Does OC decrease CPU Usage?

[DrThots]

I have a i5 6600k with GTX 1060 and I want to overclock my i5 6600k to the best it can do with my cooler. It was 3.5 ghz, now it's at 4.4 ghz. Now I'm wondering does Overclocking decrease CPU usage? I know it increases FPS whilst gaming because of video tests on Youtube but whilst streaming, will it help reduce the chances of overusage of my cpu to stop possible fps drops?

[iRileyx]

It depends. If your GPU was at say 95% but your CPU was at 100% prior to overclocking(meaning the cpu is holding back the gpu ever so slightly), then yes the CPU usage will go down as the GPU would now reach 100% before the CPU does.

But that's assuming that you had unlimited FPS and the gpu wasn't at 95% cause it could reach a locked FPS at only that much usage.

 

If your CPU was at 100% and your GPU was only at like 70s-80s then probably not. again, assuming you're not hitting a locked framerate and have FPS as unlimited.

[JamesDean]

Yeah, it most situations it should run lower, especially in a situation where a turbo clock would usually apply

[Jurrunio]

If your graphics card turns into the bottleneck, then yes.

[Brooksie359]

You are making your cpu able to do more. This means that it can do the same amount of work with less cpu % usage. Sometimes the work given to your cpu will increase because it now has the ability to do more work. At the end of the day your cpu is overall better performing than before even if the programs you use ask more of your cpu.

[Godlygamer23]

Theoretically, you could. Kind of like, increasing torque in an engine theoretically decreases the rate at which it needs to turn, in order to produce the same amount of power. But if you're modding the engine to just increase torque without adjusting RPM, horsepower goes up. 

 

In the case of your CPU, programs might still request some percentage from the CPU, but since you are running at a higher clock speed, you get more work done. And I think you're experiencing this in gaming, since frame rate is increasing, rather than remaining the same.

[gbergeron]

1 hour ago, DrThots said:

I have a i5 6600k with GTX 1060 and I want to overclock my i5 6600k to the best it can do with my cooler. It was 3.5 ghz, now it's at 4.4 ghz. Now I'm wondering does Overclocking decrease CPU usage? I know it increases FPS whilst gaming because of video tests on Youtube but whilst streaming, will it help reduce the chances of overusage of my cpu to stop possible fps drops?

Your CPU will perform depending on the frequency your cpu can achieve with an overclock...

By having more performance obviously if we think logic here, your cpu will need less "energy" to provide same performance as before the OC

In other words, if your CPU @ stock runs @ 80% cpu usage during a game, and you then overclock it and run the same game, you will see it's cpu usage lower, lets say 75 or 70% because your cpu now runs at a faster speed so it requires a bit less "energy" to provide the same "power" as before the OC
 

[Razor Blade]

12 minutes ago, gbergeron said:

Your CPU will perform depending on the frequency your cpu can achieve with an overclock...

By having more performance obviously if we think logic here, your cpu will need less "energy" to provide same performance as before the OC

In other words, if your CPU @ stock runs @ 80% cpu usage during a game, and you then overclock it and run the same game, you will see it's cpu usage lower, lets say 75 or 70% because your cpu now runs at a faster speed so it requires a bit less "energy" to provide the same "power" as before the OC
 

Actually comparing the exact same workload, it will use the same amount of electricity or slightly more as it did before the overclock. Just with a higher clock frequency you have a bit more potential.

 

Edit: this is just what has been in my experience <=

[Godlygamer23]

1 hour ago, Razor Blade said:

Actually comparing the exact same workload, it will use the same amount of electricity or slightly more as it did before the overclock. Just with a higher clock frequency you have a bit more potential.

 

Edit: this is just what has been in my experience <=

It can't use the same amount of electricity since it's most likely doing more work(I'm also assuming no voltage increases).

[gbergeron]

22 hours ago, Razor Blade said:

21 hours ago, Godlygamer23 said:

It can't use the same amount of electricity since it's most likely doing more work(I'm also assuming no voltage increases).

 

 

Yep that makes total sense

[agent_x007]

No. Usage will stay the same.
However, time required for completing any task will get shorter.
So, drops from CPU will get shorter as well.
Keep in mind though, that if task/game requires more cores, OC'ing quad core won't do you any good (because it still can't do that many things at once).

[Razor Blade]

22 hours ago, Godlygamer23 said:

It can't use the same amount of electricity since it's most likely doing more work(I'm also assuming no voltage increases).

That's why I or said "or slightly more". Depending on the workload, you'll be fighting more losses from heat. point being I have never experienced a decrease in wattage consumption from an overclocked CPU.