You must know that overclocking involves lot of risk regarding the damage of the hardware. If you overclock your system beyond limits, it might happen that you might get the peripheral burnt or damaged beyond repairs. So that is why be careful and always keep a look on temperature of the peripherals. As soon you detect temperature rising and failing to go down, it is recommended to shut down your system. Actually shutting down is not needed, but since your system is old, I can’t say about the temperature coming down normally. If you live in region whose ambient temperature is high naturally, then see to it that you provide good airflow to your CPU cabinet.

Since your system is old, it might become difficult for you to know the point till which you have to overclock to get better performance as well as stability. So before starting, I recommend that you should get the values for properties and attributes of your hardware for system similar to yours. You shouldn’t try to get results same as the values that you found, but use it as reference point. Assuming that you have processor of frequency 1.8 GHz, you should try to achieve around 2.0 GHz frequencies. You might even reach above it, but you might lose stability of your system at the same time. Also with the old system, you have to be very careful. If one of the peripherals gets damaged, it might become difficult to replace it and you’ll have to get a new PC.

It is good that you are using an old system for overclocking, many people have used new system and screwed it. You can practice overclocking on your old system and gain enough knowledge to overclock the new systems. If successful, I’d say that it is a pretty good work you have done to maintain your computer. Also note that after overclocking, the life span of peripherals go down by some years. So being an old computer, it might happen that life of your hardware goes down and it stops working in year or two.