Intel Westmere 32nm Launch & Clarkdale Core i5-661 CPU Review

Overclocking Results

While we were absolutely excited to overclock our very first 32nm processor, we ran into troubles right off the bat. First and foremost, the Intel-provided DH55TC motherboard had absolutely zero overclocking options. Then we tried throwing it in a Gigabyte P55 motherboard, and it worked, but we hit a concrete block at 156Mhz BCLK. No amount of tweaking or voltage could get us past this level. The fact that we couldn't change CPU multipliers probably didn't help either. So at the end of the day, this is the best we could do with our Core i5-661. This is BIOS or motherboard limited though, no doubt about it.


Thankfully, our resident hardware overclocker 3oh6 had quite a bit better luck with his Core i5-660, an EVGA P55 Classified 200 motherboard, and a healthy dose of liquid nitrogen (LN2). You had better cover your keyboard, you will start drooling.




Not too shabby eh? And this is an engineering sample. Imagine what will be achieved once a few cherry chips are located and exploited.