OCing 101 - newbie here

[dragnalus]

I just put together a new system and I'm interested and doing some entry-level/basic overclocking.

My system is a i7 920 CPU /w GTX 285 videocard. I have a black knight CPU cooler and a CM HAF full tower case. Things are cold as ice right now since I haven't bothered doing any tweaks so far -- I just assembled it last weekend and left the bios at default settings.

I've never overclocked before, and basically my only goal would be to increase FPS in games (not that they aren't already pretty speedy). I don't want to push anything past safe levels or void warranties or anything. Is there any recommended reading I should do before tweaking anything?

BTW... I noticed that my bios has a section related to OCing and my videocard came with software for facilitating it. Not using these resources seems like a waste, and I'd like to learn...

It's my first time so please be gentle...

 

[dragnalus]

btw Here's my rig:

CPU: Intel Core i7 920
mobo: ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX
VGA: EVGA GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit
Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 932
CPU cooler: XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 1x 120mm
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA
HDD2: Seagate 400gb internal drive (SATA) (from my old machine)
Disc: LITE-ON 22X DVD Burner Black SATA
OS- Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit

 

[dragnalus]

Also, RAM: G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

 

[ddotroq]

You can't overclock and not void warranties...

I mean you can, but its pointless.

 

[OCingsmurf77]

how much do you know? if you don't know alot i suggest you just read up as much as possible. it's somewhat simple once you learn how it all works, thats what I did for months before building my first rig and I loved doing it.

 

[jsc]

Google "i7 overclock".

 

[dragnalus]

I am Googling; I'm reading up. I don't know nearly enough. Perhaps my post here was a bit premature... I'm just on the lookout for some basic resources and thought this forum might be a good starting point...

 

[jassao]

the easiest was to OC your i7 920 would be to look for an article about OC'ing your CPU, they usually OC first without changing voltages. I'm not really sure about the 920 but im sure you can just increase the FSB about 20% and still get it stable.

Again, you should start just by increasing FSB from the Bios, don't touch anything else if you don't know yet, specially voltages. I have read i7 920 is highly overclockable, so I think my 20% OC is conservative.

Like they said on posts before this one, google for articles about OC i7's, and get used to the terminology/jargon, and what other people have done with the same CPU under diferent conditions/hardware.

Good luck

PS : Post your results, with temps and frecuencies