Overclocking i3-550 - what should I expect?

EniGmA1981 · 24 May 2011 at 17:27

My other half has just got herself a new computer, the CPU is as above, i3-550, now what sort of OC could I expect to squeeze out of this for her on the stock cooler?

Cooler upgrade could come up in the near future which could open more possibilities... Could I expect to get it to 4.0GHz on the stock cooler? Or is that just blind optimism?

Thanks in advance

cmndr_andi · 24 May 2011 at 17:33

Hi there,

May I ask what motherboard she is using?

So long as she is using a half-decent board - then 4GHz (using the stock cooler) is very achievable, have a look here (effectively the same CPU, slightly lower maximum multiplier).

EniGmA1981 · 24 May 2011 at 20:02

I don't know what the motherboard is yet... It's a littlewoods "zoostorm" jobbie... unfortunately I failed the credit check for a 'real' system from OcUK (, so had no choice but to get it there

I'll be able to find out more when it gets here (probably next week...)

cmndr_andi · 24 May 2011 at 20:44

Ah, in that case you probably won't be able to overclock at all

. Most OEM PCs have a locked-down BIOS to prevent overclocking (as if you break it, they have to fix it).

That said, hopefully your one doesn't - maybe they won't be as controlling as Dell or HP and use standard non locked-down motherboards.

EniGmA1981 · 25 May 2011 at 06:29

Fingers crossed then

I'm sure she'll be happy with 3.2GHz (she's not a gamer lol) but it would be nice to milk more out of it