Newbie to Overclocking

[achosid]

Hello all,

I've never overclocked a CPU before. My current system is as follows as per the summary in Speccy:


Operating System
MS Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 @ 3.00GHz 41 °C
Kentsfield 65nm Technology
RAM
6.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 333MHz (5-5-5-15)
Motherboard
MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD MS-7345 (CPU 1) 40 °C
Graphics
Panasonic-TV (1920x1080@59Hz)
HP 2509 (1920x1080@60Hz)
XT-7 (800x480@60Hz)
AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series (ATI AIB) 44 °C
Hard Drives
488GB Seagate ST3500630AS ATA Device (SATA) 29 °C
73GB Western Digital WDC WD740GD-00NLR1 ATA Device (SATA) 29 °C
244GB Western Digital WDC WD25 SCSI Disk Device (RAID)
244GB Western Digital WDC WD25 SCSI Disk Device (RAID)
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8164B ATA Device
TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182D ATA Device
ELBY CLONEDRIVE SCSI CdRom Device
Audio
Creative X-Fi Audio Processor (WDM)

The mobo is an MSI P35 Neo2.

My heatsink is a Zalman CNPS9900 LED and my PSU is a BFG 650W.

I've never OC'ed before. Should I tinker with this setup, my usage is some gaming and a lot of HTPC usage. What's a safe amount to OC? Where do I start learning how to do this stuff?

Appreciate any help in advance.

 

[xtreme5]

http://techgage.com/article/intel_core_2_extreme_qx6850_quad-core/11

enter into bios and see overclocking features and raise multiplier be carefull about voltage.first take a look into link.

 

[achosid]

What's appropriate temperature? I seem to be idling in the low 20s C.

 

[xtreme5]

about 28 to 32c.

 

[jsc]

Idle temps do not matter. What does are the load temps. Load temps need to stay below 70 C. And keep your core voltage under 1.50 volts.

 

[stryk3r1215]

Idle temps do not matter. What does are the load temps. Load temps need to stay below 70 C. And keep your core voltage under 1.50 volts.

How do you raise the voltage? In the BIOS? I've got an FX-4100 but all I know how to do is to raise the multiplier. Is that <1.5voltage applies to any cpu?

 

[missaini]

Load temps need to stay below 70 C. And keep your core voltage under 1.50 volts.