Should I overclock a dying PC?

Should I overclock a dying PC? I have a laptop (Compaq Presario V5000). It's about 4 years old now. My dad bought it at Walmart on Black Friday for $389 (it only had 384MB of memory (now it has 2GB)). It has seen 3 Windows OS's and 4 Ubuntu's (I dual boot). The hard disk has begun to fail. I already have all the data backed up.
Asked by: Guest \| Views: 256

Total answers/comments: 2

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Guest [Entry]

"Overclocking a laptop is a risky move, overclocking this particular laptop is more.

As you know, most laptop BIOS don't support overclocking and heat-dissipation will be a real problem as well. Moreover, a few more MHz don't mean substantially better performance.

I suggest for you to replace the HDD. A new HDD with higher RPM and a better cache would make a real performance difference, you could look at (for example) the WD Scorpio Black.

So responding to your answer:

No, you don't; and probably you can't
CPUworld says 95°C is absolute maximum temperature
If you replace the HDD, you would definitely see a performance boost, especially boot times and file access"

Guest [Entry]

"I don't see the connection between the dying hard drive and overclocking.

If the computer is fast enough for you, get a new hard drive and carry on using it, its a faster machine than I have.

If its not, overclocking is not going to give you a big enough increase in performance that you are going to be happy with it.

If you just want to play before getting rid of the machine don't bother if you sell it or give it away you'll get more out of that than you will by playing at overclocking."