When a new processor makes its way into my testbed, I like to take the time to see what kind of performance increase the overclock we use day in and day out gives us when compared to its stock speed.

Being the optimist I am, I thought I would go straight to 4.2GHz (hey, it’s worth a try) and while it got into Windows without too much drama, firing up prime found us quickly greeted with a BSOD. Dropping to 4GHz increased stability, but since the system must be 100% stable, a further drop to 3.8GHz was the perfect point.