Is 4.0 Ghz on CPU enough for playing games?

[Ryuga]

I am overclocking my CPU but i dont know which clock speed is considered to be decent enough to run games smoothly but still not destroying the CPU itself. I think 4.0 Ghz is a safe pick although my CPU can be boosted to 4.9 GHZ. I am relatively new to hardware so any advices or explanations is appreciated. Thank you for your time.

[MancSoulja]

what CPU do you have? Clock speed means very little without knowing the CPU.

[Ryuga]

Escrito originalmente por MancSoulja:

what CPU do you have? Clock speed means very little without knowing the CPU.

It's I7 9700k

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

It will run at 5.0 GHz easy enough but you need a decent CPU cooler. Check some overclocking guides on Youtube. Also make sure you have Z370 or Z390 motherboard for overclocking.

[_I_]

yes, its more than enough for 60fps gaming

as long as its stable and under 80c after 15+min of prime95 blend its fine

[Ryuga]

Escrito originalmente por Rumpelcrutchskin:

It will run at 5.0 GHz easy enough but you need a decent CPU cooler. Check some overclocking guides on Youtube. Also make sure you have Z370 or Z390 motherboard for overclocking.

Yes thank you for your concern. I already have a compatible cooling and PSU for it. My main is also a Z390

[Ryuga]

Escrito originalmente por _I_:

yes, its more than enough for 60fps gaming

as long as its stable and under 80c after 15+min of prime95 blend its fine

Thank you for your advices, really helpful

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Just set to allow 5ghz on all cores in bios.

[upcoast]

Running games smoothly is reliant on other parts also ie GPU is number one with 16gb ram second.

[TehSpoopyKitteh]

Escrito originalmente por Ryuga:

I am overclocking my CPU but i dont know which clock speed is considered to be decent enough to run games smoothly but still not destroying the CPU itself. I think 4.0 Ghz is a safe pick although my CPU can be boosted to 4.9 GHZ. I am relatively new to hardware so any advices or explanations is appreciated. Thank you for your time.

4GHz is plenty. I have a Core i7-6700K and it runs well with most games out right now. I’ve OC’ed it to 4.4GHz without meddling with the voltage. The advantage you have with the 9700K at that speed is larger cache and more physical cores.

[Ralf]

Escrito originalmente por Ryuga:

I am overclocking my CPU but i dont know which clock speed is considered to be decent enough to run games smoothly but still not destroying the CPU itself. I think 4.0 Ghz is a safe pick although my CPU can be boosted to 4.9 GHZ. I am relatively new to hardware so any advices or explanations is appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Isn't your 4.0GHz OC actually a downclock?
I mean this review says that 9700k boosts to 4.6GHz on all cores.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i7-9700k-9th-gen-cpu,5876.html

[tacoshy]

No it's not. What you mean is SpeedStep which temporarily boost the CPU during load while it knows it can cool down shortly after. That boost can't be maintained for longer duration. turbo boost puts cores into c-states which renders them idle to transfer the TDP and boost a single core with it.

Overclock works all the time on all cores.

[hawkeye]

Overclocking a 9700k will make no difference to performance as even a 2080ti will limit performance at stock speed. Just leave the bios in high performance mode.

[Magma Dragoon]

Escrito originalmente por tacoshy:

No it's not. What you mean is SpeedStep which temporarily boost the CPU during load while it knows it can cool down shortly after. That boost can't be maintained for longer duration. turbo boost puts cores into c-states which renders them idle to transfer the TDP and boost a single core with it.

Overclock works all the time on all cores.

Speed step allows the cores to fall below base clock when idle, turbo boost dictates when and how long a core can stay in P2.

Most performance oriented aftermarket motherboards override Intel's default boost and TDP recommendations. For example mine has unlimited P2 tau and synchronizes core speeds, so single core max boost is really all core max boost without me having done anything. Turbo will not tell ss to sleep one of my cores to gain more power, it just ignores Intel's recommended power limit. There is no difference between changing the max multiplier of my CPU from 35 to 39 and disabling turbo vs the default behavior.

[_I_]

Escrito originalmente por hawkeye:

Overclocking a 9700k will make no difference to performance as even a 2080ti will limit performance at stock speed. Just leave the bios in high performance mode.

this depends on the display also
if its a 144hz display it will need 5+ghz and a very strong gpu in most games to hit 144+fps

[SeriousCCIE]

Hey I think, coming from a guy with a few under 4ghz systems, that you're in good shape.

Don't put too much of your confidence into achieving someone else's results, if you're trying to compare scores. But, use them as a sort of baseline to compare your peak results with.

You may find that playing the games you like, and adjusting the settings up and down to suit your desires. There will always be someone that blames other people and developers for bad optimizations, but remember, only you can optimize your computer.

4ghz is a good place to be for a while yet, and you have plenty of overhead to grow into if you or should you decide to push your performance further in the future.

Just make sure to test out your games to prove to yourself its a good number! Just listening to us provide our opinions won't go very far in playing your games for you and proving to yourself that you got a good result.