Would I be giving up a free performance opportunity?
Would I be giving up a free performance opportunity?
Z170 Pro gaming mobo
24gb 2666mhz ram
6600k i5 @ 4.4ghz
Hyper 212x with 2x fans
Monitoring temperatures in hwmonitor shows my PC reaches around 57 degrees clocked at 4.4ghz during intense gameplay, such as playing Rust on maximum settings. I’m wondering if there’s still room for improvement from the CPU with these heat levels or if performance will start to decline as clocks increase further.
There are always the laws of diminishing returns, but they vary for each CPU. You could begin at 4.4GHz with 1.308v and 60°C. A slight increase to 4.5GHz might require 1.323v and 64°C, followed by a jump to 4.6GHz needing 1.434v and 80°C. The minor jump to 4.5GHz is your best attempt, even though the CPU can reach 4.6GHz and possibly stabilize at 4.7GHz. However, the required voltages and temperatures with your cooler are well outside what’s practical. It simply isn’t worth the marginal gain in performance.
If you manage to overclock and achieve solid improvements, that’s fine. But if you’re only chasing GHz numbers while ignoring stability and safety, it’s a waste of effort and responsibility.
It's Skylake. You'll notice improvements with faster clocks, though temperatures won't impact much until you approach the maximum temperature limit. The main worries with older CPUs and high heat aren't performance loss, but reduced lifespan. Generally, 70°C and 57°C are equivalent according to the CPU specs—it's just a matter of interpretation.
my own 7700K maintains fairly stable temperatures even (65°C in games, 73°C in Prime 95/small FFTs) at 4.7 GHz, but increasing to 4.8 GHz needed a higher core voltage that pushed temperatures past 83°C, which exceeds what I was hoping for consistently during regular use.
There are always the laws of diminishing returns, but they vary for each CPU. You could begin at 4.4GHz with 1.308v and 60°C. A slight increase to 4.5GHz might require 1.323v and 64°C, followed by a jump to 4.6GHz needing 1.434v and 80°C. The minor jump to 4.5GHz is your best attempt, even though the CPU can reach 4.6GHz and possibly stabilize at 4.7GHz. However, the required voltages and temperatures with your cooler are far from practical. It simply isn't worth the extra few frames.
If you manage to overclock and achieve a noticeable boost with acceptable performance, that's fine. But trying to push a PC solely for higher GHz numbers, while ignoring safety and responsibility, is essentially wasteful.