I5 2500K OC, should I?

[vultusprime]

I have an i5 2500K at stock 3.3 Ghz, with 8G Ram mounted on an Asus P8P67, PSU Seasonic X-750 W

I am considering the possibility of overclocking the cpu to maybe 4.0 or 4.2 (I know that there are people who go as high as 4.5 or 4.7 but I don't know how stable or safe this is).
My question is, if I go ahead and OC the cpu, even to a modest 4.0 or 4.2 what kind of performance improvement would I be getting?
Secondly, my pc is one and a half years old and taking into consideration that I normally keep them for around 4-5 years, would OC shorten its life span?

My Mobo has an automatic overclocking function within its bios (i think it's called turbo), would it be better for me to use this or to just do it on my own?

Lastly, what would you consider a good, high quality cpu cooling fan for OC?

 

[fil1p]

Hey,

Well you will see a decent performance increase at 4.2ghz. At those speeds, with a decent cooler (like a noctura nh d14) you should be fine. Your lifespan will be a bit shorter, but at those speeds with reasonable voltage (you won't need to much to reach 4.2ghz) your pc should have no problem lasting that long.
I would advise that you not use automatic overclocking, it is best to do it on your own. It is fairly easy to overclock and i5 2500k. If you do it yourself you will be able to use lower voltages, and achieve the overclock with lower temperatures and lower power consumption, as sometimes automatic overclocking adds unnecessary voltage.

Here is one of the many guides online on how to overclock the i5 2500k.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274821-29-sandy-bridge-series-overclocking-cores-guide

Hope this helps!

 

[fil1p]

Here is another guide from the overclocking section here at tomshardware:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/265056-29-2600k-2500k-overclocking-guide

 

[ittimjones]

that CPU was made as an Overclocker...
Just having it, you should have OC'ed it already. lol. It can handle OC's all the way past 5GHz. If my cooling was better, I'd have my less OC friendly at 4.6 or 4.8 all the time... (I would go w/ a closed loop Corsair, but I don't feel like taking my whole PC apart to put the brackets on the underside of the mobo for the cooler. Why can't intel boards have the same snap lock system AMD boards have?!?!)

 

[deadlockedworld]

Hey there Vultus,

I think you are right that a cautious overclock is a reasonable choice for your usage.

I also have a P8P67 (deluxe) and a 2500k. I've encountered occasional (every week or two) blue screens with use of the built in Asus overclock tools. I think they raise voltage more than is actually necessary. Anandtech references this problem in their review of the mobo overclocking too. (for me the lower boost setting was 4.3ghz - I never tried the extreme setting). I currently have my overclock turned off, and intend to do exactly the custom overclock that you are referring to when I get around to it soon.

That said, the auto overclock tools are great to play with. It's totally worth doing the boost and using it for a few days like that to find out if you can feel the performance difference. Your motherboard is relatively cautious and isn't going to break anything. There are multiple different tools with the motherboard that can tweak stuff.

For me, the only place where the overclock was a really apparent was when playing a couple of CPU intensive games (like Civ 5 on huge maps) and when encoding video. For everyday tasks and FPS it wasn't noticeable at all.

Other thoughts:

- Do you have a good CPU and case cooling? That will be important.
- I left turbo-boost on, and my processor fluctuated between 1.6 and 4.6 ghz. When I first overclocked I remember it being locked at high speed, as that seemed like a lot of overkill. (ASUS Suite II monitoring tools are really great by the way)
-Know that you probably will lose the ability to put the computer to sleep with the overclock. I'm not sure why, but I've fought with this a lot, and can't seem to ever get both to work at the same time.

 

[ram1009]

IMHO, overclocking has become a giant pissing contest. If you're immature enough to believe that people like/respect you more because your CPU is faster than theirs then by all means do your thing. If you're not a gamer you shouldn't even be considering this. Even gamers don't enjoy their games any more after OCing. There was a time when OCing really meant performance improvements but today, hardware is way ahead of software. Save your money.

 

[Mastervivi10]

IMHO, overclocking has become a giant pissing contest. If you're immature enough to believe that people like/respect you more because your CPU is faster than theirs then by all means do your thing. If you're not a gamer you shouldn't even be considering this. Even gamers don't enjoy their games any more after OCing. There was a time when OCing really meant performance improvements but today, hardware is way ahead of software. Save your money.

I would take ram1009 words on this. My 2500K is at 4.5ghz on a Cooler Master Hyper 212 on stock Voltages with temps of 55C with about 32C ambient temperature in my room. It's ONLY because I'm a very hardcore gamer and hate playing games under 50 fps at ANY circumstance. Aside from that there is really NO benefit in OC your CPU.

 

[vultusprime]

tank you all for the input.
I feel I should have stated in my question that the reason for overclocking is to get better performance with games and video encoding. In the past I've never OC my hardware, but considering that the sandy bridge K were designed to be overclocked, i thought I'd give it a try.

fil1p said

Your lifespan will be a bit shorter, but at those speeds with reasonable voltage (you won't need to much to reach 4.2ghz) your pc should have no problem lasting that long.

What do you mean by a "bit shorter"? Even if the cpu can potentially go up to 5Ghz but if it breaks after a year or so, then I don't see the point. I will not change pc for another 2 1/2 to 3 years. If I go through and OC to 4.2 or even 4.5, will it last for that long? What i really mean is, what is considered a "safe" OC for this cpu without having to keep the fire extinguisher next to your pc.

My pc case is a Cooler master 690 II Advanced

 

[sheepsnowadays]

I would take ram1009 words on this. My 2500K is at 4.5ghz on a Cooler Master Hyper 212 on stock Voltages with temps of 55C with about 32C ambient temperature in my room. It's ONLY because I'm a very hardcore gamer and hate playing games under 50 fps at ANY circumstance. Aside from that there is really NO benefit in OC your CPU.

Your 2500K at stock speed bottlenecks your mid range 560ti card? Or do you still improve your fps with overclocking the cpu, even tho your GPU is bottlenecking?

 

[unoriginal1]

What do you mean by a "bit shorter"? Even if the cpu can potentially go up to 5Ghz but if it breaks after a year or so, then I don't see the point. I will not change pc for another 2 1/2 to 3 years. If I go through and OC to 4.2 or even 4.5, will it last for that long? What i really mean is, what is considered a "safe" OC for this cpu without having to keep the fire extinguisher next to your pc.

My pc case is a Cooler master 690 II Advanced

No ones going to be able to give you an exact. It's like cars.. Some are just natural lemons. But as far as an overclock. Ive never seen a cpu ruined by it. (to many safety nets in place that will shut your machine off before permanent damage will happen) I would expect your proc to work just fine way way beyond 3 years even with a 4.2 4.5 OC. to give you an example.. I have a pc i built 8 years ago (amd) with a light overclock on it. Been running 8 years no issues and still going. Of course it's slow just because the technology is way outdated. But still works nonetheless

 

[fil1p]

Well with an overclock of say 4-4.5ghz your processor should have no problem lasting over five years, as long as it is properly cooled you will be fine. Overclocking a i5 2500k to close to 5ghz also does not mean that you replace the processor every year, LOL. Processors last for a long time, even when overclocked, and as unoriginal1 said it is not possible for us to give you the exact lifespan of your CPU. As long as you keep the temperatures in an acceptable range, and operate at a reasonable voltage it will be fine.

 

[deadlockedworld]

tank you all for the input.
I feel I should have stated in my question that the reason for overclocking is to get better performance with games and video encoding. In the past I've never OC my hardware, but considering that the sandy bridge K were designed to be overclocked, i thought I'd give it a try.

Overclocking is an excellent way to improve performance in video encoding and select CPU intensive games.

Overclocking increases heat and energy into the CPU, so is naturally a little more stressful than stock usage. In earlier and less modern times, it was true that overclocking was really risky and shortened the life of the CPU, but I don't think that is nearly as true with modern chips that have complex voltage/temperature/clock speed controllers. Now we even have these K series that are specifically designed to handle the challenges of overclocking.

Since K series chips are binned by Intel to have the best quality/overclocking potential, its extremely unlikely that the overclock harms them in any way.

I've never had a CPU give out on me - it either gets old or other components die. IMO - What it does is slightly raise the risk that if you had a lemon CPU to start with it might fail sooner. I think this is mostly an Intel warranty/100% guarantee thing -- it adds a tiny bit more risk. Tiny risk that is fine for a consumer, but not ok for a billion dollar corporation(because of possible lawsuits).

Like I said originally, a small overclock that is well within the performance window that Intel expects is totally safe and will not hurt the CPU. Extreme 5ghz+ on the other hand involves a lot more risk.

 

[vultusprime]

you all make a very good point, I'll probably go on and OC in the near future.
One thing I still don't understand is whether the cpu can be OC to any frequency I want (like 3.8 - 4.0 - 4.1 - 4.2 - 4.3 - 4.4 - 4.5 and so on, you get the idea) or are there frequencies I should stick with?

One last thing, many people who OC use some of these coolers:

Cooler Master hyper 212
Corsair A50 or A70
zalman cnps9500

which ones will do the job better in your opinion

thanks for the input

 

[footlong96]

212 evo. best cpu cooler for the price.

 

[deadlockedworld]

I think everyone agrees that for the price the 212 is great. If you aren't looking to maximize cost savings though, both the Corsair water coolers and some of the higher end coolers made by companies like Zalman can be good choices too.

I get good performance out of my Antec 620 water cooler (idling at 24c right now, can reach around 40c when pushed) but it does make some really annoying gurgling sounds sometimes. It was incredibly easy to install.

I think closed loop vs air is your call and partially dependent on what else is in the case, your internal fan setup, how much room you have, etc. and your personal interest.

Might be helpful:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/LGA-2011-i7-3960X-Air-Overclocking,3130.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/h2o-h80-h100-benchmark-overclocking,3084.html

Full Tom's cooling section: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Components,1/Cooling,7/

Silent PC Review is also a great place to read about CPU coolers. They don't have as much content, but when they do review they are very thorough.

 

[Mastervivi10]

Your 2500K at stock speed bottlenecks your mid range 560ti card? Or do you still improve your fps with overclocking the cpu, even tho your GPU is bottlenecking?

At stock speeds My 2500K does bottleneck my 560Ti, Yes. I only OC the CPU to 4.2-4.5GHz to remove the Bottleneck on the GPU and allow my Video Card to run at a more Efficient and Cooler Tempatures. Believe me I live in Dominican Republic and here the ambient temperatures around 32-38C all year long so for Me removing the workload on my Video card is a very good thing since I've seen it only go up to 60C while playing Assassins Creed 3 on my PC and I don't want it higher then that while running everything on Very High settings.

 

[sheepsnowadays]

At stock speeds My 2500K does bottleneck my 560Ti, Yes. I only OC the CPU to 4.2-4.5GHz to remove the Bottleneck on the GPU and allow my Video Card to run at a more Efficient and Cooler Tempatures. Believe me I live in Dominican Republic and here the ambient temperatures around 32-38C all year long so for Me removing the workload on my Video card is a very good thing since I've seen it only go up to 60C while playing Assassins Creed 3 on my PC and I don't want it higher then that while running everything on Very High settings.

wow I didn't know a top of the line (in terms of gaming) intel processor could bottleneck a mid range video card.

 

[unoriginal1]

wow I didn't know a top of the line (in terms of gaming) intel processor could bottleneck a mid range video card.

Thats because it's not :/. The i5 2500k is not going to bottleneck a 560 even at stock speeds. (mind you it will perform better overclocked depending on app/game being used)

I think Mastervivi is confused as to performance gains in CPU intensive games when he overclocked versus how the 560 and cpu are actually performing together.

I hate posting Forums as a source of proof. But i don't have the time to dig up the obvious.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1274867/i5-2500k-standard-clock-bottleneck-680
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/313657-33-will-2500-bottleneck
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/373634-33-right

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Yeah, there's no way a 2500K bottlenecks any current single card config, let alone a 560 Ti. It doesn't bottleneck a 680, so I find it very hard to believe it's bottlenecking a 560 Ti (a high mid-range card, at best).

If a 2500K bottlenecks a 560 Ti, then pretty much any CPU in existence would. In other words, it doesn't.

 

[footlong96]

^+1