Is overclocking worth it?

[BlackBear101]

So i was thinking about building a PC for the first time, and was considering overclocking down the road (seeing as I didn't know much about it at all) 

 

So I had decided on the core i5 6600k, the gigabyte GA z170x motherboard, a hyper 212x, MSI RX 480 and the Corsair SPEC 01 case. After doing a little research, I've found out that while a few owners of the Corsair SPEC 01 have shown that it does fit the hyper 212x in it, the manufacturers website specs show that the max CPU height is 150 whereas i think the hyper's is 158.

 

So I've been thinking, is overclocking really worth it? I'm mainly be using this build for gaming and other day to day tasks, will I see a huge improvement in FPS with overclocking? Or should I stick with the case, buy a core i5 6500 and use the stock CPU cooler? I could then use the extra cash to buy something else (like a better keyboard, idk)

 

So in short,

-is overclocking worth it? 

-Will it provide a much better increase in   FPS for most modern games?

-should I instead get the i5 6500 and use   the extra cash on something else?

 

 

 

[Morgan MLGman]

Overclocking is worth it when you want to increase performance, but it's not necessary.

 

The issue with an i5-6500 is that after your RX 480 has not enough horsepower anymore in a few years, you're gonna want to upgrade the GPU and the i5-6500 won't be able to keep up with faster GPUs then so you'd be forced to upgrade sooner (the CPU).

 

I suggest you ditch both ideas and get an i7-6700(non-k) and a B150/H170 board. The cost will be around the same or lower than a 6600K + Z170 + Cooler and the i7 will still be faster in multithreaded tasks, should also last longer than both of those i5s.

[EmoChipmonk]

Im torn on how i want to answer this, I wanna say get the 6600k (not just for overclocking but just because of the higher clocks and preformance) but is you are PURELY gaming i would say look at the price differences and see if the money you save would let you get a better video card. Over clocking dosnt help a ton (depending on the silicon lottery) but it can provice a boost at little cost.

[EmoChipmonk]

3 minutes ago, Morgan MLGman said:

Overclocking is worth it when you want to increase performance, but it's not necessary.

 

The issue with an i5-6500 is that after your RX 480 has not enough horsepower anymore in a few years, you're gonna want to upgrade the GPU and the i5-6500 won't be able to keep up with faster GPUs then so you'd be forced to upgrade sooner (the CPU).

 

I suggest you ditch both ideas and get an i7-6700(non-k) and a B150/H170 board. The cost will be around the same or lower than a 6600K + Z170 + Cooler and the i7 will still be faster in multithreaded tasks, should also last longer than both of those i5s.

Scratch what i said go with this guys idea (but with a H170 not the B160 :p) Much better then mine. (friend has an i7 3700 And still works great so your I7 will last for wuite a long time)

[Morgan MLGman]

1 minute ago, EmoChipmonk said:

Scratch what i said go with this guys idea (but with a H170 not the B160 :p) Much better then mine. (friend has an i7 3700 And still works great so your I7 will last for wuite a long time)

Exactly, my old i7-3770 that I used before I got the 6700K rig still had enough horsepower to run any game at Ultra and wasn't even close to bottlenecking a heavily OC'd R9 290X, it should just last longer for OP... I believe that the CPU should last 2-3 GPU upgrades, not 1

[EmoChipmonk]

4 minutes ago, Morgan MLGman said:

Exactly, my old i7-3770 that I used before I got the 6700K rig still had enough horsepower to run any game at Ultra and wasn't even close to bottlenecking a heavily OC'd R9 290X, it should just last longer for OP... I believe that the CPU should last 2-3 GPU upgrades, not 1

Think it would last till coffee lake? My friends prob going to wait till then to upgrade (pull a dream build manuver)

[Morgan MLGman]

1 minute ago, EmoChipmonk said:

Think it would last till coffee lake? My friends prob going to wait till then to upgrade (pull a dream build manuver)

A 3770?

[EmoChipmonk]

1 minute ago, Morgan MLGman said:

A 3770?

ya

[Morgan MLGman]

1 minute ago, EmoChipmonk said:

ya

If this is for gaming only, you need to realize that it only depends on the GPU you're pairing it with. The top GPU (with that CPU) I'd get would be the 980Ti / 1070 / Fury X, if that performance satisfies your needs for such a period of time then yeah, I don't see why not

[EmoChipmonk]

1 minute ago, Morgan MLGman said:

If this is for gaming only, you need to realize that it only depends on the GPU you're pairing it with. The top GPU (with that CPU) I'd get would be the 980Ti / 1070 / Fury X, if that performance satisfies your needs for such a period of time then yeah, I don't see why not

Cool the Ti is exactly what he has. Though it has some heating issues.

[fjdhdhcyfhf]

overclocking was worth it before AMD became uncompetitive. Intel are dicks in the way they set prices

[Bananasplit_00]

overclocking is worth it, its free preformance.

 

it can give you 10fps more if you get good overclocks and do both CPU and GPU

 

no. just get some other cooler.

[Gonio]

OC is worth it simply because it increases useable lifespan, and thus saving money in the long run. Think of the many people these days that still can come along for gaming while using 2500 and 2600k CPU. It does not have much more stretch, since allthough slow CPU clockspeed need grows for several games. Games do still rely more on clockspeed then core ammount aslong as you have 4. It will be improved coming years, but that has already been the case for years.

Still the increased lifespan makes people have the option to not swap platform every 2-3 years, but last 5-6+ years with same platform. That saves up money for the GPU that currently still needs to be upgraded regulary to keep up with demands and needs. GTA V can't still be maxed out by any single card besides the Titan Xp on 1080p 60Hz (allthough the 1080 is very close) let alone on 4k where nothing makes it

 

Certain games are CPU depedning and some are even single thread depending. So buying a 1000 bucks on a big multi core is sometimes holding you back, since the more cores the less clockspeed in general. Luckily they can be OCed, so nice nice...

 

Also GPU's get on the point that a mediocre CPU is not enough to keep it fed with a optimal flow of data. Bottlenecks will always be there, no matter what, but a 1080 needs a very decent CPU to keep up, to make use of it's performance.

 

You bring in a budget cooler that is slightly better then stock coolers, but is still a decent option for a simple OC. But there are options out there like the Scythe Fuma, that cost around 45€ around here (so most likely also around 40-45 $ on most places where there are US dollars, since PC component prices go 1 on 1 here + some extra). This is a cooler that delivers high end cooling, that is sufficient for big OC's.

Point of this is that choosing a decent cooling sollution can be all that you need, to get that extra useable lifespan. Even combined with the increased cost of platform and CPU it is less costly then buying a new platform every 2-3 years. Especially considering the aprts that actual need a upgrade get less and less if chosen wisely.

 

There are more reasons why OC is worth it, but lastly a reason I want to mention is that OC is made so simple these days that anyone new still can do it without much hassle and risk. There are plenty of guides, but simple said aslong as you keep it in save temps and voltage, you only need to tinker with multiplier and voltage to get a decent OC.

[SkilledRebuilds]

OC'ing IMO was better (terms of value) in the old days, singlecore systems (Where every MHZ matters for Performance figures (marketing)<-primarilly and eventually the dual cores era when things were still struggling, thats where OC'ing gave you an edge,

 

These days where most games/not all,...but are GPU bound and some gains are not always seen as expected, it's still great, I'm not knocking it, I do it, but I personally believe since single/dual core CPU's without the needed legs to begin with,...were still the best OC>Performance gains.

 

Like our new dualcore+ht offerings...(once OC'd, they shine pretty well)

 

So IMO, on the lower end of the spectrum for CPU's is where the value is...(if even possible to OC low-end chips consistently series to series)

[Arsonist]

I have one question about overclocking. Should i keep Windows power management to "High performance" or "Balanced" while overclocking?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Cheers.