Budget overclock build

[deaglecat]

Looking for a cheap build with some BCLK overclocking potential. Does this fly... would a core i3 be better ? (yeah, I know no graphics card - I have a HD6770 which will work until prices drop when the new gen is released )


My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Intel Pentium Dual Core G4400 3.30GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail= £53.99
• 1 x Phanteks Eclipse P400 Midi Tower Case - White Window= £55.99
• 1 x MSI Z170-A Pro Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £82.99
• 1 x Super Flower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black= £59.99
• 1 x Kingston Fury Black 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C15 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (HX424C15FB2K2/1= £49.99
• 1 x Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU)= £74.99

Total: £377.94
(includes shipping: £0.00)
​

 

[pastymuncher]

I haven't seen anybody do it with a Pentium so can it even be done with one? I believe you can only do it on certain boards. All support for clocking this way has now been removed so you have to leave the same bios on the motherboard otherwise you lose this "feature". If you buy a gpu in the future that needs a bios flash to be compatible with the motherboard you lose your overclock. For me personally there are way too many downsides to bclk clocking.

 

[eazyrider]

It can be done with a pentium but you have to avoid windows updates, as a microcode update can be sent out to stop overclocking. The cpu will also always be at the overclocked frequency, the power saving features will be disabled

 

[abcabcabc]

What are you wanting to do with this pc ?
I believe the BCLK overclock also disables the integrated graphics so a discrete GPU will also be required and an after market cooler too

 

[deaglecat]

Thanks for the replies.

Graphics card would be HD6770 until refreshed in Aug(ish) with either a discounted GTX970 or even GTX1070

This PC for games (1080), media consumption and general PC duties.

No video editing or 4K gaming or VR.

Worst case is to discard/ebay the chip and replace later in the lifecycle. Some folk are getting these chips up to 4.8Ghz.

That said, on reflection, I think a core i3 is probably a better bet.