CPU Overclock vs GPU SLI

[Pervy]

My CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113284 (Stock) + Hyper 212 EVO

 

Not running cool enough to overclock.

 

 

My GPU: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NNXVPS2?redirect=true&ref_=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i2 (Stock) 

 

 

GPU's I'm interested in SLI'ing with: 

 

EVGA 970 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487136&cm_re=GTX_970-_-14-487-136-_-Product

EVGA 970 SC - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NVODXME?redirect=true&ref_=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i1

MSI 970 4GD5T OC - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127833&cm_re=GTX_970-_-14-127-833-_-Product

MSI 970 Gaming 4G - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127832&cm_re=msi_gtx_970_gaming_4g-_-14-127-832-_-Product

2nd Zotac GTX 970 Card - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NNXVPS2?redirect=true&ref_=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i2

 

 

Question:

Would I get better performance gains from getting a better cooler for my CPU and then overclocking it OR would it be more worth it to get another card to SLI? If CPU OC then which cooler would you recommend? H100i is too expensive. If SLI then which GPU do you recommend I get to SLI with? (I also want good single card performance just in case the SLI doesn't work in a particular game). 

 

Thx.

[Clyne]

What are the clocks and voltages on the 8350?

I'd say both the dual GPU is pointless unless you had a GPU bound scenario that would take use of SLI as the weak 8350 isn't powerful enough to handle 2 970s, yet alone one.

[Jacktastic-Mofo]

My CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113284 (Stock) + Hyper 212 EVO

 

Not running cool enough to overclock.

 

 

My GPU: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NNXVPS2?redirect=true&ref_=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i2 (Stock) 

 

 

GPU's I'm interested in SLI'ing with: 

 

EVGA 970 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487136&cm_re=GTX_970-_-14-487-136-_-Product

EVGA 970 SC - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NVODXME?redirect=true&ref_=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i1

MSI 970 4GD5T OC - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127833&cm_re=GTX_970-_-14-127-833-_-Product

MSI 970 Gaming 4G - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127832&cm_re=msi_gtx_970_gaming_4g-_-14-127-832-_-Product

2nd Zotac GTX 970 Card - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NNXVPS2?redirect=true&ref_=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i2

 

 

Question:

Would I get better performance gains from getting a better cooler for my CPU and then overclocking it OR would it be more worth it to get another card to SLI? If CPU OC then which cooler would you recommend? H100i is too expensive. If SLI then which GPU do you recommend I get to SLI with? (I also want good single card performance just in case the SLI doesn't work in a particular game). 

 

Thx.

You'll get more performance from SLI than you will an overclock.

[Pervy]

What are the clocks and voltages on the 8350?

I'd say both the dual GPU is pointless unless you had a GPU bound scenario that would take use of SLI as the weak 8350 isn't powerful enough to handle 2 970s, yet alone one.

Stock speeds, no overclock on it. 

[Pervy]

You'll get more performance from SLI than you will an overclock.

 

Thanks. Which GPU do you recommend? 

[PaulKolby]

My CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113284 (Stock) + Hyper 212 EVO

 

Not running cool enough to overclock.

 

 

My GPU: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NNXVPS2?redirect=true&ref_=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i2 (Stock) 

 

 

GPU's I'm interested in SLI'ing with: 

 

EVGA 970 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487136&cm_re=GTX_970-_-14-487-136-_-Product

EVGA 970 SC - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NVODXME?redirect=true&ref_=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i1

MSI 970 4GD5T OC - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127833&cm_re=GTX_970-_-14-127-833-_-Product

MSI 970 Gaming 4G - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127832&cm_re=msi_gtx_970_gaming_4g-_-14-127-832-_-Product

2nd Zotac GTX 970 Card - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NNXVPS2?redirect=true&ref_=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i2

 

 

Question:

Would I get better performance gains from getting a better cooler for my CPU and then overclocking it OR would it be more worth it to get another card to SLI? If CPU OC then which cooler would you recommend? H100i is too expensive. If SLI then which GPU do you recommend I get to SLI with? (I also want good single card performance just in case the SLI doesn't work in a particular game). 

 

Thx.

not sure what resolution ur running at but i think that you should definetle overclock your cpu considering your already bottlenecking you gpu a decent amount

[PaulKolby]

Thanks. Which GPU do you recommend? 

i wouldnt do sli you already bottlenecking and your gunna badly bottleneck with dual 970s

[Pervy]

not sure what resolution ur running at but i think that you should definetle overclock your cpu considering your already bottlenecking you gpu a decent amount

1080p

[Pervy]

i wouldnt do sli you already bottlenecking and your gunna badly bottleneck with dual 970s

Thx, I'm getting mixed answers so still waiting for more opinions. 

[Clyne]

Stock speeds, no overclock on it. 

...

If i can reach 4GHZ on my stock cooler with temps less than 60C at full load then there's something wrong with your 212 Evo.

OC your CPU first then see if the performance is justifiable for a dual GPU setup.

Disable Turbocore, dial down voltage till acceptable level for the CPU to run well(P95) then raise clock until you need more voltage.

Although it depends on your board and if your board can actually support SLI. 

[Morgan MLGman]

not sure what resolution ur running at but i think that you should definetle overclock your cpu considering your already bottlenecking you gpu a decent amount

8350 does not bottleneck the GTX 970. Here's proof with like 7 AAA games that I did a while ago to prove that:

[PaulKolby]

Thx, I'm getting mixed answers so still waiting for more opinions. 

the thing is you can already max out any game at 1080p,970 is an amazing 1080p card but closer to 1440p, the thing is your cpu is bottlnecking your 970 right now and if you have 2 then its just gunna be bad but if you overclock it wont be as bad

[Pervy]

...

If i can reach 4GHZ on my stock cooler with temps less than 60C at full load then there's something wrong with your 212 Evo.

OC your CPU first then see if the performance is justifiable for a dual GPU setup.

Disable Turbocore, dial down voltage till acceptable level for the CPU to run well(P95) then raise clock until you need more voltage.

Although it depends on your board and if your board can actually support SLI. 

Well it's not THAT hot. But I mean when I tried overclocking it was getting up to 63 degrees and I believe it throttles around there so I turned it off. I'll try redoing the thermal paste in the future cuz I believe you may be right about it running too hot. I'll get some arctic silver or something. 

[Clyne]

Well it's not THAT hot. But I mean when I tried overclocking it was getting up to 63 degrees and I believe it throttles around there so I turned it off. I'll try redoing the thermal paste in the future cuz I believe you may be right about it running too hot. I'll get some arctic silver or something. 

I believe it's TurboCore being a bitch about voltage and clocks lately, since it spikes up voltage to 1.45V(WTF?).

[Pervy]

I believe it's TurboCore being a bitch about voltage and clocks lately, since it spikes up voltage to 1.45V(WTF?).

I'll look into that thx. 

[PlayStation 2]

8350 does not bottleneck the GTX 970. Here's proof with like 7 AAA games that I did a while ago to prove that:

This. It's often blown WAAAAYY out of proportion because the forum tends to have a big ass bias.

[Pervy]

the thing is you can already max out any game at 1080p,970 is an amazing 1080p card but closer to 1440p, the thing is your cpu is bottlnecking your 970 right now and if you have 2 then its just gunna be bad but if you overclock it wont be as bad

Yeah but I want ridiculous framerates cuz I'm running 144hz and I play competitive fast paced games and stream so I want good quality. 

 

Also I understand that which is why I made this post but on other sites people say it only barely bottlenecks a 970 SLI so it won't be so bad. So I figure I could just go SLI first then OC later. 

[Pervy]

This. It's often blown WAAAAYY out of proportion because the forum tends to have a big ass bias.

Thought so, I see mostly anti-AMD people saying it bottlenecks bad. 

[PaulKolby]

8350 does not bottleneck the GTX 970. Here's proof with like 7 AAA games that I did a while ago to prove that:

Q

 you have an overclock and thats just with one 970, in very demanding games the 8350 bottlenecks a 970 a little bit and two of them? and having 2 970s at 1080p is way way overkill

[Morgan MLGman]

 you have an overclock and thats just with one 970, in very demanding games the 8350 bottlenecks a 970 a little bit and two of them? and having 2 970s at 1080p is way way overkill

Stock 8350 boosts to 4,2 gHz, my is @4,5 so the overclock isn't significant... And it doesn't bottleneck in very demanding games, cause very demanding games (AAA titles) use all threads, it would be more likely for an i5-4460 to bottleneck the 970 in a very CPU heavy game than the 8350. It has some issues only with older games, or those that aren't optimized for multithreading, but those aren't GPU heavy usually.

[BrightCandle]

Of the two options SLI is most likely to bring you the most performance, it does at least have a shot at near 2x performance when it scales.

[PaulKolby]

Stock 8350 boosts to 4,2 gHz, my is @4,5 so the overclock isn't significant... And it doesn't bottleneck in very demanding games, cause very demanding games (AAA titles) use all threads, it would be more likely for an i5-4460 to bottleneck the 970 in a very CPU heavy game than the 8350. It has some issues only with older games, or those that aren't optimized for multithreading, but those aren't GPU heavy usually.

Most games are based on quad core processors there is a handful of games that support more than 4 processing cores, and the 4 core on an i5 4460 are much more powerful, for you were to run the 8350 on games that are 4 cores than the 8350 bottlenecks, it is a fact and there are only a handful of games that support more than 4 cores right now

[Morgan MLGman]

Most games are based on quad core processors there is a handful of games that support more than 4 processing cores, and the 4 core on an i5 4460 are much more powerful, for you were to run the 8350 on games that are 4 cores than the 8350 bottlenecks, it is a fact and there are only a handful of games that support more than 4 cores right now

20% faster in 4 threaded workloads. That's not much considering you can get a much more powerful CPU for less. Also, not only a handful. Majority of AAA titles released since 2-3 years actually.

[PaulKolby]

20% faster in 4 threaded workloads. That's not much considering you can get a much more powerful CPU for less. Also, not only a handful. Majority of AAA titles released since 2-3 years actually.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PVl8Eupbr_E

Recent vid by Luke saying that more than 4 cores doesn't gain performance

[Morgan MLGman]

Recent vid by Luke saying that more than 4 cores doesn't gain performance

It's not relevant to what we're talking about here, the i5-4460 is not a better choice by any means if he already has the 8350. Like not even close to be worth swapping.