First time over clocking. what to do?

[IRanNaked]

Hey it's my first time overclocking a CPU and i was wonder a couple of things. 1. is it really nessary to do? 2. What will I gain from it? 3. Does it improve FPS in games? 4. Does it make the CPU go bad alot faster?


Here's my specs to my pc so if it's %85 nessary i can do it.

AMD 64 3700+ San Deigo STOCK idle temp 27-32

eVGA 133-K8-NF41 nForce 4

500 Antec Smart Power 2.0 PSU

Corsair VS1GBKIT400 1GB Kit DDR400 PC3200 CAS2.5 Value Select Memory

eVGA e-Geforce 7800 GT Idle temp 42 full load has gotten up to 63

Liteon SOHW-1693S don't know if this maters

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer Idle temp 31 Full load 40-45

Antec PERFORMANCE TX TX1050B

Two 80mm case fans one on GFX card and one in front on HD

Rear 120mm exhaust fan



anything else just ask me. i'll know it

 

[endyen]

1 You have a great, fast chip. You may want to OC latter, but you dont really need to.
2 OCing makes your cpu run like a faster model. 3700s can run faster than a stock 4000+ without too much problem.
3 Yes, it will improve framerates. In some games more than others.
4 An OC to 20% should not adversely affect your chip. It is a good idea to keep voltages as close to stock as possible, and not allow the temps to go over about 50c.
5 I know, you only asked 4, but the one thing I would suggest is that you check out the OCing forum.

 

[IRanNaked]

ye si konw this belongs in the overclock section but i didnt relise that intill after i posted. also thanks for your reply

 

[endyen]

It's probably good you posted here. In the OC forum they would have told you to go for it straight away.
There's no rush. When you are a little more used to the setup, you can give it a try. For now, just relax, and read up on it.
It's not that you would screw up the chip, but more likely you would scare yourself away.
Ocing is a way to get the most for your money. If you are happy with your performance now, you dont need that extra, so save it for later.