But I also wasn’t ready to dismiss the efforts Intel’s engineers made in optimizing Nehalem for balanced performance in single- and multi-threaded software. The question we asked ourselves-especially after seeing that the Core i7-860 and -870 would accelerate a fantastic 667 MHz in single-threaded apps-was whether it was still worth it for the power user to go all-out with processor overclocking and risk nuking a perfectly good CPU, or simply let Intel’s version of the technology handle business? I hoped that I wasn’t just getting lazy in my old(er) age, and that there’d still be palpable gains to taking the enthusiast’s path to better performance. Turbo Boost is a temporary clock where the CPU will boost its speed up to 0.5GHz over factory clock as long as the CPU can handle the temporary increase in temps and voltage before coming back down to the basic clock. Thus, Intel’s “automatic overclocking” exists as an elegant, more granular way to increase performance without taking power consumption over the maximum TDP rating of any given CPU (130W in the case of Intel’s Bloomfields and 95W in the case of the Lynnfields). By essentially shutting down unused cores, thereby dropping power consumption, more headroom is freed up in single-threaded workloads, a little less when two threads are active, still less with three cores utilized, and so on. Precision Boost takes into account three numbers in deciding how many cores can boost and when, and those numbers are PPT, TDC, and EDC, as well as temperature and the chip’s max boost clock. To speed up your GPU, you'll need to use an overclocking utility – one of the most common is MSI Afterburner.In monitoring each of those parameters, Intel’s onboard power control unit is able to augment performance by increasing clock rate in situations where the processor’s maximum TDP isn’t being reached. It's also possible to overclock your graphics card's GPU, though you can't do that from the UEFI or BIOS menu. If your computer crashes, you get a Blue Screen of Death, or your programs won't open, return to the UEFI or BIOS menu and revert to a slower clock speed. You can use an app like Prime95 to temporarily run the CPU at 100% load to make sure there are no problems with the PC. Few games are going to use more than 2-3 cores so the hyperthreads of the i7-6700K will not get much use.
For the chips you are considering for gaming, I think the i5-6600K with an overclock would serve you best. You can increase the clock speed in increments to get to the speed you are interested in.Įvery time you increase the clock speed, spend a few hours "stress testing" the computer. Turbo will boost the clock rate of a couple of cores if the rest of the processor is not stressed. It's a good idea to increase the multiplier by a small amount, reboot the computer and test it. The more cores are active, the less the CPU will allow any given core to be overclocked. Quick tip: To open your computer's BIOS or UEFI boot menu, open Settings, then "Update & security," and then click "Recovery." Under the "Advanced startup" heading, click "Restart now." Turbo Boost does allow the CPU to dynamically overclock individual cores on the CPU based on need and thermal constraints. Gigabyte Technology skitching by William Antonelli/Business Insider The BIOS or UEFI is where you’ll find an option to overclock your CPU.
Likewise, programs that use your graphics card more than the CPU won't be helped by an overclocked CPU. This is called "bottlenecking."įor example, if you have a slow hard disk drive (HDD), overclocking your CPU can't make it run faster. And more important, improving your processor performance can be useless if the rest of your computer isn't fast enough to keep up. Intel Turbo Boost Technology can potentially increase CPU speeds up to the Max Turbo Frequency while staying within safe temperature and power limits. This is sometimes called algorithmic overclocking. Modern CPUs already run so fast that overclocking can have little effect. But when more speed is needed, Intel Turbo Boost Technology dynamically increases the clock rate to compensate.
In recent years, however, there's been some evidence that overclocking isn't as useful as it used to be. Buying a less expensive graphics card that can be overclocked can save money, while still ensuring excellent performance. When you join discussions about building computers or buying graphics cards, you'll often find people talking about how easily their computers can be overclocked. Done right, it can increase your computer's performance essentially for free. This can include graphic design apps, 3D modeling programs, and more. Overclocking is incredibly popular among computer enthusiasts, gamers, and anyone who regularly needs to run programs that take a lot of CPU power.