Help re: performance boost for i5 750 build

[charlie_watts]

I'm a newbie, so I apologize in advance for the inane question.

I very recently completed my first ever quad core set-up based on the i5 750, and I must say I've become a huge fan of the chip! Even at stock speeds, I've not been able to throw anything at it that it could not handle -- or manhandle, even. It performs beautifully no matter what I'm doing. I just cannot help but love the darned thing!

I am no overclocker , however, and lack the skills, knowledge and patience required to give my processor the overclock it deserves. I also want to avoid putting my system through all the rigorous stability testing that a real overclock demands. So I'm thinking that I'd try and go no further than raising the BLCK a few notches while leaving all other BIOS settings at default or auto. Can this be safely accomplished? If yes, how far can I go without making any other alterations to my BIOS settings? Say, from 133 BLCK to 135 maybe, or 137? All I'm looking for is some extra zip and snap.

I've presently got 4GB Corsair XMS3 1333Mhz RAM (9-9-9-24 timings) rated for 1.5v installed in my set-up, so I assume my options for even the slightest improvement are limited. That's really just fine . I'd be very happy if I can safely up the speed from the stock 2.66GHz to a little above 2.70GHz with turbo boost enabled, in fact.

I have a Hyper 212+ (with dual fans) CPU cooler. My mobo is an Asus Maximus III Formula, in case the information is relevant. At its current stock clock settings, the hottest core on my system reaches around 65°C after 20 runs of the Intel Burn Test at the highest possible settings. My idle temps hover around the low 30's and high 20s.

Many thanks for taking time to read this long post. Again, I apologize for my lack of fundamentals. Your advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Zero82z]

You certainly can overclock your CPU by only raising the base clock. As for how much you can do it, the beauty of overclocking is that you never know until you try. If you can pass 20 runs of IntelBurnTest without crashing, you're good to go.

For the RAM, keep in mind that raising the base clock also raises the RAM speed, so you'll want to manually set the RAM voltage to what your sticks are rated for, which in this case would appear to be 1.5V.

Temperatures are really not something you need to worry about. Your CPU can go up to 100C before triggering the thermal throttling, so you've got plenty of headroom.