[Imampaictjg]

Those were the days when even I applied Silver Paint to unlock an AMD XP or heated up a Soldering Iron to convert that lowly nVidia GeForce2 GTS to a Quadro2!

Now I use mostly Linux. This thing flies, why bother?

[Pa33anger]

No it's not. It's skillful. You don't think nVidia / ATI already know which point their chips will catch fire at? They are the pioneers, FM is full of skillful modifiers and hobbyists.

Personally I would say Digital_Jesus was a pioneer in the overclocking world. Maybe not in the hardware design and engineering world though.

Anyway, we're arguing about semantics here. Neither of us is wrong.

[VQdeochratis]

The industry has given into all our demands for bioses, voltages, every little edge in gaining that extra bit of speed from what you can. Today the only limiting factors are money and performance aftermarket cooling.

SSD's have accounted for the most note worthy speed increase for me in the past two years anyway. I built and i7 rig a few months ago and took it beyond 4ghz and its just been collecting dust since. Mostly cause of work but I also just seem to of lost the desire to have such hardware. Selling it and moving on to other things....like guns. >.>

[Siliespiriulk]

It's not that, it's just that we've seen it all before, and usually done better, in games.

Games like Quake had benchmarking in them, but 3DMark was in a different era in terms of graphics; now practically every game does benchmarking and graphics on par or better.

The 3DMark2003 backlash started the whole dwindling appetite on this forum IMHO.

I also think they never again quite captured the magic of 3DMark2K1. That was a benchmark that was very 'friendly' towards overclockers / tweakers. Even squeezing a couple of extra FSB MHz could gain a few more valuable points.

I remember pushing my system back in the day on this benchmark, great fun. AMD Mobile Barton 2500+ from 1.83GHz to 2.6Ghz on air with Abit NF7-S mobo.

Great days.

[Menierofe]

i would say the industry is at a chokepoint, it take more and more money to create more and more detail environment, we have reach a point where the increase in quality does not justify cost. until we can implement technology that can offer a major leap without doubling production cost; such as the implementation of radiosity, we are struck.

since post-DX9, there hasn't been much change.

we seen demo of some new effect but it's impact is becoming smaller and smaller. i mean procedural texture would have been big... that is if we didn't have GPU with Gig of memory by now, while it allows us to zoom in and not get fuzzy and pixelated, i doubt the average gamer would take notice to "inspect" the toliet tile up close to see it pixalate unless you are playing a very slow speed game.

[Fellionas]

There's alot more electronic gadgetry for us to play with and tweak nowadays. Not just pc's anymore.

But mainly, I think its because everything is "overclocker friendly" now. That activity used to be shunned by all the manufacturers. They would go out of their way to stop us. It no longer feels like the fringe, since options to overclock are included with everything now.

[SzefciuCba]

The lower the need the less it will be used. All those hobbyist had a need to try new stuff and develop further. If there's no need, no one will bother.

I still tweak quite a bit from time to time, I think it's fun and I like things when you can customize. On the other hand, modding hardware and overclocking I almost never do due to the risk(s) involved.

[Sapremolz]

Well, in my case, my last puter I built (last year) all by myself, picked all parts, found the best watercooling parts... took me a week. I started to wonder if that was really worth it.

Now I can run my E8600 dual core @ 4250MHz. I can clock it up to 4500Mhz if I want if I crank up all rad and exhaust fans... but I just never do that anymore. I'm happy with my 24/7 overclock.

I think I'll still build my next puter myself. Why settle with the ordinary when you can get more?

[JetePlentuara]

But mainly, I think its because everything is "overclocker friendly" now. That activity used to be shunned by all the manufacturers. They would go out of their way to stop us. It no longer feels like the fringe, since options to overclock are included with everything now.

Indeed, overclocking used to be a black art (you try OC'ing an AMD K6-2!), now every man and his dog can do it, and heck you can even buy CPU's that overclock themselves ffs...

It's all become too commercial, the shark has been jumped long ago so to speak.

[Vitoethiche]

I remember years ago reading some of the water cooling threads (something I have never tried) with interest and amazement at what some people were doing; custom water blocks, DIY radiators etc. etc.

I think you're right about watercooling. 3+ years ago it was a pionneering thing to do, but now all you have to do is stop at a local big-box retailer and buy a kit. But there are other pioneering things out there now, like silent PC, Home-automated, and non-traditional use systems (I'm sure we could create a list of more). These topics, however, don't seem to come up on FM, and when they do, they don't garner much attention. Maybe it has to do with FM being more about overclocking and not about new developments made by enthusiasts in system building/use. I suppose that since overclocking is no longer a PC-enthusiast pioneering activity, most of the enthusiasts who push the envelopes in today's topics have found other forums that are dedicated to their pioneering interests.

[JRixlcvF]

I remember them days, mostly modding.. never really did much overclocking, although i played a around a little with it..

now its laptops and consoles for me, i do miss the days of trying to get that massive radiator to fit into the case.. trying to think of the perfect hole to cut into the side of a brand new case.. trying to master the art of tidy wires..

i still play with pcs but not as much as back then.. and mostly old stuff not fully supported in vista let alone 7

and ive not posted here in ages.. not sure why im here today..

[AK47rulz]

As others have said:

1. OCing is easy now.
2. Beyond the easy OC (see 1) there is not much need - games runs fine, everything else runs even better
3. When there is a need - you don't have the large gains.

I do think people routinely still buy less expensive parts and OC to perform faster. It is just that this is a couple bios clicks and covered by forums and sites all over the place (not unique knowledge here).

The easy bios change gets you 90% plus of the increases. The final 10% (if that) pales in comparison to the effect the drivers or game coding has.

Basically a case of diminishing returns, and general availability of knowledge.

[Rqvtwlfk]

I remember them days, mostly modding.. never really did much overclocking, although i played a around a little with it..

now its laptops and consoles for me, i do miss the days of trying to get that massive radiator to fit into the case.. trying to think of the perfect hole to cut into the side of a brand new case.. trying to master the art of tidy wires..

i still play with pcs but not as much as back then.. and mostly old stuff not fully supported in vista let alone 7

and ive not posted here in ages.. not sure why im here today..

Been a long time Neddy, gone are the days of the old MO CS clanning almost didn't recognise your name

[PekHyvac]

Most have gotten older and lost interest in stuff like that. Plus has gotten married and full time job, life has taken over. Not as much interest in the pc as the older days

Plus now they are so many pc overclocking forums on the internet it is crazy. Don't get me wrong they will always be people that overclock or do some "diy" modding, etc.

Just most have grown up now and moved on to better things in life. As when they was younger it was pc and overclocking and benchmarking.

[zttrftwsq]

I haven't OCed since the ti4200 days.. Also my interest in PCs has been getting less and less over the years to the point where I only visit GD here.. Occasionally i check PC gaming for the big titles but that's it.

[temansertewek]

yup I can see that sitting in a darkened room with dirty plates and bowls stinking of stale sweat and BO for weeks overclocking a computer in the name of pioneering spirit...

[Thomas12400]

Games have improved as well though. I remember when I used to run top hardware all of the time, GF3, 9700 Pro, even with the top of the line cards... you had to OC if you wanted games to run maxed, and keep great frame rates. Now, you can have CPUs and video cards a few steps down from the top, or even a generation behind that run games at high resolutions with things maxed out. 8800 series? I wouldn't write off 3DMark though, those teasers have me every bit as excited as I was for 2001 to be released, it looks like something new and different.

[SzefciuCba]

yup I can see that sitting in a darkened room with dirty plates and bowls stinking of stale sweat and BO for weeks overclocking a computer in the name of pioneering spirit...

Do you sit in a lightened room when you are at the computer? That would be depressing..

[Almolfuncomma]

Why do you think part of the reason for upgrading and OCing laptops is?

[sttrqiss]

Brings to mind the old days of the pencil trick to unlock the multiplyer, Arctic Silver adhesive to put RAM sinks on my GTS, later watercooling entirely custom...ahhh, good times
Really can't be arsed now. My rig will play games decently (the o/c is only really there for old times sake), my g/c is one big sink already and I have a PS3. I do still miss 3dMk2K1 though.