Should I overclock CPU along side overclocking GPU

[Livewire88]

Hello everyone,

I recently started tinkering with overclocking using MSI afterburner, and I have some questions.

1. When adding an overclock, if CPU/GPU temps are well within tolerance and there is no artifacting. Does this mean the overclocking settings are safe to use indefinitely?
2. I play games exclusively in 4K, which means I am GPU bound all the time. Is there any need to overclock my CPU?
3. Does a "mild" overclock have a drastic effect on a GPU's longevity?
4. is there any value in overclocking for the difference it makes to FPS against the possible wear it could cause on the card?

I have increased the core clock by 320MHz and Memory clock by 350MHz on my MSI RTX 5080 Vanguard, its upped FPS by around 8-10. CPU is a AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D for info.

Thank you

 

[mickyflinn]

Hi

1. Yes in Part but overclocks can become unstable over time

2. Best to test with and without the Overclock to compare looking at the 1% lows also.

3. Usually no but depends on the silicon lottery.

4. How much of a percentage gain would be relevant, you say 10fps more at 4k bit what's that as a percentage?

Another you could tinker with is memory timmings or speed.

 

[bimbleuk]

I have increased the core clock by 320MHz and Memory clock by 350MHz on my MSI RTX 5080 Vanguard, its upped FPS by around 8-10. CPU is a AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D for info.

Thank you

7800X3D is hardware locked at 5050MHz so you can use a couple of BIOS options to get the CPU more consistently at or near the 5050MHz limit.

Personally I just set the Platform Thermal Throttle limit in BIOS to 75C and enable an all core Curve Optimisation of Negative 30 (stable on my CPU) also in BIOS. The PBO settings don't seem to do all that much on my Asus B650i motherboard so I left PBO set to Auto.

I use a 280mm AIO to cool my CPU.

 

[Tetras]

I play games exclusively in 4K, which means I am GPU bound all the time. Is there any need to overclock my CPU?

It can still help with the lows/framerate consistency, but it depends on the game and how demanding it is.

Does a "mild" overclock have a drastic effect on a GPU's longevity?

If you don't (or barely) increase the volts, temperature and power draw to achieve it then it should not and most cards are very (i.e. artificially) limited in what overclocks are achievable now anyway.

Overclocking is overclocking though and you can't measure the increase in stress on every part of your card, so nobody can say to you 100%: overclocking will not have any detrimental impact over the warranted speeds.

is there any value in overclocking for the difference it makes to FPS against the possible wear it could cause on the card?

I think you really need to make a personal decision there, because one person's idea of an acceptable risk is not the same and the FPS being "worth it" will depend on your expectations.

For example: if you can barely hit 60 fps with all the eye candy in your favourite game and overclocking gets you an extra 10 fps, is that worth it? Probably. On the other hand, if you're hitting 200 fps already, do you care about 230 fps?

When adding an overclock, if CPU/GPU temps are well within tolerance and there is no artifacting. Does this mean the overclocking settings are safe to use indefinitely?

Safe in terms of stability, or safe in terms of not damaging anything?

In terms of stability, it depends, the heat in your room can make a difference, so can the workload. For example: if I was using the graphics card to render 24/7, I would be more likely to undervolt and power limit my card. Similarly, in the summer you might want to use a frame cap to get the power draw and temps down.

So far as damaging anything, to a degree the impact of volts/temps/power over time is a silent degradation and you only know it when things start to degrade and you can't maintain the same clocks anymore. Since every new generation of CPU/GPU is effectively a prototype, it is hard for anyone to give you firm guidance on what safe limits are. Watching someone like buildzoid (and other overclockers) can help you get an idea where that they think the safety margins are, but modest overclocks within the drivers are unlikely to do any damage to your card, unless it is already running on the bleeding edge.

 

[hlennie]

Pretty sure the 5080 clocks higher than that have read of the 5080 owners thread