To paraphrase posts of the past and echo my own experience:
"ISOLATE AND OPTOMIZE"
Lower your RAM divider way down to isolate RAM
Lower your HT multiplier to 2X to isolate HT bus
Now, start at stock, raise your cpu volts to 1.35 (I do not agree with the above 1.35V limitation.... degrees kill CPUs... not volts (But I won't go above 1.45 on air for my pc)
Run prime95 and see how your CPU temp is doing... keep bumping your CPU volts (IN SMALL STEPS) until your MAX CPU temp is ~8 degrees below what you will allow on your PC
now raise system bus (Keep the CPU multiplier at 10X) in 50MHz increments, re-checking prime95 generated CPU max temp.
repeat until you know how high you can set your system bus without loosing system stability... this is your Max. CPU speed (write it down)
now, set your multiplier down to 8X. (to isolate the CPU) raise (don't forget to put your RAM divider back to 200 for this part) your system bus up in ~50MHz increments and boot to memtest86+. Let it run a full set of tests.
Repeat until you see ANY memory errors. (If in doubt, let it run longer). This is your max RAM speed (write it down too)
now, you want to set your system bus to that speed that takes your CPU to it's max at 10X. calculate the HT multiplier that keeps you BELOW 1000 and set it
finally, set your RAM divider that gets you up to (but not above) the max speed you recorded.
This 'quick-n-dirty' method will get you to an OC fast. It won't be the absolute max you could go with further tweaking, but you will be close.
for a quick first check, I like to boot to memtest86+ and let it run one set of tests. (it doesn't heat your CPU much and will catch any gross instabilities in a single pass.
next, I like to test my system stability with these new settings using prime95 because it is easy to monitor CPU temp and re-assure yourself that you will not be overheating it. I also like to see my MAX CPU temp 4 or 5 degrees below what I will acutally be willing to tolerate to account for room temp changes, dirt buildup, etc....
If all is still good, I lilke to go back to memtest86+ and let it run for a few hours as my last check.
Lots of MUCH more thorough methods, and I like them... use them.... endorse them. This is just the path I take to get to a good place fast.... I can try for that extra 10MHz later
-Sid
PS: don't worry if your HT bus is well below 1000. It makes very little difference unless you are on a multi-socketed motherboard. Also remember that (in general) with X2s, you will get more overall performance gains by getting your CPU speed up than you will with RAM speed increases
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