Which Is The Smoothest PC Platform? Intel VS AMD
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- Опубликовано: 30 июл 2024
- Hello all! This is the final video of the year, thank you for the support on the videos. I wish you the best and see you in 2024 ;)
Full System Specs + Overclock Details
AMD Main PC
Windows 11 23H2 Revi OS
1440p 270HZ Acer Monitor (With Backlight Strobing)
RTX 4090 3030Mhz core + 1200Mhz Mem, 450Watt Power Limit
7800X3D (2133FCLK, Per Core Undervolt)
360MM Cooler Master AIO (6 fans push pull, Noctua NT-H2 thermal paste)
DDR5 6200Mhz CL30(with tuned subtimings)
X670E Asus Crosshair Gene Mobo
1350 Watt Thermaltake PSU
Cooler Master H500 Mesh Case (white)
3 Terabytes of NVME SSD's
Intel Main PC
Windows 11 23H2 Revi OS
14900K 24 Core CPU 6.0Ghz P Cores, 4.5Ghz E Cores
360 AIO Galahad Trinity Performance White
32GB DDR5 8200Mhz CL 36 48 48 48
Z790 Apex Encore
1000Watt EVGA PSU
1TB NVME SSD
Jonsbo Test Bench Case
My WZ2 AND MW3 Config Files:
drive.google.com/drive/folder...
Follow my socials here:
/ discord
Background Music (Royalty Free Music)
William Rosati - Head Candy 
Игры
7800X3D has been great and VERY easy to keep cool. No noisy AIO pump or outside fan needed.
So far 6200 CL30 has been stable on Gigabyte Aorus Master
Your 360 AIO cooler alone is more expensive than both my Ryzen 5 5600 and Thermalright cooler together. Superb overview of the current top end platforms.
Thank you for the video! Keep up the good work.
Thank you for your time. That was a good video.
Got my 7800X3D a while back, upgraded from a 9700k which was way overdue! Currently running with a 3080 and hold solid 170-180 fps which is great, kinda want to hold out for the RTX 50-series if i can hold my breath that long... But you answer all my questions about the 7800X3D so thank you! Keep up the good work :)
Glad you are enjoying it fam! Tbh 50 series is still a year away... So if you want more FPS now, you have a lot of great options already I'd say👍 just depends how badly you need more FPS😆
@@Beefy-Tech I'm well aware of the upgrade paths :) it's not a question of need more like i want it c: but we all got our budgets
I have a 4090 and just replaced my 13700k cl16 4000mhz ddr4 setup to a 7800x3d cl30 6000mhz ddr5 cooled with an AK620 digi. So far running it with my 4090 it has been amazing.
That's awesome fam. Perfect build basically!
Man i love your content, I'm all about it bro. I run 7800x3d and 4090 in meshlishious, love it, only game i have problems with is warzone) Happy New Year!
Warzone is always the issue in some way tbh, be it servers or performance 🤣 happy new year fam!
What are you on my guy I average around 160fps in warzone with 1% lows of around 105 with a 3600x from the last decade running at 4.5GHz all core, 3785MT/s cl13-14-14-13-27-39 tRFC at 228, 1.62v. FCLK maxes out at excactly 1892.5, 1900 is not happening...
Weird i have a 14900k that idles at 30c and gaming avg is 65c? Ive been debating switching and trying am5 and 7800x3d but im worried about memory post times and possible stutter or random errors ive heard. I have never had an issue with intel. Not sure what to do
I'm thinking of upgrading my 13700k to a 14900k. Currently running with 32GB 6400 CL 32 RAM. Will my performance impact be significant or marginal compared to a 8000 hz RAM set? TBH I'm trying to figure out if it makes financial sense to upgrade to 14900k, or just sell my intel stuff and go with a ryzen 7950X3D. I already have a z790, 4090, and a 3x 360mm Deep Cool AIO
If u please i have a couple of quetions for my new build
1st am interested in 7950x3d is there a great gaming performance difference between it and 7800x3d
As i heard that amd new bios fixed many 7950x3d problems
2nd if u chose betwen 7900xt and 4070 or 3080 u would chose nvidia not due to performance but due to better experience with games adjustmen
Is that what u mean by prefering nvidia gpus?
Intel always better for mental health
What voltage are you using for 6ghz? The highest temp I've seen my 14000k go is 70c and it was pulling 240w in the finals. It's often in the 50c for most games at 6ghz all core and 4.7ghz ecores
The finals draws a lot more power than normal games, so it's a good example actually of a worst case scenario. I see Max 70c in games also. To run both 8200mhz and 6.0ghz I use 1.47 VRM voltage and 1.41 core voltage at load line 7 fam.
If you max overclock the 14700k with your 8200 ram rig do you get similar performance to the 14900k max OC? Then that would compete with the 7800x3d and be the smoothest for the price as well. but still be power and thermal hungry.
Hey man. What about GPU’S would you recommend 7900xtx over nvidia gpus. I have a 13900kf + 3080 and wanna upgrade gpu but im kinda lost😢
It is crazy that with my 7900x3d, I got 340 fps and up on every map on a 4k monitor, it is funny. I tried so many monitors, like 270-280-240 in 1440 p, and this set I have now is going crazy in fps.
By the way, Happy New Year to the European people.
Crazy good CPU's indeed man! Allows any GPU to shine to their fullest regardless of resolution 🥹 happy new year fam!
What are the 1% lows? That’s what really matters.
@@currymcflurryx9543 of course like every one else unstable between 240-260
ty for response! Im thinking about going back to intel with my 4090 build I just started working on @@humer101
Funnily enough. I've found with my 7900xtx, when I have 2 monitors plugged in, I get stutters in some games and my games as NOT SMOOTH AT ALL.
I found the best way to get around this is to plug my second monitor into the iGPU on my 7800x3D CPU lol.
Another tip I noticed to help with "smoothness" on the 7900xtx is to set the minimum clockspeed to 2400mhz in Wattman.
These 2 things fixed my horrible stutter and framey experience with my 7900xtx.
I just can't believe that having my second monitor plugged in causes so many issues on a GPU this pricey
Indeed weird! My 7900XTX experience is awesome on some games, and not great on others. On phasmophobia, warzone 1, and dying light 2 I had stutters which were fixable through a frame cap, FSR, or setting to borderless...but basically it bothered me that I had to fix it in the first place😂😂😂
@@Beefy-Tech I get massively terrible stutters on Destiny 2 when I have 2 monitors plugged in :/.
The only thing I can recommend is using 1 monitor, enabling the flip representation model in windows 11 using the "Optimisations for windowed games" option and capping your max clock speed at 2600mhz.
I get stutters on my desktop and screen flickers if I'm above 2600mhz max clock speed.
Everything else causes issues. I genuinely believe that the 7000 series is flawed at a hardware level and there is only so much drivers can do to fix it.
That's so bizarre. I know Graphically Challenged was complaining about his Nvidia system having stuttering issues with two monitors, but his 7900 XTX system did not.
Exacht same msi 1070 i had as my first card!! It actually gives 110+fps on low setting 1080p in warzone now😅..its a working horse!!
Nice video! But in another note I would like to know how is the config file in mw3 increase sSO much the fps compared to default config. With a 7700x 4070 with your config I almost make above 350 multiplayer 240-260 wz. But regular I don’t do more than 280 multi 210 wz…
The real question is, why does one look like 270hz and the other 230? with the same number of frames? How does this happen at the hardware level?
1% low?
1% lows yeah. Basically that inherent feeling of smoothness comes from consistency in the frame time line. The less the latency differs from second to second the better your game input feels and is perceived visually.
This can also be noticed through motion clarity.
What about 14700 k 7200mhz c34 vs 7800x3d 6000 cl30 in urzikstan? With a ref. 7900xtx
Hey Beefy can you comment on HUB newest video comparing 7900 xtx vs 4090 and their bizzare result in warzone, somehow 7900 xtx is basically locked to 200fps on all resolutions compared to 4090 which had no problem having 400+ fps on FHD, while amd card was still locked at 200. Steve mentioned maybe driver issue, however he still added it into charts. Any ideas ?
Possibly driver issues as I've been playing on the 7900xtx at 250-350 FPS depending on the map (BR and ashika differ) on a week or 2 old driver lol
i7 13700k with 7900xtx for warzone,i have this setup?
Hey man. I have your same combo of 7900xtx and 7800x3d. I dont know why tho i have huge stuttering in urzikistan map. The lows are really bad. I followed you optimizations you did in other video, disabled SAM, frame capped to 240fps with riva tuner... But still stuttering is really bad. My 1% lows are like 90, 100 in some areas. What can i check next? 😢
You disable resizebar in mw3 config not adrenaline
You need the latest amd preview driver. Set render worker count to 12. VRAM to 1.90000.
Make sure your mouse polling rate is 500 or below. I faced the same issue. You can leave SAM on.
I don't know Radeon gpu still had driver issue
@@arfianwismiga5912 remember warzone dropped in December. Not had a January driver yet that fully supports warzone. I expect better performance with the newest driver. That said the preview driver is working very well.
Hey Man nice Video. I am on the fence between the 7800x3d and the 14700k. I am currently running a 10850k with a 4080 and 32gb of 3600mhz Ram. The main issue is I am a streamer and I only play warzone and mainly small maps so which one should I get is the intel worth the extra cost ? and power? I run the game at 1440p on a 280hz monitor and i am getting around 160/170 fps but I am getting drops to 90 especially on vondel. like is it even worth the upgrade I only just got the 4080 so maybe i should also return that and upgrade to a 4090. Any help would be appreciated
14700K is the easy choice if you'd like to also stream fam! Those E cores will come in mega clutch for single pc streaming and I think it'll bump your FPS up by a good chunk!
@@Beefy-Tech thank you for your reply so my next question which is the cpu to got for 13900k,14700k or 14900k like is the 13900k/14900k worth the 200 + difference in cost ?
Happy New Year !
I have 5800x 6800xt 3733 cl14 ram. Warzone stutters, mp is going smooth as butter SAM off...but do you have any clue how to fix usb dissconnects in middle of fast moving motions of mouse? He keeps dc and reconnecting in like 0.2s...found on reddit its amd issue from back in the day...have my rig for over 2 years and only now it started doing this.
I am going to get new buils soon but in meantime i need quick fix for that :)
Ty for good insight of 14900k and x3d chips !
Turn mouse polling rate to 500 or under. For some reason warzone doesn’t work well when it’s above 500. After weeks of fault finding this game, it’s now smooth, I’m also using SAM.
Hi Beefy,
Awesone vid,
Can you please share the guide for warzone (urzikstan) for the full amd build. I feel like im not taking full advantage ;(
Thankss
Yessir, but a tad later on as for the time being I don't have warzone optimization videos, but I can recommend you to try some things. What's your setup exactly?
@@Beefy-Tech i have a ryzen 9 7950x 3D with a 7900 xtx with ddr5 Ram(5200 mhz). All on default setting (no overclock) all on a X670E steel legend motherboard
Thanks so much for the reply
Happy New Year, Beefy
Happy new year fam!
I was making a decision between the 14900k and the 7800x3d. I went with the 7800x3d bc one I’ve never tried AMD before on the CPU side plus people were saying how amazing it was for gaming and so far I have been very satisfied. Next year I’ll upgrade again and I might go with the 8800x3d if Intel doesn’t blow me away with the 15th gen cpus.
Personally the 7800x3d is the best choice for gamers period. Both the 7950x3d and 14900k have issues that you must account for and optimize around to get the oc working well...but the 7800x3d negates all of that and just requires latest bios and latest chipsets to work well, so it's an easy choice!
@@Beefy-Tech Hopefully intel get that same advantage X3D CPUs have in the 15th gen otherwise yeah its an easy choice to just go with 7800X3D. Hopefully they also like AMD make the gaming focused CPU like the 7800X3D. Think they need to start distinguishing their professional work and gaming related hardware so prices can go down on the gaming ones like the 7800X3D did, it was clearly designed for games otherwise AMD have a huge price to performance advantage.
its not even released, how you dare to speak out that nonsense, i have 7800x3d and 14700K, Intel still much better with RAM, and by the way i cant run crysis 1 on 7800x3d, not even starting
@@Beefy-Techlatest bios for my gigabyte aorus elite ax ice not working, while i'm restartilg pc it never boots again, garbage this plattform
@@nivea878 tf are you talking about you clown lmao? “How dare you to speak out” how about I go dare you to suck a dick
They’re both awesome, but one’s enthusiast (Intel) & the other’s plug & play (AMD x3d). I know which I’m choosing..
Ddr5 on the 7800x3d is not plug and play. Definitely enthusiasts level.
@@sambryant2283 Hard disagree. You can tune ram to get better 1% lows/stability, but averages are more or less the same. As long as you’re working w/ ddr5 6000+. Hynix, you can tune if you like, but even then that’s simple.
@@CarnivoryHODL I have had to tune ddr5 on the 7800x3d just to boot as stock timings were unstable. So I have to disagree from my own experiences.
what is the last config file for wz3 ?
there both good to be honest. plain and simple
There's ups and downs to both platforms... Intel draws 400watts in synthetic testing and AMD has a stupid setup process that makes people have issues with it, but in the end both can be set up properly and both will work🤣
@@Beefy-Tech by set up you mean overclock?
In your opinion, which CPU would be better for an all-in-one streaming PC? ☺️ 14900K/7800X3D/7950X3D + 4090❤
First-time viewer here. Good explanation! Just curious: Where are you from? You speak perfect English, but your accent shows that English wasn't your first language.
Pretty good talking head vid, in general these are my observations:
Intel always has much higher overclocking headroom especially if you choose your components carefully, if you want the fastest - tuned intel is the way to go.
Amd cpus are much more for your average joe, especially vcache parts, assemble the build, lock xmp on, do a quick stability test if everything works correctly and you are ready to go.
As with gpus i just dont bother with amd, you really cannot go wrong with nvidia even if they command premium over amg gpus.
I have 7800x3d and 4090 is brilliant in games the only annoying thing I found with 7800x3d is when alt tab in games or opening games and programs feels a bit sluggish compared to my previous 5900x was way more snappier
core count
It’s not just the core count the 3d cache one of the weakest points is still the multitasking a 7700x same core count but a lot more snappier
@@silviofernandes69 For me 780px3d feels quick going from 5800x3d
U just lost 30 percent of ur cores no wonder
yeah u talk about warzone but which system is better in cs2 and valorant ? Happy new year btw :D
Happy new year fam! For PUBG the X3D CPUs are outright way better by upwards of 50-80 FPS...but I don't know about valorant as I've never played it fam.
@@Beefy-Tech its free 2 play bro pls test it for all esport players :D (in cs just use fps_max 0 pls)
Bios setting have a lot to do with smoothness and latency and the 1 to 1 feeling he as a m&k playing should know this and speak on it …
i have my 7800x3d in a DanCase C4 (mini itx) cooled with air...and I don't think it ever went above 70 degrees but lately I've been having problems with my 6950XT, games that don't load the shaders before entering the game (The Finals, Fortnite, Hunt: Showdown) after about 5 minutes in the game, the fps drops to 60, the game freezes, the audio becomes crackling, then after like 30 second, everything becomes normal, IDK, I'll have to wait for a driver update I think..the thing i wanted to say is, guys if you need to get a mini itx computer, amd CPU totally wins
Happy new year Beefy. How would you rate a 6800xt and 13600k ddr4 combo?
After you rate this rate my 6800XT and 7800X3D combo it’s been great for me super smooth in 1440 180hz with Radeon chill
Get a 4070 recent amd drivers are shit
The fact that a 64 dollar ak620 can cool the 7800x3d is insane.
even wraith prism will cool it under gaming load
64!?!? Bro my $30 peerless assain keeps it icey under full 1440p load
The AK620 is a high end cooler with a maximum heat dissipation power of 260W, it can cool pretty much anything your comment make no sense lmao
Yup...even more...I'm using a 38 dollar air cooler on my 7950X3D and it runs flawlessly without a smidge of performance lost🤣🤣🤣
My Phantom Spirit cool my 14600k oced 5.8 single core 5.5 all core , and Im still have the core distance to TJ max like 30C
Here in the US if you don’t get a basic model the 4090 is running about the same as a 7800X3D/XTX build 😂 it’s wild out here.
Yup...my girlfriends 4090 was 1250euro second hand purchased less then months ago...same Asus tuf 4090 is now 2000 euro locally lmao. Prices are absolutely wilding rn☠️
@@Beefy-Tech they have ZERO chill and the indirect sellers on our main site are cleaaaaaan into $2.5-$3K range and my buddy said they were hitting $4K 😂 I’m like I cannot with this BS again. But it’s the AI 🤖 capability and the ban creating this shortage and high demand.
First 😍
Ryzen 7800x3d all the way that's what I got paired with a 4090
Sadly I had to opt out for a 4070ti. it still does the job but one day I’ll get a 4090
Salutare! Baga si tu niste teste, benchmarkuri, prea multa vorbarie. La multi ani!
I have a 5600X and I am a stuttery mess atm. But I think that theres a hardware fault in my PC I cant pin point.
A fair few dislikes on the video which caught my eye so I knew there's something said that a group of people haven't liked. Doubts cleared! It's all AMD builders. 😅
Seriously though, I would be interested in a video that dives deeper in to the AMD GPU ownership experience. Like how does it perform as a daily? What are the pros and cons? Who should and shouldn't buy one? etc
With AMD dropping a 7900GRE at £522 in the UK and the 7800XT available at £450, many a UK buyers at least must be weighing an AMD card over a 4070 Super.
Does everybody have 4090?
My experience having both a 13900K and 7800X3D paired with a 4090.
Unless you are prepared to do the following, the 7800X3D is simply a better, smoother higher performing product
Buy a $1000 motherboard
Buy ridiculously expensive ram
RMA 10 14900K to get a golden sample which can run 7800MTS+ ram
Spend more time in a bios screen than actually playing games
To at best, sometimes beat a 7800X3D by an imperceptible margin, and most times still lose to the 7800X3D on a cheap B650 board with cheap CL30 6000 ram
new meta, buy a huge fan XD
New preview drivers from amd has transformed the smoothness of the 7900xtx in warzone. No issues with SAM enabled.
which ones? I have a rx 7900XT. Using 23.11.1 right now
@@AlejandroMartinez-yv1gh it’s the latest preview driver. Are you windows 10 or 11?
@@AlejandroMartinez-yv1gh 23.11.1 is absolutely trash for warzone btw. Was unplayable with a terrible frame pacing issue.
Im on w10, 23.11.1 drivers, havent updated mine, which ones are those you are refering to ? I also have rebar off in the adrenaline. CPU is i9 13900k@@sambryant2283
Where can i find the latest preview driver ?
You can compare a 4090 with any other gpu a fair comparison is a 7900xtx with a 4080.. yes ur games have more fps its a 4090 this said nothing about cpus... if u had a 4070 then uawd both cpus with same card or both cpus with same 7900xtx that woykd ve diff
Why do you say that combining AMD processor with Nvidia video card produces the best overall result?
You would imagine that the same manufacturer across the entire system would actually be better!
To everybody. Turn on sam in andrenaline software. I gained 60-70 fps in 1440 p in cod
Are you getting bigger frame drops tho ? … had to turn it off for this reason on warzone
On my 7800x3d - cl 30 6000 mhz ddr5 g skillz - msi mag b650 tomahawk - 6800xt sapphire nitro + . I got at HUGE fps boost, also the 1 % low in 1440 p.
Dont know if it was a update by the game or how it played out. But i turned it off cause off beefy. Tried turning it on af couple of weeks later, then the magic happend
Well, seems like moving from 13600k running ddr4 3600c14 to an Amd 7800X3D ddr5 6000 cl30 could be a good upgrade? I still want to keep using my 3090 btw. I just do gaming but nothing crazy (no competitive bs, no AAA titles, etc.) my resolutions range from 1080p to 4k (120hz). depends on the game and which size of screen I want to use. Any inputs? Thank you, sir.
You might notice a small uplift in a few games at 1080p but I guarantee that your 13600k is saturating that 3090 99.9% of the time.
is that a good thing or bad? (saturation of 3090)@@jjlw2378 . thanks for your reply.
No the 13600k is a fantastic CPU keep it. Upgrading to a 7800x3d would be so pointless
not a worthwhile time and money investment. Don't touch your pc for at least 2-3 years when RTX 6000 series comes out.
Intel + Nvidia is better for your mental health 🍏
intel i9 of course now *pinned my comment*
ps: i own both ryzen 9 7950X3D + i9 13900k
somehow i like i9 13900k more than 7950x3D
99.99% of industry aware gamers will take the amd route. 2million dollars for 30hz more smoothness and cant keep it cool hahaha yeah right 😂. And i ve seen many pros with amd setups on lan i dont think u would need that mess of the 14900k just to win...💯💪🏼
AMD is far behind Intel when it comes to IPC, any tuned 6 core and above 13-14th gen system I'm talking (6ghz a/c 8000cl32) will destroy all non x3d chips and even put up a good fight and beat the x3d in a lot of games too. AMD currently maxes out slight over 5.6ghz a/c whereas intel can go up to 6.2ghz a/c, and like I said, amd is soo far behind in ipc that a 12th gen cpu at 5.6 ghz will have better scores than their zen 4 cpus at 5.6ghz (just slightly).
Not saying that AMD is terrible, it's quite a bargain if you ask me, even a r5 7600 with an all core overclock of 5.625GHz and 6400 cl26 fclk 2167 you get better performance than last gens 5800x3d even in warzone. (I have both cpus, yes the 7600 is better, don't try to argue, if in doubt just buy them to test it if you like and then return it all).
Price-performance= AMD.
Ultimate performance where price is just a number=Intel
The main problem with intel is just how fast things just get out of hand, not every chip will do 8000 and 6ghz (stable), just like not every board can do 8000, 2 dimm boards that can do 8000+ go for quite a premium, we all know what the 14900k costs, beefy aios are also relatively expensive. Not to mention if you really want every ounce of performance you should also delid your 14900k...
3D cache is the only reason AMD is relevant.
It just gives X3D cpus an unfair advantage over intel, even the fact that they work best at 6000-6600 is really another advantage for them over intel, it makes it so that even when nooby mainstream tech tubers test them with just xmp at 6000, they are already giving more advantges to amd, meanwhile intel at 6000 is kind of poopy.
If intel had 3d cache they would literally be soo far ahead of amd that amd will basically go out of business, like I said in terms of raw cpu performance intel is far ahead...
What are you smoking?
@@VRuler Found the noob!
lol. 3d v cache is a unfair advantage 😂 it’s called innovation. 3d v cache is so efficient, easy to cool and requires less ram speed to beat a very power hungry intel system with higher ram speed. I think amd put a patent on the 3d cache design so the only way Intel can fight back is pure horsepower = heat and huge power draw.
@@sambryant2283 3D cache doesn't matter, all I'm saying is that its unfair how they test it against intel system with like crappy XMP on, when you're on intel if you want to compare to x3d you're going to have to manually tune those ram timings, not just stock xmp...
@@user-wm3fc1sk1p I had to manually tune my ram because stock expo/xmp would not boot on my 7800x3d. So it’s no different.
U only have 5k subscribers and u dont care to reply to our comments
What would u do when u have 100k ???
😂😂😂
I'm replying specifically to you to thank you for believing I'll reach 100K, and when I do, I'll make sure to refer to this comment and forget to reply to my comments section again😎
@@Beefy-Tech 😶🌫️😶🌫️
WHY? Why would Intel be smoother?!
Reality check for you ..AMDip. Google it. It is real and still happens. Intel just works smooth as butter
AMD GPU is piece of junk 🗑️. So many driver issue on the new RDNA era, my old Polaris was way less buggy 🐛. Do not buy All in one AMD everything is do not equal to smoother 🙏. The only thing good about AMD is the price performance ratio with more energy saving on less hot near the computer 🖥️.
Amd is the best for gaming and other, Intel has been dead for several years, it no longer has any ideas for making new CPUs, amen
Fact
An Intel CPU that uses vcache would be the ultimate gaming CPU without question.
Intel keep increasing the temperature and power consumption 😮
You're a young cat... you don't get to talk with any kind of authority unless you started like I did with a 1mghz Commodore PET, or your first GPU was a 3dfx Voodoo card
7950x because... Windows 10 swcks and a Windows scheduler doesn't know what to do with a lopsided L shaped Intel processor with some performance cores, some efficiency cores..
The beauty of opinions is that they are only that...an opinion👍 but look at it this way, I am still at the age where I am physically capable of noticing the difference in pc latency and motion clarity, meaning it will still bare some importance to you ;)
Can't you do a video with 4k res? I will buy next Asus 4k oled 240hz monitor.
thats why they invented treath scheduler you d** a***
What a load of crap. I'm just a few years younger than you are going by your hardware era, I've been building water cooled rigs for 20 years, been overclocking for 28 years, and also did competitive XOC with DI/acetone and LN2 in the mid 00's. I can tell you that when I was 13-24 years old, that was my peak of passion for hardware and OC, and that was also the time period I was posting up record OC's and schooling people on new hardware who were 10-20 years older than I was.
OC is something you either do or don't develop a natural intuition for, and there's no place for age discrimination. I've seen people develop that intuition at anywhere from 13 to 65, and I've learned new tricks from people 10 years younger than I am. Beefy-Tech has my permission to speak as authoritative as he likes, not that he needs it, because I can tell he has the intuition, and he has done the legwork.