Newbie Wants to Overclock

[Meehael]

Hi everyone,

I've got an i7-3770 CPU at stock speed of 3.4 GHz with factory fan(http://ark.intel.com/products/65719/), Asus P8H61 Pro MOBO (https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P8H61_PRO/) and Corsair CX500 PSU (http://www.corsair.com/en/power-sup...00-80-plus-bronze-certified-power-supply.html). I was thinking of overclocking the 3770 to see how does it perform in some games. I never overclocked anything, so can you give me some basic pointers, please?

Do I need a better CPU fan? Which one do you recommend?
What would be max stable speed? 4.5GHz?
Where do I overclock the CPU, in BIOS?
Would my PSU even be enough?
Does my MOBO support overclocking?

The rest of my components are in my signature.

Thank you for your help!

PS. I tried to use eXtreme Power Supply Calculator (http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine) to see if my PSU will be enough. There is an option to overclock CPU and calculate the wattage, but I didn't know what value to put in "Overclocked Vcore (V)" field.

 

[dma0991]

Forget about overclocking. Your current CPU and motherboard has no overclocking features. For that, you'll need Core i7 3770K and at least a mid range Z77 motherboard.

 

[Meehael]

Forget about overclocking. Your current CPU and motherboard has no overclocking features. For that, you'll need Core i7 3770K and at least a mid range Z77 motherboard.

Oh

If I manage to replace the 3770 with a 3570K or 3770K CPU, what would then be the answer to my questions?

 

[DigDog]

AND a Z series mobo. B and H have no overclocking features at all.

also, please dont duplicate threads.

 

[Meehael]

The two forum threads initially started as two separate threads, but somehow they converged naturally to the same topic

Due to your input, I've decided not to overclock and to keep my 3770 (at stock speed). Otherwise, I'd have to buy a new cpu, mobo & cooler.

Thanks

 

[Morbus]

Don't feel disappointed. Unless you're willing to spend more than a few bucks, performance improvements will be negligible. and even if you manage to get more than 10% out of your CPU, you still won't notice a damn thing if you don't usually max out your CPU usage for prolonged times...

Overclocking is nice though, but it's mostly for the fun of it. I'd wager there are other ways to spend your money where you'll have more fun, though.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

The two forum threads initially started as two separate threads, but somehow they converged naturally to the same topic

Due to your input, I've decided not to overclock and to keep my 3770 (at stock speed). Otherwise, I'd have to buy a new cpu, mobo & cooler.

Thanks

Well, keep dropping by the forums, Meehael.

It was interesting -- in the old days more or less the Northwood P4 era -- Intel motherboards didn't provide enough BIOS features to do any overclocking well. The other board makers -- ASUS, evga, MSI, Gigabyte -- made sure to provide those BIOS features. And you could overclock a locked processor.

Now, the low-end processors are locked and can't be overclocked, and you have to have motherboards using chipsets that allow for overclocking.

Just offhand, I'd think that the parts-bill budget would need an extra $300 if you had planned to overclock from the beginning. You'd probably want to spend $200 on a motherboard, and the CPU would probably cost you an additional $100. You might spend $50 more on a better CPU cooler. I can't imagine too much of an extra margin for RAM.

 

[Meehael]

Don't feel disappointed. Unless you're willing to spend more than a few bucks, performance improvements will be negligible. and even if you manage to get more than 10% out of your CPU, you still won't notice a damn thing if you don't usually max out your CPU usage for prolonged times...

Overclocking is nice though, but it's mostly for the fun of it. I'd wager there are other ways to spend your money where you'll have more fun, though.

Yes, I'll stick to the 3770, and don't try to get into OC business yet. I'll rather save some bucks and get a GTX 770 or 780, than buy a new cpu, cooler, mobo, psu and whatnot so that I can overclock.

Thx

 

[Meehael]

Well, keep dropping by the forums, Meehael.

It was interesting -- in the old days more or less the Northwood P4 era -- Intel motherboards didn't provide enough BIOS features to do any overclocking well. The other board makers -- ASUS, evga, MSI, Gigabyte -- made sure to provide those BIOS features. And you could overclock a locked processor.

Now, the low-end processors are locked and can't be overclocked, and you have to have motherboards using chipsets that allow for overclocking.

Just offhand, I'd think that the parts-bill budget would need an extra $300 if you had planned to overclock from the beginning. You'd probably want to spend $200 on a motherboard, and the CPU would probably cost you an additional $100. You might spend $50 more on a better CPU cooler. I can't imagine too much of an extra margin for RAM.

Yeah, I should probably spend those $300 for a better GPU, and get into OC-ing later on.

Thank you

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Yeah, I should probably spend those $300 for a better GPU, and get into OC-ing later on.

Thank you

Sure -- there are many options available to you. It really depends on personal preference and choice. For instance, I am now convinced that building PCs and overclocking them is a personal addiction of mine.

At one point in time back in the '90s, I felt capable of building a new machine every year, but the average worked out to every three years. Now, my budget -- income and expenses -- make it seem excessive to build a machine every year, but the temptation is to do it every two years.

If you're as obsessive as I am, figure out a way to anticipate parts you'll need for two-years into the future; cut back on "dining out;" build yourself a "fund" in the bank-account and proceed accordingly . . .

 

[Morbus]

Yes, I'll stick to the 3770, and don't try to get into OC business yet. I'll rather save some bucks and get a GTX 770 or 780, than buy a new cpu, cooler, mobo, psu and whatnot so that I can overclock.

Thx

Good choice, in my opinion.

When next you buy a CPU and motherboard though, spend a few more bucks and get something that'll allow you to overclock if you want. My a K-series CPU is usually just a few bucks more expensive, and a Z-series motherboard is a big enough performance improvement that it'll justify the few bucks it costs more than the alternatives too.

cut back on "dining out;"

That may be hard to do if one has no friends. Dining out all alone is kind of pointless...

Just saying... xD

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Good choice, in my opinion.

When next you buy a CPU and motherboard though, spend a few more bucks and get something that'll allow you to overclock if you want. My a K-series CPU is usually just a few bucks more expensive, and a Z-series motherboard is a big enough performance improvement that it'll justify the few bucks it costs more than the alternatives too.


That may be hard to do if one has no friends. Dining out all alone is kind of pointless...

Just saying... xD

I have friends! All things in balance . . . we do a round-robin on monthly lunch for picking up the tab . . .

 

[tweakboy]

You have a free OC to 4Ghz with that chip. Which means you dont have to touch the CPU voltage. gl