What CPU should I choose if I'm overclocking?

[guest21]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum and am wondering what CPU should I chose if I'm considering overclocking? I'm debating between the sandy bridge, ivy bridge, and haswell overclockable CPUs. I heard that sandy bridge has better overclocking potential compared to ivy bridge. I"m not sure how haswell compares to sandy bridge and ivy bridge. Also is it worth considering anything before sandy bridge or AMD CPUs?

Thanks in advance

 

[risaccess1]

I would go for really any intel K series processor.
The K series have unlocked multipliers, making them very simple to overclock even without changing the base clock.

The intel core i5 2500k and core i7 2600k were two REALLY good overclockers on the second generation sandy bridge architecture, and you can still purchase one if you wanted. It is very possible to get up to 5GHz even on a good air cooler.

Yes, I have heard that intel's 3rd gen. ivy bridge cpus have had some heat issues, and dont overclock as well as some of the other generations. However, you could still go for something like an i7 3770k, which will give you a decent overclock.

Intel's 4th gen haswell cpus are supposed to be extremely easy to overclock with some basic utilities, and there are plenty of guides online such as this one. If you want the latest from intel, go for an i7 4770k or an i5 4670k.

Whatever CPU you get, you want to make sure that your motherboard has a very beefy VRM system to supply enough juice to the CPU. I would recommend any asus z68/z77/z87 motherboard as they are designed for overclocking and have a great reputation. Also, you may want to consider a cooler like a noctua NH-D14 or a corsair H100i.

Good Luck!
BTW welcome to the forum.

 

[risaccess1]

Whoops!

I neglected the AMD side!

If you want a less expensive overclocking CPU, you could always pick and AMD processor.
The FX 8350 is an amazing 8 core that I have seen benchmarked running at aroung 5.5GHz. However, Im not sure how this was achieved and it may have been a pro overclocker doing it.

I would still recommend Intel > AMD for overclocking but feel free to get an AMD CPU if you wish.

 

[Tradesman1]

I'd suggest looking to gen 3 and an 1155 mobo, either the 3570K (better than the Sandy Bridge 2500K (which is discontinued)) or if you use multi-threading apps look to the 3770K. The new 4th gen Haswell CPUs are a hair better at stock, but don't OC as well and have more heat issue. Also the 3rd gen/1155 mobo combos are a little lower priced, so coupld apply that to other components, I run both Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge rigs now and will be putting together a Haswell build for support purposes, but will prob stick with my Ivy Bridge as may main rig, haven't been all that imppressed with the Haswell's I've built, they are nice, but power wise, prefer my Ivy

 

[guest21]

I would still recommend Intel > AMD for overclocking but feel free to get an AMD CPU if you wish.

If I were to overclock the intel k series CPUs and the fx 8350 as much as i could on an air cooler to a stable state, would i notice any difference between them? Also would the hyper-threading on the i7 make a difference in the future?

 

[ihog]

Are you looking to overclock for increased performance or for bragging rights? For performance, an unlocked (K) Haswell. For bragging rights, an unlocked (K) Sandy Bridge. Not sure about AMD.

 

[guest21]

Are you looking to overclock for increased performance or for bragging rights? For performance, an unlocked (K) Haswell. For bragging rights, an unlocked (K) Sandy Bridge. Not sure about AMD.

I'm going to build my first system and was wondering which CPU would offer the best performace if I were to overclock it as much as I can on a air cooling and still have a stable system

 

[risaccess1]

The FX8350 is an eight core CPU, and will outperform the intel counterpart if you need to do multi-threaded applications or rendering. You probably would not see much of a difference in gaming.

 

[schmuckley]

Well;Unless you wanna go extreme cooling,I'd say 2500K.
Next would be a Thuban or Deneb setup.
I've made SB chips cold before and got 0 Mhz gain.
So to repeat;If on air/water:Sandy Bridge.

 

[Tradesman1]

As for AMD the 8350 will outperform the 3570K in rendering and that's about it, and if equally OCed even rendering is close (the 8 cores give a slight edge) but that's about it, every where else the 3570K comes out on top, especially gaming....throw the 8350 against a 3770K, no contest, the 3770K wins hands down, even rendering and any multi threading