OT- Over clocking Mac Pro utility

[Sean Oneil]

Thanks for posting this. But having the system clock going too fast seems like a bad idea. Lots of apps rely on it. Files are always time stamped. It could even cause problems with Time Machine or Final Cut’s autosave.

Sean

[Arnie Schlissel]

It doesn’t effect the system clock, it overcranks the CPU.

I’d be very careful about doing this kind of thing. In particular, you should probably keep a close eye on the internal temperature.

Arnie
Post production is not an afterthought!
https://www.arniepix.com/

[Sean Oneil]

[Arnie Schlissel] “It doesn’t effect the system clock, it overcranks the CPU.”

Read the article. It does affect the system clock.

Sean

[Sean Oneil]

[Arnie Schlissel] “I’d be very careful about doing this kind of thing. In particular, you should probably keep a close eye on the internal temperature.”

This won’t affect the system temperature. That only happens when you increase the voltage to the CPU (which this program doesn’t do).

Sean

[Arnie Schlissel]

[Sean ONeil] “Read the article. It does affect the system clock.”

Doh!!

OK, I finally read the article, but it didn’t say anything about internal temperature.

Anyway, I’d be leery about doing this on a machine used for anything critical without rigorous testing.

OTOH, faster CPU speed= shorter render times.

Arnie
Post production is not an afterthought!
https://www.arniepix.com/

[Zane Barker]

[Warren Eig] “Use at your own risk.”

Exactly, because my friend who works for Apple says doing that would void your warranty.

There are no “technical solutions” to your “artistic problems”.
Don’t let technology get in the way of your creativity!

[Sean Oneil]

[Zane Barker] “Exactly, because my friend who works for Apple says doing that would void your warranty.”

I agree you shouldn’t use it, but it won’t void your warranty as long as you don’t tell them.

Sean

[Sean Oneil]

[Arnie Schlissel] “OK, I finally read the article, but it didn’t say anything about internal temperature.”

It’s just prior knowledge I have. The way overclocking works is that you increase the system bus speed to a certain point where your machine becomes unstable. So in order to push it further, you need to increase the voltage going to the CPU which in effect makes it stable again so you can keep increasing the speed. But by increasing the voltage you are increasing the temperature.

The Intel Core 2 series (what the Mac Pro’s Xeon is part of) is known for being able to overclock quite a bit without increasing the voltage. Regardless, this tool doesn’t alter your voltage, so increased heat is not an issue. Even if it did, the Mac Pro already has excessive overkill in regards to CPU cooling.

[Arnie Schlissel] “Anyway, I’d be leery about doing this on a machine used for anything critical without rigorous testing.”

Agreed. The system clock being off would concern me. Also, increasing the system bus causes your PCI cards to run at faster than intended speed. This could cause problems with a Kona, for example.

Sean

[Michael Bloodgood]

[Sean ONeil] “The Intel Core 2 series (what the Mac Pro’s Xeon is part of) is known for being able to overclock quite a bit without increasing the voltage. Regardless, this tool doesn’t alter your voltage, so increased heat is not an issue. Even if it did, the Mac Pro already has excessive overkill in regards to CPU cooling.
“

Slightly incorrect. The Xeon shares the Core Micro Architecture (which by the way is a marketing term) of the Core 2 Duo but is not a part of the Core 2 Duo series. The Core 2 Duo is an excellent overclocking chip. The Xeon is downright lousy. And when it comes to real overclocking (not this change the system bus with a program BS) it all has to do with the motherboard hardware and the BIOS (which Macs don’t use a BIOS).

This is all a mute point anyway cause in non mac land, you don’t overclock Xeons. Period. Motherboard designers don’t build easy or extensive overclocking features into server motherboards which, lest we all forget, the Xeon is a server processor. Overclocking is for gamers.

I’m with Sean on this one, the things that this program alters is asking for kernal panics.

[Sean Oneil]

[Michael Bloodgood] “Xeon is downright lousy. And when it comes to real overclocking (not this change the system bus with a program BS) it all has to do with the motherboard hardware and the BIOS”

I don’t doubt what you say is true, but typically there’s no difference between chips of the same type – a 2.6ghz Xeon and a 3.2ghz Xeon come from the same assembly line and are essentially the same (except for the clock multiplier and perhaps passing a QC test). My understanding is that the when overclocking any of these newer Intel chips, the memory will clonk out long before the CPU does.

But yeah, the whole idea is a bad one and almost pointless. It won’t let you do things you couldn’t already do. If you get a 12 minute render to take 9 minutes instead – I don’t see any great value in that. If render times are really important one can always setup Qmaster. For serious improvements, this Snow Leopard 10.6 thing looks like it could have a major game-changing impact (that 12 minute render becomes 12 seconds).

Sean