What are the real benefits of Overclocking

[billin30]

I have had my Q6600 @ 3.0 GHz and set to stock and not really noticed anything. I have overclocked my graphics cards and not really noticed much. I've been playin a lot of COD4 lately and with my SLI setup, the frames just sit at 90 for the most part. They sit at 90 regardless of OC or not. My web browsing and other random small apps use has not seen any noticeable difference either.

So i guess the question is where am I going to see any benefits of overclocking? I mostly just play video games, COD4, Bioshock among other FPS and RTS titles. I like to play the most up to date games. It just seems like my computer plays games to the max with stock settings, which is excellent. I am just wondering if down the road, I would see a benefit of a nice overclock on some more advanced games?

I only removed my OC on my CPU due to some heating issues, but those are fixed now. Right now I am seeing now difference in my computer experience, so just wondering if I should even do any overclocking.

 

[cliffro]

Well if your not noticing any improvements in games....then don't do it.

However down the road a ways when you feel its getting slower in newer games.....OC the heck out of it.

I had my E3110 up to 3.6(for 3DMark) but ran it at 3.2 everyday, then decided to just run it stock till I feel i need the boost, my 8800GTS is OC from the factory and I did bump it up a bit to 715/1000 (678/972 Default) and still enjoy low temps and better performance. The core goes way higher and is still stable but again I'll save it till i need it.

 

[blackwidow_rsa]

Well its only worth while when you get something out.
Modern games arn't normally cpu bound but gpu bound. You'll get more benefits if you use photoshop, encode alot and such things.

 

[clownbaby]

In games you really won't notice much as you're processor is pretty fast standard, and you're running an SLI rig. In fact, you wouldn't notice a difference between 25 and 90 FPS if you didn't have a counter. You only notice when a game drops below ~24fps at any point. With your setup, you can probably run any game at max settings at 16x12 just fine.

The difference will be in those games where they're on the edge of performing well. If you have a game that runs below 30fps on standard settings, and you can bump it 15%, it may be enough to never notice any lag.

Web browsing, and other small random apps don't tax your processor at all, and depend more on your hard drive. If you use photoshop, or do any imaging for that matter, video encoding, or graphics work, the difference will be huge. A %50 overclock on the Q6600, yields nearly as much performance gain in multi-threaded apps. I run a Q6600 @3.6ghz and being able to encode 2hrs of NTSC video in 15min or so, is pretty impressive, and a huge improvement over stock speeds.

 

[grieve]

If your Q6600 owns the games stock your not going to notice an OC...

try running crysis stock/OC

 

[hairycat101]

My CAD routines really show a lot of difference with a very very very mild OC. Yes... I actually OC my workstation. =) My q6600 is running 2.7 vs 2.4. doesn't sount like much, but some of my very long routines on some files take over 10 min to run. On those, I often see a reduction by ~ 2 minuts. That adds up.

 

[sportsfanboy]

In some games you will notice a difference, in video encoding/transcoding is a large gain.

Overclocking can also extend the usefull life of a computer, by helping outdated parts run faster, in order to keep up with modern games/apps.

 

[aznguy0028]

well, COD4 isn't that hard to run given the specs of your machine. i don't think you need SLI to get 60+ out of that game.

i have a 3870x2 and i see noticeable differences in FPS using Fraps, from stock to my current 3.2OC, i see roughly a 7-10 FPS increase in games that i play.

try playing more demanding games and maybe you'll see a difference. one of the games i noticed a difference in is Team Fortress 2. When i had my cpu at 2.66, it would get a bit laggy when there's like 20-25 people on the screen at once, but with the OC, the lag is considerable less.

 

[cliffro]

Damnit Aznguy, that's not lag....that's low fps. Lag is seeing friendlies and enemies warping and rubber banding around the map....etc.

Also when you get slight pauses while playing some people call it stuttering, others call it hitching.

Get the terminology right please.

I lag a lot due to my wireless connection(I share A Cable Internet connection with my neighbor and split the bill). I get big lag spikes in all my games, In FFOW(<---avatar) I'll be flying straight one moment, and the next i'm in a nosedive or flying in a completely different direction. That is lag.

 

[royalcrown]

so quit being a dork and go wired...lol

 

[jaragon13]

Lol,I once considered a split connection with my neighbor,but we live too far away,so we would have to run wireless,and he would get bad lag in his World of Warcraft

I once overclocked my Pentium D 925 to like 3.4/3.6 Ghz and didn't notice alot of useful difference...

 

[royalcrown]

Lol,I once considered a split connection with my neighbor,but we live too far away,so we would have to run wireless,and he would get bad lag in his World of Warcraft

I once overclocked my Pentium D 925 to like 3.4/3.6 Ghz and didn't notice alot of useful difference...

I dunno why wireless is so popular, it sucks for gaming....noobs who own laptops and expect to plat cod4, or company of heroes on it are the ppl who own linksys wireless routers.

If u game wired is the only way to go.

hey, you need to buy your cat 5 by the 1000 ft roll then and dig up some lawn...lol

 

[rockbyter]

if you don't notice a difference when you overclock - your bottleneck is something else.

 

[night_wolf_in]

oc besically for people who utilize 100 of the cpu. did any of the software that u used actually DID utilize 100%? i dont think so. coz i play cod4, and i can tell you it never maxes the cpu.

so applications that utilize 100% will benifit from the oc. as hairycat10 1 said about CAD, or me with CST. OR some people F@H. it does make a difference.

 

[cliffro]

I dunno why wireless is so popular, it sucks for gaming....noobs who own laptops and expect to plat cod4, or company of heroes on it are the ppl who own linksys wireless routers.

If u game wired is the only way to go.

hey, you need to buy your cat 5 by the 1000 ft roll then and dig up some lawn...lol

My house is 15-20 feet from theirs, and conveniently our computer rooms are literally next to each other, I get an "Excellent" signal 95% of the time and Very Good the rest, My problem is obviously latency.

Speed wise I get the full download speed and same up,and I ping ok to most servers. And I don't lag all the time I just get lag spikes intermittently. and for next to nothing price wise I can and do put up with it and still manage a very positive Kill/Death Ratio.

A friend has suggested using the "Windsurfer" antenna on my Wireless NIC(or the router) as it supposedly gives a 9db boost and since I know where the router is I am connecting to, it works out well with the Directional nature of the windsurfer.

For those interested
http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template2/index.html

From the site
Note: If printed at the download size you will see about 9 dBi of gain. If you double the size of the image before you print it you will see about 12 dBi of gain. If you place two reflectors on an AP with two antennas you will see an additional increase in performance.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

I would not overclock except that I find it gives me a nice boost in Vista smoothness, though absolutely no difference in XP. I will have to keep my E6750 at 3.6 soon which will require a new motherboard more than likely... This is because my future 4870 X2 will be limited by any reasonable FSB levels, I read that you need atleast 450+ for to get the most out of these new cards. The FSB is something I will not miss...

 

[CompuTronix]

Flight Simulatyor X is the exception, as it's the most CPU bound "game" that you can run. Frame rates scale nearly 1:1 with processor clock speed. Since this simulation is so CPU intensive, a high overclock is vital for the best frame rates. High GPU horsepower, including SLI, has a nearly negligible effect on Flight Simulator X frame rates.

 

[Daniel Vekslender]

I squeezed the last MHz that I can get on my Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 (from 2.66GHz to 3.592GHz), and I get about 3-4 more FPS, somewhat more responsiveness, quite a bit more video encoding performance, and slightly better overall performance.

The temperatures are no higher than 60C, and I got a super crappy CPU fan