Is overclocking my 4670k worth it?

[Element921]

A few people have told me to overclock it since it's a "K" processor and I already have a Hyper 212 Evo, but I've never overclocked anything before so I'm a bit worried about harming something. I only use it for gaming, is it worth the trouble to overclock it?

[connorpiper]

Yes, if you at least to a 500mhz difference it will help.

My 3570K at stock is a bottleneck, but a 4.0GHz, 4.2GHz, or 4.5GHz it plays everything just fine.

 

I don't know much about the air coolers, so I don't know how much you can go. But overclocking is worth it.

[x7ASSASSIN7x]

Overclocking it reduces the lifespan by about a year. It's worth it. But it depends if you need that extra push in gaming. If you have a good video card and you can run games at high graphics then I'd probably say not to overclock until you need to

[79wjd]

Up the multiplier and then up the voltage. So long as you stay around or below 1.3v you should be fine. Obviously the lower the voltage the better, but too low and it won't be stable... So the idea would be to go right to 1.2v or something like that, and a multiplier of 40 and run prime95 for like an hour. If it crashes its not stable and you'll either have to raise the voltage or lower the multiplier. If it doesn't crash then you can either up the multiplier to get 4.1/4.2/4.3/etc... or lower the voltage until you're at the lowest it'll go and still be stable. 

 

Right now, I'm at 4.3ghz @ 1.25v. At 4.4ghz and 1.25v I was crashing due to an instability, but if I had raised the voltage to 1.26, 4.4ghz probably would've been stable. 

[brob]

A few people have told me to overclock it since it's a "K" processor and I already have a Hyper 212 Evo, but I've never overclocked anything before so I'm a bit worried about harming something. I only use it for gaming, is it worth the trouble to overclock it?

 

Depends. If your gpu is working flat out in games the answer is probably not. If the cpu is working flat out and the gpu is not, it is probably worth overclocking. Of course if you just want to try things out and have a little fun that makes it worthwhile.

 

Depending on your motherboard overclocking may be as simple as telling the motherboard that you want the system overclocked. Check out the Asrock A-Tuning utility.

[Element921]

I should add, I currently have a GTX 770 as well and get solid 60 FPS in pretty much every game

 

EDIT: Also, my motherboard's an ASRock Z87 Extreme3

[MegaDave91]

You wasted money you could have otherwise spent on another component if you don't overclock a K processor.  Even if it's not a lot, at least utilize the function of an unlocked cpu. 

[i_build_nanosuits]

I should add, I currently have a GTX 770 as well and get solid 60 FPS in pretty much every game

 

EDIT: Also, my motherboard's an ASRock Z87 Extreme3

if you aim for 60FPS gaming and you do get them in most of your favorite games then i would say NO overclocking is not worth the hassle for you just yet...

Down the road you will maybe upgrade to a better GPU that will require more CPU power to max out newer games and THEN it will be time for you to learn about overclocking your CPU to get the most out of your GTX 880 or something like that...

[knight_40k]

I'm in the same boat as OP, I have never done any OC because I worry about reducing my systems life.

 

However, recently I got adventurous and experimented with OC'ing to see how high I could go at stock voltage. I figure that is a good compromise because this way I only kill my CPU a little but I still gaining extra performance. I will push it harder as it gets older because I will be replacing it anyways so it can't hurt but like others have said, you wasted money if you bought 'K' series with no intention to OC.

[LogicalDrm]

You propably wont notice any difference now. But three years later when CPU isn't perfect to run modern games anymore, OC will give the bit boost so you don't have to buy new one so soon.

 

The lifespan reduce is really minimal compared to lifetime of CPU. 1 year out of 10 possible years. Besides only higher voltages cause that. Higher voltages do more damage. If you go over suggessed limits, you might even destroy CPU.

 

So should you OC? Yes, atleast little. You gain experience of working in BIOS, learn to use it better, learn to trust your decition making skills etc.

[natelliot123]

its like buying a ferrari and asking if its ok to drive on 5th gear

[79wjd]

its like buying a ferrari and asking if its ok to drive on 5th gear

legally? no, its not okay. 

 

In fifth gear you'd be doing like 130+ mph. (assuming it's a modern ferrari)

[brob]

its like buying a ferrari and asking if its ok to drive on 5th gear

 

No, it's more like getting the 8 cyl. engine option rather than the stock 6. Just in case you need the power some day. You may never need it but when you do, you really do.

[i_build_nanosuits]

the guy is running a GTX 770 with core i5 haswell guys, even if he overclock that CPU to 6GHZ he will get exactly ZERO more FPS cause he is GPU limited in 99% of the games out there...he should not overclock it just yet if he don't feel the need, that's it...he as the option for later when he will really need more juice.

[Admire]

It depends on what you do. If you do very CPU intense stuff, then it might be worth it, but I usually only OC when its older and it could be bottlenecking.

 

Doing a build in november, and i won't overclock for at least two years.

[Casual]

I'm in the same boat as OP, I have never done any OC because I worry about reducing my systems life.

 

However, recently I got adventurous and experimented with OC'ing to see how high I could go at stock voltage. I figure that is a good compromise because this way I only kill my CPU a little but I still gaining extra performance. I will push it harder as it gets older because I will be replacing it anyways so it can't hurt but like others have said, you wasted money if you bought 'K' series with no intention to OC.

What Is your "stock" voltage?

 

If you're talking about automatic on your motherboard or you did nothing whatsoever to your voltages, you are letting your motherboard decide what the voltage Is for the overclock. That Is not good at all IMO. A lot of time automatic goes too high when overclocking.

 

If you really want to overclock, follow a guide for your CPU. Use the same settings In the guide, then work down until you are stable at the lowest voltage possible for your CPU. Or start working up the Ghz chain to see how high you can get It, then work your voltages down.

 

Considering this Is a 4670k thread, I'm assuming you have one. Start out at 4.2 or 4.4 (depending on which guide you follow), and work your way from there.

 

Just a suggestion.

[knight_40k]

What Is your "stock" voltage?

 

If you're talking about automatic on your motherboard or you did nothing whatsoever to your voltages, you are letting your motherboard decide what the voltage Is for the overclock. That Is not good at all IMO. A lot of time automatic goes too high when overclocking.

 

No. I manually set the voltage to 1.040 (3570K) and 1.368 (FX8350), which was the default they were running at. Then I adjusted the CPU ratio to see how high it would go (stable) at those set voltages.

[Casual]

No. I manually set the voltage to 1.040 (3570K) and 1.368 (FX8350), which was the default they were running at. Then I adjusted the CPU ratio to see how high it would go (stable) at those set voltages.

Ahh okay, just making sure.

[natelliot123]

legally? no, its not okay. 

 

In fifth gear you'd be doing like 130+ mph. (assuming it's a modern ferrari)

well then i would like to replace ferrari by fiat in the example.

and overclocking is not a rocket science, there are various guides on internet,the process just needs some patience . u got a decent cpu cooler ,i see no reason to not get a mild overclock