Starting anew, looking to overclock for first time.

[revo8778]

Thanks to a very charitable friend of mine from college I was able to assemble a new rig at a bargain price. Here's the hardware:

Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 Motherboard
AMD Phenom X4 965
8GB Corsair Memory (not sure what speed, will get next time case is open)

Video card I'm using is the one from my old rig, a PNY GeForce 9600GT.

I've built many computers before, but that was a long time ago, mainly way-back-when in the Netburst era. This will be my first AMD rig.

Anyways, I have the whole system running stock right now, but I've heard of many overclocking options for these AMD chips - clocks as high as 4.8 stable are apparently very possible. I'd like to get it up to around 4.5 - not looking to have the CPU burn out in a week here, lol. I'd just like to know how to go about it - whether the FSB should be over'd or not, how low/high my voltage should be. Also interested in memory clocking, but let me get what speed/model of sticks they are first.

Thanks in advance

PS: Also, if anyone knows of a good nVidia video card under $100 that would best replace the 9600GT, let me know.

 

[jsrudd]

First make sure you have a sufficient PSU to overclock. Then make sure you have a good enough CPU cooler.

As for the graphics card:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fastest-graphics-card-radeon-geforce,3085.html

 

[revo8778]

First make sure you have a sufficient PSU to overclock.

Wellll, I do and I don't. What I have is an Ultra V-Power 600W unit that has so far done a great job for me. Only problem is that the 12v supplemental power connector is a 4-pin and not an 8-pin - it was purchased right before they implemented that. I'm kinda too cheap right now to buy a whole new psu, so I'm planning to do what I can with what I have. 4.8Ghz is naturally then out of the question, but if I can get 4.2-4.5 and save some $$$ then I'll be happy.