Overclocking i-7 950 to 3.7 Ghz with X58 Sabertooth, Voltages other then vram? what do I set them to?

[furnaps]

I want to finally apply a small overclock to my 950 as I feel it is getting alittle sluggish with my new amd 7970 gpu..

I've been reading a bit but since I do not have money to go out and buy new parts if I mess something up I want to be sure I know what I am doing..

I am using an Asus X58 Sabertooth mobo..Coolermaster Hyper 212 Cpu cooler.

I'm alittle confused as to the voltages.. I know what the vcore is but I'm not sure about the others..

To overclock my CPu tp 3,7 Ghz

Should I go into bios reset everything to default...

and I just leave the Multiplier what it is default and change Ai overclock to manual and then put my Bclk at whatever number gets me to my desired 3.7 ghz? and leave everything else on auto? Like the ram and all the other voltages? I'm not sure what the other voltages besides vram are for and if I should leave them on auto or set a specific number..

And then boot up check my vcore with cpu-z and go back into bois and start dropping it from there until its the lowest vcore and stable.

Also I what power options should I disable?

I'm sorry if these questions have been asked a million times but I really cannot affird to make and mistakes and damage my hardware.

Thank you.

 

[furnaps]

Also I should add that I just ran Prime 95 for only 2 minutes with the cpus stock speeds and my temps went to 67c I'm not sure I like those temps for it not even being overclocked yet... I mean the same thermal paste has been on there for 2 years i dont know if it would help re applying it or not.. I need to see if I have the fan hooked into the cases fan controller or mobo I cant remember and make sure its at max speeds

 

[inzone]

Usually when starting an overclock of a CPU you don't touch any of the voltage settings until it is necessary. With either a locked or unlocked multiplier you want to raise the clock speed until voltage is needed to make the computer boot into Windows. For example with a CPU that has an unlocked multiplier you can usually get to 3.7ghz without touching the voltage, the same goes for using the BCLK to overclock.
The i7-950 has a turbo boost option so that means you can set the clock multiplier to at least 33 and that will set the clock speed to 3.3ghz, if you make that setting then you boot into Windows and run Prime95 to see what the temps are and that Windows is stable with the 3.3ghz clock speed.
Once all that is ok you go back to the bios and if your able to raise the clock multiplier to 35 and repeat the process you just did, if the multiplier is locked at the 33 then you can rise the BCLK a bit to get the 3.5ghz. When you are ok with that speed with the testing head back to the bios and set the clock speed to 3.7ghz and repeat the process.

If your able to get to the 3,7ghz with these steps and the Prime5 test is passing and the temps are ok and there are no blue screens then you are ok to use that clock speed. At any point during this testing process you run into stability problems and Windows won't boot or you get a BSOD then a bit of voltage needs to be added, only enough to get the testing passed. One of the issues that you can run into is CPU heat and that needs to be monitored.

I would change the thermal compound before you start, two years is a long time for it to be on the cpu so it does need to be changed. A very thin layer only , too much will have the opposite effect on the CPU and cause heat to build up.