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Is CPU overclocking useless for gaming?

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It can improve performance and in some cases take a game from unplayable to playable. A few examples are Supreme Commander which runs on one core and is extremely intensive, it crushes AMD and Intel CPU's. Even when I had my 3570k at 4.8Ghz I still ran into performance related issues. Another example is Company of Heroes with the Blitzkrieg mod, running 3v3 or 4v4 games with no popcap quickly becomes an issue without a high performance CPU. I've had a few other games where overclocking helped tremendously as well, Neverwinter and TERA both suffer in dungeons/raids if your CPU isn't up to snuff. I remember once in a dungeon in Neverwinter where during the final boss fight the number of mobs was making my game dip to sub 20's, this was with my CPU running at 4.2Ghz. I alt tabbed and bumped the oc up to 4.5Ghz and the game was then holding at a steady 30fps. CPU overclocks can make a significant difference depending on the game.

I want to first off apologize if I make no sense or whatever. I'm super tired but can't seem to sleep.

 

Is CPU overclocking useless for gaming with mid-ranged cards?

Lets say I had a 980 and an i7-6700k. The i7 isn't bottlenecked by the 980 so how does overclocking improve gaming performance?

Same if I were to upgrade to an 8 core x99 I won't see increased gaming performance. With modern game benchmarks.

 

I understand it would help if your CPU IS the bottleneck, or if you're rendering and whatnot. 

Started thinking about it when building my uncle a rig. 4460 for him.

 

Maybe I'm nuts... I don't really know right now.

blackshades on

 

 

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I want to first off apologize if I make no sense or whatever. I'm super tired but can't seem to sleep.

 

Is CPU overclocking useless for gaming with mid-ranged cards?

Lets say I had a 980 and an i7-6700k. The i7 isn't bottlenecked by the 980 so how does overclocking improve gaming performance?

 

I understand it would help if your CPU IS the bottleneck, or if you're rendering and whatnot. 

Started thinking about it when building my uncle a rig. 4460 for him.

It could potentially improve your framerates. I overclocked my fx 6300 (compared to that i7 its dog shite) to 4.2GHz, and got a 10-15 fps increase in some games like gta 5 and battlefield, if not more

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Depends a lot on the cpu....this is subjective.

In your example the i7 will rarely if ever hit 100% load while gaming, so a better gpu will make a much more difference than oc'ing the cpu.As i said depends on the cpu and the gpu you have

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It could potentially improve your framerates. I overclocked my fx 6300 (compared to that i7 its dog shite) to 4.2GHz, and got a 10-15 fps increase in some games like gta 5 and battlefield, if not more

 

Yeah but your 6300 was the bottleneck.

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In 1080p, even a 6700k will bottleneck a bit, even if you don't see it in FPS. It may improve FPS however very marginally and almost none at higher resolutions.

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In 1080p, even a 6700k will bottleneck a bit, even if you don't see it in FPS. It may improve FPS however very marginally and almost none at higher resolutions.

 

Pretty sure a 6700k wouldn't bottleneck a 980. Two 980s possibly depending on the game.

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Pretty sure a 6700k wouldn't bottleneck a 980. Two 980s possibly depending on the game.

Any CPU will bottleneck any GPU in 1080p. Theres one guy in the forum that always has an article ready to post, gonna search that up after work^^. 

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Any CPU will bottleneck any GPU in 1080p. Theres one guy in the forum that always has an article ready to post, gonna search that up after work^^. 

 

That makes zero sense lol? How would a 950 bottleneck an 8-core x99 CPU? The games engine would most-likely be the bottleneck if you had a 980ti playing 1080P.

 

I understand it could by rendering so much shit so quickly that the CPU would be unable to keep up, but that falls into the myth category.

Too many variables. That wouldn't apply to lower-end cards. 

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It can improve performance and in some cases take a game from unplayable to playable. A few examples are Supreme Commander which runs on one core and is extremely intensive, it crushes AMD and Intel CPU's. Even when I had my 3570k at 4.8Ghz I still ran into performance related issues. Another example is Company of Heroes with the Blitzkrieg mod, running 3v3 or 4v4 games with no popcap quickly becomes an issue without a high performance CPU. I've had a few other games where overclocking helped tremendously as well, Neverwinter and TERA both suffer in dungeons/raids if your CPU isn't up to snuff. I remember once in a dungeon in Neverwinter where during the final boss fight the number of mobs was making my game dip to sub 20's, this was with my CPU running at 4.2Ghz. I alt tabbed and bumped the oc up to 4.5Ghz and the game was then holding at a steady 30fps. CPU overclocks can make a significant difference depending on the game.

"The of and to a in is I that it for you was with on as have but be they"

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It can improve performance and in some cases take a game from unplayable to playable. A few examples are Supreme Commander which runs on one core and is extremely intensive, it crushes AMD and Intel CPU's. Even when I had my 3570k at 4.8Ghz I still ran into performance related issues. Another example is Company of Heroes with the Blitzkrieg mod, running 3v3 or 4v4 games with no popcap quickly becomes an issue without a high performance CPU. I've had a few other games where overclocking helped tremendously as well, Neverwinter and TERA both suffer in dungeons/raids if your CPU isn't up to snuff. I remember once in a dungeon in Neverwinter where during the final boss fight the number of mobs was making my game dip to sub 20's, this was with my CPU running at 4.2Ghz. I alt tabbed and bumped the oc up to 4.5Ghz and the game was then holding at a steady 30fps. CPU overclocks can make a significant difference depending on the game.

 

There we go. Yep you're right about that. 

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It impacts minimum FPS the most, so if you have a game that can tank in heavy scenes then often a CPU overclock is advantageous.  

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MMy little i5 see's god like gains from 2.8ghz...

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That makes zero sense lol? How would a 950 bottleneck an 8-core x99 CPU? The games engine would most-likely be the bottleneck if you had a 980ti playing 1080P.

 

I understand it could by rendering so much shit so quickly that the CPU would be unable to keep up, but that falls into the myth category.

Too many variables. That wouldn't apply to lower-end cards. 

Said that wrong, higher end GPUs. Thats one of the reasons why SLI scales bad at 1080p; however scales better at higher resolutions.

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That makes zero sense lol? How would a 950 bottleneck an 8-core x99 CPU? The games engine would most-likely be the bottleneck if you had a 980ti playing 1080P.

I understand it could by rendering so much shit so quickly that the CPU would be unable to keep up, but that falls into the myth category.

Too many variables. That wouldn't apply to lower-end cards.

a lot of cores doesn't mean it'll perform better in games. At stock the 4790k can beat a 5960x due to its low clock speed

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Pretty sure a 6700k wouldn't bottleneck a 980. Two 980s possibly depending on the game.

My 4790k doesn't hit 60 percent in bf4

Sli 980ti ultra x4 msaa 90fps

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a lot of cores doesn't mean it'll perform better in games. At stock the 4790k can beat a 5960x due to its low clock speed

 

Oh yeah I know. I meant to use it as a solid example of a beast CPU. Forgot to take that into account.

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