Need overclocking help

[Richey02hg]

Ok well I built my own PC two years ago (in february) which much help from you neowinians and have been running it at stock ever since. But lately I have been noticing my computer starting to slow down especially with the latest games. However, i do not know how to overclock at all, nor do I know how to see if my computer is handling the overclock without being hurt.

If possible, I would like some steps of basically different levels of overclocking. Such as something thats puts light stress/medium stress/ lots of stress on my computer. So that way I could introduce my computer and myself to it lightly and see the differences without going from no overclocking to extreme overclocking in a day

also, I don't plan on buying any extra fans or cooling, etc. so please dont suggest anything that would require better cooling. My case doesn't seem like it'd be that great for cooling but maybe you can tell me.

also, is it better to overclock each component little by little? or just push one component at a time as hard as you can before you move on?



my specs are in my profile but heres a link to my ram and motherboard. im guessing for CPU overclocking, you would just point me to the stick thread at the top of the forum

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145450]My memory[/url]

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=607]my motherboard[/url]

http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonx800/aiwx800xt/index.html]Video Card[/url]

http://reviews.pimprig.com/cases/xion_gaming_pc_atx_case.php]my case[/url]



my CPu-Z is attached

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/Richey02hg/Computer/1.jpg]1[/url]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/Richey02hg/Computer/3.jpg]2[/url]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/Richey02hg/Computer/4.jpg]3[/url]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/Richey02hg/Computer/5.jpg]4[/url]

Thanks for any help in advance!

 

[Richey02hg]

in continuation of above:
I played with it last night, and ran 3dmark06 (which yes, I will admit now....it was a big mistake) so after hearing some other suggestions I'd like to play around a little more tonight but I'll run it on 3dmark03 or 05. which do you think I should choose?

But heres how it performed for 3dmark06:

My base score which is basically all the things I have in the first post without any overclocking :
score = 1295

then I changed the FSB from 200 to 210 which took from 2.00 to 2.10 ghz
and I lowered the CAS lat from 3 to 2.5:
score = 1930

then using ATI tool, i took my core and memory clock from 500/500 to 520/520:
score = 2020

I then deleted 3dmark06 so I didnt run a test but I did 3 more things before I went to bed
1. raised FSB from 210 to 220 . so am now running 2.20 ghz
2. raised Vcore voltage from 1.50 to 1.55
3. used ATI tool to bring core/memory from 520/520 to 530/530

From doing a little more research today I have a few questions
1. It seems that raising the voltage was unneccassary on my part and I should put it back to its default. is that correct?

2. I should be able to push my CPU to 2.40 ghz on stock easily without raising voltage. that seem correct?

3. Should I not be using MSI corecenter to do CPU changes? Does it matter if I use that or BIOS?

4. same question for video cards, should I be using ATI tool or doing something in BIOS?

5. should I do anything else to my memory?

any other tips/comments would be very much appreciated

thanks!