Thanks very much for that , I will have a go and see how i get on what stress tester do you think it best and how long does this need to run for? 24hrs? If it is it can take ages to identify whether the overclock you've done is actually stable.

An hour will do fine. Its not going to get any hotter if it runs for 1 hour or 24.

even an hour is ott, 20 to 30 mins is enough

If after 20mins of say, prime95 or IBT then its still going with no errors or chrashes then its stable

imo i7 is still overpriced but i have a q6600 so the difference isnt as large, seems like you changed your mind anyway. if your still considering it i would suggest waiting until the i9 gulftown is released that should drop i7 prices and maybe even the ridiculous prices of socket1366 motherboards

ya tis a lot of £££

I build up an i7 rig for a mate a year ago and the price of the mobo and cpu and ram has not changed a penny in that time