Overclocking 6700k worth it for gaming?
- Thread starter spluff
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Do it (although remember that you are asking the question on an enthusiast forum 
so it's a pretty foregone conclusion)
You will certainly see improvements and as long as you have decent cooling it will be all good.
so it's a pretty foregone conclusion)You will certainly see improvements and as long as you have decent cooling it will be all good.
As an older more layed back kind of guy (many would say I'm lying about that) I haven't OC'ed my 6700k .. yet. It is doing everything I need done at lightning speed .. and the speed of light is fast enough for me for now. 
Overclocking is great, but it does have it's down sides. The biggest is power consumption. If you are now using 90 watts of power 24/7 and overclock so it's using 180 watts, you will be doubling the amount of electricity you have to pay for. So if you don't need the extra power, don't overclock.
Kinda like driven a car with a normal economical engine. It does everything you need. But if you want to have a high powered car you are going to be paying twice as much a mile in fuel costs.
Overclocking is great, but it does have it's down sides. The biggest is power consumption. If you are now using 90 watts of power 24/7 and overclock so it's using 180 watts, you will be doubling the amount of electricity you have to pay for. So if you don't need the extra power, don't overclock.
Kinda like driven a car with a normal economical engine. It does everything you need. But if you want to have a high powered car you are going to be paying twice as much a mile in fuel costs.
LOL. Yeah, I have, but it's working so well now. All the gremlins are tucked into bed sleeping soundly and I really don't want to chance waking them up.
Let me know how yours goes. I love to test coolers and pay with airflow, but I really hate overclocking.
Let me know how yours goes. I love to test coolers and pay with airflow, but I really hate overclocking.
I'd be very interested to see if you experience any improvement in those games especially.
I am running a very similar spec to you and although my 980ti is overclocked to 1450 my 6700K is still at stock as although the GFX card is often maxed out the CPU rarely goes above 50% usage.
I am running a very similar spec to you and although my 980ti is overclocked to 1450 my 6700K is still at stock as although the GFX card is often maxed out the CPU rarely goes above 50% usage.
Soldato
Run afterburner or some such program while playing and see if your cpu at its current speed is hitting 100% usage.
Mine didn't in any game (running a 970)*
*I still overclocked it
Mine didn't in any game (running a 970)*
*I still overclocked it
Soldato
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LOL. Yeah, I have, but it's working so well now. All the gremlins are tucked into bed sleeping soundly and I really don't want to chance waking them up.
Let me know how yours goes. I love to test coolers and pay with airflow, but I really hate overclocking.
Have you tried under volting your 6700k for temps/power reasons? Just wondering if you see much of a result.
I suppose I could, but as I said the gremlins are sleeping and temp at 100% load encoding are mid to upper 50s @ 850-950rpm.
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It might give you a few more FPS here and there... go for it. I think I gained a few FPS on a game or 2 from my CPU overclock... if I remember what the pre-overclock results were correctly
Even 100w more for 5 hours a day every day is like £22 a year.
It's likely running overvoltage on auto anyway, undervolting could save you 50w if you are that worried.
Easy enough to get a higher overclock on lower voltages and use less power than the defaults will for an unclocked chip.
One particular chart I just saw was a 6700k at 4.7 drawing 220w vs a stocker on auto which was drawing 192w at its default settings. At 4.6 it was drawing just 189w, so less than the stock settings because the auto voltage was so high.
It's likely running overvoltage on auto anyway, undervolting could save you 50w if you are that worried.
Easy enough to get a higher overclock on lower voltages and use less power than the defaults will for an unclocked chip.
One particular chart I just saw was a 6700k at 4.7 drawing 220w vs a stocker on auto which was drawing 192w at its default settings. At 4.6 it was drawing just 189w, so less than the stock settings because the auto voltage was so high.
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While you make a good arguement it is off-topic.
spluff asked if overclocking 6700k would improve gaming performance.
The answer is no, it will not.
But it will take time and cost money.
My calculations are £30.00, so not much more. But the point is it cost more, and for gaming there is no or insignificant gain. So it's wasted expense.
Because there is no significant gain, the time spent learning how to do the overclock as well as time to do it are therefore also wasted effort.
Donate the electrical cost savings to your favorite charity.
Donate the time wasted overclocking to some disabled or old person in your neighborhood by offering to cut their grass or wash their windows.
While it's only a little money or a little time spent it will make our world a little better.
Even a selfish gaming addict can use the money toward a new game and the time gaming.
If you want to overclock for fun than do it. Just don't try justifying it by saying 'it's only £20 more a year.'
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