4) DO NOT overclock anything -- this shortens the lifespan.
Documentable reference please.
My sons build from the example above was built on 2011-04-24:
-i7 2600k is overclocked to 4.8 Ghz
-Twin 560 Ti GFX cards are overclocked 27%
The machine gets hard use each and every day.
The machine has never blue screened.
It's over 5 years old.
It's never been upgraded
It cost about $1,700
It's In a tower case with plenty of fans and a decent air cooler.
Max core temp recorded was in last 5 + years was 79C
No need to add more memory, started with right amount from the getgo. Nothing has gotten less than 16GB in last 2-3 years. When using high speed RAM, adding 2 modules at a later date is too much of a crapshoot.
Been building PCs since 1993, and if any component could be overclocked, it was. No persona;l, office, neighbor, friend, colleague or client has ever had a failed component other than:
(3) Opticals failed
(3) MoBos were broken when user upgraded cooler
(1) MoBo failed when user pulled GPU socket out of board when upgrading GFX card.
(1) GFX card (EVGA FTW) was returned because it never could reach its advertised speeds.
(4) SSDs failed
(12) I am guessing a dozen or so HDs failed
(2) RAM modules failed
Also, be aware that if you use almost any RAM at is "advertised speed", you are overclocking. The number on the package is Intel's XMP speed which is.... by definition ... "overclocking".