Question 4.6 GHz or 5 GHz?

[Hypoltan]

So, a big question I have is whether or not it is worth it to invest in a better cooler to reach or at least get close to the magical 5 Ghz mark. I am using the i5 9600k and a Z390 extreme4, pretty good case cooling and a rtx 2070. I will be playing fps games like Fortnite and trying to get the maximum performance possible at 1080p 144 Hz.

The cooler I am looking is the H7, listed at $38 on Newegg, but is it worth moving up to the D15s at around $80, how much more clock speed will that give me and how much will it affect the performance?

 

[DSzymborski]

The H7 is a really excellent budget cooler, but if you're concerned with squeezing the most out of overclocking, I'd definitely go with the higher-end cooler. And likely a higher-end motherboard as well; something along the lines of an ASRock Z390 Taichi or a Gigabyte Z390 Aorus or an ASUS Z390 ROG STRIX are better choices.

I would temper your expectations, however. Nobody can tell you what you'll achieve given the significant variance between CPUs with even the same model number. And the performance gains tend to be incremental. If you go into overclocking with the mindset that there's a magical 5 GHz or 4.8 GHz or 4.6 GHz point out there that you have to hit, you'll be setting yourself up for possible disappointment.

 

[Gmoney06ss]

So you haven't built the system yet, and are looking for cooler advice? I hear people rave about the noctua, but the cryorig is also a decent cooler. The h7 should get you good oc performance, but the noctua will be better. Wether or not the h7 has a ceiling of 4.6, is as stated, up to silicone lottery.

 

[Hypoltan]

The H7 is a really excellent budget cooler, but if you're concerned with squeezing the most out of overclocking, I'd definitely go with the higher-end cooler. And likely a higher-end motherboard as well; something along the lines of an ASRock Z390 Taichi or a Gigabyte Z390 Aorus or an ASUS Z390 ROG STRIX are better choices.

I would temper your expectations, however. Nobody can tell you what you'll achieve given the significant variance between CPUs with even the same model number. And the performance gains tend to be incremental. If you go into overclocking with the mindset that there's a magical 5 GHz or 4.8 GHz or 4.6 GHz point out there that you have to hit, you'll be setting yourself up for possible disappointment.

Thats very true. Thank you

 

[Hypoltan]

So you haven't built the system yet, and are looking for cooler advice? I hear people rave about the noctua, but the cryorig is also a decent cooler. The h7 should get you good oc performance, but the noctua will be better. Wether or not the h7 has a ceiling of 4.6, is as stated, up to silicone lottery.

Yes, still haven't built it yet, still wondering which cooler to get.

 

[Gmoney06ss]

I think the h7 would serve you well, looking at some reviews. But I would honestly go for the noctua, just because so many say it's about the best of the best air cooler.

 

[CompuTronix]

Hypoltan,

As pointed out above by DSzymborski, there's no way to predict how well your particular i5-9600K will overclock; all we can say is what's typical. Depending on the quality of the sample you receive, your results can vary by +/- 200MHz.

Overclocking is always limited by two factors; voltage and temperature. Like diamonds, no two processors are identical; each has unique imperfections that determine voltage tolerance, thermal behavior and overclocking potential, which is often referred to as the "silicon lottery".

If you don't want to roll the dice, and you're instead willing to purchase a new CPU that's been professionally delidded, tested and binned for a specific overclock, then go to a reputable company, aptly named Slilicon Lottery - https://siliconlottery.com/collections/all/products/delid?variant=12794952450134

They do a great job and provide a warranty, along with an overclocking report. The report shows the conditions and BIOS settings you'll need to configure in order to achieve the same results, so there's no guess work or trial-and-error as is typical with overclocking.

When overclocking, as Core speed (MHz) is increased, Core voltage (Vcore) must also be increased to maintain stability. This increases Power consumption (Watts) which increases Core temperatures.

Here's the maximum recommended Core voltage per Microarchitecture from 14 to 65 nanometers since 2006:



Here's the nominal operating range for Core temperature:

Core temperatures above 85°C are not recommended.

Core temperatures below 80°C are ideal.

With high-end cooling you might reach the Vcore limit before 85°C. With low-end cooling you’ll reach 85°C before the Vcore limit. Regardless, whichever limit you reach first is where you should stop.

Remember to keep overclocking in perspective. For example, the difference between 4.5 GHz and 4.6 Ghz is less than 2.3%, which has no noticeable impact on overall system performance. It simply isn’t worth pushing your processor beyond recommended Core voltage and Core temperature limits just to squeeze out another 100 MHz.

Beginners guide to overclocking your CPU - http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-3761568/beginners-guide-overclocking-cpu-explicit-testing-guidelines.html

Intel Temperature Guide - https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/intel-temperature-guide.1488337/

CT 😎

 

[Karadjgne]

OC gains are not predictable, nor are they sometimes warranted. At 4.6GHz my i7-3770K gets 300fps in CSGO. At 4.9GHz it's closer to 350fps. I have 60Hz monitors. Even with 144Hz monitors, it's so far above refresh it's now a moot point. There's also many games, especially open world type or games like Civ that really don't rely heavily on clock speeds as much as cores, so the difference between 4.6 and 5.0 is negligible, anything over @3.2 being roughly equitable.

As to cooler choice, that's up to you, both are decent. However, the H7, even as good as it is, is still a 145w budget cooler and has finite limits. At 250w+, the NH-D15S is far superior in ability. The H7 is good for minimal/mild OC, or just locking the cores at turbo. Don't expect much more or you'll need earplugs. By comparison, the NH-D15S is capable of anything you can do to that cpu, and then some.