Requesting Overclocking advice

[Gatt]

Hi all,

System spec's to start with:
CM 690 case
Core2 Quad 9550
Artic Cooler Freezer Pro
Asus P5Q pro
OCZ Platinum 1066 DDR2
Hitachi 1TB
GeForce 260(MSI)

I've read the FAQ and need some advice, I think voltage is my next step and I've never changed that before.

I started at 333 x8.5, and changed it to 400 x7.5 to hit 3ghz. At 2.83 my highest core temp under load is 40c. At 3ghz my highest core goes up to 52c. At idle at 3ghz CPUZ shows my v-core to be 1.304(Still have it speed-stepping), under load I go up to 1.312. Should I be backing off the v-core to pull down the temps? Or does that all sound right with the temps and the V-core?

Also, and I know it's not strictly in this forum, my MSI GeForce is supposed to be at stock speeds, but GPU-Z is showing that under load it's clocking at 620mhz with the latest Nvidia drivers. It's temp is running at 65c peak. Is it safe for me to push it, or is that pretty much as far as it can go? I know GPU's can take more heat, but I don't remember the threshold.

Thanks everyone for any answers, this is my first time chaning voltages so I just want some experienced advice before taking the next steps.

 

[Billb2]

Turn off all automatic speed controls until you're done overclocking.
Just keep reducing Vcore until instability. That's as cool as you can get.

As for GPU temps, the old Nvidia control panel has a default setting for max temp. Perhaps the newer one does too.