Does the latest cpu's & graphic cards really need to be overclocked?

Ixon

Ixon

Ixon

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I remember way back im March 2000 when i built my first PC it was based on a AMD K6-2 500Mhz CPU & a Nvidia TNT2 M64, as i couldn't afford the latest & greatest at the time as back then PC hardware was much more expensive than it is now.

I remember sqeezing just 50hmz out my K6-2 & really getting a good performance increase from it across the board same goes with the M64 a slight overclocked reap awards in games back then ie Quake III & UT.

Plus back then every AAA title that came out for the PC needed a new CPU or Graphics card to get the best from that game, so Overclocking was a must to get the best out of your hardware.

Jump 10 years on

I have a i7 920 setup with a 5870 I did at one point push my i7 to 4.2Ghz on practically stock volts as i got a really sweet CPU, and a slight overclock on the 5870 just for kicks.

But for the past few days i've decided to put it back down to stock as the current nice weather were having has made my PC slightly toasty as it hitting upto 30c in the room of mine.

One thing i've noticed since put everything back at stock speed, is that there is no noticable diffrence in performance using apps & games.

Games these days have basically stood still for the past 2 years at least with no overall improvement with only a few titles using bolt on Dx10 or 11 as most are still coming out using Dx 9c & ported over from the Xbox 360.

So it begs the question what the point of overclocking a high end rig these days really, when even a mid range pc can handle 98% of everything that out no problem at all.

So now i've decided to take another route, instead of overclocking i've decided to go green and try undervolting.

Basically got my i7 running at stock with less than 1v. which have brought temps right down over 20c using linx.

So now i basically can still do anything i can chuck at it, but with the added bonus of less heat & less power thus saving money on the eletric bill. :)
 
The point of overclocking is the same as its always been, and this generation of intel CPUs are some of the best overclockers ever. You have a high end rig this time around, and if you find performance is fine at stock speeds then fine. Save the overclocking until you need it.
 
well, overclocking my i7 from 2.66GHz to 4.2GHz cuts encoding a 350MB avi to M4V from 6 minutes to 4 minutes, I'm pretty sure that's an improvement
 
The point is moot this an overclockering forum people overclock here and everywhere else because they can and get pleasure out of speezing last Mhz of speed out of something not because they actually need the extra speed.
 
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DIABLO said:
The point is mute this an overclockering forum people overclock here and everywhere else because they can and get pleasure out of speezing last Mhz of speed out of something not because they actually need the extra speed.
Click to expand...

Truth.


For quite a long while I've tried to justify new rigs and upgrades, but to be honest it all came down to playing that latest game just a tad better or even simply getting a higher number on-screen - not very reasonable...

However, not too long ago I've had an epiphany, the PC is my hobby... simple as that. Building rigs is pleasure, overclocking them a treat. I like fiddling with them, quite a bit. Hence is would be as foolish to logically justify improvement as for a fashion aficionado to resist that new accessory purely out of lacking need.


Others have fancy tuned cars, model trains, crazy audio systems etc. They all fork out unreasonable amounts of cash for their hobby and it's all fine and good. PCs on the other hand also have oh so many useful practical features, but indeed most still view them on the same level as a calculator, build for purpose. And upgrading them seems not unlike replacing your office stapler with one made purely of gold.... just ...why?


However, when you get right down to it, why would we have to work extra hard to justify our hobby simply because it happens to coincide with conventional practicality on some level. When one walks into a model shop and sees someone paying 200 quid for a statuette of Bobba Fett with overwhelming glee, it would be silly to ask him -why- he needs it or even what purpose it serves considering that he has a 100 of them at home already !


Once I accepted the premise of my PC being a hobby, a whole new world of comparison opened up and to be perfectly blunt, we are quite fortunate to have ours serve at least -some- quantifiable purpose. Suddenly, justifying upgrades seemed easier, indeed to myself as well as others.



- Ordokai
 
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Ordokai said:
Truth.


For quite a long while I've tried to justify new rigs and upgrades, but to be honest it all came down to playing that latest game just a tad better or even simply getting a higher number on-screen - not very reasonable...

However, not too long ago I've had an epiphany, the PC is my hobby... simple as that. Building rigs is pleasure, overclocking them a treat. I like fiddling with them, quite a bit. Hence is would be as foolish to logically justify improvement as for a fashion aficionado to resist that new accessory purely out of lacking need.


Others have fancy tuned cars, model trains, crazy audio systems etc. They all fork out unreasonable amounts of cash for their hobby and it's all fine and good. PCs on the other hand also have oh so many useful practical features, but indeed most still view them on the same level as a calculator, build for purpose. And upgrading them seems not unlike replacing your office stapler with one made purely of gold.... just ...why?


However, when you get right down to it, why would we have to work extra hard to justify our hobby simply because it happens to coincide with conventional practicality on some level. When one walks into a model shop and sees someone paying 200 quid for a statuette of Bobba Fett with overwhelming glee, it would be silly to ask him -why- he needs it or even what purpose it serves considering that he has a 100 of them at home already !


Once I accepted the premise of my PC being a hobby, a whole new world of comparison opened up and to be perfectly blunt, we are quite fortunate to have ours serve at least -some- quantifiable purpose. Suddenly, justifying upgrades seemed easier, indeed to myself as well as others.



- Ordokai
Click to expand...

I agree. I'm not a hardcore overclocker. I've never really pushed any of my components to the limit, and I never run the benchmarking apps that would actually show the difference between a 3.5 and 3.6GHz clock speed.

But... I do enjoy tinkering with my PC. I've barely played any games this year at all. Yet, I've swapped out my CPU for a lower VID one, bought a new CPU cooler and new fans, and spent hours recording my temperatures and stability in IBT at various clock speeds.

Why? Well, I want to hit 3.7GHz with this Q6600 if I can (which should be doable if I can just keep mosfets cool enough).

But why do I want to do that? Well, it will mean my PC is powerful enough not to even think about upgrading for a while yet. But really it's an end in itself to some extent as well.

I see these pre-built systems with the best components all pre-tested and pre-assembled, and think what nice specs they have. But, if I had £2000 in PC shop gift vouchers, I'd never even consider getting one. Not a chance. I'd build my own rig and spend a chunk of time overclocking and tinkering with it. Just because.
 
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