E8400 First Build, Overclock suggestions?

[Matchews]

Alrighty then,
Check out this system build, this is what I am winding up with after trying to repair a computer that had it's motherboard fry on me. Bought one part, then another then another and before I knew it I had screwed up and bought a motherboard not compatible with the processor I had before, so I had to buy a new processor that was affordable and compatible with the new motherboard*(Not a fan of returning stuff, guess I just don't like the hassle.)

System specs:

Motherboard: Intel Dp45SG

CPU: Intel E8400 3GHz Duo Core

Heat Sink: Thermaltake Black Widow

Graphics Card: Pny Express 9800 GTX+

Hard Drives: 160G and 500G

RAM: Corsair 2x2G 1333MHz 1.5v

Power Supply: Antec Earthwatts 650W

Alright, those are the basic things I wound up with. What I am wondering, is how much do yall think I can overclock this too? It is a fully configurable bios so I can overclock, just wondering what the general population thinks I can get away with overclocking wise. Oh, and I use a wall fan attached to the rear end of a modified chassis, loud as all get out, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna have another motherboard fry on me lol. Thanks for the info.

 

[Matchews]

Oh, I forgot to mention, the motherboard is a PC3, so naturally the RAM is DDR3.

 

[Matchews]

Question 2: I am reading through the guide now, question is DDR2 is divided by 2 to calculate the Maximum FSB. However in the guide it has DDR3 dividing by 4 to calculate the Maximum FSB, is this correct?

For example: I have 2x2G DDR3 1333GHz, this would be 1333/4 = 333.25MHz Maximum FSB support? Or is it calculated like DDR2 which would be 1333/2 = 666.5MHz Maximum FSB support?

 

[10tacle]

As one who also has an E8400 build (now a backup gaming system) with an ASUS P5Q Pro P45 chipset motherboard, my easy advice is to keep everything on "auto" in the BIOS starting out. The only thing you should start out changing is the FSB speed (333MHz FSB is stock) and see how high you can get without changing voltage, memory timings, etc.

On that board I have PC1066 DDR2 and keep it at a 1/1 FSB ratio. I can't speak for DDR3 on anything but an X58 chipset, now my main gaming rig, which is an entirely different animal. For your reference, that max overclock I have gotten on the E8400 on air (Zalman 9700LED) is 4.7GHz boot and short usage, and 4.4GHz 7x24 stable (lower in summer months). A happy daily medium is 4.2GHz with a 467MHz FSB speed at 1.32v on the Vcore.