Your CPU gets its speed from a multiplier of the FSB. If your Multi is at 11 and your FSB is at 200 your CPU will hit 2.2 Ghz. The most common type of overclocking is increasing the FSB and thus forcing the cpu to operate faster. So if you set your FSB to 210 and your multi is at 11 your cpu clock will now be 2310 Mhz. Now after increasing your speed you may fnd your system becomes unstable, this can be because of the ram or the CPU. If it is the cpu giving the cpu more voltage will help stabilize the cpu.

Your ram runs at the same speed as the FSB so if my FSB is set to 200 my ram will run at 200 Mhz or DDR400. So when you OC your CPU you also OC your ram, ram works much like a cpu in OC, it requires more voltage when it reaches higher clocks. Also many ram companies have ther timings as tight as they can get them for stock speeds. A timing is just the time it takes for your ram to do one thing and move on to the next. So to do overclocking you need to loosen your timings and increase voltage. If you dont want to OC your ram for some reason or your ram hits its limit before the cpu you can make it run at a ratio to the cpu so it runs slower.

The best thing to start with is leave all of your settings at stock and raise your FSB say 2-5 Mhz and test stability. If it is stable increase a little more. Now when you reach the point of instability you need to start figuring out what is causing it, is it the cpu or is it the ram. Your best bet at first is to raise the voltage on the cpu and try again to see if it is stable, once you find increasing voltage isint working go to your ram and loosen the timings and increase the voltage on that. Hardcore overclocking and tweaking requires a LOT of trtial and error and many learn to clear their cmos with their eyes closed.  So like I said go slow and be patient, if not you WILL damage something. So try something if it dosent work try something else if that dosent work try them together. I hope I helped a tad but I was never the best at explaining. Also depending on your cooling etc its good not to pass much more than a .1 increase in voltage on the cpu unless you have great cooling and are ready to face the fact you might be replacing something. Ram can usually take about .3 voltage increase safely. Don't let your CPU go over 60C full load, last I checked 70C was the damage point for cpus

I got the same set up as you. If you go into BIOS - advance settings you will see a 20% auto overclocking setting. Go for it! Thats all i do! I did try higher - but the system became unstable and it didn't help with FSX anyway.

If you really want to explore - go to NVidia and down load the latest NTune

http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/ntune_5.05.25.00_uk.html

- then you can use it to play up th settings - either automatically
or DIY.

I did not thnk it made much difference to the FSX  - so left mine on 10% auto over clock.

FSX is greedy with its water  -so I set my water settings to fairly low and i get 20 frames with full scenery density and most settings high.

Very happy with the computer.

Good luck!
volunteer

Thanks guys. I looked at the BIOS a bit more today and found that Auto overclock thing. I'm going to use it now. I'm D/Ling NTune now for a little look see. What do you reckon I can get from stock intel fan, case with relatively good cooling (idles at 35/37, gets to 43/45 max in games).

Ok, I've played around with NTune but my system is getting too hot. It reached 50 on one core for a few seconds finishing off a run of superpi clocked at just 2.5ghz. The system had been on all day and the radiator near it was boiling but it shoulfn;t have reached 50 and so quickly. Thanks for your tips, but I'm now sure I need better CPU cooling (and money to buy it).

Ok my first question, how can you figure the temps of both cores? They are linked in one cpu and therefore so close to eachother there is no way you can have that much heat difference unless Intel has some weird stuff going on...

Anyway this is where an overclock starts to become a challenege. Now I am assuming you hit all of these clocks on stock voltages and timings... what is the crash is it a blue screen or does it just reboot.
Now lets make a list of things that can hold back an overclock: Your CPU(of course), your ram, your FSB, your chipset, your heat. Since it sounds like you can throttle the cpu without OC the ram then leave the ram at stock, ram can be VERY complicated to overclock and should be done last. Trying to OC two things at once tripples your problems... now set your ram back to stock and run superpi 32M, if it passes then you know it is probably your ram. So you can continue to overclock your cpu... now when you have OC your cpu and you start to crash you know it is your cpu(or fsb/chipset) because your ram is running at stock being happy..so now it is time to raise your CPU voltage. Raise it in very small increments like .025 and try and go further and repeat. Now when you find you have reached the limit of voltage you are willing to go should be around 1.5 volts on air id think for Intel? or things just get too hot then you have reached your "operational" limit. (If you think your cpu can go farther and something else is stoping it raising voltage to the chipset or fsb may stabilise them and help your clocks.)


A few must read tips:
!. Increasing voltage is the fastest way to make things really hot, be very careful of your temps when increasing ANY voltages, especially on stock cooling.
2. Don't mess with anything you don't know what it does, easyest way to make things smoke.
3. Finding the right BIOS is key to a max oc.
4. Last but not least ask first act later, if you act first you might not be able to ask later