Why do we overclock?

[_Grid21]

I've been a GPU overclocker for years and enjoy seeing my personal score go up when I overclock. But recently I got to thinking, why do we overclock exactly? To try to understand what I was gaining I ran 2 tests in Heaven Benchmark and saw the following results. My video card is a EVGA GTX 980 Ti FTW with dual Bios.

 

Settings: +25mV, Power Target 120%, +58Mhz GPU, +58Mhz Memory

Personal Overclock on http://prntscr.com/dbij27

 

Settings: 0mV added, Power Target 120%, 0Mhz added GPU, 0Mhz added Memory

Overclock off, stock clocks. http://prntscr.com/dbij5a

 

As you can see by the two results I only gained about 10 more on everything across the board, so really, is overclocking really worth it? If so why do we do it? If not, why is it not worth it? I know this sounds stupid but it's something I never really thought of until now and now that I've seen the results, I question the real gain to it. 

[leelaa14]

It's free performance increase.
Even if you only gain 2fps, that 2fps is what can take you from stuttery looking 58fps to smooth 60
Differant games scale with oveclocking too.
GTA V I see no gain at all.
Witcher 3 I see about 9fps gain.

Edit, also it seems that you have a FTW card, which I would assume is factory overclocked.
So compare your overclocked performance gain to a factory clocked card of the same group.
 

[Techicolors]

It's extra performance. Overclocking is a good step if you're not getting enough performance in some games, but if you did overclock it'll be enough to run the game. Aftermarket coolers can cool the GPU well enough so it won't throttle badly at stock clocks, so it doesn't hurt to overclock. And of course there is extreme overclocking, in the realm of watercooling.. 

[The Sloth]

just to get more for my money 

[Mooshi]

Why do we bother with PCs at all when consoles are cheaper? Same reason, because you can and because it's interesting to see what your personal limits are in terms of real world gains.

[_Grid21]

1 minute ago, leelaa14 said:

It's free performance increase.
Even if you only gain 2fps, that 2fps is what can take you from stuttery looking 58fps to smooth 60

 

Well the I mean, 10 more frames doesn't seem like a lot.

[leelaa14]

1 minute ago, Josh_Grid21 said:

Well the I mean, 10 more frames doesn't seem like a lot.

Then use nvidia inspector to limit a game to 50fps play it and then run the game at 60fps.

[_Grid21]

9 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

Why do we bother with PCs at all when consoles are cheaper? Same reason, because you can and because it's interesting to see what your personal limits are in terms of real world gains.

 

 

Yeah, I Guess so. It is cool I can get 1.5Ghz on a Ti, but Overwatch crashes when I try my extra clock. And I can never seem to go above +58Mhz on the GPU core and +58Mhz on the memory.

[Mooshi]

26 minutes ago, Josh_Grid21 said:

Yeah, I Guess so. It is cool I can get 1.5Ghz on a Ti, but Overwatch crashes when I try my extra clock. And I can never seem to go above +58Mhz on the GPU core and +58Mhz on the memory.

In the real world outside of benches, I feel overclocks are only worth it if they A are stable, B don't cause too much unnecessary extra stress and C--has real benefits. I overclock myself, but only mildly because there's the lovely law of diminishing return. That and I have a shoebox of an itx case that doesn't need extra heat for an extra 2FPS.

[_Grid21]

4 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

In the real world outside of benches, I feel overclocks are only worth it if they A are stable, B don't cause too much unnecessary extra stress and C--has real benefits. I overclock myself, but only mildly because there's the lovely law of diminishing return. That and I have a shoebox of an itx case that doesn't need extra heat for an extra 2FPS.

 

See for my what I now have been worry about is the extra heat and with it being winter soon and already have floor heaters out, I don't want my PC to bring in or create more heat that 1. makes me feel overly warm in my office, and 2. makes my PC get to warm and melt down.  Just a thought that came to me.

[Mirdon]

I personally would only do it if I can't hit 60fps. 

[_Grid21]

Just now, Mirdon said:

I personally would only do it if I can't hit 60fps. 

I hit well above 60FPS

[Mirdon]

17 minutes ago, Josh_Grid21 said:

I hit well above 60FPS

Then as for gaming I would not bother overclocking since there's not sense in doing it.

 

1. So really, is overclocking really worth it? Yes and No, depends on your use.

 

2. If so why do we do it? 

For Gaming: To hit 60fps or if you have a monitor with a higher refresh rate, as much as possible as long as the card is stable

For Editing: If you use GPU-based rendering, you can overclock your card to have faster renders as long as it's stable on full load

 

3. If not, why is it not worth it?

For Gaming: If you already reached your monitor's max refresh rate on stock speed then there's no sense in overclocking

[Ddave]

Extra performance. 

I never really overclocked but I plan to do so when the fps is getting lower than 60. If I can squeeze out the frames without upgrading, that'd be great.

[SkilledRebuilds]

Cos its fun, is faster, and feels great to pull off something awesome.

From a CPU perspective... (Many would put themselves in this spot for GPU's too)

 

I bought my 2600K , coming from my slower previous generations, at launch, expensive, yeah,...but I had that covered, Noctua D14 aircooled instantly took it to 4.8Ghz and left it there for 4 years.

The first few months, the feeling that I had one of the fastest architectures on the planet, and I had OC'd it so far, the difference was felt, it was brilliant, I was in Love.

 

So yeah... the feels,. the results, the total package.

[Mick Naughty]

Well having a base block of 889 and max turbo boost of 1187, overclocking to 1279 yields more then 10fps for me.  

 

Why buy a new card every year for a 10fps gain when you can over clock your old card? I do it because I'm tired of spending money on new stuff that doesn't perform. 

[_Grid21]

I just find it frustrating when I can't hold my GPU at 65C and then it down clocks my OC and yields so little. 10 Gain didn't seem like a lot and pushing the voltage scares me for fear of the card blowing up, sparking, and blow $600. I mean it's boost is 1.2, but kicks up to 1.4 and then I am able to get it to 1.5 but then it over heats and goes back to 1.4 and that's with the fans almost fully on high speed and all for 10 FPS gain? Does that sound worth it when my 1080p monitors only have a 60Hz refresh and I get over 100 or high FPS. What do you think? Worth it or no? 

Edited November 26, 2016 by Josh_Grid21

[Mick Naughty]

3 minutes ago, Josh_Grid21 said:

I just find it frustrating when I can't hold my GPU at 65C and then it down clocks my OC and yields so little. 10 Gain didn't seem like a lot and pushing the voltage scares me for fear of the card blowing up, sparking, and blow $600. I mean it's boost is 1.2, but kicks up to 1.4 and then I am able to get it to 1.5 but then it over heats and goes back to 1.4 and that's with the fans almost fully on high speed and all for 10 FPS gain? Does that sound worth it when my 1080p monitors only have a 60Hz refresh and I get over 100 or high FPS. What do you think? Worth it or no? 

What version 780 are you using to get over 1.212 volts on the card? i always prefer 100+ frames no matter what res I play at. So yea I consider it worth it. I always have the voltage to max even on air but I never let my cards see more then 60c. 

[_Grid21]

1 minute ago, Mick Naughty said:

What version 780 are you using to get over 1.212 volts on the card? i always prefer 100+ frames no matter what res I play at. So yea I consider it worth it. I always have the voltage to max even on air but I never let my cards see more then 60c. 

 

It's actually a 980 Ti FTW by EVGA. And anything just over 60c isn't that big a deal is it? 

[Mick Naughty]

7 minutes ago, Josh_Grid21 said:

It's actually a 980 Ti FTW by EVGA. And anything just over 60c isn't that big a deal is it? 

Got confused on which thread i was. On 1080 res I doubt oc'ing would yield gains you would notice. But such a small oc I wouldn't even count that.

The temps are fine assuming the vram is at a decent temp too, just never let mine run hot, especially as over half of my cards have vram on the back.

[_Grid21]

25 minutes ago, Mick Naughty said:

Got confused on which thread i was. On 1080 res I doubt oc'ing would yield gains you would notice. But such a small oc I wouldn't even count that.

The temps are fine assuming the vram is at a decent temp too, just never let mine run hot, especially as over half of my cards have vram on the back.

 

What about OC-ing on a 960 SSC? My dad's is nicely overclocked but still the question remains of "is it worth it?" 

[Just Monika]

I overclock my GPU because I want to know how far it can be pushed compared to other people's. A graphics card purchase is like an extremely expensive lottery ticket, you buy it with the hope that you bought a winner (the "silicon lottery"). Did you get a lucky GTX 1080 that overclocks to 2.2 GHz on air with stock voltage? Congratulations, you're now better than those lowly commoners with 1080s that barely overclock past 2 GHz. (obligatory /s)

[Mick Naughty]

I cant say if its worth it to you or not. I don't overclock that little. As my cards get older they can use all the help they can get.

Thus making my two old cards better then my one of my new cards. Its worth it to me, just like cpu oc'ing.

[_Grid21]

1 minute ago, Weird Face said:

I overclock my GPU because I want to know how far it can be pushed compared to other people's. A graphics card purchase is like an extremely expensive lottery ticket, you buy it with the hope that you bought a winner (the "silicon lottery"). Did you get a lucky GTX 1080 that overclocks to 2.2 GHz on air with stock voltage? Congratulations, you're now better than those lowly commoners with 1080s that barely overclock past 2 GHz.

 

That is the best and funniest post I have read all day! Hahahahahaha I think though because my GPU is so good, I may just give it up. Overwatch kinda killed OC-ing for me because it doesn't like my 1.5 and crashes. I hate to have to switch my OCs for different games all the time. 

[Apollo Refugio]

20 hours ago, Josh_Grid21 said:

Well the I mean, 10 more frames doesn't seem like a lot.

from 20 FPS to 30 FPS is a lot.