To OC or not to OC?

head5000 · 19 Oct 2013 at 00:39

so my specs are as sig.
I've just upgraded that 6770 to a 7950 (HIS IceQ Boost)

Is there any point in me OCing the 7950 with such a CPU bottleneck?

Avenged7Fold · 19 Oct 2013 at 00:46

Probably not. What clock is your CPU sitting on?

head5000 · 19 Oct 2013 at 00:50

3.8GHz

Devrij · 19 Oct 2013 at 01:38

Keep an eye on your cpu usage compared to your gpu usage. If your cpu is maxed out and your gpu isn't, then no. If it's the other way around, then yes. Single card isn't that bad, but you would benefit from a nippier cpu alright.

Avenged7Fold · 19 Oct 2013 at 02:03

If you find that your current CPU isn't enough, then depending on what games you play, might be worth looking at cheap a 1090t if you can get a hold of one.

head5000 · 19 Oct 2013 at 11:13

SO far ive only played a heavily modded Skyrim. CPU usage is generally ~60%, GPU ~95%, VRAM~ 1.4GB.

Cheers for the advice, I think I'll have to using a more recent game to fully know though.

head5000 · 19 Oct 2013 at 11:34

Would I not be better to go for a Piledriver over a 1090T?

8 Pack · 19 Oct 2013 at 13:42

What sort of a question is this on these forums!!! Hammer the dam chip man!!

almighty15 · 19 Oct 2013 at 13:53

Phenom 2 would be better then an FX chip..... Get your CPU-NB up as well!!

head5000 · 19 Oct 2013 at 13:59

8 Pack said:
What sort of a question is this on these forums!!! Hammer the dam chip man!!

This is the response I was expecting haha

Avenged7Fold · 19 Oct 2013 at 15:21

head5000 said:
Would I not be better to go for a Piledriver over a 1090T?

You would need a new motherboard for PD, but it would be a better improvement if you use the extra cores.

Mal X · 19 Oct 2013 at 15:46

Devrij said:
Keep an eye on your cpu usage compared to your gpu usage. If your cpu is maxed out and your gpu isn't, then no. If it's the other way around, then yes. Single card isn't that bad, but you would benefit from a nippier cpu alright.

yes deffo, because my rig is really slow with the OC removed, i've never noticed this before, because you only really notice it when you install a new Mobo, just before you've OC it all..

where will it end though !!! because if you start getting fussy about this, then it looks like your whole rig will need updating

head5000 · 19 Oct 2013 at 16:10

Mal X said:
yes deffo, because my rig is really slow with the OC removed, i've never noticed this before, because you only really notice it when you install a new Mobo, just before you've OC it all..

where will it end though !!! because if you start getting fussy about this, then it looks like your whole rig will need updating

I know, the complete overhaul itch kicked in quite quickly!

andythelandy · 19 Oct 2013 at 17:02

I overclocked mine to the max the sliders can do in CCC and found it made not an ounce of difference in the Unique vally benchmark, infact in one benchmark it was a frame slower :confused:

I put this down to my phenom 955, so I'm just not bothering overclocking it.

Devrij · 19 Oct 2013 at 21:34

Mal X said:
yes deffo, because my rig is really slow with the OC removed, i've never noticed this before, because you only really notice it when you install a new Mobo, just before you've OC it all..

where will it end though !!! because if you start getting fussy about this, then it looks like your whole rig will need updating

It never ends. There will always be a bottleneck somewhere. I prefer to have my gpu be the bottleneck though. Right now I'm cpu limited by a large margin.

I would overclock your cpu more OP, then upgrade when you can. I always feel better about extreme overclocks when I have an upgrade planned. Because then who cares if I degrade the chip!

Devrij · 19 Oct 2013 at 21:35

andythelandy said:
I overclocked mine to the max the sliders can do in CCC and found it made not an ounce of difference in the Unique vally benchmark, infact in one benchmark it was a frame slower I put this down to my phenom 955, so I'm just not bothering overclocking it.

Also Andy, CCC is not the best tool for overclocking. You may have had ECC kicking in due to an unstable overclock on the memory, which would have reduced your score slightly. But it sounds like you are severely cpu limited if it made no gains at all! Clock that chip!

TropicLightning · 19 Oct 2013 at 21:48

8 Pack said:
What sort of a question is this on these forums!!! Hammer the dam chip man!!

lol...yes!

Really, although your CPU will bottleneck the card, you should still see performance go up. Not to the same level as that GPU on another system, but up none-the-less.

Bench the card stock, then OC'd and see for yourself.

head5000 · 20 Oct 2013 at 16:07

Yeah, I OCed from 925 up to 1050 using one the offical guides on here. Not a drop of improvement.

I then went and took my Auto-OCed 965 from 3.8 up to 4GHz. (haven't re-benched)

Watching a few Phenom x2 6 cores on ebay.

Also, is discussing where to buy second hand against the rules? Apologies if it is.

almighty15 · 20 Oct 2013 at 16:21

Get an unlocked one

Mal X · 20 Oct 2013 at 16:46

i overclock the rig as far as it'll go automatically (via Asrock). i then OC the card via AMD Catalyst as far as possible.... and that's it.
my only other concern is noise and cooling

the shop said my rig is a wee bit slow due to the Hybrid drive .....on start up that is, but i dont think the rig is worth spending any more money on, because i'll be looking to rebuild it all in a years time anyway..