Clock speeds and games

[Peaks]

You can see form my sig that I have a q6600 @ 3.0GHz.

I was just wondering what clock speed I would have to get it to to notice a real difference in games. For example, if I overclocked it to 3.2-3.5 would there be a noticeable difference in games? Or would I have to get a new chip and get it to 4.0GHz, like a q9650, or q9550?

 

[smithereen]

1. You could probably get your q6600 to 4ghz under a decent cooler.
2. 3.5 would be noticeable for sure, especially in demanding but poorly-thread-optimized games. Try it, and see if you see a difference in your games. You might be bottlenecking your HD4870 for sure, depending on the resolution you're using.

 

[mamw93]

You would need more than just higher CPU clock speeds. You would need to overclock your GPU, CPU, and RAM. Though if you don't want to do any of that then go buy a SSD and load games onto them... you will notice a BIG difference in games.

 

[Peaks]

@ mamw93 - My RAM and GPU are pretty fast I am not sure how much overclocking will actually affect my performance? I was also unaware that SSD's had an effect in game, thought it was just on load times, because games dont write to the HDD that much during play, just when loading etc?

Thanks for your help guys, I am playing at 1680x1050 but hoping to upgrade to 1920x1200 soon. Forgot to say that in my OP.

 

[San Pedro]

I would think you should be all set for most games. An SSD will not give better performance in games.

When I was playing at 1920x1080 I was maxing out most games (crysis and GTAIV not included) with a 512mb 4870, an e6750 @ stock, and 4gb of 800mhz ram. If I were you I wouldn't not worry about getting any crazy clock speeds or buying a new processor for games.

At 1900x1200 your GPU will be what determines your performance in games more than anything else. Get your new monitor, and go from there. I think there's a good chance you won't need to spend any more money or overclock your cpu anymore.

 

[smithereen]

I'd OC it a little, but San Pedro is about right on the money. See what you can get at stock voltage.

 

[Peaks]

thanks for your advice