How do you overclock a CPU/RAM?? Beginner

[AMDXFire]

My first time ever attempting to overclock.

I've tried it alot of times, and most of the time, I cant get proper settings.

 

My processor is a phenom 2 x4 925 @2.8ghz Stock

Ram: Muskin Enhanced 4X2GB 1333mhz Ram

mobo: Msi-g45-770

 

I tried overclocking my processor to almost 3.1ghz, which also overclocked my hyper transporting (CPU-NB), and ram too.

 

I increased all of these in increments of 2 every time I set a new clock(from 2.8 to 3.1), so is that the proper way to do it. With these minor setting (CPu, ram @ 1433mhz, and HT too), everything is running fine, but many times I would get errors, system would not boot at all, and I'd have to clear the cmos, because nothing shows up sometimes. Other times it boots but it says overclock failed, and id have to do back to setup to load default settings.

 

Im new to overclocking, so how is it done?

 

(Btw my ram has heat-spreaders, and i have a good aftermarket cooler installed)

[AMDXFire]

*Edit* (Im actually starting to get corrupt messages alot for the same programs)

[Lorenzomista]

Use Prime95. It's a program that pushes your computer to the maximum. If you computer doesn't crash for an hour or two, then it should be stable. If the computer crashes soon, then it's unstable and you need to adjust your settings. Probably want to start with lowering the RAM speed back down to 1333. While Prime95 is running, use a program that controls temperature to make sure that your CPU isn't getting too hot. I use Core Temp.

[dihartnell]

Dolks Guide to Phenom II's is a good place to start. Read it all and then adjust settings as needed.