4770K Overclocking Potential

[mr meister]

Hi,
I'm interested in the new 4770K and just had a couple of questions about it. Around May 3rd-5th (ish) there were a lot of reports on the internet of people being able to overclock the CPU to 7.0GHz. Since the release, i don't think i've seen anyone get above 4.9GHz.

I'm not saying that's bad, i'm just curious as to whether it's possible to get above that if one was to buy a top of the line motherboard and watercooling system?

Thanks

 

[luckiest charm]

Certainly not.

Haswell chips are well known for being hot. If you want to OC your chip then nothing is better than Sandy Bridge. Otherwise for raw power, Haswell is awesome too.

90% of the Haswell chips do not go beyond 4.4 GHz without a lot of trouble and that is well more than enough. Some lucky 10% manage to hit anywhere around 4.8 GHz but not more than that.

On the other hand, Sandy Bridge CPUs easily manage to hit 5.2 GHz on good air cooling. Precisely 2500K.

In my opinion, do not get top of the line mobo for haswell and Noctua NH - D14 is also more than enough for it.

ASRock Z87 Extreme4 or even Extreme6 will give you all features you would ever want from your motherboard and Nh - D14 should let you keep things at 4.3 GHz - 4.4 GHz with no issues.

Good Luck!

 

[edogawa]

I disagree with the poster above just a bit.

There is nothing wrong with a high end board for Haswell. The problem I see with people complaining about Haswell processors is most people do not need to overclock paste 4.4 realistically. Stock is actually more than adequate for 95% of gamers.

Sadly, I have just an average 4670k chip, I can only do 4.2ghz stable while keeping the voltage/temperatures low, but that's more than enough for a gaming PC for me unless I go for a more serious system.


People who benchmark, liquid-cool, do 4 way SLI may want to use a previous generation chip to overclock very high, or keep trying to get a golden Haswell chip.


Also, why do you want an i7? -An i5 will be more than enough for gaming unless you plan to encode/render or the such.

 

[8350rocks]

As previously stated, expect 4.2-4.4 GHz, 4th gen Intel is no speed demon compared to even IB.

 

[mr meister]

Also, why do you want an i7? -An i5 will be more than enough for gaming unless you plan to encode/render or the such.

I want an i7 so that i can start flying with my music production and video encoding. I use Pro Tools and Cubase a lot, and have a large amount of sample instruments that take a lot of CPU power. I also mainly work with music to moving image, so Premiere Pro is essential for me. The faster my CPU, the faster the encoding speed, thus saving me more time during the day.

Currently i only have a 2.2GHz i7 Macbook Pro. As much as i think it's a good portable system, it doesn't compare to desktop performance at all, and i really don't see the point in shelling out on a Mac Pro when i can just customize the system to my needs and get something a lot better for my money.

 

[mr meister]

As previously stated, expect 4.2-4.4 GHz, 4th gen Intel is no speed demon compared to even IB.

I also think it would be beneficial for me to get a Haswell CPU as it uses the new 1150 socket. I see this as future-proofing myself

 

[8350rocks]

As previously stated, expect 4.2-4.4 GHz, 4th gen Intel is no speed demon compared to even IB.

I also think it would be beneficial for me to get a Haswell CPU as it uses the new 1150 socket. I see this as future-proofing myself

Honestly, if you're overclocking, the 3770k would likely suit you better.

There is nothing else coming on socket 1150, broadwell will be BGA only, and a haswell refresh is scheduled for 2014. Next "new" release from Intel for desktop is Skylake in 2015 and it will require a new socket.

 

[edogawa]

Also, why do you want an i7? -An i5 will be more than enough for gaming unless you plan to encode/render or the such.

I want an i7 so that i can start flying with my music production and video encoding. I use Pro Tools and Cubase a lot, and have a large amount of sample instruments that take a lot of CPU power. I also mainly work with music to moving image, so Premiere Pro is essential for me. The faster my CPU, the faster the encoding speed, thus saving me more time during the day.

Currently i only have a 2.2GHz i7 Macbook Pro. As much as i think it's a good portable system, it doesn't compare to desktop performance at all, and i really don't see the point in shelling out on a Mac Pro when i can just customize the system to my needs and get something a lot better for my money.

Ah, that sounds pretty good then.

Let me put it this way for you to:

Even if you get IB, and overclock past 4.5ghz, you will need a custom loop unless you get a really good chip from a batch. If you're doing a computational demanding project you want to keep temperatures down in the long run. Haswell does not run that much hotter than people make it out to be. Lower your voltage as low as you can get it, and load temperatures will be moderately good.

Since I doubt you will do a custom liquid cooling loop, which is expensive and dangerous for newcomers, go with haswell, clock her up to 4.2 - 4.3 ghz(get an h100i/h80i) or noctua, and you're set.

Haswell isn't as bad as people make it out to be, just runs a bit hotter, but voltage adjustments can help with that. Only thing is most chips won't do over 4.4ghz well like mentioned, but that's like running IB at a slightly higher overclock.

Basically, either chip will do well, unless you want to do 4.8ghz, or something crazier, which I doubt you will do.


In all honesty though, I'd say get a i7-3930K if you really need raw power for encoding.

 

[8350rocks]

Also, why do you want an i7? -An i5 will be more than enough for gaming unless you plan to encode/render or the such.

I want an i7 so that i can start flying with my music production and video encoding. I use Pro Tools and Cubase a lot, and have a large amount of sample instruments that take a lot of CPU power. I also mainly work with music to moving image, so Premiere Pro is essential for me. The faster my CPU, the faster the encoding speed, thus saving me more time during the day.

Currently i only have a 2.2GHz i7 Macbook Pro. As much as i think it's a good portable system, it doesn't compare to desktop performance at all, and i really don't see the point in shelling out on a Mac Pro when i can just customize the system to my needs and get something a lot better for my money.

Ah, that sounds pretty good then.

Let me put it this way for you to:

Even if you get IB, and overclock past 4.5ghz, you will need a custom loop unless you get a really good chip from a batch. If you're doing a computational demanding project you want to keep temperatures down in the long run. Haswell does not run that much hotter than people make it out to be. Lower your voltage as low as you can get it, and load temperatures will be moderately good.

Since I doubt you will do a custom liquid cooling loop, which is expensive and dangerous for newcomers, go with haswell, clock her up to 4.2 - 4.3 ghz(get an h100i/h80i) or noctua, and you're set.

Haswell isn't as bad as people make it out to be, just runs a bit hotter, but voltage adjustments can help with that. Only thing is most chips won't do over 4.4ghz well like mentioned, but that's like running IB at a slightly higher overclock.

Basically, either chip will do well, unless you want to do 4.8ghz, or something crazier, which I doubt you will do.


In all honesty though, I'd say get a i7-3930K if you really need raw power for encoding.

It really is that hot.

Tom's hardware hit 4.9 GHz on air cooling with their 3570k sample from Intel. They hit 4.6 GHz with water cooling on the 4770k, and were experiencing thermal throttling even there...



Even they commented how much hotter haswell was...it's a large margin of difference.

 

[edogawa]

4.9ghz on a sample from Intel means it's from a good batch that can easily overclock, I've had several very good chips before, they are great.

Yes, Haswell cannot overclock as high, but the temperatures for a standard overclock are not that bad, once you reach over 1.2v on Haswell it seems to get really hot fast. Unless he was to get a good Ivy-Bridge chip he may have trouble getting over 4.5ghz.

Haswell can easily do 4.2ghz without significant temperatures. Also, you could delid the 4670k easily and get much better temperatures.


I wouldn't say Haswell is a failure unless you want to do heavy overclocking, so it's not really a bad option.