Benefit of overclocking?

[Joey Martin]

Hello,
So my system has an i5 4670k and a gtx 780.
I have done some research into overclocking but am still not certain on what the benefit is.
My best guess at it is through skyrim. When i installed a foliage mod that added a lot more waving grass my fps plummeted. I assume this is due to my cpu's lack of power? Does a cpu's effect on gaming basically process all the little things on screen? If not what does it do?

Also, if i was to overclock my cpu, am i correct in that the "sweet spot" overclock for the 4670k is 4.6GHZ?

Thanks!!!

 

[leo2kp]

Video card is what processes the video, but the CPU can process things like AI and some physics. Overclocking can increase framerates. You may or may not hit 4.6ghz safely. Make sure your cooling is sufficient and sometimes increasing voltage is required. Every chip, even the same model, overclocks differently.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Not all 4670s will do 4.6 Ghz and whether they can or not will depend upon how good a cooling solution you have.

Overclocking makes the CPU faster, what effect it has is dependent upon the game / application.

 

[lunyone]

Well there are a lot of reasons your FPS can drop, but mainly it is because of the GPU power that you have available. The CPU does come into play, but why gaming most of the horsepower is driven by your GPU.

Usually the benefit to OC'ing your CPU is mainly for a bit more performance in CPU related tasks, sometimes including gaming.

I don't know the sweet spot for an 4670k OC, but it all depends on your Motherboard, PSU, and other parts used that determines your best OC. Usually the CPU lottery is going to be the most restricting trait for your OC (meaning how well the CPU is handling the OC on the chip level in the CPU).

I also forgot to mention that your monitor resolution will also affect your FPS in any given game. If your trying to game at 4k with low settings, your going to have a different experience if your running that same game at 1080p with Ultra settings (assuming your using the same hardware for both tests). Your system (mainly the GPU) has to draw out your picture for you on the monitor as fast as it can. If your trying to draw out to a 4k screen (4x 1080p pixels) than obviously your going to be about 1/4 the speed of a 1080p resolution with the same settings. Hopefully I made some sense there