I am very well endowed with vst synths but my CPU has it's limit. It is a Core i5 750 Quad Core (1st generation) at 2.6Ghz speed. So I can't run more than say 20 plugins or softsynths. I am considering overclocking my CPU but I have no experience in doing this. A search in Cakewalk's Forum turned up nothing. 
 
               So before I do anything stupid (like frying my CPU), I would like to seek advice or experiences from fellow Sonarians. To do or not to do? How should I do it? Or should I just forget about overclocking and spend a grand on a new motherboard and a new i7 CPU.
 
               I am primarily a home studio/pianist/keyboardist composer that rely heavily on vsts and effects plugin and so faster CPU speed is crucial to me.

Overclocking is as 1990s the Macarena and Mambo #5.
 
Computers are fast enough these days that overclocking is unnecessary. Even gamers (who pioneered OC'ing) don't ereally do it anymore. Do the upgrade. You will have to upgrade anyway.
 
If you use your computer for CPU-intensive activity (video editing, DAW, gaming), you should have started with an i7 in the first place.

elsongs
Overclocking is as 1990s the Macarena and Mambo #5.
 
Computers are fast enough these days that overclocking is unnecessary. Even gamers (who pioneered OC'ing) don't ereally do it anymore. Do the upgrade. You will have to upgrade anyway.
 
If you use your computer for CPU-intensive activity (video editing, DAW, gaming), you should have started with an i7 in the first place.

Agreed, unless you really know what you are doing, avoid overclocking, and whatever you do don't get somebody else to do it for you.
 
> the Macarena and Mambo #5
 
T'was out of date after the very first play.

I also run an I5 750, and do often overclock to give a bit of a jolt to some programs, however, Sonar does not seem to benefit at all in regards to how many or how well synths, plug-ins or playback/recording actually works.
Overclocking you CPU will basically add a slight amount of speed to opening/closing of Sonar and said synths and plug-ins, but once the program is up and running you will not see much, if any at all, benefit by upping your clock.
This particular CPU is one of the most stable, well made pieces of silicon that Intel made and will run Sonar just fine, stock standard.
There is plenty of life left in an I5 750, if you want to upgrade you will see some improvements if you choose Ivy Bridge or later, but realistically you would be better served, at least as far as Sonar is concerned, by making sure you memory requirements and audio hardware are taken care of first.

I have an overclocked Q9550 and it works great. However, once I upgrade to a I7, I'll probably just run stock speeds.

I have got an intel - 6 Core i7 overclocked 4.5GHz …works great!

I have OC'd mine to 4.5GHz as well, but it's also an i7-3770k and in my motherboard BIOS, it does have a built in Nick Shih OC profiles which do all the adjustments automatically (voltage, timing, etc...). The menu gives me options between 3900 MHz and 5000 MHz in 100 MHz increments to OC my i7-3770K.
 
Since I don't really know too much/enough about OC'ing and didn't want to fry my board as well, I chose this MB as it made OC'ing quite simple in chosing a stable profile.

I have an i7 3770k on an ASUS Sabretooth MB that is so easy to run at 4.2 GHz (rather than 3.5) it seemed dumb not to do it. As a quarter of the available space in the case is taken up by the cpu cooler I have no issues with heat .

Grum.

Thanks everyone for their input. I guess I would need a CPU with 3 times the speed compared to my current I5 750. My situation is I tend to maxed out my CPU power first before I maxed out my RAM. I am very much inclined to go for the "upgrade route". It's either AMD 8350 or i7 3770. The AMD I heard is cheaper and the i7 is very popular among the good folks at Cakewalk forum. Hmm, this is an occasion for a new thread.

Intel always more reliable as software gets tested on it more, that is all :)

Cheers
 
Alex