where to begin

[TylerUC]

My system is listed below. I have an intake fan and an exhaust fan, with my hyper evo 212 fan pushing air to my exhaust fan. My case has side ventilation with the ability to attach a fan because of the cpu heatsink (can i attach it on the outside)???

I have MSI afterburner and MSI Kombuster and I have looked at them a little bit and ran some tests in Kombuster. I have also downloaded the hardware temps checker.

My question is where to start with over clocking and testing out how stable my cpu/gpu will be and how much they both can take. Any recommendations on benchmarks or tests to run are well appreciated.

Thank you.


Case: Cougar Spike matx
Mobo: Gigabyte Ga-Z77MX-D3H
OS: Windows7
CPU: I5-3570k OC-4.0ghz
GPU: MSI R7850-2GD5/OC
HDD: 1tb WD Black 7200rmp+300gb WD Velociraptor 10000rpm
RAM: 8gb 2x4 Team Vulcan @1600 mhz PSU: Corsair
CX 600w Watt Cooling: Hyper 212 Evo+COUGAR CF-V12H Vortex
Hydro-Dynamic-Bearing (Fluid)+ Kingwin 120mm
Keyboard: Logitech MK520

 

[Buzz247]

VERY extensive guide, works for all Ivy bridge and is based on a gigabyte board bios:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/279408-29-bridge-overclocking-guide-3770k

Benchmark with Prime95, OCCT, or IBT (Intel Burn Test)

Your limitations are explained in the guide - Primarily thermal. Increase volts = increase temps. OC til can't OC no mo', at lowest volts possible, test and try keep temps under 80-85c mark when testing