M3A78-EM with Phenom II X3 710, can I safely do any overclocking?

[Newkearns]

I have a 2.6ghz configuration right now and I am trying to increase that. Can I safely do anything with this hardware? New to overclocking!

 

[geosh]

Nothing extreme, but some slight OC yes. Just read some guide before you start messing with the values and make sure that the temperatures don't go too high. That cpu could probably reach around 3.1 GHz just on stock voltage without much increase in consumption and heat.

EDIT: you can also check out, whether you can ulock the fourth core (just google around). Just keep checking your temperature and don't raise the voltage too much -- it's a couple or years old lower-end board afterall.

EDIT2: well, I'm not actually sure if your board supports core unlocking. I had a look at it now properly and it's a sligtly different than the one I was thinking of. Anyway, the comments about the OC would still apply.

 

[NightAntilli]

Before you start with overclocking, do the following.

1) Download and install hardware monitor and Prime95.
2) Run hardware monitor, and look at your CPU and motherboard temperature, and write them down.
3) Run Prime95 for at least 10 minutes, and look at the same temperatures that you just looked at and write them down.

This will give you an indication of how much your temperature currently increases at stock speeds. Depending on that, you can decide (with our help if you wish) if there's still room for overclocking.

I also have an X3 710. Overclocking didn't go well at all with stock cooling, but I was able to unlock the 4th core.