We will discuss overclocking and all the risks and benefits involved with overclocking your PC. We will further discuss how one can overclock PC components and what precautions one must take. Finally, we will discuss the perks music producer(s) or audio engineer(s) can take advantage of if they overclock their PC. Let’s dive right into it.
It’s not worth overclocking your PC to pull off an extra bit of performance, as the risks of getting your PC damaged weights more than the benefits. Higher clock speed may give you some freedom to work with more plugins and VSTs at the same time, but may lead to non-repairable harm to your PC.
On the other side, by overclocking your PC within stable limits while keeping the heat and voltage in control, you could improve the performance of your PC in exchange for higher power consumption and your music production workflow but also the communication between your PC and the audio interface.
That will also lead to better monitoring and recording. Further, it will speed up the time it takes to open up projects and locate & load samples. It will help you run more plugins at a higher audio resolution. It will also make exporting and rendering faster. With improved CPU performance, you can also work at higher sample rates.
Overclocking can increase your CPU performance by up to 20%, so you can work with heavier projects without having your sessions crash, lag, or fry. Audio engineers who work with much audio hardware may find overclocking helpful. Let’s understand overclocking further.
How many GHz of CPU do I need for music production?
A clock speed of 2.6-4.4 GHz is usually sufficient for music production. Higher clock speed means that the CPU processes information at a higher frequency. For example, the Intel i7-12650HX has a clock speed of 3.3 GHz, expandable up to 4.7 GHz.
CPU Requirements for Music Production
Apart from a decent clock speed, there are other CPU requirements for music production that one needs to meet. A strong single core in the CPU is important, as this single core is primarily responsible for processing the VSTs, effects, and plugin chains. Hence, a processing score of 20,000 or more for the single core is good enough.
Further, a CPU for music production should enable good communication between the RAM, sampler, and the hard disk. The multi-core determines this communication. Hence, a CPU with more than eight cores with a processing score of 10,000 or above should be sufficient.
Some of the best processors for music production in the market are Apple M1 Ultra, Intel Core i9-12900K, AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, intel i7-12700K, intel i711700K, AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, and Intel Core i5-11400F, etc.
Other specs for a music production PC
Apart from a CPU, one should look for good RAM. A RAM of at least 8 GB is adequate for music production. In addition, it’s a good idea to have at least 128 GB of SSD and 1 TB of HDD storage because the multi-core communication depends on the storage and the RAM.
SSD will boost the projects and samples’ bootup time and loading time. At least two USB Ports, one for the interface and the other for a MIDI device, are necessary. You may also need a headphone or speakers jack in your laptop for scenarios in which you’re traveling and the interface cannot be connected.
Benefits of Overclocking
Overclocking is getting more out of less and deriving more value from your PC than you paid. So the first benefit of overclocking is the computer’s free extra performance. A good, successful overclock can increase a computer’s performance by as much as 20%.
For music producers, that means ease of working with more complex & CPU-intensive projects without having their projects freeze or distort. That also means better & faster channels of routing between the computer and the sound card. That would also make loading projects, locating samples, and rendering audio files faster.
Further, you could work with a lower buffer length, decreasing real-time monitoring and recording lag. In addition, you could work at higher sample rates resulting in better audio resolution and harmonic processing. Finally, you could load more plugins and easily work with third-party plugins.
You could enable more exciting animations and engaging visuals in your DAW without worrying about the CPU load. For example, while doing sound designing and working with synthesizers, one could load up multiple oscillators with complex waveforms and multiple voices, processing, and harmonic structures.
Risks of Overclocking
Excessive clock speed results in excessive voltage use and hence heat generation. Running your CPU above 86 degrees Celsius for long periods is the “danger zone” of PC operation. If not immediately, this will likely harm your computer in the long run.
High voltage use due to overclocking also leads to the high power consumption of the PC. Increased power consumption and increased electricity bills also have adverse environmental disadvantages. Apart from that, the increased voltage could also fry up your chips.
High voltage and overheating could also damage your computer’s audio hardware/gears, mics, cables, and audio interface. In addition, the increased temperature could lead to bad signal transmission and communication between audio electronic devices. For example, suppose your monitor speakers or headphones are connected directly to your computer or laptop via an aux cable. In that case, the risk of impairment of the cable and the monitor is high.
Lastly, overheating also results in PC crashes and may also damage individual components of your computer. Sometimes it could also lead to permanent damage to the CPU. Hence, it’s suggested to keep the voltage, temperature, and clock speed under recommended limits, which will be provided by the manufacturer in the processor’s manual.
How to overclock your PC?
The first step is to identify if you can overclock your CPU. Theoretically, every CPU is overclockable, but we must be careful while pushing our CPUs beyond their limits. Hence, one should check the manufacturer’s recommendations on overclocking the PC.
For example, Intel processors which are overclockable have the letter “K” and “X” in their names. The second step is to perform a stress test on your computer to check your CPU’s core temperature. After that, ensure that your CPU gets proper cooling to handle the additional heat that the CPU produces due to getting overclocked.
You can also try water cooling for the same purpose. Finally, to increase the frequency of the clock in your CPU, you’ll need to go into your computer’s BIOS. Overclocking little by little while checking the system’s stability at every step is what’s recommended. Just make sure to keep the clock’s speed at stable levels. Check this website for more resources on overclocking.
What is Overclocking?
Overclocking is raising the clock rate or the frequency of a particular component – typically the CPU or GPU of a computer, above the speed certified by the manufacturer to improve the computer’s performance. Overclocking causes the component overclocked to do more operations per second.
Each component has a certified safe limit within which we should keep the clock speed. However, people overclock the component above those limits to squeeze better performance out of their system. However, that could result in heating, instability, and sometimes causes your circuit to burn.
For example, a CPU with a clock speed of 3.2 GHz can execute 3.2 billion cycles per second, which means it could turn itself on or off 3.2 billion times in a second. Increasing the clock speed will lead to higher executable cycles per second and hence more instructions from other computer components that a CPU can follow.
Another example, the intel i7 6700K has an overclocking limit of 4.5 GHz, whereas the intel i7 7700k can have clock speed up to 4.8 GHz without facing any issues. It’s important to remember that the speed of operation of a CPU or any other component doesn’t just depend on the clock speed; it also depends on the rest of the processor’s architecture and how it responds to the clock.
Conclusion
It is not a bad idea to overclock your computer for better performance for music production, recording, mixing-mastering, etc. However, it is not necessary to do so. There are various other ways to improve the CPU performance within the DAW you are working on.
As you have read above, this entire process of overclocking your computer should be done by being mindful of its consequences. Today, it’s easier than ever to overclock your PC. However, it should be done within the safety & stability bounds, keeping in mind the overheating and voltage bump this process produces.
Overclocking the CPU will help you with more efficiency in doing music production. However, GPU overclocking will not help you with music production, as audio processing is not graphic-dependent. Similarly, increasing RAM’s frequency will only result in loading up the projects and samples within the projects more rapidly and nothing else, as music production software and hardware work on sequential processing.
It is advised to do your research before overclocking any component of your PC and perform such tasks at your own risk.
Shaurya Bhatia, is an Indian Music Producer, Composer, Rapper & Performer, who goes by the stage name MC SNUB, and is also 1/2 of the Indian pop music duo, called “babyface”. A certified Audio Engineer & Music Producer, and a practicing musician & rapper for more than 6 years, Shaurya has worked on projects of various genres and has also been a teaching faculty at Spin Gurus DJ Academy.