Can I overclock a 3.30 i5-2500?

[capri_stylee]

I've recently bought a new PC, i'm pretty happy with it, although i'm now getting buyers remorse after reading about the 2500k and its overclocking potential. I'm wondering if its at all possible to overclock my own setup, and would i see much of a difference? This is my first new machine in 6+ years, i've never overclocked before. PC gets used for video editing, some after effects, and the odd FPS game...

3.30 gigahertz Intel Core i5-2500
Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P8H61-MX Rev X.0x
8176 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series [Display adapter]


Sorry if this is in the wrong section, wasn't quite sure where it belonged...

 

[Rik1254]

Is this a pre built from a high street retailer (don't say any names)?

Anyway, the 2500 can only be overclocked by increasing the blck and frequency, but even then it can only be overclocked by a small percentage. If you've only recently bought it....try and return it if its within a reasonable amount of time.

 

[Surveyor]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

The only overclocking you could do is with the Base Clock.

That might get you a few percent but it's not recommended as there are so many other things connected to the Base Clock you may end up doing more harm than good.

If you had a P67 or Z68 motherboard then you could do some limited overclocking using Turbo Boost.

 

[rossiboy001]

as rik1254 says , take it back if you can , with the money in your budget you have spent , there are a million people here who would love to spec you a better pc with that money .

 

[capri_stylee]

The PC was bought just before christmas 2011, ordered from an online UK based retailer, i think its past the point of being able to return. TBH i was happy with it untill i tried exporting in after effects, everything else runs fast and smooth. Is there anything i could look at to boost export speeds without breaking the bank? I'd be willing to upgrade components, but i'm reluctant to change parts that are still new unless i'll see a major boost...

Thanks for the responses and the welcome

 

[reflux]

New mobo and CPU would be a good idea. An i5 2500K will clock to 4.5ghz pretty easy with a decent board. But changing all that would likely void your warranty I reckon.

 

[capri_stylee]

as rik1254 says , take it back if you can , with the money in your budget you have spent , there are a million people here who would love to spec you a better pc with that money .

I'm realising now that i overspent quite a bit, including £35 on a sound card I don't need That shouldn't reflect on the seller, their prices were clearly marked, I just didn't do enough research.

Total build came to £830(IIRC) without the monitor, can post specs if you wish...

 

[capri_stylee]

New mobo and CPU would be a good idea. An i5 2500K will clock to 4.5ghz pretty easy with a decent board. But changing all that would likely void your warranty I reckon.

What would you recommend for the motherboard?

 

[cmndr_andi]

If your case can take a full-size ATX board then I would go with this board.

It is a great quality board from a solid make (with nice 3 year warranty), it overclocks very well, it supports SLI/Crossfire and can run upcoming Ivy Bridge CPUs.

However, to make full use it you need a K-series CPU, as the non-K CPUs like the i5 2500 only have limited overclocking (as illustrated in Surveyor's post).

 

[rossiboy001]

I'm realising now that i overspent quite a bit, including £35 on a sound card I don't need That shouldn't reflect on the seller, their prices were clearly marked, I just didn't do enough research.

Total build came to £830(IIRC) without the monitor, can post specs if you wish...

We all start somewhere with computers , im guilty myself , my first PC since a commodore amiga 512K was an HP i5 (only its not really an HP , all they do is assemble the components from other manufacturers you discover ). Im still using the MB and CPU at stock speed as the MB does not even have a bios .
Though yours should be fine for couple of years at stock speeds , It just wont have the longevity that overclocking can extend useful life .
My strategy with it would be , just say twice a year do an upgrade around the MB & CPU with me they coincide with xmas n birthdays . upgrading your weakest links ect .
That way when it does become time to replace the MB & CPU , you wont notice the outlay as much as a full new build , your already be kitted out with decent PSU , HD"s GPU"s ect to last years .

 

[capri_stylee]

So I'd be looking at around £270 for both, thats less than I thought but more than I can afford at the minute. Would I be able to retrieve any of that by selling my current stuff?

The case is a Coolermaster CM 690, its not much smaller than a Mac Pro...


Apologies for the never ending questions, determined to get it right this time

 

[capri_stylee]

We all start somewhere with computers , im guilty myself , my first PC since a commodore amiga 512K was an HP i5 (only its not really an HP , all they do is assemble the components from other manufacturers you discover ). Im still using the MB and CPU at stock speed as the MB does not even have a bios .
Though yours should be fine for couple of years at stock speeds , It just wont have the longevity that overclocking can extend useful life .
My strategy with it would be , just say twice a year do an upgrade around the MB & CPU with me they coincide with xmas n birthdays . upgrading your weakest links ect .
That way when it does become time to replace the MB & CPU , you wont notice the outlay as much as a full new build , your already be kitted out with decent PSU , HD"s GPU"s ect to last years .

That may be a better solution in the short term, considering the cost of a motherboard and 2500K, i could spend my money on an internal hard drive (currently have 500gb internal and 500gb external) and some more RAM.

 

[cmndr_andi]

So I'd be looking at around £270 for both, thats less than I thought but more than I can afford at the minute. Would I be able to retrieve any of that by selling my current stuff?

Aye, sounds about right.

You should be able to get a fair bit back from selling the i5 2500 - maybe 60% of the retail price (as they aren't very sought after second-hand, since these buyers would prefer the 2500k). as for the h61 board, here is what the boards cost new, again look to receive ~60% of this should you sell it on.

the case is a coolermaster cm 690, its not much smaller than a mac pro...

that is a nice case, it will happily accept a full size atx motherboard, atx type psu, a long graphics card and a large tower-type cpu cooler -so for upgrades you are pretty much sorted if you stick with that case.

may i ask what make and model number psu you are running?

considering your usage, one upgrade you should strongly consider is an ssd - for that workload it will provide some nice benefits.

 

[capri_stylee]

How do I find the PSU details? IIRC its 600w. I've got Belarc up, can't see anything related though.

A SSD would be nice, but i was told it was an unnecessary expense, I never knew it could be used to speed up applications while they are running, I'll definitely consider it.


From what I've gathered so far, a 2500k would be nice, but not necessary at the minute, and considering the cost, i'd be better off spending the money on a SSD + RAM?

 

[cmndr_andi]

How do I find the PSU details? IIRC its 600w. I've got Belarc up, can't see anything related though.

Unfortunately, you can't tell what the PSU is using an application. Instead you will need to open up the case side and see what the sticker on the side of the PSU itself says.

A SSD would be nice, but i was told it was an unnecessary expense, I never knew it could be used to speed up applications while they are running, I'll definitely consider it.

Good to hear, for tasks that make lots of reads/writes to the storage drive you will see significany performance boosts thanks to an SSD, this usuallu manifests itself in making the application feel more responsive, but it can also reduce the time it takes to do discrete jobs (as shown in the link in my previous post). Overall, an SSD is an excellent upgrade and these days you can get a nice 128GB drive like the Crucial M4 for ~£120.

From what I've gathered so far, a 2500k would be nice, but not necessary at the minute, and considering the cost, i'd be better off spending the money on a SSD + RAM?

I would say so, yes. As for the RAM, usually on a H61 board there are only two RAM slots (most higher-end boards like Z68 or P67 chipset boards have four). If this is the case then to upgrade from 8GB to 16GB you would have to abandon the current (presumably) 2x4GB sticks, and replace them with a pair of 8GB sticks (like this one x2).

 

[capri_stylee]

Thanks again I think my mind is made up, I'll get a 120GB SSD, the RAM can wait till i'm upgrading the motherboard and CPU.

I had a look at the retailers website, I think the PSU is a Quiet Xilence 600w 2xPCI-E 135mm fan...

 

[cmndr_andi]

If you will make use of the extra RAM, then you may just want to get the 2x8GB now - as it will double your system RAM amount to 16GB and (so long as you match the frequency, voltage and timings) it should work with your existing 2x4GB kit when you get a new motherboard (so long as your OS can support more than 16GB of memory).

As for the SSD, good call. If you are looking for a recommendation, I would strongly suggest the Crucial M4 128GB. It is known to be a very reliable and fast SSD - plus at the moment with the weekly deal it is really good value.

The PSU seems like a decent one and should be fine with overclocking and the upgrades you are considering.

 

[Trofeo]

+1 for the Crucial M4 128GB as for upgrading the cpu I'd hold off until ivy bridge is out end of April, even if you do just end up getting a sandy bridge 2500k the price might well drop a bit.