How can I tell if a computer is overclocked?

[mraikes]

I have no experience overclocking nor as far as I know have I ever worked on an overclocked computer. But now I've had a "whitebox" machine brought in that makes me wonder . . .

It either fails to boot at all, or it boots but very quickly overheats and shuts down.

The cooling system is all in order (clean, appropriate sized fans, etc), I cleaned up/replaced the thermal paste, everything nice & clean internally.

If I supplement the cooling by opening up the case and aiming a desk fan directly at the processor, the computer starts fine and runs forever. If I turn off the supplemental fan, it shuts down within a couple minutes.

The overclocking question popped into my head when I noticed the computer seems to run very fast, programs almost pop open and run much quicker than I'd expect for this modestly equipped machine.

Since what little I know of overclocking would hint at higher temps and faster speeds, how can I tell if that has occurred?

 

[dronzer]

bios ??

some bios supports overclocking so check with the bios. or the best option is that check with any overclocking utility http://www.techpowerup.com/systool/
compare the current fsb and cpu frequency with the cpu manual(document)

 

[DanF]

What dronzer said is an option. Setting the BIOS to default is another. Don't think the client would be mad cause you've disabled his overclocking, considering it's damaging his hardware.

 

[mraikes]

Two good responses and an interesting tool. Thanks to you both!

 

[jbartlett323]

All you need is CPU-Z: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html <-- get the Zip, not the installer version!
This will tell you what the proc is, what clocks its supposed to run, and what clocks it is running, plus a slew of other useful info... This is a tool commonly Employed by overclockers just for this purpose.
The Bios can be really hard to tell, and the could be using the more end user friendly SetFSB software to do it... And just setting Bios back to defaults can be a pain to, make sure you reset boot device order, turn on/off devices as needed, and check other settings for tweeks.

 

[MobileTechie]

^^^^^ what he said. CPU-Z is the tool I use to check my overclocks are actually running.

I don't agree with the damaging h/w comment entirely. In my experience, and the experience of thousands of others, running PCs at reasonable overclocks, with appropriate cooling is quite safe and doesn't damage the h/w.

My old PC was an E2160 overclocked from 1.8 to 3.0 on stock Intel cooling (which is pretty major OC). I ran it like that for many years with no problems at all. Great speed for pennies. Some chips overclock better than others.

Certainly Scott Moulton - the PC h/w guru - said on his forum that he can't think of a good reason not to overclock a reasonable amount if it's available.

 

[fixitdaz]

Just a thought, i had a machine in once with the cpu fan fitted up side-down and it would over heat and shut-down, but for it to shut-down that fast on start up i would reset bios to default settings and see if it runs.

 

[mraikes]

Just a thought, i had a machine in once with the cpu fan fitted up side-down and it would over heat and shut-down, but for it to shut-down that fast on start up i would reset bios to default settings and see if it runs.

All you need is CPU-Z: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html <-- get the Zip, not the installer version!
This will tell you what the proc is, what clocks its supposed to run, and what clocks it is running, plus a slew of other useful info... This is a tool commonly Employed by overclockers just for this purpose. ......snipped.......
.

Good thoughts. I may reverse the CPU fan as an experiment, and I'll try CPU-Z as well.

I spoke further to my customer a short while ago and he mentioned he'd purchased the computer used from a friend and thought it might have been "optimized for gaming". Bingo. I think I'm on the right track.

I won't be able to get back to that computer until this afternoon, but I'll apply some of the suggestions here when I get a chance. Thanks!

 

[DanF]

Don't think I was clear enough. I mentioned damaging the hardware (CPU in this case, obviously) because he mentioned that he's having problems already. So (assuming) that the problems are coming from overclocking. In that case only he could be damaging the hardware, otherwise I don't see anything wrong with overclocking.

If the system is booting quickly and then turning off, and assuming it's a result of overclocking, then yes it could damage the CPU.

^^^^^ what he said. CPU-Z is the tool I use to check my overclocks are actually running.

I don't agree with the damaging h/w comment entirely. In my experience, and the experience of thousands of others, running PCs at reasonable overclocks, with appropriate cooling is quite safe and doesn't damage the h/w.

My old PC was an E2160 overclocked from 1.8 to 3.0 on stock Intel cooling (which is pretty major OC). I ran it like that for many years with no problems at all. Great speed for pennies. Some chips overclock better than others.

Certainly Scott Moulton - the PC h/w guru - said on his forum that he can't think of a good reason not to overclock a reasonable amount if it's available.