Does Overclocking Bennifit Anything If...
 

I just have a quick question. For general gaming, internet browsing, HD videos watching etc, is there really a difference between 3.5GHz and 4GHz? Or even 3.0GHz and 4GHz? I mean, if my computer doesnt ever use >90% of the CPU, is there any bennifit?

for the challenge/ bragging rights and getting the most bang for your buck :)

Everybody is going to have a different opinion on this, especially since it's hard to quantify the results. Does 7 seconds vice 9 seconds from splash screen to fully loaded OS really make much difference (these are strictly hypothetical #s, I haven't timed them)? You'd have to be the judge of that.

Personally, I find there's a major tipping point near the max of any OC where it just feels much faster (probably mostly related to that 2 second difference), but it isn't just the CPU OC that makes the difference, it's also getting everything else (mem speed, mem timings, & bus speeds) tuned for max performance.

It really depends on what you do. For most basic office tasks, a stock CPU is fine. However, once you start getting into stuff that actually taxes a CPU, like gaming, video/audio encoding or editing, compressing/decompressing files, running virtual machines, folding, etc., there is definitely a tangible difference between an overclocked CPU and a stock CPU.

big time in gaming and transencoding ( that's me )

Realistically not really IMO, however when you start to get into more Intensive Tasks or Folding :) It makes a difference.

That and its just damn cool to say (Look I got my little 2.6ghz chip to 3.6!).

ST

Yep, its half about bragging rights and the other half is the performance increase in cpu intensive tasks (as it is able to do them faster/quicker). That's about it

What chip do you have at 3.6 ST?

So it is almost worthwhile to keep my Q9550 @ 4GHz :thumb:

As long as you aren't extremely high volts or have very high load temperatures, there is no reason not to leave it at 4GHz if its is already there.

I can get my 2.5 to 3.66:thumb: and be stable but for long term constant 100% (like 5-8 hours straight) the temperature starts getting a little worrying. and that did make a noticeable change in starting larger programs like WoW and vector works, but I generally just keep it at 3.2 which still makes a nice change while not making it possible to make pasta on the heat coming off my heat sink.