Hii am considering overclocking my i52500k processor. Has anyone on this forum done it and what advice could they please give. I think the curent clock speed is 3.3 ghz with a boost facility to 3.7 ghz. What speeds do you have to overclock to to get a significant increase in performance ? I don't really want to compromise the integrity of the chip but I suppose all oveclocking will do it to varying degrees but also what is a "safe" speed to overclock to ? Please excuse my ignorance but does the overclock override the already built in boost facility ? Finally when not running FSX when overclocked does the chip still run at only what speed it needs to say for example surfing the net?Any comments most welcome.Thanks Paul

I am also looking to do this soon, a lot of people get up to 4.5/4.6 with this chip. As long as its stable and your temps are good then you are safe.You will need a good aftermarket cooler:If you are going for air cooling the Noctua NH-D14 has good reviews.For watercooling, you could look at the corsair H80/H100.You will also need a case with good airflow, the HAF X or Corsair 650D get good reviews on here.

Well Paul,from my experience, everything over 4 GHz is really nice fr FSX. I´ve got the same CPU as you and I´m somewhat satisfied with it. There are several how-to-oc guides out ther, so I suggest trying one of them out and report back. If anything will fail, we´ll try to help you.And you question regarding the CPU throttling down. yes, there´s an technology called "Intel SpeedStep". It automaticly throttles the CPU down to 1.6 GHZ whan not needed, for example when surfing the net.What´s your CPU cooler? Tepm´s are very important, without an good cooler, you shouldn´t oc anything.

Thanks for replying, I am at present looking at cpu coolers, I was going to buy a Coolermaster hyper 212 evo but I reckon it may be slightly too high for my case. I have an Ezcool 550 case, width 200mm but the fan protrudes into the case around 20mm. The height of the cooler is 159 mm, its a bit too close. Can anyone recommend a good cooler slighly smaller ? Perhaps 140mm high or if anyone knows whether this will fit even better....Thanks

What´s about water cooling when your case is that tight?!

Hi Paul, the i52500k can, in most cases, be easily taken to about 4.6Ghz with the right cooling and attention to voltage, and some guys can take it to 5Ghz. However, I believe water cooling for the SB CPUs is overkill. They run cooler than their predecessors and the Coolermaster hyper 212 is an excellent Cooler and it's a shame you cannot use it.

Thanks for all your advice. Purchased a Corsair H60. When overclocking the CPU, is it best to start with what GHz you are aiming for, eg 4.2 Ghz then adjust voltage accordingly to get system running stable or increase voltage to a "safe" 1.3v then use multiplier to see what you can get ? Can anyone recommend what advice they have used when overclocking this chip ?Thanks Paul

Thanks for all your advice. Purchased a Corsair H60. When overclocking the CPU, is it best to start with what GHz you are aiming for, eg 4.2 Ghz then adjust voltage accordingly to get system running stable or increase voltage to a "safe" 1.3v then use multiplier to see what you can get ? Can anyone recommend what advice they have used when overclocking this chip ?Thanks Paul

Start with the Ghz you are aiming for??!! Absolutely not. It is not a difficult process, but it's important you get as much information as possible so to eradicate any possibility of damage due to overheating or excess voltage. I have not OC my current processor and my previous rig I had the help of Alain Needle, so I am a long way off an expert in this field, but experienced enough I believe to offer you some advice..... read some information and take your time. There are a number of things yuo need to understand, so I suggest you start by checking this out... http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/overclocking/39184-p67-sandy-bridge-overclocking-guide-beginners.html

HiWhat a nightmare !! There is no way I can overclock my Gigabyte z68APD3 motherboard more than 4.2 Ghz. There is no facility on it to increase the voltage on the v core only the dynamic v core. There is no difference in FPS that on the standard boost of the i5 2500k. Is this possibly due down to my graphics card, GTX 550 ti or have I not overclocked it enough ? Looks like I may have to download a later bios from Gigabyte with the increase in voltage facility. Bit worried about doing this.

HiWhat a nightmare !! There is no way I can overclock my Gigabyte z68APD3 motherboard more than 4.2 Ghz. There is no facility on it to increase the voltage on the v core only the dynamic v core. There is no difference in FPS that on the standard boost of the i5 2500k. Is this possibly due down to my graphics card, GTX 550 ti or have I not overclocked it enough ? Looks like I may have to download a later bios from Gigabyte with the increase in voltage facility. Bit worried about doing this.

In your BIOS go to MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.) -> Advanced Voltage SettingsEnable Load Line Calibration and then set your Vcore (Dynamic Vcore DVID)

Thanks Daz, I read somewhere that DVID is a separate setting ?????? Have you done the same on your bios ?

Thanks Daz, I read somewhere that DVID is a separate setting ?????? Have you done the same on your bios ?

No, my Bios is different. It's an Asus board, but I downloaded your mobo's manual and that's where you set your Vcore. It's an "offset" Vcore setting, meaning that it will increase your Vcore what you set there. If you set 0.3, it will increase your Vcore 0.3V. Always check in Windows with CPU-Z your Vcore is ok at full load.Play with DVID and see how much Vcore you get

OKWhat a help you are. Thankyou. Just one small problem .... I thought the problem was the version of the bios, so I upgraded it to the latest version 6. But now I cannot boot into windows. Just been 2 hours trawling the internet to see what I can do. But no joy...

What error do you get? maybe it just reset your default boot drive?

Sorted thanks Daz, was not set to ACHI. Running stable at 4.2 Ghz. Is it worth increasing it more ? Will I see much difference in FPS if I try for 4.4 Ghz ? Thanks for your help once again mate.