Can you check if a OC is possible before buying any OC-stuff?

[J van E]

I have Gigabyte EX15-UD5 with a i7 9920 running at 3.3 Ghz. It's been running at that speed on the stock cooler without any problems since january 2009. But I want more speed...

I am thinking about getting a REAL cooler (any suggestion for one that can be put on the CPU without extra brackets and without having to take the mobo completely out of the computer...?) and maybe (if necessary) new RAM (right now I have rather slow 1333 RAM (9-9-9-24).

Now the thing is... I am afraid I will order and install all this only to find out my CPU won't go beyond 3.3 Ghz...! So I wondered: can you OC further than would be healthy for my current setup for just a short while, only to see if it is possible...?
I already tried to OC the CPU further, but whatever I did, it wouldn't boot anymore... I thought that maybe, just maybe, the computer would boot, even if it was for only a few seconds or minutes, because overheating takes some time... The fact however that my computer won't boot at all at anything above 3.3 makes me worried that buying a new cooler won't help at all. On the other hand, I am quite new to this all, so maybe I just had the wrong settings or maybe it's my RAM and not the CPU...

So (in short): is there a way to check IF my computer can OC more without actually already buying all the needed OC stuff...?

 

[game4it]

You can Oc a little bit more with stock cooler but not to much.It really depends on what temps your getting as thats your limiting factor.
I'm sure its not the cpu or mobo stopping you OC more,more likely lack of experience (no offence intended).
IF its a d0 revision 920 your almost guaranteed 4ghz and if its a c0 revision you will still get close to 4gz.

 

[Reality|Bites]

Has the i7 CPU been out for a year already?

 

[PakJai]

Has the i7 CPU been out for a year already?

yep came out in Nov 2008 and the i7 920 has since developed a cult status