Help me decide if I should OC my CPU

Hey guys, let's get to the chase; I believe that if there is a bottleneck anywhere in my computer, the processor would be the cause. The processor I have in my computer is the Intel core i5-4670k processor. It is by no means a bad or even a alright processor; it is very sufficient for most gaming computers. The reason I think I may have a bottle neck is due to how good my other specs are. Here is the list:

Intel i5 4670k @ base clock
Corsair H80i closed loop liquid cooler
MSI G45 gaming motherboard
16 GB of ddr3 1600
(2x) EVGA "Superclocked" GTX 780's (http://www.evga.com/Products/Product...03G-P4-2783-KR)
Corsair HX1050
Western Digital 2 TB 7200 rpm hard drive

I was just going to see what knowledgeable people thought of my situation because even though I might not need it, I still would overclock to minimize bottlenecks.

Why did you get a K series CPU and still have it at stock speeds? As soon as you have a day or so of free time, please work on getting that CPU to around 4.6GHz. It is a free and large performance boost that is well worth it to do. (at around that overclock you re looking at a voltage of 1.3V+

Also make sure that you have some airflow going across the VRM heatsinks on the motherboard.

OMG, THAT cpu & cooler at stock speed? You should definitely overclock.

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Originally Posted by AOD_butlerfowl

Hey guys, let's get to the chase; I believe that if there is a bottleneck anywhere in my computer, the processor would be the cause. The processor I have in my computer is the Intel core i5-4670k processor. It is by no means a bad or even a alright processor; it is very sufficient for most gaming computers. The reason I think I may have a bottle neck is due to how good my other specs are. Here is the list:

Intel i5 4670k @ base clock
Corsair H80i closed loop liquid cooler
MSI G45 gaming motherboard
16 GB of ddr3 1600
(2x) EVGA "Superclocked" GTX 780's (http://www.evga.com/Products/Product...03G-P4-2783-KR)
Corsair HX1050
Western Digital 2 TB 7200 rpm hard drive

I was just going to see what knowledgeable people thought of my situation because even though I might not need it, I still would overclock to minimize bottlenecks.

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Your biggest bottleneck, based on your build, is your 7200rpm HDD. I'd either upgrade to a Hybrid SSD/HDD or a full-on SSD. After that, if you're not afraid of frying your CPU(which shouldn't happen with the H80i) you can go ahead and overclock.

@Mokona
The price difference between a K-series and the base is only about $50. It's worth it to buy an OC'able CPU if in the future you plan on doing so but don't need to at the time of purchase.
Example: My ITX build is using the 4570k on a H77 board. K-series on a mobo that doesn't support it. Why? Eventually, I'm going to move the 4570k to a Z77/Z79 mobo and turn my ITX build into a HTPC with a Pentium G-series..

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Originally Posted by AOD_Kc2000

Your biggest bottleneck, based on your build, is your 7200rpm HDD. I'd either upgrade to a Hybrid SSD/HDD or a full-on SSD. After that, if you're not afraid of frying your CPU(which shouldn't happen with the H80i) you can go ahead and overclock.

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I kinda knew someone would confirm my fears, but the cost of a SSD is something I didn't want to think about till out of high school and I would like a full on SSD and not a hybrid. Well crud.

for me, on the intel side, unless i am building a NAS or a HTPC, I would never go for a non K version as overclocking is one of the best parts of building a PC. It is hard to get a PC and not overclocking it as without overclocking, all you can think about when using it is how fast it could be, and how slow it is now without the overclock (regardless of how high it benchmarks.

You can never have too much CPU performance so even if you get the fastest CPU on the planet, still overclock it as far as it will go stably.

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Originally Posted by AOD_butlerfowl

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Originally Posted by AOD_Kc2000

Your biggest bottleneck, based on your build, is your 7200rpm HDD. I'd either upgrade to a Hybrid SSD/HDD or a full-on SSD. After that, if you're not afraid of frying your CPU(which shouldn't happen with the H80i) you can go ahead and overclock.

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I kinda knew someone would confirm my fears, but the cost of a SSD is something I didn't want to think about till out of high school and I would like a full on SSD and not a hybrid. Well crud.

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This is situational. The hdd is slowing you down when your computer wants to load or save information. Your cpu is slowing you down while using a program. If you are gaming then the processor is the bottleneck. The ssd will only help when you are loading the game but it will not help the game run any faster.

Update: After overclocking by .55, my computer would only send a signal to the monitor about 1/10 times I turned it on. I then, on the twentieth time I finally got the bios screen a second time. I then removed the overclock, reverted bios to base settings, and then saved changes. So, understandably, I have resolved that, until I figure out what has caused this, I will just play on base clocks. I was always afraid of overclocking because I have the worst luck when it comes to doing risky-ish things.

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Originally Posted by AOD_Mokona512

Why did you get a K series CPU and still have it at stock speeds?

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I was procastinating.

Multiplier overclock is the easiest for 4000 series chips.

Which voltage did you use?

also be sure to disable the boost function as that will make pretty much all overclocks unstable.

On the intel platform do not overclock by adjusting the base clock speed, as that overclocks everything including many components that cannot handle overclocking.

Overclock by adjusting the multiplier first to get your self to at least 4.5GHz. (at around 4.5-4.7, you will be at the 1.3V+ range on the CPU)

also if your overclock is unstable, clear the CMOS to fix it.

Only two bottlenecks I see are the CPU and HDDs.

Personally, if you can afford it, get a better i5 or something later down the road for your socket. And get a couple of SSDs to load your OS on and one to load your "main" games that you play the most. Use those two mech one for vids, music and etc.

in terms of core performance, his CPU is currently the fastest intel has to offer, any higher and you only get added hyper threading which only benefits a select few applications (though not at much as putting the extra money that would go into a core i7, into a better cooling system that will allow you to overclock and get massively more performance than a core i7 overclocked as far as it will go on the stock cooler.

An SSD will be a massive improvement to application load times, but do nothing for application performance, though it should be on the upgrade list regardless especially with SSD's like the samsung 850 pro which can handle enough writes to allow you to not have to take precautions such as making sure that professional video editors and 3D modelers do not use the SSD at a scratch disk. )regular video editing and having a few pro applications use my SSD as a scratch disk, adds around 40-50 TB of writes per year to my 120GB SSD If I had a one of the newer 19nm NAND SSD's instead of my 32nm NAND SSD, my drive would be dead or just about dead with rapidly increasing error rates and sectors being retired. (my next SSD will be the 850 pro)

Just get a cheap SSD to supplement your HDD if your case allows it. You get a noticeable boost in performance for certain programs that you want on it, such as GRP and startup, and still have the unlimited read/writes and large storage of a HDD.

I run a 128 gb SSD for my o/s + programs http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...28g-1022i.html
Have a hybrid for my games http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...1000dx001.html
And what i refer to as my "brick" for movies/music/junk http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...2000dm001.html

I love the Hybrid and would highly recommend them. They are not much slower compared to SSD and cheap compared too.