Overclocking: should I do it?

[Pollis]

So, I have currently an MSI GeForce GTX 660ti twin frozr edition graphics card with an AMD 6300 processor on stock cooling. I haven't played a ton of games lately due to the fact that the performance has gotten lower that it was when I first started to play. I'm a bit skeptical to overclock for multiple reasons: I have never done it, I have stock cooling, and I don't have the money to buy replacement parts. Should I do it or leave it alone?

 

[RookieOfTheYear]

What is the lower performance you are noticing?

 

[Pollis]

What is the lower performance you are noticing?

Frame rate drops, slower loading times

 

[RookieOfTheYear]

I would definitely look into an after market cooler before overclocking. The FX series tend to run rather hot by nature. Here is a very popular aftermarket cpu cooler that a lot of people use.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Also I would advice to get some good thermal paste also. Arctic silver is a very good thermal paste.

I think it is something good to know how to do, for then you can always get the most performance out of your cpu before having to upgrade.

But the FX-63xx cpu's are known for their overclocking abilities. I would suggest looking up some overclocking guides and giving it a whirl. Just take your time and do it right.