Is overclocking worth the extra cost?

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PomuM

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May 18, 2013
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I'm particularly looking at Intel here, but I'm assuming this applies for most scenarios. Even more specifically, I'm looking at the 4670, a very popular choice. I'm also assuming this is going to be for gaming/general purposes.

A 4670 is $209.99. A decent H87 motherboard to go along with it, would probably be something around the cost of a H87-D3H ($103.99). That's a total cost of $313.98.

A 4670K is $225.99. A decent Z87 motherboard to go along with it, would probably be something around the cost of a Z87-D3H ($139.99). You're also going to need an aftermarket CPU Cooler. The most popular choice seems to be the Hyper 212 EVO ($29.99). That's a total cost of $395.97.

The way I'm looking at it is, you're paying an additional $81.99 to give your CPU an average overclock? Considering your gaming performance isn't going to increase at all.. since your video card is probably going to bottleneck before a stock 4670 would anyway (unless you have something along the lines of SLI 780s). Am I missing something? I'm not trying to disprove overclocking and it's effectiveness. I'm asking if the price increase is actually worth it?
 
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CompuTronix
On one end of the spectrum, some "games" are highly GPU bound and lightly CPU bound, some are fairly balanced between GPU and CPU load, while on the other end of the spectrum, titles such as flight "simulations" are highly CPU bound and lightly GPU bound. It all depends on how you intend to use your rig. Regardless, both CPU and GPU can be overclocked to effectively increase frame rate.

So the goal is to build and all around balanced gaming system which includes a powerful and nicely overclocked CPU and GPU combination. If even more GPU horsepower is needed, then an SLI or CrossFire configuration can be built, but there's no substitute for an OC'd CPU to support the highest frame rates and performance accross the board.

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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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There's a lot more to a computer than just gaming...but there are many who want the best performance they can get...period - (I'm not a gamer and I know I do), to most enthusiast it's well worth it, and even if you don't OC right away, after awhile, a system seem to get slower and OCing it is a way of renewing, for many almost like getting a new rig
 
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PomuM

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May 18, 2013
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Well that's why I said for gaming purposes. I completely understand if you're doing heavy CPU work, an overclock can be very beneficial. But if you're a strict gamer building a strict gaming build, is it worth it?
 
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PomuM

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A GTX 780 would bottleneck a stock 4670, wouldn't it? So making the 4670 faster.. shouldn't help at all, or at least not enough to justify the $80 price tag.
 
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Tavo_Nova

Tavo_Nova

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well if you can't afford the extre cost, it's really better to stick to the non K edition as besides that you would need a good aftermarket cooling option like the h80i or h100i or h110 or even the cheap but really good hyper 212 evo.
 
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PomuM

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I guess what I'm trying to ask is.. if you're strictly gaming, and you don't have anything more powerful than a Titan, should you overclock? I think no.. because you won't see a performance increase, unless i'm wrong in that aspect.
 
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CompuTronix

CompuTronix

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On one end of the spectrum, some "games" are highly GPU bound and lightly CPU bound, some are fairly balanced between GPU and CPU load, while on the other end of the spectrum, titles such as flight "simulations" are highly CPU bound and lightly GPU bound. It all depends on how you intend to use your rig. Regardless, both CPU and GPU can be overclocked to effectively increase frame rate.

So the goal is to build and all around balanced gaming system which includes a powerful and nicely overclocked CPU and GPU combination. If even more GPU horsepower is needed, then an SLI or CrossFire configuration can be built, but there's no substitute for an OC'd CPU to support the highest frame rates and performance accross the board.

The bottom line; is overclocking worth it? Hell YES!

Hope this helps,

Comp :sol:
 
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