Advice for 3570k and 2500k overclocking setups

[SkeeterUK]

Hi all.

Im thinking of upgrading my pc to either a 2500k or a 3570k cpu.

Was wondering, what is the cheapest cooler for both that would get me 4.3-4.5ghz for both cpus.

Which motherboard is the cheapest i could get away with for overclocking either of them cpus.

What temps would be considered average for idle and at load for both cpus on air cooling for the hsf that is the cheapest that hopefully people would recommend due to question above.

Basically wondering which cpu to get then which mb for said cpu and which cooler for said cpu all being the cheapest but that would do the job. Keep in mind i aint rich lol so ill say my budget probably would be roughly 250 for cpu/mb/ram/cooler

Oh yeah what ram for said cpu/mb combo for overclocking to 4.3-4.5ghz

Last question i guess.

Would any of this be worth upgrading to based on i play very few games. Mainly star trek online, which ok the fps is ok tbh but id like min framerate to be better so it doesnt feel slow in some instances, i have started getting back into gta 4 with a enb mod which fps wise isnt bad but as before, min framerate would be nicer to be higher due to occasional dips. Then theres a the odd game here and there id probs play on occasion depending if mates have it but nothing like cod or bf type stuff tho i do have bf3 lol but dont play it much anymore.

Yeah im sorry for the long amount of questions but i dont fancy researching stuff anymore and hoped some of you know the hardware enough that could help me out.

The cpu most probably would be 2nd hand so im thinking 120-135 ish max for the cpu which i think i can get a 2500k or 3570k easily enough with. Mb i might buy new as theres some z77 asus boards going for 88 ish atm, and i do like asus boards a lot so really want an asus but could consider something of equal quality. Ram, 8gb of dd3 probs 2nd hand i duno tho new is possible if around 30 quid. Cooler i have no idea, i have a tuniq tower atm for my q6600 but its not a great cooler as when gaming it goes to 60 and when idle its 35 on a cool day on a hot day like today its about 44 ish id say (40 lowest core 47 highest core).

Thanks if you can help.

 

[Phusion]

What's your budget and current specs?

 

[Uncle Petey]

Asus P8Z77-V LX easily gets me to 4.5 even with it's pretty low end 4+1 power phase design.

 

[SkeeterUK]

I stated budget in the OP. £250 for mb, cpu, ram and cooler which the cpu would be 2nd hand, the mb possibly tho i might get a new one like that LX as it isnt too bad of price i guess.

Current specs (look under sig) but have a asus p5kc with a volt mod and a custom bios for ahci enabled. Oh and a corsair 620w HX psu.

I dont need loads of features or anything. For the mb i just need a pci-e 2.0 16x slot for gfx and a slot for a s/card possibly. Stick in 8 gb of ddr3 in. Is stable for a modest 4.3 - 4.5ghz overclock and that it wont overheat or anything on the caps during a oc. Oh i also would need 1 sata 6 for my ssd, then i would need 3 sata 3s for my 3 sata hdd and then I would need 1 sata for my dvdrw.

I would also need a nice onboard sound solution with a half decent DAC running it, i hear VIA is crap compared to realtek ones, so I would prefer a realtek onboard sound i guess and the dac is for the line out to a old amp for my headphones. I dont need sli or xfire as i would never use more than 1 gfx card, i use a 460 1gb but might in future get a 560ti 448 when there cheap enough. Oh about the sata controller i think id prefer a intel controller, i say this as i know some boards use other controllers on the z77 series mbs which afaik are not as good performing as the intel controllers are. I think all new mb's have ahci (for ssds) in the bios as options so i shouldn't need to ask for a board that has it.

Hope this helps to pick a board for me. My current cpu and board is a q6600 @3.2 on a asus p5kc which i like but obviously i need a mb for a new cpu that is as capable as my trusty p5kc is in overclocking and stuff, also it has optical and coaxiel outputs on the sound which might not be needed as i havent used mine yet on this board but might be nice to have features, i duno tho.