CPU Overclocking with a AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor

[Isaac003]

Hi, I am planning to built my first pc on a budget, the CPU I am going to use is a AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor I am pairing this with a Zotac GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card.
Firstly, would overclocking the CPU benefit me in any way, in terms of performance in games, when paired with the GPU (mentioned above).
Secondly, do any of you have any tips on overclocking, I have never tried even building a PC before, nevermind overclocking, so any tips for a beginner would be greatly appreciated.
Thirdly, would the stock cooler supplied with the CPU be enough for overclocking, if not, what cooler can be recommended for a budget build?
Thanks in advance!

 

[clutchc]

Yes, the 860K will benefit nicely from an OC no matter what card you use. I had mine up to 4.2 GHz with just the multiplier and a small boost to the vcore. But the GTX 750 Ti isn't quite enough card to use the full potential of the 860K. I had it pretty well maxed out using a GTX 960.

Start your OC'ing by entering BIOS and disabling Turbo mode. Then take the multi up one click. Save and boot to Win. Run a stress test like IBT: http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/intelburntest.html
...at the default settings. If temps are good and the result is stable, repeat. Eventually, you will either hit a temp limit or an unstable result. If the latter, go back to BIOS and increase the vcore ~0.05V or whatever the smallest increment your BIOS allows. Save and try IBT again. You may have to increase the vcore more to finally get a stable result. But I don't like to go past 1.5V total vcore.

You almost have to have a better cooler to do any serious OC'ing. The stock cooler won't do the job. If you have room in your case, the 212 EVO is a 'go-to' cooler for most builds w/o breaking the bank. If you don't feel like removing the AMD retention brackets and just want something quick to snap on in place of the stock cooler, look at the Cooler Master TX3. I had the Corsair H60 on mine.

 

[odditey]

I'm running mine at 4.6 ghz 1.46-1.5 on vcore oc by increasing multiplier small amounts at a time when system becomes unstable reboot raise voltage by smallest amount until it clears up keep an eye on temps under load also coolermaster hyper 212 is great cheap cooler for OC

 

[Outlander_04]

Easy software overclocking is available just using AMD's Catalyst Control center/ Feature manager .

And even more control is available using AMD Overdrive .

The software makes BIOS changes from within Windows and saves you a bucket load of reboots to access BIOS

 

[odditey]

depending on mobo sometimes overdrive is required cause bios settings go out the window once os loads

 

[Isaac003]

Thanks everyone for your answers, they're all great, they all offer great tips, thank-you all!