Is OC worth it?

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Ray_31

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Mar 15, 2016
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I am planning out a new PC build and have been finding it hard to get a concrete answer on this.

Would it be worth it to spend $100-150 more on parts (eg. Motherboard H170 to Z170, i5-6600 to 6600k, Cooling)to be able to overclock CPU/GPU? How much of an increase in fps could i expect?

Thanks guys.

 
Solution
techgeek
Overclocking doesn't benefit gaming very much. Even really CPU dependent games don't really see much benefit. There is a small difference in stock clock speeds between the non-K to K versions of CPU's, but again performance differences are minimal.

GPU overclocking has a greater influence on gaming performance. However in most cases you have to get a decent overclock to actually feel the difference beyond benchmark numbers. Your ability to overclock your GPU is not limited by the platform, it's limited to the GPU and to some extent the quality and power rating of your PSU.

So if your primary / only use for your computer is gaming (not some other CPU intensive workloads) then save the money you'd spend on a Z170 + K CPU and spend...
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lifespill

lifespill

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Oct 25, 2015
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It depends the game,if a game is terrible optimised and need raw cpu power maybe you will have 1-5 fps increase,but this is the exception,most games need strong gpu.In overall overclocking past 6600 clock wont have any change in gaming.So my opinion is to save the extra money for the k cpu and buy a better gpu.

 
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techgeek

techgeek

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Apr 11, 2004
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Overclocking doesn't benefit gaming very much. Even really CPU dependent games don't really see much benefit. There is a small difference in stock clock speeds between the non-K to K versions of CPU's, but again performance differences are minimal.

GPU overclocking has a greater influence on gaming performance. However in most cases you have to get a decent overclock to actually feel the difference beyond benchmark numbers. Your ability to overclock your GPU is not limited by the platform, it's limited to the GPU and to some extent the quality and power rating of your PSU.

So if your primary / only use for your computer is gaming (not some other CPU intensive workloads) then save the money you'd spend on a Z170 + K CPU and spend that money on a better graphics card.
 
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thx1138v2

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Jun 18, 2011
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There is no concrete answer to your question. By definition an overclocked machine is operating outside the guaranteed specifications. The performance doesn't just depend on the make and model of the components but the specific components you receive. You can have chips of the exact same make and model and they can work quite differently in an overclocked system. You won't know what you have until you build it with the specific parts you receive. It's usually due to variations in the manufacturing process.

Of course any fps gain will depend on the specific application you run.

Overclocked system run hotter and need more/better cooling but will still degrade faster than a non-overclocked system. So the system will have a shorter lifespan. Again, you can't know how much shorter the lifespan will be until it dies.

At best, you're spending your money on a chance of a faster system. How much faster is unknowable ahead of time.
 
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maxalge

maxalge

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May 31, 2012
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depends on the game


you could see anywhere from 0% if the gpu is the limiter

to beyond 50% fps increase if your gpu is not the bottleneck

s1Em8AI.jpg



compare the fps from the 8350 @ stock to 9590 @ 4.7ghz ( same chip, 9590 is just overclocked at the factory )

a relatively mild 700 mhz overclock = 14% gain in minimums and 15% gain on average fps




in arma 3 you can see massive gains for example
 
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4Ryan6

4Ryan6

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Apr 14, 2002
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With CPUs overclocking does not benefit you that much at all, unless you are willing to live in the danger zone like pushing a 3.5ghz CPU to 5ghz and keeping it cool enough to avoid performance degradation from the CPUs built in thermal protection.

Tiny steps in overclocking aren't worth spending the extra money to get there because they really don't add up to much of a performance increase at all, if you cannot stay cool enough!

Cooling is the most important thing when it comes to overclocking and many fall short there!

The overclock some pat themselves on the back for, may be just an illusion, as it is for many here at Toms Hardware, because your CPUs performance may be compromised so much from the heat, your overclocked CPU performance is worse than the stock performance.

There's much more to CPU overclocking than just buying more expensive overclocking hardware!

When it comes to GPU overclocking many do it completely clueless as to what's under the hood of their cooling solution that comes on the card, they do not know if some monkey watching the clock in anticipation of getting off is properly applying the Thermal Compound on the GPU die, or the Thermal Pads on the memory or VR chips.

So overclocking a graphics card without knowing if the heat sink has been properly installed on the card is the most dangerous thing you could do as you may destroy a perfectly good graphics card in doing so.

Don't assume anything!

You'd probably have a heart attack if you knew what I discovered under my EVGA HydroCopper GTX Titan a $1,300.00 graphics card, that you would normally assume was the best of the best and the highest quality out of EVGAs factory door.

The GPU die was only 2/3rds covered with thermal compound, 2 of the memory chips thermal padding was halfway off the chip, it was so far, the worst I've ever found under a GPU cooler, and I was so mad after what I found coming from EVGA.

I've seen it from other brand GPUs as well, but for the money the Titan cost, what I found assures me EVGAs out the door quality control, SUCKS!



 
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