A question about overclocking and underclocking

[Gutendog]

I want to get this right from a noob point of view - My understanding is that underclocking a factory is more power efficient than overclocking. Eg. If you have a setup of constructors making 240 cast screws (4.8 constructors) it will be more power efficient to make 5 constructors underclocked than 4 constructors (with the last one being overclocked).

By this logic, I've been only overclocking miners or machines where the manifold has become too long and underclocking the rest of my factory.

Am I wrong? If I'm right, where else would I apply underclock or overclocking?

[Da_Higg]

Overclocking miners/extractors will produce more resources from the node.

Otherwise it's really a case of space efficiency vs power efficiency. Early on power tends to be the larger limiting factor, but later in the game as you build more automated power generators and production lines get more complex space becomes more of an issue

[Fenix]

Generally you overclock to save space or you just what fewer machines or you want/need a certain output rate.
Underclocking is almost never about saving power, It's you want/need a certain rate.

Good example for underclocking is water in Aluminium Production.
To make aluminium you need Bauxite and water, to make a Alumina Solution.
You take that solution to make scrap, but some water is a byproduct.
If You recycle that water back into the line, with a valve to prevent backflow, you have to underclock the water extractor so it doesn't flood the line causing a backup.
You need 320 of water, you get 240 from waste water, the other 80 comes from the extractor... if not set up right the scrap refinery will stop, and the whole process jams.

[Hazara]

Overclocking = faster production = more output but more energy consumption
Energy consumption increases in proportion to performance.

Underclocking = slower production = less output, but also less energy consumption
Energy consumption decreases in proportion to performance.

Especially for the lift components, since 1x resource in and 2x result out is more effective in terms of the resource and I can easily accept 4 times the power consumption.

[Nekogod]

It can make some early game ratios easier, for example coal power underclocking a water extractor to 75% will make it produce exactly enough for 2 coal power plants and I found building piping for 4 into 8 much easier than 3 into 8

[Huren Ogeko]

Overclocking saves you space and underclocking saves you power. So producing the name number of items with twice as many underclocked machines will use less power and more space. But overclocking machines will let you use less space but cost far more power for the same number of items produced.

In the early game when you are on biomass I like to get underclocking on as many machines as I can given that it will save power when I only need 50% or 25% of a pure node to make a small amount of iron plates for instance. This will save power and thus my biomass supplies while I push towards the next tier and coal power.
Once I have a practically infinite amount of power by way of adding more coal plants as needed I then start thinking of overclocking things like my miners so I have to use less nodes to get a certain product line going. I also overclock all power production machines as they are not affected by over/underclocking. 2x overclock uses exactly 2x resources for 2x output so there is no downside to overclocking them and no upside to underclocking them. I usually overclock them to max and maybe adjust the clock on the last one to account for the exact amount of coal available and belt speed at the time.

[DsnowMan]

To be clear, there is a power advantage to underclocking everything (except power buildings)

1 constructor at 100% uses 4MW, 2 constructors at 50% (same output) use 3.2 MW.

It's on a curve. It's a good strategy to build too many constructors, assemblers, etc early on and underclock them all, and then tune them back up when you need increased production later in the game (and when power can be less of an issue)

This also applies to miners, but people tend to overclock them instead to maximize their output

[Maehlice]

Originally posted by Gutendog:

I want to get this right from a noob point of view - My understanding is that underclocking a factory is more power efficient than overclocking. Eg. If you have a setup of constructors making 240 cast screws (4.8 constructors) it will be more power efficient to make 5 constructors underclocked than 4 constructors (with the last one being overclocked).

Another (better?) way to look at that is: 5 constructors each underclocked to 96% will be more power-efficient than 5 constructors left at 100% but running on a duty cycle of 96 (turning off periodically due to lack of supply material).

Originally posted by Gutendog:

... overclocking miners ...

As others have said, overclocking Miners and Power-generating buildings is standard practice. It's easier to overclock a miner than to tap another node, and there's zero downside to overclocking a power-generating machine.

Originally posted by Gutendog:

... where else would I apply underclock or overclocking?

When machine numbers don't match up exactly for input and output.

Let's say you're making Reinforced Iron Plates (incl your Cast Screw recipe). You need 2 smelters and 4 constructors. Instead of merging the smelter output and then redistributing it with a manifold, you can just build four lines of Smelter > Constructor. Underclock the Constructors to match exactly what the final Assembler needs, then tune each constructor's smelter to match exactly what its constructor needs.

You're essentially building a balancer with underclocking instead of a complex network of splitters.

That setup is also super simple to blueprint and replicate.

[Kage Goomba]

You overclock to speed up production and pump out more goods at the cost of power.
You underclock to slow down production and pump out less goods to save power.

Early game this may be useful to help your numbers match up (IE: Quartz is a real P I T A to line up) - and spend less power.

Mid-Late Game you start to care less about power consumption and more about making your production lines look pretty and possibly faster.

You will frequently if not "all the time" overclock your miners/extractors to make the most of your nodes (you should if you haven't already)

You may even overclock your power plants (keep in mind this increases their demand for fuel - but saves space)

The key point here is power - always keep an eye on that.

Now as to how you use this tool is entirely up to you - and depends on your needs at the time.

Also point of fact - Somersloops can exploit the setup by doubling your output of your production - but the power cost is extremely high but at zero material cost for said "effect." (Choose wisely)

However - you do not need to overclock Somerslooped buildings - not required - but could be advantageous obviously.

Always check the math - ALWAYS.

Hopefully that's as simple as it gets.
Course the examples everyone else offered is good for various examples of its use.

You use this mechanic to help smooth things out and make the most of your setup at any number of countless situations.

Case and point - I have 120 HOR to toy with - but this would require "2.4" Blenders at baseline - instead ill overclock 2 Blenders to eat 60 HOR (as opposed to 50 at baseline) at the cost of pumping more water and a bit more power (which I don't care about at this time) as its to be used for fuel power. (Diluted fuel is OP)

Blenders are pretty large buildings - so instead of a 3rd "inefficient stuttering" building - I'll get 2 100% Efficient buildings.

Inversely I could under-clock them to eat only 40 - which would require 3 blenders - and all 3 would be 100% Efficient - but that would cost more space - albeit less power.

Tomayto - Tomahto.

Very simple example - and subjective to your needs of course.

[Maehlice]

Originally posted by Kage Goomba:

You may even overclock your power plants (keep in mind this increases their demand for fuel - but saves space)

I'm definitely not disagreeing but want to clarify something -- the fuel demand increase is linear to the overlclocking percentage.

(Unlike power, where more overclocking exponentially increases the power demand.)

A Fuel-Powered Generator at 200% has the same fuel demand as two at 100%.

[Kage Goomba]

Originally posted by Maehlice:

Originally posted by Kage Goomba:

You may even overclock your power plants (keep in mind this increases their demand for fuel - but saves space)

I'm definitely not disagreeing but want to clarify something -- the fuel demand increase is linear to the overlclocking percentage.

(Unlike power, where more overclocking exponentially increases the power demand.)

A Fuel-Powered Generator at 200% has the same fuel demand as two at 100%.

Valid - still warrants checking to make sure things line up.

[Huren Ogeko]

Originally posted by Kage Goomba:

Originally posted by Maehlice:

I'm definitely not disagreeing but want to clarify something -- the fuel demand increase is linear to the overlclocking percentage.

(Unlike power, where more overclocking exponentially increases the power demand.)

A Fuel-Powered Generator at 200% has the same fuel demand as two at 100%.

Valid - still warrants checking to make sure things line up.

Its been checked and even documented on the wiki. Power generators are all linear as of some update long ago and they are the only overclockable machines to have linear overclocking.
A power generator at 200% will use 200% of the fuel and provide 200% power
Any assembler, miner, constructor, etc will not be this way as they will scale power usage up or down exponentially as you adjust clock speed. The exact formula is on the wiki.

[Bobucles]

Overclocking wastes about a third more power, and underclocking can save a bit. Don't worry about the power draw too much, there are ways to expand your power supply.

Power generators love being overclocked. Fluids are a pain to deal with and the more machines are connected, the worse it gets. Overclock that, it's worth it.