does overclocking really pay off

[SEE]

A PC is a system, RAM, HDD, GFX Card, CPU, PSU, mobo, etc, all of which play a part in the overall performance. OC'ing on its own is not guaranteed to give significant improvements if other parts of the system are underperforming. Bear in mind that overclocking will increase the CPU thermal output (and load on the PSU) and generally requires additional/improved cooling.

Some Mobo and their Bios are better than others and some CPU's more stable than others. Like others have said, read and join a forum that covers your mobo/cpu. There are benefits but there are pitfalls too........

[Ataros]

i7-860
@2.8 stock = occasional micro-stutters both in ArmA2 and BoB in the vicinity of large numbers of AI especially
@3.8 - almost no noticeable stutters after recent patches

[maclean525]

For "games" that don't use much CPU no it doesn't make much of a difference. For sims though, that are very CPU intensive, it makes a HUGE difference. On one of my sims I see a 50% frame rate increase going from stock on my i7 (3.06) to 4.0GHz.

[sg1221]

I think it can help some , but not nearly as much as it did in the " old days ".
I remember overclocking an $89.00 Celeron processor to run as fast as a $900.00 Pentium II back in the 90's. It ran flawlessly for a couple years and allowed me to play games I would not have been able to run otherwise.

Todays multicore processors are all pretty powerful IF the game you are playing USES them properly. You need to approach overclocking with the knowlege that damage is possible so if you can't afford to replace your motherboard and or
processor you might not want to risk it. CPU's are kinda like fingerprints , no two
are exactly alike , some will overclock easily others won't.

[Buchon]

Watch out guys.

No one wants a wave of newbies burning theirs PCs.

[l3uLLDoZeR]

Flyby your current CPU is known to be a good overclocker and the performance might be worth it. I learned tons from HardForum and those guys really know what they are talking about. The I920 will require a little more work to overclock than say the new I5/7 2500k and 2600k. Those new ones with ONE CLICK in the bios you're at 4-4.2ghz..and a p67 or z68 motherboard. They made it simple for noobs..pros can still get them up to 5ghz manually with air cooling.
You will have to go into the bios and manually change clock speeds and maybe voltage on your setup. You could probably get 3.5-3.8ghz outta that 920 with little effort. If you use the stock intel cpu cooler you need to upgrade so you dont over heat the chip. This is basic but its probably worth the little effort involved!

[Flyby]

Thanks for the added replies, all. I've been out of the PC-building game for a while, but I know the i920 will reach at least 3.6 with air cooling and a good quality CPU cooler. It's a bit more work, as DoZeR says, but seems fairly do-able. I've though to sell it and buy an i2500K, just to more comfortably hit higher clocks. Plus, even when overclocking the 2500K, the power draw is substantially lower than the 920, not to mention that you can singularly focus on just overclocking the CPU. Apparently CLoD doesn't support or need hyperthreading either, and the 2500K doesn't have that feature. Too bad no crystal ball for what the future holds for gaming requirements, but if HT were to be a requirement, there's always the 2600K lurking. As I mentioned, the 920 has never been used, so maybe I'll find a buyer on the tech forums elsewhere.
thanks again!
Flyby out

[RE77ACTION]

Originally Posted by Buchon

Watch out guys.

No one wants a wave of newbies burning theirs PCs.

I think that Intel and AMD wouldn't mind...

[Ze-Jamz]

Short answer...YES

how someone can say overclocking a 2.8ghz CPU to a 3.8ghz CPU doesnt make any difference is mad..

just make sure you have adequate cooling, that doesnt mean you need water cooling either, i have a CM storm case with 3 fans blowing and sucking aswell as the CPU fan obviously and its OK o/c my Phenom 6 core 2.8 up to 3.5 and its stable without having to worry about extra volts..

i5 very over clockable to 4/4.5ghz from a 3.3ghz
AMD 1100t Black edition is very over clockable which would also do those frequencys..

most Mobos allow you to O/C easily but when you adjust your Cpu frequesncys it will adjust your Ram frequencys too so do your home work:

I have G-Skill 1600mhz Ram that i can only run at 1333Mhz stable when overclocking my Cpu with my particular Mobo-Gigabyte 890GPA (some vary obviously)

[Flyby]

Actually, yes I am speaking about overclocking the CPU. I'm focused on whether or not overclocking would help a complex sim like CLoD. I was looking for some before-and-after data here, if anyone has some to offer up. They guys over at [H]ardOCP test video cards on an x58 board, overclocking the i7-920 to 3.6ghz to "remove the CPU bottle neck". That site has not tested CLoD and may never.
So, I should have posed the question like this: "How much has CLoD benefited from overclocking your processor?" Also is there a point of diminishing returns? As I've said, some guys here are running at over 4ghz. How much more responsive is CLoD to 4+ghz versus <4ghz?
Ought to be revealing. . The answers may help me decide on buying a new processor or keeping the old (un-used) 920
Flyby out
thanks guys