Should I buy an overclocked i5

[columbo678]

Hello, I have been shopping around recently for a new pc andlooking into the possibility of a self build. Thanks to the help I received on another thread I decided upon an i5 processor. I was ready to buy my components when I came across a review of a Chillblast pc in PC Advisor . This was almost exactly the same as my self build would have been and with their customize option became exactly what I am looking for; it is also around £100 cheaper (including delivery) than it would be to build it myself. This leaves room for those little upgrades I didn't think I would be able to afford, one of the upgrades they offer is the option to overclock the i5 from 2.66 to 3.6. They warn to make sure to select the Arctic cooling Freezer 7 (which is pretty obvious). My concern is how this will affect the longevity of the processor? I hope the computer lasts as long as my old system, so, I have a few concerns:
Is it worth the extra £19.00 for the overclocked processor or should I do it myself (considering I have never cverclocked anything before)?
How will buying an overclocked processor affect the chip's warranty?
Will the overclocked processor last as long as stock speed processor?
An option I would consider is to operate on the stock speed processor until my power demands require overclocking...

Ps. Sorry about the rather somnambulatory essay.

 

[simon12]

Is it worth the extra £19.00 for the overclocked processor or should I do it myself (considering I have never cverclocked anything before)?
Depends on whether you want to learn or not
How will buying an overclocked processor affect the chip's warranty?
It will void the Intel warranty but the seller may offer one
Will the overclocked processor last as long as stock speed processor?
No, but noone knows what difference it will make

 

[columbo678]

Thanks, Always willing to learn so I'll OC it myself.

 

[wolfram23]

If the company offers a warranty on the OCed version I'd probably pick that up. 3.6ghz isn't a huge OC and will definitely give you good performance. It should also still last for years, as that OC doesn't require the voltages to be very high so definitely within Intel specs. On the other hand, OCing is pretty easy although a little time consuming. I'm curious tho, at 3.6 is turbo still enabled? If it is, then great. Mine runs at 3.7ghz and turbo 4.2ghz, with a 175 base clock. IMO tho just OC it yourself. If you want to post full specs we can maybe advise although I'm sure you've picked some good components as it sounds like you've done your homework

 

[columbo678]

The warranty they offer covers all the pc's components for one year. Full specs are:
Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case,
Intel Core i5 750 Processor overclocked to 3.6GHz,
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro,
Asus P7P55D-E LX Motherboard,
Corsair4GB PC3-12800 1600MHz DDR3 Memory,
Chillblast Radeon HD 5770 1024MB,
1TB 7200RPM Hard Disk*
Sony 24x DL DVD±RW SATA Optical Drive,
EZCool Basic 600W PSU .

 

[jonpaul37]

the power supply and the hard drive are the only suspicious components in that build, i would go for a Samsung Spinpoint F3 and a quality brand PSU like Corsair, PC Power & Cooling, Antec. The one thing you do NOT want to flake out on is the PSU as it is the most destructive of any component in a PC.

 

[columbo678]

Their standard hard drive is a 500gb, I will just buy a 1TB instead of upgrading on their site, the WD Caviar is around the same price as the Samsung Spinpoint F3. Is there any reason either could be considered better than the other?
The Chillblast web offers an upgrade to an OCZ 600w stealth extreme from their standard PSU. Is the voltage the problem or is it the brand?

 

[jonpaul37]

brand and amperage value on the 12v rail and how many 12v rails there are, typically brands like Corsair, Pc Power & Cooling etc... are built more solid and have single 12v rail with a high amp value with 80%+ efficiency those are all good qualities of a PSU. OCZ has one line of PSU's that are decent but generally they're just ok or average.

the F3 is slightly better than the WD of the same GB value and last i knew they were a little cheaper. Though the WD Caviar Black models are similar to the F3's in terms of performance.

 

[wolfram23]

I agree about getting a quality PSU. Also, as to HDD, if you're looking for 1TB IMO get 2 500gb and put them in RAID 0. You get the total disk space to use but they can transfer a LOT faster than a single drive. (partitions files so that it reads pieces off each drive, in theory doubling the read/write rates).

 

[jonpaul37]

Indeed, RAID 0 is also a good option or perhaps get an SSD and use the stock HDD they give you for storage.

 

[columbo678]

Thanks very much. I didn't really understand the importance of PSU brand, I really overlooked this component when I was researching the parts. I will upgrade to a Corsair TX 650w. Thanks again.

 

[wolfram23]

Good choice. 650TX is a great PSU. I have a 750TX and it's running a LOT of stuff no problem.

 

[columbo678]

Can't wait to get it now. I'm currently working on a Pentium 4 with 512 DDR2 (actually I'm not sure it is DDR2) and a 60gb HDD. If it wasn't for my Laptop i think i'd have gone mad, and its a celeron 2.0 processor with integrated graphics and 1gb ram. Won't know myself in two weeks time.

 

[jonpaul37]

very good choice on the 650TX, it should last you quite some time, good luck with everything.