Getting ready for my first OC adventure...

[gvblake22]

Like qazwsx mentioned, I try to keep my CPU temps at or below 50ºC. If you are having trouble keeping your temps at that threshold, you don't necessarily consider watercooling. There are a lot of great air cooling heatsinks out there that do a great job on overclocked processors and I would suggest that before spending hundreds of dollars on a complicated watercooling setup just to lower your temps 10º - 20º.

To clear some things up on that nVidia overclocking guide, they used an Intel X6800 processor, which is part of Intel's "Extreme" line. These processors are the only ones that feature a fully unlocked CPU multiplier allowing you to increase the multiplier higher than what it comes stock. The E6600 has a 9x multiplier and cannot be raised any higher than that (but it can be lowered). So their method of increasing the multiplier does not apply to anything but the X6xxx processors.

There is really no set of defined rules for overclocking, just personal preference and style (can also depend on the particular hardware you are trying to overclock though). I usually change the FSB in increments of 5 - 10 MHz at a time and test after each change. I personally prefer the method I posted (in the second post of this thread), but that's because it's my methodology!
The nVidia overclocking guide does a good job of explaining some of the basics behind overclocking and how your system's components are all interconnected and are all affected when overclocking.

EDIT:
And I am by no means all-knowing or all-seeing!

[cniles]

Sean126,

I notice that our systems are pretty similar. Have you OC'd your system yet? If yes how did it go?

Cniles

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by sean126

Cniles....with that e6600 I don't think we can raise the cpu multiplier. that's for the top of the line processors...so we are stuck with playing with the front bus speed.

You're correct, both Intel and AMD lock their CPU multipliers, meaning that they can't be raised past stock (they can be reduced). The exceptions are the FX chips (AMD) and Extreme Edition (Intel) processors.

[sean126]

Cniles,
I'm still downloading Dmark05 to use for stability testing. It's a big file. Still have about 2 hours to go...and that's on DSL. Wow.

check out my thread GV has been helping on..."double check my settings". some of the info he passed on to me may be of benefit to you.

I'll be posting again on mine a little later, when I get this huge file downloaded, and post my results and questions.

[cniles]

I would like to get a pre-OC Benchmark on my system to compare with Post OC. I saw the thread recommending testing programs. can anyone tell me which of these would be best/easiest to use?

Cniles

[qazwsx]

pcmarks a good one, along with superpi. I like pcmark

[gvblake22]

Check out this sticky for links to the more popular benchmarking and stability applications...

It is definitely a great idea to benchmark the system before and after to guage what is actually happening. I suggest getting scores from 3DMark05 or 3DMark06, PCMark05, and a 32M SuperPI test.

[cniles]

Thanks again. I will benchmark tonight and and then start the OC tomorrow. I'll post again when I get some results!

Cniles

[cniles]

Ok here are the current results.

Before OC:
2.4GHz
3DMARK05- 10,045
PCMARK05- 6460
Super PI 32M- 23m 28s

Post OC
3.038 GHz
3DMARK05- 10409
PCMARK05- 7408
Super Pi 32M- 18m 56s

Im seeing Idle CPU temp of 29C and 40C Under Load (Torture test on 9) I'm debating if I should push on any further. This was done by only raising the FSB in increments.

Cniles

[cniles]

Small update max CPU Temp up to 43C during 9 torture test. This should be liveable right? I cant imagine gaming would push the system as hard as this test.

Cniles