Help me clock the living daylights out of my new PC!

So I have a nice shiny new computer. (How I put it together, I will never know.)

The current set up is:
22" Viewsonic VA2216w LCD Monitor
ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus Motherboard
750 Gigabyte Samsung HDD
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4GHz) Processor with stock fan
4 Gigabyte DDR2 Corsair RAM
Nivida Geforce 7600GS 400MHz 512mb GRAM

And soon I am going to add indefinitely:
a 23" Syncmaster HD Monitor (As a secondary monitor)
A secondary Nvidia Geforce 7600GS 400MHz 512mb GRAM linked to the primary via SLI.
A new CPU Fan (clocking can't be this simple, surely )

I'd like to know firstly what anyone can suggest for cooling, I currently have my GFX card clocked at 500MHz, and it generates the same temperature as it has done at 400MHz, reaching around 74 degrees or so when the pressure is on it (should I worry about this?) It seems to hover at around 56-58 when not performing any high graphic usage tasks. (I'm using OCCT to get these figures and perform this testing)

My processor seems pretty capable. It's constantly running at 2.4GHz, it never drops in value in the slightest, even though it's second hand, leading me to think that it's got a lot of unused capability in there. However, I'd rather not blast it through the ceiling at 200 degrees celcius. (Although, the 4 cores tend to keep around 63 degrees or so with no heavy load, and rise to about 69 when using the OCCT 100% CPU test, so not a huge increase at all! Also this is with 0 clocking, as I can't figure it out as of yet.)

So firstly I'd like any suggestions on what fans I may be able to fix closeby the graphics cards (I currently have two on the side of my case facing the graphics cards to keep them cool that don't really do much, they're good but they don't provide a frozen arctic PC.)

And secondly, I'd like a nice, strong, durable fan for my processor, something that'll allow some heavy overclocking.

I would also appreciate learning just HOW to clock up my processor. I was able to use software to get my graphics card running faster (and the system confirms that it is, in fact, running at 500MHz, and the temperature is not exceeding what it should not be.). However, my difficulty is understanding how to navigate the bios to push through more than 2.4GHz of pure awesome power.

So anyone who can give me some ideas or advice, or even some fans or equipment to buy (I have a good budget, and I also have a pair of parents that are well aware that Christmas is approaching and that their daughter is going through a computer geek phase ), then I would be very grateful.

Thanks, hope to get some input guys!

- Brittany

on stock cooling to the FSB1333 trick, any more then that you WILL need a new cooler

Oh? The two card's in conjunction apparently work very well, how come 1000 MHz of power won't give me what I need? (I'd like to run games on 4x Anti-Aliasing, Very High detail. If the cards together won't help, would you be able to suggest 2 better SLI link cards?)

Looking at the charts
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts [...] ,1535.html

@1680x1050 on Very High Detail, 4x AA, to produce at least 30fps

Fallout 3 - requires an ATi 3870
Fear 2 - requires an ATi 3850

A single 9600GT or 4670 is probably 2-4 times faster than your 7600GS SLI setup.


With your requirements, you'd need at least a GeForce 250, or an ATi 4770.

I even get stutters on Fallout 3 Very High 4xAA 1920*1200 due to the extremely long drawing distance. I think a little more VRAM could clear that up, though.

The 7600gs is a little weak. I had a 7900gs when it came out and it worked fine, but the small frame buffer limited it to 1280x1024 with the settings I used. A 7600gs is a stripped down 7600GT which I doubt could run Fallout 3 very well.

The sooner you sell those 7600 videocards the sooner for you to enjoy gaming because those cards are holding your system back from those smooth framerates. The longer you keep those cards, the cheaper they become on eBay and in 6 months, they might be worth less than $15 each.
Start off with something like this for $98 w/ free shipping:

Recertified: PNY RVCG8800XXPB GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814133305

If you have a little more cash, a GTX 260 for around $169 also compliments your overclocked Q6600. But since your motherboard isn't the ideal overclocking motherboard (lot's of voltage, instability) and your CPU isn't ideal CPU to overclock for gaming (heat, high volts again - IMO e8400 beats it hands down for gaming and OC'ing) not really sure how much OC you'll be able to get out of it and stay fairly cool, maybe up to 3.0 Ghz only. So probably a 9800 GT is also good for your system and your monitor size.

I could have missed it but I don't see anything about your PSU and you might have to upgrade that too.

^ +1. The 7600s are OLD even with SLI they are not that good (for current gen games). Get a 4770 or similar card.

You CAN'T add speeds like that. If I did that, I could say my OCed i7s at 30.4Ghz (3.8*8).

And welcome to THF.

PS: When was this built and how much did you spend on it esp. the 7600s?