Has the age of overclocking and chasing numbers ended?

mattyfez · 29 Oct 2023 at 01:01

Seems to me it has..

Undervolting for the same FPS in games to run cool and fast to save power and heat.

I'm talking about gaming here, not heavy compute stuff...

Rroff · 29 Oct 2023 at 01:07

A lot of CPU or GPU, etc. hardware these days algorithmically boosts to close to its max, leaving little more than fine tuning left in many cases.

Tetras · 29 Oct 2023 at 01:17

It is still viable for enthusiasts, but overclocking (by the average buyer) for meaningful value (e.g. buy a low-end CPU and turn it into a high-end CPU) is long dead.

Gepetto · 29 Oct 2023 at 13:04

I think you're right in that it has. As Tetras said, the average buyer (like myself) has no need of it anymore. My self built PC will handle all the games I play in 4K at Ultra settings without OC.

Running cool and quiet is more attractive to me now, although my son still enjoys tweaking things for best performance. He has no actual need for it though.

Meddling-Monk · 29 Oct 2023 at 13:21

Definitely agree the cool and quiet approach has taken over simply chasing the speed numbers from before. Especially given that energy prices are nowhere near like they were before.

Also, cooling back in the day when overclocking was desireable, was not quiet; Nowhere near quiet. So the "quiet" approach was never an option (Think early 00s). That's changed however, and the quiet option (at expense of speed, and now speed and power) is now not only an option, but an attractive one.

Troezar · 30 Oct 2023 at 09:15

The rate of change and the need for much faster hardware has slowed which gives less incentive too.

Joxeon · 30 Oct 2023 at 09:39

companies have cottoned on to the fact that if they overclock the parts themselves then they can sell you the extra performance gained for more money.

Pulseammo · 30 Oct 2023 at 12:08

Yeah I reckon overclocking is a lot less relevant for the average user, the parts are already near their maximum performance.

I didn't even bother this time round, I just went for a 12700 non-K, set the powerlimits higher and I'm happy with it. No tuning, no stability testing, etc. I'm pretty sure had I gone for the K version I wouldn't have been happy with the overclocked performance uplift vs power trade off.

Jokester · 30 Oct 2023 at 12:40

Everything is pre-binned for your convenience.

pastymuncher · 30 Oct 2023 at 19:26

I finally gave up when I built this current pc not long after the 12*** series launch and bought my first ever non-K cpu. I have found that with each generation overclocking headroom has dropped further and further to the point that it's simply not worth it anymore. I even got rid of my watercooling setup earlier this year and went back to air after 17+ years of watercooling. Even gpu overclocking is simply not worth it anymore. You can increase clocks to the maximum a card can do while drawing stupid amounts of power only to see a couple of fps being gained. What's the point? The sad thing is that while overclocking had practically been killed off power draw has gone through the roof to ridiculous levels so now undervolting is the new overclocking and we are seeing how low we can go with power and temps. I haven't done it with my cpu but have with my 3070 and knocked just over 100w off peak gaming power draw. It now runs cooler and quieter and actually boosts higher and longer than it did at stock.

I miss the simple days of socket 775 where it was common for 1Ghz+ overclocks and sometimes even double the stock clock speeds!!

radderfire · 30 Oct 2023 at 19:29

mattyfez said:
Seems to me it has..

Undervolting for the same FPS in games to run cool and fast to save power and heat.

I'm talking about gaming here, not heavy compute stuff...

Forum name change to Underclockers?

jaybee · 30 Oct 2023 at 19:42

I can't see me doing it again. I'm not crying you are.

Parsley · 31 Oct 2023 at 21:01

I undervolt now to get lower temps and power usage (and maybe a bit of extra boosting if I'm lucky). Some of the chips already run ludicrously hot as it is anyway, comparatively.

I do miss the days of getting a Q6600 or a 2500k and getting so much extra performance out of them though.

Rroff · 31 Oct 2023 at 21:07

Yeah had a Q6600 with water cooling at IIRC 3.825GHz, those were the days.

Parsley · 31 Oct 2023 at 21:08

Q6600 paired with a 8800GTX.

Rroff · 31 Oct 2023 at 21:10

Parsley said:
Q6600 paired with a 8800GTX.

My memory is a bit hazy on specifics now but I had a 7950GX2 then 8800GT SLI around that period.

andy_mk3 · 31 Oct 2023 at 21:30

Overclocking is dead as it used to be for sure. It's still possible to overclock but the gains are small compared to the old days, and you're often going to need power and thermal headroom in hand, which is a big limiting factor.

I do miss it to some degree. But it's also nice to have decent performance from hardware out the box provided you give it good enough cooling.

qbhatti · 1 Nov 2023 at 09:29

Yes I miss the q6600 days.

Oc is not really suited these days anyway

mattyfez · 1 Nov 2023 at 15:47

Yeah I had a Q6600, then an 6600k and now a 13600k...

I had a gx2 GPU too back in the day...was a pretty good card IIRC...two GPU's on one card, onboard SLI baby! hahah

I did overclock this new one, but it seems better at stock with an undervolt, as the OC gains were minimal when compared to the additional heat and power consumption.

Minstadave · 1 Nov 2023 at 16:20

Pretty much given up with OC for CPU/GPU. Just undervolt and RAM OC for me.