Is overclocking worth it? Diffcult for a beginner?

[papasnowman]

Was thinking about Overclocking when i manage to build a new gaming set up. New to the process though and not quite getting the CPU overclocking. I've watched a few videos but is it worth it?

 

[n0ns3ns3]

Overclocking is fun.
The main purpose of overclocking is getting the maximum out of your hardware and pushing the limits.
Pay attention that you need high-end CPU, MB, decent cooling (case, fans, cpu cooler), a good PSU (not just decent). When overclocked, your HW using much more power. It's not a big money per month, but for the 4-5 years it's considerable amount.
So in the end, you might get cheaper with upgrading mainstream HW every now and then when you reach the limits of performance.
A practical overclock, one that is safe to use everyday, is about 20% on the CPU and 20-30% on the GPU.
For an intel CPU it's equal to 4-5 generations which is 4-5 years.
For the GPU, it's kinda 1 gen (1-2 years).
So it's up to you to decide if it's worth it. It is rewarding
As for the ease, once you understand the basics, it's not hard. especially for the practical overclock.
The LN2 with custom power boards is more complicated.

 

[papasnowman]

I was considering getting a Intel i7 6850k. I'm just curious to how overclocking my CPU will effect the way the overall build runs games.

 

[n0ns3ns3]

Are you going to stream ?
If not, get i7-6700K or even i5-6600k.
Those 6 cores CPUs have much lower clock than 4 core i7 and i5. I'm not aware of any game that will perform better on i7 6850k than those 4 cores. Even i5 will beat it
Also, overclocking 4 cores going much further

 

[papasnowman]

Seeing that that's not the first I've heard of that I'm starting to think that's the route ill end up going. Thank you

 

[n0ns3ns3]

You are welcome.
The spared money could be invested in something fun like liquid cooling (not to mention better GPU)

 

[Karadjgne]

OC on a high end intel cpu is almost pointless. With current coding on apps and game engine design, there's very little actual gain and most of that is unused as its far beyond the ability of either the monitor to show or other hardware to keep up with. My i7 3770k hasn't seen anything that'll push it beyond 55% load other than torture tests, yet I've pushed an oc gtx970 to its limits in oc and usage. Might be a different story at 4k with sli 980ti's, but at 1080p, nada.

That said, we are human beings. We drive as fast as we dare, we've climed Everest because it was there, jumped out of perfectly good airplanes with a backpack full of silk, bridges with rubber bands around our ankles etc etc etc. Not many can resist oc when it's available.

So it it worth it? Absolutely. For no other reason than its your own personal Mt Everest sitting on your desk, begging to be conquered, or your own personal Ferrari and you're driving on the Autobahn. Open her up, let's see just what she'll do.

 

[papasnowman]

That was beautiful.

 

[Karadjgne]

I've taken my i7 3770k to 4.9GHz at 1.32v. I just haven't had the time to see if it'll go further. It should, it's got voltage to spare and the batch has more than a few recorded at 5.0 and 5.1GHz at less than 1.4v. Feel like I'm at the very last base camp looking up at a short climb to the summit lol.

 

[papasnowman]

Yeah I here that it comes down to the luck basically for how far it can go. I would love to hit at least 4.6-4.8.