smellycat

My Rig

Case: Antec Sonata III
PSU: 500W Antec EarthWatts
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.5GHz (4 CPUs)
Hard Drive: Western Digital 500GB
Motherboard: ASUS P5N - E SLI
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB
RAM: 4GB Geil 800Mhz (i think its this one not too sure http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MY-058-GL)
Operatin System: Windows Vista 32bit
Cooling: 1 Antec TriCool Fan(120mm) rear, 1 Noctua Vortex Ultra Quiet Fan(120mm) front, Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7 (LGA 775)

Just asking this question do you think I will get to something like 3.0GHz comfortably and get it stable without hassle?

Mainly the CPU but RAM suggestions are more than welcomed

peterhuang913

Go for it.

!I am Newb!

If u have a water cooling system go for it, you would be able to overclock it to 4 Ghz maximum thats what i recommend you anyways.

smellycat

no i have air cooling mate just the 2 fans and ACF7

SeanSpade

It looks as if you did already if you have a 2.5 Q6600 ;)
Honestly, it depends on why you are overclocking...
What is it for? Crysis? If you don't know what I mean, then no, do not overclock.
If you do, with the parts you specified, and the PSU, you might want to do some slight, like from 2.4 (your actual CPU clock right now) to AT MOST 3.2.
Which would bump up some 3dmarkage if that's the kinda thing you want.
If you are doing it just to do it, there is no point, you will see no noticable difference in everyday apps.
Do me a favor, run 3dmark06 and if you get a score higher than 9000, leave it alone.
Hope this helped.

SeanSpade

This comment by the way, please ignore.
If you do have a liquid cooling in mind, and you would definitely like to shorten the life of your CPU, by all means, go for it.
4.0? I think that is a little exaggerative.
3.65 MAYBE!!

stressfreesoul

lol, I am Newb seems to be cropping up with quite afew exaggerated claims recently.

d_animality

yeah.. i think u can reach 3.2GHz

stressfreesoul

We dont have to be "admins" to know that you are a fool. Stop glorifying a half dead, bought out company that we dont really care about and give out some REAL help to people who dont have a benchmarking setup or a bank balance the size of Richard Bransons.
GET REAL. WHAT YOU DONT REALISE IS MOST OF US WHO HELP ON HERE AND ARENT ADMIN, HAVE GONE THROUGH YEARS OF TRAINING AND HAVE A SHEDLOAD OF EXPERIENCE, STOP BLOWING YOUR OWN TRUMPET, WE DONT CARE.

peterhuang913

I agree with the others. DON'T LISTEN TO THIS.

brossette

i have antec p182, intel e8500, asus maximus formula motherboard, ati 3870 x2, tuniq tower cooler, 4 extra scythe 120mm fans, 150 gb wd raptor x, 8 gb geil pc 6400 ultra low latency memory, etc.. etc.. i have been an overclock freak for years and if you want my truthfull advice, dont bother, 3dmark - never get into this as it's pointless, my advice is put a game in you like and are happy with how it looks and runs, try overclocking and i bet you dont see any difference. your computer will not boot quicker or if it does its in milliseconds unoticable to the trained eye. your internet search engine will still be the same speed and so will loading of web pages. hope this persuades you.

Fox

brossette speaks the truth.

You just paid over 200 dollars for a processor. Why risk killing it for what will amount to only a 20% increase in number only to the stock clocks, and probably nothing in practice, all while running the processor hotter, sucking up more electricity, voiding your warranty, and shortening the life of the processor. Yes, running the CPU at a higher clock speed, especially if you have to raise vcore to do it, will shorten its lifespan. It's debatable whether you'll care as long as it will last you x years, but why tempt fate if it's not going to get you any measurable gain?

'I am newb', you need to control yourself. Being an alienware employee does not give you any more authority to make claims here than anybody else, nor does it give you the right to tell someone else that you know more than they do.

Sean is not an admin here, but I am a moderator, and if you keep on flaming, you will end up with an infraction, simple as that. The original poster came here asking for advice, and you gave it. People disagree with you, deal with it.

peterhuang913

How easily do you give infractions? I came to this forum hoping to look for refuge as the older one started to give me infractions for minor things.

SeanSpade

I'm sorry you were offended, Newb.
I just know as an overclocker, that overclocking is serious game.
It is much more commonplace for people to do so more recently, with all of the hype around it, but it shortens the life when voltage is increased.
Yes, they can sustain speeds that are amazing, there is a kid from Japan bringing Extremes to 6 Ghz with a liquid nitrogen cooling tank and making big bucks to show people, but our friend here just wants a significant performance increase from parts that might not be able to handle it, and if they can, he won't ultimately be happy at 4.0
I hope all this helped.
;)
Thanks Fox, and my friends who defend my honor while I'm at work!!

stressfreesoul

My only issue is the constant attempt to peddle Alienwares products. I have no doubt that either of the two employees in this post from said company have masses of experience with overclocking, but the original thread creator is less likely to.
To IAmNewb:
Whilst some of us on here are experienced (and are more likely to suggest building your own PC) there are those that would probably succumb to your "Dell" subliminals. This is not a sales site, it is a help forum.

Fox

You don't have to worry, I wasn't referring to your post when I said that.

There have only been a few times where I have been forced by a situation to give out an infraction. Generally what happens is that a member will continually insist that he or she right and everybody else is wrong, and sooner or later this erupts into a flame war where people call each other names, insults are traded, and things are just generally unhappy. People are certainly welcome to disagree- but when one member says "you can't disagree with me, because I work for x or I have x certification"; that's just flamebait.

From the point of view of the original poster, it's like asking two people you just met for their opinion on a certain choice, and instead of responding with your best interest in mind, they start wrestling with each other. It's immature, and it's not acceptable here. Save the flame wars for the overclocking websites.

stressfreesoul

Apologies if it seemed like I was contributing to said fire. Just cant stand corporate mindgames!!

lazareth1

I just think I AM N00b is funny pedaling his 'dellware'

ebackhus

OMG CUZ ALEINWEAR IS TEH ROX0R!

To answer the OP's question: There's really no need to OC with a CPU like that. Mhz and Ghz don't really count for much these days as CPUs are now going towards just having multiple cores. More gets done with less power necessary.

funkmunky

The noob obviously doesn't work for alienware... They wouldn't employ somebody that thick would they? Surely? With spelling and grammar like that, I could believe he works for PC world as a cashier on the tills, and we all know they haven't got a clue when it comes to anything PC related

Before you overclock, you need to ask: Do I need to? With a quad core CPU I don't really see the point. If you're looking at getting higher fps in games, there are much more reliable ways of doing it that won't shorten the life of your cpu...

There are a number of factors to take into account before you overclock;
Is your PSU good enough?
Do you have adequate cooling?
Is your motherboard appropriate for OC'ing?
Can your RAM be OC'd accordingly?
and a whole buinch of other stuff...