I have a question about overclocking the Haswell CPUs. I read somewhere that only the 'k' models can be overclocked. Is this true and if so, why?
The FSB is gone. RAM talks directly to the CPU, now, and the CPU typically has some PCIe lanes coming off it, so some of your add-on cards also talk directly to the CPU. All but some Xeons have IGP right on the CPU, too. Moore's Law made us all kinds of crazy. Intel locked multipliers a long time ago, and now practically locked the rest of it.
Also, is it possible to overclock using an H87 board, or must it be a Z87?
Probably? My B85 board has OC options, but I got a Xeon (like an i7, but priced for us cheap bastards ), so all I can really do with them is lower my Turbo speed . What happened was someone found a way around the Z chipset limitation, I think ASRock, and implemented non-Z OC in other boards. Then, Intel went, "uh, no, we're going to put a stop to this." I'm not sure if there's ever been a firm resolution, but once Intel said they were going to stop it, most people assumed they'd do it, and stopped trying to save $30 (
news from awhile back).
Sorry for the newbie type questions. Just trying to get my bearings here.
If you missed the 2008 "Nehalem" generation CPUs from Intel, you missed out on some major changes. Changes since have been typical generational changes. But, the new CPUs in late 2008 had them following AMD in features from a few years before, and one-upping them overall.
The end result has been that, if you're going to OC, you need to plan for it from day one. The days of getting an OK CPU and seeing what it's capable of just by adding a $30 cooler to a decent stock rig are over with.