Should I overclock, if yes, what's the best setting?

[Random Bee]

Should I overclock my Processor? It has a base clock of 3.3ghz and a boost of 3.7ghz. If yes, what's the best setting? Any help?

 

My PC specs:

Motherboard: Redfox h61h2m7 v2.0
Processor - i5-3550
GPU - RX 580 4GB
Storage - 1x 240GB SSD for OS and other software, 2x HDD

[PorkishPig]

You do not have a K SKU CPU, you cannot overclock.

[aisle9]

3550 isn't designed for overclocking, sorry. Try pumping your RAM speed and/or timings up a bit.

[svmlegacy]

6 minutes ago, Random Bee said:

Should I overclock my Processor? It has a base clock of 3.3ghz and a boost of 3.7ghz. If yes, what's the best setting? Any help?

 

My PC specs:

Motherboard: Redfox h61h2m7 v2.0
Processor - i5-3550
GPU - RX 580 4GB
Storage - 1x 240GB SSD for OS and other software, 2x HDD

 

4 minutes ago, PorkishPig said:

You do not have a K SKU CPU, you cannot overclock.

 

4 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

3550 isn't designed for overclocking, sorry. Try pumping your RAM speed and/or timings up a bit.

Non-K doesn't mean it can't overclock. You should be able to set all cores to the max turbo speed, which will give you a modest bump in multi-core workloads. Shouldn't need to add any voltage on a decent Ivy.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

29 minutes ago, svmlegacy said:

You should be able to set all cores to the max turbo speed, which will give you a modest bump in multi-core workloads. Shouldn't need to add any voltage on a decent Ivy.

That's not really overclocking in the normal sense. 

[svmlegacy]

11 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

That's not really overclocking in the normal sense. 

CPU is running faster than specifications. What isn't overclocked about that?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, svmlegacy said:

CPU is running faster than specifications. What isn't overclocked about that?

That frequency is listed as a specification though... beyond would be reference clock increase. Not by multi?

[svmlegacy]

2 minutes ago, ShrimpBrime said:

That frequency is listed as a specification though... beyond would be reference clock increase. Not by multi?

The 3550 in stock configuration will not do 3.7 GHz on all 4 cores at the same time. It's not much, but it does make it a bit faster to do that. A whole 200 MHz, so 5% more performance or so.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, svmlegacy said:

The 3550 in stock configuration will not do 3.7 GHz on all 4 cores at the same time. It's not much, but it does make it a bit faster to do that. A whole 200 MHz, so 5% more performance or so.

I didnt know the stock vcore couldn't scale 400mhz all core. Good info.

[svmlegacy]

2 minutes ago, ShrimpBrime said:

I didnt know the stock vcore couldn't scale 400mhz all core. Good info.

It's not necessarily a power limit, but just how Intel's Turbo Boost works. You can see the peak turbo ratios in the BIOS set there 37/37/36/35 for 1/2/3/4 core.

Stock voltage should run it just fine, as AFAIK it's agnostic to which core it's turboing under one core. This means all cores have to be capable of the peak frequency, at the same voltage.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, svmlegacy said:

It's not necessarily a power limit, but just how Intel's Turbo Boost works. You can see the peak turbo ratios in the BIOS set there 37/37/36/35 for 1/2/3/4 core.

Stock voltage should run it just fine, as AFAIK it's agnostic to which core it's turboing under one core. This means all cores have to be capable of the peak frequency, at the same voltage.

So.... within spec? 

I'm confusing myself. 

Try this differently though....

 

In my opinion, if you cannot go past the max turbo frequency of any core, it's not overclocked. 

 

Is a boost an overclock beyond a power state? Yes it is. Just automatic.

 

Shrugs.

[svmlegacy]

16 minutes ago, ShrimpBrime said:

So.... within spec? 

I'm confusing myself. 

Try this differently though....

 

In my opinion, if you cannot go past the max turbo frequency of any core, it's not overclocked. 

 

Is a boost an overclock beyond a power state? Yes it is. Just automatic.

 

Shrugs.

I just take issue when people assume that a CPU can't be overclocked just because it isn't a K-SKU.

Case in point:

1 hour ago, PorkishPig said:

You do not have a K SKU CPU, you cannot overclock.

There are still things that can be done to raise performance. The mobo /might/ be able to raise BCLK by up to 5%, but I don't advise that because of data corruption problems on this platform.

 

Whether or not it's an overclock depends on the person. For me, it is. It's running faster than designed. If you get a OEM machine, it will not run at 3.7 GHz all core. This method changes how the CPU handles turbo to increase performance. I understand your point of view as well.

[aisle9]

11 hours ago, svmlegacy said:

 

 

Non-K doesn't mean it can't overclock. You should be able to set all cores to the max turbo speed, which will give you a modest bump in multi-core workloads. Shouldn't need to add any voltage on a decent Ivy.

I see I’m late to the party, but I’ll join the “that’s not overclocking” crowd. I specifically said “not designed to” because BCLK is out there, even if it’s a terrible idea on Ivy, but I don’t see how making the CPU run at stock boost is really overclocking it. To each their own, I guess, and if it increases OP’s performance and they’re happy with it, hey, that’s more important than semantics.