Conclusion

Intel's Core "Haswell" processors are fun to tweak, as I realized spending close to three months with these chips, compatible motherboards, and memory launched after May. New clock-ratio offsets offer a great deal of flexibility because they give you more than a few ways to achieve your desired clock speeds, some more stable than others. Since "Haswell" is a newer micro-architecture to its predecessor than "Ivy Bridge" is to "Sandy Bridge", overclocking your chip can produce noticeable performance increments. We're particularly big fans of the "T-topology" clock distribution between multiple memory modules occupying the same DRAM channel, which rewards populating all memory slots on your motherboard. Achieving what was considered impossible for memory OC barely a year ago is fairly straightforward on the Core "Haswell" platform. Speaking of which, Intel's new IvR design is a well-intended technology as it sets a [higher] baseline for quality of power delivery to the CPU, which means that mainstream and, to a smaller extent, entry-level motherboards could offer better voltage-assisted overclocking, provided they’re based on the right chipset (in this case Z87).

Intel's "integrate everything" ideology does, on the other hand, coupled with placing sensitive voltage-regulation components on the CPU die and, of course, a newer micro-architecture built to exploit the 22 nm silicon fab process, mean that Core "Haswell" chips reward you handsomely for better cooling, and by that we don't mean $20-something tower-type heatsinks, but something more substantial, like a $60 heavy heatsink or $70 AIO liquid-cooler. Buying chips off the shelf is a gamble, more so with Core "Haswell." The "bad-performing" chips can be terribly bad, throwing a hissy fit at even the most basic tweaking, but some people could also get very lucky with chips that go on to hold four-figure resale values. Lastly, the sheer number of clock and voltage domains, and ratios, could present too much information for even the most skilled overclockers to digest. But it should also step up the challenge and competitiveness in professional overclocking. "Haswell" is an all-around winner to me, and I hope that with the information provided herein, it is for you too.