Does overclocking really give a boost ?

[Cov]

Hello Peeps !

I researched a lot about each single component before I bought all parts for my current PC last March (2008).
I was up-to-date what's hot & what's not ... but, as you know very well, Computers outdate quicker than you can run.

Meaning, 10 month later (today), so much has changed again (like usual) - but I'm happy with what I got cause it can still cope with everything, except one thing: Crysis

Having just played Far Cry (yes, Far Cry 1) to up about over half way (the point where you have to hide in a vent, but destroy the lock first), and am absolutely amazed about the graphics quality.
Just one thing: it gets too hard at some levels, to the point where I'm about to really give up.

Gosh, I could talk non-stop about my experiences with the games I'm currently playing: Ghost Recon - Advanced Warfighter, Battlefield 2, Enemy Territory - Quake Wars ... yes, I'm hooked up !

Anyway, I digged out the game Crysis from under my bed (yes, I have a lot of catching up to do) and installed it just yesterday and hey ! THE GRAPHICS ROCKS SO MUCH ... (didn't believe before there was space for improvement to Far Cry) ... but ... it's too slow for my PC !?!?!?!
Can that be ? Or is something wrong ?

Of course I went to the highest resolution for my 24" screen and set everything to high, like usual.
My 3.0 GHz Wolfdale (E8400) and the GeForce 8800 GT are letting me down !?!?!?! ... OMG !

My question: Do you think overclocking would help ... significant ?

I mean, I remember to have seen that people have OC'ed the E8400 from 3.0 to 4.0 GHz and my GeForce from eVGA must still have some space for improvements too.
The motherboard is the micro-ATX: Asus VM-HDMI (4GB RAM).

Please note that I have zero experience with overclocking, but it looks like I have no other choice to make Crysis smooth(er) !?!?!?

Besides this, if Crysis is so demanding, what's my PC gonna do with Far Cry 2, GTA IV, Gears of War and Flightsimulator X for example ? A slide show ?

Any comments from people with similar experiences would be just great

[HSK]

I have a Q6600, I have over clocked it from time to time, yea I notice differences and big improvements with tasks, games not so much. FSX did seem to improve quite abit. But I think mostly they're GPU dependant.

I don't know you know, I never really bench marked the games, I'll try it one day.

[TAKTAK]

Games are more graphics card limited rather than CPU, and most games won't use more than a 2.4GHz Dualie currently...

O/Cing will improve things overall, but you won't notice much difference in games due to the limiting factor being the GFX card

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Hello Peeps !

Besides this, if Crysis is so demanding, what's my PC gonna do with Far Cry 2, GTA IV, Gears of War and Flightsimulator X for example ? A slide show ?

Any comments from people with similar experiences would be just great

Your system will be fine for most games as the current 9800GT is basically a rebadged 8800GT. Most games are limited by the graphics card currently. Your CPU is fast enough at the moment for most games.

Crysis and GTAIV are huge resource hogs unlike most other games. Farcry 2 will be fine as it seems to run better than either Crysis or GTAIV. The later Crysis Warhead has improved performance over the original game. Crysis is the best longing game currently available. If your system can run Crysis fine most other games will be OK too. I have heard the GTAIV has alot of bloatware too which does not help at all:

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2008/...ames-of-2008/2

Having played Crysis myself I would do the following to help improve performance:
1.) Have the latest graphics drivers for your card
2.) Install the latest patches for Crysis
2.) Mess around with the settings!! You should be able to play Crysis at 1440x900 or even 1680x1050 smoothly with an 8800GT. Try changing the settings. Start at medium for everything and then increase the settings. The last stages are very resource heavy. You may need to reduce the resolution and quality settings.

Also have anti- aliasing on will decrease performance too so either reduce the level or switch it off.

An 8800GT will be fine with Crysis:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/inno3d...ition-review/7