Simple & Safe Overclocking Gigabyte X58A UD3R, Intel i7 950?

[rpseguin]

I got my Hackintosh installed and running with Mountain Lion. Many thanks to tonymacx86, RehabMan and the many helpful people here.
I am now thinking about overclocking my machine...

SW: OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2
HW: Gigabyte X58A-UD3R ver 2.0 BIOS FB, Intel i7 950, stock Intel CPU fan, 24GB (6x4GB) DDR3-1600, Antec Sonata Proto case

-In the BIOS screen, the overall CPU temp shows about 30C-32C at idle, with each of the cores showing a slightly lower temperature than the overall CPU temp (weird??)
-After I did a bunch of software installs and was using the machine for about 40 minutes (ie, low load), I rebooted into the BIOS to see the CPU temps again and the overall CPU temp was at about 50C-52C with all 4 cores ranging from 45C-49C.
I haven't bothered doing any heavy load testing yet.

-CPU/HW temperature & voltage monitoring software recommendations?

-Any quiet, inexpensive CPU heatsinks/fans that will keep the temp much lower while really loaded?

-What is a quick/easy, reasonable and safe overclocking that can be done with the stock heatsink/fan? Settings/values?

Thanks!

 

[NateZ28]

The reason you are seeing those temperature differences is because those temps are coming from different temperature probes not directly in the cores. Each core has it's own temperature probe and that is what you want to look at when watching the temps.
In Windows there are several monitoring programs that load the CPU cores and monitor the exact core temps. I just got into OS X so I'm not sure what Mac alternatives there are.

One of the first steps in overclocking a CPU is to ensure you have good air flow in your case. If you see temps drop under load with the case open you have bad airflow and will need either new fans, better cable management, or a new case.

Regarding your stock HS/F cooler: They are extremely cheap and not very efecient for overclocking. If you are overclocking and want to keep costs down I'd go with a HS/F from Cooler Master Hyper 212 is excellent and can be bought for as low as $15 when it's on sale.