Most Satisfying Build for Overclocking

[IamTimTech]

Hey guys, it's been a while since I've posted, but I'm glad to be back. I'm building a new system and going a new direction. My usual formula is the best performance per dollar without overclocking in mind, because typically overclocking offers diminishing returns on your investment. But what if I wanted a system specifically for the fun of overclocking?

I want to build the most economical system I can centered around overclocking. My daily usage consists of heavy office use, light video and image editing, ripping and converting my growing DVD/Blu-Ray Collection, and some light gaming. I play a lot of different games such as Faster than Light, L.o.L, Wticher, Tomb Raider, Overwatch, Grid, and many others but gaming is not the bulk of what I do, and I play all of my games at 1080p.

The purpose of this system isn't to focus on gaming performance, if that were the case I would focus my budget on the GPU. I also don't need a ridiculously fast or powerful machine for what I do. The focus of this build is specifically on achieving enjoyable and noticeable overclocks all on a budget. Here are some of the things I would like from this system:

A) Micro ATX Form Factor
B) Significant and impactful overclocks, no need to be insane.
C) Relatively quiet and subtle aesthetic.
D) Pretty stable system

Things I am not concerned about or don't want:
A) Huge flashy system
B) SLI or Crossfire in the future
C) Extremely Expensive Components (Asus Maximus Boards, Noctua NH-D15 Cooler, $100 Cases)

I will probably stick with my N200 Case (with all fan slots populated), G2 750w power supply, and Cryorig H7 Cooler. I've already given it some thought and all of these platforms would offer enough performance to cover what I do on a daily basis and enjoy all of my games.

Athlon X4 835 or 880K on A88X board (New)
FX 6300 on a 970 Board (Used CPU & New Board)
Sandybridge i5 on a Z77 board (Both Used)
Haswell i5 on a Z87/97 board (Used CPU & New or Used Board)

I do not mind gambling with used parts for my own systems, and I don't necessarily need the latest and greatest. I also don't mind fiddling with base clock multipliers to achieve overclocks either, in fact the more challenging the overclock the better. Which do you think would offer the best bang for the buck and allow me to achieve a decent overclock? I would like to also get a mid range GPU that will take on a good overclock. I am throwing these around in my head:

GTX 960 (New or Used)
GTX 970 (Used)
GTX 980 (Used. One locally for $270)
GTX 1060 (New)
R9 390 (New or Used)
RX 480 (New)

If it was just a simple matter of finding the card that will give me the most frames to dollar I would work that out myself, but again I'm not worried about that exclusively. I'd like the card that is going to take best to overclocking. I am tending to lean towards a used GTX 970 or the used GTX 980 if I get it quick enough, but if the AMD cards offer good overclocking headroom I don't mind going team red at all.

There it is guys, lets have some of the experienced overclockers who have been around for all of these chipsets weigh in and let me know what you think will bring me the most satisfaction in this build.

Thanks in advance

TimTech

 

[bootcher]

Both platforms offer good overclocking headroom, but you are going to limit yourself if you are going for a micro-atx factor. Those motherboards usually are not the best overclockers. A full form motherboard will be much better for higher overclocking results, though there will be good m-atx overclockers (but at a higher price).
AMD CPU's tend to achieve higher overclocks, but their performance will still be worse than their intel counterparts. And high overclocks also mean investing in a good overclocking motherboard and PSU ( if your PSU is an evga g2 than that is no problem).

Also keep in mind that if choosing any AMD option, you can scratch of any GPU higher than the GTX 960, they will be limited by the GPU, even if heavily overclocked.
Traditionally GPU's can be easily overclocked up to ~10% of their base clock without any problems. Your milage may vary with GPU's however, especially if used!

 

[IamTimTech]

Awesome thanks for the information! I am aware that my options are limited for a Micro ATX form factor, but since that is already what my case is and I prefer a smaller build I will probably stick with it. I also am aware that even overclocked the AMD chips won't add up to Intel chips (sometimes even stock clocked intel chips) but that's not the purpose. An X4 845 at stock clocks with an SSD and 8GB DDR3 will do everything I need it to. I am more excited to see the before and after of whatever I overclock.

One thing that is drawing me to the AMD is that there are more MATX motherboard options (still new) and that both AM3+ and FM2+ take well to memory overclocking. I would like to buy a nice 1866 Cas 9 kit and see if I can't push it to the 2400 range, that would be fun for me. The fact that it is a dead platform is of no consequence to me either. I like the idea of how inexpensive the X4 845 platform would be, how I can probably get it to 4.1Ghz with the base clock, and then tinker with the memory as well.

But at the same time, if I can get an old stock or refurbed Z77 or Z87 board off of newegg it would be like getting a new board and then I know the 4690K and 3570K both would overclock like snot! Decisions, decisions!

And as for the GPU, I don't have any problem letting it be bottlenecked by my system. I am just having some fun with my next build and the GPU certainly would go into the one following it which would probably be Skylake or Zen, I have a GTX 750ti that will go in this build when it's ready to be sold (which is the fate of all of my builds). I think if I can get the GTX 980 Classified off of the local craigslist listing for $250-$270 that would definitely be a good buy and offer a decent overclocking experience right?

 

[bootcher]

GPU overclocking is a bit different, since there usually are less options to play with, unless you start flashing other bios in them if that is possible. You never know if the GPU will overclock much, in my experience the newer GPU's don't get as high overclocks as they used to.

 

[IamTimTech]

in my experience the newer GPU's don't get as high overclocks as they used to.

I noticed this as well, and that is kind of why I am leaning towards the GTX 980.

After looking on craigslist, ebay and newegg last night I found that an 1155 socket would be a little more expensive than an 1150 socket at this moment in time. Newegg is putting a lot of there 1150 Motherboards on sale (clearance I imagine) and a 4690K can be had on ebay right now for about $160. So here are my options as I see them:

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($160.00)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Newegg + $20 M.I.R.)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($36.23 @ NCIX US)
Total: $306.22

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Amazon or $85 on Ebay)
Motherboard: MSI 970 GAMING ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($99.99 @ Ebay + $20 M.I.R.)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($36.23 @ NCIX US)
Total: $236.21

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 845 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($66.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock A88M-G/3.1 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($67.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($36.23 @ NCIX US)
Total: $170.21

I feel like the 1150 Socket is so close to what a 1151 & DDR4 platform would cost that it would kind of defeat the point unless I can find a better deal on a 4690K but on the other hand I know that it will out perform the FX chip admirably and that the Athlon isn't even in the same ballpark. Anyone else is welcome to weigh in what they would get.