OC'ing advice

[Sean618]

Hi,
I have decided that I would like to moderately OC my pc (this is kinda jumping the gun as it hasen't even arrived yet). This is the PC I'll be using

E6400
P5W DH
2gb g.skill F2-6400PHU2-2GBNR - I was seriously annoyed when I found that the cas 4 version had increased by £30 in two days and unfortunately took this out on my parents, never a good idea
Hiper type R 580W
Thermaltake Tsunami
X1900XTX with accelero x2

I'll be using all the standard fans (exept the acc x2) would I need better fans, I've heard that the conroe chips are excellent temp wise?

What speeds should I attempt without risking too much as I really don't want to have to buy anything new?

Also should I wait before OC'ing incase any of the components fail after a short time?

Thanks, oh and remeber I've never even built a computer before let alone OC it so treat me as a n00b.

 

[angry_ducky]

I'll be using all the standard fans (exept the acc x2) would I need better fans, I've heard that the conroe chips are excellent temp wise?

You might want to get an aftermarket HS/F for the CPU, as the one that comes with it (if it's a retail boxed CPU) is pretty crappy. Or at least get Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste which is far superior to the crap that the CPU comes with.

What speeds should I attempt without risking too much as I really don't want to have to buy anything new?

The E6400's stock sped is 2.13GHz, and online review sites (anandtech) have successfully overclocked it to over 3GHz on air cooling. I'd say to shoot for 2.5-3.0GHz. Overclock slowly, raising the FSB by 5-10MHz at a time, and testing for stability with Prime95.

Also should I wait before OC'ing incase any of the components fail after a short time?

Arctic Silver needs about 200 hours to cure; before that time, the temperatures will be kind of high, but they will go down eventually.

I'd wait about a month after the computer is assembled before overclocking. This will give you time to make sure that everything is working properly, sort out any potential problems, and give the hardware time to get burned in and working efficiently. You should also read Wusy's C2D overclocking guide; it's a sticky, so it's at the top of the CPU overclocking section.

 

[Sean618]

Thanks, do I realy need arctic silver as I have already ordered everything and how easy is it to remove the thermal paste as I was wondering about using the stuff provided and see if that is good enough first and if not then use arctic silver?

 

[Sean618]

Thanks again for the excellent advice, now I'm just trying to find out core temps of overclocked e6400s so I decide whether or not I need any extra cooling and the Thermal paste. The problem is that I read somewhere that some reviewer was commenting on the low temp of a conroe and said that even when they took off the heat sink the temperature only increased by about three degrees, so I don't whether I would need better fans or thermal paste. The problem is whether he was using it under load because it doesn't sound like it and how much of a difference will overclocking make to the temp.

 

[Anoobis]

If you're going to "moderately" overclock the e6400, then I would hold off on buying a new heatsink. You'll probably get decent results with the stock one as the Conroes are very efficient and do not generate as much heat as the previous CPUs. The thermal material that comes with the stock heatsink will probably work fine, but if you remove it later on down the road you will need to clean off the old material and replace it. If you do decide to buy a new heatsink, chances are it will come with a thermal material pre-applied and it will be sufficent. Just make sure to completely remove any remants of the old thermal material.

 

[Sean618]

Thanks that what I was hoping, phew.

Btw

I hate NASCAR

remind me of a Malcolm in the middle episode. Lol, now I'm showing my true colours (colours meaning maturity).