Overclock vs Turbo boost?

shohag2018

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Apr 27, 2009
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how does intel's trubo boost work really? for example, i7 6700 has a base clock of 3.4 GHz,and a boost of 4.0GHz.
Does it mean when at stress (e.g- gaming load) that i7 is guaranteed to work at 4.0ghz? or does it mean, that the cpu can reach 4.0ghz only when, there are a few free cores with little/no workload.

if the later is true, then it makes sense to Overclock one's cpu within the limit of T boost, otherwise it doesnt. On the other hand, Overclocks will only be effective when done beyond the intel's T boost range,if the former is true.
This is important for me, coz im confused between buying an i7 6700 and i5 6600k. Its 2016, ill not buy a cpu thats clocked inder 3.6ghz.A guranteed 4ghz is however a lot more acceptable!
TIA for ur input on this.
 
Solution
Turbo will boost the clock rate of a couple of cores if the rest of the processor is not stressed.
For the chips you are considering for gaming, I think the i5-6600K with an overclock would serve you best.
Few games are going to use more than 2-3 cores so the hyperthreads of the i7-6700K will not get much use.
If you are averse to overclocking, the i7-6700K stock clock is higher at 4.0, with a turbo of 4.2. Not bad at all for virtually any game.

You can oc either to about the same limits.

s of 2/16/16
What percent can get an overclock at a somewhat sane 1.40v Vcore.
I5-6600K

4.8 38%
4.7 70%
4.6 83%

I7-6700K
4.8 18%
4.7 56%
4.6 87%
4.5 100%

14nm skylake does not need exotic cooling for overclocking.
It is the quality of your...
Turbo Boost (or AMD Turbo Core) is invoked on demand, but only within thermal specs programmed into the CPU. That is, sensors monitoring power draw and temps feed into the chip, which determines how long it will sustain the turbo speed. So Turbo modes are explicitly meant only to be used in short bursts ("race to sleep" as they say).
 
Turbo Boost only boosts up some (1 or 2) of the total cores (4) up to that max speed and as mentioned only for "short bursts". What you are describing (the processor running at 4 ghz under heavy load) is not how it works at all.

As for your assertion about Ghz, its a meaningless number for comparison. An i7 6700 at lower Ghz will outrun a i5 6600k any day of the week, even with a lower speed. If Ghz was everything we would all buy AMD 9590's which run at almost 5 Ghz, never mind the fact the i7 at 3.4 can spank it.

Gaming Wise, the i5 would be fine for you, you don't Need the i7 for gaming, but your hard and fast rule about Ghz is narrow minded and won't help you make the correct decision.
 
Turbo will boost the clock rate of a couple of cores if the rest of the processor is not stressed.
For the chips you are considering for gaming, I think the i5-6600K with an overclock would serve you best.
Few games are going to use more than 2-3 cores so the hyperthreads of the i7-6700K will not get much use.
If you are averse to overclocking, the i7-6700K stock clock is higher at 4.0, with a turbo of 4.2. Not bad at all for virtually any game.

You can oc either to about the same limits.

s of 2/16/16
What percent can get an overclock at a somewhat sane 1.40v Vcore.
I5-6600K

4.8 38%
4.7 70%
4.6 83%

I7-6700K
4.8 18%
4.7 56%
4.6 87%
4.5 100%

14nm skylake does not need exotic cooling for overclocking.
It is the quality of your chip and the vcore that limits, not the temperature.


 
Solution


You misunderstood my statement. I didnt mean to compare cpus on the basis of GHz across generations. However, surely 6600k oced vs 6700 stock for gaming is a legit question, as they are of same gen architecture.

 

I was actually referring to 6600k and the non-K 6700. but i got what i needed to know from ur answer anyways. thanks a lot.
 


Its 2016, ill not buy a cpu thats clocked inder 3.6ghz.A guranteed 4ghz is however a lot more acceptable!

I used the AMD as an example. But I was talking about the same generation chips. Clock speed is not as important as you think it is, in comparison to an i5 vs an i7.