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Anyone into this?

I am currently putting together a new PC and looking at using either a Core 2 i5 4670 or a 4670K processor. The motherboard will accept either, the latter allows the user to overclock it the former has a form of automatic boosting only but is a bit cheaper.

Personally I am not into games, but I do use a number of CAD programs and want the maximum bang for my buck. I am concerned that a maybe 25% increase in processor speed could result in long term damage to the chip. They are after all designed to work non-overclocked. On the other hand, the motherboard is designed to allow it! To gain the maximum advantage from overclocking seems to imply a water-cooling system is necessary.

I am also somewhat undecided on the amount of DDR3 I need. The board has four DIMM sockets, and I suspect I need at least 8GB. I can fit a maximum of 32GB (at huge expense) but do I need this? I think I will get better speed if I fit two boards than one, but is this right?

Any practical advice anyone has on either matter would be very gratefully received.

I thought you would never ask!

Such a massive subject but to summarise. Any K chip is unlocked which means it can be safely overclocked.

Get a board that has over clocking as one of its features, this will ensure a minimum user error (less chance of blowing a chip) its not like the olden days when you just pushed it until it got to hot or popped these days board manufacturers build with it in mind. water cooling will allow you to overclock higher with minimum risk.

get a board and chip combo that is well supported to help you in clocking.

I like ASUS boards and Gigabyte, Gigabyte boards allow you to run OSX out of the box so if your in to CAD its a very good way to get a MAC on a very nice budget

16GB Ram is ample for most high end CAD users.

I would get this: Gigabyte Review
here is a good Overclocking guide for it
and HERE is where you can buy it.

one last thing, if you fancy a go at building a hackintosh have a look HERE

OH! and one final thing (teehee) if you would like a pre built computer saving you some cash in the process let me know as I have an ASUS board with an i5 3330 for sale.

Thanks for the advice computerlab. Good to see you, too, like ASUS motherboards!

I have more or less decided on the ASUS Z97-E. It seems to support the 4670K and any overclocking of it, but I wonder if getting the 4670 would be almost as good. Not only is is it about £12 cheaper, I suspect it may not be very much slower either. There is also an extra £50 to £100 to pay for a water cooler if I go down the overclocking route in a serious way.

This motherboard is not over costly, and has plenty of PCI slots which I will use for dedicated hardware for my own purposes.

My aim is to hit the sweet spot between maximising performance and minimising the cost. I don't want to pay 50% more for 1% better performance. However paying 5% more for 20% better performance is a good investment.

Get the k, you can not over clock a non K chip. For £12 get the K!!!

To be honest boards and chips have not been the bottle neck for years, it has been hard drives. Get a decent SSD and your laughing!

Oh and.... Finally I would rather get the best board on the market and an average chip rather than the best chip and a rubbish board. My advice is to spend the lion share on the board if you are planning on keeping it for many years. Also don't rule out the socket 2011

OK. I'm going for the 'k'. In fact on Amazon they are about the same price, there are only pennies between them.

I am now looking at DDR3. I think 8GB will do for what I want for the time being, but I suspect I'll get better speed if I get it in two 4GB units. Is this correct? I would prefer to get it in one unit, then I can slowly add more to the 32GB limit of the board without having to junk memory and buy new.

I have a 250GB SSD I intend to use, by the way. The motherboard was chosen to do what I want at minimal cost.

I don't want to overegg things unless I am going to use them, but I have made sure that the disc drive I bought will burn m_discs though as I WILL want to store stuff reliably.