Finally ordered: NOW HOW DO I OVERCLOCK THIS MUTHA

Ok, so I ordered the X800GTO 256MB GDDR3 AGP

http://www.chiefvalue.com/app/prod [...] 14-102-609

I decided that the 6800GS was a bit more expensive, and with the extra 30 dollars I bought a little 4.1 speaker set up. (I recently bought an Audigy, and would like something than my little crappy speakers..)

So, I think I made a good choice, and I know it comes with the TRIXX overclocking software.

Now - I have NO 3rd party cooling in my computer, none at ALL... so I am wondering if anyone has any idea on what I should try to overclock to? I REALLY cannot afford to burn the card up, but would like to OC it a BIT. Nothing crazy.

Also - what are some cheap ideas to help cool the case/GPu down?

I have clocked mine on stock cooling and its fine (sig). Can go higher I have had the core up to 570mhz but thats a bit overkill for my needs at the moment. The memory is the only disapointment on my card as that wont go very high, artifacts at about 540mhz.

The core should overclock well, i use the omega drivers overclocking tools and open the temp graph to keep an eye on it when I do push it.

To me the stock cooling is fine and I only have the Connect3d card cooler and it handles the overclock very well.

By no 3rd party cooling do you mean you have no fans apart form the cpu, psu adn gfx card?

If so I would at least add a back fan to expel hot air

LOL, well that's the best fan setup you can get... take the side of the case off, and blow a fan into it. But it's kind loud though.

Case fans are cheap and sinply click into one of your power supply's extra molex connectors, or the motherboard. Look for silent ones if you care about noise. Still should be about $10 a fan or so, not a huge deal.

Buzz buzz buzz... it'll get loud [looks down, yeah, my case is open too atm, but it's only through laziness].

Get the card, run ATITool. Should give you a temp readout. It'll shift the clock up itself until you artifact, easy. You run Motherboard Monitor to check your temps, right? If they're fine, then forget the extra fans. Not necessary.

Course, if it's a Dell, it may not work, but if it's a Dell, you deserve it.

Really though, if you're as new to this lark as you sound, and if you're really worried about shortening your components' lives, don't expect miracles--and don't go too far.

Heh... well, that's bad luck. May not have much in the way of expansion for extra cooling at all. You can get fans from anywhere. You'll likely have no room for 120mm, maybe not even 80, but they may not be necessary. Make sure your CPU heatsink assembly is clean & free from dust, too, won't you? That greatly affects its capacity.

Use motherboard monitor. Generally, the cooler the better. Anything over 60 is worrisome, 75-80 is nearing the breaking point of your silicon. ATITool will deal with the video card temps.