Overclocking - Does it matter about graphics

[Luckystar]

Hey peeps,

I am building a 'fun' pc for my next project. By 'fun' i mean it for browsing, oc'ing, customising and playing videos/movies but not games.

Now i was looking at graphics cards and thought to myself, does it really matter what graphics i use, even though i only want to oc the CPU?

Thanks
Lucky

 

[Desslok]

Hey peeps,

I am building a 'fun' pc for my next project. By 'fun' i mean it for browsing, oc'ing, customising and playing videos/movies but not games.

Now i was looking at graphics cards and thought to myself, does it really matter what graphics i use, even though i only want to oc the CPU?

Thanks
Lucky

Mainly for games, video editing, graphic design/CAD, and using as an HTPC to stream HD to multiple extenders.

 

[Victek]

Hey peeps,

I am building a 'fun' pc for my next project. By 'fun' i mean it for browsing, oc'ing, customising and playing videos/movies but not games.

Now i was looking at graphics cards and thought to myself, does it really matter what graphics i use, even though i only want to oc the CPU?

Thanks
Lucky

.
It's early in the game, but web browsers are eventually going to take advantage of 3D hardware acceleration.

 

[Mellon Head]

Hey peeps,

I am building a 'fun' pc for my next project. By 'fun' i mean it for browsing, oc'ing, customising and playing videos/movies but not games.

Now i was looking at graphics cards and thought to myself, does it really matter what graphics i use, even though i only want to oc the CPU?

Thanks
Lucky

Buy the best graphics card you can afford. That way, its' useful life is longer as the graphics applications that use it improve in quality.

 

[not so gray matter]

I'd suggest just getting a $100 9600 GT. Not only will it play almost any game out today, but it'll allow you to stream videos and all that. You could go with an 8000 series if you wanted to save money or even a nice motherboard with a good oboard video card. Of course the equivalent in ATI will work as well.

Example of Mothboard w/ decent integrated gfx: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813141015

 

[Luckystar]

Mistaken origianl post

I think you have all mistaken my post, but then it may just be a 'blonde' question.

Let me re-phrase my question, I want to overclock this new PC, It will have a C2D E8400 (I was told the best one for OC'ing). 4 GB of OCZ Reaper HPC and will be nestled on a ASUS P5E Deluxe.

When i was looking at graphics, i was thinking of a HD4770 or a HD4830. But what i am asking is will either of those cards cause any types of bootlenecks or limitations when OC'ing the CPU and RAM.

Here is a run down of what the PC will be used for:

There is no gaming involved for this PC, I already have one, read my system specs below. This new build is purely for 'fun'; browsing (Seven Forums, Facebook, Email and general research); OC'ing CPU and RAM (Graphics OC'ing can wait for now (To learn the basics and to get the hang of it all)); watching films and videos (If i want to watch in the front room on the big telly then i will connect the PC to the TV by wired means, as the case is only a little standard ATX case). This means there is no need for X-Fire (Until the cards above come right down in price)

 

[Luckystar]

I'd suggest just getting a $100 9600 GT. Not only will it play almost any game out today, but it'll allow you to stream videos and all that. You could go with an 8000 series if you wanted to save money or even a nice motherboard with a good oboard video card. Of course the equivalent in ATI will work as well.

Example of Mothboard w/ decent integrated gfx: Newegg.com - XFX MI93007 AS9 LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9300 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

You are on the right lines of what i am thinking, but i am going with an ASUS board.

 

[chev65]

I think you have all mistaken my post, but then it may just be a 'blonde' question.

Let me re-phrase my question, I want to overclock this new PC, It will have a C2D E8400 (I was told the best one for OC'ing). 4 GB of OCZ Reaper HPC and will be nestled on a ASUS P5E Deluxe.

When i was looking at graphics, i was thinking of a HD4770 or a HD4830. But what i am asking is will either of those cards cause any types of bootlenecks or limitations when OC'ing the CPU and RAM.

Here is a run down of what the PC will be used for:

There is no gaming involved for this PC, I already have one, read my system specs below. This new build is purely for 'fun'; browsing (Seven Forums, Facebook, Email and general research); OC'ing CPU and RAM (Graphics OC'ing can wait for now (To learn the basics and to get the hang of it all)); watching films and videos (If i want to watch in the front room on the big telly then i will connect the PC to the TV by wired means, as the case is only a little standard ATX case). This means there is no need for X-Fire (Until the cards above come right down in price)

Actually the E8600 is the best dual core for overclocking but the E8400 is a close second. It won't help with watching movies but there are many other tasks that will occur just a bit faster if your processer is running at 4.0GHz compaired to 3.0GHz. Not a big difference unless you are gaming and if it's not completely stable you will end up hurting performance and crashes will also occur.

As for overclocking memory, it's highly over rated for any real world type of performance increase and pretty much isn't worth the effort. If you want faster memory just buy the faster type of memory and be sure and use the proper divider for the FSB being used. Fast DDR2 memory would be PC2 9600 like I'm running at 1200MHz, very stable and fast.

 

[mpcrsc562]

If no gaming, then get the cheapest HDCP compliant card you can get. Being concerned about bottlenecks [cpu or gpu] is when you are gaming and are looking for the highest fps.

Look at this: http://www.sevenforums.com/chillout-room/78178-new-system-build.html

No bleeding edge videocard here either...

 

[Luckystar]

Actually the E8600 is the best dual core for overclocking but the E8400 is a close second. It won't help with watching movies but there are many other tasks that will occur just a bit faster if your processer is running at 4.0GHz compaired to 3.0GHz. Not a big difference unless you are gaming and if it's not completely stable you will end up hurting performance and crashes will also occur.

As for overclocking memory, it's highly over rated for any real world type of performance increase and pretty much isn't worth the effort. If you want faster memory just buy the faster type of memory and be sure and use the proper divider for the FSB being used. Fast DDR2 memory would be PC2 9600 like I'm running at 1200MHz, very stable and fast.

If no gaming, then get the cheapest HDCP compliant card you can get. Being concerned about bottlenecks [cpu or gpu] is when you are gaming and are looking for the highest fps.

Look at this: http://www.sevenforums.com/chillout-room/78178-new-system-build.html

No bleeding edge videocard here either...

Thanks guys for your help, you have now sorted my issue.

mpcrsc562, I will just get the HD4830 in that case. I was not sure about bottlenecking and whether it was an issue as i have only built two systems so far, one below and one for my mum and both are used for gaming (Yes my mum is a silver-surfer and a gamer, even if it is only basic games).

One thing though, Chevy64, You say a Dual Core would be no good for Movies. Could you please explain as to why?
I will only be using for downloaded films from Itunes and playing DVD's, don't own any HD films as yet.

Lucky

 

[chev65]

One thing though, Chevy64, You say a Dual Core would be no good for Movies. Could you please explain as to why?
I will only be using for downloaded films from Itunes and playing DVD's, don't own any HD films as yet.

Lucky

Nope didn't say that at all, dual core or quad makes no difference for regular movies but a quad may be marginally better for blueray or high def movies which require more cpu power.

 

[Luckystar]

One thing though, Chevy64, You say a Dual Core would be no good for Movies. Could you please explain as to why?
I will only be using for downloaded films from Itunes and playing DVD's, don't own any HD films as yet.

Lucky

Nope didn't say that at all, dual core or quad makes no difference for regular movies but a quad may be marginally better for blueray or high def movies which require more cpu power.

Sorry I do apoligise, Well that will do quite fine, and if thats case as well, then in a few months time i will upgrade it to a quadie, nothing special Q6600, should be quit cheap by then.

Thanks for the explanation, sorry for mistaking your original post

Lucky

 

[Duke of Alinor]

There are better places to ask about OC, you might try
XtremeSystems Inc
the good news is most of the advice here is correct.

I do need to ask a few questions for your consideration:
1) how will your big screen connect to the computer?
I recommend HDMI over DVI as it carries audio, this will affect your video card purchase. Any of the newer cards will play movies at 1080P.
2) if you are fresh at OC'ing be sure to read up on cooling first and be very cautious. Basically you are fighting heat when you OC more than anything else
3) you will OC your CPU and RAM separately, each has a different effect on the system depending on where your bottlenecks are. In my case 1604 on the RAM at 3.6 GHz on the CPU is faster than 1403 on the RAM and 4.0 GHz on the CPU.
4) keep CPU-Z by your side at all times, Win7 has a nasty habit of resetting the number of cores if it crashes. Reenable them by clearing the tick for number of processors under msconfig/boot/advanced
5) consider running XP 32 bit, you will probably be reinstalling a lot and there is a lot of support for OC with it. If you go Win7, go 64 bit and at least Pro.

 

[Luckystar]

There are better places to ask about OC, you might try
XtremeSystems Inc
the good news is most of the advice here is correct.

I do need to ask a few questions for your consideration:
1) how will your big screen connect to the computer?
I recommend HDMI over DVI as it carries audio, this will affect your video card purchase. Any of the newer cards will play movies at 1080P.
2) if you are fresh at OC'ing be sure to read up on cooling first and be very cautious. Basically you are fighting heat when you OC more than anything else
3) you will OC your CPU and RAM separately, each has a different effect on the system depending on where your bottlenecks are. In my case 1604 on the RAM at 3.6 GHz on the CPU is faster than 1403 on the RAM and 4.0 GHz on the CPU.
4) keep CPU-Z by your side at all times, Win7 has a nasty habit of resetting the number of cores if it crashes. Reenable them by clearing the tick for number of processors under msconfig/boot/advanced
5) consider running XP 32 bit, you will probably be reinstalling a lot and there is a lot of support for OC with it. If you go Win7, go 64 bit and at least Pro.

To answer your questions Duke of Alinor;

1. It will either be HDMI or DV-i as the big tv allows for both.

2. I am not new (Novice mind) to the world of Oc'ing, i am now just starting to utilise my knowledge (Shall we say) to becoime better, heat is not an issue, the case will be modded and there will be a nice big copper cooler on the chip,

3. Yep, i know all about that. I may not oc my ram as such as i am purchasing DDR2, ain't really much point.

4. Yeah, i know about losing cores like that as well, managed to do that on my 6 go on oc'ing my Q9300 (My last quadie). And i alway use CPU-Z and Core Temp.

5. I will be having 7 Pro, XP is soo last year lol, and i prefer 7 as my main rig has Ultimate, and it will have to be 64bit as i intend on installing 4Gb Ram. And also so if if i do have to reinstall, i will be creating a disk image and a backup.

Hope this answers your questions. Anymore, feel free to ask.

Lucky

 

[Zen00]

From looking at what you're going to be using this PC for, I would say that OCing won't really give you any sort of noticeable improvement in performance.

Also if you want lower temperatures and power consumption, consider a 5000 series Radeon card.

 

[Luckystar]

I was'nt oc'ing for the performance, i just want to do it, so i can (If you catch my drift). Just for the sake of trying.

Hmm, I thought about 5000 series but thought it would be cheaper to go with a 4000.

I will have a look and see as i don't want an enthusiasts, i just want the next type below (Performance i think it was).

Thanks for the idea ZEN

 

[Tarka Dal]

Nope didn't say that at all, dual core or quad makes no difference for regular movies but a quad may be marginally better for blueray or high def movies which require more cpu power.

Sorry I do apoligise, Well that will do quite fine, and if thats case as well, then in a few months time i will upgrade it to a quadie, nothing special Q6600, should be quit cheap by then.

Thanks for the explanation, sorry for mistaking your original post

Lucky

Sorry to tell you but prices are now going up not down due to changes in the cpu market. Old Q6600 are now costing more than they were 1 month ago as everyone is now purchasing i3/i5/i7's. This market is coming down in price. If you want cheap but effective, look at the AMD market as that end is far cheaper now than it was...

 

[Luckystar]

Sorry I do apoligise, Well that will do quite fine, and if thats case as well, then in a few months time i will upgrade it to a quadie, nothing special Q6600, should be quit cheap by then.

Thanks for the explanation, sorry for mistaking your original post

Lucky

Sorry to tell you but prices are now going up not down due to changes in the cpu market. Old Q6600 are now costing more than they were 1 month ago as everyone is now purchasing i3/i5/i7's. This market is coming down in price. If you want cheap but effective, look at the AMD market as that end is far cheaper now than it was...

Not through a online store, my personal favourite, Ebay. Check right now, and they go for just under or just over the £100 mark.

Plus, I am afraid to say, I'm not particularly a great fan of AMD processors, comparing performance wise, think i will stick with the Q6600 idea.

 

[Tarka Dal]

Sorry to tell you but prices are now going up not down due to changes in the cpu market. Old Q6600 are now costing more than they were 1 month ago as everyone is now purchasing i3/i5/i7's. This market is coming down in price. If you want cheap but effective, look at the AMD market as that end is far cheaper now than it was...

Not through a online store, my personal favourite, Ebay. Check right now, and they go for just under or just over the £100 mark.

Plus, I am afraid to say, I'm not particularly a great fan of AMD processors, comparing performance wise, think i will stick with the Q6600 idea.

No arguments there but, not off eBay. Your taking a large chance as most fake computer equipment comes off there so they say?

Trust this company with my life...

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 2.5GHz Socket 775 1333FSB 4MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor - Ebuyer

 

[Luckystar]

Not through a online store, my personal favourite, Ebay. Check right now, and they go for just under or just over the £100 mark.

Plus, I am afraid to say, I'm not particularly a great fan of AMD processors, comparing performance wise, think i will stick with the Q6600 idea.

No arguments there but, not off eBay. Your taking a large chance as most fake computer equipment comes off there so they say?

Trust this company with my life...

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 2.5GHz Socket 775 1333FSB 4MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor - Ebuyer

Ok then, suppose a Q6600 is a bit down the line from the 83. And after having a Q9300 and my current QX9650, ok i will highly consider the 83, and may have another look at the others in the same line of the 83. Thanks again runckle.