Um..... The Ivy extreme is a good cpu, but it's a little held back by the old old super old platform... Memory bandwidth/ latency problems, and overall can't be overclocked past 4.5ghz, which is ridiculous...
You're best off getting a 4770k and deliding.
The new methods they've come up with for delidding are safe and easy.
4.8ghz is guaranteed after delid
If you're gonna run stock, then just buy a Dell, can't beat their pricing... the 3770/4770 (non-k-series) @ stock are 5% away from each other... so wait for 3770 Dell sales.
^ Pay no attention to this.
First, delidding is not simple and easy. It is tricky and dangerous. Especially for the nub. You should only do it if you are willing/ able to risk destroying your cpu and buying a new one. If the prospect of buying a new cpu is not a problem financially or emotionally then have at it. Otherwise, you can still do it, but just be very careful, and be forewarned that things can go badly. A cavalier attitude is not the approach to take.
Second, there is no guaranteed overclock on any chip: Haswell, Ivy, or even Sandy. However, Haswell and Ivy Bridge are even more idiosyncratic than Sandy was, meaning that it's the luck of the draw on each chip you get. You might get a 5ghz wonder chip, but more likely you will get a 4.2 to 4.4ghz "average" chip. Or you could do even worse. You just never know. In order to get a really great chip, you could do what the pro's do and buy three at once, and test them all, and then return or sell the ones you don't want. And then buy three more, and so on, until you get that 5ghz chip that you can post online and win benchmarks with.
Third, even after delidding, and applying a very good TIM like liquid metal, or the like, you will be very lucky to get a 4.8ghz overclock on any i7 4770K. And if you do, you might not be able to keep it stable for very long. As the cpu breaks down from heat, you may find that you have to lower your OC to 4.6 or 4.4 or even 4.2.
However, with that said, my advice is that you buy one Haswell i7 4770K and overclock it, knowing aforehand that the temps get very high when you raise the voltage.
You then will have two choices:
(1) you can simply settle for a "mild" overclock.
or (2) if you want the most extreme overclock possible for your chip, you have to remove the heat spreader, replace the TIM, and then replace the heat spreader. And then get some custom water cooling. Like a 480mm radiator and a dual Liang DDC 3.25 pump setup.
If you want to go the simplest (and cheapest) route to overclocking, I would get an i7 4770K, and get a Corsair H100i water cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181032, and see if you can get to 4.0ghz or maybe 4.2 ghz and call it a day. That is a great overclock, and will yield great performance.
If maxing out the performance of your rig is your key goal, I would also consider the following:
Also think about getting 16GB of RAM rated at 2133 mhz or better, which will also help performance. Some idiot might tell you to stick with 1600mhz, which is fine, but will not yield the best performance. You can notice a difference between 1600 and 2133. Don't listen to the slavish devotees of anandtech.com who hate high speed RAM.
For gaming you are going to need the best gfx card you can afford. First choice should be the GTX780. (Titan is only slightly better, but costs nearly double, so don't bother with Titan.) If you are on a tight budget however, then GTX770 is great performer, although the best bang-for-buck gfx card is probably the Radeon 7950.
And finally of course, an SSD will greatly improve performance as well. And bigger is better. And they keep getting cheaper all the time. Do not RAID SSD's as it cuts out TRIM support, and the gains in real world performance are so negligible, it's not worth it. You are better off getting a bigger HDD for backup storage.
