Here are my specs:

1. Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

2. (2x) G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

3. GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard

4. Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor

5. Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium

6. 8800GTS 640MB SSC

7. Antec Earthwatts 500W PSU

I have no experience overclocking, could anyone give me advice on what settings to change based on these specs? I'd really appreciate the help.

GUIDE: Overclocking On P35-DS3L
3800th Post!

First you need to get a good heatsink http://www.frostytech.com/top5heat [...] ELHEATSINK

Then you need to do a little research on Overclocking so you understand it a little

forget the 8800 GTS 640.get the 8800GTS 512 G92 or 9800GTX instead.they are like 10 times better in all area.but if money is your problem get the 9600GT and overclock it,it will amaze you what it can do for the money you spend!

I'm not sure people understood me when I made this thread, especially the person suggesting I get a new video card..

I don't know how to overclock. I don't know much about any of the settings in my bios related to overclocking. I read the overclocking guide for this motherboard, and while I get the idea, I don't have the experience or knowledge to confidently tamper with those settings.

What I am asking for is for someone to recommend specific settings I can change in my bios to overclock this rig safely. I can read the guides, and I have, but after hours of analyzing the possible results of changing any given setting, I actually feel more clueless than before...!

Can someone please recommend some settings I change in my bios to overclock this rig? I'd like to overclock to a safe, stable level that allows me to experience increased performance while playing newer video games with high settings. I just don't understand the limits of my computer at all, really. I have no idea if I can push this rig hard, or if it requires a few gentle nudges but can't handle much more. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I don't want to ruin this rig I just built by messing with settings that I don't really understand.. :x Thank you!

Edit: I have a Zalman fan: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835118019 .. So I'm covered in terms of a decent heat sink.

There is an excellent guide here for newbies. Read that.

Although the CPU and motherboard maybe different, the concepts and procedures still apply. It's too difficult for us to try and explain the entire thing when the guide explains it better.

Here's the link: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] uals-guide

Also Shadow's in depth OCing guide for your motherboard will come in handy: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] 0#t1742852

Thank you very much for the links. I might come back later with more specific questions, I guess I just have a lot of readin to do..

Well, I figured out how to overclock and OC'ed up to 3.6ghz. Am I supposed to notice any performance changes..? I honestly can't see any difference in performance in any game I play, any application I run. This doesn't seem worth the increased heat and risk involved. Can overclocking improve game performance if you are already running pretty well? I'd like to fully utilize my new rig, but I don't see a point in over-working it if I can't see results.. :\

^Games are GPU bound and not CPU bound so differences will be minimal. Run some video encoding, applying multiple filters in Photoshop,etc between stock vs. OCed and you probably will notice the OC difference. You will need to OC the GPU to see any gaming improvements. Also run some benchmarks (ie. SupperPi XS Mod, 3DMark06, PCMark05,etc) to see difference between stock vs. OC.