How to know when to overclock CPU?

[JorenBus]

Hi all,

 

I've recently bought an i5 4690k, since you guys said that's one of the best gaming CPUs that's on the market.

I've also bought an extra cooler with it, in case I want to overclock. However, I'm not sure when I need to overclock. I want to wait as long as possible.

I assume that I only need to overclock if I'm playing a game and my CPU usage is over 90%? Is this true, or are there other factors?

 

Thanks

[DudeWazap]

Well to be honest you don't "need" to ever over clock if you don't want to. Thats just if you want to get a bit of extra performance out of it.

 

If you want to get better performance in games that's when you need to over clock your current GPU or get a more powerful one. CPU's don't impact game's as much as GPU's.

 

But overclocking is always good for getting free extra performance out of your current hardware.

[s3ns3]

since you got a K cpu.NOW.  

 

but when you will actually need to OC? prolly never couse you will get a new cpu by that time. a locked i5 sandy is still very good today

[IP man]

As DudeWazap said, you dont need any OC. any i5 will handle games fine. its just to get that extra nerd fps juice from your hardware. Your CPU is high-end

 

Happy Overclocking mate

[TheMcSame]

Well there's never really a time you need to overclock. Personally, I just overclocked mine slightly (4GHz) and undervolted it (1.05V).

 

As mentioned before, overclocking the CPU isn't usually going to have a huge impact in games with something like an i5, it's CPUs like the pentium which will benefit the most.

[Johannes_Lazor]

When it isnt adequate for the games.

[JorenBus]

Alright then, I'll just have a look how it runs in BF4, then I'll see if I need to OC or not.

[LogicalDrm]

Overclocking new CPU now is rarely needed. Simply because they can run current games and software with just stock settings. But in couple of years, when you have upgraded GPU and games are more demanding, OC will give some more time for you before new hardware is needed.

[Jumper118]

i would oc from day one. you payed more to get an unlocked cpu, so to get the full value out of it then you should oc it. its better to get 1fps extra and your pc might be a bit faster at doing everything. if you only oc once it has become slow then you have missed years where it could have been faster.

[Hieb]

Basically you overclock it when it's become too slow at stock speeds. I currently have no issues with stock 4690K in any of my games so I haven't OCed it yet. I will once it starts to bottleneck my GPUs which will probably not happen for a few years... or if I upgrade to a 144Hz monitor then I might OC my CPU to raise minimum framerates

[i_build_nanosuits]

Monitor your GPU loads with MSI afterburner...if you card is consistently at or above 95% usage then it's good...if it dips bellow that then that's a sign of a bottleneck, most likely a CPU bottleneck, in that case overclocking the CPU will provide better gaming experience.

[JorenBus]

Monitor your GPU loads with MSI afterburner...if you card is consistently at or above 95% usage then it's good...if it dips bellow that then that's a sign of a bottleneck, most likely a CPU bottleneck, in that case overclocking the CPU will provide better gaming experience.

I don't think the 4690k will bottleneck a 280

[i_build_nanosuits]

I don't think the 4690k will bottleneck a 280

no of course it does not.

[Najuno]

I don't think the 4690k will bottleneck a 280

This CPU would not even bottleneck a GTX980 2way SLI. It´s a fine CPU.