Though if you’re trying this on a laptop, you’ll want to verify that you’re able to clear CMOS (to reset the BIOS to default settings) if something does go wrong. Even on unstable overclocks, the worst that happens is you’ll get an error when testing for stability and be kicked back to the drawing board.

With memory, they don’t produce much heat at all, so it’s quite safe. An overclocked CPU or GPU can be much louder than one running at stock settings.

When you overclock a CPU, you have to worry about whether or not your cooling will handle the faster clocks. Overclocking RAM isn’t nearly as scary or unsafe as overclocking a CPU or GPU. This is called microstuttering, and it can make games feel choppy even when the average frame rate is high. Where RAM speed really shines is in minimum framerates for example, when you load a new area or new objects in a game, if it all has to happen in one frame, that frame could take longer than usual if it’s waiting on the memory to load.

The average frame rate is usually boosted a few percentage points with faster RAM when the CPU is doing most of the work. Take a look at this benchmark from Linus Tech Tips: Each frame might only have a few milliseconds to process a lot of data, so if the game you’re playing is CPU bound (like CSGO), faster RAM can improve framerates. In games though, RAM speed can actually have a noticeable effect. In day-to-day tasks, the RAM being a few nanoseconds faster might not matter, but if you’re really crunching numbers, any small performance improvement can help. Improving the speed at which your RAM runs can directly improve your CPU’s performance in certain situations, though there is a point of diminishing returns when the CPU simply can’t churn through more memory fast enough. Once it’s loaded, it usually stays there for a while, being accessed by the CPU whenever it needs it. Every program you run gets loaded into RAM from your SSD or hard drive, which are comparatively much slower.

Benefits of overclocking cpu