Consider the extra £80 for a CPU that can be overclocked—does it justify the cost?
Consider the extra £80 for a CPU that can be overclocked—does it justify the cost?
I've seen discussions suggesting overclocking is mainly a hobby rather than a cost-effective strategy. I was curious about whether investing more in a "overclockable" system would be practical long-term (i.e., could cover hardware upgrades for a short period).
Looking at the details:
Non-overclockable PC
CPU: Intel i5-4690
Motherboard: ASUS H81M-PLUS
Cooler: Super Quiet Titan Dragonfly Cooler
Overclockable PC
CPU: Intel i5-4690K
Motherboard: ASUS Z97-P
Cooler: Noctua DH-15S Ultra Quiet Cooler
The overclockable model costs £80 more, bringing the total PC cost to about £1000. The cooler choice makes a significant difference in price (£40 more for Dragonfly). For performance value, would the £80 extra be justified?
Additionally, I wanted to check if the H81M-PLUS motherboard could support overclocking of the graphics card on the non-overclockable system.
Overclocking GPUs separately from the CPU is possible with a good power supply. However, the overclocked system will require a better-quality motherboard that provides more stable power delivery via the PCIe port.