Best CPU frequency to overclock at?

John Nguyener · Apr 3, 2015

So I want to overclock at a higher frequency. I hear people saying that there is little performance gain after 4.4 Ghz so I want to see if I should overclock from 4.2 Ghz to above 4.4 Ghz or not.

Cpu: i5 3570k

Darkbreeze · Apr 3, 2015

200mhz extra with that chip is unlikely to bring you much, if any, noticeable performance gains. Plus you'd need a good PSU, aftermarket cooler and good case cooling. If you have a case with minimal fans, don't bother.

John Nguyener · Apr 3, 2015

Darkbreeze :

How about from 4 ghz to 4.4? Currently, I'm on stock cooling, but I have an aftermarket cooler on the way.

Darkbreeze · Apr 3, 2015

Looks to me like, even at 4.7Ghz, the difference is extremely minimal.

synphul · Apr 3, 2015

I think it depends on what you're doing with it. Games aren't the only thing a cpu can be tasked with and even in games it depends on the game. One older game isn't really conclusive, for instance if gaming is the question the above would be relevant to crysis 2. If looking to play skyrim on the other hand, depending on resolution the difference can be 35fps from stock to 4.5ghz.

http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1158&page=10

At higher resolutions the difference becomes smaller due to gpu limitations. So long as the gpu isn't holding the system back, the cpu keeps pushing frames faster. At higher resolutions, more pixels, detail etc it starts to make less of a difference because whether a cpu is 3.5 or 4.5ghz, the gpu is struggling to push those frames any faster.

In another game like total war an oc can mean nearly 10fps increase even at 1080.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2012/05/01/intel-core-i5-3570k-cpu-review/6

You would need to check references for various games since they're essentially each a different piece of software. Just like different programs work differently. You can't just take one game bench and deduce it makes no difference for all games anymore than you can take a 30% performance increase in a zip file benchmark and assume it will give 30% performance boosts in image and video editing.

Darkbreeze · Apr 3, 2015

Other titles I looked at, on three sites, had similar results. Only one title had a different result. I don't know why, no offense to you synphul, people here insist on saying one this or one that doesn't mean anything. If the results I see all look similar, I post one result. Posting ALL of the results just to show the effect is across the board would increasingly jam things up on the Tom's forums and would also look ridiculous with five or ten benchmark postings. And then just posting the link isn't always effective as they rarely bother to look at them it seems.

I'll agree that for other types of computing, like some non-gaming applications, it might certainly offer some benefits. In fact, I'd almost guarantee it will. Some gaming titles will as well. A lot of them won't. The bigger consideration though is going to be the Ivy bridge designs that are well known to run hot when overclocked. Make sure you go with a very good cooler if you're going to take that chip to 4.5Ghz or higher on a manual overclock. An entry level budget aftermarket cooler may not be sufficient to cool that chip for any kind of extended process, gaming or otherwise, at that level. I would not, for example, expect to take that chip to 4.5Ghz or higher and keep it cool using a Hyper 212 EVO. Something more capable would probably be a very good idea.

synphul · Apr 3, 2015

I know you're usually thorough darkbreeze, I just meant that it becomes really difficult to pigeon hole even based on type of program. It's too broad of a question to ask 'will this run my programs good' but 'will this run games good' or 'will this run games better than xyz' is also a bit broad. I agre, many people don't like to look at links provided but I leave it up to the individual. Someone who asks a question and wants help but can't be bothered to click and open a link doesn't really want an answer too badly imho anyway.

When it comes to thermals I'm not really sure what people consider 'hot'. I didn't realize ivy bridge was considered 'hot' but I've heard that about haswell and devil's canyon as well. Maybe ivy bridge are hotter than d.c. but I thought d.c. were referred to as the hot ones and if that's the case, they're not all that hot in terms of it being difficult to cool them.

What I gather from bench's where the cpu speed doesn't matter is the gpu is the bottleneck. When the gpu isn't holding back the framerates then the cpu speed does have an impact. It's not that cpu speeds don't matter or make little difference, as if the extra 400mhz or so isn't as fast as any other 400mhz increment in speed. Just that the gpu is holding it back to the point where it might not be noticed.

Darkbreeze · Apr 4, 2015

synphul :

I know you're usually thorough darkbreeze, I just meant that it becomes really difficult to pigeon hole even based on type of program. It's too broad of a question to ask 'will this run my programs good' but 'will this run games good' or 'will this run games better than xyz' is also a bit broad. I agre, many people don't like to look at links provided but I leave it up to the individual. Someone who asks a question and wants help but can't be bothered to click and open a link doesn't really want an answer too badly imho anyway.

When it comes to thermals I'm not really sure what people consider 'hot'. I didn't realize ivy bridge was considered 'hot' but I've heard that about haswell and devil's canyon as well. Maybe ivy bridge are hotter than d.c. but I thought d.c. were referred to as the hot ones and if that's the case, they're not all that hot in terms of it being difficult to cool them.

What I gather from bench's where the cpu speed doesn't matter is the gpu is the bottleneck. When the gpu isn't holding back the framerates then the cpu speed does have an impact. It's not that cpu speeds don't matter or make little difference, as if the extra 400mhz or so isn't as fast as any other 400mhz increment in speed. Just that the gpu is holding it back to the point where it might not be noticed.

Ivy bridge had IHS problems. This:

http://www.eteknix.com/ivy-bridge-heat-problems-remain-even-after-ihs-removal/

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Best CPU frequency to overclock at?

John Nguyener

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John Nguyener

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