Overclocking Speed for i5 2500k with my parts

[techo]

LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM


COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case


Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5\\\\\\\" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive


HIS H695FN2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity


Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power ...


GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard


Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit English 1-Pack - OEM


Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K


G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL


Cooler Master RR-B10-212P-GP Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler - 120mm, LGA 1366, 1156, 775, AMD AM3, AM2+, AM2




Hi I have been researching overclocking a lot lately and would like to hear suggestions on a speed to overclock to?

I'm not looking to overkill or to risk my CPU in any means, but I would still like to see the benefits of overclocking and gain some experience in doing so.

All suggestions and advice welcome.

Thanks in advance!

 

[T_T]

With your parts, you should be able to hit at least 4.5GHz with turbo, but still, you really should start your OC the right way - by raising the multiplier in small increments (like 5, or so)until you reach the point where Windows doesn't load. At this point, you would step back your mutli by 1 until Windows does load.

Once you've found a multiplier that allows you to load Windows, test your system's stability with Prime95, a free downloadable software. Run Prime95 on Blend for about 30 minutes to an hour.

If your system is stable, you can either leave it alone, or you can try some of the advanced OC steps by adjusting voltages other features.

Here's a good guide, even though it's based on a different mobo:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/07/how-to-overclock-the-intel-core-i5-2500k/1

 

[Toxxyc]

ATM you won't gain a lot of performance increase from overclocking the CPU in games, but you will in benchmarks and editing software. Overclocking the GPU though will give you realistic, real life gaming performance instantly. This can be done within Windows (much easier than setting PCI-E FSB speeds and stuff in BIOS) with something like MSI Afterburner (works with any graphics card and any GPU). I'd recommend overclocking the GPU first to around 850MHz, with a 50mV increase on the VCore. If temperatures remain stable after a benchmark test (with MSI Kombustor or 3DMark, max load temps less than 80'C) you can go higher, in 25MHz intervals and increasing the VCore with 35mV every time, until it becomes unstable or the load temps reach about 85'C ~ 90'C (absolute MAX). I'm guessing you'll be able to hit around 900MHz with that card, easy temps and stable voltage.

The extreme "upgrade" for the HD6950 2GB though is flashing the BIOS to that of the HD6970's. It's free, relatively easy and provides superior 6970 performance at a cheap price. A very important thing to remember though is that you lose the warranty when this is done.

 

[geekapproved]

With that video card, I see no reason to overclock at all.

 

[techo]

Best answer selected by techo.