i7-i5 worth oc'ing?

[alek]

Hey. I see alot of benchmark results and MHz achievements with OCing this CPU (Haswell).
But what is the most cost efficient aproache to this CPU? I guess it is just getting the non-k version and a cheap mobo? but will it be enough for 144hz @ 1080p? (last time i bough pc i bought oc hw but no intention of ocing (young and dumb? maybe ;P)

Can anyone with some experience chip in on what practical differences there might be between..

-Non-K version with no oc.
-Small OC with an aftermarket cooler.
-Decent OC with a better aftermarket cooler and mobo.
-Water cooling (probably a closed system).
-The above OC options but with delid.

 

[silk186]

I have OC both of my i5 builds. It was very easy to get a good OC, I left voltage alone and increased the multiplier until it because unstable and went back 1. Simple as that. As for it being enough at 1080, that has more to do with your GPU than your CPU.

 

[alek]

Ok. But i dont just game on it also apps like photoshop and excel. maybe do some recording multitasking also. so there is a good chance it will be pushed to the limit some of the time at least even with good oc..
But im curios what the gains can be. 5%? 20%?
20% more power usage and heat?

 

[Nenu]

The ability to do 144Hz gaming depends a lot on the GPU.
You will likely need dual graphics cards, this uses a bit more CPU.
Some games need more CPU than a stock clocked CPU.

Get a K version, with a good air cooler then you can go for a moderate overclock, near 4.5GHz.

You can always delid it later if you need more performance, maybe 100 to 300Mhz more.
It will be damn fast without.

Water cooling wont get you much more CPU performance, probably up to 5% more (up to an extra 250MHz compared to a good air cooler).
This wont translate into higher framerate unless CPU limited, not that common at 4.5GHz.

 

[Eureka!]

If you want to do 144Hz with online gaming, you will likely need the fastest CPU you can get.

For example, in Battlefield 3 online, there are many instances where you will not reach 120 FPS even with a 3930K overclocked. My i7-4770K at 4.5 GHz still struggles to maintain 100 FPS in 64 player TDM.