Hi guys,

I've decided that it's time to push my budget dual core to the edge. Are there any guides out there (up to date) that provide step by step instructions on how to overclock a CPU without frying it or causing damage to any other hardware?

Here are my system specs:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (2.0Ghz) Stock Cooling. - Will it be possible to achieve 2.4Ghz?
2GB DDR2 667 Samsung RAM
Asus M2NPV-MX Motherboard
Inno3D GeForce 9600GT OC
160GB HDD
460W Gigabyte PSU


PS: I'm not very familiar with my Mobo's BIOS settings, so an OS utility would be the ideal for me, if there are any available.

Well, the first thing to do is download the manual for your motherboard. It will tell you mostly what you can do.

At the Asus website it says this in the spec's.

Overclocking Features

SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection) from 200MHz to 400MHz at 1MHz increment
Overclocking Protection:
ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)

I downloaded the manual and there it has good instructions on what you can overclock. CPU Freq's can be set to 3-5-8-10% higher, Dram voltages are separately controled, and CPU multipliers can be set to 5, 5.5, 6 or 10x.

http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket...v-mx_manual.pdf

SRX660

Thanks for the reply, and sorry that I could only reply now as my Internet was down for a week.

I tried upping the FSB, but every time I do that, the PC would reboot at the BIOS screen. When I change it back to the default clock, it boots up again.

I'm not sure where to go from here.

You do not need to up the bus speed to overclock. In the advanced menu there is a AI tuning that is set to auto. You need to change this to manual you you can change the settings. First i would set the multiplier setting up one setting and see how the computer runs, When you start getting problems back down a setting. If you cannot set this up any at all something is not right in the system. Do not start at the maximum setting, but instead start with the next higher setting. Then try setting the memory voltage to the 1.9 setting as most DDR2 memory runs best at this setting. It could run better in the auto setting if the FSB kicks it up to using 2.1 volts. The CPU frequency is the front side bus. You may set it higher but you may also have to drop the memory and video voltages to be able to change this. Too high of volts going to either the memory or the video card can cause the system to not boot up like it is doing on you. It looks like you can set the memory wherever you want so you may have to play with the setting for optimal speed. Pages 64 thru 67 tells you what is possible.

SRX660