Is an Unlocked Chip Worth the Money?

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thismafiaguy

thismafiaguy

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Right now I can get an i7-3770k or an i7-4770 for the exact same price at MicroCenter, but the the cost difference comes into view with the motherboard. I'm looking for a Mini-ITX motherboard and I've decided to go with ASUS. So that leaves me with getting the P8Z77-I Deluxe with the 3770k(~$440 total) or the H87I Plus with the 4770(~$380 total).

I'm on a budget so I'm not going to get a 4770k for $30 more when the 3770k is almost the same chip in many scenarios. And I'm not going to step down to an i5 because I want the performance.

Due to the price of the motherboard, there will be at least a $60 difference between the unlocked 3770k and the locked 4770. So how does the unlocked chip justify the extra money, when both chips are already blazing fast, and in real-world applications there may not be any noticeable difference at all?
 
Solution
Madn3ss795
60$ different, but won't come in use unless you pay at least 30$ more for a decent cooler, the CM Hyper 212 EVO. With that extra 90$, after OC-ing, will get you around 15-20% higher performance than a 4770 at stock clock. Unless it's ok to get a cheaper Z77 ITX board, I wouldn't say that the extra money for an unlocked system worth the performance increase.
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Madn3ss795

Madn3ss795

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60$ different, but won't come in use unless you pay at least 30$ more for a decent cooler, the CM Hyper 212 EVO. With that extra 90$, after OC-ing, will get you around 15-20% higher performance than a 4770 at stock clock. Unless it's ok to get a cheaper Z77 ITX board, I wouldn't say that the extra money for an unlocked system worth the performance increase.
 
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thismafiaguy

thismafiaguy

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I'll be using a Corsair H80i, which has worked very well with my FX-8350 so far. But the problem with overclocking is that no chip is guaranteed to be a good overclocker, it's luck of the draw. What are some scenarios where the 15-20% extra performance will be noticeable?
 
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Madn3ss795

Madn3ss795

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Er, if you already got a H80i, then go for the unlocked option. Even the worst 3770k will claim over 4.6ghz using that cooler and that motherboard. The different ( can be more than 20% now ) will most likely become recognizable when teamed with a high-end VGA to play intensive games ( Crysis3, bf4 alike ) or when editing video, using 3D rendering programs, etc.
 
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diligence

diligence

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When playing cpu intensive games, for example planetside 2 (which is always cpu limited even if you have two GTX Titans) or bf3. also, performance difference can be noticed if doing heavy video editing, compressing, rendering, or anything cpu intensive like that. however i would say the performance difference wouldn't be that noticeable unless you are gaming. here is a comparison between the 4770k and the 3770k, you can tell the 4770k is noticeably zippier, http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/551?vs=836

either one has a noticeable increase over the fx-8350 so you cant really go wrong, hope i helped at least a little! let me know what you decide

Edit: Keep in mind the benchmarks were done at stock speed, so the 4770k is equal to the 4770 at stock speeds
 
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thismafiaguy

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I honestly think Haswell is a bit overrated in terms of gaming, most of the improvements went to efficiency and the integrated GPU, which are things that don't really make much of a difference in a gaming rig. And the H87-I just seems so stripped down that ASUS had to put surge protection as one of the features. I want to go with the 3770k, but I just have a hard time wanting to pay $180 for the P8Z77-I motherboard. It has a bunch of cool features, if only it was on sale... Speaking of which, do you think there will be a price drop on it after the Z87-I Deluxe boards become available?
 
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diligence

diligence

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there could be some price drop, or they could also discontinue it, who knows :b but as for right now, what kinds of features do you find most valueable? overclocking? energy efficiency? etc
 
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thismafiaguy

thismafiaguy

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I like just about every feature mentioned in Tek Syndicate's review of the P8Z77-I. And since I'll be building it with a Node 304 case, integrated wifi seems like an appropriate feature. Totally gonna whip out my gaming rig from the backpack at the airport one day. What I'm most impressed about the P8Z77-I is the overclocking potential it has.
 
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