Considering an OCING of my i-5 4670k for the first time.
Considering an OCING of my i-5 4670k for the first time.
Hey, I just got a 6650 xt upgrade from a GTX 750 and picked up a 650W thermals BX1 PSU bronze. I don’t have funds for a new CPU or motherboard, so I’m sticking with my i-5 4670k and ASUS Z87K. I’m thinking about overclocking the CPU and upgrading the 6650 xt. I’m curious about the safety of doing this, especially since both my CPU and motherboard are nearly 9 years old. Should my PSU handle the increased load? I want to overclock at least a bit so I don’t get stuck with poor performance. I’m careful and have been researching a lot, but I’m worried because my hardware is quite old. Also, I’m using liquid cooling, which should help with heat. My PSU seems like it could handle the extra power, even though it’s a budget model, and I think it’s worth the extra wattage since the GPU’s recommended power is 500W.
If you're not encountering any performance issues, it's best to let it be. Simply put, if it's working fine, don't interfere. When issues do arise, share the details along with more context. There could be alternatives to simply speeding up the process that might reduce stress on the system. You referred to "bottle-necking": identify what part of the process is being constrained and where. Use Task Manager and Resource Monitor to check how resources are allocated—percentage-wise—and which resource is being consumed most. Other tools like Process Explorer (available for free) can also assist. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysint...s-explorer Remember, without clear performance concerns, maintain the current setup.
I believe the person is aiming to improve their setup rather than solve an issue.
The 4670K can usually be overclocked effectively.
However, keep your expectations realistic. Many reports of significant overclocks come from chips that are already well-suited.
Those with pre-installed chips tend to stay quiet.
OC should be adjusted gradually while maintaining control over the CPU voltage.
If a graphics card had higher performance potential, it would likely have been used in a more capable and costly model. It probably isn't worth trying.
I'd avoid it. If you wanted to overclock, you needed to upgrade to a quality PSU. This is a cheaply made, group-regulated unit (under 600W of +12V power), and I would
never
overclock on a PSU I'm not comfortable with at stock. What was the old PSU? Maybe it's better than this one.
I'm okay boosting the processor a bit occasionally, you can gain some extra performance without significantly increasing the voltage. For the graphics card, I rarely overclock them because the slight improvement doesn't justify the effort (many are already overclocked when they come out).
It varies based on your CPU cooler and the specific chip you're using. Check out the Haswell overclocking guide or the Z87/Z97 overclocking manual—there are several solid ones available. Even the poorest chips can reach about 4.2-4.3 GHz with a decent voltage. Top models might hit around 4.5 GHz at roughly 1.3 volts, though most would struggle to exceed that without overheating, usually needing around 1.35 volts for stable performance.
I've researched extensively and tested a lot, but the bottleneck here is the i5 4670K. The main game I plan to play is Warzone, and currently it performs poorly on the 4670K, often stuttering when I install my 6650 XT. I'm unsure if overclocking will help, but I've seen videos showing good performance at 4.5 GHz on an i5 OCED, which seems promising.
My previous power supply is significantly worse, it's white certified and completely discarded after nine years. It's an OCC technology model with a 500W capacity and 80W output.