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First Time Overclock

Hi all,

 

I have recently upgraded to a new gaming PC and currently looking at ways to utilise my old PC.

I still think it's a pretty solid spec machine (as follows):

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K @ 3.30GHz  Sandy Bridge

CPU Cooler: Intel Stock Cooler

RAM: 16GB Dual-Channel DDR3 (9-9-9-24)

Motherboard: Gigabyte P67A-UD3P-B3 (Socket 1155)

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER (Gigabyte) - Note: This was a new card after my 980Ti blew up.

SSD: Samsung SSD 860 PRO 512GB

PSU: Corsair VS650 650 W

 

My thoughts currently are:

CPU cooler upgrade from stock?

Move to Gigabyte Z77 DS3H?

 

I have never really overclocking before because, well, I've never felt the need.

 

I thought it would be cool to explore and mess about with my old machine to see if I could get a bit more out of it.

I'm not naive to the fact it won't be spectacular, but something would be cool. I think streaming will be out the picture as my 2500K doesn't have HyperThreading. Improve playing games on this would be good to give to a family member.

 

Look forward to your help, ideas or tips.

 

Thanks

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Overclocking it could be fun, but I wouldn't go spending a bunch of money on it. You'll need to upgrade the CPU cooler at least though.

 

Also, in my experience, overclocking old machines and then giving them to a family member is a bad idea, especially if that family member knows nothing about computers. Older machines are more prone to instability when overclocked.

BabyBlu (Primary): 

  • CPU: Intel Core i9 9900K @ up to 5.3GHz, 5.0GHz all-core, delidded
  • Motherboard: Asus Maximus XI Hero
  • RAM: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 4x8GB DDR4-3200 @ 4000MHz 16-18-18-34
  • GPU: MSI RTX 2080 Sea Hawk EK X, 2070MHz core, 8000MHz mem
  • Case: Phanteks Evolv X
  • Storage: XPG SX8200 Pro 2TB, 3x ADATASU800 1TB (RAID 0), Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB
  • PSU: Corsair HX1000i
  • Display: MSI MPG341CQR 34" 3440x1440 144Hz Freesync, Dell S2417DG 24" 2560x1440 165Hz Gsync
  • Cooling: Custom water loop (CPU & GPU), Radiators: 1x140mm(Back), 1x280mm(Top), 1x420mm(Front)
  • Keyboard: Corsair Strafe RGB (Cherry MX Brown)
  • Mouse: MasterMouse MM710
  • Headset: Corsair Void Pro RGB
  • OS: Windows 10 Pro

Roxanne (Wife Build):

  • CPU: Intel Core i7 4790K @ up to 5.0GHz, 4.8Ghz all-core, relidded w/ LM
  • Motherboard: Asus Z97A
  • RAM: G.Skill Sniper 4x8GB DDR3-2400 @ 10-12-12-24
  • GPU: EVGA GTX 1080 FTW2 w/ LM
  • Case: Corsair Vengeance C70, w/ Custom Side-Panel Window
  • Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB, Samsung 860 EVO 1TB, Silicon Power A80 2TB NVME
  • PSU: Corsair AX760
  • Display: Samsung C27JG56 27" 2560x1440 144Hz Freesync
  • Cooling: Corsair H115i RGB
  • Keyboard: GMMK TKL(Kailh Box White)
  • Mouse: Glorious Model O-
  • Headset: SteelSeries Arctis 7
  • OS: Windows 10 Pro

BigBox (HTPC):

  • CPU: Ryzen 5800X3D
  • Motherboard: Gigabyte B550i Aorus Pro AX
  • RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8GB DDR4-3600 @ 3600MHz 14-14-14-28
  • GPU: MSI RTX 3080 Ventus 3X Plus OC, de-shrouded, LM TIM, replaced mem therm pads
  • Case: Fractal Design Node 202
  • Storage: SP A80 1TB, WD Black SN770 2TB
  • PSU: Corsair SF600 Gold w/ NF-A9x14
  • Display: Samsung QN90A 65" (QLED, 4K, 120Hz, HDR, VRR)
  • Cooling: Thermalright AXP-100 Copper w/ NF-A12x15
  • Keyboard/Mouse: Rii i4
  • Controllers: 4X Xbox One & 2X N64 (with USB)
  • Sound: Denon AVR S760H with 5.1.2 Atmos setup.
  • OS: Windows 10 Pro

Harmonic (NAS/Game/Plex/Other Server):

  • CPU: Intel Core i7 6700
  • Motherboard: ASRock FATAL1TY H270M
  • RAM: 64GB DDR4-2133
  • GPU: Intel HD Graphics 530
  • Case: Fractal Design Define 7
  • HDD: 3X Seagate Exos X16 14TB in RAID 5
  • SSD: Inland Premium 512GB NVME, Sabrent 1TB NVME
  • Optical: BDXL WH14NS40 flashed to WH16NS60
  • PSU: Corsair CX450
  • Display: None
  • Cooling: Noctua NH-U14S
  • Keyboard/Mouse: None
  • OS: Windows 10 Pro

NAS:

  • Synology DS216J
  • 2x8TB WD Red NAS HDDs in RAID 1. 8TB usable space
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27 minutes ago, nicokart said:

I think streaming will be out the picture as my 2500K doesn't have HyperThreading. Improve playing games on this would be good to give to a family member.

an overclock will give a mild performance boost 

and the 2500k lacks ALOT of ipc 

if you want to overclock it will take some time and effort for like a 5-7% performance gain 

PC: Motherboard: ASUS B550M TUF-Plus, CPU: Ryzen 3 3100, CPU Cooler: Arctic Freezer 34, GPU: GIGABYTE WindForce GTX1650S, RAM: HyperX Fury RGB 2x8GB 3200 CL16, Case, CoolerMaster MB311L ARGB, Boot Drive: 250GB MX500, Game Drive: WD Blue 1TB 7200RPM HDD.

 

Peripherals: GK61 (Optical Gateron Red) with Mistel White/Orange keycaps, Logitech G102 (Purple), BitWit Ensemble Grey Deskpad. 

 

Audio: Logitech G432, Moondrop Starfield, Mic: Razer Siren Mini (White).

 

Phone: Pixel 3a (Purple-ish).

 

Build Log: 

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5 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

an overclock will give a mild performance boost 

and the 2500k lacks ALOT of ipc 

if you want to overclock it will take some time and effort for like a 5-7% performance gain 

The 2500K overclocks much, much more than 5-7%. 3.3 GHz -> 4.45 GHz (My older machine) is a solid 35% extra.

 

36 minutes ago, nicokart said:

Motherboard: Gigabyte P67A-UD3P-B3 (Socket 1155)

...

CPU cooler upgrade from stock?

Move to Gigabyte Z77 DS3H?

 

Your motherboard is fine for domestic cooling. The 2500K also doesn't put out a ton of heat under OC. Mine @ 4.45 GHz, 1.35 V was ~ 90 W synthetic load.

 

Watch your temps, and get a new cooler if you start hitting mid to high 70's under load.

Main: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti, 16 GB 4400 MHz DDR4 Fedora 38 x86_64

Secondary: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G, 16 GB 2667 MHz DDR4, Fedora 38 x86_64

Server: AMD Athlon PRO 3125GE, 32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4 ECC, TrueNAS Core 13.0-U5.1

Home Laptop: Intel Core i5-L16G7, 8 GB 4267 MHz LPDDR4x, Windows 11 Home 22H2 x86_64

Work Laptop: Intel Core i7-10510U, NVIDIA Quadro P520, 8 GB 2667 MHz DDR4, Windows 10 Pro 22H2 x86_64

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2 minutes ago, svmlegacy said:

The 2500K overclocks much, much more than 5-7%. 3.3 GHz -> 4.45 GHz (My older machine) is a solid 35% extra.

OH WOW i guess sandybridge is good at over clocking 

PC: Motherboard: ASUS B550M TUF-Plus, CPU: Ryzen 3 3100, CPU Cooler: Arctic Freezer 34, GPU: GIGABYTE WindForce GTX1650S, RAM: HyperX Fury RGB 2x8GB 3200 CL16, Case, CoolerMaster MB311L ARGB, Boot Drive: 250GB MX500, Game Drive: WD Blue 1TB 7200RPM HDD.

 

Peripherals: GK61 (Optical Gateron Red) with Mistel White/Orange keycaps, Logitech G102 (Purple), BitWit Ensemble Grey Deskpad. 

 

Audio: Logitech G432, Moondrop Starfield, Mic: Razer Siren Mini (White).

 

Phone: Pixel 3a (Purple-ish).

 

Build Log: 

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1 hour ago, svmlegacy said:

The 2500K overclocks much, much more than 5-7%. 3.3 GHz -> 4.45 GHz (My older machine) is a solid 35% extra.

 

 

Your motherboard is fine for domestic cooling. The 2500K also doesn't put out a ton of heat under OC. Mine @ 4.45 GHz, 1.35 V was ~ 90 W synthetic load.

 

Watch your temps, and get a new cooler if you start hitting mid to high 70's under load.

OK, so I have jumped it to 4.2 GHz just to see.

Is there a better tool than Speccy to check temps?

I am currently seeing it around 61 degrees so far but haven't put any games through it yet.

image.png.01f53cafc1576d49c1d35ece02e35b43.png

 

For fan upgrades I was looking at the following:

B01ARGVNV6?th=1

B06WRRDS73?th=1

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