Advice Request Is manual overclocking the PC worth the while?

[HarborFront]

I mean overclocking the

1) RTX4090 GPU
2) CPU
3) RAM

For GPU

All RTX4090 GPUs perform alike..............maybe some fps differences. Some GPUs allow 10% OC while others can give 30% OC but fps maybe difference by 5fps. 5fps difference in gaming is not noticeable.

For GPU without OC power consumption should be around 400W
With factory overclocked GPU power consumption can hit 500W
And if manual OC power consumption can reach a max of 600W

If manual overclocking only gives say a 2% performance increase with probably 5fps better, is it worthwhile the OC with 100W more of electricity bill, time spent and likely with instability issue? Also, note that current CPU/GPU are running so fast...............making OC not an attractive option. On top of that, you'll likely need a custom water cooling system and/or additional larger fans for max OC

As for the CPU

CPU OC is going to be a thing of the past.......................6GHz OOB without OC

Intel Core i9-13900KS "Raptor Lake", The World's First 6 GHz CPU, Is Launching In Early 2023

Unless you go for DDR5 8000 MT/s RAM then OC CPU and RAM. 8000 MT/s looks like the max limit for DDR5 RAM


Any comments?

 

[Zero Knowledge]

You kind of answered your own question to be honest. For 2% extra it's not worth it. Why would you stress a $2500 graphics card and a $1000 CPU for an extra 2%?

 

[HarborFront]

You kind of answered your own question to be honest. For 2% extra it's not worth it. Why would you stress a $2500 graphics card and a $1000 CPU for an extra 2%?

When I posted this question on another forum the consensus is that it's not worth the while.

Maybe some advantage in low temp and low noise through undervolting with some loss in performance

 

[Zero Knowledge]

They are right. OC is not really worth it these days unless you are doing it professionally or to break records. CPUs are so powerful that the extra 2% to 10% is just not worth the stress on the components. It's the same reason that SLI setups are not around anymore, GPUs are just too powerful, too expensive and require so much power to make it worth while for such a setup.

 

[Stargazer_Steve]

I've only ever overclocked when I was on older hardware that needed that extra push in order to 'keep up' or give me those few extra frames. I'd say the results back then were more noticeable (i5 4690k/GPU 9 series days). The newer, more modern CPUs and GPUs seem to show negligible performance gain, when compared to the cons of extra heat/power consumption/longevity/potential issues arising. As others mentioned, for gaming purposes it's not worth it in my opinion, for rendering/virtualisation it can potentially be worth it, but I'd still avoid it.

What is definitely worth doing and I recommend, is tweaking a few settings in the BIOS. Such as; lowering the VCore, SA & IO Voltage rates and setting them to a fixed static manual amount, and changing CPU load-line calibration from Auto to 2/3. For example on my i7 8700k, it's locked to 4.7GHz @ VCore 1.18 volts, SA 1.100, IO 1.05. Then disabling any form of core enhancement (ASUS CPU Enhancement) for increased stability. The main reason for these changes are to prevent unnecessary overvolting/power draw/heat in your system. Overall this can significantly drop temps, prevent throttling and if you're a gamer, help with fps drops/stutters.

Overclocking the GPU means you'll see a few extra score points in Cinebench tests, but in my experience this won't actually translate into your gaming. Whether you're increasing the core or memory clock, or both, it's unlikely you will actually see a difference in games worth noticing, especially in the 40, 30 and 20 series. It's worth noting that GPUs compared to CPUs, are shipped at pretty much their most optimal performance setting already. (Source is Gamernexus regarding GPU performance clocks/memory on shipping).

Also for the CPU you mentioned; I'd still recommend watercooling (AIO loop) or a very beastly air cooler like the Noctua NH-D15 - regardless if you're overclocking or not. It's a very hot CPU

(Sorry if I went a bit overboard, I get carried away talking about things I'm passionate about)