worth the cooling upgrade?

[kn1012]

i have a athlon-ii 760K (3.8 gGhz; 4.2 Ghz turbo). i will be upgrading my video card to a R9-380X. from what i've read online (i've never overclocked before), some have gotten their 760K up to 4.5 Ghz. i'm guessing those, who managed to really push it, invested in a water cooler. would investing the 125 bucks for a 700/900-turbo Mhz increase, vs a probably 400 Mhz increase overclocking with a better fan, be worth it, as far as the gains I'd see gaming? Or would the 300 Mhz difference with my setup be so minimal that I'd be better off simply buying the better-than-stock fan and some decent thermal gel?

by the way I have a 550watt antec PSU.

 

[djreedj]

I dont believe the difference will be too noticeable. It depends how bad you want to overclock, i can overclock my i7-4790k a bit if i wanted to with the hyper evo 212 air cooler. if you have the extra cash the water cooler would be nice thing to have in case you ever did want to overclock to the max.

 

[kn1012]

i just don't want to too severely bottleneck the new card. it's a mid-level card with a now low-end (i think) or dated CPU.

I don't really have the cash, i'd love an i5 quad, but it's an extra ~240+ with board. was hoping to squeeze by with just a good overclock. i guess if i am less than impressed w gaming improvements using the new card and a 300Mhz overclock, i'll just have to save up and invest in a decent i5 down the line. i7 is beyond me, though i'd love to throw 300 bucks into a CPU. i've never owned an intel (or since pentium 4... 😛)

 

[djreedj]

the video card should make a huge difference. I do not believe you will be bottlenecking with that cpu. Maybe even invest in a 390x if you have the extra money but yea the 380x should be enough to make you happy.

 

[Geekwad]

From the price to performance perspective, the investment in a water cooler never really makes sense. $30ish for an aftermarket air cooler will get most out of what overclocking has to offer on that chip, and most chips really, whereas water cooling is more about aesthetics (closed, open, custom or otherwise).

If you're are able to consider $125 for water cooling, I'd instead point you to a more powerful CPU/motherboard combo for a bit more money, where you'd get a lot more performance.

 

[kn1012]

From the price to performance perspective, the investment in a water cooler never really makes sense. $30ish for an aftermarket air cooler will get most out of what overclocking has to offer on that chip, and most chips really, whereas water cooling is more about aesthetics (closed, open, custom or otherwise).

If you're are able to consider $125 for water cooling, I'd instead point you to a more powerful CPU/motherboard combo for a bit more money, where you'd get a lot more performance.

good point. i mean i probably could swing the cost, but it really hurts lol. i'll sleep easier knowing i kept my upgrade below 300, vs the 450+ - 100 tops i'd get selling the old card and cpu. add to that i'm operating off two 100gb SSDs. so the CPU/board combo really would leave even less room for a decent mechanical HDD.

 

[geofelt]

The $125 you spent on water cooling will buy you a superior i3-6100 processor in the first place.
Yes, you would need a motherboard and ram to go with it. $100 would buy those.
But, you would have a pc that can be upgraded to i5/57/kaby lake.

 

[kn1012]

The $125 you spent on water cooling will buy you a superior i3-6100 processor in the first place.
Yes, you would need a motherboard and ram to go with it. $100 would buy those.
But, you would have a pc that can be upgraded to i5/57/kaby lake.

great suggestion.

stinks that new memory required. i compared the i3-6100 to a FX-6350 on CPUboss, and the intel got more positive feedback. would an i3 really yield better frame-rates than a 6-core? and is that because games don't utilize 4 and 6 cores really (do they?), or is the i3 really just a superior chip?

also.. would it be worth it , if i did go for the CPU upgrade, to get a i3-4170 over the 6100? they're the same price, the 4170 is only 6 months older and has a higher passmark score (though not entirely sure what that means). also.. it uses the 1150 socket, so i wouldn't have to purchase new memory. there are i5 and i7 CPUs that use the 1170, but they're older, the more expensive models (I'd have to upgrade to a pricey i5 or i7 using the 1150 socket, vs a lower end model).

thanks for reading!

 

[geofelt]

If your ddr3 ram is 1.5v it will work with some lga1151 motherboards.
Here is one example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132647
DDR3 is mostly supported on entry level motherboards.
If you want to provide for an upgrade to a "K" overclockable processor, use a Z170 based motherboard.
This asrock model has sky-OC which would allow you to overclock the i3-6100. Beware, Intel does not like that and may well shut off that option.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157681
My reading shows i3-6100 passmark = 5507 total, 2104 single thread.
The i3-4170 is 5166 total, 2137 single.
I doubt you would notice any difference.

True, most games can make use of only 2-3 threads. The i3 chips have 4(2 fast, 2 slower)

 

[kn1012]

If your ddr3 ram is 1.5v it will work with some lga1151 motherboards.
Here is one example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132647
DDR3 is mostly supported on entry level motherboards.
If you want to provide for an upgrade to a "K" overclockable processor, use a Z170 based motherboard.
This asrock model has sky-OC which would allow you to overclock the i3-6100. Beware, Intel does not like that and may well shut off that option.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157681
My reading shows i3-6100 passmark = 5507 total, 2104 single thread.
The i3-4170 is 5166 total, 2137 single.
I doubt you would notice any difference.

True, most games can make use of only 2-3 threads. The i3 chips have 4(2 fast, 2 slower)

that's great. thanks for the feedback.

what is your opinion on the upcoming Zen processors? would it worth it make sense to wait until october, or do you think Zen still wouldn't place AMD on the same performance level as an i-5? of course, though, i have no idea what the pricing for the upcoming chips will be.