[SOLVED] Recommended OC for my CPU

[Gakkaki]

Hi, I am planning on building a PC and wanted to know how much I can OC my CPU safely. My specs are:

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600

CPU Cooler: Deepcool Gammaxx 400 V2

GPU: GTX 1660 Super

Mobo: MSI MAG x570 Tomahawk

Storage: 1TB HDD, 500GB M.2 NVME SSD

PSU: Corsair RM650 Gold

RAM: Team T-Force Delta RGB (2x8GB 3200Mhz CL16)

Case: Aerocool Airhawk Duo ARGB

Along with this, I am also going to connect Deepcool RGB 200 Pro 5V ARGB strips.

So back to the question, how much OC can I get safely out of my CPU with these specs? I’m hoping to run this system for at least 6-8 years.

 

[MeanMachine41]

Hi, I am planning on building a PC and wanted to know how much I can OC my CPU safely. My specs are:

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600

CPU Cooler: Deepcool Gammaxx 400 V2

GPU: GTX 1660 Super

Mobo: MSI MAG x570 Tomahawk

Storage: 1TB HDD, 500GB M.2 NVME SSD

PSU: Corsair RM650 Gold

RAM: Team T-Force Delta RGB (2x8GB 3200Mhz CL16)

Case: Aerocool Airhawk Duo ARGB

Along with this, I am also going to connect Deepcool RGB 200 Pro 5V ARGB strips.

So back to the question, how much OC can I get safely out of my CPU with these specs? I’m hoping to run this system for at least 6-8 years.

I wouldn't Overclock it at all without sufficient cooling and I know it's not what you want to hear
It would also depend on the sample (Silicon Lottery)

You should be able to achieve 4.2GHz with a good sample however it's best to conduct a stress test at stock to see how the system is coping under load. Try to keep your Core voltage below 1.35V and use your multiplier in Bios to up the frequency in 200MHz steps. Stress testing as you go.

 

[Gakkaki]

I wouldn't Overclock it at all without sufficient cooling and I know it's not what you want to hear
It would also depend on the sample (Silicon Lottery)

You should be able to achieve 4.2GHz with a good sample however it's best to conduct a stress test at stock to see how the system is coping under load. Try to keep your Core voltage below 1.35V and use your multiplier in Bios to up the frequency in 200MHz steps. Stress testing as you go.

You’re right, it makes sense that such a budget system would not have enough cooling to support OC for long periods of time. I will definitely perform some stress tests to see if I can squeeze some OC out of it anyways, would the addition of more fans make a big enough difference? Or should I be looking at AIOs to cool my CPU well enough for OC?

 

[MeanMachine41]

You’re right, it makes sense that such a budget system would not have enough cooling to support OC for long periods of time. I will definitely perform some stress tests to see if I can squeeze some OC out of it anyways, would the addition of more fans make a big enough difference? Or should I be looking at AIOs to cool my CPU well enough for OC?

You can fit a 240mm rad AIO to the top of your case or up to 360mm to the front according to your case specs.
A rear mounted fan will also help with thruput to exhaust hot air.( if not already done so).

If you decide to Overclock your thermal limit should be kept below 80C when under load for Longevity. Consistent overheating will diminish the CPU and there is no return from that.

 

[idkwhattonamethisacc]

Honestly i wouldnt overclock something like that if i cant atleast achieve a 1 ghz increase over baseclock, and if i were aiming for longetivity i would instead consider undervolting since ryzen doesnt really have that much overclocking potential. I would reccomend you lower your voltage to 1v on your ryzen chip since ive heard that most of them can do that and then just keep decreasing voltage till its unstable/doenst post

 

[HappyTrails]

How are your temps now? Would agree there is not a lot of headroom to OC not like days gone by. Have been OC my 3600x since I got it more for fun. In cinebench I make some nice gains OC from single core to all core. In games I see no difference maybe 1-2fps. With OC I was able to reduce voltage and temps went way down. Very happy about that.

Have heard 3600 if gold chip lottery can OC up to 4.6mhz. My cpu is more average. If I enable PBO or increase voltage I probably get maybe 100mhz or so more. Wouldn't see much of a gain in games but would see increase in heat for sure. Happy with where my cpu is at. You may want to look into CTR or possibly PBO. For me PBO didn't make me happy although some say just to set it and forget about it. But I dont think they look into it very far.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Hi, I am planning on building a PC and wanted to know how much I can OC my CPU safely. My specs are:

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600

CPU Cooler: Deepcool Gammaxx 400 V2

GPU: GTX 1660 Super

Mobo: MSI MAG x570 Tomahawk

Storage: 1TB HDD, 500GB M.2 NVME SSD

PSU: Corsair RM650 Gold

RAM: Team T-Force Delta RGB (2x8GB 3200Mhz CL16)

Case: Aerocool Airhawk Duo ARGB

Along with this, I am also going to connect Deepcool RGB 200 Pro 5V ARGB strips.

So back to the question, how much OC can I get safely out of my CPU with these specs? I’m hoping to run this system for at least 6-8 years.

It's important to know what you hope to gain from the overclock. There's precious little performance to be gained, if any, even when done right and frequently winds up hurting performance for lightly threaded work like gaming.

It's also very easy to limit life of the processor if you do it wrong for multi-threaded performance while trying to keep single thread performance from being hurt.

 

[Gakkaki]

How are your temps now? Would agree there is not a lot of headroom to OC not like days gone by. Have been OC my 3600x since I got it more for fun. In cinebench I make some nice gains OC from single core to all core. In games I see no difference maybe 1-2fps. With OC I was able to reduce voltage and temps went way down. Very happy about that.

Have heard 3600 if gold chip lottery can OC up to 4.6mhz. My cpu is more average. If I enable PBO or increase voltage I probably get maybe 100mhz or so more. Wouldn't see much of a gain in games but would see increase in heat for sure. Happy with where my cpu is at. You may want to look into CTR or possibly PBO. For me PBO didn't make me happy although some say just to set it and forget about it. But I dont think they look into it very far.

I haven’t bought all the parts yet to build the PC but from the looks of it, there’s seems to be very little gain from OC while potentially sacrificing longevity, so I will most likely avoid OC. Thanks for sharing your experience, it helped me make my decision!

 

[Gakkaki]

It's important to know what you hope to gain from the overclock. There's precious little performance to be gained, if any, even when done right and frequently winds up hurting performance for lightly threaded work like gaming.

It's also very easy to limit life of the processor if you do it wrong for multi-threaded performance while trying to keep single thread performance from being hurt.

Thanks for the advice, in the end I’ve decided to take the recommendation of avoiding OC as I agree it will not have a significant impact on performance and will risk a shortened lifespan.

 

[HappyTrails]

I haven’t bought all the parts yet to build the PC but from the looks of it, there’s seems to be very little gain from OC while potentially sacrificing longevity, so I will most likely avoid OC. Thanks for sharing your experience, it helped me make my decision!

No worries hope you enjoy your new build. If you coming from older cpu generation maybe you be a bit surprised at heat ryzen puts out I sure was. Then find out its just the way they are. if you run stock it surely last for long time. Even undervolt like me I doubt I gain anything other than less heat in my water cool loop so gpu not get as warm. If you enjoy tinkering its worth looking into especially CTR. There is a DRAM calculator too. Good luck, have fun

 

[Gakkaki]

No worries hope you enjoy your new build. If you coming from older cpu generation maybe you be a bit surprised at heat ryzen puts out I sure was. Then find out its just the way they are. if you run stock it surely last for long time. Even undervolt like me I doubt I gain anything other than less heat in my water cool loop so gpu not get as warm. If you enjoy tinkering its worth looking into especially CTR. There is a DRAM calculator too. Good luck, have fun

Yeah I’ll have to do some research on that stuff, I’m only aiming for 1080p gaming on medium settings anyways so I doubt I’ll need OC for the most part.