Are you a gamer on a low budget and want to increase your Gaming performance without spending money?
Some people say that you can increase your fps by overclocking the CPU. But it’s a complicated process. So You wonder how much benefit will you get from this hassle. Don’t worry!
For most of my life, I’ve been a low-budget player. And for this, I’ve spent a lot of time working with computers, creating a lot of pcs, and overclocking a lot of CPUs to obtain a few more frames per second. So, in this article, you get your answers.
Does Overclocking Increase FPS?
Yes, it increases FPS, but there are some twists to it. Some games’ performance relies on your CPU’s speed, so overclocking the CPU would boost the number of frames per second. But some entry-level games don’t seem to care about the fps count.
Also, check if your CPU is overclocked properly and run some CPU-intensive tools to ensure overclock is stable.
You know that overclocking the CPU increases the clock speed of the processor. But the increase is limited to a few hundred MHz, even if you have a high-dollar cooling System.
Knowing how various types of games use your CPU and GPU in different ways is crucial for FPS. Many games most often depend on how quickly GPU can split out frames so that the games run smoothly.
How Much does Overclocking Increase the FPS?
To know the definitive answer, I tested on two of my PC with different games to see the effect in FPS.
Test 01:
I run some games on a PC made of AMD FX-8350 with GTX 970 and 16 GB 1600mhz ram. The Pc’s OS was Win-10 64x. And clock speed was 4.2 and 4.5 after overclock.
I tasted Batman Arkham city, Total WAR Warhammer, and Shadow Of Mordor. The PC had the latest AMD and NVIDIA driver. And all games were tested in MAX setting in 1080P.
The results for Batman Arkham City were:
| Particles | Stock Clockspeed | Overclockspeed |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum FPS | 36 | 44 |
| Average FPS | 81 | 88 |
| Max FPS | 144 | 153 |
The results for Shadow Of Mordor were:
| Particles | Stock Clockspeed | Overclockspeed |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum FPS | 49 | 49 |
| Average FPS | 68 | 70 |
| Max FPS | 91 | 92 |
The results for Total WAR Warhammer were:
| Particles | Stock Clockspeed | Overclockspeed |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum FPS | 54 | 56 |
| Average FPS | 64 | 64 |
| Max FPS | 69 | 70 |
As you can see by those results there is an increase in FPS in some cases. It stayed the same for some games.
So the games that depend on the CPU will give you a good growth in the FPS, but other games won’t give you much by overclocking.
Test 02:
To be sure, I tested overclocking the other pc with some other games to see the effect on FPS.
The Spec of the second pc was Intel Core-i5 2500k with Zotac GTX 760 Overclocked and 8GB 1600mhz Ram. The Clock-speed was 3.7GHz and 4.5 GHz after overclocking.
For this test, the game I ran was Farcry3, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, and Crisis 3.
Firstly, for Far cry 3, I got an Fps of 53 on average (in 3.7GHz), and with overclocked CPU (4.5 GHz), I got an average of 54 FPS.
Only one extra FPS, but it was not a graphically intensive game.
However, In the case of Skyrim, it was different. The non-overclocked CPU gives an FPS of 48, But with overclocked CPU (4.5 GHz), I get 55 FPS. So here, I get a pretty good increase in the frame rate.
And For Crisis 3, the FPS was 34 for base clock speed and 37 for overclocked speed, which was pretty noticeable in gameplay.
So we can conclude that overclocking your CPU improves clock speed performance, but it varies different game to game.
Games Like Simcity Simulator or some RTS games give you a noticeable increase in fps for overclocking the CPU. But For FPS games or in the case of some RPGs, the Notice would not be that great. Nonetheless, OC will boost your FPS.
However, before you start OCing, make sure the CPU is overclockable. Or else, overclocking can reduce CPUs’ lifespan.
How to Increase FPS without Overclocking CPU
You can also increase your Game FPS without overclocking the CPU. Some of the methods need money but others can be done free of charge. On this basis, they are divided into two ways
The two ways to increase the FPS in-game are:
- Upgrading the Components
- Tweaking the setting in the existing component
Overclocking the CPU resides in the second part. There are also other ways to increase the FPS. They are described below.
Upgrading the Components
Upgrading the components simply means changing the existing components with new ones. It is basically buying the new components in order to increase the performance.
Here are the components you can upgrade to increase the FPS in the Game:
- You can upgrade your processor to increase the FPS in-game. Here you can buy the processor with a base clock speed higher than your previous components. So letter, you can overclock the processor to get more high FPS.
- You can upgrade your ram by installing a new one in the empty slot on your motherboard. Because dual channel ram gives more FPS than a Single channel Ram
- You can upgrade your Cooling System to get more FPS. A better cooling system helps to run a PC at a higher clock speed for a long time. That helps with the FPS.
- Last But not least, You can change the GPU with the newer version to get an increase in The FPS.
Recently G.skill has released their Trident Z royal series of memory modules which can be overclocked up to 4600 MHz (rated).
Tweaking the Setting in the Existing Component
Tweaking the setting in the existing component is a process of increasing the FPS without spending the money. If You are on a low budget, I recommend you to try this method below.
Here are the Settings you can use to increase the FPS:
- You Can decrease the resolutions to increase the fps of a game. If you run your game in 1440p, You can decrease it to 1080p to get more FPS.
- You can get more FPs by turning off the Motion blur setting and Depth of the Field Setting to get more FPS.
- You can turn off the Shadow effect in-game to increase the FPS. By turning it off, you won’t lose game visual but increase the FPS dramatically
- Turning Off the Vsinc unlock the frame rate option so that you can play at a consistent frame rate, but If you have a high-end monitor, then it can cause the screen tearing.
Can GPU/RAM/SSD Increase FPS?
Effect of GPU in FPS:
The GPU card directly affects the FPs In the Game. The main work of the graphics card is to determine the speed of graphics displayed on the monitor. If The GPU is not advanced or high-performance, it will put the graphics per frame slowly, which will cause a Lower FPS.
The GPU determines the FPS by determining the time to load graphical content on the monitor.
Effect of RAM in FPS:
The FPS is the measurement of how many images will be displayed on the screen per second. The short-term image in use is mostly stored in ram, So the higher the ram, the lower the access time. So ram affects the FPS in-game. Because a lot of game uses a certain amount of RAM and providing the necessary storage makes The FPS higher.
In most cases, dual cannel Ram performs better than a single-channel ram. This means You will get better performance for two sets of 4 GB ram than the one 8GB.
Effect of SSD on FPS:
The SSD doesn’t affect the FPS, but it increases the other game feature dramatically.
SSD is significantly high speed than HDD, So its loads Game is Faster than the HDD. The SSD also Decreases the Suttering in the Game, so it feels the fps is increased. And also, SSD moves data faster than HDD, so the loading time of the Game is decreased, and the game also runs at a constant FPS.
Does Overclocking Affect the CPU?
Overclocking has some Dramatic effects on the CPU. It Basically Increases the Performance of the CPU, but there are other effects of overclocking.
Here are the Good And Bad effects of CPU overclocking:
Good Effect of Overclocking the CPU:
- Overclocking Increases the Clock speed.
- It increases the performance of the Programs running on the PC.
- In CPU-based games, overclocking increases the FPS.
- It unlocks the full potential of the processor.
Harmful effect of overclocking the CPU:
- Overclocking voids the warranty
- It decreases the processor’s lifespan.
- It increases the Heat in the system, So you need a good cooler to make it stable.
- It consumes more power
- Overclocking The CPU increases the risks of frying the Components and so on
Conclusion
Long story short, the Game based on your CPU clock speed will give you more FPS when you overclock your processor because an overclocked CPU has a performance boost. However, if you have a good CPU, you won’t notice the rise in FPS, but it is visible on older systems.
So after reading this article I am sure that you have gotten your answer regarding the question you asked at the beginning of the article.
And also I’ve provided other ways to increase the Game FPS. If you follow those steps accordingly then you can improve the FPS of your game. Thank you.
