What's the point in "casual" overclocking nowadays?

[Takumidesh]

I like to mess with my hardware as much as the next guy or gal, but with nvidia locking down their bios, and processors being so capable out of the box, is there really that much of a benefit to be had for the added headache and wear and tear of your components? I can get a stable 4.9ghz out of my 8700k with minimal effort sure, but honestly the performance gain is negligible, unless going for 3dmark scores.

 

 

[Praesi]

"Casual" OC only matters if your Hardware gets older and you want/need a bit more Performance.

Most of the time its just fun and doesnt provide any serious game changer. 

[Arika]

depends on the workload.

 

For me i saw a 10% increase in FPS in a very specific game just going from 4.2Ghz (boost speed on 7600K) to 4.5Ghz. In games where clock speed is king, then any additional speed will have a benefit. Plus if it's minimal effort, then it's not even wasted time. My OC i did in Asrock's software in like 5 seconds.

[Takumidesh]

3 minutes ago, Arika S said:

depends on the workload.

 

For me i saw a 10% increase in FPS in a very specific game just going from 4.2Ghz (boost speed on 7600K) to 4.5Ghz. In games where clock speed is king, then any additional speed will have a benefit. Plus if it's minimal effort, then it's not even wasted time. My OC i did in Asrock's software in like 5 seconds.

I definitely can see the benefit for specific use cases, i was hitting the voltage limit on my gpu a lot and just cranked it to +100 in precision x1. I guess it seems that there was a lot more to be had "back in the day" from overclocking. I remember retrofitting AIO cpu coolers onto a GTX 760 and cranking the crap out of it and actually seeing gains. With turing, you can maybe get a couple percents out of the card before you are back at the hardcoded voltage limit.

[Guest]

I can set all core x50 leave all voltage settings on auto and runs it straight up. Load @ 1.360v fine and dandy. This set up is actually used for case use points. F@H (lately less with lack of WU) and 3D benching. 

 

5ghz would be a pretty average clock, most chips 8700K will do all core 5.2ghz under the right temps, gotta keep that 85c in check imo. Runs good HT off up to about 5.4/5.5ghz.

 

Quite a bit of performance paired up with some high speed memory though. No joke, it really seems to make a night and day difference. Casual daily 4000mt/s 16-16-16 np, nothing to notice if running 18-18-18 actually. A nice daily, simple XMP throw down at 4266mhz, just about set it and forget it. Really caps out 4300mhz, going beyond is asking for trouble OV too much. 1.60v is about my limit actively cooled. But daily is 1.45v or less prefer. 

 

The nice thing is the Cpu is equipped with a bad ass memory controller. Those with one, I recommend to utilize it. Even cheaper CL 19 4000mt/s can tweak down, probably run CL17-19-19 eek out a little latency there. 

 

I think casual should be define by the cooling. If you're running ambient air temps, that's casual overclocking. imo.

[Takumidesh]

1 minute ago, ShrimpBrime said:

I can set all core x50 leave all voltage settings on auto and runs it straight up. Load @ 1.360v fine and dandy. This set up is actually used for case use points. F@H (lately less with lack of WU) and 3D benching. 

 

5ghz would be a pretty average clock, most chips 8700K will do all core 5.2ghz under the right temps, gotta keep that 85c in check imo. Runs good HT off up to about 5.4/5.5ghz.

 

Quite a bit of performance paired up with some high speed memory though. No joke, it really seems to make a night and day difference. Casual daily 4000mt/s 16-16-16 np, nothing to notice if running 18-18-18 actually. A nice daily, simple XMP throw down at 4266mhz, just about set it and forget it. Really caps out 4300mhz, going beyond is asking for trouble OV too much. 1.60v is about my limit actively cooled. But daily is 1.45v or less prefer. 

 

The nice thing is the Cpu is equipped with a bad ass memory controller. Those with one, I recommend to utilize it. Even cheaper CL 19 4000mt/s can tweak down, probably run CL17-19-19 eek out a little latency there. 

 

 

Lots of good info thanks!

So you daily drive with an 8700K at 5+ ghz? I can see the benefits at that point, maybe I just need to educate myself a little more, to get some more umph out of the cpu, because I haven't been able to do a set it and forget OC above 5ghz.

 

2 minutes ago, ShrimpBrime said:

I think casual should be define by the cooling. If you're running ambient air temps, that's casual overclocking. imo.

I think delidding, also brings you out of casual territory, or anything that makes you have to have constant temp monitoring.

[Guest]

53 minutes ago, Takumidesh said:

Lots of good info thanks!

So you daily drive with an 8700K at 5+ ghz? I can see the benefits at that point, maybe I just need to educate myself a little more, to get some more umph out of the cpu, because I haven't been able to do a set it and forget OC above 5ghz.

 

I think delidding, also brings you out of casual territory, or anything that makes you have to have constant temp monitoring.

It may bring you to a higher than casual level, but would really help seek better temps.... by around 10-15c drop.

 

So then you turn enthusiast. You have superior temps and easier to manage overclocking. 

 

Super easy, I say go for it

 

Edit: @Mister Woof can verify that also. He's got a fast 8700k as well. Think he runs 1.370v at 5ghz.

[Takumidesh]

@ShrimpBrime now I have to ask, how long do you reasonably expect your cpu to last with voltages like that?

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Takumidesh said:

@ShrimpBrime now I have to ask, how long do you reasonably expect your cpu to last with voltages like that?

I probably need about 1-2 more years from it. I think it can do that easily. Just as long as I don't go crazy and stay within the limits I've found with the cooling I have available. (not air). 

[Takumidesh]

3 minutes ago, ShrimpBrime said:

I probably need about 1-2 more years from it. I think it can do that easily. Just as long as I don't go crazy and stay within the limits I've found with the cooling I have available. (not air). 

Ok you may have turned me around, is delidding worth it when not going for a crazy OC? I am looking at the rockitcool delid kit with copper ihs and liquid metal. I know this can result in pretty good temp drops, but would those still be present even with a milder OC?

[jones177]

Casual overclocking matters to me but it did not for a very long time.

 

Before the RTX launch both of my gaming computers used GTX 1080 tis(1080 ti = 2080).  One computer had a i7 8700k that stayed mainly stock and one had a i7 8086k with 5ghz on all cores. The difference in frame rate in the games that I tested was 0 to 5 with only one game getting an extra 5fps. I paid an extra $100 for the i7 8086k and it was pointless.   

When both computers got RTX 2080 tis I ran the tests again and the i7 8700k could not compete even with the a faster GPU(2070mhz) compared to the i7 8086k with a slower GPU(1965mhz). So now my EVGA FTW3 Ultra that cost $300 more than my EVGA XC was pointless when paired with my i7 8700k. 

 

Since my i7 8700k could not run at 5ghz stable it had to go. I replaced it with another i7 8086k, overclocked it to 5.1ghz and now my RTX 2080 ti FTW3 Ulta always wins.

 

I rarely overclock video cards since I usually bought cards like the EVGA 1080 SC or the EVGA 1080 ti SC2 that have very little overclocking headroom left after the factory overclock.  That changed with the RTX 2080 tis. My 980 tis, 1080 and 1080 tis would artifact or freeze long before the cooling solution gave out but the 2080 ti are the opposite. They will clock down due to temps long before they reach their limit.  They really like to run below 60c and I would only buy a water cooled card knowing what I know now.

 

As for delidding, my i7 8086ks idle in the low 30s and run benches in the 70s so no point in delding at 5.1ghz.

At 5.2ghz they idle in the 40s and I would consider deliding if there was a performance gain but there is not.

There is no performance gain between my 5ghz overclock and my 5.1 overclocks either. I only keep it on to see if just in case I run into one.

This was confirmed by Gamers Nexus in their test on the i7 8086k. The next big jump after 5ghz is 5.35ghz and that is beyond casual overclocking.

  
 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Takumidesh said:

Ok you may have turned me around, is delidding worth it when not going for a crazy OC? I am looking at the rockitcool delid kit with copper ihs and liquid metal. I know this can result in pretty good temp drops, but would those still be present even with a milder OC?

Yes. and Yes.

I didn't believe it until I tried it. I've de-lidded a Few Cpus in my time, and the greatest benefit was on the 8700K hands down. 

[Mister Woof]

2 hours ago, ShrimpBrime said:

It may bring you to a higher than casual level, but would really help seek better temps.... by around 10-15c drop.

 

So then you turn enthusiast. You have superior temps and easier to manage overclocking. 

 

Super easy, I say go for it

 

Edit: @Mister Woof can verify that also. He's got a fast 8700k as well. Think he runs 1.370v at 5ghz.

@Takumidesh

 

I have been running my 8700k delidded at 5ghz and around 1.365v (in practice it's usually around 1.37-1.38v at light load, 1.34v heavy load) for the past two years. I got it in late 2017, delidded it in...early to mid 2018? I was able to get 5.1 relatively stable but it needed over 1.4v and I wasn't going to mess with that long term. 

 

I can say that I couldn't tell the difference between 5.1 and 5.0; I can't say I can tell the difference between MCE/4.7 and 5.0 either. 

 

I can't say if it's degraded in that time, as I haven't really run any stress tests since I dialed it in.

 

But suffice to say two+ years later it's served me well. I expect to get at least a few more years out of it. 

 

As far as temps go, I have three displays and hwinfo64 is always up on one monitor so I see it. It hasn't been an issue, but I do monitor all my temps including my GPU (mostly my GPU, as my CPU rarely goes over 70c in gaming out anything else I do that isn't a stress test). So I don't really know what is considered casual, because I consider myself casual because I don't really mess with a lot of the minutae that real overclockers do.

 

If you have questions feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to give some insight.