87 Clockers

It would be absolutely insane for Valve to invest millions into something that would lock down their new platform, gather negative publicity, and alienate a portion of their fans, even more so considering the third-party SteamBox manufacturers will be offering viable alternatives for anyone to grab and use.

 

I'm pretty sure I've been saying precisely the opposite--that they would prefer open.  Specifically, I suspect they would be against the things using UEFI, a Microsoft technology which basically is there to be annoying for non-MS operating systems.  Yes, I know MS make various technical claims about UEFI and secure boot and whatnot, but I've never gotten the impression they held much water.  Like many Microsoft technologies, the real purpose seems to be mostly to create roadblocks in the way of use of anyone else's technology.  So yeah, with SteamOS being a Linux, and Valve not liking Microsoft or Windows much, I suspect they'd want to avoid an MS tech that puts hurdles in front of Linux.  

It would also be possible they might put some money or effort into bumping up the development of an open source BIOS project, although that's a longer shot.

I'm confident you have more technical knowhow than I do, so, fine, kowtow, I am not worthy and so forth.  On the other hand, I'm increasingly feeling you aren't reading what I write before you go off on me.  Which makes me think you just want to show off by taking someone down.  That kind of lowers the respect factor again.

Aaaaaand there we delve into fiction, haha. In-OS overclocking is indeed possible via special software (definitely haven't heard anything about switch flipping, though, lol), but is NOT recommended, as it's unreliable: altering BIOS values grants more precision, less voltage fluctuation, and , in turn, better stability. Furthermore, giant leaps of faith, like Mike did, are not recommended either: it's a gamble. If it boots and is stable, good for you, but since all processors OC differently, you're likely to crash and have to waste time either backing down to see at what point it boots again, or blindly increase voltages to accommodate the raised clockspeed - and THAT is definitely not a good way to do things. Slow and steady all the way folks

Oh, and I'm not throwing rocks into the author's garden - a degree of fiction and inaccuracies is to be expected. It's just a warning to those of you who might have been inspired to try this out yourself.

For a good list of OC guides and a treasure trove of information concerning anything computer-related, visit the overclock.net forums.

Now then, I wonder if they'll pull out the "OMG he's not only OCing the CPU, but the GPU as well!" card next chapter ^^

Thanks for the release, HappyScans!

That would be true if we were discussing SteamOS on its own, but we are instead discussing the upcoming Steam Machines, which will run SteamOS but which are physical devices, sort of PC-as-a-game-console things.  True, they will have somewhat open specifications--but it does seem that Valve will be exercising some degree of control over how the things are built.  And they may release some of their own directly.  So yes, a Steam Machine would have a BIOS and Valve might have a say in what that BIOS was.

Unless Valve suddenly hired a division of motherboard engineers, dumped millions into R&D to design the hardware from scratch, and started manufacturing their own MoBos just for the sake of altering a few basic control options that don't really affect 99% of their customer base in any way whatsoever...

You see where I'm going with this, don't you?

One does not simply start manufacturing PC components out of the blue.

Steam machines, as you may have noticed, are offered by a large variety of manufacturers, who'll be using all sorts of different hardware. The low-end ones might be locked down, if they go the low-lange Intel route, or be completely open for tinkering if they go with AMD.In the high-end segment, everything should be ready for messing around, as they'll likely be running the unlocked intel CPUs, and there isn't much that's more wasteful than having a high-end unlocked CPU in a locked-down mobo. Besides, the last mobo I saw that didn't haven even basic support for overclocking(most laptops aside) was back in the early LGA775 era, some 8-ish years ago.
It would be absolutely insane for Valve to invest millions into something that would lock down their new platform, gather negative publicity, and alienate a portion of their fans, even more so considering the third-party SteamBox manufacturers will be offering viable alternatives for anyone to grab and use.

On a different note, thanks for the chapter, HappyScans!

Well this was pretty boring to me, until Julia showed up, man now this is really fun xD

BIOS types are based on your motherboard, not your OS. Whether Steam want to or not it's not up to them to choose what type of BIOS you use.

That would be true if we were discussing SteamOS on its own, but we are instead discussing the upcoming Steam Machines, which will run SteamOS but which are physical devices, sort of PC-as-a-game-console things.  True, they will have somewhat open specifications--but it does seem that Valve will be exercising some degree of control over how the things are built.  And they may release some of their own directly.  So yes, a Steam Machine would have a BIOS and Valve might have a say in what that BIOS was.

This is some overspecific bullshit, though. I mean, the author's aware of it so it's all good, but a guy getting into not just computers, but such a particular aspect of them, for a girl's sake...and now a different girl, with an air-cooling obsession, has got him into some kind of Crysis-running tournament?

I love how a competent author can basically drag me into anything they want.

This is hilarious.

Hmmm, yeah--since Valve is basically taking a poke at Microsoft with this thing, and waving the openness flag, and is going to be doing their own hardware (although since the specs are open others can put them out too), I'd suspect they'll skip UEFI and use a normal BIOS, maybe even an open one.  All the indications are that the thing is going to be all around unlocked enough to mess with.

On the GPU side I'm way out of my depth to even start to comment.

BIOS types are based on your motherboard, not your OS. Whether Steam want to or not it's not up to them to choose what type of BIOS you use.

Not really that into over clocking, but it was fun looking at vids of a pentium 4 at 5ghz hehe,
 
Now I'm into case modding and shit like that, making the inside of my case look sexy xD
 
 
obligatory pictures of pc that not mine:
 
 
(stolen from million dollar pc site)
 

Spoiler

 

Overclocking with that???

you're done it wrong kiddo.....

decent OC should done with a bugdet part... that was beauty of overclocking....

Unlocked sempron 145. and oc it to 4 GHz. without any Liquid Nitrogen crap... and water cooled systwem......

Well, the "weighing down" part was plain silly, but the delta fans were still priceless, haha. I wonder if we'll see any blade racks. Now THAT is a deafening noise.

Thanks for the chapter, HappyScans!

well 4 delta fans should done the job alright.. combine with dual system PSU...

Well, the "weighing down" part was plain silly, but the delta fans were still priceless, haha. I wonder if we'll see any blade racks. Now THAT is a deafening noise.

Thanks for the chapter, HappyScans!

God, the feels in this chapter. THE FEELS.

Thanks for the chapter!

 

 

Overclocking is mostly done via BIOS (or, as of late, UEFI), so as long as it contains an unlocked CPU and a motherboard with at least semi-decent OC features, OCing is definitely possible. GPUs, on the other hand, mostly rely on in-OS software overclocking, so that part will depend on software compatibility with the SteamOS distro.

Hmmm, yeah--since Valve is basically taking a poke at Microsoft with this thing, and waving the openness flag, and is going to be doing their own hardware (although since the specs are open others can put them out too), I'd suspect they'll skip UEFI and use a normal BIOS, maybe even an open one.  All the indications are that the thing is going to be all around unlocked enough to mess with.

On the GPU side I'm way out of my depth to even start to comment.

this series really wants you to know that the protag is a wimp

god damn

Thanks for the chapter!

A new series by the mangaka of Nodame?!  I am so here.

 

Thinking of things to overclock, how about those Steam Machines about to come out?  A game console *and* a PC at the same time.

Overclocking is mostly done via BIOS (or, as of late, UEFI), so as long as it contains an unlocked CPU and a motherboard with at least semi-decent OC features, OCing is definitely possible. GPUs, on the other hand, mostly rely on in-OS software overclocking, so that part will depend on software compatibility with the SteamOS distro.

A new series by the mangaka of Nodame?!  I am so here.

Thinking of things to overclock, how about those Steam Machines about to come out?  A game console *and* a PC at the same time.

Hell yes! Happy Scans&Manga at the End of Time, thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU! Been waiting for this to get picked up for ages!

The PC enthusiast in me is feeling all warm and fuzzy now.

Also, bwahahahahahaha @ 2V core voltage. While a 'splosion wouldn't have happened in reality, that indeed is a surefire way to brick a modern CPU. Can't wait to see some more exaggerated OC mishaps ^^

hmm.... i wonder.. ^^

The author of Nodame Cantabile AND a story about computer building?

FUCKING. FOLLOWED.

Overclocking just for the sake of it? Some people have eccentric hobbies...

An UPDATE! Holy shit!

YAY!!

Thanks Happy Scans & Manga at the End of Time, you guys rock.