Air Cooler Advice

You can't overclock the i5-3550 to 4.2ghz, max would be 3.7ghz using turbo boost.

However, it's not worth the trouble going through all of that to do so.

I've had it up to 4 GHz before it just got hot so I put it back to stock. The core multiplier goes up to 42x and I figure if I bump the BLCK up a bit I could reach 4.1/4.2. I don't mind if I don't get more than that and I'm kind of interested in the aftermarket parts.   And I'm a bit uncomfortable because it is still running slightly hot for my liking and it's winter now and summer temps here get around 40C+ so I need to play safe.

Sorry core multiplier goes up to 41x. My bad

Don't go above 103BLCK, you can damage all of your parts if you do so. That is why we have unlocked multipliers......

O I see. Thanks for the advice. Could you maybe explain to me how the stuff works and why it can damage the parts? I'm kinda new to overclocking. BTW at the moment it appears you were sorta right. The cpu does reach 4.0 GHz but only briefly then it goes back to 3.9. hahahah