CPU or Graphics bottleneck?

[NaturalViolence]

Sankeyao Wrote:k thanks for the replies guys. I guess I'll just wait another 3-4 years for a better performance-per-thread cpu or get a Wii U for semi-hd fun. Or if miraculously someone decides to get the HLE plugin is tweaked to fix the audio.

Hardware already exists that can do what you ask. Upgrade to a 4670K and Z87 motherboard and you might not even have to overclock.

[Sankeyao]

True, although what I meant to say was to wait a couple of years until the performance of a 4670k could be bought for the price of an i5 instead. My PC budget was more focused on graphics cards because of the selection of games that I currently play, rather than just for dolphin.

[NaturalViolence]

Sankeyao Wrote:True, although what I meant to say was to wait a couple of years until the performance of a 4670k could be bought for the price of an i5 instead.

It already can.....the 4670K is an i5.

[degasus]

pauldacheez: As buffer_storage is enabled on current master + current nvidia driver (released some days ago), vertex streaming hack isn't needed any more. Buffer_storage should provide the same performance in a save way, so it's enabled by default.

[ThorhiantheUltimate]

Since many of you guys have Intel CPUs, do you know if the locked ones can have their base clocks raised? My multipliers on my AMD Phenom II 1055T are locked, but I was able to OC just as well without touching them. Is this sort of OC viable in this situation?

If so, it could help the OP

[DJBarry004]

The only way to do that is enabling TurboBoost. Take in mind that using Turbo Boost will raise the clock speed using the same multiplier if the CPU is locked (doesn´t belong to the K series), while on unlocked ones you can raise both the frequency and the multiplier.

[admin89]

First gen non-k i5/i7 can OC the same way as you did
2nd , 3rd , 4th non-k or k version can do the same . However , not by much , you only gain small improment if you pair them with P67/Z68/Z77/Z87 mobo (0->200MHz OC) . BC OC is pretty much dead atm
2nd , 3rd gen non-k CPU can slightly overclock via multiplier (limited overclocking ) if you pair them with those mobo . Afaik , i5 3450 can OC up to 3.9GHz (or 4.0GHz) with Asrock Z77 Pro 4 mobo . It's impossible for newer CPU such as 4th gen Haswell , Intel has locked it for good :/

[NaturalViolence]

@ThorhiantheUltimate

Which architecture? Each generation has different "rules" for overclocking.

In most cases yes you can raise the base clock. But it would be stupid to do so. The HT reference clock on phenom II systems is not linked to anything but the cpu. This allows you to safely overclock the cpu by raising it without overclocking other components in the system. This cannot be done on MOST modern Intel cpus. Which is why raising the base clock on an Intel system is the equivalent of taking the largest sledge hammer you can find and beating your motherboard with it like it just tried to rob you.

@DJBarry004

What does any of this have to do with TB?

DJBarry004 Wrote:Take in mind that using Turbo Boost will raise the clock speed using the same multiplier if the CPU is locked (doesn´t belong to the K series), while on unlocked ones you can raise both the frequency and the multiplier.

That's just completely wrong. TB raises the multiplier. That's how it works. Even on locked cpus.

[ThorhiantheUltimate]

(01-13-2014, 11:45 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote: @ThorhiantheUltimate

Which architecture? Each generation has different "rules" for overclocking.

In most cases yes you can raise the base clock. But it would be stupid to do so. The HT reference clock on phenom II systems is not linked to anything but the cpu. This allows you to safely overclock the cpu by raising it without overclocking other components in the system. This cannot be done on MOST modern Intel cpus. Which is why raising the base clock on an Intel system is the equivalent of taking the largest sledge hammer you can find and beating your motherboard with it like it just tried to rob you.

Well actually the base clock is linked to my RAM, northbridge, and Hyper transport. I had to manage those to reasonable levels, but it wasnt hard (I kept my RAM almost the same as its stock speed, and Kept the hyper/north bridge at around 2000 MHz in this case). So basically even though the base clock was linked to several components, it let me lower their multipliers to keep them close to stock. Can you not lower the multipliers for other parts of the system on Intel Mobos/CPUs?
Also, im asking about Haswell/Ivy.

[NaturalViolence]

AMD doesn't like to use proper terminology. The "northbridge" they are referring to is not the actual northbridge, but the L3 cache and IMC. Both of which are located on the cpu. I assure you that you are not overclocking your actual northbridge at all. The memory speed is also not technically linked to the HT reference clock. The bios artificially imposes a ratio but they are in fact set separately at the hardware level. This feature can easily be turned off by setting the ratio to "unlinked". This will allow you to raise/lower everything else without effecting the ram speed. The reference clock is linked to the HT controller. But that's also on the cpu.

So yes. The cpu is the only chip effected by the HT reference clock. Unless you count the HT bus controllers on other chips but I don't. Other chips use other clock signals. Which is not very efficient from a design standpoint but it does make OCing more flexible.

ThorhiantheUltimate Wrote:Can you not lower the multipliers for other parts of the system on Intel Mobos/CPUs?

With a few exceptions, no. Quite frankly there would be no point in doing so anyways. Everything can either be set independently or has no effect on performance.