Water Vs. Air (Overclocking)

[z123killer]

So I am trying to build a budget pc, my cpu choice was the Athlon X4 860K, If I wanted to overclock the cpu would a decent air cooler do (Hyper 212 EVO)?. I was also thinking about overclocking the gpu (XFX Radeon R9 380) would the fans on the gpu be ok or no?

 

This is my case just so you have an idea about airflow.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/part/deepcool-case-tesseractwh

[The Official Czex]

A 212 would be fine.

[z123killer]

A 212 would be fine.

can you overclock with the stock cooler?

[The Official Czex]

can you overclock with the stock cooler?

 

A little.

[Morgan MLGman]

You could throw in a little more money and get a beefier air cooler, but that's about it, no point in watercooling a 70$ CPU. From the cheaper side, beefy aircoolers the Raijintek Ereboss, Thermalright Macho rev.A/B (not the 120 one) are good choices, you'd need to check if they fit in the case.

EDIT: these are good, budget choices if you want to overclock a bit higher than on the 212 EVO (which is good as well, but has its limits)

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/raijintek-cpu-cooler-0r100011
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cryorig-cpu-cooler-h7

[z123killer]

You could throw in a little more money and get a beefier air cooler, but that's about it, no point in watercooling a 70$ CPU. From the cheaper side, beefy aircoolers the Raijintek Ereboss, Thermalright Macho rev.A/B (not the 120 one) are good choices, you'd need to check if they fit in the case.

so you don't think I should overclock the cpu, This is a budget build and I was trying to get the most out of it.

 

And what about the gpu?

[TheRandomness]

The heatsink on the 380 would be fine for overclocking. I mean, with graphics card their heatsinks are basically designed with overclocking in one sense.

[z123killer]

The heatsink on the 380 would be fine for overclocking. I mean, with graphics card their heatsinks are basically designed with overclocking in one sense.

ok thanks, but what about the cpu, should I overclock it, would I get more gaming performance?

[Morgan MLGman]

so you don't think I should overclock the cpu, This is a budget build and I was trying to get the most out of it.

 

And what about the gpu?

Of course you should overclock, just don't use a watercooler. Get one of the coolers I edited in the previous post if you want to overclock a little higher, but the 212 EVO will suffice for some mild OCing.

As for the GPU, hell yeah, overclock it. Check if the 380X/290 are within your budget though, it might be worth investing into this instead, and grabbing a cooler later on.

[Albatross]

The 212 EVO will definitely allow you to oc very well. Just don't use stock coolers when ocing.

[z123killer]

Of course you should overclock, just don't use a watercooler. Get one of the coolers I edited in the previous post if you want to overclock a little higher, but the 212 EVO will suffice for some mild OCing.

As for the GPU, hell yeah, overclock it. Check if the 380X/290 are within your budget though, it might be worth investing into this instead, and grabbing a cooler later on.

thanks very much, I have a $400 budget and this is my current build  http://pcpartpicker.com/p/X62X8d

[z123killer]

thanks very much, I have a $400 budget and this is my current build  http://pcpartpicker.com/p/X62X8d

are there air cooler for gpus??

[z123killer]

The 212 EVO will definitely allow you to oc very well. Just don't use stock coolers when ocing.

how much would overclocking the cpu help with gaming performance?

[Morgan MLGman]

thanks very much, I have a $400 budget and this is my current build  http://pcpartpicker.com/p/X62X8d

What about this? http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mHpfwP (I changed the motherboard, this one is a bit better, and allows Crossfire in the future)

 

 

are there air cooler for gpus??

Yes, but they're usually not really worth it, only if you, say have a reference 290/290X and buy an Arctic Accelero cooler for it for example. The XFX card will overclock without thermal throttling, you're going to overclock it to nearly its full potential on the stock cooler. Don't worry about it. Just get a cooler for the CPU and overclock it, you can do it in a month or two when you grab some money, don't have to do that right away

[Morgan MLGman]

how much would overclocking the cpu help with gaming performance?

10% maybe if the overclock is to 4,5-4,6ghz (I've had an Athlon X4 750k, an older version, from 3,4 ghz stock to 4,5ghz OC the difference was significant, especially in CPU heavy games)

[z123killer]

What about this? http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mHpfwP (I changed the motherboard, this one is a bit better, and allows Crossfire in the future)

 

thanks

[z123killer]

10% maybe if the overclock is to 4,5-4,6ghz (I've had an Athlon X4 750k, an older version, from 3,4 ghz stock to 4,5ghz OC the difference was significant, especially in CPU heavy games)

ok

[Albatross]

how much would overclocking the cpu help with gaming performance?

 

You won't see magical differences like 50fps boosts or anything, but you will see it enough to make OC'ing worth it.

[z123killer]

You won't see magical differences like 50fps boosts or anything, but you will see it enough to make OC'ing worth it.

good explanation!