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

[GamingDaemon]

Hi Everyone,

I'm building a basic, vanilla PC for my sister-in-law. She isn't interested in overclocking, probably never heard the word before. But it's hard for me to build this rig, and leave the clock speed at 1.8GHz

On the other hand, she's several hundred miles away, and if something ever went wrong, then I'm not sure she would be able to fix it even if I was walking her through it.

So, question #1 is: Should I even bother overclocking her rig? I have never used the Gigabyte S3 mobo before. Is it easy to recover from OC problems?

Question #2 is: Given the answer to #1, and I am not overclocking her PC, should I use the stock fan or buy her a an after-market, like the Zalman 9700?

Here's the core components:

• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965P-S3
• Processor: Intel E4300
• Memory: Patriot eXtreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin Model PDC22G6400LLK
• PSU: HIPER HPU-4M480-PS ATX12V v2.2 480W Power Supply
• DVD Burner: LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-05

Thanks in advance...

 

[greenmaji]

Just reaserch your possible motherbords "failed overclock behavior" and pick something that will just do something livable if your overclock fails

(marked.. advice went up a notch starting with this post )

 

[MadMan007]

And what would she do if something went wrong that wasn't oc-related? Aha..so I say there's nothing wrong with a conservative and mild oc. Just don't try to push the components to their max.

 

[Scar]

i'd leave it stock. I certainly wouldn't want to send a family member off several hundred miles with an o/c'd rig. She'll have plenty of processing power as is.

 

[Hazaro]

Put it together, keep stock cooler, keep it at normal. Although it does pain me to see a C2D not get OC'd.

 

[sneveTsS]

Just overclock 500mhz or something, don't try anything crazy and it'll be fine.

 

[Oc1Kenube]

oc it to 2.2ghz or so

 

[sno.lcn]

Just hit it with a pad mod and be done with it

 

[FlahsMemory]

I have cousins that lives 3 blocks away and it's a pain in the *** to deal with them because they come to me for every problem they have. I think if you are going to build something for a person, you should be prepared to take all the consequences that comes with it so IMO I wouldnt build a PC for them if they dont have any "hands on" help on their end. If they have people to help them if anything goes wrong then go ahead and build it. I would leave it normal also.

 

[dudleycpa]

Since your sister doesn't care, why do it? It sounds like she won't know the difference anyways.

I use to have an uncle who always complained about my "enhancements" (software Win98). He always said it took him a week to "undo" everything.

So NO it's not worth it.

 

[Automata]

I would say no, it is not worth it because unless you are right there to fix it, your going to have problems when it starts having problems...

 

[hUMANbEATbOX]

if it is a moderate OC, there shouldn't be anything to fix. i think it would be pretty easy to guide someone thru resetting the bios over the phone, and that would be worst case.

 

[dudleycpa]

if it is a moderate OC, there shouldn't be anything to fix. i think it would be pretty easy to guide someone thru resetting the bios over the phone, and that would be worst case.

Guiding someone over the phone on resetting the bios? Easy enough for you and me. I wouldn't think it would be easy for someone who isn't an "enthusiast".

It isn't what we would want done but, what the OWNER wants done. I know it's an "easy" overclock but that isn't what the person wants.

 

[Automata]

Guiding someone over the phone on resetting the bios? Easy enough for you and me. I wouldn't think it would be easy for someone who isn't an "enthusiast".

It isn't what we would want done but, what the OWNER wants done. I know it's an "easy" overclock but that isn't what the person wants.

I agree with this.

 

[splat]

it is definitely the best idea to not overclock their computer at all unless you want to deal with issues that pop up. If you do overclock it, make sure you buy quality parts and test it thoroughly before you hand it over to them. If you really feel compelled to overclock it, i'd make sure you don't up the vcore so that you aren't killing their electrical bill without them knowing.

again, test it thoroughly if you do overclock (24hour prime).

 

[hUMANbEATbOX]

i don't know about you guys, but i haven't had ANY conservative OCs just "go bad" on me. on every single system i've ever worked with, there are OC's that are perfectly stable, as stable as stock. i know for a fact that my 2.4c could run for years and years at 3ghz without ever needing to be looked at.

if you OC it right the first time, and keep the newbie computer users needs in mind, then there is no reason it won't be stable for good.

my vote is slap the e4300 at 2.8ghz and call it a day.

 

[hUMANbEATbOX]

Guiding someone over the phone on resetting the bios? Easy enough for you and me. I wouldn't think it would be easy for someone who isn't an "enthusiast".

It isn't what we would want done but, what the OWNER wants done. I know it's an "easy" overclock but that isn't what the person wants.

i think i could guide my own mother over the phone, that is a good indicator for me.

and you don't know what the owner wants. maybe she is like you and me, and values getting the most for her money.

 

[freakdiablo]

Im surprised nobody has asked this yet: what is she going to be using it for? If shes just going to be using it for homework and checking her email, why waste the time?

 

[E4300]

Im surprised nobody has asked this yet: what is she going to be using it for? If shes just going to be using it for homework and checking her email, why waste the time?

IMHO that was the best comment.

My dad regularly complains of the Athlon at work being slow. I dunno if I remember correctly but it was 1.2Ghz and I had OC'd it to 1.8Ghz. But it is used only for office work and for surfing the net and checking email. So I did OC it once, and left it like that for a couple of months.

Then I decided to bring it back to original stock speed - because I know that if anything went wrong for whatever reason my dad would be blaming me, so no thanks!

He did complain yet again that the pc is slower now, I told him I OC'd it and brought it back and he didn't ask me to OC it again so I take that as an answer.

If your sister is planning to use her pc for games I'd ask her first if she's OK with OC. I've read a lot about the E4300 and it's a good processor to OC. The pc I'm buying is OC'd by the seller to 2.4Ghz and it has a 2 year warranty, OC and all. (I doubt whether I'd be sending the warranty to hell and playing around with it though!)

Though to speak of it, an OC from 1.8 Ghz to 2.4 Ghz is pretty substantial for a non-technic, and there's no cost - I've read that you can do it on the stock cooling however my pc is getting the cooler master hyper tx which should be better than the intel cooler.

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.

 

[GamingDaemon]

IMHO that was the best comment.

My dad regularly complains of the Athlon at work being slow. I dunno if I remember correctly but it was 1.2Ghz and I had OC'd it to 1.8Ghz. But it is used only for office work and for surfing the net and checking email. So I did OC it once, and left it like that for a couple of months.

Then I decided to bring it back to original stock speed - because I know that if anything went wrong for whatever reason my dad would be blaming me, so no thanks!

He did complain yet again that the pc is slower now, I told him I OC'd it and brought it back and he didn't ask me to OC it again so I take that as an answer.

If your sister is planning to use her pc for games I'd ask her first if she's OK with OC. I've read a lot about the E4300 and it's a good processor to OC. The pc I'm buying is OC'd by the seller to 2.4Ghz and it has a 2 year warranty, OC and all. (I doubt whether I'd be sending the warranty to hell and playing around with it though!)

Though to speak of it, an OC from 1.8 Ghz to 2.4 Ghz is pretty substantial for a non-technic, and there's no cost - I've read that you can do it on the stock cooling however my pc is getting the cooler master hyper tx which should be better than the intel cooler.

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.

THANK YOU ONE AND ALL. I have truly enjoyed reading all of your feedback. And I must concur with E4300, what does the customer want? As a consultant, I ask that all the time.

In this case, she is going to be doing homework, wirting papers, surfing the net, doing email. That's it. Not even photo-editing based on my conversations with her. In fact, she won't be saving anything to her hard drive...I asked her that three times...all three times she said she isn't planning on saving anything to her hard drive. I think she might be confused, and will probably be saving documents without realizing it. So based on that assumption, I got her the 320GB Seagate HD rather than some 80GB drive ... the price was almost the same anyway.

But it is so difficult for me not to overclock this rig. The temptation is jsut soooo strong. So I need to weigh my wants, and my ability to build a stable overclocked PC, against her desire for a simple, basic PC to do homework and surf the web. I think I can find a balance there. So if I do OC, it will be like to 2.4GHz, and I will run Orthos for 24 hours.

Again, thank you to everyone for your thoughtful input on this question.