REAL value of overclocking?

[dklingen]

Everyone,

I would like to know the "REAL" value of overclocking (particularly when you consider the time, effort, and expense involved). I do understand the "hobby and bragging rights side of it".

What I am looking for is the answer to this question:
*Running 3Mark03 (or Far Cry, HL2, ...) the gain I get from non-overclocked to overclocked is a score gain of x (or y fps in Far Cry or HL2).

I have looked at performace data of the 3200 (2GHz) vs the 3500 (2.2GHz) and I see an average gain of about 7fps in Far Cry and Half Life 2. From a 3200 (2GHz) vs the 3800 (2.4GHz) the gain is 13fps in Far Cry and Half Life 2.

Hope this is of interest to more people then myself.

 

[Gamingphreek]

There is very little time, effort, and expense involved if you know what you are doing.

For instance if you wanted to do some heavy OCing, then obviously it will cost. However if all you want to do is a couple hundred mhz, then simply start bumping it up.

You cant really compare an OCed CPU to a higher speed rating depending on how you OC. Most people like to FSB OC since it yeilds better results than a Multiplier OC.

Some APPS benefit more than others, OCing remains a hobby and a way to get more bang for your buck. Under no circumstances was it ever meant to tide us over or replace future CPU's.

-Kevin

 

[dashiki]

Getting to know what you are doing does take time, effort and if your not careful expense.

ad you can compare the oc's to the higher rated cpu's that the way it works as long as you are still in the same cpu family.

 

[dklingen]

Thanks for the input (so far).

Does anyone have any pre-overclock and post-overclock performance numbers?

 

[DKlein]

Not much on hand, but as far as 3DMark03, I had a little over 12000 with my CPU at 2.54GHz and video card at 412/1.19, and about 11400 with my CPU at 2.41GHz and card at 400/1.1. And that's overclocked from factory 2.1GHz and 375/1.0, so yeah. I think I saw somewhere a 2.54GHz XP competing with the FX-55, or maybe it was 53, still that's about $500 saved at the time, and a 20-25% overclock isn't asking too much. I'd say it was worth it indeed.

 

[Amaroque]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
There is very little time, effort, and expense involved if you know what you are doing.

Exactly.

 

[BigPete]

Overclocking is for big nerds and uber dorks to show off how "l337" their rigs are. Practically speaking, there is no real reason to overclock your CPU to gain an extra 2.3 fps. People do it because its "the cool thing to do". Basically, whoever has the highest overclock is supposed to have the biggest penis?

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: BigPete
Overclocking is for big nerds and uber dorks to show off how "l337" their rigs are. Practically speaking, there is no real reason to overclock your CPU to gain an extra 2.3 fps. People do it because its "the cool thing to do". Basically, whoever has the highest overclock is supposed to have the biggest penis?

BS Any idea what sort of fps gain i get out of running my t-bred 2000+ @2600+ speeds...? Rather than the 'cool' thing 2do, it means i can get by playing the latest games without having 2upgrade my CPU (tho' i'd love 2!), and reduces the bottleneck on my 9800 pro

For the half-way competent o'cing=safe, easy, and free/cheap (unless ur playing with the bigboys of phase change/watercooling!) powerboost, the classic 'something 4nothing'

 

[OnEMoReTrY]

free performance, why not?

 

[Amaroque]

Originally posted by: BigPete
Overclocking is for big nerds and uber dorks to show off how "l337" their rigs are. Practically speaking, there is no real reason to overclock your CPU to gain an extra 2.3 fps. People do it because its "the cool thing to do". Basically, whoever has the highest overclock is supposed to have the biggest penis?

So my 2.2 GHz Winchester that I run @ 2.6 GHz (10*260) is pointless?

Let's see, I paid ~270 for my CPU. It performs about the same as a $900 CPU. That's a $630 in price savings, for the same performance! :roll:

I suppose that does make me cool that I can save that much money, and get the same performance.

 

[Zebo]

I beat an FX-55 in every benchmark for $150... can't beat that IMO.

 

[BigPete]

Originally posted by: Amaroque

Originally posted by: BigPete
Overclocking is for big nerds and uber dorks to show off how "l337" their rigs are. Practically speaking, there is no real reason to overclock your CPU to gain an extra 2.3 fps. People do it because its "the cool thing to do". Basically, whoever has the highest overclock is supposed to have the biggest penis?

So my 2.2 GHz Winchester that I run @ 2.6 GHz (10*260) is pointless?

Let's see, I paid ~270 for my CPU. It performs about the same as a $900 CPU. That's a $630 in price savings, for the same performance! :roll:

I suppose that does make me cool that I can save that much money, and get the same performance.

Cant you just buy the $900 CPU and overclock it to perform at the same level as a $1700 CPU? LMAO, where does it end... I dont understand that logic. Its like if you can overclock a 3000+ to operate at the same level as a 3500+ its some big achievement. It's like some perpetual cycle!

Really, I'm just bustin balls because, quite frankly, I dont see the point of overclocking.

 

[Arcanedeath]

If done right it's free performance.... thats the point of overclocking.

 

[lotus503]

Originally posted by: BigPete

Originally posted by: Amaroque

Originally posted by: BigPete
Overclocking is for big nerds and uber dorks to show off how "l337" their rigs are. Practically speaking, there is no real reason to overclock your CPU to gain an extra 2.3 fps. People do it because its "the cool thing to do". Basically, whoever has the highest overclock is supposed to have the biggest penis?

So my 2.2 GHz Winchester that I run @ 2.6 GHz (10*260) is pointless?

Let's see, I paid ~270 for my CPU. It performs about the same as a $900 CPU. That's a $630 in price savings, for the same performance! :roll:

I suppose that does make me cool that I can save that much money, and get the same performance.

Cant you just buy the $900 CPU and overclock it to perform at the same level as a $1700 CPU? LMAO, where does it end... I dont understand that logic. Its like if you can overclock a 3000+ to operate at the same level as a 3500+ its some big achievement. It's like some perpetual cycle!

Really, I'm just bustin balls because, quite frankly, I dont see the point of overclocking.

"Really, I'm just bustin balls because, quite frankly, I dont see the point of overclocking"

And you never will see the point, you also don't see the point of intakes and exaust, or Nitrous, a decent paint job on a car, Boreing an engine or using higher octane gas.

Overclocking, One example is GIMPS - the more cycles I put out the closer I get to a 10,000,000 digit mersenne prime.

 

[BigPete]

How can you compare overclocking a CPU to a paint job on a car? What I'm getting at is, someone can buy a 3000+ and OC it to 3500+ speeds, right? Great, so now the guy that bought the 3500+ can run it at 4000+ speeds. Awesome, look at the great progress. It just seems to make more sense to me to buy a 3500+ if you want a 3500+. Would you buy a 6-cylinder Mustang if you really wanted an 8-cylinder? I know the answer to this Mr. Mechanic boy... you would buy the 6-cylinder because its cheaper, then you would toss in some nitrous and a new paint job to make it faster. After its all said and done, you have the same performance as the 8-cylinder and eventually it cost you more to get there (time, money, effort, etc).

 

[Zebo]

Just STFU you have no clue to what you speak. All chips are the same meaning a 3500 and 3000 will clock the same.. both to around 2600mhz. The only question is do you pay $150 to get there (3000), $280 to get there (3500) or $900 to start there in FX case.

 

[thunderroller]

does it goes out of warranty avter overclocking

 

[Shenkoa]

Damn Zebo :beer:

How is this???

If you dont care how fast your CPU is then get the !@#$ off this forum.

 

[Greenman]

OCing if like buying a 6 and getting a v8. Takes almost no effort, costs nothing, why wouldn't you do it? It's like buying dollar bills for 50 cents, you just can't loose.

 

[BigPete]

Originally posted by: Zebo
Just STFU you have no clue to what you speak. All chips are the same meaning a 3500 and 3000 will clock the same.. both to around 2600mhz. The only question is do you pay $150 to get there (3000), $280 to get there (3500) or $900 to start there in FX case.

So uh, you are saying that all 3 of those CPUs are the same exact thing except for price? Sounds like someone else needs to STFU.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: BigPete

Originally posted by: Zebo
Just STFU you have no clue to what you speak. All chips are the same meaning a 3500 and 3000 will clock the same.. both to around 2600mhz. The only question is do you pay $150 to get there (3000), $280 to get there (3500) or $900 to start there in FX case.

So uh, you are saying that all 3 of those CPUs are the same exact thing except for price? Sounds like someone else needs to STFU.

I'm saying you're a moron if you don't understand buying the lowest end chip and clocking to at least the highest end is a good value.

 

[BigPete]

No, I understand that perfectly fine. First, I havent call anyone any derogatory names, so I would appreciate it if you leave that crap out of here, it does not belong. Thanks.

Would you argue that buying a high end processor and overclocking to speeds not yet available at stock speeds is also a good value? Isn't it all relative really?

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: BigPete

Originally posted by: Amaroque

Originally posted by: BigPete
Overclocking is for big nerds and uber dorks to show off how "l337" their rigs are. Practically speaking, there is no real reason to overclock your CPU to gain an extra 2.3 fps. People do it because its "the cool thing to do". Basically, whoever has the highest overclock is supposed to have the biggest penis?

So my 2.2 GHz Winchester that I run @ 2.6 GHz (10*260) is pointless?

Let's see, I paid ~270 for my CPU. It performs about the same as a $900 CPU. That's a $630 in price savings, for the same performance! :roll:

I suppose that does make me cool that I can save that much money, and get the same performance.

Cant you just buy the $900 CPU and overclock it to perform at the same level as a $1700 CPU? LMAO, where does it end... I dont understand that logic. Its like if you can overclock a 3000+ to operate at the same level as a 3500+ its some big achievement. It's like some perpetual cycle!

Really, I'm just bustin balls because, quite frankly, I dont see the point of overclocking.

No, because there is no desktop level $1700 CPU. It ends when you hit the wall of a CPU's process. Have you seen benchmarks showing the difference between a 3000+ and 3500+ in games? A 10fps difference or larger is very common. Now imagine your game was playing at 40fps. That's not exactly the smoothest ride in my book. We've got two options. We can drop $400 on a video card, or overclock our 3000+ to a 3500+ and gain 10fps in that game. Now we're suddenly sitting at 50fps for free. Much more comfortable.

I only overclock with chips that can go quite far and make a huge difference. I wouldn't consider a 400mhz overclock a huge accomplishment, but I do consider it a fair one. I spend maybe $150 on a processor that will outperform anything on the market. Sounds smart to me.

If you aren't a complete tool, then overclocking should not be very time consuming or money consuming. My first overclock was effortless and painless. I've gone through dozens of overclocked CPUs and never once came anywhere near to having a problem.

 

[Zebo]

I call them as I see them.

Price/performance is'nt there for the high end ones since they don't OC as much.

EX: An FX-55 gets to 3.0 if you're lucky. That's a 400Mhz OC for a $900 processor. A 3000 gets to 2.9 if you're lucky that's a 1100mhz OC.

From the get go Stock an FX is already a poor value compared to 3000, offering about 33% more performance for a 600% more money.

OC'ed the FX is an even poorer value, offering about 10% more perfomance for 600% more money.

Similarly for 3800. From the get go, stock an 3800 is a poor value compared to 3000, offering about 25% more performance for a 400% more money.

OC'ed the 3800 is an even poorer value, offering 0% more perfomance for 400% more money.


Get it?

 

[Amaroque]

Originally posted by: BigPete
Cant you just buy the $900 CPU and overclock it to perform at the same level as a $1700 CPU? LMAO, where does it end... I dont understand that logic. Its like if you can overclock a 3000+ to operate at the same level as a 3500+ its some big achievement. It's like some perpetual cycle!

Really, I'm just bustin balls because, quite frankly, I dont see the point of overclocking.

If you buy that $900 chip, you will get dismal OCing results.

You don't see the point because you can't seem to grasp the concept of why people overclock in the first place. Maybe you should take some alone time for yourself to gather your thoughts together, and come back to this forum when you understand the real reasons why people overclock.