• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Is it ever a good idea to OC a relative's PC?

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.
A further twist on the, what will it be used for question:

If she doesn't have a need for the extra clock cycles this raises the possibility of under volting it at stock speed to save a little power. Sure its not much but who doesn't like saving electricity.

So long as the machine is tested thoroughly I don't see the problem with tweaking it.

I see it like this, whatever standards you apply for testing a rig that’s going to be a dedicated Folder or seti cruncher sitting headless under a desk somewhere unattended, (as in were positive its going to be returning valid results) should be plenty good enough for ensuring the stability of the relatives rig.
 
I would phone Dell, buy a 4 year guarantee and let Dell have all the headaches....otherwise you will have all the blame if something goes wrong and you will get none of the credit if it works like a dream. These help a relative out situations usually result in unintended trouble.

Under no circumstances should you OC her rig.

----> 4 years of experience with relatives and a "simple" fix gone bad <-------

I say again....RESIST the urge to tinker, RESIST the urge to make it just a bit better, RESIST RESIST RESIST !
 
E4300 said:
However, if she plans to use her pc for normal day to day office work and net surfing solely, I wouldn't be bothering to go into OC. Because in such case, if you OC against her directions, she might automatically hold you responsible for any wrong whim her pc might develop, whether it was directly related to the OC or not.

Well, technically since he is the one building the computer, everything that goes wrong with it is automatically going to be his fault, overclocked or not, trust me. He could never tell her that it's overclocked and she'd never know. He could probably tell her when he gives it to her, and she could probably care less.

The real question is: do you want to have to deal with normal problems AND problems that might be related to overclocking?

From your original statement, it seems you've already picked out parts that would suit her just fine at stock speed, but you simply have the urge to overclock it because it can...which I completely understand.

So, the smart thing to do is to give it to her not overclocked. If you do decide to overclock it, then make sure you test it thoroughly.
 
Well for the friends and family I had built computers for, I have always asked for their permission to overclock and offered a thourough explanation of its benefits as well as its potential risks. So far I have not run into any OC related problems with my customers.

If she is just going to use Word and the like, I would just ditch the OC unless she specifically requests one. You can always have it OCed later if the need arises.
 
If her uses are really that light why are you even getting a C2D or a dual-core for that matter? The lowest cost system would be an AM2 3600+, non-enthusiast mobo, decent PSU and onboard graphics. There's no need to push enthusiast 'better' parts on someone using it for light office work if the money saved would matter.
 
MadMan007 said:
If her uses are really that light why are you even getting a C2D or a dual-core for that matter? The lowest cost system would be an AM2 3600+, non-enthusiast mobo, decent PSU and onboard graphics. There's no need to push enthusiast 'better' parts on someone using it for light office work if the money saved would matter.

How about a Vista laptop for $399 from tigerdirect.......why look any further for every day tasks.
 
orion456 said:
I would phone Dell, buy a 4 year guarantee and let Dell have all the headaches....otherwise you will have all the blame if something goes wrong and you will get none of the credit if it works like a dream. These help a relative out situations usually result in unintended trouble.

Under no circumstances should you OC her rig.

----> 4 years of experience with relatives and a "simple" fix gone bad <-------

I say again....RESIST the urge to tinker, RESIST the urge to make it just a bit better, RESIST RESIST RESIST !

You guys are great. I put the rig together last night and installed my own copy of XP temporarily while I wait for her to send me her own copy. Everything worked perfectly without a hitch. Right now there is no OC.

<soapbox>As I side note, I will never, never, never use an Intel stock fan again. What a pain! Intel makes great mobo's, I have the BadAxe2, and great procs (kickin' AMD's *** again), but seriously Intel, spend a little time on the whole fan cooling aspect. Sheesh! :bang head </soapbox>

To answer MadMan007's question, I got her a C2D proc so it would grow with her. This way, the machine is Vista-ready, and can easily be upgraded into a gaming machine if her or husband decide they want to play games, make movies, etc. For the amount of money they paid, they got a lot of computer with a high ceiling. Same reason why I didn't get her a cheap pre-built laptop or desktop. The whole rig I built for her cost just $675 with rebates.

I am really going to try hard to resist the urge to OC as Orion456 says. It's really hard to resist the urge, but I think it is the right thing to do. But on the other hand, OC'ing it to say 2.4GHz would give her some nice improvement without stressing the components too far. I keep hearing that song "Should I go, or should I stay" in my head. :)

Again, this is a great thread. Thank you everyone.
 
I'd leave it stock. I've had good luck with building PCs for relatives/friends and bad. I built an Athlon XP gaming rig back when the 2400+ I put in was almost new, and he's still using it with no problems! (He did say it was getting a little slow, LOL) On the other hand I gave my parents a PC that I built. I have no idea WTF they did to it, but a year or so later I bought them a Dell and my life has been much easier since. They're the type I have to call and tell them to update software, and renew their antivirus subscription, and not install every piece of software that tells you to click on it! Same goes for the inlaws, a Dell. The most I've had to do is upgrade the RAM and add a DVD burner. Its just not worth the hassle. Either leave it stock, or better yet buy something with tech support.

As a digression, Dell's bloatware causes its own problems, but I leave it to Dell tech support to deal with :)
 
Back