Is it worth overclocking an i5-6400?

Good afternoon,

Is it actually worth picking up a Z170 motherboard just to flash the BIOS and attempt BCLK overclocking on this i5 6400—trying to push it toward the 4.2–4.5 GHz range? I’m looking at maybe a 10–15 FPS bump in GTA V, but I’m also weighing the "future-proofing" aspect.

The total cost for the build would go up by about $85–$110—that covers the board and the cooler.

If you think it's a move worth making, will the Cooler Master Hyper 212 be enough to handle that kind of overclock, or should I just bite the bullet and grab a Cooler Master Hyper 212 instead?

Best regards,

Did you pull the trigger on that CPU yet?

At that price point:

1) it’s honestly not worth it
2) you're better off grabbing an i7 non k on a standard motherboard clocked at a stock 4.0GHz

Not just yet—I’m heading out to pick everything up next week, so I'm currently deep in the research phase, trying to weigh every possible option to ensure I get the most bang for my buck. 😁

EDIT: The i7k is looking a bit too pricey for me right now—plus, I’d have to factor in an extra cooler. Honestly, with the 6400, I can push the stock cooling pretty far without much trouble.

Adam Barrett7 said:Haven't pulled the trigger yet. I'm buying everything next week, so right now I'm just digging through options to make sure I get the most bang for my buck.😁

EDIT: That i7 is way out of my budget. Plus, you'd need an extra cooler on top of that. With a 6400, the stock cooler handles it just fine without breaking a sweat.

Go for the i7 non k... that's where you'd land if you were looking at an i5 6400 + z170 chipset + a decent cooler.

Instead, you could just grab a solid B150 board, stick with the stock cooler, and go with the i7 non k.

Exactly... you don't even need an aftermarket cooler for an i7-6700, especially since it's already running at a stock 4.0GHz, which isn't even that much lower than some overclocked i5K

i7-6700 ($340) + MSI B150 ($70) = $410
i5-6400 ($195) + MSI Pro Z170 ($115) + Cooler Master 212 ($35) = $345
i5-6400 ($195) + MSI H110 ($60) = $255

It’s not exactly a massive price gap between the i7 and the i5 overclocked.
I'll most likely just end up going with this cheapest option anyway.—budget wins again.

Adam Barrett7 said:i7-6700 ($340) + MSI B150 ($70) = $410
i5-6400 ($195) + MSI Pro Z170 ($115) + Cooler Master 212 ($32) = $342
i5-6400 ($195) + MSI H110 ($60) = $255

The price gap between the i7 and i5 isn't even that massive.
I’ll probably just go with the cheapest option anyway.

I said "roughly" not down to the penny. If you're sweating over a $60 difference, it's not like you're broke, and you'd get an i7 that'll actually last you a while.
If you're dead set on the i5-6400, at least grab a decent B150 board with four RAM slots. Don't box yourself in for later.

Fair enough—let’s say I was pushing it a bit too far with that 315 figure. All I really wanted to figure out was whether it’s actually worth sinking money into that overclock, or if I should just leave things at stock and call it a day.
I'll see—I still have a few days to chew on it. 😁
Anyway, thanks everyone!

It all really boils down to the software you're running—specifically how much it actually benefits from overclocking.

At the end of the day, you’re better off grabbing an i5-6400 instead of shelling out for an i5-6600k paired with a Z170 motherboard.

Timothy Kim60 said:It really just comes down to the software—how much there is and if overclocking even offers any real benefit.

Either way, you're better off grabbing an i5-6400 instead of going for the i5-6600k paired with a Z170 motherboard.

He wasn't even looking at the 6600K and Z170 combo; he was eyeing the i5-6400 with a Z170 just to try and push the clock speeds via BCLK.
It’s not a totally crazy plan, honestly. If he could actually hit 4 GHz or higher, it would be worth it since the stock clocks on an i5-6400 are pretty underwhelming—sitting right around 2.7 to 3.3 GHz. It would be awesome if it worked, but I'm skeptical about whether you can actually push it that high using BCLK. Plus, most modern BIOS updates probably lock that down anyway to prevent non-K CPUs from being overclocked easily. That's supposed to be the whole selling point for the K-series processors.
Anyway, the idea isn't insane; its value just depends on how much it actually works. I don't think it's a bad move to invest in a better motherboard and give overclocking a shot—you haven't got much to lose.

You can find a BIOS with that feature online if you look hard enough 😬

😁 Kimberly Gomez34, if I may—it’s not a crazy idea at all. Spending that extra cash on a Z170 motherboard isn't just throwing money down the drain, no matter how you look at it. That 2.7 GHz clock speed is actually pretty low...

It might seem that way at first glance. However, with a boost clock of up to 3.1GHz on four cores, it actually outperforms the i5-4460 in CPU-Z benchmarks thanks to its superior IPC—a fact confirmed by some buddies of mine during testing.

i5-6400



i5-4460

Hmph, you wouldn't believe it. Even with a 500 MHz increase on the base clock, I'm only seeing 4460, yet it’s still slower. I didn't realize the IPC jump on Skylake was actually that significant.

With turbo boost, you're looking at a 100MHz bump across 4 cores, though I suspect the i5 4460 only hits that 3.4GHz mark when running on just one or two cores; otherwise, it stays pinned at 3.2GHz click. As for IPC, you have Broadwell in the mix, which means there's a two-generation gap—likely resulting in an average IPC difference of about 10%. Of course, that might shift depending on the benchmark; results vary wildly from one software package to another. In this specific test, I'd argue RAM plays a role too, since the first setup utilizes DDR4 while the second relies on DDR3