How much more does it cost to get an overclockable IB system?

[JonJ678]

I thought it would be a simple task to work out - spec a cheap system that would only run at stock, and a more expensive one that can run faster. It turns out I don't know enough these days, so would like a hand.

All I'm hoping for is suggestions on cpu/motherboard/ram selection for each case. I'm strongly biased in favour of intel/gigabyte/corsair from previous experience. The psu, case, cooling etc I can still work out for myself. Looking for gflops/£ really, which is probably quad cores at this point.

H77 is a cheaper chipset than Z77 so I'm going to guess Z77 allows overclocking and H77 doesn't. Similarly some cpu's have a K on the end, I think these are overclockable and the others aren't.

So for a simple, no frills bundle I've got:
i5-3330 (£150) or i7-3770 (£250)
Gigabyte H77 board (£80)
Corsair 2x4gb 1333MHz (£50)
Total £280, or £380 with hyperthreading and a small frequency increase

The overclocking one is more difficult.
i7-3770k (£270)
Gigabyte Z77 board (from £80 to £300 ??)
Corsair 2x4gb (£50 upwards ??)
Total somewhere over £400

I can't work out how expensive the motherboard and ram need to be to (probably) get a respectable overclock out of the chip, so I can't really do a meaningful comparison. For what difference it makes, the chip would be under water in either case - I think that makes 4.5ghz an achievable target for the 3770k case.

So - how much does one need to spend on motherboard and ram to get the 3770k up to significantly over stock frequency?

Thanks

 

[JonJ678]

Cheers guys. That puts the bundle at £400 in total, give or take a tenner. For four hyperthreaded cores at 4.5GHz that strikes me as very good value indeed. - it's barely more than the stock speed option.

I'll keep the thermal paste vs solder issue in mind. Thanks

 

[JonJ678]

I should look into that. Presumably the heat spreader is optional at that point, die - waterblock. Cheers

I've noticed they're much lower wattage than the previous generation - 77W TDP rather than 130W. That would be a good reason for water making less difference. Still, I prefer water to air regardless. I remain sure it's easier