Best Budget CPU for Overclocking?

[JCX50]

Hello all,

Just wanted to know the best Budget CPU for over clocking in a cheap build. I know you will need a Z77 chip set board and the CPU's K series is best for over clocking. Can you OC an i3, pentium, celeron with paying a premium. I'm not too sure on going amd as I will have a dedicated graphics card even though and is cheap and then unlocked. Just confused

Thanks

Jcx50

 

[the1gooner]

You can pick up socket 1156 i3's real cheap second hand these can be overclocked to hell and back

I am running an i5 760 which overclocks easily, these can be picked up quite cheap too. Amazing performance for the price.

The other option is amd of course, quad core processors like the x4 965 can be had cheap.

 

[Jasonup]

I would say that a good one to overclock would be a phenom x4 965 as the fellow above also explains
it seems to me its an ok oc cpu

 

[OvEr_KiLL]

yep, got mine up to 3.8 good cpu for oc'ing

 

[badcompany]

q9650 if you can get one

 

[JCX50]

You can pick up socket 1156 i3's real cheap second hand these can be overclocked to hell and back

I am running an i5 760 which overclocks easily, these can be picked up quite cheap too. Amazing performance for the price.

The other option is amd of course, quad core processors like the x4 965 can be had cheap.

Would this be good for Overclocking?
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
Total : £98.69 (includes shipping : £7.25).

 

[Bacon?]

Would this be good for Overclocking?
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
Total : £98.69 (includes shipping : £7.25).

Only K cpu's for Intel can be overclocked.

 

[JCX50]

This good enough?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H80i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1155 / LGA1156 / LGA1366 / LGA2011/ AM2 / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £76.98
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - FREE Alpenföhn Civetta Cooler!! £72.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £44.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite Power 500W Power Supply £32.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard II Midi Tower Case - Black/Orange £26.99
1 x Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit £23.98
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £489.30 (includes shipping : £17.85).

 

[Bacon?]

For what use?

You might as well get the Ivy i5, has a higher IPC, lower power draw, uses PCI-E 3 etc...

That MSI board is voltage locked so casn only overclock on stock volts.

PSU is quite shoddy, not much better than a generic

1600 RAM is the sweet spot for 1155 socket CPU's, 8GB of 1600 is only £35.

 

[JIM_BOB7813]

You can pick up socket 1156 i3's real cheap second hand these can be overclocked to hell and back

I am running an i5 760 which overclocks easily, these can be picked up quite cheap too. Amazing performance for the price.

The other option is amd of course, quad core processors like the x4 965 can be had cheap.

You would need a 1156 motherboard too which might be a problem unless you want 2nd hand.

 

[eddyr]

The previous 1156 lga gen is a good option if you can get a good board. The cheaper boards that are abundant on the bay, while they can handle some oc on a i5, the vrm's will limit you early. (They will actually limit you far before instability crahes by casueing throttling, productivity benches will show this, as will IBT). 1156 i3's ought to be handled fine though.
Worth noting you will lose out on usb 3 and sata 3.

What sort of ballpark budget did you have in mind?

 

[kristmace]

What sort of ballpark budget did you have in mind?

This is the key question. If you can spend £500 then an Ivy i5 will be in order. Latest gen intel processors will only overclock if they are K series. 1st gen 1156 i3/i5/i7s any can overclock (with the right board).

If you really are doing it on the cheap, you should be able to get a 1156 i3 (eg i3-540) with mobo and ram for £100ish 2nd hand and that would clock very well.

 

[JCX50]

The previous 1156 lga gen is a good option if you can get a good board. The cheaper boards that are abundant on the bay, while they can handle some oc on a i5, the vrm's will limit you early. (They will actually limit you far before instability crahes by casueing throttling, productivity benches will show this, as will IBT). 1156 i3's ought to be handled fine though.
Worth noting you will lose out on usb 3 and sata 3.

What sort of ballpark budget did you have in mind?

£300 or so

 

[JCX50]

This is the key question. If you can spend £500 then an Ivy i5 will be in order. Latest gen intel processors will only overclock if they are K series. 1st gen 1156 i3/i5/i7s any can overclock (with the right board).

If you really are doing it on the cheap, you should be able to get a 1156 i3 (eg i3-540) with mobo and ram for £100ish 2nd hand and that would clock very well.

Where would I find one? And what kind of stable OC will I get?

 

[MrMarvelous]

Bloody hell 2500K's are still £150+? My God they're the Golf of the CPU world.

 

[kristmace]

Where would I find one? And what kind of stable OC will I get?

The auction site maybe, but the best place will be the members market on here (although there is a minimum post requirement). An i3-540 should be able to clock to 4.0Ghz fairly easily. My i5-750 clocks from 2.6 to 3.6 without a voltage increase.
You could always try the clearance section of the Overclockers website to see if they have any old stock going cheap.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=595


A good option for under £300 might be an i7-920 with an X58 board. I've seen them second hand with 6gb ram go for £150-160. The i7-920 should get to 4.2 ghz without much problem.

 

[kristmace]

Here's an option for £300 with new components and a board from the clearance section:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £179.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H55 Quiet Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011 / 1366 / 1155 / 1156 / AM2 / AM3 / FM1) £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £35.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 (MB-364-GI) £35
Total : £312.37 (includes shipping : £9.50).

 

[Bacon?]

Why the OEM over the Retail when they are the same price? And you would be better of with a Z77 board, retail again so it includes all the nessecary parts.

I swear I gave some advice before which was ignored

 

[kristmace]

Why the OEM over the Retail when they are the same price? And you would be better of with a Z77 board, retail again so it includes all the nessecary parts.

Didn't realise Retail processor was the same price, so that's my mistake. With the board, I was just trying to keep it close to £300 with a good cooler. No idea what the OP wants it for other than overclocking.

 

[JCX50]

Been looking at the AMD A6-5400K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor. Any good for OC'ing?

Here is what I had in mind:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Corsair Hydro H80i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1155 / LGA1156 / LGA1366 / LGA2011/ AM2 / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £76.98
1 x Gigabyte F2A85XM-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 micro ATX Motherboard £61.99
1 x AMD A6-5400K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD540KOKHJBOX) £49.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £38.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard II Midi Tower Case - Black/Orange £26.99
2 x Patriot Viper 3 "Venom Red" 4GB DDR3 PC3-17200C11 2133MHz Single Module (P34G211UR) £23.99 (£47.98)
Total : £317.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).