How to save extra money with Haswell while still being able to overclock K variants

[Tahapenes]

Some people may have already heard of this, but not everyone has. There is a bug in the H87 chipset that allows you to increase the multiplier while disallowing the splitting of PCI lanes. This means that you can save $40 to $50 by buying a H87 chipset board over a Z87 while still dropping a K variant into the socket and overclocking as you can.

To show this, here's a couple links on what has been found out:

H87 on Tom's Hardware

Techreport's finding

Asrock on Youtube

So, to paraphrase, don't spend a bunch of money on a Z87 when you can overclock just as well on H87 for a lot cheaper.

[Deleted]

From my understanding, this can be fixed by a bios update or something like that. So in a couple of months this could be gone.

Intel will most likely put some pressure on the manufacturers.

[yurano]

There are more differences between Z class and H class motherboards than overclocking capability.

- Higher quality components: VRM, heatsinks, and onboard sound

- Presence of high end features (eg. ASUS Fan Xpert2)

- Overclocking support, like ASUS AI Suite III and ASUS UEFI auto settings, may not be present on H class motherboards

H87 motherboards can be considered, but its not the be all end all solution to overclocking motherboard selection.

- - - Updated - - -

By the way, Z class chipsets are only slightly more expensive than the H chipset.

Z77 MSRP (retail) $48

H77 MSRP (retail) $43

The remainder of the cost difference between Z class and H class motherboards are a result of increased motherboard quality and features.

[Tahapenes]

There are more differences between Z class and H class motherboards than overclocking capability.

- Higher quality components: VRM, heatsinks, and onboard sound

- Presence of high end features (eg. ASUS Fan Xpert2)

- Overclocking support, like ASUS AI Suite III and ASUS UEFI auto settings, may not be present on H class motherboards

H87 motherboards can be considered, but its not the be all end all solution to overclocking motherboard selection.

- - - Updated - - -

By the way, Z class chipsets are only slightly more expensive than the H chipset.

Z77 MSRP (retail) $48

H77 MSRP (retail) $43

The remainder of the cost difference between Z class and H class motherboards are a result of increased motherboard quality and features.

You haven't looked at many H87 and Z87 motherboards if you think it's just a matter of quality and features. Some of the H87 boards have as high a quality and as many features as the Z87 boards (in some cases, the exact same features).

[yurano]

You haven't looked at many H87 and Z87 motherboards if you think it's just a matter of quality and features. Some of the H87 boards have as high a quality and as many features as the Z87 boards (in some cases, the exact same features).

High end H87 boards have fairly high quality, but they're unable to fully match the specs of even entry recommended Z87 motherboards in a whole slew of features. More importantly, H87 motherboards have no guarantee of VRM quality, a critical aspect of overclocking.

Unless VRM quality can be verified, stripped down H87 motherboards are not recommended for an overclock build. For a non-OC build, a B85 motherboard is more cost effective.

ASUS's best H87 motherboard vs the standard recommended Z87-A

Differences:
- Memory speed compatibility
- # of 8x PCIe slots (affects SLI/CF)
- Onboard audio quality
- ASUS Dual Intelligent processor (manages auto OC configurations)
- SLI bridge
- CPU Opt fan header
- DirectKey
- Number and size of VRM heatsinks

Not to mention any unlisted specs like VRM quality and UEFI functionality

ASRock's best H87 motherboard vs the standard recommended Extreme4

Differences:
- Memory speed compatibility
- # of 8x PCIe slots (affects SLI/CF)
- Number of SATA ports
- Presence of Dr. Debug LED
- Presence of motherboard power button
- Presence of motherboard reset button
- Advertised 12 phase vs 8 phase (Extreme4 advertised as having Premium Gold Capacitor Design vs DuraCap)
- Number of USB ports
- SLI Bridge
- Number of included SATA cables

Again, not to mention any unlisted specs like true VRM quality and UEFI functionality

Gigabyte's best H87 motherboard vs the standard recommended UD3H

- Memory speed compatibility
- # of 8x PCIe slots (affects SLI/CF)
- Onboard audio quality
- Number of USB ports
- Number of system fan headers
- Presence of motherboard power button
- Presence of motherboard reset button
- Presence of voltage measurement points
- Presence of two BIOS switches
- SLI/CF support
- UD3H has VRM advertised (8 Digital CPU VRM phase), H87-D3H does not

Again, not to mention any unlisted specs like true VRM quality and UEFI functionality.