What's the difference between Unlocked and Locked CPUs from Intel for gamers?

[summy]

Title.

[Snapjak]

Locked = that's the speed it's going to be at.
Unlocked = change the clock speed all you want, but know that if you bork it you're up ♥♥♥♥ creek.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

i5-6600K, i7-6700K you can overclock with Z170 board.
Other Skylakes you cant overclock and B150 or H170 board is fine for those.

[Hare+Guu!]

Depends. Some motherboards allow you to overclock locked cpus. Afaik, asrock/asus let's you do it on their z boards. Unlocked ones can be overclocked without special boards.

[_I_]

引用自 Hare+Guu!：

Depends. Some motherboards allow you to overclock locked cpus. Afaik, asrock/asus let's you do it on their z boards. Unlocked ones can be overclocked without special boards.

not anymore

you can get an older bios ver that will allow overclocking, but it will not have the updates needed for other issues

[Squirrell]

Also the unlocked cpu's can be faster than the locked version even when not overclocked.

[Arya]

Depends on the model, but Squirrel is right. An i7 6700K has a much higher base and turbo clock than a regular 6700, for only a marginal cost increase. Even if you don't plan on overclocking, the K version is well worth the extra $30.

[Hare+Guu!]

I've heard of skylake processors being nerfed by intel, but older non-k cpu can still be overclocked. All I had to do was set the clock rate on my z75 board to 37 and my 3470 is now running at 3.7ghz even though 3.2ghz is it's base clock and boost clocks officially only go up to 3.6ghz. This matters more since non-k cpu are only supposed to only be able to go up by 400mhz, yet I have +500mhz on mine.

[EolSunder]

I think that gives you some nice info hope it helps. K verions of chips are unlocked and generally are better to buy even if you aren't overclocking. They aren't much more expensive, usually are a tad better than the regular chips, PLUS you can overclock in the future if you evern want to mess around with it.

[banzaigtv]

Unlocked CPUs require advanced cooling and are generally more expensive.

This message was posted 8/5/2016 @ 10:25 AM CDT

[SundownKid]

An unlocked CPU is a CPU that has been judged to be the most defect-free chip, and will handle voltages above the recommended voltage. (Albeit still not under warranty, unless you paid for insurance)

Locked CPUs are ones with enough defects that they had to be locked and sold at a cheaper price.

Unlocked CPUs last longer before having to replace the CPU because they are more powerful.