What is overclocking and is it worth it?

[Tweed]

Question says it all. It effects my decision on the motherboard (z97 vs h97 OR z170 vs h170) and CPU core i5 (4690 vs 4690k OR 6600 vs 6600k)

I don't really know what the pro/cons of overclocking is and don't really know what it is in general. Any help is appreciated.

 

[glamdringfh]

Here is a great article from Tom's that answers your question about the general field of overclocking: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclocking-guide-part-1,1379.html

It's a bit old so some of the images are outdated at this point, but it covers the general topic quite well.

 

[Shazamy]

There's A LOT you can learn about Overclocking, but in general what you're doing is pushing the hardware (CPU, GPU, RAM...) beyond what the manufacturer gives you.
For example, if you buy a CPU that comes clocked at 3.0Ghz, you can push that clock (the 3.0Ghz) to 3.3, 3.5, or whatever you manage to squeeze out of it (different CPU's will overclock very differently).
Why overclock in the first place?
It's kind of like getting a "free" performance boost. You can definitely get more frames per second out of any graphics card by overclocking it. But there are more things to consider. Overclocking (and higher clock speeds in general) mean more heat is being output and getting expensive air/water coolers are a standard affair for any overclocker.

This video is a couple years old, but should give you more than enough info about overclocking, worth a watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CHs5_TdpXE

Hope this helps

 

[TheFluffyDog]

I want to add few other things to that response. It really depends on the programs your planning on running. Some programs let the processor just calculate things a fast as it can. Those benefit from raw compute power, and that is what overclocking effects. Other programs, like almost every game engine, rely heavily on the output of the first calculation to generate the next operation to be performed. This means that they dont always benefit linearly from OC'ing. In fact OC wil only effect the rate at which commands are completed, but not in what order, or which commands are issued. Programs like that benefit heavily from Intel's high IPC (instructions per clock). Multiplayer games are particularly sensitive to IPC, however as game engines change we see more support for utilizing compute power.

You'll notice that when you compare OC performance and stock clock across a range of programs, that certain ones benefit more than others. Try finding out if what you plan to use the computer for will benefit from the effects of OC. If they will, chances are its worth it for you.

ALso if your questions are things like boot time, opening programs, loading screens, those will all be effect by hard drive performance.

 

[TheFluffyDog]

Lol we all answered different parts of the question, without overlapping our answers. TomsHardware FTW