Overclocking a Gigabyte P35C-DS3R

[Ararat]

Hi, I purchased a Gigabyte P35C-DS3R motherboard a few days ago, and much to my chagrin (amidst my excitement about overclocking), found that it doesn't have a 1:1 memory divider. I have an E6300, along with DDR2-800 Memory (Samsung). Now, with this 400MHz memory, I should have plenty of headroom to overclock my 266 MHz CPU, right? WRONG!! The stupid piece of crap (which aparently automatically adjusts the divider to suit the FSB, yeah right) tried to run my DDR2-800 at '1200' (presumably 600) MHz. That's ok, I can do it myself, right? Nope, the only option in the BIOS is a '2.5 multiplier' (doesn't include synchronous speeds, and yet it includes the oh-so-useful muliplier of 4). Is there a way around this? What if I had bought DDR2-533, overclock by default? Presumably it would run at stock by SPD, but anyone with such memory would be unable to modify these settings.

How can I get the memory to run synchronously with the CPU, so that I can overclock? I am using BIOS revision F2 (latest atm), and it seems to me that it would be SO EASY for Gigabyte to have put that option onto these boards, but instead they have shot us in the foot. A helpful poster in the motherboard forum has told me that his DS3Pro has the option for 1:1, does anyone know which of gigabytes P35 boards let me do it? Should I take it back to the shop and buy a Pro? (I would consider this a downgrade, as while I see DDR3 as something I may not use, I could never afford 2 fast gfx cards, and frankly would prefer the extra PCI slot).

The best oc I have got atm is 333MHz (2.33GHz CPU), with my RAM running at '833', and thus overclocked, I'm not sure I should push my RAM further, and would like options. A nice trick would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Ararat]

That problem is solved. The board in fact does have a 1:1 divider, I just didn't see it because the options are out of order.
New (potential) problem is temperature. At stock speed, idle temp is about 55 deg, and under load, it is 70 deg. Once overclocked to 2.8GHz (should be easy for this CPU, right?), idle temps are around 67 deg, and under load it's about 78 deg. Are these dangerously high?
I used RMClock to measure these temperatures, however, the BIOS was telling me a different story. Once overclocked at 2.8GHz, the BIOS was reporting an idle temp of 54 degrees (Not much higher than the stock temperature).
I also opened the case and stuck my hand inside, and the air being blown out of the cpu heatsink honestly didn't feel that hot. Which is right?
One thing I should mention is that I placed this CPU in this motherboard after it had spend ~4 months in another motherboard. Thus, the thermal paste at the base of the heatsink wasn't a fresh application, there was some left on both the cpu and the heatsink. How much of a difference does this actually make? Should I take it out, clean it off, and reapply some paste?
Thanks.