Ok, the first you thing you should do is enter the BIOS and disable any components you are not using. For example: if you have a dedicated soundcard, disable onboard audio. Next, make sure you have the proper memory voltage and timings set.
I'm not familiar with your mobo and BIOS, but I think it will be similar to mine. On the advanced page, set AI Overclocking to manual. At this point, I'm not sure what you will see. Look for a way to access the memory voltage and set it to 2.1v. That is the optimal vdimm for you memory. Next, set the memoy timings. This should be accessible on the Advanced/Chipset page. There should be an option for SPD. Disable that and set the following timings:
CAS: 4
TRCD (RAS to CAS Delay): 5
TRP (RAS Precharge): 4
TRAS (Cycle Time): 15
Leave everything else as is.
With your system now properly configured, you should do some stress testing to establish that your machine is stable at stock.
Download Orthos Stress Prime:
http://sp2004.fre3.com/beta/beta2.htm
Run the blended test for a few hours. If you get any errors, you should run a memtest on your ram.
Download memtest:
http://www.memtest.org/
Burn the ISO to CD and boot with it. Let it run through at least one pass of all 10 tests. If you get any errors, repeat this test with each DIMM individually. Hiopefully, it will not come to this.
Assuming you determined that your system is stable at stock, we could try a very easy 25% overclock on your FSB (from 266 to 333) which would boost your CPU to 3GHz. I am currently running my E6600 at #GHz, so I'll give you my settings.
Return to the area where you set the memory voltage. In this same spot, you should be able to modify the FSB, memory speed (DRAM frequency) and CPU voltage (vcore).
Try:
FSB: 333
DRAM: DDR2-666
VCORE: 1.35v
VDIMM: 2.1v
The reason I am suggesting you downclock the mem is because I want the MEM and FSB to be synchronous, as in a 1:1 ratio. When the mem and fsb run out of sync, the mobo has to use a divider, and I'm not at all sure how your board handles these dividers. In any case, the performance hit in downclocking the mem to DDR2-666 is virtually negligible. Again, I'm doing exactly that with my setup.
Ok, save the BIOS settings and reboot. This being a modest overclock, I do not anticipate you having any problems booting with these settings. Worst case scenario: the machine will not boot and you have to reset the CMOS (see manual). However, if your mobo has the crashproof feature, if the o/c fails, it will just force you back into the BIOS to make some changes.
If this first try does not work, boost the VCORE one step, and try rebooting.
Assuming the machine boots, stress the machine with Orthos, once again. Let it run for a few hours.
IMPORTANT: monitor your core temps using CoreTemp. Download it here:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=103638
I hope this is enough to get you started.
-phil
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