What games actually need overclocking?

LeitMotif

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I'm getting an i5-3570K. This is to help me decide if I need to get an after-market cooler or not. I know some games are more cpu dependent while others are more gpu dependent.
 

steddora

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The 3570k will handle any game out today. Whether it be at stock clocks or overclocked. Some games will perform better in an overclocked state, but the gains you see aren't always going to be noticeable.

The real question is; are you prepared to learn a LOT before overclocking and are you prepared to do a lot of testing before you even get to game? Most of my customers who want parts to overclock with never sit down and actually do the jobs needed before they do start gaming when trying to overclock. Sometimes it can be really time consuming and irritating; but to get those gains from an overclocked processor; these minor annoyances are an absolute must.

So think long an hard about the decision. The processor you've chosen is very good for overclocking; but why spend the extra money for a K-Series if you're not going to be taking advantage of the unlocked multiplier?

I will say this though, I've seen games on my 2600k gain 10FPS from a 1Ghz overclock to some games having little or no improvement. So even with overclocking; there won't always be that epic increase in frame rates. Just remember, paired with the right GPU, the 3570k processor will indeed, handle any game on the market today.
 
Typically games are GPU dependent, especially the bigger ones like Battlefield, Crysis, Far Cry 3 and the other visually awesome games. A CPU overclock will give you some benefit, but dont expect much.
The games where it is CPU dependent is stuff like WoW, Skyrim, League of Legends/DOTA 2 and StarCraft II, where graphics arent that amazing and its designed to run on any system under the sun. Overclocking will give you big bonus here, but most of it will be "useless" performance. You'v raised your FPS from 55 to 75, that looks great on paper but in reality your monitor cant even display above 60FPS, and to do so will lead to screen tearing.

Overclocking your CPU is a nice performance boost, but in no way is it necessary for good performance (in games).
 

LeitMotif

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I have no problem doing minor tweaks and experimenting. (I'm a chemistry major ^^) But, if I decided not to overclock, what would be a nice substitution to the 3570?
 

LeitMotif

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Very informative. Thanks