i5 3550 OC to 4.3ghz?

[Karl Hakk]

Hello great community of tomshardware!

I'm currently running an i5 3550 and an intel extreme series mobo. I used to OC the processor through intel extreme tuning utility, but at random it set back to stock frequencies so I OC'd through bios recently. Now I noticed that when I use intel extreme tuning utility I can still bump up the multiplier.

So essentially I am now running 4.1/3.9 single/quad frequencies which was max in bios and used to be max in intel extreme tuning utility, but now intel extreme tuning utility allows me to boost that to 4.5/4.3.

Is this a glitch or is this something that is common for my set up? Can i possibly OC my non K processor to 4.3 ghz quad? Running 212 evo with 63 degrees Celsius at 100% load with current set up, so the temperatures should hold alright, I'm just worried whether this is a glitch before I try anything.

Any comments or suggestions will be appreciated, cheers!

 

[Archgaull]

Non k series processors have a locked multiplier, they can't be overclocked

 

[Sakkura]

Non k series processors have a locked multiplier, they can't be overclocked

Please educate yourself. The Core i5-3550 has what Intel calls a "limited unlocked" multiplier. That's why it can be overclocked to 4.1 GHz via the multiplier.

OP, have you verified the clocks in a utility like CPU-Z, and verified stability with stress tests?

 

[Karl Hakk]

Locked, yes, but not to stock frequency. However it should not be possible to OC as far as it "theoretically" allows me to.

This is what I see atm:

 

[Karl Hakk]

I'm not going to perform a full stress test as I have done that before and I know it is stable at current set up, but i did run it to show that it is actually at 3.9 ghz right now. My question though remains, should I try to go for the magical 4.3ghz?

 

[Sakkura]

Normally I would recommend overclocking in BIOS/UEFI instead of using programs in Windows.

It may be a bug in the program. I don't know what would happen if you set the multiplier above the maximum.

As for reaching 4.3 GHz, it would theoretically be possible by combining the 41x multiplier with a BCLK overclock. But BCLK overclocking is not recommended. And at the end of the day, the difference between 4.1 and 4.3 really isn't that big.

 

[Karl Hakk]

True, I would definitely not go through the trouble of OCing with BCLK in these relatively new gen processors. One note, it's actually a difference of 3.9 to 4.3 if we look at max quad frequencies, which might not be too noticeable but still a higher difference. And I don't want to risk too much to get that extra performance, however if somebody has done that before would be nice to know.

Appreciate the comment Sakkura.

 

[CTurbo]

The LGA1155 socket REALLY hates a BCLK overclock. Don't bother. Even something like 105mhz will cause issues. There would be no noticeable difference between 4.1ghz and 4.3ghz anyway.