i7-6700k Stock or Overclocker?

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Flipz

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Sep 30, 2014
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Hi.
I just finished building my new rig with an i7 6700k which is designed for overclocking but I'm not sure if it's really worth it. My question: Is it true that overclocking will decrease the lifetime of my cpu?

If yes, Is it worth doing it? My motherboard automatically overclocked it to 4.6Ghz when I first booted up but I changed it to 4Ghz. I don't see much difference between stock and overclocked and I want my pc to work well as long as possible.

(I have the cooling system to keep the cpu, gpu overclocked.)

My specs:
GPU: MSI GTX 980
RAM: 2x16gb 2400Mhz
CPU-Cooler: Corsair h100i GTX
Motherboard: Asus Ranger VIII
 
Solution
Leaps-from-Shadows
Depending on the game and the graphics settings you use (both in Nvidia Control Panel and in-game), there may be little to no gain or there may be a very noticeable increase.

And yes, running anything out of spec will decrease its lifetime. The degree of decrease will depend on how high you set the speed, how high you set the voltage, and how hot it runs.

If longevity and reliability is your primary concern, then just leave it at stock. Make sure you manually set the CPU voltage at 1.2v, as if you leave it at Auto the board will likely set it higher than that. It will be plenty powerful for gaming even at stock clocks.
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synphul

synphul

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Mar 11, 2011
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So long as it's well cooled and voltage is in check it shouldn't reduce the lifespan by any significant amount. It may shorten it from 10yrs to 9yrs if that, just an example not real numbers. It's not necessary though either and what sort of benefit you'll see depends on the tasks you do. Gaming you probably won't notice but a few fps, some games not at all. Video encoding, you'd notice a difference.
 
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Leaps-from-Shadows

Leaps-from-Shadows

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Jan 10, 2011
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Depending on the game and the graphics settings you use (both in Nvidia Control Panel and in-game), there may be little to no gain or there may be a very noticeable increase.

And yes, running anything out of spec will decrease its lifetime. The degree of decrease will depend on how high you set the speed, how high you set the voltage, and how hot it runs.

If longevity and reliability is your primary concern, then just leave it at stock. Make sure you manually set the CPU voltage at 1.2v, as if you leave it at Auto the board will likely set it higher than that. It will be plenty powerful for gaming even at stock clocks.
 
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Solution
king3pj

king3pj

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Feb 19, 2013
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Overclocking is safe as long as you keep the voltage and temperatures in the recommended safe range for your CPU.

That being said the i7-6700k should be fast enough at stock speeds for any game you want to play. I don't see much downside to overclocking though. I figure that the power is there if/when I need it but because I did not disable the energy saving features my CPU doesn't have to run at the full overclock speed and voltage when the extra power isn't needed.

For example my i5-4690k is overclocked from the stock 3.5GHz to 4.4GHz. When my PC is idle the CPU clocks all the way down to 800MHz. Some games like Star Wars Battlefront keep my CPU locked at 4.4GHz the whole time. Most games do not. According to HWInfo while I play Fallout 4 my CPU maxes at 4.4GHz but averages closer to 3.9GHz.

The point I am trying to make is that even if you overclock it's not like your CPU will be running at full speed and using full voltage all the time. I don't think you necessarily have to overclock but I don't think you'll be doing any damage as long as you keep the voltage and temperature in the safe range.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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OCing is safe and not detrimental to the lifespan unless you something stupid like overvolt and run at very high temps. I've got numerous rigs out running at high OCs that go back to 2007 or so (still have a pair of Q6600 (2.4 stock) rigs in the family, 1 at 3.6 and another at 4Gz.
 
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A

axlrose

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Jun 11, 2008
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Related question as I'm saving up for a 6700k build. If the board auto oc's like this, is it safe to assume it's safe? It seems everyone thinks a manual oc is better than an auto oc, but are auto oc's safe for sure? I assume a motherboard wouldn't auto oc to something that is going to overheat your rig, but you know the saying about assuming...
 
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Leaps-from-Shadows

Leaps-from-Shadows

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Jan 10, 2011
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The push-button overclocks (or the automatic overclocks found in the BIOS) will generally find a good speed, but they tend to over-volt the CPU and sometimes other components. You can use them as a guideline for speed and then set the CPU voltage lower manually.

For instance, the Turbo Processing Unit (auto-overclocker) on my ASUS mainboard will overclock the CPU to 4.4GHz at 1.25v when it will pass any stress test at that speed when set manually to 1.2v. That's not even bad -- some auto-overclockers will set the CPU voltage to dangerous levels.

But it is better to manually overclock so you know exactly what settings were changed.
 
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king3pj

king3pj

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It's easy. All you really have to to do is increase the multiplier and Vcore in your BIOS. I still always look up a guide for the particular CPU I am working on before starting though. That way you can see what the recommended max Vcore and temperatures under load are for your model. There is a pretty big difference between acceptable Vcore on something like an i5-4690k compared to an FX-6300 for example.

The only other advice I would have is to be patient. I pick a target clock speed and then try to find the lowest Vcore that will keep my overclock stable during a stress test. I increase the voltage in 0.05V increments until I find one that won't give me a BSOD during stress testing. Then I start decreasing in 0.01V increments until I get a BSOD again. Then I bump it back up to the lowest voltage that didn't BSOD and run one final stress test to make sure it is indeed stable and temperatures are within the safe zone.

The process itself is very simple. It can just be pretty time consuming. Also you have to keep in mind that every chip isn't created equal even if they are the same model. I was shooting for 4.5GHz on my i5-4690k but no voltage up to the recommended 1.3V was stable during stress testing. I had to settle for 4.4GHz at 1.26V even though most people seem to be able to hit that clock speed at lower voltages with their 4690k.
 
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