Should I increase my overclock? Q6600

[nwrigley]

I have a Q6600 G0 with VID = 1.28750. It is currently overclocked to 9X333=3.0ghz at stock voltage with the memory set at 333mhz. My temps are 44 idle, 68 max with Prime 95 running.

I haven't tried tweaking the system for max overclock - I just went for a quick/stable overclock at stock voltage. What I'm wondering is if I should try to push this system more. I don't want the max temp to go much past 70. What kind of benefit would there be to overclocking to 8X400=3.2ghz and running the memory at 400mhz? What kind of voltage/temp increase is likely?

After reading graysky's guide, I decided that it didn't make sense to run the memory out of sync with the fsb, so I try to keep this in mind with my overclocks but am open to suggestions. My memory is Crucial Ballistic.

 

[RussianSensation]

3.2 > 3.0 by about 7% or so.

Those temperatures are pretty high for 3.0ghz. I am running at 57-65*C in hot summer weather at 3.4ghz without AC. You could invest into a better cooler. With a 3.0ghz Quad, unless you are going SLI/CF route, this system should be good until you upgrade to i7. What is your videocard and the primary use for this PC?

 

[nwrigley]

I'm not interested in spending more money on a better cooler or on anything else.

I understand that moving from 3.0ghz to 3.2 is not a huge boost, I'm wondering how much practical (i.e. real world) benefit I would see from also bumping the memory up from 333 to 400.

 

[DSF]

Little to none in most applications if you're excluding the CPU speed increase. (In other words, the difference between 9x333 and 7.5x400 is minimal in the real world.)

Again, varies from application to application, that's just a general statement.