Thanks! :)

I have a GTX 260 that I have in there temporarily. Perhaps it would be a good idea to simply buy another one and go sli?

Thanks for the tip about prime 95. I have been using AMD Overdrive and it seems to do ok. Couple of questions.

Under load I get up to 50 degrees c not overclocked. Is that good or bad? Might have to wait longer for the Arctic Silver to set before OCing.

Second, on my ram, I increased the voltage from 1.55 to 1.65. I'm not sure I needed to do that, but I did because the timings set by my mobo were really shitty and it was running at 1300 mhz instead of 1600. I upped the voltage and manually changed ALL the timings(even the ones after the initial 4) to what the mobo said the factory recommendations were. It hasn't hurt a thing that I can tell. How do I go about testing that to see if I can reduce the voltage, or if I need to increase it or what?

Also is it save to change ALL the ram timings(I changed like 10 numbers, lol). I think that the second row of numbers in my mobo settings were the ones on the actual stick and the "auto" numbers were the "safe" ones set by my mobo.

Thanks for the advice!! :)

I can't really say about that stuff, im not really an overclocker...

I wouldn't recommend the SLI configuration, as it has some drawbacks, your pc inside the case will produce a lot more heat, there is micro studder which i don't remember exactly what i is but i think is that there are sudden increases and decreases at the fps of a lot of games and makes the gameplay annoying. I have a sli configuration and i still regret not getting a 4870 back then.

I would recommend getting a 5870, or the new Radeon series that is coming out the 60xx. Its your choice, you could stick to the 260 untils summer, i should play all games very fast!

50 degrees on load without overclock is not that good, but it depends what is the ambient temperature in your room. If you can, post your cpu cooler and your case, i've missed the whole conversation on this post. I had a coolermaster v8 and i had 55-57 C full load overclocked, not during summer though, at summer time i had to drop the overclock because the ambient tempereture was 35 !. Until I installed watercooling.

Now a lot of ram need to have increased voltage to operate at full speed, in your case 1666mhz. It should be written on their box, or even on them. The timings that need to be changed and that make a difference are 4. These are the main timings that are always advertised, like my memory that is 800mhz 4-4-4-15. Again if you can post your ram make and model number so i can search for their timings to see if i can help you! The safe ones that your mobo put are usually a lot lower than the optimal.

To check if you can decrease the voltage first decrease your ram voltage and if your pc boots up ok :P run prime 95 for at least 15 minutes to be sure and if you have no blue screens or restarts then they are fine. For better testing and final configuration, you should let it run for an hour, i know its boring.

Here is my cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118223&cm_re=zalman_cpu_cooler-_-35-118-223-_-Product

Here is my cpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727&cm_re=amd_phenom_ii_x4_965-_-19-103-727-_-Product

I used Arctic Silver 5 which supposedly has a "burn in" period after which the temps will drop between 3 and 7 degrees c.

I have 8 gigs of this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211409&cm_re=gaming_ram_4gb-_-20-211-409-_-Product

Is Prime 95 the best program to torture test with?

After checkin' temps seem to be par for the reviews for that Zalman cooler, so at least I installed it right, hehe.

Your cpu cooler is not very powerful but it can take some overclock. Yes arctic silver 5 may take some time to operate fully but wont make much difference. If you have applied the thermal paste correctly on your cpu, your cooler will operate at its maximum.

Now about your memory, they have 9-9-9-24 timings and can be operated at maximum safe voltage 1.75. The only timings you should change to 9-9-9-24 are the ones that are in the following picture. Download cpuz and go to the memory tab to see yours and check if they are correct. I think amd overdrive has that information too.

[URL=http://img296.imageshack.us/i/memoryqj9.jpg/][IMG]http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/1153/memoryqj9.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

In your motherboard bios change only the CL, tRCD, tRP, tRAS, tRC. Leave the rest to auto. Command rate should be 2T. These options may be written differently on your motherboard but the first 4 are usually on after the other and tRC may be on a submenu, at an advanced timings or something.

Don't increase the voltage from the beginning at 1.75, leave it at 1.65 and increase only if you have stability problems.

There are other programs that are also as good as prime 95 and maybe better, but prime 95 is one of the best. I don't remember other programs now but if you want you can easily find by searching in google or at overclocking forums.

Good luck with your ram and don't start overclocking your cpu before you are certain that your ram is stable.

Couple of things. This morning, it's idling at 100 percent between 48 and 49 degrees under full load. It is supposed to drop by 2 degrees c when the arctic silver "sets."

Without the side on the case, it drops to about 47 degrees. I don't think it's worth leaving the side off the case.

I'm not sure I really need to overclock this processor for my purposes. I really just plan to play WoW, and maybe a few other games. I will eventually upgrade the processor and at that time I might also upgrade the fan/heatsink, but right now, this one is doing pretty good. Certainly better than stock at the very least, which on my processor is said to run between 60 and 70 full load.

If I leave it like it is, it'll probably last damn near forever, lol, right?

lol, Thanks!! I didn't want to get the bigger Zalman because I was afraid it would be too much weight for my socket, and because I was afraid my ram wouldn't fit. With this cooler I can drop in ram with ridges if I want. :D

What, you spent $2000 to play WoW?

lol haven't spent that last 500 yet, but I really have spent a lot of money on a good, upgradable PC that I have been wanting to build for years. I will enjoy WoW on it, yes and some other PC exclusives. It's the journey Slimebeast, not the destination.