Before the Intel Core i5 750 overclocking commenced, PCSTATS installed two sticks of 2GB DDR3 RAM into the ASUS P7P55D Premium motherboard. High quality, low latency memory is the cornerstone of any successful overclocking attempt.

The DDR3 memory was set to run in DDR3-800 MHz mode so as not to hold the CPU back. All CPU speed throttling options were disabled in the P7P55D Premium BIOS, including C1E state, and Speedstep/EIST. The standard Intel reference socket 1156 heatsink was used for cooling.

Ready to overclock an Intel Core i5 processor (socket 1156)

We adjusted the Core i5 750's CPU multiplier from 20x down to 12x, the base clock was then slowly increased from 133MHz towards 200 MHz. The P7P55D Premium motherboard's BCLK was successfully raised in 15 MHz increments.

How far did we actually get?

Well, PCSTATS was able to raise the P7P55D Premium BCLK from its native 133MHz speed up to 200MHz without any problems, but anything higher resulted in stability issues. An overclock like this is good, but not the best result PCSTATS has squeezed from the Core i5 750 processor without resorting to any voltage tweaks... so in the end results are somewhat mixed.

ASUS P7P55D Premium BIOS Highlights:

ASUS' AI overclocking features cover everything you would expect for an enthusiast motherboard. Most importantly is that it has a full range of voltage options that can be used to tune the Intel PCH, the CPU or the DDR3 memory.

DRAM timings are also extensive, and in a nice move the system's current RAM settings are listed automatically, instead of requiring the user to memorize or guess what RAM timings were set previously.

Just how much power does the ASUS P7P55D Premium draw? Let's find out, then it's onto the full benchmark set.