How to overclock...

If you're just doing CPU, get ASUS' AI Suite.  Can do a lot from there pretty safe.  And it will tell you your temps too.

Personally i am not a fan of overclocking. Whenever some application crashes etc etc i have to wonder "is it the overclocking causing it i wonder?" I don't need that!!

I might overclock if my processor was not on par with other hardware, but motherboard manufacturers are very good at making new/old components incompatable (the bastedds), so it just never happens. system where everything is well matched, there is little point to overclocking i think?

Rather dangerous to OC a dated system. The components are already worn, and pushing them beyond their specs will surely burn a few out. And all it takes is one chip to fry to make the entire system toast.

In your shoes, I would be happy with what I have until I can get better.

Here are some questions for the OP...

Overclocking is not something you do overnight and it depends on a lot of things. Does the CPU itself allows to be over clocked? Does the motherboard's BIOS have overclock facilities? Also, you have to be lucky. If two CPUs of the same model are overclocked then chances are that one overclocks higher as the other. Do you have good airflow in your casing? Do you have a good after market CPU cooler? If you have never done any overclocking before then you might make a mistake and cause damage to your machine. Even experienced overclockers have that risk and are you willing to take that risk?

And most of all: Are you patient enough and are you willing to learn new things? Overclocking takes litterally days and sometimes weeks, because you need to stress tests for days using various specialized test programs. In that time you won't be able to use your computer. It's not a single test. It's finding the limits that your CPU has (and like I said each CPU has its own limits, they are not set in stone for a given model or type). You test it over and over again until you find settings that are stable and acceptable.

There are a lot of knowledgeable people on this forum, but I would suggest having a look around the web to find a site with people that live and breath overclocking and are willing to help you. I like Guru3D and its forums, but there are many other great sites as well. With all due respect to the members here, but I don't think you'll find them on WC.

My i7 920 is going to operate at close to 3.4Ghz. It will be about two weeks before the system is usable. Any overclock must be safe and stable.

Best advice: check your mobo, this is the most important component when overclocking. Read all the overclocking sites, they are the real experts. Try and find info about your cpu, you can use their settings as a guideline. Make sure you have enough cooling, stock cpu fans won't cut it.

Don't be suprised if your cpu gets fried, that's old technology you have there.

1. You're going to want to look up an actual overclocking site, rather than the Stardock forums. It's that complicated, trust me.

2. As mentioned in previous posts, overclocking old hardware is generally a bad idea.

If you still want to go on with, it, I reccommend this site and that you use the BIOS to overclock your rig, instead of an external program.

A big thank you to everyone for the info. It looks like my new hobby will be doing an hour or two of research on this each night while I save for a new rig.  My current goal is to save around $800 for a better system, learn more about overclocking, and then try to overclock my old rig just try to familiarize myself with the process. I realize now their is alot more to this than I originally anticipated.

Thanks again, take it easy.

Is that $800 US dollars? You should be able to get a very nice system for that money.... unless you walk into a retail outlet of course!

When i bought my last computer, i found allot of good websites where you can buy nice systems, but in the end, they could not compare with some of the deals on Ebay!

It's actually very easy to overclock with programs, AS LONG AS - you don't overclock too much.  If you overclock like mad though you're going to need more cooling than anything, especially weith GPUs.

Yeah, GPU's pretty much just generate enough heat on their own.

A general fsb/cpu overclock isnt hard to do, just dont put to much vcore then you might fry the cpu have a look at the temps at all times, you will get away with the original cpu fan but you will be running high temps.....

Start upping your fsb and when you get bsod at boot bring up the vcore play with the divider on your ram so it stays the same or if you are going to oc this push up your vddr/vdimm, keep original timings, ram is sensitive when ocing with timings, but check your limits ram fry easily i know i have done it a couple of times OCZ has lifetime warranty yey

CPU-Z is a good app and for stability tests memtest86, prime95, 3dmark.... Try to get a max OC and then back of a bit to get a stable system... Still a OC'ed system might be stable in everyday tasks, but when you out high load on it like games, it might still BSOD you.

Good luck...

As my EE friends always say, there's 3 keys to overclocking - heatsink, heatsink, heatsink 

In all seriousness for semiconductors it's very frequently a temperature issue, so if you overkill the temperature issue your system will run more stable!

I will only suggest the following...

• If you are asking how to overclock, you have no idea how to do it.
• If you can afford to replace a CPU after you burn it up, just skip the overclocking thing and buy or upgrade your current CPU.
• It's not *overly* difficult.  But the risk/reward is nowhere near worth it to get a few percentage points of performance increase.
• There are plenty of websites out there that can assist you that are reputable.  The people here are great, but there really is no way to gauge their experience.  Use the web sites that are devoted to this sort of thing.

Never overclocked before my most recent system. With Asus and the 920 and a little hunting on some forums, I found what seems to be a pretty clear cut guide. My i7 920 is running at 3.5 Ghz and seems very stable. I'm not running long overnight tests and such, but so far it's been really stable.

Overclocking isn't a walk in the park, but don't let the naysayers dissuade you from trying. I think you had a great idea when you said you were going to wait until you had a new system before overclocking the old one. I have done the same with several computers at my disposal, with mixed results. In most cases, I have not risked OC'ing a computer that I rely on or that is central to my work.

That said, you should definitely try overclocking your AMD 3200+, and maybe even your memory and video card. Programs to start with if your bios isn't very supportive:

CPU: SetFSB

Memory: Memset

Video card: Nvidia System Tools

There is a ton of information out there on this stuff if you just go looking for it, so make sure you've done your research before you dive in. And be warned, overclocking is addictive. Even though 15% is the supposed safe zone for hardware, you will probably want to overclock more. I suggest overclocking with a goal so you don't go too far. You could pick a game like Crysis for example, and set a goal to reach 3 fps higher.

Another quick tip from experience, make sure the inside is well ventilated. Keep all your fans and heatsinks COMPLETELY free from dust particles. Dust buildup contains the heat that is supposed to be escaping the fans and heatsink, which can potentially overheat and fry your components. Also, make sure you ground yourself to something before touching any components.

Have fun and good luck.

OC is ok, just be prepared to burn your hardware. This is especialy true if you start to tingle with voltage.

If its the only computer you got and your not experienced i wouldnt do it.