Overclocking for a newb

[brbdc]

I am researching a new building on a new system. Its been 4 years since I splurged and built a new PC.

While doing all this research in the forums and guides on the main page, the constant features of overclocking are repeated.

In my position I have never overclocked. I thought it shorted the life of your CPU and could ruin your mobo so I steared clear of it. I also thought that you could adjust some voltages or something and then your board would just stop.

But I read about it constantly here. Does overclocking give you a great edge? Is it worth it for performance. The hardest thing I use my PC for is gaming.

Can you overclock your CPU?
Can you overclock your Memory?
Can you overclock your GPU?

What are the risks and likely hood that a change you can make is going to be irreversible?

Are there guides to progressively overclocking your PC while maintaining stability?

 

[Markbnj]

This would be better posted in the cpu/processors/oc'ing forum, but yes, you can overclock all those things, and yes it can ruin your system.

 

[brbdc]

How do so many people do it correctly or without messing things up or have most people messed up things?

 

[ohdamniskev]

low temps and not overdoing it

 

[DAPUNISHER]

This recent x-bit guide covers everything but the vid card well, and that can be very card specific, though for a basic overclock you can usually just use a utility that will automatically find a stable core&ram overclock for it.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: brbdc
How do so many people do it correctly or without messing things up or have most people messed up things?

What ohdamniskev said. High temps (usually through overvolting or poor cooling) is what kills components.

I use it as a way to get better performance with less $'s. For example, the Athlon XP3200+ was selling for as much as $400. I think it was at $250 when I got my mobile XP 2600+ for $100. It runs faster than a 3200+ with less voltage and heat. A good deal, I think.

I also ran my 9800pro at 9800XT speeds with no problem, another $ saver (just didn't have the on-die temp sensor feature though).

They key IMHO is to watch temps. I've never fried anything by OCing (knock on wood )

Fern