Want to OC for first time. Please help

[Mok]

so after my newist computer build i want to try and get the MOST out of my system. it runs wow Blazing fast already but i want faster! i have always wanted to OC and i'm thinking about doing it. Does anyone know a lot and how to do it? i have been reading up on it here and there but still do not understand it that well.

 

Here are my new computer specs.

 

Case - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139001&cm_re=corsair_obsidian-_-11-139-001-_-Product

 

Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R

 

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3449#ov

 

Processor - Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211&cm_re=intel_i7-_-19-115-211-_-Product

 

 

Processor cooler - CORSAIR Hydro H70 CWCH70 120mm High Performance CPU Cooler

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181013&Tpk=h70

 

 

RAM - CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 tripple channel memory

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145224&cm_re=corsair_dominator_ddr3-_-20-145-224-_-Product

 

 

Video card - EVGA GeForce GTX 260

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130444&cm_re=evga_260-_-14-130-444-_-Product

 

 

Sound Card - Sound Blaster X-fi Extreme gamer

 

 

Power supply - Ultra X3 1000w modular power supply

 

http://www.xoxide.com/ultra-x3-1000w-psu.html

 

 

OS - Windows 7 Ultimate

 

those are my computer specs. can anyone give me any info on how to OC? and what i need to do. i know to go into the bios? but from there i'm not sure what to increase or whatever so i dont blow up my computer.

thank you

[sack_patrol]

Any ol' PC can run WoW blazing fast. xD Anyways.

 

Yea your PC shouldn't have any trouble overclocking. the Power Supply is solid so you'll never run out of juice.

 

What you wanna do with an Intel, is go in the BIOS, and look for something called "FSB" That will overclock your CPU speed, but also impact anything else that has a multiplier like the North Bridge n RAM n stuff. So what you wanna do before any overclocking is done, is learn your BIOS and what each button does and what each value means so that you don't fry your PC or don't forget anything.

When you know your BIOS, it shouldn't be very hard. You need to increase the FSB by 5-10, and at the same time decrease all the other stuff that are related to it because if you don't you'll end up overclocking a whole bunch of stuff at the same time and when the PC crashes of instability, you'll have a hard time figuring out what exactly caused it.

Along with the FSB which increases the CPU speed, you'll need more voltage to support that speed, so when you overclock by 5-10 with the FSB, run some stress tests. If the CPU passes, then you can go ahead and increase some more. Do that until the PC starts crashing. In the beginning that will mean that you aren't getting enough voltages, so naturally you'll want to increase that a bit. You don't wanna increase it more that a value at a time. It's all trial and error. If you increase the voltage and the PC still crashes, increase it some more. You don't wanna go any higher that 1.50V though. That can hurt your CPU. At a later stage in the process you'll need to overclock more than just the FSB and the voltage in order to achieve stability on the few last Mhz you would want to squeeze out of the CPU, but for now don't worry about it. One step at a time.

In addition to all of this, you'll want to be looking out for your CPU temperature. Keep it as low as possible, with the highest that you wanna go being around 65C if you wanna keep your CPU for a long time. I didn't see an aftermarket cooler in your post along with all the rest of the parts, so if you want to overclock without damaging your CPU, you'll need one. There are good coolers that do the job and don't cost a fortune.

I mentioned stress tests eariler. I'll tell you what you want to have intalled on your PC in order to monitor the system and run those tests.

CPU-Z - That's a monitoring program that shows you your system set up and all the clocks and speeds. Anyone that overclocks must have this.

Core Temp - CPU temperature monitoring program.

OCCTP - Stress Testing program (after each smalll overclock you do, test for about 30 minutes, if it passes then you can overclock more, if not the calibrate the current overclock. Later when you finish with the overclocking and your happy with the result, you'd want to run this for a full day - 12 hours or even better 24 in order to see if the system is 100% stable)

Prime95 - Another stress testing program. It's not better nor worse than OCCTP. Depends on which one you like better.

LinX - Same as above.

Intel Burn Test- Same as above.

All of those programs are totally free.

Edited December 3, 2010 by sack_patrol

[GabrielT]

Any ol' PC can run WoW blazing fast. xD Anyways.

This is not true. My set up can not pull 60 frames per second in the newest areas of the game reliably with the setting maxed out at 1680x1050. WoW has changed a ton since it first came out. I get 120+ fps in most of vanilla WoW but post BC wow is a graphic hog with a Dalaran more than any other place. Dalaran takes my frame rates down to 30-45 most of the time.

Not trying to call you out but I am just sick of everyone saying anything can run wow.

 

Thread taking aside everything else you said seems pretty spot on.

Edited December 4, 2010 by gabrieltessin

[sack_patrol]

This is not true. My set up can not pull 60 frames per second in the newest areas of the game reliably with the setting maxed out at 1680x1050. WoW has changed a ton since it first came out. I get 120+ fps in most of vanilla WoW but post BC wow is a graphic hog with a Dalaran more than any other place. Dalaran takes my frame rates down to 30-45 most of the time.

Not trying to call you out but I am just sick of everyone saying anything can run wow.

 

Thread taking aside everything else you said seems pretty spot on.

lol sry, I guess the joke didn't come out as I wanted it to.

[Drunkdrive]

 

In addition to all of this, you'll want to be looking out for your CPU temperature. Keep it as low as possible, with the highest that you wanna go being around 65C if you wanna keep your CPU for a long time. I didn't see an aftermarket cooler in your post along with all the rest of the parts, so if you want to overclock without damaging your CPU, you'll need one. There are good coolers that do the job and don't cost a fortune.

 

Bro dont u see the h70? Thats a pre assemble Liquid cooling for your cpu.