Now, with previous chipsets enthusiasts have become accustomed to not only modifying the ratio or multiplier but also the BCLK but with the new Sandy Bridge architecture we only alter the ratio.

Whilst the none-K chips generally aren't going to be considered as overclocking CPUs because their ratio/multiplier is at maximum and BCLCK should stay at 100MHz, applying turbo ratio to the chip will squeeze out 7% overclock nudging the clock speed by100MHz.

Our 2500K whilst being in the mainstream bracket can still be considered a performance chip because of its "K" status. This means it has an unlocked multiplier and can be overclocked unlike the non-K chips.

With overclocking simplified on Sandy Bridge, this means that achieving the best overclock couldn't be easier. CPU voltage and multiplier just need to be modified accordingly. I began slowly nudging up the multiplier from 33 (3.3GHz). Ultimately I managed to overclock the 2500K by 1000MHz giving a clock-speed of 4.3GHz. Please bear in mind that at this stage many of the motherboards we have been using to test the chips are premature and some are even beta BIOS versions. So, whilst we did hit a wall with 4.3GHz this isn't the end of the road by any means.