i5 750 stock versus overclock in gaming? Question for enthusiast and overclocker...

[Zer0]

I have i5 750 on stock setting 2,66 and my intention is to overclock it @4ghz.
I need to buy a good air cooler...
Now my GPU is Gigabyte GTX 670 2GB Oc.

And for comparison, I clocked my GPU (over 1200mhz and + 750mhz on memory) which is stable, with official voltage. I got 10-20% better performance.

My Hitman Absolution benchmark as far as I can remember atm with my clock (everything max) is:
min:24-25
max:36-38
avg:28-29

The questions are:
1. How much of a bottleneck is my i5 and is it a bottleneck at all for GTX 670?
2. Would there be any bottleneck with my i5 clocked @4ghz?
3. If I would do SLI would i5@4ghz be too bad?
3. Would there be any fps increase @4ghz in this example that I mentioned above (or other games like Crysis or Metro series), and how much?

Thank You very much and hoping to hear opinions from people who are experienced with this stuff, I think this is really an interesting topic...

[terrastrife]

As a general rule, your CPU performance dictates how many frames can be rendered.

1) Your CPU will ALWAYS be a bottleneck for framerate, more is better, there is no exception, however tehre are diminshing returns.
2) See 1.
3) Not sure what you are asking.
4) You will see a significant improvement, into truly playable rates.

While the charts below are for a different game, the rule applies to all games in some way or the other.
http://www.techspot.com/review/577-b...nce/page6.html

[Zer0]

Thx for a fast answer....

I'm hoping I might max out Hitman @4ghz, as You can see from the stats, if my minimal fps wouldn't be going under 30fps (I think it might be playable that way for me, since it's not a first person shooter game). So I already have like 28-29 average. Maybe overclock @4ghz will also raise the bottom 24 minimum fps to 30...

I was asking about SLI with i5 @4ghz is it a good idea at all?


If I have average fps on Metro or Hitman under 30, how less fps would I be getting with my i5 in SLI instead of somebody with new ivy bridge processor? 10-20-30%?

I mean i find it better to get one more gpu instead of buying a whole new motherboard and cpu...the cost is even less...right? And I would get better graphical performance that way.

[MxPhenom 216]

Bottleneck is an overused and miss used term IMO. You will always have a bottleneck in your system somewhere. Your CPU could be to fast compared to the GPU, and your GPU could be to fast compared to the CPU, then you have other bottleneck in your system such as hard drive or memory.

You will get a performance boost with overclocking your CPU, but not all that much, unless that game is very CPU orientated. It all depends on the game and app on how much overclocking is going to benefit you.

And Hitman is a horrible game to base and sort of performance on. It has performance issues all over the place. Game is very unoptimized and coded pretty shitty.

[Zer0]

Thx for answer again...
So I guess It's not insane to do a GTX 670 SLI on i5 which is 3-4 years old...if I am wrong, somebody pls correct me?

[terrastrife]

SLI GTX670 would allow you to crank up the MSAA etc and also increase your max FPS, however you will still rely on your CPU for minimum fps. If you try to go for a small OC, say 3GHz, you will see noticeable difference in gameplay smoothness as you are so close to marginal.

[Jack1n]

Your gpu will scale significantly better with your cpu @ 4ghz,as for sli it really depends on the on you ressolution at 1200p or lower it wont scale that well(nor do you need 670sli for that)at 1440p and higher you will see significant gains.

[Zer0]

Guys thx for answers very much.
I'm gaming on Samsung UE40D8000 LED.
So basically only 1080p res. GTX 670 isn't strong enough to max out Metro 2033, Hitman Absolution, probably won't be able to do so in Metro Last Light, Crysis 3 and some other games in 2013...That is why my question about doing SLI on i5 750 was is the processor too bad or two slow for it, will I be able to max out every current game and in following year above 40-50fps with GTX 670 SLI on such CPU...

[Pehla]

instead of buying new gtx 670 sell ur mobo and cpu and give a litlle more money any buy 3570k and mobo fir it!! i think u can get that for the price of 670's?!then u can expect improvements..

[Zer0]

Well, I am thinking about it...to change CPU+MOBO or add another GTX 670, but I am afraid that from the first option, I still won't be able to max some of the current games, but whats even worse, the second option, which is SLI, might not bring that...what a mess, heh...

[Jack1n]

Metro dosent max on any single gpu setup so dont worry about that,and hitman runs smooth with lower frames as well dont worry about that either.

[LDNL]

Some games are more CPU heavy and some games aren't. At 4GHz I had no trouble running BF3 on ultra but at stock I could only use the high settings to get the same performance vs with the overclock. Same thing with Arma II. Metro 2033 on the other hand I didn't feel a change in framerates.

[Pehla]

Originally Posted by Zer0

Well, I am thinking about it...to change CPU+MOBO or add another GTX 670, but I am afraid that from the first option, I still won't be able to max some of the current games, but whats even worse, the second option, which is SLI, might not bring that...what a mess, heh...

well.. to be honest i think if u want games maxed out u must have top noch gear in ur pc..
but if u go for cpu+mobo u can upgrade one more gpu in future...on ur pc now.. i dont think so!!
maybe u should think on this option.. its just idea .,tel me what u think about it..
go change cpu and mainboard and save some money in next few months then sell ur 670 give litle more money and buy 680!!im sure many games will be maxed out that way!!

[MxPhenom 216]

All you need to do its just clock the 750 to 4.0ghz if your chip will do it. I can run Metyro 2033 with my 680 at solid 60FPS when I have everything maxed other then DOF. I just turn that shit off because it has no benefits in an FPS. With your 670, you should not be too far off. Upgrading to Ivy Bridge wouldn't be worth the amount of money to performance you would get in the end. If you must upgrade CPUs wait for Haswell. no point in going to a close to dead LGA1155 socket when Haswell will be on 1150.

[Pehla]

simple cloking will not resovle all his problems..yes it will improve frame rate but i think jump from core series one to series 3 will be much beter!! if it was not like that intel isthen doing something wrong
i think there is life to that 3gen core i5 at least 3 years ..stock now, OC later and sli at end of its life..

[Jstn7477]

Well, anything is better than 2.66 GHz. My i7-870 does 3.8 but I don't think you'll get close to 4 GHz unless your board does 200 FSB easily and your chip can actually do it.

[bruno_polar]

I would definitly go for a faster cpu. I got a 2600k (@4.5) + 660ti amp edition and I can do highest settings on almost anything with my monitor's 1080p. I get about 40 fps on metro 2033 on max settings and 60 fps locked with vsync on bf3 at ultra settings. Knowing you have held on till now maybe (and that's just maybe because all your other stuff might be too old by then) you should hold on for intel's TAC since we are supposedly on TIC-plus with 3rd gen sandy.