Overclocking, is there a BIG/HUGE benefit?

[MeesterJackson]

Ok, I've been looking at the E3 Xeon's for AWHILE now, they're simply perfect in price to performance. i7's for cheap, and lower power consumption, only downside...no OC'ing. 

 

The Xeon 1246 v3 is a 3.5Ghz Base with a 3.9Ghz turbo. Same as the i7-4770k. From most benchmarks it is literally scoring 100 points less in CPU Mark than the 4770k on CPUBenchmark.net.

 

The 1246 v3 is 284.99 While we all know the 4770k is typically 339.99 though I've seen it often for around 329.99. That is STILL a 45 dollar difference...if we look at the 4790k then it's a 55 dollar difference. OH...and I'd also need a really good cooler for the i7...so keep that in mind too cause that's obviously more money to spend. 

 

Is overclocking truly worth saving the like what? 5 minutes of rendering time and maybe a couple more frames in SOME games? 

 

What do you guys think? 

 

EDIT: TECHNICALLY SPEAKING...you CAN OC a Xeon, it's just a tad more tricky. Linus showed this off in one of his videos. 

[Tagiau]

I do it because I like watching the heat rise. So no, and yes. 

[ImBleu]

Overclocking is basically free performance. No one can say no to that. 

 

I also looked at the Xeon E3s instead of my i5 but in terms of what it is made to do, you would'nt put a plane engine in a car so you should stick to what they're made for. I'd go with the i5-4690k or an i7 if you want the Hyperthreading, Leave xeons where they belong.

[MeesterJackson]

I do it because I like watching the heat rise. So no, and yes.

I just made an edit, I meant to say "CPU Mark" not Cinebench.

Overclocking is basically free performance. No one can say no to that.

I also looked at the Xeon E3s instead of my i5 but in terms of what it is made to do, you would'nt put a plane engine in a car so you should stick to what they're made for. I'd go with the i5-4690k or an i7 if you want the Hyperthreading, Leave xeons where they belong.

The E3 Xeon's have HT though...lol

EDIT: Not only that, but they beat/tie the i5's in mainly everything even when the i5's are OC'd to something like 4.5Ghz.

Hence this slightly older video:

The only reason I honestly believe the Xeon lost in gaming was because of the lower clock speeds. The i5-3570k is running at 3.4 Base and 3.8 Turbo. The 1230 v2 is running at 3.3Ghz Base with a 3.7Ghz Turbo...not to mention the extra features from the i5's integrated graphics are probably giving it a slight boost as well (which the 1246 has integrated graphics like the 4770k). The iGPU IS a factor in performance CPU Mark benches have shown this.

@ThatCoolBlueKidd

[ImBleu]

The E3 Xeon's have HT though...lol 

I said go with the i7 instead of i5 if you want hyperthreading, sorry if it wasn't clear.

[ERSCreeper]

Depending on the price difference I would go with the Xeon. If it is lets say $50 cheaper then Xeon all the way but if it only $10-15 I would grab the i7 and hope for it to be a good overclocker.

[MeesterJackson]

Depending on the price difference I would go with the Xeon. If it is lets say $50 cheaper then Xeon all the way but if it only $10-15 I would grab the i7 and hope for it to be a good overclocker.

...Read the post dude. It IS 50 dollars lol.

I said go with the i7 instead of i5 if you want hyperthreading, sorry if it wasn't clear.

Again, E3 Xeon's offer HT at a cheaper price than the i7's.

[ERSCreeper]

...Read the post dude. It IS 50 dollars lol. 

Sorry, didn't read that part 

 

I would grab the Xeon since it is one hell of a good chip. Also you don't need overclocking since I am running stock on my 3570K and I haven't had any problems when it comes to CPU performance.

[Optimus Prime]

Yes... Skyrim in my case loves higher clock speeds. I gained over 20 frames with just a 300mhz increase

[Joshua Ondangan]

If it's me I'd go with Xeon's I can hardly find xeon's in my place locally and the ones I wanted aren't even on sale.

 

lol ordering online is also good but kinda bad in some ways tax/custom duty wise >.< (might as well add in the corruption)

[jscho]

I've seen some pretty significant speed increases in my overclocking. I OCed my i5 3570k to only 4.2Ghz and my games ran much better, especially Planetside 2 which is very CPU heavy. I haven't benchmarked any heavily threaded programs as I'm not much of a content creator.

But, that's in games and in my experience. Since the Xeon is so much cheaper for you and if you don't want to fork out for a decent cooler, get the Xeon. But if you have a decent cooler, you can OC that i7 and get some pretty decent performance increases.

[Faceman]

You probably live near a Microcenter being in NY.  You should be able to get an i7 + Z97 motherboard for around $350-$380.

 

I would go i7 so you get the best of both worlds.

 

Some games really benefit from overclocking.  ARMA3, BF4, ArcheAge, Planetside2, etc..

[MeesterJackson]

If it's me I'd go with Xeon's I can hardly find xeon's in my place locally and the ones I wanted aren't even on sale.

lol ordering online is also good but kinda bad in some ways tax/custom duty wise >.< (might as well add in the corruption)

Newegg has no tax in my area.

You probably live near a Microcenter being in NY. You should be able to get an i7 + Z97 motherboard for around $350-$380.

I would go i7 so you get the best of both worlds.

Some games really benefit from overclocking. ARMA3, ArcheAge, Planetside2, etc..

Buffalo NY....6 hour drive. I have no car. I would STILL need to buy a good aftermarket cooling setup though which is obviously more money (money isn't really a concern, just throwing some obvious facts out there).

[Joshua Ondangan]

Newegg has no tax in my area. 

lucky you

 

few months ago I ordered a titan online total cost me 2,300$ (us converted) since the custom duty and tax and some numbers I don't even know where they got adds up. lol kinda regretted it and if I were to buy it locally I'd be able to buy 2 of them so I can have 3 in total and still got some change to buy my self good beer.

[MeesterJackson]

Yes... Skyrim in my case loves higher clock speeds. I gained over 20 frames with just a 300mhz increase

Could just...you know, SLI cause that's what imma do later.

[MoDtEc]

It caaaan make a difference if you spell the unholy word: futureproof

 

Ive got an i7 2600k and its got the capabilities to oc to 4.9-5.2 ghz stable on air, which means that im probably ok with it until Pascal or its follow-up will be released

on of my friends is still running on an q6600 its oced as far as possible and he Plays bf4 on quite decent frames on high Settings (gtx 770 though)

 

go with the cpu that suits your demands best

there are some quite reasonable posts above

[Faceman]

Buffalo NY....6 hour drive. I have no car. I would STILL need to buy a good aftermarket cooling setup though which is obviously more money (money isn't really a concern, just throwing some obvious facts out there). 

Get an i7-4790k + Z97 motherboard.  You can price match on NCIXUS.com if money was a concern.

 

Buy a Cooler Master Seidon 240M for $60 on Newegg.com to cool your CPU and buy a G10 + H55 to cool your new 970 because I see you worrying about coil whine.

 

How to Water Cool your CPU + GPU for Under $200 Guide (U.S. Residents Only)

[MeesterJackson]

Get an i7-4790k + Z97 motherboard.  You can price match on NCIXUS.com if money was a concern.

 

Buy a Cooler Master Seidon 240M for $60 on Newegg.com to cool your CPU and buy a G10 + H55 to cool your new 970 because I see you worrying about coil whine.

 

How to Water Cool your CPU + GPU for Under $200 Guide (U.S. Residents Only)

*spits out water* (even though I have none)....NCIX PRICE MATCHES WITH MICROCENTER!? 

 

If I can price match with Microcenter I think that would save me up enough money to go X99 honestly lol. 

 

Idk how I feel about water cooling my GPU...

[Optimus Prime]

Could just...you know, SLI cause that's what imma do later.

I doubt crossfire would have improved my performance that much. It was a CPU bottleneck because of my mods (still a bottleneck - need to Oc further)

[Prokart2000]

depending on how far you can go yes it is good

[MeesterJackson]

I doubt crossfire would have improved my performance that much. It was a CPU bottleneck because of my mods (still a bottleneck - need to Oc further)

...What CPU and GPU are you running?

depending on how far you can go yes it is good

You're not always guaranteed to get far though. I've seen a lot of 4790ks at 4.6Ghz...not sure how much more of a boost that is.

@Faceman Did more research, NCIX will NOT price match Microcenter's combo's or in store pick up prices...so no. You can't really price match Microcenter in that regard, so I don't see the point.

[Faceman]

@Faceman Did more research, NCIX will NOT price match Microcenter's combo's or in store pick up prices...so no. You can't really price match Microcenter in that regard, so I don't see the point. 

Staples.com then.  They price match Microcenter.

[MeesterJackson]

Staples.com then.  They price match Microcenter.

Tried this AWHILE go, no they don't. Unless the stables is a local store (which I don't have one) they will only price match, again, Microcenter's non-in store pick up only prices. Meaning it's a no-go with them as well. 

[Faceman]

Tried this AWHILE go, no they don't. Unless the stables is a local store (which I don't have one) they will only price match, again, Microcenter's non-in store pick up only prices. Meaning it's a no-go with them as well. 

I saw a post on Reddit earlier this year with lots of people price matching using Staples.com and Microcenter in-store prices.  Maybe they changed their policy.

[MeesterJackson]

I saw a post on Reddit earlier this year with lots of people price matching using Staples.com and Microcenter in-store prices.  Maybe they changed their policy.

They might have had a Staples near them. Which then would have worked.