OC'ing for gaming? I need convincing.

[hooray4boobies]

My question to the overclockers in here...is where is the benefit of overclocking for a gamer?

My system specs are listed below...All stock clocked. Is it even worth the time and effort to get liquid cooling and get my CPU to 3.8Ghz? My GPU to 950Mhz?

If any of you have similar specs and can tell me a rough percentage of performance increase or a guess-timate of what i could expect, that'd be sweet.

Cheers ;-)

 

[hooray4boobies]

Thanks for the reply, but my question was, where is the benefit?

I am not too worried about getting my CPU up to that clock speed as yet, but rather looking for justification in spending the money on extra cooling etc.

 

[hooray4boobies]

Ok, so say on my 5760x1080 reso, i get a 10-15% performance increase. If my frames are already below 60fps, at say 50, that equates to 5-8fps. Big deal.

In the games i run at the moment (MW2, BC2...blah blah), my CPU barely reaches 40%...GPU is generally the bottle neck.

So i ask, where is the benefit of spending copious amounts of money on cooling blocks and pumps for <10fps??

 

[hooray4boobies]

@tavernarijared Yes, i realise this my friend. As the post indicates, i'm after the benefit for gaming, which includes GPU as well as CPU. I admit putting this thread in the CPU sub category was a bit silly, i apologise

 

[randomizer]

You're not going to see huge benefits benefit from overclocking your CPU at that resolution unless you're running an older game. Overclocking the GPU may provide noticeable improvement if you can clock it high enough. It's a matter of trial and error. The CPU can be overclocked fairly easily if you don't go crazy with the clocks. I don't know about the GPU since I haven't really looked at the 5970 much (well beyond my budget).

 

[hooray4boobies]

Thankyou Randomizer,

As i thought, it would probably not be worth it to fiddle with the CPU settings as i don't do any CAD, vide conversion work etc.

I've played around a bit in catalyst trying to get a few extra frames without increasing heat too much, but I think stock is as good as it gets till the next gen cards.

Cheers, for your comments. ;-)

 

[randomizer]

Try putting your CPU at 3.6GHz just to see if it does in fact make any real difference. 3.6 should be fairly doable without much (if any) increase in voltage, which means that power consumption won't go up by alot either.

 

[redechelon]

Try putting your CPU at 3.6GHz just to see if it does in fact make any real difference. 3.6 should be fairly doable without much (if any) increase in voltage, which means that power consumption won't go up by alot either.

That's what I was going to say. No harm in seeing how far it can go on stock voltages if you're not sure it's worth it to overclock.

1. Free performance (even if it is minimal for gaming)

2. It's fun, and will help you understand your computer better. =]

 

[jsc]

If you need convincing, don't do it. If you don't need convincing, ask for help.

 

[simon12]

If your not sure I would forget water cooling but getting good air cooling would cost little and could get you a good overclock. But if you are happy with how your system runs everything then leave it if you want, maybe further down the line in a years time it may lag on newer games and you can do it then.

 

[hooray4boobies]

If you need convincing, don't do it. If you don't need convincing, ask for help.

Well, as little as your comment did for this thread, i appreciate you taking the time to type those few useless words into it. I need convincing, in the fact i don't think overclocking will do much for me. So i posted here in the hope someone knew something i didn't, and would change my mind. Maybe you need to look up the definition of "help"...and possibly the definition of "douchebag" while you are there. Wake up to yourself.

That is all.

 

[rocket_sauce]

Well, as little as your comment did for this thread, i appreciate you taking the time to type those few useless words into it. I need convincing, in the fact i don't think overclocking will do much for me. So i posted here in the hope someone knew something i didn't, and would change my mind. Maybe you need to look up the definition of "help"...and possibly the definition of "douchebag" while you are there. Wake up to yourself.

That is all.

I was going to say pretty much the same thing as he did, because you have a killer setup as it is. Why screw with it? I'd say about 3-4 years down the line, you should revisit entertaining the idea of OC'ing. To me, you risk putting additional heat for all your components, thus decreasing there efficiency and for what? 10 more FPS with which you already have plenty of. OC the h3ll out of it, when your ready to upgrade again. If you screw it up, then no big loss really.

Or, go ahead and learn some stuff now. It's up to you, but I don't think it is worth it for you.

 

[hooray4boobies]

Even with my "killer" setup, there are instances where the 5970 struggles to render high quality settings on all 3 screens, so if there was a chance i could get a significant improvement, i thought it was worth finding out. But thank you for the replies, it has helped my resolve in just leaving things stock...i intend on upgrading with each generation anyway. Thanks All!!

 

[rocket_sauce]

Even with my "killer" setup, there are instances where the 5970 struggles to render high quality settings on all 3 screens, so if there was a chance i could get a significant improvement, i thought it was worth finding out. But thank you for the replies, it has helped my resolve in just leaving things stock...i intend on upgrading with each generation anyway. Thanks All!!

I dont know what PSU you have, but maybe your 5970 has a twin looking for a home too?

 

[aztec_scribe]

Three monitors!! That's crazy and cool.

 

[vexun11]

I thought a 5970 would pwn 3 monitors, what games are you running that lag with your eyefinity setup?

 

[mark_k]

What games can you play on three monitors?

 

[jrhii]

If you need convincing, don't do it. If you don't need convincing, ask for help.

+1.


Most average overclockers use air, so not a huge financial increase. We do it because what we get out of it is worth our time. Up front we get some better performance (theoretically), but most of us enjoy it as a hobby and as a neat learning experience. If that doesn't toot your horn, then you probably already know that.

Edit: this isn't to be rude, more of a "to each his own" sort of thing.

 

[redechelon]

I think everyone's being a little too critical here... All the OP asked for was, based on his setup, is it worth it to overclock for gaming?

The title of the thread could be worded differently I suppose, but there's no need to post tons of meaningless, snooty, comments in here.

Basically, you aren't going to see a huge difference in gaming. You possibly will elsewhere and it's also fun. That's all that needed to be said. If you're running 3 monitors, why the hell not? It WILL help, no matter how small, and if you don't overclock the *** out of it, there's no harm done to the components. A strong air setup would do the trick, but if you have the money and time, obviously water will be better.

 

[OvrClkr]

My question to the overclockers in here...is where is the benefit of overclocking for a gamer?

My system specs are listed below...All stock clocked. Is it even worth the time and effort to get liquid cooling and get my CPU to 3.8Ghz? My GPU to 950Mhz?

If any of you have similar specs and can tell me a rough percentage of performance increase or a guess-timate of what i could expect, that'd be sweet.

Cheers ;-)

At your res you should be more worried about the GPU power rather than the CPU power. One thing that I did notice when I switched from 1680x 1050 to 1920x 1080 is the fact that I no longer have to run my CPU at 3.8Ghz+ to max out my current games. I now run my CPU at 3.4Ghz and have not noticed any frame loss whatsoever. This is a big plus since I can lower the voltage on a few components w/o sacrificing performance.

Test it yourself and you will see that you do not need to run your CPU at 3.8Ghz to achieve high frame-rates, lower the CPU clock and raise the GPU clock and you should be fine.

 

[skervy]

i dont know about the whole fancy setup deals but i know bumping my cpu from 3.1 to 3.5 helped smooth out my gaming. just play with it and see only way to find out for yourself. you sure that cpu is not a bottleneck the 5970 is a pretty hefty ass card from everything i read about it

 

[doive1231]

BOINC and get your CPU doing good. You then have a great reason for overclocking it.

 

[doive1231]

Whilst you're not playing games. Don't think BOINCing and gaming go well together.