How necessary is overclocking?

[ShinRa]

So I just bought all the parts for a new rig and I noticed every review talks about how great the hardware is, but then they say "i can get this baby to XXXXmhz @ XXX voltage, etc." I bought the parts I did because I don't know anything about overclocking, and don't want to know anything about overclocking. So my question is, is it necessary for me to overclock the rig i just bought? Here's the main specs:

i7 2700k 3.5ghz
ATI 7970 3GB GPU
8 GB DDR3 1600 RAM
ASUS Maxiumus IV mobo with PCI 3.0 support (since the GPU is PCI 3.0)

No this isn't a troll thread. I really have no goddamn clue about OC'ing and I find it scary and dangerous. Just a simple yes or no will do. Thanks loves <3

P.S - oh, i mean do i have to OC in order to play todays games on max. Probably shouldve included that in the beginning....:dozey:

 

[Viperidae]

It is not at all necessary.

 

[ShinRa]

It is not at all necessary.

Thank you!!

/endthread

 

[kazsymonds]

It's not necessary, in the same way that it's not necessary to have a car that can accellerate at a certain rate, or reach a high top speed.

Here's some reasons I can think of;
Personal gratification - getting the most 'bang' out of their investment
Because their hardware isn't quite up to the job any more, and they can't afford / don't want to buy a new rig
Internet willy waving
CPU performance is really important - for those that encode a lot of video, or are part of a folding team

I overclocked my rig, but only because it was easy and low risk, and I wanted to see what it could do.

 

[Quixoticism]

Your specs are yummy. There is no need to overclock a rig like that.

 

[Vegeta897]

Overclocking is like plastic surgery. When your computer is new and young it doesn't need it, but when it gets older you gotta keep dat youth or buy a new [strike]wife[/strike] computer.

 

[ShinRa]

This is why I love this forum and will never ever ever ever leave.

LOVE YOU GUYS:cheese:

 

[Bakurei]

You have almost the same setup as I do! /highfive

And no need to be afraid of overclocking. With this setup, it's piss easy. You can OC the GPU as high as the Catalyst allows, temps won't rise at all, the fan will just spin like 20% faster. And with the Asus mobos you can use that auto-OC feature, it will automatically OC the CPU (though not as good as doing it manually).

But as others have stated, with this rig there really is no need. Mostly you just do it to check how lucky you got with the CPU, meaning how high it will go.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Sort of what Veg said, you don't need to OC. If you feel it will make enough of a difference in performance in the first place, you probably need new parts altogether.
It's more of a cult phenomenon really.

 

[Krynn72]

To further go off what Vegeta said, just overclock it when its getting time to upgrade anyways. Overclocking obviously puts more strain on the component, so if you overclock your shit with higher voltage and all that bullshit right when you buy it, you could be shaving off months, if not years off your CPU/GPU's lifetime, and you're doing it for minimal practical gains. When games/apps start chugging in a couple years, and you're gearing up to replace the hardware anyways, shit yeah overclock. Milk it for all its worth and run it to the ground.

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

Not worth the effort, IMO.

 

[Higlac]

IMHO, I overclocked because it's stupid easy with the K series of CPUs. My mobo had a drop down list of pre set overclocking settings, and with some proprietary Intel voodoo it doesn't actually clock up that high until I actually need it. Most of the time it runs at 1.6 GHz rather than the 4.6 it's capable of.

 

[Bakurei]

ASUS Maxiumus IV mobo with PCI 3.0 support (since the GPU is PCI 3.0)

Actually you don't need PCI-E 3.0, PCI-E standard is backwards compatible, so a 3.0 card works all the way back to 1.0. Performance gains from 2.0 -> 3.0 are marginal.

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

Where's our resident partsmaster Asus gone? Still need 'im to weigh in on this thread.

 

[Quixoticism]

I haven't seen Asus post in forever. I'm not sure if he is even around anymore.

 

[ShinRa]

I miss Asus. He helped me build a handful of rigs over the years, always so informative and polite. I hope he's not gone forever.

 

[Dr.Demento]

Overclocking is like plastic surgery. When your computer is new and young it doesn't need it, but when it gets older you gotta keep dat youth or buy a new [strike]wife[/strike] computer.

^This

Ha ha, I like that! I never overclock though, too risky. The marginal performance gain isn't worth destroying your PC over. Also, without a high-end heat sink or water cooler, you'll probably only get even poorer performance anyways due to the increased heat.

 

[Bakurei]

You have to be really unlucky to actually break anything. I once overclocked my CPU about as high as I could and didn't have the CPU fan on, the sink was so hot you couldn't even touch it. Still nothing broke.

 

[Higlac]

^This

Ha ha, I like that! I never overclock though, too risky. The marginal performance gain isn't worth destroying your PC over. Also, without a high-end heat sink or water cooler, you'll probably only get even poorer performance anyways due to the increased heat.

Go to newegg. Spend $35 on the Cooler Master Hyper 212. Overclock the K series past 4.5 with ease.

 

[Unfocused]

I've been thinking about getting a little more power from my 2500k, but I'm wondering about the temperatures - what should I be looking at - CPU temperatures or Core temperatures? I can't seem to find a definite answer.

I ran OCCT (a CPU stressing/diagnosing application) for around 15 minutes and at ~100% CPU usage the core temperatures went up to 78-81C, while the CPU temperature stayed around 57C. I've read that around 75C in stress is OK for long-term usage, but I don't know which value is this referring to.

 

[Higlac]

I've been thinking about getting a little more power from my 2500k, but I'm wondering about the temperatures - what should I be looking at - CPU temperatures or Core temperatures? I can't seem to find a definite answer.

I ran OCCT (a CPU stressing/diagnosing application) for around 15 minutes and at ~100% CPU usage the core temperatures went up to 78-81C, while the CPU temperature stayed around 57C. I've read that around 75C in stress is OK for long-term usage, but I don't know which value is this referring to.

I emailed Intel about that:

Spoiler

Hello ****



Thank you for contacting Intel Customer Support.



I understand you are looking for thermal monitoring information on your Intel® Core™ i5 processor I5-

2500K.



The thermal specification (also known as TCase) for your Intel® Core™ i5 processor I5- 2500K is 72.6 °C



The TCase is a number established by Intel® as a point of reference in order to understand what could be expected as per normal processor temperature.



Anything from the Tcase and below will be the expected temperature of the processor in normal use, anything that doesn't stress out the processor (watching movies, burning CDs, browsing the internet, creating documents, etc.) When the processor is stressed out meaning that you are running heavy processor applications that take control of the CPU or uses it at 100% the temperature will go beyond the Tcase. It can perfectly reach 80 to 85 degrees and the processor will still be OK. The cooling fan is in charge to keep that temperature there.



If the processor temperature reaches 100 degrees or more it will send a signal to the motherboard to shut down to prevent mayor damages and most likely it won't be possible to turn the computer back in until it cools down.



The normal processor temperature will depend on the chassis type, the hardware involved and the location of the computer, and it usually is lower than the Tcase.



We recommend the Intel® Desktop Utilities Software in order to monitor the processor temperatures; however, the support is limited to Intel® Desktop Boards only. Therefore, we recommend you contacting your motherboard manufacturer in order to consult if they have validated any monitoring software on their motherboards.



Since Intel® does not validate third party software information, we would only rely on the BIOS temperatures.



In regards to the cooling solution being used, we do not recommend using third party cooling solutions with our processors. All Intel(R) Processors have their specifically designed cooling systems, therefore the use of third party components instead of the Intel(R) fan, heat sink and thermal interface material would be considered as an attempt of running the processor outside its own specifications, resulting in the termination of the processor's limited warranty.



More warranty information can be found at: http://download.intel.com/support/processors/sb/english_3yr_warranty.pdf



Important note: Should you need further assistance from us regarding your inquiry, we would highly appreciate if you could simply reply to this email of ours, instead of sending a brand new email, unless it is a different issue/inquiry. Thus, we will be avoiding duplicate incoming emails, and we will not lose track of the email thread.



Sincerely,



Karla A.

Intel Technical Support

Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

A representative of Intel may subsequently contact you by email in order to obtain your feedback on the quality ofthe support you received. If you do not wish to participate, simply delete the survey email.


Original Text
From: ******@gmail.com
To: [email protected]
CC:
Sent: 09/11/11 02:09:02
Subject: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 Processor Email Support Request

Hello,

I just have a few questions regarding CPU temperatures and system monitoring utilities.

First, what is the maximum recommended operating temperature for the i5 - 2500K?

Second, what system monitoring utility would Intel recommend?

Third, which set of temperatures are more accurate in this screenshot? CoreTemp is shown in the tray, Speedfan in the window.

http://i.imgur.com/5kjN2.png

This is my first time building a PC, as well as my first time experimenting with overclocking. I am using an aftermarket CPU cooler as well as a heavily ventilated case. I want to make sure that I am being as safe as possible while doing this.

Thank you,

*******

tl;dr: 72.6C is normal operating temperature when not under stress, 80-85C is normal for high cpu load.

Also, use Coretemp to monitor temperatures, it gives more consistent readings. And as for stress testing, I use Prime95.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Basically, heat shortens the lifespan of your pc parts. Get it to be as low as possible. I have my 2500 set to slow down the processing speed if it goes above 69, to keep the temp from rising further.

 

[Unfocused]

Yep, I'll need to reapply the thermal paste if I'm going to be doing any overclocking. While the OCCT test gets the core temps to ~80C in a few minutes on stock speeds and stays there, as soon as I chose a 4.0Ghz preset in my BIOS and ran the test, the temps got up to 87C in a matter of seconds and the test aborted itself.

I blame the shit packaging the thermal grease came in with the Zalman cooler - in a small packet instead of a tube - I got half of this stuff on my fingers while opening it. Now when I get some Arctic Silver and apply it using their instructions (form a line and let the heatsink spread it, instead of spreading it myself), it should be much easier.