Overclocking?

[Mavik]

Okay so I am totally new at PC performance and how to optimize everything. I always hear people talking about overclocking so I was hoping someone could shed some light on it for me and explain how to make sure my computer is configured for peak performance. It arrives tomorrow and I should have everything installed and ready to go by tuesday. I went with one of Marest's builds:

Gaming 790
MoBo: ASRock Z77 Pro3
CPU: Intel i5 3570k
RAM: G.Skill 1600MHz 2x4GB
GPU: MSI GTX 660
HDD: WD Caviar Blue 500GB
PSU: XFX ProSeries 450W
Case: Antec Three Hundred
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[Deleted]

I would be careful overclocking that rig. Assuming you don't have an aftermarket CPU cooler (since it's not listed) you won't be able to go very for before heat becomes a problem. That aside, you might be able to push 4.0-4.2 on the stock cooler with little to no increase in the stock voltage.

If you want to push it past that, you would need to invest in an aftermarket cooler. If you're on a budget the CM Hyper 212+ would do the trick.

Also I would make sure that your rig isn't pulling close to your PSU max. Overclocking while at or close to max is a very quick way to kill a PSU (:

[Xuvial]

Mmm I love the smell of a fresh PC build in the morning ^_^

Few questions:
> Is an OC even required in the first place? ~List games/applications you're running.
> What OC do you want to aim for? ~We'll probably answer this for you depending on the answer to the above.
> Did you buy an aftermarket cooler? ~Dunno if Marest's build mentions it, but with a stock cooler an i5 3570K isn't going to get anywhere decent.

Lastly, here's the most relevant guide to your interests, it's really well laid out:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1198504/c...asrock-edition

Overclocking is really simple with these CPU's but it's good to know what the actual functions/features and purpose of the settings, the guide explains it (somewhat)

Good luck.