How far should i go?

I have AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 620 2.60GHz CPU, ASUS M4A78-E 790GX MOBO and stock cooler, i have a gaming case with 1 intake and 2 exhaust fans.

I am currently and 2.90 Ghz and temps are around 40-50 in use.

How do you think i can go before i hit the blue screen?

 

What cooler and thermal paste are you using?

 

The cooler that came with the CPU and and the pad that came with it.

 

A %10 OC on a stock cooler is about right. Your temps are good so far, try OCCT to see your machine pushed to the limit and how stable your CPU is, it gives you a comprehensive report when done. Others use Prime95 which is also good but I like OCCT. If you start pushing voltages then you are playing with fire, OC'ing is a very meticulous process so as not to fry your components prematurely.

I don't see much reason to OC a quad, it's fast enough for me unless I have a specific purpose as in 'folding'. I paid good money for my hardware and just to eke out 'just a bit more' doesn't interest me compared to replacing a CPU or mobo etc. I say, read, read and read some more and find people who have the same setup as you to see what they did.

Warning: OCCT will load your CPU to the hilt but will stop before the temps from getting get too high. Do at your own risk.

 

i have just bought, i know its nothing special, but its an improvement. A Corsair H-50 water-cooler. Do you think i should try 3.6 Ghz?

 

How do i use OCCT to test my machine?

 

Download and run the program. Simple as that.

 

Well yeh, but i dont know what to do with all the graphs that come up after!

Dont treat me like some stupid kid.

 

The graphs are used as references to see the performance of your machine as you progress in your OC.

If you had asked me like in the above quoted post, I wouldn't have given you a simplistic answer to a simplistic question. I don't know you and I'm not a mind reader.

 

just tick it up in 1-2% increments till it won't boot, then at that point, go back to the last 'bootable' OC and start working backwards from there on your stability testing.

 

I also own that. I haven't done the push/pull setup yet.

 

how long in you opinion should you run the stress test for? 1Hr, 2 Hr?

 

12-24 Hr