What steps do you take when overclocking?

When overclocking your system? what steps do you take to get a maximum but stable overclock out of your system?

I've personally just slammed up the FSB speed until my system can't run Prime95 for a long time. Should I be doing more with memory/voltages?

Solution 1:

On my last overclocking experiment I had to juggle between low heat and higher voltage. Find out what steps others have taken with systems similar to yours.

• In my case, I bumped up the CPU speed until there were stability problems.
• Then I bumped up voltage until I could no longer reliably manage the heat (ie, Prime95 was pushing the CPU past temperature threshhold).
• Then make sure you're taking care of the heat as best you can b/c I've seen a correlation between high heat and instability: good thermal paste, remove airflow obstructions, good heatsinks, HSF blowing air onto proc instead of pulling off, larger fans, etc.

I didn't have to mess w/ any memory or CAS timings in my case.