What is considered a "good" overclock?

[bbbearrr]

Hi all.

So recently finished my first build in a long time with a ryzen 5 2600 and x470 motherboard.

I've never really dabbled much with overclocking as it's always seemed abit daunting but now seems to be an almost standard practice.

With that being said what are the goals for a good overclock. Is it a certain temperature range at as high a clock speed as possible or aslong as it dont set fire or crash all the time and were good?

It's something I want to look into and try but don't really know what the targets are other than performance increase.

 

[agnes]

For me, it's the lowest voltage possible with a strong and decent overclock. Most of the time, people will strive for max overclock and leave it there with highest vcores set needed. But ultimately, will rarely see a performance boost from the last 0.5Ghz in gaming or otherwise.

For me, it's about staying below sat 1.2 vcrore, 1.25 max and seeing what I can push for. This allows cool temps (minus my current temp issue with my 8700k lol) and lower TDP. Ultimately making it a much better overclock and letting that CPU last even longer than it should.

The majority however see a good overclock as 'what can I push it too before I hit thermal cap and instability'. So getting say 5.0Ghz out of the 8700k with 1.35vcore might be nice, but it's gonna run hot, and risk long term damage.

At the moment I'm settled on 1.175 at 4.5Ghz on my 8700k, however after running a few tests, I'm tempted to go to 1.150 vcore and 4.4Ghz as it seems the difference is minor in performance. If at all noticeable during every day use and gaming. Yet, that's a large chunk of power knocked off. I will however try and push for 5.0Ghz and above once I've delidded just to see what the CPU can do. But ultimately stay as low as I can on vcore with a decent overclock

EDIT: Also, not sure how new you are to it, but finding your max vcore/OC to the point of instability and thermal caps is a great thing to do anyway. As then you can start dialing them back bit by bit and more often than not, you'll notice 'stages'... Such as sitting at 4.5Ghz at 1.200, 1.175, 1.150 then boom, no lower. But the moment you try for 4.5Ghz, you might find you need to go to 1.275 to make it stable. So find that nice gap in a vcore where it's loose and allows for good variation in clock speed without generating lava.

 

[Jumper118]

Under 80c if cooling limited
Under 1.425v if not cooling limited
As fast as possible with those is best oc you can get in terms of just the cpu.

Overclocking memory or tightening timings helps a lot as well.

 

[Habakkuk]

It's going to vary wildly from CPU model, and even from individual chips.

I have a 4300 that overclocks from 3.6 to 4.5ghz, and a 9590 that overclocks from 4.8 to 5.0ghz - wildly different performance gains, but for me a good overclock is a stable chip for everyday use.

 

[Rroff]

For me a good overclock is one that gives a tangible performance gain - so atleast a 10% uplift in performance - ideally with minimal increase in voltage.

 

[bbbearrr]

Under 80c if cooling limited
Under 1.425v if not cooling limited
As fast as possible with those is best oc you can get in terms of just the cpu.

Overclocking memory or tightening timings helps a lot as well.

im guessing 80c at full load?

 

[Jumper118]

im guessing 80c at full load?

yes

 

[Hagar]

What used to be a good overclock was emulating an expensive processor with a cheap counterpart. Now with only one or two processors in each segment, I suspect it is just making small advances in frequency without too many volts or overheating.

 

[8 Pack]

Ryzen 2xxx CPU are not very good overclockers in my experience. I would try make your PC efficient by adding fast RAM and reaping the benefits of increasing infinity fabric speeds.

 

[bbbearrr]

Ryzen 2xxx CPU are not very good overclockers in my experience. I would try make your PC efficient by adding fast RAM and reaping the benefits of increasing infinity fabric speeds.

What makes you say they arent good overclockers?

 

[Hotwired]

What makes you say they arent good overclockers?

The difference between stock settings and what you can do if you overclock them is small.

Partly because the chips do not overclock much and partly because the chips can overclock themselves.

 

[Randomface74]

A good overclock is when you improve your bang for buck.

You used to be able to overclock anything, so it would be a 0% price increase and n% clock speed increase.

Now it's locked to K-series processors, so there's added cost for overclocking, so it's down to whether the extra performance is worth the extra cost, which is a personal thing.

 

[Hotwired]

A good overclock is when you improve your bang for buck.

You used to be able to overclock anything, so it would be a 0% price increase and n% clock speed increase.

Now it's locked to K-series processors, so there's added cost for overclocking, so it's down to whether the extra performance is worth the extra cost, which is a personal thing.

That was never true because the energy consumption of the overclock was the price increase.

 

[8 Pack]

What makes you say they arent good overclockers?

Because so little headroom in the core frequency OC.

 

[EsaT]

For me a good overclock is one that gives a tangible performance gain - so atleast a 10% uplift in performance - ideally with minimal increase in voltage.

Goal of overclocking should indeed be reasonable speed increase without blowing up power consumption/heat output.
Nowadays just many seem to mix making overvolted electric heaters for minor speed increase to overclocking.

That was never true because the energy consumption of the overclock was the price increase.

Overclocking 1,25VID Q9550 to fair 3,7 GHz at 1,2V didn't increase power consumption/heat output much.